Authors note: This is set 2 years after the end of My Love Lies Bleeding, ignoring the Epilogue and any sequels. I wasn't fully satisfied with how the story was finished, and seeing as the rest of the Drake Chronicles are focused on other characters, I decided to continue it myself, focusing more on the relationship between Lucy and Nicholas.

Hope you enjoy it and please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, myths or story shown in the Drake Chronicles. If only I did... *sigh*

Love and Legend

Prologue – 2 Years Later

Lucy's POV

2 years since the infamous showdown between the court of Lady Natasha and the Drakes. Two years since my best friend nearly died. Two years since I realized I was in love Nicholas Drake.

And it's been a fast two years. After the fall of Lady Natasha, the all powerful über bitch of he vampire court, the entire vampire population had been certain Solange would take her place, fulfilling the prophecy and uniting the many vampire clans after centuries of conflict. As her best friend I knew better. Solange never wanted to be a queen. In a century or two maybe but she was just sixteen!

Her refusal to lead led to huge power struggle, with each clan thinking they had the best person for the job. Every clan that was, except the Drakes, who all had little urge to involve themselves in the dispute. Instead Liam - ever the pragmatic negotiator - made all the clans sign a treaty saying the Drakes would accept whoever the eventual leader was in return for the promise that no one outside the Drake family was allowed on their territory (Which extended to the local town, my school and my house) without the permission and supervision of one of the Drakes. Use of any form of drugs or pheromones to gain entry was also a violation of the treaty. The last point was mainly for my benefit, what with my accidentally freeing an assassin sent to kill Solange after the little bastard squirts me with Hypnos.

Once all the clans had signed the treaty, the Drake's and I returned home, expecting everything to be back to normal. And for the first couple of weeks it was. My parents were still away, so I stayed in the Drake's guest room, just in case. The first few days were awkward. Although none of Drake's were surprised by me and Nicholas suddenly becoming an item, they still found it weird when we were couple-ey around them; to be honest so did I. Solange was the worst, she couldn't even be in the same room as Nicholas and me if were anywhere within a meter of each other. It wasn't that she was against us being together, she just needed time to adjust to the change. In the meantime I had to try and split my time between the two, which was exhausting when both of them were strictly nocturnal and I couldn't sleep during the day. In the limited eight hours or so that I managed to stay awake at night I had to try and be a good best friend and help Solange adjust to being a vampire and try to be a good girlfriend. By the end of the first week I was so exhausted that I ended up passing out in the hallway on my way from Nicholas' room to Solange's. The next day I'd woken up in the guest room with a note from Nicholas on my bedside table saying:

"Lucky,

This is getting ridiculous! I know you're just trying to keep everyone happy, but killing yourself in the process is not the way to do it. So me, you and Solange need to talk tonight and then you are going to bed at semi-decent time.

Love you (even if you are an idiot sometimes)

Nicky"

He'd been right, of course, but he didn't know Solange as well as I did. With the way things were at the moment, there was no way we would be able to come up with a compromise that would be satisfying to all parties. So I decided to take action. I needed to find a way of keeping Solange happy so that I could spend some time with Nicholas. And what was that? The boy who had saved her life then run away like the scared little girl he was. The boy who despite his hatred of vampires still loved Solange enough to help her. Kieran Black. And the idiot hadn't even changed his phone number!

"For the last time mum, I don't need –" Kieran's angry voice began.

"Really, is your mum the only person who calls you?" I asked. There was a short pause; I could almost hear the tiny cogs in his brain trying to figure out who it was.

"Lucy?" he asked eventually

"Well done genius!" I replied, before continuing, to tired for the niceties. "Look, you need to talk to Solange and make up with her. I thought you liked her! An explanation is the very least you owe the poor girl."

Kieran sighed and responded in a tired voice, "I know, I just… I don't know what I can say to her. 'I'm sorry I nearly got you killed and I'm sorry I ran off without saying a word!'"

"Well yes your actions weren't quite perfect but I know she'd forgive you if you just saw her and said you were sorry! It's not like you've been gone months, it's only been a week! Not even that really!" My voice was getting a little high; I was worried he was going to say no and I had no other plan.

"Fine, but I can't come to the farm, I pretty certain Helena would kill me." He said

"No, well at least not on your own, but if I was there and Nicholas was there…" I trailed off, finalizing my plan.

"And how exactly do you plan on persuading Nicholas to let me in the farm and see his baby sister who nearly died a few days ago." Kieran asked sceptically.

