It was twenty-five after eight. Miriam was getting a bit edgy because any minute now, Vivian would be here. She had told him to meet her at eight-thirty here, so he should show up soon.

How she longed to dance with him. To be close to him and feel his arms around her, holding her tight out on the floor, their bodies pressing together.

But she'd have to wait until he got there, wouldn't she?

The outfit she was wearing was different than anything she'd ever worn before. A denim skirt that came halfway between her knees and hips, showing off the shapely legs that she usually kept hidden. Her shirt was a simple black tanktop with sequins hand stitched around the low v-cut neck, and around the bottom hem. Simple, but beautiful.

She was sipping at the drink she had bought, one that a friend had introduced her to. A Hurricane. She'd never tried anything like it before, and it was absolutely delicious. But she could only have two of them in a night, any more and she didn't feel too good.

But she was only nursing her first one now, halfway through the glass. She'd just bought it while she was waiting, enjoying the beat of the music, the feel of the rhythm as she waited for Vivian to arrive.

It had been a bit of a shock waking up in the house of a stranger. Hell, it had been a bit of a shock waking up in any house at all. Vivian had been a stray for almost a year. Finding himself lured back to consciousness in a bed--and not just anyone's bed, but hers--had been pleasantly startling.

Of course, then he had realized she was gone.

There had been that one, savage moment when he was certain he had already failed his given job, had let her slip away from his sight and into danger. Of course, it was an idiot thought. Miriam had been just fine until he had stumbled into her life. She could take care of herself. Even so, an uneasy air of haste lingered over him as he tidied up

After he had managed to partially tame his eternally unkempt hair, one glance at his clothes told him he had a bit of work to do. He glanced at the clock: seven twenty-eight. He had almost exactly an hour.

* * * * *
Eight twenty-six.

He felt a bit edgy as he walked quickly down the pavement towards the nightclub. The sound of low, thudding music could already be heard by any ear down the road. The faint scent of perspiration and alcohol carried on the breeze. But somewhere in that tangled mess of twisting limbs and inebriated, underaged flesh, she was waiting. For a moment, his head reeled, but pleasantly so.

His trashy clothes of yesterday had been discarded. Tonight he wore semi-dressy black pants and a crisp, white, long-sleeved dress shirt. Nothing overly-fancy, but a far cry from what he had had before. Her blood still warmed his face, slightly tinging it with living color.

With perhaps a couple of minutes to spare, he arrived at the door. Despite his natural wariness of largely-populated places, he wasted no time hesitating. Stepping inside was like walking into a completely different world, a dimension where the neon lights fluttered like exotic birds to light up dark corners and colorful drinks in twisted glasses. His eyes needed no adjusting. He began to scan the crowds for her.

Sitting at the bar, Miriam was sipping her drink. She knew that he would come, it was only a matter of time! He wouldn't have forgotten or refused to meet her here. No, he was just as eager as she was.

Well... Maybe he had forgotten. He had been nearly half asleep when she told him...

But no. She had to trust him. He would be here soon, so she'd just have to be a little more patient. And as she had her drink in hand, easier done than said. All she had to do, was sip and wait. Sip and wait and soon enough he would be here. The night was still plenty young and they could enjoy it until the sun came up again!

But she couldn't help but glance around.

He wasn't there yet. Or well, she didn't see him.

He could be here just looking for her, and in that case, it would be easier for him to find her if she stayed put. Of course! If they just kept wandering about looking for each other, they might not ever find each other.

So she stayed put, sipping gingerly on her hurricane.

It was like combing through a thousand old things looking for that one specific memory, the one more precious and more cherished than all the others combined. Had he been older, it would have been easy. He knew her scent. He knew what she looked like. But as it was, the sheer mangitude of this sensory overload was overwhelming. It was pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. Each voice, each scent, each motion...it was all there, a chaotic mess of perception. Yet when he could single them out, they were actually quite coherent and easy to discern, like reading a story.

Finally it hit him, struck a chord as sharply as if he had been physically nudged and redirected. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of her sitting alone across the room just before the tiny window between bodies disappeared. He made his way over, taking care to remember how fragile the bodies around him were. It was a pain, keeping all these things in mind. How did other vampires do this on a regular basis?

But that didn't matter. He was nearly there, trapped behind a living wall of limbs. His pale eyes absolutely glowed as he laid eyes on her once more: her long, dark hair, her warm skin, her radiant eyes...all as incredibly vibrant, as flawless, as they had been the night before.

Her name, the faintest whisper on his lips as he all his impatience melted.

"Miriam..."

"Miriam..."

She heard her name softly behind her, just barely over the music that was pounding. But her eyes went bright and wide. She knew the voice. As seldom as she had so far heard it, she knew it well.

"Vivian!" She exclaimed as she turned around, spotting him a few feet off.

She nearly flew to him as she saw him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a heartbeat. She kissed him quickly on the lips and looked up at him with a smile. "I'm glad you remembered! I almost thought you would have been asleep when I told you." She chuckled as she moved her body closer.

