Dinner for Two

The alarm bells of the Schola were going off again. Since the nosferatu had begun to group under a new leader there had been more and more attacks, each more organized than the last. I sighed and rubbed my temples as I sprang out of bed to grab my black hoodie and malaika harness. At least I got to hunt now. Back before Sergej, before Graves left, and before I had bloomed, I spent most of my time training and hiding when the higher-ups had conveniently forgotten to tell me about the things that were hunting me that particular week.

I strapped on the harness and, as an afterthought, grabbed my silver loaded switch-blade. All that time running for my life had made me and that knife very close friends. I sprang open the door and ran. It wasn't hard to know where the suckers were. Once you've heard a nosferat scream, it's a sound you'll never forget. That and the anger that was leaking out from them that the touch easily picked up on. I ran into the main hall and watched the blood bath unfolding in front of me.

I saw way too many wolfen and djamphirs laying on the ground bleeding and way too many suckers still standing. With a quick scan of the field I marked my targets and drew my malaika. Now these blood sucking bastard's better watch out. I'm no longer the scared little girl I was when my Dad cam home as a zombie that day in North Dakota. I'm now a fully bloomed, trained, and thoroughly pissed off svetocha.

I jumped into the fray and began the complicated series of slices and jabs that Christophe had been jamming into my head. Anna's blood was always there guiding me through the strokes, but now I had my own training to back it up. The toxic aura that was being released from my pores immediately took out the weak suckers in front of me, but some were just too stupid and had to go down fighting. I raised my swords into 3 formation set preparing to permanently remove the things head from its shoulders. From there I turned my brain on automatic fight mode. Don't chop a friends head off and make sure to kill as many of the bastards as svetochally possible.

That is, I was doing that until I saw my angel who had bitten off a little more than he could chew. Christophe, the djamphir who had protected me and been there when all other lights had gone out, was backed against a wall fending off three hungry suckers and a burner. How a burner managed to show up here tonight is beyond me since they were supposed to be extinct years ago. While I'm more than confident Chris could handle the jerks on his own with time, I was not in the mood to have to stitch him up tonight when this was all over.

I ran over to where he was corned and proceeded to grab the burner's attention. "Svetochaaaa" she hissed after she glimpsed me out of the corner of her eye. I hate it when they do that. I am more than just my species after all. Fortunately her hissing didn't go on for long as I plowed into her with the speed of a fully bloomed svetocha and severed her throat with my trusty switch. A few cuts to some major arteries later and she was left helplessly gurgling in a pile of her own blood.

Then someone got stupid enough to poke me on the shoulder. Still lost in the aspect and the battle rage, I turned and nearly took off the head of the person I had tried to save to begin with. We had just been through a huge fight and this guy doesn't have a hair out of place. It is SO NOT NORMAL! Chris looks me over to make sure I'm not hurt and then murmurs, "Little bird I could have taken great pleasure in finishing that skirmish myself. There was no need to concern yourself, for I had the matter well in hand."

While flicking blood off my blades I paused and looked at him with an even stare to say, "I know but you know it's bad manners to play with your prey". By this time, the fighting had stopped and all of our people were back on their feet. For the wolfen ten pounds of food would have them healed up by the end of the night and the djamphir just needed to sleep and let the aspect take care of any damage.

"Stubborn as ever I see kochana. Looks like we are done here and since you are not injured I propose that I treat you to a nice meal in a place where the dogs aren't shoveling in food."

Thinking about it, I know he's right. The cafeteria's going to be a mess tonight as people try to get the calories they need to heal. "Sounds good. Just let me go change into something that will be less likely to get me arrested by the police." He doesn't have a hair out of place or a drop of blood on him. Me? I'm covered head to toe in blood and I'm pretty sure my bed head was frightening enough before the fight.

"You look lovely Kochana, but I will agree that non-bloody clothing would draw less unwanted attention."

I ran up stairs and after changing, disinfecting, and swapping malaika for a concealed hand gun (you never can be too careful), came back to Christophe. He was talking to some of the others. Probably assigning the poor punishment cases that will have to clean all the blood out of this place.

"I'm ready. Please tell me wherever this fabled food is; there is no dress code right?"

Christophe smiles, knowing my hatred of fancy restaurants. "I promise, no fancy dress required. Your presence will be enough glamour for one night." He turned and grabbed my hand leading me along beside him. However, instead of heading for the doors we were going towards the stairwell to the roof.

"Chris, where are we going? The doors are over there."

"Indeed they are. Just bear with me Dru. Things didn't go quite as planned tonight but I still have something left to salvage."

I looked at him with great curiosity, wondering what his surprise was, but I decided to wait this one out. Christophe's surprises were always worth the wait.

He opened the door to the roof and led me out to my favorite viewpoint in the entire Schola. Sitting on the ledge that overlooked the city lights was a table with place setting for two and food laid out with beautiful candlesticks.

I turned in shock, "When did you have time to set all this up? It's perfect!"

I'm pretty sure Chris flushed a little then but he just said, "I did it while you were sleeping. Now dinner for two Mademoiselle?"

In utter shock I let him help me to my chair and he proceeded to reveal hot dogs from down the Boardwalk. Most girls would have thought that to be ridiculous, but I was touched. Chris new I hated rich living so he went to all this trouble to give me a normal meal with the touch of glamour that inevitably came with being in his presence.

"So what do you think Dru?"

"Chris this is perfect. Thank you for everything. I know I never say it enough, but there is nothing I could ever do to repay the debt that I owe you."

"Kochana, you don't owe me anything. I'm here doing those things because I can and it's where I know I belong. I belong at your side, standing by you no matter what."

I was touched. Despite everything that had happened with Graves, after he left I realized that he was never coming back. It hurt for a while, but then I realized what had been sitting in front of my face for a very long time. The one person that would stand by me and be the one table leg I could balance on without fear of falling. Chris thought of everything and always was there for me. The feelings I had for Graves are gone now. I will always love him, but not the way he wanted in the end. Seeing this wonderful guy in front of me makes me realize that I'm in love with someone else anyway.

"Chris…?"

"Yes Kochana," he says looking out over the sky view. The only thing I could think was how amazing he was and how I would always be in love with him.

"I just wanted to tell you something. Thank you for being you. Even with your over-protective streak, you are the one person I have that I believe will never leave me. And even though I don't deserve a guy like you, I want you to know that all this fighting. The mess that happened with Graves and my family. Despite all of that… I love you, and I don't think I could ever stop even if I wanted to."

For a second Chris just sat there looking utterly shocked. That was the first time I think I ever saw hum truly speechless. Then in a blink of an eye he was standing in front of me looking me in the eyes and making me delirious with that wonderful apple pie scent.

"Kochana, my little bird, you have no idea how long I have wanted to hear you say that."

Next thing I knew, all the blood and pain of those past years was being washed away. Just being with him, the one person in the world I could completely trust was healing the broken taters of my heart. And there, under the stars in the midnight lights of the city, Chris leaned down and captured my lips with his. This was like no other kiss we had shared. This was a promise of love, joy, and an eternity together. There were no suckers, and there was no blood. There was only him and the wonderful feeling of his lips on mine. That was when I knew that I had finally found a home. I belonged with this stubborn, over-protective, wine-loving, djamphir. And there was nowhere else in the world I would rather be.

Author's Note: This is my very first FanFiction so if it was awful I do apologize. Reviews with constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed. With luck, the ideas that sound good in my head will start to sound better with practice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Strange Angels or any of its characters. All rights go to Lili St. Crow.