Okay, sorry it took so long to get this up. GJ was the one in charge of the chapters and she didn't give me the prologue until now.

So, here we have the prologue to the sequel to My Immortal.

And here we have all the usual disclaimers. Erol belongs to Naughty Dog. Kaen, Faine, Cayden, Valen, Ripp, and Simius are all ours. Knives are mine
© .Sixth and GreyJedi, 2008
No part of this work may be reproduced or copied without written permission of the authors.

On with the story.


Kaen blinked in the sudden bright sunlight. They must have slept in quite a bit, well past the time Cayden expected her home.

Oh god – Cayden. He wouldn't be much fun to face. At least she wouldn't be totally alone in the confrontation. But that was a monster that could be faced when it came. For the moment she was quite content to just lie there.

Erol stirred next to her and opened his eyes, raising a hand to shield them from the sun, "Morning sweetheart."

"Morning love. Sleep well?"

"Very. You?"

"Perfectly." She curled up against him. "Did yesterday really happen?"

He put his arms around her, glancing at his left hand as he did. "I believe so."

"Good, though it still seems nearly unbelievable. Too perfect, too good to be true. My life isn't that happy."

"At the moment, it is." He kissed her forehead.

"And I hope it stays that way, for a little while at least."

"I think it will. Unless Cayden kills me."

"I don't even want to think about that…It's a good thing he's sick right now. It's more Valen I worry about. He'll be horrid."

"Why?"

"He'll get all mushy."

Erol shrugged. "Better than being torn apart."

"You're not going to get torn apart!"

"Not until he's better. What's he got anyway?"

"Food poisoning I think. He's forced to stay in bed for the next two weeks. And I will not let him rip you apart. I don't think Aaric will send you back again."

Erol didn't reply to that right away, currently Kaen had no heir so technically… "Poor guy, food poisoning sucks."

"I told him not to eat that cake, but he wouldn't listen. It was in the fridge for a year!"

He rolled his eyes.

"You're mocking me."

"No. I'm astounded by Cayden's stupidity."

"Oh, then I suppose I can't be offended."

He grinned and kissed her forehead.

"Shameless aren't you?"

"Yep."

She kissed him. "We should probably get up."

"Get up, get dressed, get out of here…" he didn't move, perfectly content to stay there a little while longer.

"You don't want to get up either?"

"Not at the moment."

"I'm fine with that."

"So…"

"So…? What is it?" She grinned.

"No idea."

"You're rather indecisive this morning – or afternoon, I'm not sure. Is it because you don't actually know, or can you just not be bothered to think?"

"The second one."
"Oh," she closed her eyes. "Okay then."

He shifted and began to twirl a lock of her hair around his fingers.

"Why must you always play with my hair?"

"Because I like it."

"You confuse me – my hair isn't that great."

"No, it's not, but I still like it. It's fun to play with."

"But it's hair."

"It's pretty, quit trying to understand me sweetheart, just accept it."

She sighed and gave up.

He kissed her forehead, "Now what?"

"Hmm…We or you or I could…" There wasn't much to do but get up and get ready.

Erol sighed and sat up, "Well…I suppose we'd better get up."

"Meh." She sat up too. "Do you think the shower works?"

"Probably."

"Okay, then I'm going to take a shower." She swung her legs out of bed and headed over to the bathroom.

Erol stretched, cracked his neck and decided to get dressed.

--

"Where is she Ripp?!" Cayden bellowed, glaring at his little sister's boyfriend. "Where is she?!"

Ripp chewed his lip, extremely glad that Cayden couldn't get out of bed. "I don't know…" he said quietly, "I'm sorry. I don't know…"

"You were supposed to watch her!"

"I know…I'm sorry."

"Go out and find her!"
"I don't know where to look!"

"You were a tracker! An assassin! Figure it out!"

Ripp couldn't speak; he started to shake, if only Cayden weren't yelling…he might be able to think.

