Hope For Revival by Michelle E. Greathouse

Once the elevator bearing Meier, with the recently deceased Charlotte cradled in his arms, ascended to the ship's airlocked entry door, he immediately dashed inside and ran straight to the medical/research laboratory. These ships were not only designed for mere travel to and from the stars, but also to provide the passengers with a suitable area to study anything one might come across along the way. Carefully laying her still warm body down onto the metal alloy table, he furiously racked his brain for an idea, a way in which he somehow may still save her, no matter how impossible it may seem.

Having never been in a situation like this before, Meier was quite clueless as to what to do next. "Think," he kept telling himself, "I must find a way quickly or it will be too late." He hoped it wasn't already. After a few frantic moments of pacing back and forth like a crazed beast, Meier felt a wave of desperation and utter panic take over. "I must find a way NOW!" he bellowed, punching a hole through the titanium reinforced wall.

Suddenly, rumors he had once heard in his youth came flooding back into his memory. They had all centered around the Great Ancestor and his infamous experiments on thousands of human women, some of those included extending the life of a few he deemed worthy to accept his gift, without turning them into vampires. It clearly came to Meier what he must do if he were to ever have the sunrise back in his life again.

Rapidly he began to ransack all of the cabinets of the lab until he came to a sterile syringe and IV bag. Willingly thrusting the needle into his arm, he started to drain his own blood supply and fill the bag held by his other hand. Once filled, he turned toward Charlotte and, after removing the needle from his arm, brought it down to hers. Hesitating for a second, Meier questioned the safety of his actions. Sadly realizing that she was dead and could not be hurt anymore than she already had been, Meier tore the delicate white sleeve of her dress and gently inserted the needle into the major vein.

Without another thought he slowly pushed the syringe handle down until the blood filled bag appeared to be empting itself into her lifeless form. Vampire blood, as he well knew, was pure and contained no disease or contaminants, but he hoped for her sake that it would contain his regenerative powers, but not turn his precious love into a creature of the night. As the bag's contents dwindled down entirely Meier cautiously withdrew the needle and sat at her side to wait for the results. Could the blood of a dead thing such as he truly restore life to a once living creature as pure as Charlotte? he wondered. He certainly did hope so.

Moments passed, but there was no sign that his efforts had succeeded. With despair totally taking hold over the remainder of his heart, Meier threw himself on top of her and with tears overflowing down that once graceful face, exclaimed, "Oh Charlotte I have failed you twice, now you are truly lost to me. Please forgive me!" Succumbing to the reality that nothing he could do would revive her, he closed his eyes and continued to weep.

For a while afterwards Meier continued lying there with her, reflecting upon the recently transpired events and how he may have prevented them from occurring. "Oh why did I leave your side? I let my hatred for our enemies get the better of me and you my darling have paid the ultimate price." Charlotte, he thought, did pay a heavy price, but did she ever receive anything in return? In his eyes Meier could see nothing that she could have possibly gained by being at his side, only death, as this evening’s events all too terribly proved. She had trusted him completely with her heart, her soul, and her life. He was supposed to be her protector and despite his vampiric invincibility, he couldn't manage to do the one and only thing he was ever relied upon to do. She looked to him, needed him, and all he did was fail her in her innermost hour of this need. She should be the one with eternal life, not me, he silently thought to himself. Or should she? Maybe things were correct how they were with her finally resting in ultimate, serene peace, not able to be let down again by him, and he, forever lamenting in darkness eternal over his failure to protect the only thing he had ever cherished, the only bit of sunlight he was ever allowed. This was his just punishment.

Then sorrowfully, as he pried himself away from her, he remembered that vampires were strictly creatures of darkness and were never meant to relish in the warm comfort of any form of sunlight, not ever at all. With that final thought in mind, Meier retreated reluctantly to the darkest corner of the ship as the Earth's sun slowly came into view.