A/N: Just a little something I put together for the EC AU week. I simply couldn't miss it. Hope you'll like it. As always reviews are greatly appreciated.

She stirred to wakefulness. She'd always been a restless sleeper, plagued by nightmares that didn't make sense. Or worse – they did. But the past few nights had been even worse. She'd been tossing and turning, drifting in and out of sleep for no apparent reason. She sighed and sat up in bed, reaching for the reading lamp on her nightstand.

"You know, you're really cute when you sleep," a voice came from the foot of her bed, startling her, leaving her quest for light forgotten. Everything fell into place. She'd been restless for a reason.

"First, I'm not cute," she spat out the word as if its mere existence was offensive, not to mention the fact that he'd used it to refer to her. "And second, what the hell are you doing in my bedroom in the middle of the night?" It was creepy even though she'd never voice it. A cold draft sent shivers down her spine and she noticed that the window was open. That's how he'd gotten into her room.

"Your heart's racing," David noted as he stepped into the moonlit part of the room, his fangs showing as he spoke. "Scared of me?" He sounded arrogant but she could tell he was afraid of her answer.

Her heartbeat had sped up indeed but not from fear. "I'm angry." And maybe just the tiniest bit excited too. She hated herself for it. And she hated him too. "What are you doing here?" she asked again as he'd deflected her question the first time. He'd promised to stay away and not make it any harder than it had to be. "I told you no."

"I hoped that you'd changed your mind." A simple answer that only complicated things.

"Why? I can just make a little magic." Her mother had had a talent for what people called witchcraft and she'd inherited it. She could cast a protection spell or put a simple curse on someone. Nothing important enough to catch the attention of an immortal creature. Yet, there he was, begging her to join him.

"You have strength inside you," he sat on the bed and caught her hand in his, his flesh cold against hers. "Despite the grief in your heart, you haven't lost your desire to live," he said and she had to choke down the impulse to pull her hand out of his and tell him to go to hell. One drop of her blood and he already knew her darkest secrets. She hated him for his abilities. "You're perfect," he whispered, forgetting she didn't have vampiric hearing, but she heard him nonetheless, the words like a wooden stake through her heart. She was a wretched witch, cursed to never have love, and no magic could change that.

"To be what?" she spat out. "Queen of the night? No, thank you." She withdrew her hand. She didn't want titles. Just a happy mortal life.

"You'll be free," he said, his eyes searching her face for a sign he was getting through to her and she hated herself for her stoic facade that couldn't be penetrated by meaningless promises.

"Free?" She chuckled but there was no trace of humor in the sound, only bitterness. "With eternal life and bloodlust stronger than sense? I call that a trap."

He didn't seem offended but the hope in his eyes that wasn't supposed to be there but was anyway wavered and she could swear that watching Daniel die had been easier than knowing David had an endless life in front of him. An empty life. Unless he found someone to share it with but she wasn't that person. She couldn't be.

He leaned in, his lips capturing hers and she grabbed at his flannel. He dressed like a human, he laughed like a human, he looked like a human, but he wasn't human and she hated him for it. Her tongue slid into his mouth to satisfy her need for more of him and it brushed against his fangs. The same fangs that had left a scar on her lip during a heated kiss when he'd lost control and she'd learned about his true nature. The torn flesh had healed but their future together had been ripped to shreds, leaving a scar on her soul.

His breath–it always tasted like mint but she tried not to think of what that scent was covering–was filling her lungs but she needed oxygen because she wasn't like him. She needed air to live and he drank blood because he was dead. And she hated both herself and him for being so different.

He pulled away, having read the signals of her body, leaving her gasping for air. "We could spend eternity lost in one another," he said against her open lips and she could barely hear him over the frantic beating of her heart. "We could drink each other in forever."

"Please," she barely managed to move her lips, her voice reluctant to come out of her throat. She had no idea what she was begging him for just like she didn't know if she couldn't speak for a lack of air or because she didn't have the strength to refuse him once again.

"Regina-"

A knock on the door interrupted him and she saw the door open, the space in front of her where he had been now empty.

"Are you alright?" Mary Margaret peeked through the door, worry etched on her features. "I think I heard voices."

"I'm fine," Regina nodded and got out of bed. "I've forgotten the window open. The voices must have come from outside." She closed the window, her gaze lingering on the view outside in hopes of spotting a tiny bat and she hated herself for it. She hated the creature that he was. But she loved him. "Go back to sleep, Mary Margaret," she said, making a mental note to put a protection charm on her friend as a thanks even though her heart was cursing her. But there was no curse that could change the fact that she and David weren't meant to be.