Chapter 2 The past will always find you

He looks down upon her. "Belle, I cannot be what you wish me to be. I am a monster and nothing short of a miracle can change that." Belle smiles as her love for him grows. "I'll never stop loving y-

DING DONG!!

The doorbell rings, scattering her thoughts. Jane sighs and sets the book aside before glancing over to her nightstand. A leatherbound notebook sat open beside the alarm clock and her scribbled notes on Stryder catch her attention once again before she slowly closes the journal. The doorbell rings again and she checks the time.

Half past midnight.

The doorbell rings again, more insistent this time.

"I'm coming!" she yells drowsily before throwing back the covers and pulling on a pair of jeans. She grabs her Colt revolver from its hiding spot in the nightstand drawer. There wasn't another gun she liked as much as this one. Sleek and easy to fire, the bullets would easily take down anything in her way. She slides open the round bullet chamber to ensure it was loaded with six of her custom made bullets before closing it and tucking it into the waistband of her jeans and rushing downstairs. Peeking out the window revealed a car she recognized.

What does he want this late?

Still, better safe than sorry. She pauses beside the door and pulls out her gun, drawing back the heavy hammer...

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," Novan's voice rumbles through the door and she can't help the grin that takes over her face. She carefully releases the hammer back into its original position before tucking it back away and opening the door.

Novan was a rare gift to the world. His six foot three and thin muscled figure was enough to turn heads and yet his gently browned skin reminded her of sweet caramel. A few strands of long jet black hair blew over his shoulder and seemed to caress his cheek. His fangs were barely noticeable against his full bottom lip and she often times forgot he was a vampire. Not only that but one of the rarest breeds...a Naturalborn. One look into his hardened obsidian black eyes caused many to think he was a demon, not that the two species were really that far apart as far as she was concerned. For the past seven years he'd become one of the constant fixtures in her life and she found it hard to hate him because of what he was. He couldn't change the fact that he was born as a pure blooded Vampire anymore than she could stop breathing. Life would not be the same without him by her side...

"What are you thinking about, ma chere?" He asks softly, his deep voice seeming to soften towards her and she shakes her head to clear it. Putting her hands on her hips she gives him a false irritated face.

"I was thinking about the book you interrupted and how I should have just shot you out of principle. Do you know what time it is?" He rolls his eyes with a teasing smile.

"Should I leave you and your smutty romance novels alone for a few hours?"

She bursts out with laughter and invites him in.

"What are you doing here this late anyways?"

He pulls out a small box and card from behind his back and her smile disappears.

"Happy Birthday, ma chere."

She turns away without a word and strides angrily down the hall, knowing full well he'd follow.

Sure enough he catches up and easily matches her pace.

"It is not a crime to celebrate your twenty third birthday." She stops to look at him, incredulous.

"I lost everything on my birthday. Why the hell would I want to celebrate that?" She storms off before he has a chance to reply. He gets to the kitchen before her and pulls out a chair.

"Sit." She does as he says and he kneels before her, resting his hands on her knees. "You can't keep living like this." She opens her mouth to give some kind of witty retort but he places a strong finger against her lips. "Life is unexpected but never promised. We all knew how dangerous our path would be if we continued and we have all had to pay the consequence. Prudence was my best friend, the only one I have ever had in my long life, and I know he would not want you living in the past. He would wish your happiness. I know it hurts but...you need to move on." He lets his words sink in for a moment before getting up and moving to the counter. She watches with amusement as he makes tea for them. How many late night visits did it take before he became familiar with her general kitchen layouts like he knew the back of his hand? A bitter smile takes over her lips.

"Is that why you've always been there for me? Because he was your best friend?"

"No," he answers honestly.

"Then why?"

He sighs loudly as he pours the tea into two glasses.

"Whether or not you choose to believe it, I care a great deal about you. I hate to see the sorrow that clings to your heart and the anger that drives your actions. I will be here for as long as you need me, even if you simply need a moment to break down and scream as you have in the past." He turns and his obsidian eyes meet hers. "I will do everything in my power for you," he says seriously, his voice almost a whisper. He sets a glass in front of her and sits on the other side of the table before giving her a teasing grin. "Besides, it is always a pleasure to tease you about your taste in literature."

"Leave my books out of it!" she laughs and feels her heart lighten slightly. He smiles warmly at her before taking a sip of the tea and a moan escapes his lips.

"Now this is tea." She laughs at his over enthusiastic response.

"It's just generic green tea. You can still find it just about everywhere."

"It's still amazing." She warms her hands on her cup and watches him curiously. He raises a questioning brow at her. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I thought Naturalborn Vampires couldn't eat or drink human stuff?"

