It was the end of the Spring term, and finals were just about over. All she had left was her Marketing one tomorrow afternoon and then she'd be free to enjoy the longer days, the warmer nights.

Providing that Felix actually let her enjoy him.

There were times that Eire wanted him around... Times when he was actually a gentleman, a charming man who seemed as though he wouldn't hurt a fly. But he would fall out of that facade so easily that she never knew when that part of him would just vanish.

Wearing a pair of flannel pants and a tank top, Eire was ready for a night of just chilling. Felix probably had other plans or something, as it was already an hour past dark and he wasn't showing up. Her roomie, Jessica, was at an end of the term party at her sorority, so she probably wouldn't be back until the morning most likely.

So she had the door to herself.

Sprawled out on the couch, she had a pint of ice cream in one hand, a spoon in the other as she flicked on the DVD. She'd figured a Die Hard marathon would be good. Action, but not too bloody and gory like Rambo or something.

She was content as a cat in a warm window sill really. The whole night ahead of her. No one to bother her. What could possibly be better?

Ferox, as much as he liked the long, cool nights of winter, appreciated the summer as well. The warmer air was sometimes problematic as it made his cool skin stick out, but it was also a nice change. Ambling through the Demaitre University campus, he did stick out a little in his tan summer suit and open-collared shirt, but he didn't mind as he didn't intend to linger any longer than was necessary.

He smiled to himself, though it was more of a baring of teeth than a true smile. As far as things went, he felt certain that Eire would be almost as glad to be rid of him as he would be her. The dark-haired vampire paused as young Asian woman passed in front of him and impulsively took her hand. Smiling at her, he spoke, "Hi, there. I'm going to go into this building. I won't be long. Why don't you wait for me?" he suggested casually, watching her eyes blank for a second before she nodded agreeably. Still smiling, he added, "You can wait over there, if you'd like. Oh, and while you're waiting, why don't you break any appointments you might have? For the weekend."

She nodded again, still smiling, and pulled out her cell phone as she wandered off in the direction he'd indicated. Ferox smiled as well. A little reward for himself, he thought as he swiped his fake student ID card and let himself into the dormitory, to make up for dealing with Eire.

He let himself in her room as well, silently, and studied her for a moment. Pursing his lips slightly as he looked at her, Ferox decided it was too bad that things had turned out the way they had. Any other time, he might have quite enjoyed fucking her regularly. "Yippee ki-yay?" Ferox intoned dryly.

The opening of the door had been masked by the round of machine gun fire in the movie, so it was only as Felix spoke that Eire looked up.

There was a frown on her face, but not that unpleasant of one.

"Well... There goes my quiet night huh?" She said, raising an eyebrow as she grabbed the remote, pausing the DVD. She wasn't going to give him the pleasure of making her miss even one frame of the movie.

He was as handsome as always really, with that air of danger he had giving him even more appeal. And it wasn't like she even bothered to disguise the lust in her eyes as she looked him over. Eire wouldn't deny that she was physically attracted to him, but as was always said, beauty is only skin deep.

"To what can I owe the pleasure of your company tonight then?" She said with a bit of a smirk, trying to hide her irritation. She was just starting to enjoy her time alone. "You look fed enough... And you hardly ever come calling for sex." She stated, taking another bite of her ice cream.

Ferox glanced at the screen as Eire spoke, paused the movie. "I suppose so." He shrugged a little, but added, "Sorry." The vampire glanced around, his dark grey eyes mostly disinterested. "Your roommate's out? Good."

He seemed a little distracted, actually, and brushed absently at his hair, tugged on a lapel. When he stepped in front of a mirror, nothing showed back. And yet, he still managed to look perfect, if a little absentminded at the moment. "Pleasure, is it?" his lips quirked a little, "I just bet."

Ferox sighed and dropped, uninvited, into a worn easy chair in the corner of the room, glanced around again without any apparent interest, though he did pause on the fish tank on a small stand. Probably the roommate's, whatever her name was. He tuned in in time to catch the tail end of her sentence, and flashed a brief smile. "Don't I?"

"But, no, this is business, not... pleasure." As if it was ever a pleasure. "Actually... Eire..." he flicked at his lapel again, his hesitation seeming both genuine and out of place. Since when was Ferox ever hesitant about anything? "Well, I guess I should just say it plain, right?" He leaned back in the chair, carelessly at ease now. "I want out."

