Another late night in the city of Demaitre. This was a common thing for Siegfried, for a creature of the night. The city always seemed crowded yet oddly enough, Siegfried had actually found a place that was surprisingly quiet and quiet looking. For a city like Demaitre, this was usually a bad place to find as it usually meant trouble. Even as he walked towards one of the larger buildings, he knew himself to be in a place that was deserted, save for the undesirables. Tempting fate, even if he doubted anyone here would be able to hurt him, Siegfried actually smiled as he stopped in front of what was once a school. He rather enjoyed the quiet nature of this neighborhood despite any risk of attacks from gang members. There were some around, watching and waiting to strike. Siegfried knew this to be so but he was still unafraid. A rather small group, only three or four gang members, was clearly visible and were there any observers, the intent of this group was easy to figure out. Though Siegfried did look intimidating to many, these guys thought he'd be easy pickings. He muttered under his breath. "Let them come. They only seek their own demise."

Floriana sipped her coffee slowly, trying not to burn her tongue on the scalding liquid, no matter how tasty it smelled. Tonight, she was sitting in her car doing a stakeout on a local area where some drug dealing had been witnessed. That meant that she couldn't leave until someone came to relieve her, like Settingeano for instance. Forget that partners were supposed to be together, they decided to take shifts instead of both pulling an all nighter. That, and Floriana didn't feel like being cooped up with the insufferable prick for the entire night. She might just strangle him.

"Floriana, how goes it?" came his annoying voice over the walkie talkie.

Picking it up off the seat next to her, she pushed the talk button. "Settingeano, you really don't know how to make someone happy. You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"Hey, I have my reasons. I'll have you know I have to fill out a lot of paper work on this case."

Rolling her eyes, the female detective picked up the binoculars from her lap and checked out what appeared to be a congregation of gangsters. They appeared to be surrounding one man. Rivalry? Maybe, she couldn't quite make out what was happening. Squiting, she saw that the man in the middle of the party seemed to look vaguely familiar. Her eyes widened as she realized exactly who it was. Siegfried! WTF? What was he doing here? Was he purposely trying to make things more complicated for her?

She hurriedly picked up the walkie talkie. "Listen, I have a situation. I'm going in."

"Ramirez, don't you dare! Wait for -" Her partner's voice was cut off as she slammed her car door.

Using the walls for coverage, she moved swiftly forward, her gun drawn and ready in her hands. She clicked off the safety, just in case. At the corner, she took a deep breath, and jumped out into the open. "Police! Freeze! Put down your weapons, and this won't have to get ugly!" She imagined what they must think, seeing her in some faded jeans and a hoodie. She looked almost exactly like them, except for the gun, but who knows? Maybe they had one of those as well. She sure hoped not.

For a second, it didn't register that Floriana was the cop shouting out to the people closing in on him. Then the wind shifted and his face quickly went from one of calmness to shock. The gang members had shocked looks as well but their reason was entirely different yet in a way the same. Siegfried was shocked because of all the cops there, Floriana was the one to show. The gangsters were shocked simply because a cop was there. Of course there were four of them and only one of her so they grinned and whipped out guns of their own, all of them 9mm semi-autos. They had seemingly forgotten about Siegfried, that is until the guns came into play and he'd deftly given one of them a chop to the neck, causing him to crumple to the ground. This in turn caused two of the remaining three to face their closest, and more immediate threat, Siegfried. Just as Siegfried was facing those two down, the guy still facing Floriana began to take aim, trying to draw a bead on her and take her out.

She saw Siegfried's face change from what appeared to be serene to shock, and she guessed it was because of her. Her mouth faded into a thin line. Well jeez! She was a cop, you know! She did go out and carry a gun and yell at bad guys to stop whatever they were doing and stuff, but this hadn't seemed to register to him. Or, you know, the gangsters. She really should pay more attention to the actual criminals... unless Siegfried WAS actually a criminal! He could be a criminal mastermind smuggling drugs in with the use of his paintings and sculptures! It was a scary thought, but why else would he be hanging out in this part of town? The thought made a sharp pang of pain in Floriana's chest.

That was when the guys pulled out guns of their own. How totally unfair was that?! The big guy in the sky was certainly having a fun time fooling with her. Before she knew what had happened, she saw Siegfried chop down a man. Maybe he did care, even if he was a criminal mastermind. Oh God, that sounded like a cheezy romance novel.