"I'm glad you're here though Vivian! I needed someone to dance with! I hate dancing with people I don't know. Guys seem to think when I dance with them I want to have sex with them or something." She said, nearly blushing, a sheepish look on her face. But Vivian wouldn't think that. He knew that she just wanted to dance... And maybe later... Maybe when she knew for sure that she loved him... She could give herself to him without hesitation.

But not tonight.

It was like a jolt of electricity when they touched. He could not remember if it had felt that strong the night before or if this was something new that had developed in the short span of time they had been apart. Did she feel it, or was he as crazy as he felt?

It didn't matter. His pale eyes beamed at the sight of her, and he was stunned by how truly radiant she was.

"Considering you're easily the most beautiful woman here, I can understand why they would want to be close to you," he grinned, nearly blushing along with her as detailed glimpses of what had transpired--and almost transpired--the night before flickered through his thoughts. He bowed his head and carefully kissed her cheek.

"Shall we dance, then?" He smiled, his gaze momentarily flicking from her to the spacious dance floor already packed with lively bodies. "Or, do you want to finish your drink first?"

He had just noticed it, just realized that she had been sitting quite alone at a table. A stab of tender guilt, and a faint fluttering of his lethargic heart. She had been waiting for him.

"You are a flatterer." Miriam sighed with a grin as she pushed him away slightly, turning to go back to her drink. But as he kissed her cheek she moved her head to catch his lips just for a moment.

"Oh, there's plenty of time for dancing, I just want to enjoy the night for a while first." She leaned back against him, her body shifting against him ever so slightly.

"So let me finish my drink and then I guess you can tell me just why all the men think I'm willing to let them have me." She laughed, the drink making her just a slight bit more relaxed than she usually was. She wasn't tipsy, drunk or anything like that. She was just feeling more relaxed, more open.

This was her guilty pleasure. Kaisa had no clue she drank, because Miriam always knew when Kaisa fed from her. She never drank on those nights, so Kaisa could never tell.

"Oh. Yeah... Uh, just don't tell Kaisa I was drinking... She'd say I was going to hell for my impure ways or something like that." She chuckled as she slid back onto her barstool.

"It's only flattery if it isn't true," he raised his brow in mock sterness. Of course with her, the expression could not linger long--even if it was just for play. His eyes melted right back into a subdued smile as he fell in place beside her. "As for the others, well, I suppose almost everyone wants what they will never be good enough to have, right?"

Of all the people in the world, Vivian would have never guessed that Miriam drank. It was a baffling thought, at first, to even entertain the idea that she had her own little guilty pleasure. But of course, everyone did, didn't they? And drinking was hers. Yet somehow this new bit of knowledge did nothing at all to alter his thoughts about her. In fact, it seemed to fit her just so in a way he couldn't quite place.

Vivian tried to hide an amused smile and found it quite impossible. He motioned zipping his mouth shut, his wintery eyes lighting up with laughter.

"I won't say a word," he promised, eyeing her colorful beverage with an entertained curiosity. "Impure ways," he repeated thoughtfully. "That seems a bit harsh."

"Well back home, drinking is natural really." She said with a smile. "Wines, beers things like that. When we have parties, we have parties. But well... Kaisa I guess doesn't approve of drinking herself, so she tries to put it on me too. But then again, I guess the whole blood-alcohol thing if she can taste it, she might not like it." She said, Kaisa wasn't all bad after all.

"So I don't drink on nights she usually feeds from me. This way she won't have to deal with it and I can still have my fun."

As she picked up the drink again Miriam smiled. "Wanna sip? It's fantastic. New Orleans Hurricane. I've never tasted anything this good drink wise." She sipped it lightly and smiled before handing it towards him "So... Can vampires get drunk? That I'm not sure of though... Just about the only thing." She said honestly. And it was a question she'd wanted to know for a while too.

She was just curious like that.

"Well, I...I don't know," he looked at her, bewildered, as though she had asked him some fascinating, thought-provoking, life-altering question. Truth be told, he had never thought of it before. "I've never tried," he confessed with a half-hearted shrug. "And I couldn't tell you."

He smiled and took the proffered drink, watching it glint and spin in the awkward, chameleon lighting.

"I've never been much of a drinker. I left that to my brother and his friends. I always saw how ridiculous it made people and figured it wasn't my lot in life to drink. But now...I guess it really doesn't matter, does it?"

He sipped it curiously, making the slightest face as the sting of the alcohol temporarily outweighed the sweetness of the abundant sugar. It was definitely a far cry from anything he had tasted in mortal life. His vampiric senses overanalyzed everything, spelling out each individual ingredient with maddening precision. It was like a laboratory experiment, cold and analytical. He handed it back with a rather baffled expression and a laugh of surprise.

"It's weird," he grinned. "It's...it's not the same at all..."

"Oh, you're brother was the partier then?" She said with a grin. "Hey... Maybe I could meet him when you find him again... Well... Are you trying to find him? I mean if he's in the city, he shouldn't be too hard to find for a vampire. And maybe... Maybe he's waiting for you somewhere." She said as she leaned into him, taking her drink back and sipping at it.

