Cora walked through the forest, she needed to clear her head, it had been crazy this past year. Her lover turned her and then...then everything changed. Her initiation was hell, ironic as the definition was, her love was right, her initiator really wasn't crazy about her, but she was absolutely crazy about her love, so it all worked out fine. As she came to the edge of the forest she looked out to the distance, a huge mansion rose up, towers on either end and turrets jutted out against the sky, crimson colored bricks violently contrasted to the black that decorated the entire house, and shone oddly in the sun set. The sky was a play of reds and purples, oranges and pinks. She approached the large mansion, an aire of death and a baroque appearance was let off of it, as if entering would be a terrible, terrible mistake. Cora walked inside, a feeling of malaise coming from her, the double door entrance caused others to stare at her, some in contempt others in admiration. They were all like her, some just changelings and others were closer to elders. It was a safe-haven of all of her kind, they would never be turned away here, not while she was Mistress of the Manor. She walked over to a young woman, she looked approximately Cora's age, but it was hard to tell by just looks.

"Hello Bella." Cora's smooth scintillating voice wafted out as everyone returned to what they were previously doing.

"Hello darling Cora. How are you?"

"Perfect, and you?"

"Excellent, me and Rok are doing great, he's great to me, there's lots of potential there...lots of it." She said as she watched Cora chuckle. "But yeah, his lust is great."

"Don't I know it." Cora relates. "With Cor I barely ever get a break."

"I know how it is, sometimes you just want a break. But it's all good. Its good in your case though, because you and Corran really love each other."

"Yes, all of what you say is true, its just...sometimes he's just so, overbearing. That's why I'm left earlier. Do you know, is he here currently?"

"No love, he just left to hunt. Why things on your mind?"

"Good, he won't be back for a while. Yeah..." She says sighing heavily. "...I've got a crazy ex back in town, he was the vampire I was with before Cor, he didn't turn me, but there was certainly quite a bit of blood lost from me on his behalf. He was my first taste of undead sex, got it was explosive, he doesn't hold a candle to my love though." She says smiling to herself.

"Whom was it?"

"His name was Dom."

"Dom? As in Dominic Dom? He's an elder girl!"

"I know." Cora replies slightly abashed.

"So he's back huh?"

"Yeah, I just need to think for a while, that's why I wanted to make sure Cor was out, if not, I wouldn't actually get any comprehensive thinking done." She says smiling at the young girl in front of her.

"Well you go ahead and go upstairs, think, do whatever, I can go ahead and take the changelings out tonight."

Shit, I completely forgot about taking the changelings out and teaching them how to hunt

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No, of course not, plus it'll give me an excuse to get away from Rok." Bella laughs.

"Alright, thank you so much."

"No problem, and you know, if you need to talk, I'm always here." Bella says, the vampress in front of her may have been her elder by a bit, but she was like a sister to her, her best friend, so Bella would do anything in her power to help her.

"You don't know what that means to me Bella. I'll see you later." Cora smiles as she heads up stairs.

She walked up stairs and down a darkened hallway, there was various things along the walls, roman columns, various torture implements, and glowing orbs to light the way, they were more for decoration than actual light she didn't need lights to help her see in the dark. As she approached the large door at the end of the hallway it just occurred to her to look at it, before she would just storm in or step inside without it giving it a second look, but this time she wanted to look for some reason. It was large and foreboding, there were chains along it, the door was black as her evil heart, and there, if you looked just so, you could make out fingernail scratchings as if someone had tried to claw their way in. She pushed open the door as it creaked eerily, she surveyed the room, a large master bed, cloaked in blood red satin, a dark cherry oak buero against the wall and a chest of the same sorts against the foot of her bed. There were a set of large double bay door windows with black iron lining all the different lines on them, they were tinted with necro-glass, so no light could get through, just past that was a balcony, not overtly large, but large enough. There was a black silk sofa that was large enough to fit two that overlooked the cast iron and glazed glass railing that went all about the balcony. She laid upon the sofa, pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her chin on her knees. She looked out into the night, it was beautiful out, the starry sky was filled to completion and it honestly took her breath away, or it would if she still breathed. She pondered why he had chosen this time to come back, so lost was she, that she didn't even hear the door open.

Why now, when everything in my life is perfect again, when I'm on top, when me and Cor are great? Does he just want to harm me? If he's come back to try and woo me, I won't survive it, I could never resist him, I never could.

"I never could." She whispers out loud, she jumps slightly as a firm hand comes down on her shoulder, rousing her from her musing quickly.

"Never could what?" He inquires overwhelmingly seductive voice, pitched low so it would take effect on her body. And so it did, chills passed down her spine and she shivered slightly as his breath caressed the nape of her neck. "What are you talking about love?"