She became aware that a gun was pointed at her, and true to her training, she acted first, firing a shot at the man's shoulder to make him drop the gun. It worked, but the man sent one round at her, and with a strangled gasp of pain, Floriana looked down to see a red stain moving quickly down her arm. As she looked up, tears filled her eyes, and her gun clattered loudly onto the ground.

She should've waited for backup.

The gangsters Siegfried faced and he himself instinctively became distracted by the sound of gunfire, even if expected, and both parties looked angry for someone they didn't want shot got shot. The gangsters saught revenge and immediately turned to fire on Floriana but before they could squeeze the trigger, Siegfried was upon them. He gripped both of them by the arms which held their guns and dealt with them in two different ways. He snapped the arm of one guy before punching him in the face, leaving him out cold with a broken arm and broken nose. The other guy was single handedly thrown into the wall of the building Siegfried was next to, putting a crack in the decaying concrete. He then ran over to Floriana very quickly, knocking out the guy she'd shot along the way, and held her, being careful not to touch the wound. "Floriana! Are you alright!"

As Siegfried checked on Floriana, his deep concern for her safety cause him to forget their location. He was too distracted with her to notice about 15 more goons show up as late reinforcements. These guys did not have guns but rather blunt weapons. They had 5 baseball bats, 7 iron pipes, and 3 knives amongst them. They were advancing slowly, in case Siegfried grabbed the gun and started shooting, but were very confident due to superior numbers.

Like when Siegfried has kissed her, her mind went completely blank, only this wasn't a nice blank, this was an 'oh my fucking GOD, I'm going to die' blank. The blood just kept coming. It reminded her of her first skinned knee, only very much worse. When she'd skinned her knee, there hadn't been lead lodged into it. She was vaguely aware that Siegfried appeared next to her and was talking to her, but what he was saying... she had no idea. It sounded like she had earmuffs on and everyone was very far away. She was a cop, she wasn't supposed to act this way!

Even Floriana knew she was in shock. Somewhere deep in her mind, she knew that she had all the symptoms. Snapping out of it would be a good idea, but she felt that she had the right to act whatever way she wanted considering this was her first gunshot wound. That was another reason not to come out of shock: her owie would hurt more.

Blankly, she looked up and caught sight of the many armed men coming towards them. She blinked. That wasn't a good thing. She turned to Siegfried, and quite calmly said, "Hmm. Baddies. We should maybe retreat... You know, if you don't want to be beaten into a bloody pulp." She giggled. "Wait, I'm already bleeding. I have a headstart!"

Siegfried did not like how things were turning out. There was alot of blood and since it was still coming, he feared she might bleed out on him. The fact that she was obviously in shock only made him more concerned for her safety. There were more people closing in and he'd be damned if he was going to risk Floriana's life by fighting them off. He took the bullet out of her before biting into his own hand and tearing it slightly to cause bloodflow, pressing it to Floriana's wound. He'd heard somewhere that a vampire's blood had a great healing effect when applied to the wounds of mortals and he could only pray this was true. Despite a bit of humor in a vampire praying, the pressure he was putting on the wound would help limit bloodloss. Whether she healed right away or not, he hopes she'd at least clot. He carefully picked her up and gulped as he prepared to run the gauntlet. "Heh, even in this you know how to lighten the mood. Well, wish me luck in this cause if I don't get lucky..."

He didn't have to finish, it was quite obvious as to what he meant. Breaking into a run, he ran through the fresh baddies, turning himself so that every time a pipe or a bat or a knife came towards them, he'd take the hit instead of the injured Floriana. He dashed around the corner, easily able to outrun the goons despite efforts to keep up. He stopped upon hearing sirens and placed Floriana down on the ground so that she leaned against the wall of a building. He was in pretty bad shape, well he would be if mortal. He was covered in bruises from the bats and pipes, sore all over, and their were many stab wounds and slashes. Others might be concerned but it wasn't much to him. Besides, he cared more about floriana than himself right now. "Stay with me. You're going to be alright. I won't let you die."

Floriana stared at him with morbid curiosity as he dug into her arm for the bullet. It probably should have bothered her more, but it didn't. What did bother her was when he bit into his own wrist. She frowned a little. "What are you doing?" He pressed his wrist against her wound, and she blinked at him. "Uh, yes, I might require blood, but somehow, I don't think that's the proper way to give it. And what do you mean, 'wish you luck'? What are you going to do? It better not be anything stupid! I throw a pretty mean punch when I'm mad. I bet I could take you."