"I mean, I know you didn't talk about him much, but I'm sure you miss him right?"

She wanted to help him find his family, wanted to know he had a safe place to go... Sure he might not stay with her now, but she could still see him. She just wanted him to be happy.

With a sigh she leaned back into him and smiled.

"Maybe I could help a look for him later? I mean... If he's a human, you can still live with Kaisa and me so you don't hurt him just in case." She offered.

For some reason or another, the thought of Miriam meeting his brother made him bristle inwardly with--with what? With anger, with dislike. Just as quickly as these angry thoughts were born did they retreat, and Vivian was filled with shame. What, was he jealous? He had no reason to be, right? He had known Miriam for one night. He tried to reason with his possessive heart, but how difficult it was to overcome such a domineering part of himself.

"Yeah...yeah, I guess I miss him," he didn't look at her. He stared instead at her drink, at the counter, into the lights. "In some ways, I think it was good, what happened. I'm not really so like him as I used to think. It was better that we were separated."

He smiled gently as she leaned against him. It was such a welcomed thing, being this close to her. He forced himself to only tentatively hold her. As much as he might have liked to completely embrace her from the sight of any other man in the room, it was not his place and it would have been absolutely terrible of him to think he had any right to do so.

"Maybe. I guess it depends...he might be happy with the way things are in his life now. And if that's so, he doesn't need me around anymore anyway." He shrugged lightly, strangely unaffected by the thought of remaining detached from the brother he had grown up with and grown into.

Miriam's eyes opened wide with shock as he seemed... so alone. "Vivian... I'm sure he misses you. I mean, he's your brother, your twin. You're part of each other you know... Even me and my siblings, we're all part of each other and if one of us were missing, we wouldn't be whole." How could he say that he wouldn't have been missed? How could he think that his brother wouldn't be trying to find him.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, moving closer to him with a sigh.

"Vivian... I... I know it's not my place... But... You need to find him. You have to. You have to need each other... Even if you don't realize it." She sad as her hand brushed at his cheek.

He was so handsome... She didn't know just what it was, but she loved his eyes... The way his lips were shaped... The way his hair could fall into his face at a whim.

With a smile, Miriam moved her hand up his cheek to run her fingers through his hair. So smooth and straight... "You might not be like him... But he is still a part of you." Maybe she was a philosophical drunk... Who knew. Because she wasn't even tipsy yet.

Sighing slightly she sat up and set her drink down. "So, shall we dance? I've got some energy to burn" She said as she grabbed his hand.

He smiled the faint smile again, half-hearted as it was. Maybe she was right--odds are, she was. But for whatever reason he could not shake the feeling that, should he see his brother again, he would have nothing to say to Julian at all. What does the hunter say to its prey, other than some succint, sadistic remark before burying the blade? He nearly shuddered at the thought.

But his contemplative smile, the one that seemed to so often to dominate his reserved features, dissipated and morphed into a different one: not more sincere, necessarily, but considerably happier. If anything in the world could take his mind off of what might be in his near future, it was being with Miriam, and he squeezed her hand gently as he stood up and gently "helped" her from her chair.

"Every male in the room's going to be absolutely furious," he smiled, his eyes glinting mischievously. "I say we go for it. Then we can count the angry faces and I'll prove to you that I wasn't flattering you earlier."

He grinned and gently clasped her hand in his as they began to make their way out onto the dance floor. Warmth everywhere, like walking into a dulled inferno. The feverish quality of their skin, their breath, their passionate eyes. It was ethereal, almost, and he had not known anything like it before. For the first time in a long time, he was genuinely excited to be around so many strangers.

Smiling she pulled him closer, kissing him softly. "If you think so. Most of these men only want to get up my skirt, down my pants, whatever you'd like to think..." She laughed as she moved out towards the floor with him.

"But the only one with the slightest chance in existence..." She moved her lips to his ear with a smile. "Is you..." Maybe... Maybe it was the excitement of the room around her, but she felt much more... Free than she was before.

Out on the floor she turned around, pressing her back against his chest, closer than they were even in the same bed it felt like.

Her body moved against his smoothly, her arms lifting to wrap around his neck. "I don't care what Kaisa says... I'm not just infatuated with you because of what you are... I want you because of who you are." She said as quiet as she could with the music.

To have her so close again, closer even than before. Without even truly knowing how, he found himself opening his thoughts only to her.

Beautiful one, how I am learning to want you.

So true it was. So rarely had anyone managed to spark something in his detached heart, even while still living. But Miriam had conquered him in just one night. All the resistance he had once pretended to have...she had broken straight through, but he was not bitter, not even afraid. He was captivated.

She seemed so small, so delicate when compared to him. Of course he knew that was hardly true. She was a strong woman with a brilliant personality. And she was lovely, what any woman would want to be. Which was why he could not stop puzzling over what had brought her to him. But why worry about it? They were together now. For once, he thought, it would better to shut off his doubts and questions and just feel.

