This little fan fiction is dedicated to a very special friend, Tarma Hartley, for all of her patience and all of her imagination and beautiful mind. This is late and I hope she will forgive me!

Miles sat on the dock outside the cabin he and Phoenix had been staying the past few days. He loved the quiet evenings and the fresh air and the sunsets. He smiled as a small trail of steam rose from his hot tea and it disappeared into the evening sky. Miles watched in awe as the sun's rays touched the clouds and set them on fire with oranges reds and pinks.

He took a small sip of the earl gray tea. If anything he enjoyed the taste and the scent it put off was pleasant and calming. Nothing but the scarlet life force that pulsed through a living human body could satiate his thirst and keep him alive physically. However, he found out the past couple days that laying with Phoenix, or sitting next to him or laying in his lap, was enough to satiate another thirst that he never realized he acquired over the years. Hiding in shadows and feeding on rats or small animals only went so far, and when he had that sweet taste of human blood for the first time, he thought he had been reborn, Miles had never felt so alive and awakened and alert. He found out the hard way that human blood was a drug of sorts and you have to moderate yourself. Miles also found out that there are certain humans that taste better than others.

To him, Phoenix, tasted the sweetest in every way.

He sighed and took another sip of the tea and drew in a deep breath of the scent.

Another scent took over his senses.

Phoenix was awake. Miles could smell his blood pulsing through his veins. He could smell the sweat on his body from their lovemaking the past couple days. He was starting to loose his self control around Phoenix. His grip on the cup was giving him away.

Miles looked over as Phoenix was walking toward him, wrapped in a patchwork quilt, and nothing else. His dark hair hung loose around his face, which made him more attractive to Miles.

"What's going on?" His voice was still full of sleep as he sat next to the silver-haired man.

Miles closed his eyes and tried to close off all his senses to no avail.

"Phoenix, I have to leave again." The words came pouring out before Miles could stop them.

Phoenix looked up at the sky. The last of the sunset was fading away, and the stars were starting to make their return.

"Miles, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. I need more of you than just small doses every other month."

"And that's all I can take of you. You are too much of a drug to me. I am afraid to overdose. I am afraid of killing you."

"Turn me, then." Phoenix said flatly. Miles looked at him. There was no begging, no pleading eyes; just a statement.

Miles lost track of how many times he had whisked Phoenix away just to be with him for his own needs. He forgot to stop and think of Phoenix's feelings.

"I can't Phoenix, you know that."

"Why?"

It was a simple question. But it used to be 'Tell me why, please?'

"Because I-" Miles eyes went back and forth between Phoenix's blue ones. Suddenly, he didn't have any excuses.

Phoenix placed his hands on either side of Miles' face and kissed him. Softly but assuredly.

And Miles was suddenly on fire.

"No, please Phoenix -" Miles pushed Phoenix away, but he grabbed his arms before he fell backward and Miles blinked at him.

"I am not fragile anymore, Miles. You've broken me. You have broken every part of me. You've even broken my heart so many times there's a scar there and it doesn't hurt any more. I want it to hurt, and I want you to hurt me. I want you to break me and push me and pull me and give me everything that you have. Because I've given you all, and I have nothing."

Miles gaped at Phoenix.

And suddenly he knew. He knew exactly what Phoenix was talking about.

And he wasn't afraid.

He grabbed Phoenix's arms and pulled him close and kissed him with all the passion of a thousand poets. Their hands pulled and pushed and tugged and suddenly Miles was on top of the dark-haired man. Both hard, both on the edge, Miles took one last look at Phoenix.

"Miles," it was a whisper, but it was all Miles needed and he was clamped down on Phoenix's neck. It was the sweetest he ever had and ever will have and all the colors that burst inside his eyelids, and all of Phoenix's memories, and of all of the sounds:

"Miles!" Phoenix's voice was the sweetest of them all.

He reluctantly let go of Phoenix's neck and licked the wound.

Leaning back he watched as Phoenix writhed in pain and ecstasy as he bit into his wrist and bled himself. Then he wiped it on Phoenix's lips and watched the transformation. It took a total of eight hours and Miles watched as his best friend and lover transformed into one of the most beautiful vampires Miles had ever seen. He held him when he needed to be held and let Phoenix hold his hand when his blood-venom reached Phoenix's heart.

It was the last time he heard that beating heart.

And Miles fell in love with Phoenix all over again.

"Oh continue to love me -
never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours"

Ludwig van Beethoven