Her eyes widened as he charged into the crowd of thugs. Burying her head in his chest, she winced as she heard the sounds of weapons hitting Siegfried, including the squelching sound of a knife penetrating flesh. She clung to him, her hands turning white in the process. Unable to stop herself, she began to cry. When he set her down, she pressed her face into her hands and her shoulders continued to shake for about thirty seconds. Then, she stood up, her eyes burning.

"What the hell was that?! Acting all macho now, are we?! You could have been killed, you daredevil moron! How would that look? That was so stupid - eurg, I have no words for how stupid that was! You could have died!! You should have just left me, and run away yourself! I mean, who's the cop here? Not you, mister! Why do you have to be so damned perfect? Why couldn't you be a coward?!" The waterworks started again, and Floriana sat down, hugging her knees to her.

Siegfried laughed at the way Floriana commented on his little blood act, something that caused him to wince in pain. He then noticed how upset she was getting and realized he just put her through a scary ordeal when it came to concern for his safety. At the time he wasn't thinking too much about himself so he got serious, a caring look on his face as he put his arms around her. "Shhh, don't cry Floriana. I didn't mean to scare you like that but I wasn't trying to be macho. I saw how serious your condition was and I just stopped thinking. I couldn't bare to see you die in front of me like that. I didn't even care how badly injured I ended up if it meant getting you out safely. Saving you...keeping you safe...that was the only thing running through my mind when I charged them. I know it was stupid but keeping you safe was well worht the risk."

The sirens were getting louder and Siegfried doubted the thugs were going to be sticking around. He was sure they'd scattered by now so he'd just wait here with Foriana till help arrived. Though he did wonder how long it'd take for her to notice how quickly she had gotten over the wound and the shock. He just kept her in an embrace, comforting her. "All that matters is that you're safe."

Floriana looked up at him, frowning, her eyes alight. "My condition? I was shot in the arm! It's not like I'd been stabbed with a fork, hit over the head with a barrel and run over by a motorcycle! Jeez! And, in protecting me, you got stabbed and hit like a gazillion times!" Her angry demeanor melted, and she sniffed pathetically at him. "If you die, you're in trouble. You're going to the hospital, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Got it, mister?" She frowned and quirked her mouth. "This is my stubborn face! It always wins! Don't try to tempt its power!"

She leaned into him, resting her head on him. She wondered vaguely what Settingeano would think. He who had tried to sleep with her time and time again for the sole reason of simply being able to tell people that Floriana was indeed a woman. Neh, he didn't matter right now. He could go dance in goop for all she cared. They were both going to get in trouble for not being on the scene together. Hopefully, her injuries would be taken into acount, and she'd be let off easy.

Then it occured to her that her arm didn't hurt much anymore. She shifted slightly in Siegfried's arms, to look at the place that had previously been injured, and saw that while there was still blood on the shirt, the skin was pink and smooth, like it had been healing for weeks. Her eyes widened. WTF? She stared, before turning to Siegfried. "My arm... It's healed." The awe in her voice was trumendous. What could have caused it to heal so quickly. She turned over the events in her mind, and moved back slightly from Siegfried. "What did you do?" There was fear in her voice, and she hated it, but whatever he'd done had not been natural.

Siegfried sighed. "Well, there was alot of blood and you were in shock. That brought you dangerously close to dying and as I said, I don't care how badly hurt I am so long as you're safe. Uh....and I'll go to the hospital if it'll make you happy Floriana. Lest I fall victim to the power of your stubborn face. It's wrath shall be avoided."

Of course her reaction to the arm thing certainly caught him off guard. He was actually hoping that everything would be more or less a haze with the blood loss and just coming out of shock. Apparently vampire blood worked a little too well on humans. He let his mind whir and quickly, but carefully grabbed Floriana's arm, looking at the healed wound with just as much surprise. "I don't believe it! That trick actually works. I just thought she was messing with me but it's true."