"You dance like you've been out without Kaisa's supervision before," he murmured near her ear with a gently-teasing smile. His low voice took on a mock tone of adult disapproval. "You wouldn't happen to do this terribly often, would you?"

As Miriam heard his voice in her mind, her body shivvered with delight. She'd never felt anything like that before and it was something that made her stomach clench with wonder. It was just amazing... The things he made her feel.

Then... His voice, his breath on her ear, another shudder.

"Yeah... I do... All the time." She said over the music. "I love to be free... be wild... Be me." She turned around in his arms, her body pressed close, as she smiled up at him.

Her arms slipped up around his neck and she pulled herself up a few inches to kiss him eagerly. She broke away just for a moment with a grin to murmur. "Are they all staring at you Vivian?" She chuckled before kissing him again.

Miriam wanted nothign more than to be close to him, so close that she could fell him all around her. She never wanted to leave him, leave his side, leave his arms. It was so wonderful feeling someone who cared about her, who loved her...

Vivian smiled back at her, his eyes bright as their lips met. He could feel the brilliance of her life, pounding like the pulse beneath their feet as it poured from her touch, her lips, her eyes. The wolf in love with the lamb. The dead no longer envious of the living, but in love with her. Or lost in her. Or both.

"I'll be lucky if they let me leave alive...or, so to speak," he grinned roguishly, his eyes vibrant with laughter.

The smile faded, ebbed, replaced by the gentle tugging of desire. His fingertips rested gently at her hips, keeping them close as did her arms about his neck. He stared into her eyes, lost and searching and hoping he never found the answer so that he might continue to stare forever. He pressed his lips to hers very gently, startled as ever by their softness. And after a moment, his lips moved from hers to the soft curve of her jaw, to the sweet hollow of her neck.

"How far do you think we could get if I decided to steal you away from Kaisa?" He murmured teasingly, his lips barely touching her neck.

As their bodies moved close together, her eyes slipped shut as a smile slipped onto her face again. His hands at her hips were... Were making her want something more... Something she shouldn't want yet.

But as he brushed at her neck she moaned softly.

"I... I don't know..." She murmued, her hands cacaressing at his chest. "But we can try... See how far we can get... See what we can do." She said breathily, her body pressing against his.

Her mind was in such a state of eagerness, she wanted to try. She wanted to try and get as far as she could with him, see where they ended up. If Kaisa found them... God knows what she'd do... But whatever happened, it would have been worth it.

Her family would be delighted if she fell in love with a vampire. Vampires were creatures of great charity and kindess in her village. They would be so happy for her...

"How fast can we go?" She asked with a smile.

As she closer, he moved her into his embrace, drawing her closer still. The gentle warmth of her body was like a catalyst to every unnamable desire in his contrasting heart, appealing to every side of him at once. It felt like nothing he had ever known before--but why, then, did it feel dangerous as well?

"You're making me crazy." He whispered, his cold lips so close to her skin he could feel her warm pulse without touching her. "How fast would you like?"

He drew his lips back from her sweet neck, his eyes flashing with anticipation, with an almost boyish inspiration as they found hers. They could leave, couldn't they? They could run, more free than any one of the bland and boring people around them.

"Do you want to?" His own voice was unfamiliar, thick with eager, consuming desire for this woman in his arms. "We could go as far as we want to and no one could stop us. We could leave right now if we wanted to. Anything you want, Miriam."

His breath at her neck made her shudder. So what if the people around them were dancing, grinding and bumping? So what if an occasional oops sent a person knocking into them? Vivian was all that mattered at this moment. The way he held her as if he would refuse to let her go even if Kaisa were here now.

As he looked into her eyes she was lost completely. His voice was urging her to... To run away. To run away with him to places unknown. No one could stop them, just like he said. They could be free. Free to live together without Kaisa telling her what to do all the time, treating her like a child when she was a woman now.

"Yeah... Let's leave tonight. Now, Right now Vivian." She said eagerly, her breath caught in her throat, her heart racing a mile a minute. "Take me somewhere far away... Anywhere. I just want to be with you. Only you." She whispered as she began to kiss eagerly, clumsily up the side of his neck.

She was completely entranced by him... His presence, his touch... His eyes... Even his scent as her face buried in the crook of his neck.

"Let's get out of here," he smiled down into her eyes, his own alight with a boyish, mischievous fire, one that burned of rule-breaking freedom, the dark and everlasting appeal of the unknown--they could make it. He knew they could.

His hand slipped from her waist to her gentle hand, and he briefly brought her knuckles to his lips, still smiling the secretive smile lovers so often possess. Quickly, he led the way, weaving them through the closely-knit crowd, laughing as they bumped into only half-sober people falling off of their barstools.

Finally they made it to the back door, and he held it open for her as they rushed outside. The heavy door shut, dulling the endless pulse of the music within but leaving intact its repetitive beat. Only now that they had gotten out of the over-crowded building and escaped did Vivian stop. Still laughing a little breathlessly, his eyes ringed in a hazy, hungry grey, he fought to catch his breath and gently drew her into his arms.

