How could she? How could she be so stupid as to bow to the wishes of a monster like she did! She thought Katherine was smart and strong. A woman of dignity and... And what did she discover! That the woman was trading her body to save other women instead of killing the beast that treated women with such cruelty.

Did she not think that Jenna couldn’t see the bruises, couldn’t smell the blood that he had drawn from her body?

The little girl was waling in the mall, and angry scowl on her face that didn’t seem to fit the face of a child really. But she couldn’t help it. The anger that was simmering just below the surface was eating at her from the inside out and no matter what Jenna said to the woman it didn’t seem to sink in. She was so persistent that she was doing the right thing…

It was almost as if she loved this boy. But that was absurd. Love a beast like that? One who would hurt women? One who struck her and…

It infuriated Jenna beyond belief to even think about this man. Kat would come home and reek of sex and his scent… it was becoming more and more frequent now too… But was there anything that she could do? No… Absolutely nothing.

With a frustrated sigh she sank on to a bench, just watching the people walk by the mall carrying bags, children… Talking on cell phones… God she hated this sometimes… Being stuck as a child…

Vaughan wouldn’t have minded being stuck as a child. Well, he would have minded the ‘never get to die’ part. And he would have minded the ‘don’t get to work at the club’ part. And he thinks he would have minded the ‘gotta drink blood’ part. But besides all that vampire jazz and, of course, not working at the club, Vaughan wouldn’t have minded never having to grow up. Although this might just be because Vaughan is so different. He grew up so fast that it must have shocked his system. The reason (the books explained) that a vampire stuck in a young body hated said young body was because eventually their mind out grew their body and they wanted to experience life as an adult. Vaughan already experienced life as someone older then he ought to be and he’s here to say that you really don’t need an older body for it.

He was walking down the middle of the mall, mother’s covering their daughters eyes as he passed. He isn’t naked but he may as well have been by their reactions. His blue jeans were so torn that there was possibly more flesh then material, a hole sitting very near his crotch and only publicly bearable because he wore underwear, another hole just beneath his buttock. This hole was less bearable because his firm buttock did hang out of it…well…ok, just a peek…but still no one could say anything. Not with their son’s pants hanging around their knees, their underwear handing out, not with their daughters own buttock showing at the hem of those oh-so-short shorts. He was wearing underwear, brown ones, obviously from the front. The view from the back said that it was a thong. His shirt was much better, a plain, gray, nearly blackk, tee shirt, a hold snagged in the shoulder but that aside it was clean.

His curls drew attention, wild and mane like, auburn and fiery. She drew attention because she was alone and young. And pale. He has a thing for pale people now. There is always the possibility that a pale person is one of the pale people. He crossed the hall and sat, uninvited, at the other end of the bench, his ankles crossed, leaning forward and looking at her. “You don’t look very happy,” he commented.

"And you're not very polite." She retorted. Usually when people sat alone they either wanted to be alone or where waiting for someone. In truth is was the former for Jenna, but she could claim it was the latter.

And she would have claimed so if she hadn't smelt something most unusual on him.

"Why... Why do you smell like a vampire. You're not a vampire." Jenna said pointedly as she narrowed her eyes. Not angrily, but curiously.

"You some vampires pet?" She asked as she took in his appearance and his scent. She liked his hair, she wouldn't deny that. It was so thick and curly... It reminded her of her brother's hair.... How she'd bury her face in it as he held her close when she was sick. "You don't look like it..." She blinked slowly as she looked at him. Even his face was now familiar in a way. Soft... Bright and kind.

Leaning forward she rested her chin on her fists, elbows on her knees.

"So what if I'm not happy? You think there's something you can do about it? Huh?" She said stubbornly, the little girl's voice meshing well with the stubborn attitude.

Vaughan grinned a lopsided smile that lifted one corner up higher then the other and managed to look whimsical. “And you are very direct,” he countered when she merely blurted the word vampire. He chuckled and the sound could have been tinkling, although it didn’t quite sound light enough to be chiming.

“What if I was just a poor mortal boy and a vampire too enough fancy to me to have a go in the back room? I would have been seduced by a vampire,” the thought made him grin with some ‘inside joke light (how funny it was that as far as his vampire went he was the one doing most of the seducing and she simply waited patiently for him to make the moves?) “and I’d have never known the difference until some ten year old with a wild notion made a comment?” He looked sideways, that sly smile sliding away to curiosity. “You aren’t ten are you? You aren’t even twenty.” He didn’t know her age but she was too…something to be young. She was also too…something else to be very old. Tatsumi and Chi seemed to control their emotions so carefully. This one didn’t. She was angry and he knew it…ok, he knew when the other ones were angry too but he could tell she was angry from all the way across the mall.

Some vampires pet? He’d mulled over the term ‘coffin bait’ once before, since every other vampire seemed to be choosing the word ‘pet’. He didn’t like that word so he didn’t answer the question other then that sarcastic little story he’d given her.

