newbienovelistRD both requested and helped me with this one when I couldn't get it off the ground. A big thanks to you, Amiga! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own Rachel and Sasha.


Love Is Strong

Whampire was helping Rachel move some boxes that her uncles had given her. The large boxes were filled with some of Rachel's and Sasha's things from when they were younger. Rachel opened a few of them and smiled. "Our stuff we grew up with as kids," she said to the Vladat. "I remember a lot of these."

"Back when stuff was really good, right?" asked Whampire with a smile.

"Yeah. They just don't make this kind of stuff anymore."

The alien nodded as he and Rachel got the boxes in an empty corner of the attic, all of them neatly stacked and marked before they went downstairs to the front entrance. Rachel looked out the front window and opened the door. "It's such a beautiful day," she said as she stepped onto the porch and into the sunlight. Whampire followed her, but stayed in the shaded part.

Suddenly, Four Arms came up behind them. "What's up?" he asked them.

Startled, Rachel yelped and jumped about a foot in the air. Whampire jumped so hard at both the Tetramand's inquiry and Rachel's startled shout that he staggered back and flipped backwards over the porch rail into the front yard. The young girl gasped.

"Whampire! Are you alright?" she asked.

The Vladat started to get up and then noticed his jumpsuit was smoking and burning, exposing his skin which was becoming charred. Rachel gasped again and quickly ran back into the house and went into the living room, grabbing a large blanket and heading out. "Four Arms! Give me a hand with this! The sun's burning Whampire!" she said and the Tetramand did so and they managed to form a canopy with the blanket in time to prevent the Vladat from being killed, but he didn't look that good as the upper part of his jumpsuit was destroyed as was his mask and the lower part of his suit from his knees down was in shreds and his pale skin was burned bright red with several patches of burnt black.

"You okay, buddy?" asked Four Arms as he and Rachel helped their friend up, holding the blanket over him to give him shade.

"I think so," said Whampire, but he grunted a little in pain.

Just then they saw Sasha come out of the house and stop as horror crossed her face when she saw her love's charred body and his still slightly smoking remains of his jumpsuit. "Whampire, what happened?" she asked, shock filling her when she saw how injured he was.

Whampire, who was now feeling extremely mortified that Sasha was looking at his weakened state, hung his head and quicker than Rachel or Four Arms or Sasha could move, the Vladat flew away from them and the protection of the blanket as he flew up to his room fast so that the sun wouldn't do too much more damage. Thankfully, once he got through the open window to his room and he shut it, the burns on his body stopped burning, but turned his skin a dead black. He was upset about that as he quickly put on some new jumpsuit pants, but then remembered Sasha's horrified face when she saw him burned and weakened and he now hung his head and cried hard.

"Now she has seen how weak the sun can make me," he said to himself as he continued to cry. Then, another horrifying thought grabbed him and he cried a bit harder. "What if she won't love me anymore because of that? I saw how horrified she looked when she saw me like that. She'll never want to even be near me again."

Feeling afraid that Sasha would come up in a moment and break off their engagement, he curled up on his bed and cried his hardest, not knowing she was coming up to check on him.


After Whampire had flown off, Rachel and Four Arms folded the large blanket back up but looked concerned, as did Sasha. "What happened to him?" she asked her older sister and her friend.

"I'm afraid I startled both your sister and your fiancée earlier," said Four Arms, looking a bit sheepish.

"Your inquiry and my startled yelp at your inquiry must have startled him badly," said Rachel. "He flipped over the railing into the sun and started to burn. That's when we grabbed the blanket to give him some shade and were helping him into the house when you came out, Sasha."

"But why did he fly away from us and look ready to cry?" asked the younger girl.

"Well, the sun weakens a Vladat and Whampire has always been one of the strongest of us," said Four Arms. "I think he was ashamed to have you see him in a weakened form."

"That does make sense," said Rachel and then another thought hit her. "You know, I remember something similar happening to Ben Grimm, or The Thing, from the Fantastic Four movie. He was engaged to his girlfriend before he went into space and got his powers. But when he tried to see his girlfriend after the incident, he was hoping she'd be more understanding, but she only saw him as a monster and broke up with him. Whampire must be afraid of the same thing."

"He's afraid I'll break our engagement because I saw him like that?" Sasha asked, shocked at the thought. "But it's not his fault that he got burned by the sun. It was an accident, and I certainly won't break up with him, just because he's now injured and not the strong alien he always is."

Just then, they heard Whampire sob loudly for a few minutes before it became quiet. "He sounds pretty torn up about it," said Four Arms. "Maybe you should go comfort him and show him he doesn't have to be afraid of you leaving him, Sasha."

"Good idea, Four Arms," she said and immediately went upstairs to comfort her love. Rachel and the large red alien watched as she entered the room.