"We'll get out of here," he murmured, his forehead pressed lightly against hers. "We'll go anywhere we want, do anything we feel like." He paused for a moment, gently kissing her flushed lips. "I'll give you anything you want."

He hesitated for a moment and kissed her again, more deeply this time. His blue eyes slowly glazed over, frosted in a brilliant grey. He held her slender hips, moving his focus again down her jaw to her beautiful neck.

Miriam followed him willingly through the crowd, running as fast as she could to keep up with him. She fell into his arms laughing as she stumbled out of the back door, her arms wrapped about his neck helplessly.

"Yeah.... We'll get outa here a'right." She murmured against his lips. "You an' me we'll be tagetha foreva won't we?" So lost in the moment, her thick accent went back to usual as he pulled her tight into his arms, the two kissing eagerly. "Anathin' Anathin we want." She agreed as she took a quick breath between kisses.

A soft moan rose from her as Vivian began to kiss down her neck. Her fingers curled into his shirt almost desperately as her eyes slipped shut. "Yes..." She murmured. He should drink if he needed to, he should feed while they could and... She tilted her head to the side, her thick curls falling away as she bettered an angle. "Anathin you want..." She murmured as she pressed against him.

"Jus' take me away... anawhere... Just away from here, with you." Her vioce was an aching whisper, begging him for what she needed.

"Forever," he growled softly against her skin. The word seemed to have a whole new connotation. Prior to her, it had been another condemning adjective, a label his existence had been bearing like a cross of abject misery. Not now.

The heavy lusciousness of her thick accent and the press of her warm body against him sent shivers of intoxicated pleasure all through his aching veins. His lips moved across her throat as if unable to decide where best to remain static. Instead, he gently brushed the fragile strap of her shirt away from her shoulder, slowly moving the two of them away from the back door and into the shadows of the corner of the empty alley. His attention never wavered from her smooth skin, bared and made ethereal by the distant starlight.

His dangerous kiss moved lower across her collarbone and down to the edge of where her skin was hidden by the neckline of her shirt. Vivian gently eased aside the dark fabric, revealing just the top of her beautiful breast. There. He claimed the spot with a kiss, slowly pressing his fangs into her soft flesh--not far, just deep enough to draw blood.

Miriam was entirely under his control, under his spell because she wanted to be. She chose him to be her lover, her husband... Her sire.

Of course she was no where near in her right mind when making these decisions. So who was to say that they actually counted?

Her skin felt as if first flames and then ice had been run across her skin. Heat from his passion, but cold from the lack of warmth of his body. But she didn't care. Her body trembled with excitement all the same, aching for him to show her what he could do to her.

"Vivian..." She murmured helplessly as his hands brushed her shit aside. Something... Something wasn't quite right... But she didn't have the strength, or desire, to stop him. Miriam hardly noticed where they were standing, but she would have been more apt to control herself if she did. But instead she gasped, her grip tightened at his shirt as he bit into her breast, a place no man had even touched before.

No... It... it wasn't right...

Yes her body ached for him in ways it had never before ached... Her mind was racing, overwhelmed by all the wondrous sensations... Her heart knew that it wasn't right. There was something not right about this. But her heart was out-voted. The only protests she made were weak whimpers of fear. It was all she could do.

Her entire body was flooding with negative energy, putting up its own resistance as a means of self-defense as her thoughts were too overwhelmed to do it herself. It was quite clear that this was wrong, but he didn't care. Or rather he couldn't find it in him to stop it from happening. Not even her small noises of internal suffering could come through--his eyes were metallic liquid, glinting with the malevolent sting of the inevitable. His thoughts were lost, brushed aside by much more powerful and adamant desires, and even as he consciously knew that he would never be able to control himself and keep her from harm's way, he could not call the beast back.

He pushed his kiss deeper into her soft skin, sighing with terrible hunger as her skin pushed back.

The fear in his heart grew stronger, the cry louder, but nothing could break through the defensive shadow of the thing that he had become. It didn't matter that she was afraid. It didn't matter that if he continued like this, she would die. All that mattered was that the beast was sated, the infernal hole was filled again with living blood, the monster silenced and drowned in its own foul desires. Let her scream, let her cry. Let him tear himself apart with his own hideous claws later when her body was at his feet and his soul was cast apart again, this time forever--because it was more than just his soul he was damning. It was hers as well.

A ring of blue in his pale eyes, a tiny glimpse of anguish and regret as their gazes locked, but no break in the storm. His grip on her life did not loosen.

"Vivian..." She whimpered helplessly. "Vivian, no. Stop, don't do this." She tried to push him away, tried to get him to come to his senses.

Miriam cried out though as he bit harder into the soft flesh, but by this point she was too weak to do anything. "Vivian, please... You're hurting me. Don't..."

But he didn't stop. It was like he didn't even hear her, didn't even care. No... No it couldn't be... He cared about her... He... He even loved her. He wanted to be with her, wanted to take her far away with him, away from everything so they could be together.

"Why..." She whimpered.