Anything he could do about an unhappy vampire? He wondered at this. He’d made Tatsumi happy after so many years, he’d made a six thousand year old relax, why stop there? “Maybe I can,” he offered.

"I'm ninety-two thank you very much human. Just because I look like a kid doesn't mean I am one. You've been flaunting about with vampires, you should know we don't age." She said sharply. Usually the girl wasn't in such a sassy mood, but well, he had chosen to come and deal with her hadn't he? It was his option to come and sit next to her and talk to her. It wasn't her fault he had interrupted her when she wanted to be left alone, was it?

Odd enough, if her hair wasn't so straight, or his so curly, they might possibly pass as siblings.

"So it would stand to reason, that a vampire turned as a child would stay such, wouldn't they." It was like an elementary school girl with an attitude. A kid who thought she knew everything, and in this case, well, she knew more than the young man she was talking to now.

"Hmph. Doubtful human." She muttered as she kept her position of leaning on her fists. "Could you kill someone for me? Cause I think that's about the only thing that would do it..." She contemplated seriously.

“You’re young,” he grinned. It was a fresh grin. “I think I like that you are young. I’ve been feeling so small lately next to them.” To them, six hundred years of life had been enough to widen his eyes, six thousand had startled him and left him feeling very insignificant in his almost nineteen years.

He liked her hair because it was so straight, it was the same thing he’d liked about Tatsumi’s and Chi’s. The same thing for his mothers almost straight waves. He felt compelled to touch it but it was obvious that this younger vampire was much more moody then the others that he had met. He didn’t fancy the idea of reaching out and loosing a hand.

“I…” frown, and his lower lip pouted. “No. I don’t think I could kill anyone.” Then her perked up a little, giving her a reassuring smile. “But I’ll listen if you’d like to talk about it.”

“And my name is Vaughan,” he added in a light hearted tone. He didn’t like the way she had said ‘human’ as if it was something she was so much more superior to. Vaughan liked to think of vampires as just another race of human, a super human.

His eyes skimmed over her, curiously taking her in.

"You don't have to rub it in..." She muttered. "And count yourself lucky I don't make you just walk off that balcony over there." She crossed her arms against her chest and sat back, crossing her legs in a very lady like manner. Slightly unusual for a child really. "And even luckier I'm not strong enough to kill."

No, he could probably over power her if he tried... And it was a fact that made her even more bitter.

She shook her head as he asked if she wanted to talk about it. "No... It's not something that should be talked about in public." But then again... She didn't have to make it public. "So pardon me if I don't want to talk about how a friend of mine was nearly raped by a man and now gives her body freely to that same monster." She snapped in his mind.

"So you see, there's nothing really that can be done." She pointed out. "Unless someone else kills him for me because as far as vampires go, I am weaker than others. Even some humans." She really didn't care if he was surprised at the semi-invasion. After all, if he hung around with vampires, he had to know that was a trait some of then shared.

"Why did you sit down here anyway Vaughan? Any particular reason?"

“You can do that?” he asked, curiosity perking him back up and breathing enthusiasm back into him again. “Make me walk off a balcony? Can you…er…can you hear what I’m thinking too?” So far, both of the vampires he had met could invade the privacy of his mind, not that he cared. He wore his emotions and thoughts where they were visible, often saying exactly what the would have heard in his mind anyways. Tatsumi had said not everyone could do that, though, and he wondered when he would meet one that could not.

He shook his head, his curls spilling against his face. “I thought all vampires were very strong?” He made it a question.

He shivered when she spoke into his mind. Obviously that answered his second question. Goosebumps rose on his arms but he didn’t object to the intrusion. “That’s te…” that’s terrible. he replied, concentrating very hard on making that thought clear. He felt horrible, he felt despise rising for a man he didn’t know, a face he couldn’t even imagine. But she gives her body “to him freely. Why would she if she didn’t want to?” He did not realize that he had finished the thought out loud. “Why? Because you’re…body is so young?” Did the size of the body count? Chi was so little, as small as he was in fact, and had only been sixteen, yet she was so much stronger then Tatsumi. Then again, this one, that was how he kept thinking of her because she hadn’t given him a name, was not only young in body, she didn’t even near Tatsumi’s six hundred yet. Maybe over time they got stronger? He had so many questions!

Why did you sit down here anyway Vaughan? Any particular reason?

He gave her a sheepish look, almost guilty. “Because I thought you might be one,” a vampire. He admitted the truth easily, despite the guilty feeling that his reason might hurt her feelings. “And because you looked upset,” he added, which was true, though the first reason had been the reason he’d noticed her at all.

"If I really felt like it... Sure I could... As long as you didn't have a really strong mind." She added. "But no... I cannot receive others thoughts, only push in my own... It can be rather painful if the person doesn't accept them willingly." She said almost as if she were bored, tugging slightly at a strand of her mousy hair.