"Think she'll be able to comfort him, Rach?" he asked her.

Rachel smiled. "Sasha loves Whampire more than anything. She's happier than I've seen her in a long time. If anyone can comfort Whampire, it's her," she said. "And I know she'll be able to do that."

"You're right," said Four Arms as they headed off to do their activities.


Meanwhile, Sasha had entered Whampire's room and saw him curled up on his bed. "Honey?" she called to him and he jumped, startled and quickly hid behind the dark curtains that hung around his bed, huddling into the dark corner near the top part of the bed where the curtains hung closest when they were opened. The only light in the room was the afternoon light coming in through the window. The young woman saw her love shiver and whimper a little. "Whampire?" she tried again.

"Please, Sasha, don't look at me," he begged her. "I know you're horrified to see me like this."

Sasha realized that Four Arms had been right about Whampire being ashamed that his fiancée had to see him in a weakened state. She stepped closer to offer comfort, but she watched him shy away from her as he now was mostly hidden by the black curtains, his body shaking as he cried silently. She sat on his comfortable bed and looked at him.

"Whampire, are you afraid I'm going to leave you because of this?" she asked him.

He looked up at her and nodded. "I never wanted you to see me in such an awful state," he said to her. "I look terrible like this."

His voice wavered and she looked at him with loving sympathy. "Whampire, you always look great. And you're always strong. And I love you no matter what happens to you," she said.

The Vladat perked up a little at that. "You mean it, Sasha?" he asked her.

"Of course, you silly bat," she said with a smile. "You wouldn't leave me just because I had a bad hair day or my make-up was all a mess because I got caught in the rain, right?"

Whampire was about to say that Sasha didn't wear make-up, but then he remembered one time when her hair had been all messy and he had caught her by surprise that morning and she turned away, trying to fix her hair, when he stopped her and told her that she looked beautiful to him and they had kissed and he helped her brush her hair so that it shone. "You're laying that syrup on thick, aren't you?" he weakly chuckled, making her giggle. "But to answer your question, I won't ever leave you."

"And I won't ever leave you, Whampire," she said. "You're the best guy that I could ask for and I'm so lucky to have such a great guy to be my future husband."

Whampire was touched by his love's devotion, but he still was upset about his current state and she noticed and kneeled down on the floor next to him, to which he pulled part of the curtain around him. "You silly bat," she giggled in a teasing voice. "Do I have to come in after you?"

He didn't get to answer as she quickly jumped at him and surprised him by tugging on his legs and successfully dragging him closer to her and she began tickling his exposed ribs, sides, underarms, and stomach and he laughed, surprised that it didn't hurt as Sasha tickled him and he tried to escape her, but at the present moment, she was stronger than him.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SASHA, MY LOVE! PLEASE! YOU'RE TICKLING ME! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE! STOP!"

"But I want to cheer you up," she said with a teasing smile as she then gave his stomach a raspberry, sending him into a fit of loud giggles as he tried to stop her, but he was having a good time too. Finally, she gave him a break and he took in some deep breaths and looked at her.

"My love, no more please," he said and she only smiled and traced a finger up his sides and ribs, making him giggle before he managed to grab her mischievous hands, smiling at her. "I'm cheered up now."

"Are you sure?" Sasha asked with a teasing grin.

He nodded and she leaned in closer to him. "You know, I can always get lost in your green eyes," she said honestly. "They're always filled with love whenever I look at them."

Whampire brushed back some of her brown hair and tucked it behind her ear. "And I always get lost in those ice-blue eyes of yours, my angel," he said. "Sometimes I wonder if you do hypnotize me when you look at me and I look at you and feel frozen in place."

She giggled as he chuckled and then she got very close to him and gave him a French kiss, which he returned as he wrapped his arms around her and she gave a groan of pleasure. What they didn't notice was that because they were deeply in love, their love was restoring Whampire's skin, healing him. They broke away after a moment and Whampire noticed his hands were pale white again. "My skin is healed," he said in amazement and then he realized it. "Your love for me healed me, Sasha."

Sasha, meantime, had noticed his bare chest and was almost swooning over how muscular his chest was. She placed her hands on his shoulders and ran them down his strong arms and the ran her hands up and down his chest, feeling him shiver in pleasure as she did that, gently caressing the pale skin with loving tenderness as Whampire, staying in his laying down position, held her securely as he levitated off the floor and onto the bed, making her smile.

"Mmm, you're so strong," she purred as she rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, making Whampire chuckle as he gently rubbed her back.

"And you're absolutely beautiful," he said to her, making Sasha lift up her head and smile as she looked down at his bare chest again, the sight taking her breath away again as she breathlessly kissed him again, both of them falling in love all over again as the love between them became stronger with each loving kiss.


Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418