Looking to Floriana with a grin, Siegfried made up a story to go along with things, though he was honestly surprised so it should actually sound believable...hopefully. "There was this wierd lady that confornted me one day. She was like one of those creepy fortunetellers so I thought it a joke. She told me that I was special and the whole ego building routine. She then told me that someone I cared about would be hurt and if I pressed my hand to the wound after wetting it with my own blood, the person I cared about would be safe. Back then I didn't believe it since there wasn't anyone I cared about but now....it's really come true. Her prediction telling how I could save the one I cared deeply for. I know it sounds crazy but that's what happened. I don't know how your arm healed but as long as you're alright I don't really care." He embraced Floriana again just as the first cop car arrived on scene.

Contrary to popular belief, Floriana was not stupid, gullible, or blind. His surprise seemed entirely too forced to her. Remember, she interogated criminals. She knew what to look for when trying to decide if someone was lying or not. "Uh huh..." she said slowly, cocking an eyebrow at him with an expression that looked entirely disbelieving. She gave him a little pat on the shoulder and backed up a bit. "Okay, fine, if you don't want to tell me the truth, that's fine Mr. Superhero. I mean, I've only known you for a short time. There's no reason you should tell me." Did her voice sound just a tad offensive? Naw.

Hearing the sound of tires, she looked up and saw Settingeano's new sports car zoom into view. He practically tripped out of the car and came towards them, his gun out. "Freeze!" he yelled. Eyes wide, Floriana held up her hands to her shoulders. Her partner gave an exhasperated sigh. "Not you Ramirez. The goon."

Floriana looked next to her. "You mean Siegfried?" she asked, pointing at him for good measure. "He's not a goon! He saved my life!"

Settingeano did not look entirely convinced. "Are you sure he's not holding you at gunpoint somewhere?" Floriana shook her head. "Alright. I'm taking a lot on faith here." He put away his gun, and took a deep breath. "My God Floriana! What the fuck were you thinking, going in without backup! You stupid woman! It could be both our asses for this! Nevermind, you could have lost your ass!" He calmed down a bit. "I will never understand you."

Smiling, Floriana said,"I love you too Settingeano." It was in a purely joking way. She stood up. "Now, did you call an ambulance? I think we'll need one."

"I did. It's coming." With one last look at her, he climbed back inside his car and started talking on his radio.

Siegfried got a little defensive looking for a moment but conceded to the fact he was lying. He sighed and whispered to her. "I knew you were too smart for such a lame excuse but the truth is just as crazy. I'll tell you later when there are none that can listen in on us." Of course he wasn't going to say he was a vampire. He'd make up a new story about being a blood mage...yeah, that'd work. Be a little modest about it and sheepishly admit that's the only trick he knows. Certainly it'd be more believable than him saying he was part of the undead. Though he'd gladly reveal the truth were he not afraid she'd run away in terror never to speak to him again.

Siegfried shifted so that he could lean against the wall beside Floriana. The thing was, his blood healing and the wounds he recieved helping Floriana caused quite a bit of blood loss so he wasn't healing as he should. There wasn't any way for him to avoid the hospital and hopefully any blood they try to give him will be fresh enough to be considered live blood and not make him worse. He chuckled some and looked at Floriana when her partner returned to his car to use the radio. "Heh, you think he could be more appreciative though he sounds like he's got quite the stick in him. You gonna live cause saving you is dangerous work. Heh, guess we're fated or something. Out of all the cops in the force that could have been there to try and stop my attackers, it was you. One hell of a relationship, isn' it?"

Floriana raised an eyebrow and stared at him with sarcastic understanding. "Trust me, I've seen crazy things. 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' used to be my favourite show, mind you they didn't have people that could heal by touch. I'm expecting a mighty fine answer from you. I'll know if you're lying! I'm like my own lie detector, so no funny ideas!" Oh yes, if he lied to her again, he'd be in major trouble. She put on her stubborn face just to prove it to him. There was no way he was going to tempt its power. If he did, there would be reeeally bad consequences.

Seeing him try to get to the wall, the Italian woman helped him with kind hands, despite her stubborn expression. "Don't worry, the ambulance will -" She heard more tires. "Alright, the ambulance is here." Hearing his remarks about Settingeano, Floriana gave a wry smile. "Yup, that's him. Doesn't get too overly big with the praise." She gave him another, softer smile. "Thank you. I'm sure I'm going to live. Pfft, I did nothing more than get shot. You did all the work. Makes me all humble inside." She snickered, thinking about his comment. "Hmm, I've had worse."

