Unbroken—(by rayv)

Ray stood glaring at Bradley and his "date", undaunted by his threat.

"Get the hell out of my room!" he repeated, menace apparent in his usually amused expression. It was obvious that he was trying to scare her away, but it wasn't working, not tonight. He was quite an unsettling sight, but it was nothing that Ray hadn't seen before.

His extraordinary green eyes shone with anger, his mouth twisted in a snarl revealing his sharp, bloodstained fangs. His usually ordered silver hair was a mess, tousled all over his head, much resembling, to Ray's amusement, a silver pom-pom. Ray stifled a giggle.

She found it amazing that Bradley could look so savage and alien, and yet at the same time be completely stunning. She had known the vampire for years and his looks still managed to astound her.

"Well, I would………….but here's the thing: It's 3:00 in the morning, and I, being the lowly human that I am, actually need to get some SLEEP!" She paused for a second to throw in an extra dirty look at her companion.

"You and your "friend" here have been making enough noise to raise the dead. Now I know that you're a sick bastard with no regard for human life, and any other night I could ignore that, but it's THREE O'CLOCK!! I came up here to make sure that you weren't doing anything too……….violent to the poor girl."

"Out of sight, out of mind, huh?" Ray could see that Bradley was back to his old self again, irritating as he was. He was smiling angelically at her now. "What ever would make you fear for the safety of this lovely girl? Me?"

"Cut the crap, Redfern. What you do in your spare time is of no concern to me as long as you keep it to yourself. So just try not to wake up the whole neighborhood with your bedroom antics, hmm?"

"Oh, my dear, that wouldn't be any fun." He had now lowered his head to the unlucky girl's neck. He slowly and seductively licked off a stray drop of blood.

Rayven cringed. She had no problem with the sight of blood, that wasn't what bothered her. What bothered her was Bradley himself, and his complete disregard for this girl. Sometimes he made her sick with the way he treated humans. Often, she wondered why he had bothered to join Circle Daybreak. Brad was a true Night Worlder, both physically and mentally. He just happened to have a human soulmate, that was all. Being attached to a human hadn't done much for his personality, though, Ray thought.

When she had first met him, Bradley had been a wicked, human hating, womanizing, terrifying, and all around sarcastic vampire. Well, he didn't scare her anymore. Most of the time, at least.

Ray sighed loudly. "Look Bradley, I don't think that I could take getting into a fight with you right now, not off of a half an hour's sleep, anyway. So please, can you just be a decent guy for once and let me sleep?" She pleaded to him with her eyes.

Bradley still looked amused, but he said, "All right. I'm done with her anyway." He gripped the girl around her shoulders and lifted her out of his bed. He started to drag her towards their living room. Ray nearly blushed when she saw that all he was wearing were his boxers.

Bradley stopped when he saw the expression on her face. Obviously amused at her reaction, he said, "What, like you haven't seen me in less?" This did not help to stop Ray from blushing.

Laughing suddenly, he beckoned toward the door. "Here, open this for me so I can put her on the couch." Ray did as asked.

"When do you ever get any sleep, Brad? It doesn't seem like you would ever have any time, what with these late-night snacks." She said this with obvious distaste, but Bradley ignored her as he said, "Whenever I don't have anything else to do. It's as good a way as any to pass the time." He tilted his head as he peered at her.

"Don't you think?" He laid the girl down on the couch, not gently. He then proceeded to sprawl himself out on the loveseat, displaying his magnificent body. Ray sat down in the recliner across from him and yawned.

"Geez, it's already 3:30." She said glancing at the grandfather clock behind Bradley.

"You should get to bed, you haven't gotten much sleep all week." Bradley looked vaguely concerned. Which was about as concerned as he ever looked. Ray was touched.

"No thanks to you." She tried to sound angry, but all of her energy was gone. He was right, she hadn't gotten much sleep during the last week, but it wasn't Bradley's fault. She had come down with a sudden case of insomnia. She had lied in her bed and stared at the ceiling for five nights straight. Tonight had been the first night in what seemed like decades that she actually felt sleepy. How Bradley knew about her affliction, she didn't know. At the moment, she didn't especially care, either.

She found herself barely able to keep her eyes open all of the sudden. She slumped against the arm of the recliner, and stayed in that uncomfortable position for a couple of minutes, too tired to move. After a little while, strong arms wrapped around her and picked her up. She begrudgingly opened her eyes to see Bradley looking down on her, smiling. He was cradling her against his naked chest, and wherever their bare skin touched little sparks danced. The pink fuzz clouded her head as he carried her to her room and set her down in her bed, gently, unlike as it was with the other girl.

"Goodnight, love." He said, knowing that the pet name would irritate her.

"Goodnight, bastard." She whispered. She heard him laugh as he closed the door and she drifted off to sleep.

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