Chapter 1: The Kiss

3 Hours After Sunset, West of the Tree House, 5 Hours before Bedtime.

"Hey Marshall! Wait up!" The blond adventuress ran after her quickly fleeting friend.

"Haha, Fiona can't keep up." The Vampire King called to her as he wound through the air, just out of reach.

"This isn't any fair, you're flying." She stopped to catch her breath and glower up at him through her bangs.

"Well you can always sit up here!" Marshall patted his firm stomach as a sign of offering as he floated backwards through the air, making faces at the blond adventuress below.

Fiona blushed a brilliant pink at the Vampire King's blatant flirting.

"Will you just stop being so creepy, you know I don't think about you that way, Marshall."

He smirked, and swooped down to her eye level. His face suddenly shifted from jovial to serious.

"Hey Fi, I never noticed this before... but did you know..." Marshall's face was centimeters from hers.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"Damn it, not right now." Still blushing furiously, Fiona reached into her green backpack and pulled out a small walkie talkie-like device with a video screen. After a few moments of static, her best gal pal Cake appeared on the screen. Her face was creased with worry.

"Fiona baby! The thing is happening again! I got a message from the Fire Kingdom, and this time, it's pretty bad. That thing is even stronger. The guards need your help! "

"Okay Cake, I am on my way." Cake nodded, and there was a brief moment of static, and then the screen went black again.

"Hey Marshall, I have to go." Fiona looked at him for a split second before shoving the walkie-talkie in her back, and digging out her fluffy bunny ears and pulling them over her head. She gave him a quick smile before turning to leave.

"Fi, Hold on!"

He calls after her. She turns to look back at him. He floats around her before reaching up and buttoning the clasp at the bottom of her hat. He smiles warmly at her with a bittersweet twinge in his heart as he drags his hand slowly away from her face. Drinking in her every feature. What if, this time, he thinks, she doesn't come back, at least not alive.

Marshall was the Vampire King. He had ruled the Nightosphere for the last two years after his mother had disappeared. He knew that bad people ended up in the Nightosphere, but where did good people like Fiona go? Marshall didn't believe in a Heaven, he had long since given up those childish notions. But what about for Fiona? He had to believe that life did not simply end for those who were not bad, and worthy of punishment. It would be too painful either way, because if there was a Heaven, Marshall, the Vampire King would not be allowed there, and if there wasn't, Fiona would disappear. All the things that made her special. The way she walked, the way she smiled. Her horrible cooking skills. They could never be replicated. To Marshall, she was perfect. She was fleeting, and fragile.

With these thoughts swirling through his mind as he watched the blond, brave, adventuress begin to jog away with sword in hand, he followed nothing but his impulses. Which rushed over him. Urging him to do what he did next.

"Fi! Hold on!"

Fiona turned around, slight annoyance painted on her face. "What now Marshall?"

Before she knew it, her lips were locked with his. They were exactly like she had always imagined they would be. Not cold and stagnant like many would think a Vampire King's kisses would be, but warm and soft. His kisses were not simple brushes of skin upon skin. His kisses were powerful, they expressed his feelings that could not be captured with mere words. They were 1003 years worth of loneliness and longing. Fiona had been able to fill a gap that Simone had left after she abandoned him as a little boy. She had become his friend, but slowly in his eyes, she had also become more.

Awakening from his impulse-driven state, and pulling back into reality, Marshall realized what had just happened. He pulled away from her expecting his cheek meat to be badly bruised like it had been after that time he had pretended to be mortally wounded in the grave yard a few months back. Instead, Fiona stared at him for a moment looking dazed, as if she too was awakening from dream.

He blinked, and she blinked. He waited. She said nothing. She finally exhaled. Marshall cringed, expecting an onslaught of blows from both sides, as Fiona hurled both of her powerful fists into his face. Instead, she grabbed him by his frayed, flannel, shirt collar, and pulled him back into her. She pressed her lips against his with twice the passion of the first kiss. He pulled his arms possessively around her form, trying to touch as much of her body as he could while still fully engrossed in the kiss. He began to lift her up off of her feet and twirl her around. He fell down, and pulled her on top of him, breaking their kiss. She rested on his chest heaving chest, both of them trying to catch their breath. Well, at least Fiona was. Marshall didn't have to breathe anymore, but continued to suck unused air in and out of his lungs for show. But after the kiss, he was almost sure he actually did need it.

"So much for 'I don't think about you that way, Marshall.'." He mimicked her high voice and smiled greedily at her. Rolling on top of her, his hands on either side of her head, and his knees between her thighs. His face so close she could see her reflection on the glint of his fangs.

Fiona began to blush again furiously and pushed him off of her as she sat up in the grass, avoiding his gaze. Her hat had fallen off, and long cascades of blond curls fell down her back. Marshall plucked one of the curls from her back and held it in his hand, wafting in the aroma of its smokey, pine tree-scent. She did not fight him or tell him to stop touching her, so he too sat up, and draped his long fingers on her shoulders. Anchoring her to that spot.

"Marshall, I..." She began, but before she could finish a deep groan shook the ground. She stood up and pleadingly glanced down at the handsome, young, Vampire King, ruler of the Nightosphere, who was currently staring up at her from his relaxed perch in the grass.

"I understand. Your duty comes first. Just go."

"Thanks dude." She smiled at him, her cheeks still rosy. As she began to run in the direction of the Fire Kingdom. Leaving her bunny hat behind in the grass.

He picked up the hat. It smelled just like her. Marshall had taken a gamble, and it had paid off. He flopped down in the grass, and stared up at the stars. He smiled to himself. From now on wherever Fiona went, he would follow, but he would not let her know he was doing this. In a few minutes from now, after she had made some progress towards the Flame Kingdom, he would begin to silently trail behind her, and keep her safe, but also observe. He needed to see how good of a warrior she was before he made his next decision. A decision that would effect not just the Nightosphere, but also all of Aaaa.

Unbeknownst to either of these two, forces beyond either of their control governed their fate. The first must be known that what had just happened between these two was witnessed by a third party, and within this third party's heart, a seed of deceit and passion now grows.

So now, with so many players in this drama, it is setting up to be quite the ride. Dear Reader, you have been warned.