Fandom: The Hollows

Pairing: Ivy/Rachel

Spoilers: ?

Disclaimer: Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and the rest of the Hollows belong to Kim Harrison and her publishers. Only the story below is mine.

This is my first published Fanfic any reviews would be much appreciated. Let me know if I am doing well or crappy. :)

"Can you hear me? Your in a hospital. Can you hear me?"

I wasn't sure if the voice talking to me or someone else, I knew I didn't recognize the masculine voice. I tried to open my eyes and respond to whoever was talking immediately regretting my decision to do so. As my eyes opened all I could register were bright streaks of blinding light running down my field of vision. There were blurs of motion around me, moving with me, quickly trying to keep pace. There was a sound of something squeaking at a fast rate, as if it was chasing me, or maybe it was in front of me and I was chasing it?

"Your in a hospital. Can you hear me?" One of the blurs moved over me flashing a brighter light into one eye and then moving to the other. I tried to close my eyes but my eye lids wouldn't cooperate.

You already said as much and have asked me that twice now. I tried to respond to the blur which was still hovering over me. All my body could muster was a slight groan. Slowly the squeaking sound faded, the lights following shortly after.

Silence. Deathly quiet. The sound, or lack thereof, was the first thing to greet me when I woke up. I slowly opened my eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room. I continued to lay there trying to remember where I was or how I got here.

"Jenks, Ivy, you here?" I called out for my friends, the ghostly silence was my only response.

I lifted my upper body moving into a sitting position, I had been sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. Looking around to find some clue as to where I was, there was someone sitting in a chair next to me, hunched over, resting their head on the bed sleeping next to me. My hand reached out on its own, going to slightly shake the sleeping person next to me on the shoulder.

At my touch the person shot up to a standing position, startling me as my breath caught in my throat causing me to cough for a minute. As my coughing fit subsided I looked back at the person trying to focus on their face to see who they were. My eyes scanned over the person next to me, tall about six foot, slender, female, long dark hair spilled down over her shoulders. She was wearing a black goth style corset which only made her body look seductive and alluring. continuing my gaze upwards, I couldn't see her face or anything above here bare neck. It was as if the darkness of the room was reaching out and covering her face, hiding it from the world. I didn't recognize her but the only words I could come up with to describe the beauty I was looking at were voluptuous and sexy. I mentally slapped myself at my last thoughts, I am straight, I like guys.

"Good, your alright." Her words made me jump again in the bed. Not because she was suddenly speaking but there was a cold emptiness to them. Adding in the same tone which made a shiver run right through me to my core "I thought I had taken too much."

"What do you mean 'took too much'?" I stared at her, or at least where her face should be, as a slight fear started to work its way trough my mind.

The woman in front of me was completely still for a moment only adding to my growing fear. She took a deep breath in through her nose, holding it for a moment. "You know what your fear does to me." The coldness was still in her voice as the words came from her.

Slowly she leaned towards me, in doing so her face started to come into focus, revealing a very pale yet strong face. Leaning closer towards me my heart started pounding in my chest, red lips, the next feature of her face came into focus. I focused on her lips, full, kissable, and smooth lips. I wondered what it would be like to feel those perfect lips on mine, to slide my tongue over them. I am straight, I like guys not women but guys. Looking at this woman and the way she was seductively and teasingly moving towards me I tried to repeat the thought in my head again. Maybe if I repeated the mantra a hundred times I could make myself start believing it.

"Mmmmmmmm... Fear and arousal, you really do know how to turn a girl on." The Veil of darkness surrounding the woman's face lifted only to reveal the face of Ivy. Her perfect and beautiful face stared back at me with the most gorgeous smile I had ever seen on her. Empty. The smile she wore was empty. I darted my eyes from her lips to her almond shaped eyes only to be meet with the same emptiness.

"Ivy?"

"Yes dear heart." Ivy reached out a hand to my cheek slowly moving her thumb under my eye to wipe away a tear. Her hand was ice cold and I had to repress the urge to jerk under her touch.

"I'm so sorry Ivy." I could feel more tears fall down my face.

"Not this again." Ivy smiled at me again and I could feel my heart break knowing her smile would forever lack the emptiness which was Ivy. "Dear heart, everything is fine. Sure I suffered my first death but now I have you, a blood balance, my scion, and more importantly my lover. Everything I ever wanted in life I now have in death."

"But you..."

Ivy moved her hand from my cheek to place a finger firmly on my lips. Still smiling at me she sat next to me reaching her free hand around me and guiding me back down to to laying in the bed. I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her as we lay there on the bed, tears still flowing freely.

I wasn't able to save her soul after her first death. Still she was here for me, always with me, still wanting me. Me who couldn't hold a relationship for more than a few months at best. Me who was always hurting her. Me who was never able to truly give her what she wanted most.

Me who had failed Ivy.

Ivy took in a deep breath her nostrils flaring, breathing in all of my emotions. The arm wrapped around me tightened around me, not hurting but in a comforting way to tell me she was here for me. Feeling her hold onto me tighter made my heart break.

The hand she had over my mouth moved to wipe away the tear from my eyes. As her hand brushed away the tears under my eyes I noticed she didn't feel cold anymore. A comforting warmth radiated from her reminding me of waking up on a cold Cincinnati morning laying in a warm bed but still able to feel the cold of the room around me. All I wanted to do was lay there in the warmth of her and never feel the cold again.

Without thinking I moved into her her, placing my lips on hers. I let my tongue slip out between my lips and glide over hers begging for entry. Ivy acquiesced under my tongue and I slipped into her mouth letting myself go into the kiss. I wanted to show her how sorry I was for not being able to save her soul, to apologize for hurting her so many times, to show her just how much I loved her. How much I still love her. A slow moan escaped from me as she returned the kiss.

Ivy forcefully pulled herself away from me breaking the kiss we shared. I realized I was breathing heavy, for the life of me I couldn't figure out if my lack of breath was from the fact our kiss had taken long enough for my lungs to run out of air or because I had kissed Ivy and enjoyed it.