Her body was going weak and she was getting dizzy. But Miriam just couldn't understand why... Why he was doing this to her, why he had changed so suddenly that he... That he was going to kill her. He was going to kill her... Leave her body here for Kaisa to find later and... And what would happen to him? If she found him... Kaisa would kill him for sure... She would make him die a slow painful death as she had promised...

"Vivian... I... I love you. Please... please stop..." She whispered as her head fell on to his shoulder, her body relaxing, falling limp against the wall. "Don't leave me here..."

Of all the things that could have--and should have--broken him from his self-imposed prison, it was a sudden and startling recognition of a familiar presence that snapped him free from his bloody bounds. He withdrew his lips from her skin with a start, his steely eyes flooding with vibrant blue once again. His arms tightened slightly around Miriam as his subconscious realized all that he had done long before he noticed what had transpired. His thoughts were focused solely on the scent he had caught.

It was his brother.

Somewhere nearby, Julian Babineaux was roaming Demaitre, and Vivian had no way of knowing whether or not his brother was conscious of his presence. His teeth gritted with surprise and anger and a thousand other emotions that belonged neither here nor there but merely existed, poisoning his blood and clouding his thoughts. All he knew was that he had to keep Miriam from his brother--

Miriam.

His heart leapt in his chest as he became suddenly and violently aware of the woman in his arms, of what he had done. He shook his head slowly, denying the fact that he could have done this to her. Her shirt was stained with her own blood, her bared skin red from where he had cut her. And not one of her pleas for him to stop had even reached him...

He stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. He wanted to run away now, leave her so far behind that there wasn't the slightest chance that he could do something like this again to her, but if he left, she might die. He had not drank enough from her to kill her, but the wounds he had made were ugly and deep and, if left untreated, fatal.

"God, I need help...I need help," he whispered, lifting Miriam into his arms and gently touching his head to hers. He looked around as if help might suddenly present itself from the shadows, but of course it never would. He alone had caused this, and he was alone now.

Call him...

"Julian!" His voice carried down the alleyway and echoed back to him, unanswered and alone. "Julian!" He cried out again, and still no answer. Stumbling down the empty, dark street with Miriam in his arms, he strained with every fiber in his being to seek out the one person on earth he had somehow learned to hate.

Julian had been running flat out towards the place he thought, prayed Vivian would be. He'd seen it... He'd seen him bite, seen him drink and the girl fall limp. He... He might be too late. Late because Catherine had to wallow in self pity for those precious minutes.

No, he couldn't think like that. He couldn't blame her.

He froze though as his ears picked up his name, his name in Vivian's voice, clear as day.

He ran towards it as fast as possible and only slowed when he saw a figure coming up the dark street near the White Mice, a figure carying a limp form in it's arms.

"Shit..." He muttered. "Shit... Shitshit..."

"Damnit Viv... What the hell did you do to her!" He snapped suddenly. Not the best of words to say to a brother everyone had thougth dead for more than a year now. But hell... This wasn't the best of circumstanses.

The girl's pulse was waker than normal... But she would be alright if they could keep her from loosing any more blood. But... But how?

"Cat!" He called out behind him, she had to be somewhere near by. "Cat! Hurry up, please! She's loosing a lot of blood! We... We dont' know what to do!" He called out to her, praying she would hear him.

He looked up from the girl into his brother's blue eyes. "I... I tried to get here sooner... I... I knew something like this... Something would happen..." He murmured. And for the first time... "I... I'm sorry... I never meant for any of this to happen Viv..." He appologized. After all, he'd never been truly sorry for anything until that night, until he realized what had happened.

"Just... Just hold on to her... Try to stop the bleeding... I... I don't know what to do. Catherine.. She'll be here soon. She'll help."

He blinked, startled to see a figure, hardly more than a blur it was moving so quickly, approaching. But the scent was unmistakable. His eyes hardened even now, his posture stiffened protectively. He watched himself approach, only it wasn't himself at all. Miriam sighed quietly in his arms, a fragile, weak sound, and his attention returned to her, the woman he loved, the woman he may have killed.

"I didn't...I didn't mean...Miriam, please..."

But what could he say? He shuddered with self-loathing and held her closer as Julian approached. His brother's words were a dull and distant clamor in his ear, and it took a great deal of effort to focus enough to make sense of them.

"She can't die. She can't," it was a whisper--to her, to himself, to his brother. To no one at all but the night that had watched everything from far away.

Cradling Miriam as best he could in one arm, he buried his teeth into the sleeve of his white shirt and tore as much of it from his arm as possible, unconscious tears staining it with light red blotches before it had even touched the wound he had created. Crumpling it, he pressed the cloth to the tears in her skin and kept his hand over it, applying steady pressure. His eyes darkened again, turning on the pale, shocked face of his brother.

"I don't care about you or me." He was stunned at how cold his voice sounded--was it truly him speaking? "I don't care about any of this. Just help me make sure that she doesn't lose her life."

Julian bit his lip slightly. So there was something special about this girl... He'd... Held lost control. He didn't kill because he wanted too, there was another part of his brother. Just like in him. A part that had no real heart at all.

