Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Game or the characters, I accept this and have learned to go on with my life... sort of...

Notes: This is a Ishtar/Duzell fic... I kind of cut it off at the end to keep it teen rated. I thought about continuing and rating it mature, but I didn't... oh well, some of you are probably very thankful for that...

Loving Storms

Ishtar leaned against the railing of her balcony, looking out into the night. A cool breeze wrapped around her slender body, making her ebony hair sway around her. It was cloudy, so no moon was visible. There was a moistness in the air that hinted that rain might come soon. She closed her eyes and tried to let the night air wash away all of the thoughts that were troubling her.

"You've been out here for quite a while." Came a familiar voice behind her. She opened her eyes and turned to face Duzell.

"Yeah…" Duzell came to stand by her and she turned back out to the night.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know… I guess it's nothing."

"Anything that can make you stand in one place for more than five minutes is not nothing." Ishtar turned and scowled at him.

"What are you saying?! I can stay still if I want to!"

"But that's the thing; you never want to." Her expression softened as she stared into the vampire's face.

"Yeah, I guess…" She looked away.

"So tell me what's going on. After all, I am your doctor." Ishtar smiled.

"I've just been thinking… you know how I've always said that I love Darres?" Duzell nodded rather curious as to where this could possibly be going. "Ever since I was little, Darres has been there… no matter how much trouble I caused him, he would always stay by my side. I think that's why I loved him. No one else ever really cared for me like the way he did."

Duzell listened to her silently as she continued to stare at oblivion.

"But her lately…I've found myself not thinking so much about Darres, but someone else… I don't really understand why. Darres has always been the one I loved… Why should that change now?"

"Maybe you were not really meant to love him, and you just had to wit for the other person to appear." Duzell offered quietly.

"But… I know that I had very little chance of getting to be with Darres… but at least there was a chance no matter how small. With this other person, there is absolutely no chance at all."

"How can you know that? Have you told this person how you feel?"

"How could I? He would never want to see me again if he knew…." She turned to face Duzell again and gazed into his eyes. She was so lost and confused. Who did she truly love? Deep sown, she knew the answer, but it saddened her so much to know that her love would never be returned. A single tear fell from her eyes as water began to escape from the sky. She looked up as the rain increased, glad that it came in time to hide her tears. Duzell gently pulled her head down to face him once more.

"You're getting wet. Shouldn't we go inside?" She shook her head. No, she didn't want to go inside. The cool rain felt good on her soft skin. She wanted it to cleanse her and rid her of all of the confusion. As the temperature dropped, she shivered slightly.

Duzell noticed and pulled her towards him, wrapping his long black cloak around her small form. She leaned into him, his cloak surprisingly warm. Lifting her head, she saw that he had been staring down at her.

"What?" She asked him. He couldn't tell her the truth; that her sweet, almost innocent, beauty had captivated him.

"Nothing…" he replied as he shook his head.

Unaware of what he was doing, Duzell slowly lowered his head until his face was inches from her's. He could feel her warm breath on his cold cheek. To his astonishment, Ishtar straightened her neck, raising herself up to him, causing her warm, soft lips to brush against his cold ones.

Duzell was unsure of what to do. Surely she didn't want him to kiss her? After a moment's slight hesitation, he closed the narrow gap between their lips. He expected her to resist, but she didn't. In fact, she returned his kiss.

He pulled back and stared at her in awe. "Ishtar…"

"It's you…I was talking about you… I love you." She told him quickly before she lost the courage to.

"What…?" Duzell couldn't believe what he was hearing. She loved him? How is that even possible? He had killed her ancestor and was back to kill his reincarnation. He was the king of the vampires! How could she possibly love him?

"I love you." She said again.

"Think about what you're saying… Think about who you're saying it to!" he said holding up a hand. He didn't dare to think that she might mean it.

She took his hand in her's and gave him a determined look.

"I know what I'm saying. I love you, Duzie. You said that I should tell the person my feelings…so I am!"

Duzell finally allowed himself to believe her. He reached out with his other hand and caressed her beautiful face. She closed her eyes and leaned into his cold hand. Somehow he thought that the falling rain made her even more beautiful.

"I…I love you too…" he said quietly. She opened her.

"You do?" She asked hopefully. She never dreamed, even after their kiss that he would actually return her love.

He nodded as he leaned in to kiss her rain-drenched lips.

Ishtar raised her arms and wrapped them around Duzell's neck causing his dark cloak to fall from her shoulders. Her silk dress clung closely to her body as rain soaked all the way through, revealing every curve of her figure.

Duzell caught himself staring at her rain washed form. He pulled back, shaking his head. He couldn't let this go any further. She was a princess; he was a vampire. Not exactly an accepted match.

"Come on…you'll get sick if you stay out here." he forced himself to turn away from her and to go back inside. Once inside of her warm, dry room, he just stood there. He wanted so much to go back out there and never let her go.

"You're dripping." Ishtar said quietly as she entered behind him and closed the balcony door.

"Sorry, I'll leave." He started towards the door but stopped when he felt a delicate hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be silly. Give me your wet clothes and I'll have one of the maids clean and dry them." He just looked at her, wanting to keep as many layers between them as possible for fear of what he might do if those layers were to disappear.

When he made no move to remove them the wet clothes, Ishtar approached him and started to do it for him.

"Wait." Duzell protested as his pale chest was revealed.

"Come on Duzie! You can't just stand around in wet clothes!" A look in her eyes told him not to argue. Finally he gave into his desires. He placed his hands on her cold, wet shoulders.

"You're right…" he lifted the spaghetti straps of her soaked dress and peeled it off of her, exposing her beautiful doll-like features. He kissed her passionately as he maneuvered her to her bed. He caressed her body with tender kisses as lightening struck outside.

"Ishtar, are you ok with this?" He asked. He didn't want to do anything she wasn't ready for.

"Yes"

As the storm raged outside, the spoiled princess and the vampire king finally were able to express their love and become one, if only for a single night.