"Oh trust me, I can persuade him and anyway, you may have nearly had her killed but you also helped to save her. Anyway, I've got to go; they'll be waking up soon. I'll meet you at 9 at the drug store." I said, before quickly adding, "oh and by the way, if you chicken out and aren't there, Helena will be the least of your problems." I hung up before he could reply, and made my way back up to Nicholas' room with a cup of tea. It was nearly 6.30pm and the sun would be setting soon.

I opened the door to his room and tiptoed over to his desk. I placed the mug of tea on the table and sat on the chair bringing my legs up, resting my knees on one of the arms and using them as a make-shift table to rest my mug on. I considered turning the computer on but was worried it would wake Nicholas up, and he was grumpy when he hadn't gotten a proper sleep. So instead I simply sat, sipping my tea and letting my gaze drift around the room. After a few minutes I heard a small moan coming from the direction of the bed.

"If you're going to just sit there and do nothing you might as well come and lie down" he mumbled not even moving from his position.

"I need to finish my tea." I said quietly, knowing that he would never consider that a proper reason. And sure enough as soon as I'd said it he moaned and pulled himself up, glaring at me.

"You can make another cup of tea later!" He said in an exasperated tone. My expression must have been pretty unimpressed; his face softened and he continued in a gentle voice, "You know I can't sleep if I can smell you're this close but not in my arms."

His saying this made my stomach flutter, and I gently put down my mug and moved across the room to lye down next to him. Nicholas lay back down and wrapped his arms around by waist, pulling me close against him and burying his face in my hair, sighing contentedly as he did so. I relaxed slightly and allowed my eyes to drift shut, enjoying the feel of he cool muscular arms around me. It wasn't long before sleep claimed me.

I woke up to the sound of Nicholas moving next to me and the feel of his arms gently moving themselves from around my waist. I groaned and sat up.

"No fair!" I whined, "I was sleeping!"

I shot a groggy glare in Nicholas' direction but he merely smiled and said, "I love you too sweetie."

I groaned again. "Oh God are you trying to make me throw up!"

He feigned disbelief. "Are you saying my love and adoration for you disgust you?"

I rolled my eyes and walked over to where he was standing, bringing my arms up and crossing them behind his neck. "Of course not. I will never tire of hearing you tell me you love me," I said, smiling sweetly, "however, if you ever call me sweetie again I will hurt you in ways you can't possibly imagine."

He smiled and put his arms around my waist, resting his forehead against mine.

"Fine." He agreed before closing the gap between our lips and pressing his gently onto mine. I deepened the kiss, nipping his lip. He smiled against the kiss, his tongue flicking out and dancing with mine. After a few minutes of bliss we came up for air, but not moving any further away than was necessary, looking into each others eyes. We stayed like this for an immeasurable amount of time, enjoying the others closeness. It wasn't until my phone, which I'd left on the desk started buzzing that we broke apart. I sighed and pulled out of Nicholas' embrace checking the message that appeared on the screen. It was from Solange. Although she was only downstairs from us, she preferred to text me first to make sure she wouldn't walk in on any unwanted PDA.

"I'm going to have a shower, but after that I'll be on my way up to talk about this strange joint custody of you that me and Nicholas have. So you have until 9.30. Solange x"

Crap! I forgot about our little meeting. I checked the time. It was nearly 8.30. If we were going to get into town on time we needed to leave now. I'd have to fill Nicholas in and try to persuade him on the way.

I walked over to him, my eyes flicking over the outfit he had changed into, faded black jeans and a red and black T-shirt. The boy did have taste, even if our looks completely clashed. While he went for the rocker grunge look, I went for the hippy gypsy style, with flowey bright patterns and an excess of jewelry and sequins.

I decided to play it cool for now, knowing that if he suspected in any way what I had planned before I had a chance to explain properly Nicholas was never going to agree to help.

"I'm going to the drug store, I need to get some stuff." I said casually, walking towards the desk and picking up the now cold mug of tea. I didn't say anything more, knowing he wouldn't let me go on my own so soon after everything.

He watched me for a long moment, obviously not entirely fooled by my nonchalance. "What do you need to get?" he asked skeptically, moving slowly towards me and holding my gaze.

I wasn't going to let him rattle me, but new that I at least needed to tell him the half truth if this was going to work; he would see right through a full-on lie. Sighing I looked down and said, "I need to talk to away from the house, away from certain vampires with too good hearing." Smiling I looked up and added, "And I really do need to get some more shampoo."