"The world also thought our hearts do not beat and yet they do," he retorts instantly and she can sense the bitterness in his voice. She just looks at him with an eyebrow raised and he sighs. "We absorb nutrients through the blood we drink. Many turned Vampires still eat regularly to maintain a sense of normalcy. I have never been human so I do not truly understand that concept but I have found that I enjoy the many flavors human food and drink has to offer."

She opens her mouth to ask another question.

"If I answer another question, will you open your present at the very least?" She crosses her arms over her chest with a sigh.

"Fine." He slides the box over to her as she finishes her tea and he takes the empty cups to the sink before turning on the water. She stares at the small box of doom for a few moments as despair clings to her heart. Her fingers touch the wrapping gently, noticing how precise the gift was wrapped. He'd really put some thought into this...

The least I can do is make him happy and just open the damn thing.

Hooking her finger into a crease, she pulls at the wrapping and opens the box. She pulls out a long silver chain and reveals the hand carved rose dangling in the center. She looks up to find him watching her with a quiet stillness only he could muster.

Like a jaguar waiting to pounce on its prey...

"Do you like it?"

"It's...it's beautiful," she whispers and returns her eyes to the necklace. Her fingers move to the clasp but his fingers gently take it from her.

"The clasp is a bit tricky, let me help you." Lifting her long black hair from her neck, she turns her back to him as he gently strings it across her throat. She feels his fingers leave her and she lets her hair fall.

How long did it take before she willingly turned her back to someone? And a Vampire at that?

"Where did you find this?" she asks, fingering the design. He sits back down with a shrug.

"I made it," he says simply.

"You made it?" He rolls his eyes at her again.

"I have been alive a long time, ma chere, smithing silver is one of the many things I have learned." He moves into a slow stretch, once again reminding her of a lazy predator lying in wait. Her eyes widen.

"Oh, my question!"

"I have answered your question."

"But-"

"I agreed to answer one question if you opened your gift. I have answered your question."

"Politician," she mutters. He laughs and looks back at her with a smile on his lips. "So happy I amuse you," she grumbles even though everything in her felt lighter somehow. They all had too few moments like this these days with the world the way it was. She'd take the smiles she could get before the sorrow found its way back. "You know seven years ago, I never would have imagined becoming friends with a Vampire."

"A lot has happened in seven years, ma chere. Time changes almost every heart."

"True. It's hard to imagine I met everyone seven years ago, that it's really been that long."

"As I said, a lot has happened in seven years. I have seen you transform from a sixteen year old girl to a beautiful woman in love and with child. Our lives have become fuller from it all."

"You were also there to watch it all be ripped away in the blink of an eye," she says sadly. She shakes her head to clear away the dark memories to cling at her heart and gives him a smile. "You know, Naturalborn Vampires are still such a mystery to me, even after all this time. I never used to think that Vampires could produce and even then for their children to have such an advantage over their own race. It's like you're a whole different species"

He opens his mouth to reply but then closes it as he tilts his head to the side, listening. There's a splintering of wood and she instantly gets to her feet, gun in hand.

Novan leaps at her and they roll to the opposite side of the room just as the wall crashes down on where she'd been a moment before. Jane fires into the clouded air, hoping to catch the attacker unaware. The dust stings her eyes and fills her lungs and she fights the urge to cough.

"Why can't they ever break into your house?" she croaks and Novan lets out a wry chuckle in response before his whip lashes out, encircling around someone's throat as they moved through the air. He gives it a quick tug and it decapitates its victim.

Note to self, don't fuck with the whip.

Novan's voice enters her mind.

Where is your bag?

"Nightstand, bedroom," she coughs and fires again, creating a pathway for him. He doesn't waste any time and bolts, becoming just a blur as he moves.

She sees another blur as something moves and turns while firing. She's splattered with blood before she's slammed to the ground, gun skittering away. A pair of fangs hisses at her, inches from her face. Something slams down on her table, reducing it to splinters. She eyes a long stake of wood as it falls near her hand.

"I happened to like..." She head butts the woman on top of her hard enough to see stars and snatches at the wooden stake. Slamming it through the woman's heart, she rolls and kicks up into the male Vampire's groin. He drops to the ground with a moan as she quickly yanks the stake from the female. "That table," she finishes and thrusts the stake through his heart before he had time to recover. Blood coats her face as she gets to her feet, breathing heavily. She coughs again as the dust fills her lungs. They need to get out of there before reinforcements could arrive.

She hears a sound near the doorway and she whirls to face it, instantly crouching into a fighter's stance.