She glared at him dangerously though as he insulted her. Or at least that was how she took it. "Oh, I will be one day. We'll see how strong you are when you're ninety-four!" She snapped. "But there are different kinds of vampires. I would have thought you would have figured that out by now. Some of us are gifted physically, some aren't. There are different traits that are passed along from vampires, just like with people. We aren't all mind readers who can throw cars around."

Was he a simpleton? That foolish? Or was the vampire who cared for him so unwilling to teach him.

"I don't know why alright! She's an officer, and said that she was doing it to save other girls, but why doesn't she kill him! People who rape others..." Jenna shuttered, remembering her own experience. "They are the worst sort... It is better to die than be raped... The pain... The humiliation..." Her face was set stiffly, not wanting to cry in front of him. She wasn't a child. Even if she looked it, she wasn't a little girl anymore. "I would kill him if I could find him... If she would let me near him... It's the only thing he deserves." She muttered. If only she could give that bastard who raped her what he deserved... If only she were strong enough.

"Who knows... Probably. My sire... She's powerful. She's strong and can do many things. I'm only a young vampire... And being in a child's body does have it's limitations. I don't know, you want me to round up some others so you can have a little study time and dissect us all to see how we work?" Her jaw was trembling despite her strong tone, still trying to keep the memories back. Clara had tried to erase them from her mind after the ordeal, but it had only been a temporary block, one that she tore down quite quickly once she found it.

"Well congratulation, you've found one of thousands. And I'm not upset, I'm pissed off. There's a difference Vaughan. It might help when dealing with women when you're older." Her eyes were focused on the tile floor, slight crimson drops at the corners of her eyes. Well, she was upset now... Tears of anger, fear and hatred in her eyes, threatening to fall.

“So…can you tell if someone has a strong mind without trying to…you know…make them kill themselves?” He grinned. It should have been morbid but he made it sound amusing. “I don’t need to fight it,” he told her, shrugging. He watched her play with a strand of hair, still wanting to play with it.

Vaughan grinned. He realized that she had taken offense to his ‘strong’ comment but he didn’t look guilty or repenting. Instead he replied easily: “I don’t ever intend to be ninety four. Or seventy four for that matter.” He just didn’t intend to live long enough to be old. If he died tomorrow he wouldn’t be disappointed. Not particuarily because he wants to die anymore but because he just doesn’t care that much.

“I guess on some levels I knew that already,” he replied about vampires having different powers, “and Tatsumi and Chi have told me that, but so far I’ve met three of you and all of you could make me pitch myself off the side of a building, talk to me in my head, and look in there like it’s a science project.” Shrug. “I guess one day I’ll get to see someone who can’t invade my head. Until I do, I’ll always know that there are different kinds of power but all that’s been demonstrated to me is this.” He smiled. “Besides, you can’t expect me to know anything, me, a simple human.” He grinned. “I’ve only been learning for real for a few days,” he admitted. “Everything else I know came from novels.”

Vaughan frowned as she shouted out loud at him. He didn’t like being yelled at, even when it wasn’t his fault. “She should arrest him,” he said. He wondered if she loved him. Some women got stuck in abusive relationships because the guy convinced them that they couldn’t survive without him. Vaughan had turned his head slightly to the side, his frown smoothing into contemplation. Had she been raped? No one liked rapists but usually the reaction was stronger with someone who had experienced it. “Why don’t you file a repot? You know, anonymously. You can say you suspect she’s being abused and give them all the information you know about him and they’d check it out discreetly until they found something. It’d probably make her mad but you wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“I…” he looked sad. “I just wanted to try to be your friend,” he said when she went on sarcastically about dissecting vampires. “It’s cool that you’re a vampire but that’s not all that matters. I just…” shrug. “If you want my to go away I’ll leave now.”


He looked sideways at her and found the tears. His heart leapt and speed up. “Don’t cry!” he cried out. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or make you angry.” He was leaning forward, almost as if he would gather her up in his arms and rock her. “Please don’t cry…”

"No. She should kill him." She said strongly. "People like him don't deserve to live." She nearly hissed. "I've only killed twice in my life... Both were men who tried to rape me, a little girl to there eyes. They deserved what I did to them... If I found this guy... I will kill him." She swore. It sounded like any other little kid, angry at the boy next store who pulled her hair. But there was a cold truth to her words.

As he told her not to cry, she shook her head, sniffling slightly.

"You don't understand. You don't understand how horrible it is Vaughan." She said turning to him, wiping the bloody drops from her eyes quickly.

"You can't understand what the pain, the humiliation feels like. How worthless and weak you can't help but feel every time you remember what happened." She said softly. "People who do that to others... They won't ever stop Vaughan... They'll kill, rape, do anything they can to to make others feel weak and helpless."