I glanced around apprehensively, as Nicholas kept his gaze on me, his silver eyes probing me, trying to pull whatever was I was keeping from him out of me. He stepped closer towards me, gently lifting my chin, forcing me to meet my gaze. We stayed this way for what seemed like forever, before Nicholas sighed and stepped back. He noticed my worried expression and said, "Lucy, I trust you so you can stop worrying. I just hope you know what you're doing."

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding in. I closed the gap Nicholas had created between us, wrapping my arms around him and resting my cheek against his chest. Nicholas held me close, stroking my hair.

Reluctantly, I pulled away. "We need to go. I'll explain on the way" I added quickly, after Nicholas gave me a questioning look.

We walked down the two flights of stairs to the ground floor and out the door. My 1967 VW Fastback was parked outside. I threw the keys at Nicholas, knowing that he'd want to drive. We drove out of the farm and down the highway into the small town. We remained in silence for about five minutes; I know Nicholas was waiting for me to start explaining, and I was desperately trying to think of a way of putting it that would work.

Eventually I sighed, knotting my hands on my lap and staring down as I started, "Please just let me talk and finish. I know that if you don't listen the whole way through you won't let me explain enough for you to understand." I looked up, and saw Nicholas nod in agreement, then continued. "You were right, what you said in your note. This time splitting isn't working." I paused, thinking of what to say next. After a few seconds I looked up. "Our of the three of us, who knows both you and Solange the best?" Before he had a chance to answer I continued, "I do. So I know that if another factor wasn't thrown into the mix to be considered it would never work. We would all go round in circles with Solange playing the best friend card and you playing the boyfriend card. And I know you're not going to like the other factor I want to bring in, so you need to think before you speak and consider one very important question before you give your answer. Do you trust me?"

"Of - " Nicholas started.

"Uh-uh, you promised you'd let me finish and you need to hear everything before you answer. I called Kieran, and asked him to meet us at the drug store." Nicholas' grip on the steering wheel tightened, but he stayed silence. This was good. "I know he's a bit of an ass, but he loves Solange and he more than proved himself last week. He hasn't contacted her, but she hasn't contacted him either. They're both scared of being rejected by the other, and to be honest, he has more right than her considering her family resistance." I made a pointed look at him. "And this is why you are coming with me. Your family trusts you, so if we both come back with him then he should be able to let him and Solange talk. If they make up then we may be able to come to an agreement. When she's with him I can be with you. So will you help me?"

I kept my eyes on my hands, which had knotting nervously the whole time I had been talking. Neither of us said anything for the remained of the time. The long silence made me nervous, but I knew Nicholas. If he was going to say no, he would have said as soon as he decided. We arrived in town and parked on the high street down from the drug store. Nicholas turned off the engine and turned to face me. I didn't look up, afraid he was angry with me. Sighing he reached over, gently lifting my chin. He then placed his hands on either side of my face. He held my gaze as he spoke.

"I trust you Lucy. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't do anything that you thought was going to hurt Solange." His tone was gentle. "And I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me the truth." He kissed me sweetly on the lips before pulling away and undoing his seatbelt. "Come on." He said, smiling at me. "We'd better hurry if we're going to get back in time."

We walked along the street to the drug store. Standing outside, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot, was Kieran. I felt Nicholas stiffen slightly, honding my hand a little bit tighter as we approached. Kieran saw us, hesitated, then moved forward to meet us.

"Kieran." Nicholas said politely.

"Nicholas." Kieran replied in a slightly nervous tone. He then turned to me, "I hope you actually have a plan Lucy."

"Of course I do. I wouldn't risk this if I didn't but i need the promise from both of you that you will do exactly what i tell you to do. Promise?" I said, passing a glare between the two boys.

Kieran was the first to reply, seeming to not need to give the idea any thought, "I promise."

I looked up at Nicholas, keeping my expression neutral. He knew perfectly well that he could do as he pleased and I couldn't do a damned thing about it. Before we were going out I had no way of making him do anything; things were different now. If he refused to promise, then he would do what he liked, but I knew that if he promised, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to break that promise to me.

Nicholas turned to face me, putting his hand on either side of my face and holding my gaze, "Your plan is well thought out, right? And I don't mean well thought out in Lucy-world, I mean you've really thought about this, because if this time doesn't work, that's it. Mum and dad will never let Kieran near the house again and we're out of options."

I held his gaze, knowing he would see the truth in my eyes, "Yes I have thought about this properly, and yes in real world terms not in the kick-ass terms of my world. I know this is out only option. But I also know that some of the things I tell you to do you won't like."

He held my gaze for a few seconds longer before nodding, "I promise."

