You smoothed my hair and shushed me, rocking me like a babe. “It’s all right, my jewel, my Constanta. I’m here.” I held you tight as life, and let you scoop me up like a doll and carry me gently into our bedroom.
"Tight as life"? That's not a phrase I'm familiar with.
Or—does she mean she held him as tight as she held onto life, in becoming a vampire...?