He listened, carefully, analyzing each individual word. He really did just want to gather her up and hold her but he recalled his thought earlier about touching her hand…he wasn’t sure he should reach out and just touch…it sounded like a good way to loose a limb.

“Maybe you’re right.” He finally agreed. “I always thought just dieing was a way to get out easy, that you should sit and rot in jail first, that you should be sent somewhere where you were afraid every day that the very thing you did to women might happen to you.” He still thought that, that a rapist, any criminal really, should do the time for the crime they committed, They ruined someone’s life, let theirs be ruined before they die.

“I’m sorry,” he couldn’t help but say, almost in a pleading tone. “I should have just left you alone. Now your crying. I didn’t mean anything by any of it.” This time he did reach out. He touched his fingertips cautiously to the side of her head, almost as if he would stroke her cheek soothingly as soon as he had a response from her that said touching was ok. He seemed frozen, unmoving, waiting.

"They never stay in jail for long. They don't stay in forever either Vaughan. I've seen it too many times... They get back out... They hurt more people." She shook her head. "They need to die. I know I'm not God, but there's no punishment you can give them that's bad enough. Having to live forever... Remembering what happened to me... Nothing would be bad enough for that bastard." Her fist balled up tightly as she went to look away again.

But she stopped suddenly, her body jolting as she felt a warm touch at her cheek.

She hadn't fed yet, so her skin was cool, not ice cold, but too cool to be normal.

Like the little girl she was, Jenna pressed herself against him suddenly, tears falling silently from her eyes as she buried her face in his chest. Warmth, affection... Maybe he wasn't being an ass... Maybe he really was just curious and... And wanted to be a friend... But...

He listened again, testing each word in his mind. She was right, of course. They never stayed long enough, they never were punished bad enough. He knew that the reason he thought that they should not die was because he couldn’t possibly fathom killing someone. At least, not yet. Something one day could always happen to make him change his mind, but so far, he couldn’t imagine killing this man that he didn’t even know or have a face to go with, even for rape. This…situation was so far away from him (two people he didn’t know even the names of) that he could feel disgust at the situation but he could not feel the proximity, the anger that he would if the person being raped was one of the boys he worked with or one of the girls who frequented the club often enough to know by name…

She was right and he did not like knowing that. He did not like knowing that if the situation were closer to home, he could find it in his heart to want to kill someone.

She pressed in against him, crying suddenly. He scowled because his intentions had been to help her not cry, not to make the situation worse. He gathered her into his arms without fear or hesitation, as though she were any other person, and he hugged her. Vaughan is warm, even for a human he’s warm, his temperature running at ninety-nine on a normal day, so the circle of his arms could feel the contrast of her chill. He pressed his cheek against the top of her head, his curls falling down around her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make it worse.” He sounded miserable in his blaming himself, in his need to make it better.

He stroked her hair, as he had been wanting to, but he didn’t pay attention to it, he didn’t even realize he was doing it, smoothing her hair down with one hand, holding her close with the other. “Please don’t cry. I’m sorry. It’ll work out,” it was a lie, he knew, but he couldn’t find any other words.

So warm... His body around hers was so warm and comforting. His fingers moving through her hair soothed away her quiet sobs.

"It... It's not your fault..." She murmured. "I just hate feeling helpless. There's nothing I can do... No way I can help if she won't listen to me. And it was probably because of what happened to me that she did this... To protect other girls from what I went through I guess." She muttered softly as she simply lay in his arms now.

The tears had stopped and she wiped the blood from her face on the sleeves of her black sweatshirt.

"She... She took me in because a vampire like me, I can't do anything on my own. I can't rent or buy a place to live, I can't deal with my money because I look like a child. I hate being so powerless even though I'm older than most humans alive today." And didn't she have a point? She was more than capable of dealing with her own affairs, but because everyone saw her as a child, she had no hope.

"There are times I wish that vampires would just make themselves known... That we could be accepted as part of human society like we were before we became like this. But I know that will never happen... You and Kat might be some of the few that accepts us for what we are... But for every one of you, there are a thousand of them who would want to kill us, want to get rid of us."

She didn't want to leave his arms, didn't want him to stop running his fingers through her hair. She wanted to feel it. Wanted to know someone was there for her.

"I'm tired of being a child... In this small, weak body..." She sighed softly, curling up against him as she brought her legs up. She missed Robbie so much... The way he would always comfort her when she was sick, how he would hold her, pull her hair back away from her face and neck when her fevers got bad... When she had really been a child. Not a grown-up in a child's body.

“Some people don’t know any other way,” he told her. “Maybe she thinks this is the best way to protect others. It’s noble. It isn’t the best idea but it is noble if she thinks there isn’t any other way. Try to convince her that this isn’t stopping anything,” he suggested. “That he’s probably still doing what it is he does to her and a dozen other girls, despite her effort.”

When she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, Vaughan glanced down his chest at the dark stains she left. He didn’t mention it at all and in fact went about ignoring the fact that they were there in the first place.