The door opened. "Shouting isn't going to help the situation Cayden." Valen said as soothingly as he could manage. "You're scaring the poor boy."

Cayden grumbled something, then shut up and turned away from the other two in the room.

Valen grinned. Cayden thought he was mad now. "And you don't need to go looking for her."

A grunt of annoyance from the bed.

"I don't?" Ripp's voice wavered.

"By my calculations, she'll be here soon." And not alone.

The shaking began to fade, "She's not hurt, is she?"

"No…I don't think so…"

"So then there's nothing to worry about." Ripp very pointedly avoided looking Cayden's way.

"Not quite…"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see when they get here."

"They?!"

Valen smiled happily. "They. She spent the night with someone. They'll be together when they come. Now, Ripp, why don't you go run along and go talk to Leeta?"

"I…um…" he looked a Cayden; something was missing from this…

"He's not going to hurt you. Not a slap, not a punch. Just go see Leeta, unless you'd rather wait…"

Ripp shook his head and headed out the door to go find his girlfriend.

Valen sat down and stared at the sulking bodyguard. "They'll be here in a minute."

--

Kaen approached the door of Cayden's house, shaking slightly. "Here we go…" she knocked loudly, then took a step back.

Erol put a hand on his wife's shoulder, strangely calm. "It's going to be fine."

"I hope so." She smiled nervously at him – at least Erol was there…

"Hello?" the butler said as he opened the door. "How may I help you?"

"We're here to see Cayden," she said as normally as possible.

The man bowed, "Of course your Ladyship. This way." He moved out of her way.

"Come on." Kaen swallowed her fear and headed inside.

Erol followed her, keeping his hand on her shoulder, for more reasons than one.

She followed the butler up the stairs and to a room – Cayden's. "Leave us," she commanded the old man.

"Of course," He bowed, turned and left.
"You ready for this?" she asked her husband when the butler was gone.

"As I'll ever be."

She nodded and opened the door.

Valen looked up and at the new visitors. "Hello my Lord and Lady."

Cayden grunted, then shot up in bed. "Lord? LORD?"

"Oh god…I'm dead…" Erol muttered quietly to himself.

"It'll be alright," she whispered to him. Taking a deep breath, Kaen entered fully into the room. "Yes Cayden, your Lord and Lady."

The bodyguard stared at the pair, "This cannot be…"

"But it is."

"Cayden it was sudden and unexpected. I'm sorry if I offended."

"It wouldn't have been so bad if you were married first!"

Valen snickered.

"We are." Erol, for a moment seemed to flip Cayden off, but it was with his ring finger.

Cayden stared at the band around the finger. "No."

Kaen walked to the bedside and knelt beside it. "Erol and I married last night. Yes, we were together since the party. It'll be alright Cayden, I swear."

"He's a slummer!"

"Not anymore."

"What difference does it honestly make?!" Erol demanded, tired of all this 'slummer' business.

"I've already told you! You don't have the graces, the manners, the training! You have to run a city now, but not through military force! And love her like a royal should be loved, not like a slummer who beats his wife."

Erol gaped, horrified by Cayden's words, unable to speak.

Kaen had known it was coming – Cayden's conditioning had kicked in. She just stared at the floor. They had to figure it out for themselves.

"Silent are we? You see the truth now?"

"You're worse than Faine." Erol snapped.

"You compare me to that monster? I don't know if you're to be trusted!"

"You're the one who never gives me a chance."

"I worry for her! I fear that you will love her now, but ten years down the road? Fifteen? Will the power drive you mad? This is a gutterrat's dream – beautiful wife, beautiful house and unbridled power!"

Kaen felt like a slab of meat two dogs were fighting over.

Erol felt the pull of emotions trying to make him leave the room. He stayed standing and glaring at Cayden. "What can I do? You won't believe me whatever I do…"

Valen, who'd just been watching the scene with interest, finally spoke, "He'd drawing his opinion of slummers from Ripp's father, Erol. It's little wonder he's worried."

"I'm nothing like Simius." Erol spat the name.