"Took a long time to find you," the figure states quietly in a voice devoid of emotion.

"What do you want?" She snaps, vaguely recognizing the voice but unable to put a face to the sound. Something skitters to her feet. It was her gun. She frowns and crouches slowly to pick it up, never taking her eyes off the figure's silhouette. The figure steps into the dim lighting and tears of anger fill her eyes.

"You know why I'm doing this don't you?" Stryder sneers and she screams as he bites down onto her arm again. When he lifts his head, her blood paints his lips. "It's because you're a very special girl aren't you?"

"Stryder," she growls as the hatred consumes her. The memories play through her mind like a horror movie, never ending and the emotions still too raw. He'd haunted her every waking moment since then for almost seven years. She'd never forget the look in his eyes when he'd sink his fangs into her, never forget fighting against his overwhelming strength. She'd never forget how a flick of his wrist could send her flying across the room, never forget the pain as he would stand over her with that small glint of regret on his face. And above all why?

Why her?

Prudence keeps his hands on either side of her face, blue eyes locking on to her own.

"I promise, Jane, he will never touch you again. Stryder is a delirious Vampire bent on destroying everything. I don't know what was so 'special' about your blood but I swear to you he will never touch another drop of it."

"I tried to create a perfect being," Stryder says calmly and slowly strides into the remnants of her kitchen. "I needed a being who would retain all emotion after being turned. I needed a being with enough potential to send me home and when you escaped my grasp I thought I had truly lost everything...but then I found my newest creation. This could be my salvation, my one way ticket home. Instead, I unlocked an age old chaos strong enough to make the very cosmos tremble before it," he continues. He stops. Five more steps and they would be close enough to touch.

"So this is where you have been hiding. And with the brat that broke you out, no less." Stryder sneers and takes a look down at her swollen stomach. His flawless features fill with disgust as the wind whips at his long brown hair. "And you ruined yourself procreating. What use do I have of you now?"

"I don't want to hear about your failures," she snaps. "Why did you track me down?"

"I want you to shoot," he whispers, honesty ringing clear in his voice and her eyes widen in surprise. "Extract your revenge. End this merciless existence of mine." Jane stands there, baffled. For two years, they'd tracked him relentlessly, night and day, without a trace. And now here he was, asking her to shoot him, begging her.

His hand jerks and she instantly pulls the trigger out of reflex, blasting a hole through his chest where his heart should be. He smiles.

Stryder smiles before swinging the sword downward, severing the ties holding down the bridge. Her shoulder screams in protest as she grabs ahold of a flailing rope and his hand, the momentum dislocating it. They jerk downward and she looks up to see the rope wouldn't hold, fraying to a thin cord in the center.

"The rope won't hold us both for much longer," Prudence says calmly and she looks down to him, fear in her eyes.

"No, please don't," she whispers.

"I love you," he whispers and lets go of her hand.

The world seems to go silent as the weight of what happened sinks in. Stryder smiles as a tear of blood falls from his eye.

"Thank you." He falls backwards and the sound of his body hitting the ground is like an explosion in her ears. She just stands there, staring at the nearly flawless face that had haunted her every moment for the last seven years. Deep lines of sorrow seem to be etched into it and she leans down beside him with a frown.

"What would be so horrible to push you to suicide?" she whispers.

Stryder stands in the center of the room, a devilish smile on his face as he approaches her. Amber eyes lock onto her and his tall muscular figure radiated confidence, well aware of what he was capable of. His very aura screamed power at her and she knew he wasn't a Vampire she wanted to mess with, inexperienced as she was. She moves to try throwing herself on the arm of another Vampire, hoping to have the appearance of a bloodwhore. Iron strong fingers clamp over her arm and he yanks her into him, lips brushing her ear.

"I know who you are, child. I can recognize the scent of it as much as I remember what it was like when it ran through my veins," he whispers.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," she gasps, heart thundering in her ears. She can feel him against her like a coiled snake ready to strike. He seemed all powerful and she was trapped within his hands.

"I know full well who you are."

There's another loud crash and she hesitates a moment before taking off her engagement ring. She lays a gentle kiss upon it before placing it within Stryder's cold hands. She stands and looks down once more at the Vampire who had haunted her every thought for so long. What was left for her now that he was gone?

Her blood courses through his veins and he sighs contentedly.

"What do you want from me?" she gasps as she lay, weak and barely able to move, upon the bed. His amber eyes lock onto her, power swirling within their depths.

"I want to go home."

Jane we have to leave. I sense more approaching.

She shakes her head and flees the house.