He scowled. He had always thought Claudia and other young vampires were tragedies. So young to be taken from their first life in the first place but also so unfair for the rest of their immortal lives, trapped in the shadow of another, forced to live through someone else. Chi had said the other night ‘thank god for fake ID’s’ because she looked sixteen. This one didn’t even have that option available.

He didn’t know what to say to that so he didn’t say anything, only put an attempt to keep the sad look from his eyes, the pity. No one wants pity, right?

“Like in the books,” he agreed. He’d read two series where vampires were a known element. He frowned. “Don’t they keep you guys a secret because you got to dangerous once before or something like that?” He’d never actually asked Tatsumi, or Chi, why this vampire…whatever it was…system? Kept a lid on vampires.

“People kill things that they are afraid of,” he responded. He wasn’t afraid of her or Chi or Tatsumi. All three of them had been in his mind before and there had never been an ounce of fear there that hadn’t had something to do with rejection. He doesn’t fear death, he doesn’t fear something higher up on the food chain, what he does fear is being turned away. They haven’t turned him away yet, why would he turn them away?

She curled closer and Vaughan all but pulled her into his lap. “I wish there were something I could do to help,” help her body grown when it was impossible. He rested his cheek against her head and continued to comb her hair with his fingers. "Why would someone do this to you? It isn't fair."

"I was sick... I was always sick really... That's why I'm even smaller than most nine year olds." She murmured as he pulled her into his lap. Her body responded just like a child's and curled up even more contently against him. "Diptheria. You heard of Balto? The outbreak in Nome in 1916? I was one of the first cases of that outbreak. But my body was too weak to fight it off long enough. I tried to hold on... But I was so tired of fighting. When I died... The pain was the most terrible thing I had felt. I remember crying and screaming, even the drugs they had given me to relieve the pain didn't help." She told him as if it were simply a story.

"There was one nurse, from the time I got sick. She always took care of me. Her hands were cool and would sooth my fevers. She'd hold me, sing to me, read to me and even play with me when I felt up to it, because no one could come and see me. She helped all the children like me." She said with a smile. "I remember her holding me, rocking me and singing as I cried in pain, lay dying in her arms. And I saw dark streaks down her face. Tears. I died in her arms, and she brought me back, she couldn't bear to see me die. She knew what would happen to me, but she thought it better than death." She said finally as she closed her eyes, laying her head against his chest.

Usually it was better than death, this eternal youth, but sometimes she wasn't sure. Sometimes she didn't know if she rather be dead than like this forever. It was a difficult question, with an answer that would change based on the day.

"Clara didn't do it to be cruel though Vaughan. She loves me as if I were her blood. As if I were her daughter. She told me before I left on my own for the first time, that the first time she ever cried was when she looked down at me, dying such a painful death in her arms, and was helpless to make me better..." She said with a soft smile.

"And I could finally be a child Vaughan... I had never gotten to play with others before, because I was always so sick when I was growing up. When she turned me, we moved to a city, and I finally got to play with out children. Running around and jump roping and everything else. I was so happy. I never realized then though that I wouldn't even change... That I wouldn't grow up. And when I finally did when I was about twelve, I realized it... And Clara told me again, what it meant for me... And, well, back then, I said I wanted to be a kid forever anyway." She gave a soft chuckle. "If only I stayed young in mind to... But we can't live without learning... Can we?" She asked almost sadly.

It felt nice to tell her story to someone. She hadn't even told it all to Kat. not like that anyway. But she knew Vaughan would listen, and he would want to know. Something told her he would. He would listen, and he would remember.

"I like the way you smell... It makes me happy, kinda sleepy too." She murmured with a smile as she nuzzled at him. A few people were looking at them oddly, some shot glances their way, but apparently they weren't too interesting or unusual looking. After all they could pass if one didn't look closely, as siblings.

He frowned at her sad childhood and wished uselessly that he could have done something for her. Something for someone who was older then he was, something that happened before he was even an idea yet, and possibly before his parents even looked any older then her.

He tried: "I'll play with you any time you want." Smile. A sincere smile. Vaughan tends to become a rough-housing, run around on the park, laughing boy.

He smiled when she told him that she liked the way he smelled. "Glad I could oblige," he prodded her, as if he smelled the way he did with only the purpose of making her happy. The smell was his, had been his since childhood. It wasn't cologne or aftershave but rather perfume. He didn't tell people that because it was hard to explain a man wearing perfume.

Memories of sitting on the bed watching his mother spritz on a little bit of amber liquid, of spilling a bottle in their bedroom, of spraying it in his eyes once when mom wasn't looking...

It was something really, that he didn't mind to sit in the middle of a bustling mall, holding her like this. And that in itself was something that made her happy. He was a good person... He was... And really, he reminded Jenna of her older brother. So kind and nice no matter what.