"I know you're not. But we've got to imagine being in his shoes. Only slummer father he's ever heard of is Simius and he's been conditioned since age three to hate slummers, can you blame him? I mean, I was shocked when Kaen fell for you – she's been conditioned too, but not to the same degree."

Erol sighed.

Kaen stood up and went back to Erol. "At least we got this over with…"

"It could've gone better though…but I'm not sure how…"

She took his hand and squeezed it. Cayden was glaring at them.

He squeezed her hand back.

"You simply have to get used to it Cayden – I'm not leaving him."

"But will he leave you?"

"I don't think so…"

"No. Never."

Cayden flipped over and started ignoring them again.

"He'll get used to it," she promised.

"I hope so."

"He will or he'll be finding himself a new job. It'll all be fine."

"Again, I hope so," he said, kissing her cheek.

Valen chuckled. "You two better run along – I'll keep Cayden from killing himself. Maybe you should show Erol around his new home."

Erol smirked, "Why does that make me sound like a pet?"

"Because you are her pet."

Kaen went red. "Valen!"

Erol laughed, "You're blushing sweetheart."

"I know," she said miserably, "I can't believe Valen would say something like that!"

"Well he is."

Erol rolled his eyes, "Shall we go?"

"Please." She nodded to the other two men. "See you later." Then she was out the door.

Erol gave Valen a quick nod and followed her.

"I am so sorry for dragging you in there."

"It's alright, I survived, didn't I?" Putting up with Cayden had hurt, but it wasn't like there would be any lasting effects.

"If we weren't walking, I'd give you a hug. I can't believe his conditioning is that strong."

"I guess dealing with Ripp reinforced it."

"He ran to their house after being beaten, didn't he?" She sighed, "That won't help matters. Now I get why he thinks you're going to abuse me."

"I honestly have no clue what Ripp did. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on with him. I swear, I'll never hurt you."

"I know you won't – I'd kill you. Literally. But I don't think it'll happen. And we're here." They had arrived at the manor. "Welcome home love."

"Thanks sweet heart."

She laughed then walked up the steps and opened the door that led into the Great Hall. Maids, guards and even a few animals milled about, going from one place to the other. "Coming in?"

He sighed, nodded and entered. This house was going to take some getting used to.

Kaen started for the stairs, but was first attacked by at least twelve secretaries, all fighting for her attention. It seemed a shipment was late. A gang had killed a small family. Starvation, crime and money floating around the slums. It mad her head hurt, but she managed to give enough answers to satisfy them. Once the assistants had cleared off, she took a second longer to clear her head, then headed towards the stairs again.

Erol had no clue how she managed to deal with all of them at once, but he followed her without comment.

Up the three flights of stairs, eight different hallways and who knows what else: the path to their room. "I decided to start here, you can use it as a starting point."

"Starting point? I think I need a GPS to get around this place!"

"You can I suppose, but it won't take you long to figure your way around. Shall I give you a tour or are you good staying here or getting lost?"

"A tour sounds good."

"Okay, here we go."

--

For the next four hours, Kaen led Erol around her – now his – house. She took him to her office, them main living room, the kitchen, the ballroom, the morgue, and the conservatory. There was more obviously, but those were what she thought were most important.

At the very end they passed what looked like a non-descript door. Nothing special – unless you knew what was behind it. Kaen stopped in front of it.

"What's here?"

"I'd rather not say. Please don't go through that door. Ever." Her eyes went dark with memories long past.

He looked at it but didn't say anything.

Blood, bones, drawing, drinking, laughter…She began to shake and looked away from the door.

"Kaen?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

She nodded, "I'm fine. Just please, don't go through that door."
He pulled her into an embrace. "You sure you're okay?"

"If I'm not right now, I will be." She hugged him back.

"Alright," he kissed her forehead.

"Can we go somewhere else? Please?"

"Yeah, of course," he pulled away, "You'd better lead."

She laughed, then started back to the main hallway. It was still haunting her.