"Good." I said, sighing. "Now, lets head back and I'll fill you in on the way."

Twenty minutes later we were back at the house. We all got out the car, and walked towards the house with me at the front and Nicholas bringing up the rear, keeping Kieran safely in between us. As soon as we walked through the door, Liam and Helena descended on us, defensively blocking the stairs. I stopped and Kieran moved to my right side and Nicholas to his.

"Why is he here?" Liam asked, with both the angry protectiveness of a father as well as his scholarly curiosity.

This was Nicholas' job. After my show a few weeks ago, the Drake parents no longer believed I was a good judge of character. I did point out that they also weren't so great, considering how they let the leader of the group planning on killing Solange stay in the house as a guest (sort of). But as adults, they saw there error as of lesser importance. Whatever.

Nicholas took as step forward, placing himself slightly in front of Kieran and closer to me. I reached out and squeezed his hand quickly, hoping to show my support. He smiled at me briefly in response, before turning back to his parents. "He's come to talk to Solange. No this wasn't my idea it was Lucy's but you know that I am always the first to point out the sometimes glaringly obvious flaws in her "fool-proof" plans. And to be honest, I think we judged Kieran too harshly. Yes his first impression was not the best, but he managed to get passed his prejudices." Nicholas sighed at the look of suspicion on his parents eyes. This was it. If this last line didn't work nothing would. In a softer tone he finished, "Lets face it, if it wasn't for him, Solange wouldn't be alive now."

And that was it. I saw both the parents crack. There was no way they could deny it; if he hadn't given her his blood in the crucial moments during her bloodchange, she wouldn't have pulled through. But they weren't done with the interrogations. Instead they turned to me. It was Liam who did the talking, Helena just stared probingly at me. As if I would be stupid enough to lie to her over something so trivial.

"Its not a particularly challenging plan, which is why - as Nicholas so charmingly put it - it doesn't contain the usual "glaringly obvious flaws". The truth is you can't keep her locked up like the princess in the tower forever. She may be the vamp princess or whatever, but she still a sixteen-year-old girl. She needs to experience that once in a lifetime feeling of first love and the joy and pain that comes with it." By the time I'd finished my voice was about three octaves higher and way too fast. Nicholas stopped me, wrapping his arms around my waist and standing behind me, still keeping Kieran slightly blocked from his parents. I let out a shaky sigh and leaned back, enjoying the feeling of his closeness and appreciating the absolute support they gave. The movement also had an effect on Liam and Helena. Both relaxed slightly, the mistrustful expression fading from their face.

Liam sighed and stepped around Nicholas, extending a hand to Kieran. " With those two its impossible to say that you and Solange couldn't make it work. And I will admit that you went above and beyond what anyone expected to save her." Kieran shook his hand, then Helena's, before all three turned to me and Nicholas. "What next?" Liam asked.

"We get Solange to come down here and they go sit in the garden and talk. In the mean time, we give them some privacy. And I don't just mean out of the way privacy, I mean out of vamp hearing range privacy, got it?"

Helena and Liam nodded, and then called up the stairs. "Solange? There's someone here to see you."

We all watched the stairs, and a couple of seconds later we heard a door slam and saw Solange running down the stair in her clay stained trousers, her damp black hair flying dramatically behind her. She stopped a few steps from the hall, staring at Kieran in shock. Her eyes flashed with the new scent of human blood in the room. It must have been more potent now than before, with two humans in such close proximity and so soon after her change. I started to have some doubts about the sensibility of my plan. At this thought I turned to Nicholas in wonder. He had only been turned a year ago, and yet he seemed entirely comfortable with my having a pulse. Nicholas noticed me staring and raised an questioning eyebrow. "I'll tell you later." I whispered.

"Sol?" I said cautiously. Her confused gaze fell on me and immediately changed to one of suspicion. I sighed in exasperation. "You know your family uses that bloody suspicious look like its going out of fashion. I'm you best friend. Trust me." Her expression softened, Nicholas snorted and Liam and Helena were smiling, so I must have said something right to relieve the tension. Kieran, however was still shuffling on the spot and staring at his feet like they were about to reveal the meaning of life. It was time for pro-active Lucy action. "Right," I said, clapping my hands together. "I need to have a shower, so I'll be upstairs. And I sure Nicholas would love to make me some dinner?" I smiled sweetly at him.

Rolling his eyes he said, "You know you're lucky you're cute." he said before pecking me on the cheek and walking to the kitchen at the back of the house. I watched him leave, smiling to myself before continuing.