She frowned at first though when he made his offer, wondering if he was just teasing her. But as he smiled, she did too. "Really? You... You would? I mean... Kat's too busy... And... She doesn't really have a lot of time..." She smiled up at him.

"It would be a lot of fun to have someone who could play with me." Her previously dull eyes were now bright and childlike, much more suited to her face than the anger or sorrow before. "It would be like having a brother again." She said as she once more lay her head on his chest. He smelt so comforting, so soft...

"He was the only one who ever played with me... And even though he had friends... He always made sure I was okay before he left. He was my only friend really... I miss him a bunch..." She murmured. It was really the first time she had thought of him in a while... Wondering what had ever happened to him.

Vaughan had been an only child. This had suited him just fine. In fact, where girls and boys mattered, he didn't have a jealous bone in his body but as far as sharing his parents went...well it might have been possible that a second child wouldn't have survived.

But Vaughan's mother and father were gone, taken from him and from everyone else. He couldn't share them now, not even had he wanted to try. His heart ached with the thought, curling a cruel fist in his stomach, but when he looked down at her his eyes were gentle and kind and he smiled.

"I always wanted a sister," he lied so easily. But then: "I would like that." And he meant it.

He gave her a quick squeeze of a hug and settled back against the bench arm, lounging in a fashion that made the most uncomfortable mall bench appear as if it were the Cadillac of sofas. He reached out and toyed with a strand of her hair, rubbing it between his finger and thumb as if gaging the texture. "You'll have to teach me," he teased. "I've never been a brother, my resume doesn't extend that far. I have absolutely no," and with this he made a theatric hand gesture to emphasize, "experience. I'm not even sure I'm qualified for the job. I don't even know where brothers take their little sisters."

Sure Jenna could kind of tell that he hadn't wanted a sister, well always at least. It wasn't like she pried into his mind, she could just sort of feel it. But he was honest about wanting to be like a brother to her. It... It would be a nice break to be able to try and be a kid again. To forget the pains she suffered through every day just being what she was... An adult trapped in a child's body.

Jenna smiled as he gave her a hug, and she gave a little murmur, readjusting herself as he leaned back. She closed her eyes as he took a strand of her limp, thin hair. "Oh... It's a learn-as-you-go thing anyway."

She had to giggle though, a light and cheery sound, as he said he didn't know where brothers take their sisters. "Anywhere really. Except for bars, strip clubs, rated R movies and... Well I think that's it. But I wouldn't mind any of those places as long as you could get me in." After all, it wasn't like she had a sex drive. Turned so young, Jenna never hand raging hormones. And it wasn't like being raped had been all that fun...

She'd probably not mind strippers, and brandy had been a common thing to warm someone up and get rid of a cough, which she had a lot of.

"I like brandy... And some whiskey. But I'm sure it sounds weird, a kid talking about their drinking habits." Jenna grinned childishly. "We were given whiskey and brandy as medicine back when I was sick. To warm us up, dull a cough, and in Alaska, we didn't have much ya know." She chuckled then. After all, it was slightly amusing.

Anywhere really. Except for bars, strip clubs, rated R movies and...

Vaughan smiled, his lips curling up until he was nearly laughing. "Well...that just eliminated the only places I hang out at."

Come on, he's a stripper, where else did you expect him to hang around.

He dropped the strand of hair he had been toying with and twisted it around one finger instead. Vaughan wondered how easy it would be to take a little girl to the park and pushing her on a swing while still maintaining his image as a sexy, sultry stripper. Then he realized his father was that man at the park pushing a boy with bushy hair and ripped up jeans on a swing set half an hour before going to work at the very same strip joint that he now worked at.

He smiled again. "Well then, lets start on the right foot. Where do you want to go?" Always a good idea right? Women were peculiar sometimes. And sisters weren't allowed to be round about the way girlfriends were so he didn't need to worry about a 'where do you think I want to go?' response.

"Well like I said, if you want to take me to those places I'm okay with it." Jenna said with a little grin. "And if you can get me in of course." She said as she curled up against him just a little more. He was so warm.

"Well... Um... Maybe I could just go home with you? You know, just watch a movie or something? I mean... I'd invite you over to my place... But I'm still mad at Kat and I don't feel like talking to her or dealing with her at the moment. You know?"

Right now, Jenna kind of just wanted to lay here like this. It had been so long since someone had held her close, played with her hair.

"But what about that vampire... Do you live with her? I.. I can kinda smell her on you. She won't be mad will she? I mean that you're spending time with me? I know some vampires can be kinda touchy about 'their property'."

But it wasn't like Jenna wanted to bit him and drain him... No. She just wanted to cuddle. That wasn't so wrong was it?

"And expose a child to those nasty, dirty things?" he asked mockingly, "never." He grinned. Getting her into most places would have been a problem but getting her into his club would be only too easy. All he'd need to do was figure out a lie to explain his relationship with the child since 'she's my sister' wouldn't pass in a place where everyone knew his family.