"Nothing." She whispers again, he took what little self-control she had and swept it away, all she wanted to do was throw herself at him, but if she did that now, she'd never forgive herself, for there was only one person she'd be thinking about the entire time. Dominic. "I was just thinking, musing, its nothing serious." She says drawing a sharp intake of breath as he began to drop little kisses on her neck, she inclined her head to give him better access and his fangs scraped over where her pulse should be, drawing a sigh from her. He pushed a bit harder with his fangs, but not hard enough to pierce her skin. She turned towards his face, watching it carefully and she kissed him slowly and sensuously. He immediately responded to her kisses, grasping the back of her neck and kissing her intensely, however, she pulled away, turning from him, so only the back of her shoulders faced him. He kissed her between her shoulder blades and questioned:

"What is it? Your acting weird." He says kissing her again, each time bringing her closer, each time shaking the resolve not to do what she desperately wanted to do to him.

"Nothing." She said snappily.

"Liar." He replies smiling deviously, when she was mad at him was when their love was the best.

"Shut up! What do you know about it!" She shrieks at him, snapping her fangs in his face and he murmurs:

"Oh, so your in one of those moods tonight." And plops himself down upon the sofa.

"I'm not 'In one of those moods' as you so brilliantly put it, I'm just...I've got a lot on my mind right now and I'm not in the mood to fuck you senseless...okay?" She says looking over at him, her eyes were a pale, macabre orange, like a harvest moon.

"Alright. It's fine, I understand. I just sense a lot of tension coming from you, maybe sexual...maybe not. But understand this, if you need to talk, I'm here. Besides, it'll make you feel a whole lot less stressed about it." He says smiling slightly. She had never looked more beautiful than she did now, her hair, a delicate platinum color, almost silver, flowed down upon her pale shoulders, surrounding her almost like a cloak. Her lips were pursed sensuously, albeit if she knew it or not, and her tight, black satin dress clung to every curve, making her the most desirable creature on this earth to him, of course, he always thought of her like that.

"I know, but I'm still not going to, I need to be strong, you know that, none of them, the others, our coven of sorts, they've never seen me like this, I hate being vulnerable, I hate having these stupid feelings I cannot control." She says looking down as she runs a thin, alabaster hand through her silvery hair.

"Hey...look here." Cor says and looks at her as she looks up. "I love you. You know that, that's why I changed you in the first place. No one's here now, there's no one to see you break down, so why can't you just tell me what's bugging you?" He probes locking his green cat-like eyes with her own.

"Because, if you knew, if you knew some of the things I've done, and let happen, let's just say you wouldn't want to be around me at all, you'd hate all I am and what I've become." She replies holding his gaze unwaveringly.

He chuckles and gazes deeply into her eyes.

"I love ya too much to hate ya."

She looks deeply into his eyes and thinks.

Maybe, just maybe he wouldn't hate me. Maybe he could understand, maybe he'd accept it, accept me. It was a long time ago, before I knew him, he has to know this was bound to happen, an ex pop out of the woodwork, then why do I feel guilty, I knew it too. Is it because he was a vampire? Or is it because he's an Elder? I don't know, but I just hope he can deal with it, because I've got to tell someone I know is capable of protecting me, Bella, she would do all she could but she wouldn't be much against an Elder who could be planning to seduce me again.

"Alright." She whispers and closes her eyes as she begins to speak. "What if i told you that I slept with the Elder Dominic before I met you..before you..I was with him for five years."

"It doesn't matter baby, your with me now, the past is the past." He says as he pulls her to him cradling her head against his chest.

"But he's back now, he's coming here, tomorrow, he'll be in our home, and I honestly don't have a clue what I'm going to do when he's here."

"I know, you'll be fine, I knew he was coming."

"You know!! Then how can you sit there and tell me I'll be fine?!"

"You are no longer his, your mine, there's nothing he can do, blood...is blood."

"I know I'm not his anymore, and I love you more than words can express, more than I could ever show you. But...you don't know how he is, love. I've never been able to say no to anything he says, he's always held something over me, I never have, ever."

"You can and you will. Are you stupid, your of my blood, and even if that weren't the case, you are the most strong-willed, headstrong woman I've ever met in my life. I can't even control you through our bond. There's no way he's going to be able to." He says comfortingly as he kissing her gently, and all he gets from her is her deep inhaling as if she's considering what he's saying but doesn't believe it herself. "Besides..." He says with an evil smile. "...if he lays a hand on you I'm prepared to kill him myself." And watches her amused smile and her laugh delicately.

"Aww...that's so sweet." She coos and reaches up kissing passionately, then she walks back inside. "He just---gyah! He makes me wanna..." She loses her control as her eyes look at him intensely and then divert to the iron railing and it catches fire.

"Oh great...and you could've just caught me on fire." He says boredly, he was more concerned with what she would actually do when he got here.

"I didn't. And I can't help the fact that he pisses me off, he just gets under my skin for some reason."

"Because you let him darling."

"I don't let him, it's just, sometimes I want to stake him more than anything on this earth, but I know I can't, I don't have anywhere close to that kind of power or speed, if I tried, I'd be dead in a second."

"Your right, you would. Which is why I suggest you not trying anything while he's here to provoke him, if everything goes alright then he'll be here long enough to do what he has to do and leave, without any incident with you. Besides, I'll be by your side the entire time, he won't be able to try anything while I'm around." He looks at the skeptical look in her eyes, it was also written all across her face, and adds. "Come on, you need to relax, let's go relax you good and thorough." He says smiling as he picks her up in his arms and drops her on the bed slowly crawling up on top of her.