"Sol, Kieran? Why don't you go for a walk outside. It's a lovely night." Kieran nodded and headed back out the front door. Sol hesitated, giving me a "if this goes badly I'm gonna hold it against you forever" look before following.

Which left just me and the sort of step-'rents. Before they could say anything I smiled and said, "Right. Shower." and ran upstairs. By the time I had finished and changed into my summer dress style nightie, Nicholas had finished cooking. I was towel drying my hair in my room when he knocked on the door.

"Pizza delivery." He said. I smiled and called him in. He put the oven pizza on the desk in front of me and went to sit on my bed, stretching out and leaning back against the backboard.

"So what was that look earlier?" He asked just as I shoved a massive amount of pizza in my mouth. I chewed and walked over to the bed carrying my pizza. I sat next to him cross-legged and swallowed before answering.

"I was just was just in awe of you amazingness." I said. Nicholas snorted in disbelief and closed his eyes. I continued. "No really. After seeing how Solange struggled with only having two humans in the same room as her, it just made me wonder how you find it so easy to be so close to me. I know you were changed a year ago but still, that's nothing really."

Nicholas sat up, mirroring my position. "It's not that it's easy exactly, it's more that I've learned to ignore it. Like when you get so hungry to the point where you don't feel hungry anymore. I spend so much time around your scent I don't notice it anymore." He reached up, stroking my cheek. "Anyway," he continued, "Solange would kill me if I hurt you." I hit him playfully.

Nicholas suddenly stood up, dragging me with him. "My pizza..." I whined.

"They're back." He said, dragging my out the room and down the stairs. We entered the hall just in time to see Solange giving Kieran a cautious peck goodbye. She then turned, giving me a murderous look. I tried to hide myself behind Nicholas, but he was having none of it.

"Oh no you don't." he said. "This is your problem. I'll be in you room when you're done."

My eyes followed him helplessly as he walked back upstairs. I then reluctantly returned my gaze to Solange. "So it went okay then?" I asked cautiously.

She walked forward, crossing her arms, her face not softening as she replied. "Yes. But what were you thinking? I could have killed him. I've just about gotten used to being okay with having your scent filling the house. Didn't you even think of how hard that was for me?" She asked, her voice getting softer and more fragile as she spoke. I wanted to hug her and comfort her, but knew that wouldn't make her feel any better.

"Oh Sol of course I took that into account. Why do you think Nicholas was with me? I can empathize to an extent sure, but I have no idea what it's like. I got approval from Nicholas first because he would have had no problem shooting down my idea if it would have been too much for you." My voice started to shake as I continued, "I just want you to be happy Sol. And I know you and I know that you're scared of this getting to close to humans, but at the same time scared of losing your humanity. I know that you miss Kieran and that you wanted to see him. And yes it was a partly selfish decision to bring him here, but you know what? I want to spend time with Nicholas without feeling guilty for leaving you, and I want to spend time with you like we used to. I want to talk about boys and clothes and t.v. without you getting all freaked out because I'm going out with your brother. I thought if you had Kieran, you may be able to get used to us a little easier if there wasn't a part of you that didn't want to be around us not because he's your brother but because seeing us reminds you of Kieran." I stopped. My voice was reaching a hysterically high level.

We stood for a moment before Solange closed the gap between us and drew me into a tight hug. "Okay, okay. Its fine. I just wish you would let me in on some of you crazy Lucy-schemes, particularly those that involve me as one of the leads."

We separated and smiled at each other. "Aww, but then how could you guilt trip me like that?" I said jokingly. We stood in silence for a few seconds before I said slightly guiltily, "I promised to go see Nicholas, and you know how he gets when he's left too long. All brooding and moody. But tomorrow you promise we have a full and openly girlie chat about the new and scary boy-shapes in our lives?"

"Sure." Solange agreed. "Its been too long anyway."

And with that, everything fell back into place. Kieran's presence in the house became almost as constant as my own. My parents decided to extend their trip indefinitely. It seems hippie rediscovery of oneself is one lengthy process. After the okay was given by the Drake's I moved in permanently. And for the next two years we lived relatively peacefully. Every few months some radical young vamp would break the treaty, but never pose any threat to the Drake's. But that wasn't it for the drama in our lives. Oh no, two years of peace were just the quiet before the storm. The day of my eighteenth birthday is where our next chapter begins.

So there's the Prologue. Hope you enjoyed it and please review! And if you pick up on any grammar or spelling mistakes I've missed please let me know and I'll correct it if I can.

The next chapter may take a while. It took me quite some time to write this one what with school work and my job. But keep checking for updates. Thanks.