Vaughan's smile slipped slightly. He shifted around and moved her up on his knee. Despite the fact that she was twice, three times his age her tiny body instilled a reaction that one has to children, the bred in need to coddle them and handle them gently.

He wondered how he should tell a child that he can't take her to his home because he lived with a woman he wasn't married too. Then she remembered Tatsumi, the first vampire and woman in his life, and he remembered that he wasn't talking to a child.

Tatsumi loved children, he remembered, and had raised them before but would she forget that Jenna was a vampire and not a child as easily as he did? Would she see her as a child at all?

"She smells good doesn't she?" he commented softly when she said she could smell Tatsumi. Then he wondered if Tatsumi really smelled as good to another vampire as she did to him. He shook himself.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Tatsumi said some vampires are possessive but she promised me that I wasn't a pet, that I could see and be with who ever I wanted. That I wasn't any more limited then I had been before I met her. She won't mind that I spend time with you, besides worrying about the danger I might be in, but I'm not sure I should bring you to her house. I would bring you to my home," he reassured her, "but I live with her. It's an entirely different situation." He straightened a little. "But," he said, "we can go to a late movie. What's playing?" You see, Vaughan has little life outside of the strip club and, now, Tatsumi.

"She... She kinda smells like Clara... Old... And kind." She said with a nod. But the age kind of scared her slightly, as the vampire was only slightly younger than Clara herself it seemed. Well, from what little she could tell.

Jenna blinked slightly as he explained the situation with the vampiress. Tatsumi was her name it seemed. "Isn't it your home? Don't you want to be there with her?" She asked curiously. Home... Home was where you wanted to be, where you felt warm and comfortable. She wanted to be back with Clara, but Clara wanted her to be independent, even though she was only a child in appearance.

"The theater? Well I suppose we can. I'll pay of course. Since it was my idea you know. I mean it would be ridiculous for me to make you pay for something I want to do anyway." She said smiling. "I couldn't tell you what's playing though... I've never really been to the theater here." Jenna gave a little shrug as she sat up on his lap. "But what ever you want is fine with me." She said brightly.

"Old?" He grinned. "I guess she is. I forget about it sometimes. She's beautiful and young and...when I first found out about her age I felt shocked and overwhelmed but after a while it's just...normal." He rubbed her arm. "If I ever start treating you like that...too young...just remind me." He smiled.

"It's the first real home I've had since my parents went their one way and life took me another," he said in response. The warmth of the happiness at having a home, much less sharing it with Tatsumi, was there but it was touched by the coldness of loss and a yearning for something deeper, despite the happiness.

"No," he said. "I'll pay for the movie. It'd be just a little odd for my baby sister to pay for her own ticket. Talk about teaching your sister the value of a dollar, eh?" He lifted her off of his lap and set her on her feet, then stood and didn't bother to smooth his pants when they clung to areas that most men would have tried to straighten out. "Besides, that's what a brother is for right?" ...and now that Tatsumi was in his life he didn't need to pay for anything. Actually, he didn't even need a job anymore, he just kept his out of sheer enjoyment.

Vaughan held his hand out to her. It's discerning for some people how quickly and easily Vaughan attaches himself to another being. It was probably even a little discerning for all three of the vampires he had met that a human could accept and attach himself to them with mild to no shock and ultimate ease.

"Lets go see whats playing."

"Oh... If I get tired of it... I'll let you know. But... It's kind of nice sometimes." She said simply, looking up at him with an almost sad smile. "I never really got to be a kid when I was little. Being so sick and all. When Clara turned me and took me to Anchorage I finally got to play... Play with other kids, run around and jump rope... It was just so much fun. I hated it though... When I realized I would never grow up." She gave a little shrug as they stood.

"But now... I guess I've learned to enjoy it. I love being hugged and held. I have ever since Clara held me when I was sick."

She nearly blushed as she looked down, but of course, she couldn't. "And you smell really good. And you're so warm and gentle. Like her. Well, except for the warm part, and I really like that part though." She said with a sheepish smile as she took his hand.

"But yeah. Let's see what's playing. Maybe something rated R." She grinned.

"Oh, well then I'll just try to spoil you until you get sick of it." He laughed, the sound echoed down the hall and turned several heads. Who was laughing? Why? What was so funny that I missed? Some people really didn't enjoy life as much as they could have.

"I'll try to stay warm and smelly for a while then," he commented. It was of interest to him that what the little vampire loved so much about him was something Tatsumi relished as well. Was it because they were cold that they loved his warmth? Did it not remind them they weren't warm? A warm body would just make him remember that he was dead. That was depressing so he moved away from the thought.

"Rated R? Venturing out to the wild side are we?" His large hand wrapped around hers. His hands suggested that he might have a few more inches to grow. Even if he did gain a few inches he would still be short by male standards.

"Well that's all up to you." Jenna said with a soft giggle looking up at him with bright eyes.