Eire frowned as she watched him. He seemed almost... Lost. Usually it was as if he was in control of everything around him, or at least that was how he acted. But now... Something was different, something wasn't quite right.

She put the carton down and sat up, leaning against the edge closest to him.

"What's wrong Felix? It's gotta be some heavy shit if you're all flustered." And he couldn't say he wasn't, because she'd been around him enough to know. "You just never seem lie the kind of guy who wants someone to talk to though." She said simply, leaning her chin on her hand.

She blinked slightly as he finally got out what he was trying to say. He wanted out? Out of what? If he wanted out of her dorm, why was he here to begin with? So that couldn't be it. Eire frowned angrily as she realized what he meant. There was only one other thing he could possibly want out of.

"No." She said simply, finally. "No way Felix. No way in hell am I going to let this thing cave so easily." She shook her head. Realizing that this might take a while, she stood and took her ice cream to the freezer and tucked it back.

"Like I told you. Not until JJ's away, out of this city, or she knows just what you are." She said, coming back into the living room, her arms crossed firmly over her chest. No wonder why he seemed so out of control. Because this was the one thing that had always been in her court. "Why would I agree to this when I know damn well what you're going to do to her?"

Ferox smiled as she frowned out him, as if puzzling over what he'd said and, more importantly, how he'd said it. The same old Ferox, playing his games, because it was obvious now that he'd known exactly what he'd wanted to say and how to say it and all the lapel-tugging had been for his own amusement. Because she got a funny little crease between her eyes when she couldn't quite figure him out.

Listening as she snapped at him, in her deliciously Eire way, Ferox lazily waved a hand at the fridge she had just left behind. The door opened and a beer came floating out. Ferox plucked it out of the air, studied the label for a moment. Not his preferred brand, but it would do.

"Why would you agree? Come on, Eire, why not?" he frowned and popped the top. The dark-haired vampire liked bottles better, but at least it was cold. "You don't like me. I don't like you. This whole thing was ridiculous to begin with." Ferox took a sip of the beer. "Jesus. Goat piss."

Setting the can down, he leaned back again, sprawled out on the frayed brown easy chair with every appearance of boredom. "We never agreed that one of us couldn't break off the deal. And, hell, when was the last time you even saw JJ, exactly?" Ferox shrugged and took another swallow of the beer. He'd tasted worse. "So are you saying no to help her or just thwart me?"

"Because! JJ doesn't deserve what you could do to her. She doesn't need to know about this whole damn world, least of all from you." She said, her arms still crossed her fists clenching.

Besides, just because she didn't like him didn't mean she didn't want him.

"Not mine. I drink real stuff." She said stiffly as he commented on the beer.

"But it doesn't matter when the last time I saw her was. She's had enough happen to her already, she doesn't need you along with it." Eire said firmly. Though she couldn't deny that it wasn't just about JJ. She wasn't loosing him. She wasn't letting him go like this!

What... Why did she-

Eire shook her head. "It doesn't matter why Felix. If you break it off, I will have every vampire I know hunt you down if you go near JJ. You breaking it off doesn't mean you get free dibs on her now... You understand?"

Her glare was steady as she moved closer.

"But walking away from me... You loose any hopes of getting near her. Ever." She threatened. Hoping that he wouldn't leave. She wanted him to herself, she never wanted JJ to know about vampires, about the real evil in this world. Her brother might be bad... But Felix was hundreds of times worse.

"This is one game you're not going to win Felix... You won't have her." Was it odd to want to kill someone that at the same time you wanted to feel yourself lose control with? He might have hated her tattoos, but he brought out the tigress in her, he brought out the ferocity and the fight in her. And he seemed to like that well enough. Because he provoked her at nearly every chance he had.

"Every vampire you know?" Ferox slammed the beer down with a sharp snap. "You think your little Enashe friends scare me?" He shot to his feet, crossed to her faster than the eye, the human eye, could track. "You think they're enough to bully me? Go ahead! Call 'em up, Eire. I don't even need my coven behind me." Ferox felt a red, snapping rage burning in his throat, a reaction she seemed to elicit without even trying.

He took a deep breath, visibly calming himself. "Set your puppies on me and if they manage to do anything, you chance retaliation from the Ishak." Composure back, he flashed a cold smile. "And if that ever happened, the Amman themselves might even step in. That's bigger than you want to go."