"She'll be okay. We'll think of something. Everything's always been okay in the end." He said with a weak smile.

Vivian's look and words were cold though. As if Julian was here as a mere side object. "If you want to ensure she lives... Turn her, simple as that." He said frowning. He was only here to help. Why did Viv have to be such an ass now? "That's the only thing I know to do. But if you want to just relax and waitCat should be here soon. She'll be okay for a little while. Her pulse is still steady, weak but steady." He muttered the last part with a sigh.

"Go sit down... Or lay her down somewhere. Don't move her about too much." He said sharply. If he were scared, as Julian thought he was, he'd do it, despite the harsh comand.

He clenched his jaw, taken aback by his brother's sharp tone and gradually ashamed of his own irrational anger. How had he come to be like this? In life he hadn't had a temper--he'd been painfully unconfrontational. And somewhere he knew for certain that none of this was Julian's fault. But still, the anger. Always, the anger.

He cursed himself inwardly for not having brought a coat. As it was, he would have to place her on the ground, and he did so very cautiously, kneeling beside her on the ground. His hair fell across his eyes and he was glad. No one should be able to see the fear there. Especially not his brother.

"I can't turn her...she's not ready. Not like this." He looked up at Julian but did not know what to say. Almost a year of not knowing whether his brother was alright, and he had nothing to say to him. "Who...who's Cat?"

It was a feeble try, but it was something. His thoughts were everywhere, all very scattered and all screaming for his attention. But Julian was right about him calming down--correct as always. Was he ever wrong? More anger, and terrible, violent thoughts now that he was so close, close enough to cut. No! Christ, he's your brother!

"Did she turn you? When did it happen?"

Catherine heard his tone, even as far back as she was. Her head lifted and something in her changed. It was like a train changing tracks, her mind went from upset and self-pitying to business-like. Her eyes sharpened for a moment and then she was gone from the spot she had been.

She rematerialized directly in the alley. Her eyes sharpened one the prone body of the young woman who was a mortal. "I'm Cat." She wasn't the same, she was different. A woman in control and a woman that had blocked her emotions out for the moment. She took off her mid-thigh length leather jacket and spread down at the girl that was now laying on the floor.

Catherine knelt and frowned as she looked at the girl. She would be fine, she was young and healthy. It would take maybe two nights before she felt like her own self, but she would be ok. She pressed her cold fingers to the punctures wound and it seemed to simply vanished. She stood up and brushed dirt off her clothes. "She'll be fine, with rest and a lot of food, a lot of iron."

"Are you sure?"

Vivian looked up at the vampiress, his hands trembling in time with his low voice as he gently touched Miriam's disturbingly pale skin. Even so close to her own quiet descent, her beautiful face was still warm to the touch. His fingertips carefully traced the place where his grisly nature had left gaping wounds--but she was healed. Looking slowly from Cat to his brother, his vivid eyes bright with worry and hurt, he cautiously gathered Miriam into his arms and held her close.

"She needs to be someplace safe where she can get well. I...," he paused, struggling to keep himself in check, "I can't take care of her. I'll only hurt her again. Julian, please, will you watch out for her just until she's better? Make sure she's alright? I...I can't stay."

He looked again at the young woman in his arms and did his best to deny the monstrous clenching in his chest. What have I done?

He didn't need to see the fear, he could smell it, he could feel it in the air. And he wanted to comfort his brother, but... But how? He'd lost control and hurt someone he cared about, nearly killing her.

The silence and discomfort was broken by Cat's appearance. She seemed to have gotten over their little discussion in the light of the girl's problem. He stoop back without a sound as Cat took care of the girl and Vivian took her in his arms once more.

"Come on... Lets get her to the apartment. Someplace warm." Julian said with a sigh, smiling slightly at his brother. "She can stay with us if you want Viv." He offered.

But he frowned suddenly as Viv began to chicken out, began to talk about how he couldn't take care of her and couldn't be around her. "Vivian... Stop being a pussy." He said simply, his eyes narrowing. "You fucked up. We all do. But that's no reason to run away." There was anger churning in him, but unlike his brother, he wasn't going to bottle it up.

"That's why you're always the wingman Vivian. Because you're a pussy. Afraid to make a mistake, afraid to even try!" He snapped, clenching and unclenching his fists. He'd never hit his brother, he didn't have that in him, he just needed to do something with his hands. "You obviously care about her... So you're going to run away? Without apologizing? Without trying to set things right? Hell, maybe she's not even mad! But you're just gonna run away?" He took the girl from Vivian's arms and turned to walk away.

"Fine then. Better she has a real man I suppose." He added as a side. But why? Was he trying to provoke his brother into standing up and taking responsibility? Was he trying to make his brother pluck up some hidden courage? No... He was just pissed as hell. Anyone else, he would have just decked them really. But he couldn't hit Vivian, no matter how stupid he was being.

"Don't fucking touch her!"

