Disclaimer:I do not own Saga of Darren Shan or Steve Leonard, the character Rory Hollis is my creation though.

Rory Hollis sat at a table all to herself in a small local coffee shop right next to the front window, which gave her a nice view of the busy shopping district street. She watched as throngs of people passed by the window with their arms loaded with shopping bags. She always found it interesting to watch people walk by living out their daily mundane lives, oblivious to the facts that there were things out there in the dark to be afraid of. She was one of those things to be afraid of.

Even if she didn't look like it sitting at a table by herself as she waited for her order to arrive. Since it felt like a chilly day she decided to order a hot drink, even though the cold weather really didn't bother her all that much. She ordered it out of habit as a little kid when the weather turned cold she always had something hot to warm her back up again. She had been lost in her own thoughts when she heard the sound of metal scraping loudly. Turning her head she saw that someone was now occupying the seat across from her at the small table she picked out. She frowned slightly at the person, as she knew him quite well.

"What are you doing here Steve?" she asked making it apparent in her tone that she really didn't want him around. But he ignored the hostile tone of her voice.

"Saw you through the window and I thought I'd drop by to say hello," he told her sounding friendly as if they were the best of friends. But Rory wasn't about to take any of his bull.

"What do you want?" she asked him trying to get straight to the point. She didn't feel like dancing around his usually pointless banter that only served to anger her. She wasn't normally this hostile towards people, but Steve was a special case. He knew exactly which buttons of hers to push to slowly drive her toward the edge where she just wanted to lob furniture and heavy objects in his direction. It also didn't help that he always tried to suffocate her in some sort of headlock.

"Just wanted to visit an old friend," he told her with a slight smirk and she resisted the urge to let out a snort as she knew that was a blatant lie. He wanted to mess with her and she knew it.

"And exactly why do you happen to be in town?" she asked revisiting her earlier question that he dodged around.

"I have a little business here, and besides I like little villages like this they feel so...quaint."

Rory pulled a face as the word 'quaint' sounded weird coming out of Steve's mouth. She didn't push the subject any further as she really didn't want to know what sort of business he was up to, as whatever it was it probably wasn't something she wanted to get tangled up in.

"What about you?" he asked her.

"What about me?" she retorted not knowing where he was going with his question.

"What's your reason for being here?" he asked sounding very curious leaning towards one side as he stared at her from across the table.

"I'm running an errand for Luez," she told him as she didn't have anything to hide and hoped it would stop him from needless prying into her personal business.

"What sort of errand?"

"I need to pick up some -" she started to tell him but then her waiter interrupted the conversation by walking over to the table carrying Rory's order. They placed a steaming fancy china cup in front of her filled with hot chocolate. Which was followed by a plate with a large slice of strawberry cake. Seeing that Rory wasn't alone anymore the waiter turned to Steve and asked if he'd like anything to eat or drink. He ordered a simple cup of black coffee and with that the waiter left to go get his drink. While Steve's attention had been averting Rory took a chance to take a bite from her cake before he turned back to her.

"So what was it you were saying before?" he asked prompting her to get back on track to their conversation. Rory paused to finish her bite before talking as she didn't want to spew crumbs all over the table by talking with a full mouth.

"Right, I was saying that I was picking up some books for Luez."

"Book?" he asked raising an eyebrow slightly.

"He's working on some sort of research thing, and he needs them," she explained as best she could since she really didn't have all the details. Steve kept up with his questions while she slowly ate. In a matter of minutes Rory had managed to decimate her cake leaving only bits and crumbs spread all over her plate. She did her best to put the remaining pieces back together, but they only sat on top of each other in clumps making the cake look nothing like it had been before. The pieces broke off again and she decided to just leave it and eat it as it was. Though in the process of trying o fix her slice of cake she noticed that she had gotten some frosting on her wanting any of it to go to waste she lifted her hand towards her mouth to lick it off. Steve reached out and grabbed a hold of her wrist to stop her. Pulling her hand towards him he leaned forward a bit and ran his tongue over the frosting. Rory felt her whole body go rigid.

When he finished Rory quickly snatched back her hand and dropped her gaze from him back onto her plate. She took another bite of her cake so she wouldn't have to look him in he eyes for a moment. He smirked to himself as he watched her avoid looking at him for a moment and then she seemed to gather enough courage to look him in the eyes again. She had been about to ask him exactly what he was trying to pull when she noticed that he was looking at her rather intently.

"What?" she asked him as it felt rather uncomfortable for him to be watching her so closely. Steve didn't answer her question and instead he carefully tilted her face to the side and kissed the edge of her mouth very suddenly. For a second time that day Rory felt her body stiffen as she didn't know how to handle the situation. As he pulled away from her he wiped a finger across his mouth and looked at her. He was greeted with a look of utter confusion at what just happened on Rory's face. Seeing her expression made him laugh out loud for a few moments.

"You had a little something here," he explained to her as she still hadn't made a noise.

"You could have told me," she whined as she rub the back of her hand at the spot where he had kissed her to get any remaining food that was still there.

"True, but it wouldn't have been as fun that way," he told her with a smirk. She felt her face get hotter, but she didn't know if it was because she was annoyed with him or the fact that she felt a little embarrassed by the sudden kiss.

"You better not have cooties or something," she muttered under her breath as she reached for her drink and carefully took a sip and glared at him over her cup.