Ferox gave her a light push as she stepped closer, as if threatening him. He'd had enough of her. He was patient. He was rational. But he could only be pushed so far. "You think you've got it all figured out. You think you're in control. You're wrong, little girl. I'm in control. I have this situation in the palm of my hand."

He stepped back, cool now, almost icy. "I got a visit from the police the other day. About dear Ally. I pointed them in the right direction, but I can just as easily direct them another way." Ferox's dark eyes settled on Eire, as calm and unruffled as ever. "I can lock up her brother if I pull a few strings. Pull some different ones, and she's just a troublesome liar without evidence to back her up."

The vampire picked up the beer as if to take another swallow, then pitched it in disgust. "And I can make sure she has an accident just like little Dylan did."

"The Amman? They'd love to be rid of a monster like you!" She snapped. As he pushed her back, her fists raised slightly, her feet were almost in a fighting stance as if she were going to fight him bare handed without a second thought. "Besides. If it means saving one innocent person from you, then I'd do it."

This was no different than any other fight that they'd had really. He wouldn't hurt her. He wouldn't do more than bruise her because he knew that she had older and more vampires in her corner. Even if she didn't bring in the whole Enashe Coven.

"I've got more on my side than you give me credit for! I'm not as weak or stupid as you think I am Felix!" She defended herself.

She narrowed her eyes though as he threatened JJ. He wouldn't dare... He wouldn't do that to her if he really cared about her. He wouldn't just leave her to suffer.

But her blood felt like it had froze as he mention Dylan. JJ's little brother, probably her best friend. He'd... No... It hadn't been an accident! Felix. Felix had killed him! Her fists wouldn't loosen. They wouldn't stop shaking with a suppressed rage and anger. But why should she hold it back? Why shouldn't she use it? The one she wanted to beat was right in front of her, even if he was a vampire...

She had to try.

"You sick son of a bitch! She trusted you, you knew she cared for him! You fucking asshole!" She nearly screamed as she threw herself at him, her right hand coming around in a fast hook that she could only pray went through.

Ferox laughed. “The Amman don’t give a damn about morality. They just keep the peace.” He laughed again as she raised her fists to him. “What, you’re going to deck me now? Go ahead!” he invited. “Not as weak or stupid as I think you are? Really? Because you sure work hard to prove differently. You think you’re saving innocents from me, Eire dearest?” Ferox bared his teeth. “Want to know what I did last night? I burnt a man alive, from the feet up. Want to know how it smelled? Should I describe how he shit himself in pain and terror? You don't save anyone with your martyring!"

As she swung, connecting with his face with a slight pop of pain, his eyes turned to smoke. "Bitch," he hissed softly, "You go too far." He swung back, the first time he'd struck her with a fist and not an open hand. "You think you can match me?" Ferox snarled, one of his elegant hands fisting in her shirt as he dragged her up so they were eye to eye. "You've been keeping a dragon on a string, you stupid cunt, and I'm sick of it."

He spoke quietly, almost calmly, but for the rage in his eye. Furiously, he tossed her aside as if she were a doll, with an alarmingly casual flick of the wrist. Wrath rarely got the best of Ferox, but it had now. Enraged, he picked her up again, this time driving a fist in her belly, once, twice, then tossed her back onto the bed. Breathing hard from anger, not exertion, he took a moment to slow down. A bit more calmly now, he walked back to the bed, straddling her so that his knees pinned her wrists and he could use his hands to rip aside her shirt. "Eire," the vampire said, his voice flat once more, as he pulled a knife from inside his suit jacket. One-handed, he flicked the blade open, touching it just below her sternum as he continued, "Really, you have two choices here. Stand your ground, and I slice off small pieces of your flesh before I kill you, and then I'll go have a jolly time with Ally anyway. Or just give in and spare us both the tedium. Hmm?"

"Just shut up!" She screamed.

But as her fist hit the side of his face she was surprised that he let her hit him. But then again, it didn't really do anything but piss him off.

As his fist connected with the side of her head in turn, she was knocked a few feet tot he side with the force, falling like a rag doll to the ground. She wasn't out, but she was sure as hell down.

Her head swam as Felix picked her back up. She could barely hold her head up to look at him, and when she did, her vision was messed up, she couldn't focus.