He had listened to everything his brother had said and none of it seemed particularly shocking to hear--nothing had changed at all in the past year. But when Julian took her from his arms, threatened him in the only way left that could possibly bother him...

Vivian was beside his brother and lifting Miriam back into his own arms in less than a moment, his blue eyes crystallized into the cold, metallic silver that seemed to rule his gaze so often these days. There was a moment when he was certain he could kill his brother right there, and to his shame the thought frightened him. So weak...

"Don't touch her or I swear to God I'll kill you or die trying," he snarled, his low voice rasping with the anger that backed it. "I can take care of her myself, and I don't have a fucking thing to prove to you."

He watched his brother for a moment longer and turned to the vampiress, Julian's companion.

"Thank you for healing her." The vampiress merely touching Miriam's wounds...could any vampire do that?

He glanced once more at his brother but had not a thing to say, and so he turned in the direction of a side alley leading off through the city's backstreets where there was likely to be less of an audience.

"You're right. You don't have anything to prove to me." He said with a grin, letting Vivian take her back. Well, at least it was a step towards the ultimate goal. He hadn't flinched at the threats though. After all, they weren't too far apart in powers more than likely. Vivian hadn't been a vampire too much longer than he had.

But anyways, Cat would probably be able to stop them from coming to blows. Hah, like he would. No matter how angry he got, Julian wouldn't hurt him. He knew the torture they were both going through.

"Vivian. Don't leave. You might not have anything to prove to me, but what about her. You love her don't you? She gave herself willingly to you and that's what her trust gets her? Doesn't she deserve better?" He asked simply, following him a little ways.

"Come home Viv. Adrien misses you. We've both been waiting for you, we have. We knew you were out there. Even when mom and dad gave up hope, we didn't." He was pleading softly. He'd gotten Vivian to sort out the fact he couldn't give the girl up, now he just needed to get him to come back home.

"Vivian. We can help you. Cat, she's my sire. She did this so I could find you! I wanted to find you so much that when I found out what happened, I begged her to turn me alright. I wanted to see you again. I wanted you to come back so we could all be a family again! And... And you're just running away?" He didn't have to tell Viv that he had also done it to be with Cat because he loved her so much as well.

He... He hadn't even told Cat that. He wanted to, but he just didn't know how. And after hurting her so much...

"Viv. We need you. And she needs you to learn how to control yourself. Cat and I... We can help you."

He walked on a ways, irritated by his brother's questions about Miriam. Of course she deserved better! He had seriously fucked up, okay? He wasn't an idiot. At least, not completely. And what made Julian think he could fix this? What made him think Vivian would let him try to fix this? It was none of his damned business.

Vivian had had no intention of staying, but mention of Adrien made him pause.

“Adrien?” He turned, confused, to face his brother and gently repositioned his hold on Miriam. “Does she know about us?” How could she? A knot of anger rose in his stomach at the thought of her being turned and reduced to this damnable state. Certainly that wasn't the plan, not for her, not for their little sister, too...

But how could they have the answers? They'd never seen him kill. They didn't know what he could be like. And yet the vampiress, Cat, from the way she had healed Miriam, she had to be considerably older than both of them. Perhaps she did know. It wasn't impossible.

"What happened to our family?" He posed the question cautiously, unconsciously stepping in their direction. Truthfully, he wasn't so sure he wanted to hear all the details of how their parents had handled the "death" of their two sons.

"I told her... Don't worry, she's not like us." He assured his brother. "She knew you were still alive too. Mom and dad got tired of her and all so they kicked her out, so she's living with her boyfriend in the city. You know, that guy I nearly beat to death that one time?" He said with a grin.

"But she came into my room doing the day... thought I was dead. I had to tell her, you know how insistent she can be some times. But yeah, she knows, and she wants to be with us too one day Viv. We'll all be together again. You're not alone anymore." He told his brother as he stepped forward, putting a hand on Vivian's shoulder.

"Mom and dad know I'm alive. You don't have to be dead to the world. You can get everything back Vivian. Cat, Adrien and I... We can help you, so can Miriam." He'd fished her name from Vivian's confused mind. "We can come up with some story, why you were gone.... And we can all be a family again. You don't know how much I've missed you bro."

Julian though had seen him kill. Had seen his cries for help as he turned into a monster of blood. He had seen, and that was why he wanted to help. They were not like that. They were not killers.

"Sounds like Mom and Dad," he muttered.

Vivian looked down at Miriam again, peaceful and beautiful even after all this mess. She needed to be somewhere warm, somewhere she could rest, and she needed it soon. Maybe he didn't have to be on his own after all. If Julian had already done it and Adrien was there...

"Okay," he relented, looking again at the face that matched his own but was, somehow, completely different. He nodded once, his jaw clenched decisively. "I...I don't have much to contribute. I don't even have any money except what was in the bank before...before this."

It was difficult to believe everything could be the same as it had been before. He felt foolishly hopeful thinking about it, but he knew that he did want it all back. After all these nights of reckless wandering and unimaginable murder, he did want things to be normal again.

He nodded towards the street, the decision made.

"Where do you live?"