And she laughed fully as Vaughan said he would stay warm and smelly for a while. "Good. Because I wouldn't want you to die anytime soon. Well you'd still be smelly then, but yech... A bad kind of smelly." She said as she crinkled her nose.

But she looked up at him with a smirk as he asked if she was walking on the wild side. "Oh please Vaughan. You know very well what I am. I've seen worse... I've done worse. Murder... Rape... Pain... They're nothing to me anymore." Her face tilted down, hiding her embarrassment. "I've killed... I've... I've been raped. And I've felt pain and inflicted it. It's all a vampire's life sometimes. It shouldn't be, but it can be." She murmured softly.

"Of course it's up to me. I'm the big brother and you have to do what I say." He grinned.

He smiled when she laughed, the sound warming his heart and chasing away that dark feeling that made it's home lingering at the edge of his awareness.

"Well, don't wish too hard. Humans are awful fragile when it comes down to it." He said it in a way that made known he's experienced the fragility first hand and at one point (probably still) had wished the result upon himself. He shook his head. "Nah, I'd smell good even in multiple stages of rot," he said mockingly.

He looked down at her when the note of embarrassment crept into her voice. He gave her hand a squeeze and used his free hand to lift her chin back up and smiled encouragingly. "They should always be something. They're painful but when you stop feeling all together that's when you become a sociopath. Don't get that far." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"Why wouldn't I wish to hard?" She asked with a look of childlike innocence and curiosity. "I wouldn't want you to die Vaughan. I wouldn't." She said fervently. "I really like you and it would make me really really sad if something happened to you. And... You wouldn't die would you? You wouldn't really die right? You'd Let Tatsumi turn you if something happened, right?" She asked as she squeezed his hand softly.

It would be too cruel to lose him so soon. To have someone she could care for, someone she cherished finally, someone she could love.

"I... I've never gotten too close to a mortal before... You're only the second one who really knows me." She murmured softly as he kissed her head. But she couldn't help it, she wrapped her arms around his hips where they came up to, and lay her head on his waist.

"I don't want to regret meeting you... I don't want to lose you so soon." Perhaps it was just his openness, his eagerness to learn and his true interest in her that caught her. But whatever it was, she was under a little spell. One he'd pulled on her and one that made her want to be around him forever. "Promise me you won't leave me so soon..." She looked up with pleading brown eyes, clinging to him almost helplessly.

"A lotta people don't want someone to die, sweet, but it's always going to happen. It's the one thing all humans have in common...birth, life, and death." He seemed thoughtful for a moment when she mentioned being turned. "When I found out what she was I asked her if she would change me if I wanted her to and she said no. She said I was just curious and she would make me wait for years if I wanted turn. That she would be sure that I really wanted changed before she would do it. She wants me to live forever with her but not if it isn't what I want...but you never really know what she might do if I got hit by a bus tonight."

He dropped his hands to the back of her shoulders when she wrapped her arms around him. "I don't want to be a vampire." He told her slowly. "I...couldn't live forever. I am supposed to die. I...need to know what's after this."

Those sad brown eyes caught his heart and twisted it. He sighed and picked her up, settling her small body easily against his. "Unless I get hit by a bus tonight I probably won't be leaving soon. I'm sure that since I missed my chance I'll be old and cripple before I die."

He frowned. The thought of being old was gross. There was still something young enough in his soul that made the prospect of getting old bother him but death didn't bother him at all.

"It's risky business, someone like you and someone like me getting to be friends," he murmured into her hair.

He.... He didn't want to be a vampire? He wanted to find out what was after death?

As far as Jenna knew... There was nothing. It was as if one moment all of her pain was suddenly leaving her, floating away. And the next she was waking up as if no time had passed, because both times she was in Clara's arms. She hadn't known anything had changed until she'd opened her eyes. Opening them had been the greatest wonder she'd ever seen, and a sensation she'd always remember.

"There... There isn't anything I don't think Vaughan..." She murmured softly, wrapping her arms about his neck as she leaned her head on his shoulder. It had been so long since someone picked her up and held her close. She loved the feeling of it. "I... I was dead for a good while... Almost thirty minutes. It... It was a rather slow one Clara said. But I remembered the pain was gone. It was like falling asleep. And then I woke up."

She bit her lip slightly unsure if she should have spoken, but... But if it would help him see...

"Why do you want to die? When... When there is so much around you? So much to live for? Yes... This world is cold... Cruel almost. But... Without living, you can't see the wonders of it either." She leaned back, looking up at him. "When I first realized what happened to me, how I would never ever grow up, I was angry. I was so angry with her that I ran away, that I swore I would hate her forever. But... But I love this life, even if there are some parts I regret. If Clara'd asked me... I would have said yes. I would have said it because I loved her. She was so kind... She loved me more than my mother did. Well, Mama left her family for me, but... I think she regretted it in the end."