Eire whimpered ever so slightly as he tossed her again, rolling slightly down the hall. She tried to craw away, into her room to call someone, anyone. This really wasn't looking good to her at the moment. But she only got to the door frame as she found herself in the air again, but her cried got cut short as he punched her hard. The girl gasped painfully, coughing, wheezing and trying to get her breath back as she was thrown on to her bed.

He was straddling her before she was even able to move, but she fought against him anyways. "Fuck you! I want you to myself! I don't want you to leave!" She gasped. After all, couldn't hurt to tell him right? "I won't let you go!"

Ferox blinked as he looked down and saw the knife in his hand. In his current mood, he was likely to actually use it, and... well, that would be a damn mess. With no little regret, he folded it, secreting it away in some unknown pocket of his elegant summer suit.

"You want me?" he was, for a moment, baffled. Then he just leaned back and laughed like a loon, his mood leaping from intensely furious to extremely amused in a fingersnap. "Even if that is true, which I doubt, but if the simple truth of the matter is," he tapped a finger on the side of her cheek, "I don't want you. Anymore."

"So, the offer still stands as it was. Die, and I go on my merry. Or live and I still go on my merry." To prove his point, he gripped her throat hard enough to leave bruises behind. Ferox rolled off the bed, fussed with his lapels a little.

He turned back to her, lounging unconcernedly against the desk. "What'll it be? Tick-tock."

She'd called his bluff. He wasn't going to use the knife against her. He was afraid to hurt her or kill her. He knew that it wouldn't be a smart move.

"You... You give me something that he doesn't have... You're dangerous... Wild... I need that... I want it and I want you." She said honestly. But he didn't want her? Why not? He had before. He had loved humiliating her, forcing her to do things and... And now that she wanted him was he just going to leave? Wasn't she fun anymore?

"No... You can't leave." She protested. "Just te-" But she couldn't get her plea out beore his hands were at her throat.

She couldn't breath, she tried pulling at his grip, but his hands wouldn't budge. But he let go and she rolled slightly, gasping for air and coughing.

But she shook her head. No. She wasn't going to lose him and let him get his disgusting hands on JJ. "I won't.... I want you Felix... I don't want you to leave me." All she had to do was find out why he didn't want her. If she found out, then she could change it. Whatever it was, she could change. "And I won't let you touch her... Not when someone wants you here.... Now."

"You're dangerous... wild... I need that. I want it."

What was this? A compliment? Was she, perhaps, playing to his admittedly enormous ego in an attempt to keep her little friend safe? Ferox nearly laughed. His ego might have been a bit inflated, but not enough for him to trip over that.

He stepped towards her again, his hands rough as he grabbed her, stripped away her shirt, bruising as they slipped over her breasts. "This, Eire?" Ferox asked contemptuously, forcing one under her waistband to ram them brutally between her legs, "This is what you want? A wild man, a beast to rut at you, and then collapse with a groan?" Crudely, his strong fingers pinched her soft flesh, twisted, before he shoved at her with a laugh. "It's all you're good for, God knows, but I thought your ego was healthier than that."

He pushed her again, until she was flat against the mattress of the bed, straddled her. "You'd think," Ferox began conversationally, those 'disgusting' hands pressing against her again as her thoughts whispered against his own, "You'd think I'd never get tired of a nice, willing cunt to fuck whenever I felt like it. Something warm... loud." With another laugh, he backhanded her, hard across the cheekbone. "But I've gotten bored rutting you."

She knew it was wrong, she knew that she shouldn't want it, shouldn't want him... But there was something about the way that he treated her that she loved. Eamon loved her too much to do anything that might hurt her... But Felix didn't care about that.

Eamon was soft, gentle and made sure that she felt only pleasure... But Eire had discovered with Felix, that pain could be enjoyed as well. She didn't want to admit it before, but now as he was trying to leave... She didn't want to lose what she had.

A gasp, a sharp cry of that pleasure pain he always gave to her. "Yes!" She nearly demanded. "I want you! Eamon... He treats me like I'm delicate... He thinks that I'm frail and need to be protected. But I don't! I love his soft hands, the way he can bring pleasure to every inch of my body... But he can't make me scream the way you can." She ended up whispering.

Eamon made her cry out in pleasure of course. But scream as if all the world was being ripped away? No... That just wasn't his style. It wasn't a bad thing at all. It was just different.

For a second, as he straddled her, she thought she might have won. Thought that he would agree to keep with her. "What can I d-" But the word ended up as a cry as he struck her hard across the face once more, snapping her head to the side. And after that his words sank in.