Siegfried smiled warmly as Floriana helped him. "Oh believe me, it's a good one alright. And believe me, I wish to avoid making you mad at me at all cost. I very much want to stay in your good graces. Definitely don't want you going away. Though you shouldn't feel so humble inside. You took one of those guys down too and if you hadn't done so you could have been hit in a more fatal spot and I would have been screwed too. You distracted them enough and even gave me the inspiriation to do that crazy stuff. Oh the things we do for the ones we lo..."

He got quiet and a slight crimson appeared on his cheeks. He looked over to the ambulance and nodded towards it. "If it bothers you though, I'd REALLY appreciate it if you helped me over to the medics. And uh....there's something I want to ask you. Would you like to go out for dinner sometime? I mean, it'd finally give us a chance to go on some kind of date and make it all official to the rest of the world. Besides, it'll be fun showing you off and maybe even being shown off to others. So, what do you say?"

Floriana laughed. "You should avoid making me mad. I take after my mother you know. With the anger at least, not the whole 'get a boyfriend' thing." Floriana exaggerated her mother's Italian accent and made it squeaky. She sighed, looking at him like she was humoring him. "Right. I shot one of them. Kudos to me. You took out how many? Two? More? Maybe you should be the detective, and I should be the art dealer. It would work, except for the fact that I know nothing about art." She smiled, and blushed when he trailed off. "Crazy, isn't it?" She left it at that.

She stood up and took him under the arm, pulling him up. "No problem. Call me nurse lady." She smiled. "I'd love to go out with you, but I'm tied up every night this week except Saturday, and that's the night I promised to go have dinner with my family." She paused. No, no, she wouldn't even ask. Just thinking about it made her queasy. There's no way she could subject him to such pure hell, but she sounded so rude, like she was trying to blow him off with excuses, which she wasn't. How annoying. It looked like she'd have to ask. "You could come, if you'd like. To dinner with my family... If you don't have a fear of castration. My mother may want me married, but my father... not so much." She waved her hand. "But he'll be fine. I promise. And my mom? She makes excellent pasta. You should come."

Siegfried waited until he was safely resting in the back of the ambulance, Floriana still with him, before speaking again. "It sure is.....and believe me, you're a better detective. I could never do it, put myself in such danger every single day. One of the reasons I chose the job I have now. In that way, you're a braver person than I am. It took you being in danger for me to fight the way I did. Hmm, dinner at your parent's house? Looks like you get to show me off first and I do not fear the wrath of the father. If I got through those thugs with such ease, your dad shouldn't be difficult. Just gotta impress him, make him see that I'm the perfect guy for you. Besides, I can't say no when you mentioned there'd be good pasta now can I?" Siegfried flashed a grin and gently kissed Floriana.

(not a long one but it should do)

Floriana laughed nervously. She scratched underneath her chin, and avoided eye contact with Siegfried for a moment. "Uh, yeah, I mean, those guys? Much scarier than my father. My father's a kitten compared to them." A psychopath kitten with raving claws of death, that is. She didn't say anything, because she didn't want to frighten Siegfried into not showing, but she'd take thugs any day when compared with what her father does to the men in her life. One of her dates left crying once. It had not been a pleasant experience. Amusing, perhaps, but not pleasant. It took a whole month before anyone asked her out again.

She replied softly to the kiss, before backing away. "Have fun at the hospital. Get all your shots before you come over. I don't want to catch anything," she joked, smiling. "Take care of yourself, and get yourself bandaged up, you hear me? No more macho guy." The ambulance technicians made her get out, and she waved to him as the doors closed.

The way Floriana avoided making eye contact and her nervousness when it came to her father told Siegfried that she really thought her father might be a little much. Even so, he'd already agreed to the dinner and he wanted to do this. Better to gain respect in the early stages rather than wait for the hatred to build up over time before trying. He nodded and agreed with what Floriana was saying to him during those moments right before and during her removal from the ambulance. One might confuse them for one of those couples that had been together quite some time simply because it looked like one of those classic "Yes dear" scenes.

During the trip to the hospital, Siegfried had recovered enough for him to walk in and then leave as soon as the paramedics that brought him in went back on the streets. He'd head back home but because of the blood loss, he'd have to feed again a little earlier than usual. This was someone that could be called innocent so he did the same feeding as with Floriana, taking just what was needed and keeping the food alive. Although now Floriana was more than food.

(Guess we're done.)