He... He was bored? He didn't want her anymore? Was that it? Was that the only reason why he decided to cancel their arrangement?

"Why? What can I do Felix?" She murmured, reaching up to touch his face. "What can I do to make you want me again?" It wasn't her fault she had two different types of wants... Two different desires that couldn't be filled by the man she loved.

Ferox flung himself away, nearly put his hands to his head to tear at his hair in that cliched move of frustration. "You!" he snapped, exasperated, "You, simply by being you! That's what bores me!" He pointed a finger at her, nearly at a loss for words, "You are a simple-minded, frustrating, uninteresting little girl! I can't change you, I can't understand what goes on in that tiny mind, and I can't fucking enjoy you!"

Near the end of his so-called rope, he shook her, hard, so that her head snapped back and forth. "My God, you're too dense to realize when something is over already, done, finished." Ferox slapped impatiently at her hand. Obviously, he'd had no idea what he was getting into when he'd stepped into this arrangement. For someone who professed to hate him and everything about him, she was entirely too hard to shake off.

Really, Ferox was quite simple. He wanted things his way. He wanted to be the puppet master or perhaps sculptor would be the better word. He enjoyed tearing things down and then rebuilding them in a way that would please him and if he couldn't do that, he wanted to be able to understand them and realize what it was that made them what they were. In Eire's case, however, he was giving it up as a bad job. She was fathomless and, to his way of thinking, utterly pointless.

He shook her again, fingers bruising the soft flesh of her arms--where it couldn't even be seen thanks to her hideous tattoos. "You want the bad boy? Go find some nice fledgling or biker to satisfy you. I'm done." Mostly, he wanted to tear her face off of her head, but had decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble of dealing with her insipid little Enashe friends. He wanted to go about his life his way, without any more interruptions or disturbances from her or her fellow idiots. And killing her only promised more headaches.

God. He was like a human, being tied up this way.

He shook her so hard that Eire would have sworn that she felt her brain hit her skull, and the fact that thinking was a little hard... Well she probably had a concussion.

"You... You don't want me because you can't change me..." She muttered. "You don't want me because I'm stronger than you... You can't break me." A grin of triumph came to her face.

"That's what this is about... You thought you'd be able to break me down... Build me like you. But you can't. I'm more stubborn than you, my mind is stronger than you ever gave me cre-" She cried out as she felt herself jerked about once more. But she only laughed as her mind cleared.

"You failed... You failed to do what you wanted to do! You failed to break me because you're too weak!" She laughed again, wincing as a her head began to ache. "You can't break a little human girl because she's too damn strong for you!"

Sure... Taunting a vampire who wanted to kill you might not be the brightest thing, but well, she wasn't exactly thinking straight at the moment.

"Oh, please," Ferox snorted, waving her words away like one might wave away an unpleasant smell. "Being an unchangeable lump of uselessness is hardly something to be proud of. It's like..." he paused for a second to consider, his mask of elegance firmly back in place, "Sand. Gritty, irritating, useless. Except sand at least can be turned into glass." He smiled. "Congratulations. Your worthlessness cannot be trumped even by grime."

The vampire frowned, brushed at the hair that had been disordered as he'd attempted to literally shake some sense into the idiot child. "Why on earth would I want to rebuild you in my image? I have myself as it is. I certainly don't need an inferior, female model to cling to me." He turned back to her, a pleased look on his face. "I suppose if I'm so weak, then I can't be the brute your overcharged libido longs for. You'll have to find some nice, strapping young man with the mental ability of a retarded sloth--I'm sure you two will be very happy together. "

He was twisting her words... He was twisting them around and around just to distort what they mean to fool her. He'd done that enough for her to see it now.

"Don't try that with me!" She snapped. "You're just pissy because I'm not broken for you to reassemble. I'm my own person which is why you're bored of me. But you know exactly how to make me scream, how to run my body to the limits... And I need that... I need someone who doesn't give a damn about me, who doesn't baby me and thing I'm so fragile!"

That was what she was most tired of with Eamon. Even before he couldn't bite her, he'd never take enough to even fill himself because he was afraid he would hurt her.

"I've proven I can take whatever you can dish out... you're not the brutal beast you pretend to be. Maybe that's why you don't want me anymore..." She speculated. All she wanted to do was get him to stay...