I'd like to start out with a HOLY DAMNABLE HELL!!!!! I'm actually thinking a slightly different three-worded phrase, but as this story is PG, I'll refrain myself from corrupting any innocents. I had not, under any circumstances, expected to check my stats and find not one, not two, but SIX reviews for my story on the first night, or any following nights. And I honestly could not have used the sappy, pick-me-up feelings that accompanied the comments at any better time. After just living through, by far, the worst day of my eighteen years of existence, I needed some comfort. So I send out a heartfelt thanks to my six new fans.

To Ella Rose and Arrylle: I have had no luck at all finding any Black Dawn fan fiction, with the exception of a single story, that I've enjoyed, so if you want to make some suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm glad you both liked it, and I hope you continue to like it.

To Sweettooth: I'll see what I can do for Miles, but no promises. I really never got a feel for him, and I'm more into darker guys. He's a bit to cheery and good for my tastes. But we'll see. By the way, what color are his eyes?

To Phoenix: You're probably right about Delos' characterization. I loved the extremes of his emotions and reactions in the book, but as it's been a long while since I've read the book, I couldn't remember a lot of subtleties. I hope you'll forgive me for that. Thanks for the honesty.

To Amstar: Get your hands on the books, girl, soon. Daughters of Darkness is exceptionally nice, in my opinion. As is The Chosen.

To SpiritofEowyn: I'm ecstatic that you find my abilities to be exceeding the usual brainless linking of sentences. As is evidence of this update, I'm trying to extend this into a series. I've got a couple ideas, and hopefully more will follow.

To Eri (whose review I just got, bringing my miraculous total up to SEVEN!!!): THANK YOU!!

Afterwards

Chapter . . . 1 ½ (?)

In the end, Maggie had to surrender her stubborn dignity. After the first hundred feet, the nausea had returned, full force, after their brief break of blissful immobility, and was accompanied by a headache that rivaled the torturous burn she felt in her lungs each time she inhaled. Delos, who had never strayed more than a few feet from her, constantly rattling clenches and lines somewhere below her as he checked and double checked each one, finally risked her notable—but understandably dimmed—wrath.

"There's a cliff bearing a little to the right, about ten feet below. We're stopping there and you're not climbing another foot. Got it?"

Typical of him to completely disregard her volatile temper, even in her weakened state, and flat out tell her the way he planned it to be. She sometimes wondered if maybe he did this just to pick a fight with her, simply because he was enjoying the newfound art of argument with the absence of his servants and "yes"-men.

If that was the case, she was sorry to disappointment him, because had he tried something like that when every breath she took didn't reverberate in her head, chest, and extremities, making it nearly impossible for her to even concentrate on the mountain she was dangling from, he'd have gotten the fight he wanted, and more. As it was, she'd just have to owe him a verbal ass-kicking.

Just as soon as his hands stopped being so disarmingly gentle and his golden eyes stopped looking down at her with that breath-taking mixture of fear and guilt.

Wait, looking down? Sure enough, when she shifted her pathetic concentration to her body, she felt the hard, gritty stone beneath her back. She had no idea when the little outreaching of rock had shifted up those ten feet to kindly meet her, but she was grateful for it.

Redirecting her more stubborn tendencies from proving her soulmate wrong to salvaging a dollop of her pride, she managed to convince her throat that, no, her bones would not fracture, her lungs would not pop like balloons, and her head would not implode, if she gritted out a few words. So, with teeth clenched and hands balled, she met Delos' golden, hunter's eyes, that currently looked more fitting for a bunny rabbit, and forced out the suffocating words. "'Kay, you can carry me."

Ouch.

He might have had the decency to look relieved, but as he'd already planned on doing just that anyway, her acknowledgment meant all of nothing to him. Succumbing to her fate, she let her mind drift. Her eyes wondered over the edge of their little vacation spot to see the wispy clouds cloaking the west, gold embroidery accenting the edges and textures as the setting sun shown through them to lend a final light to their path. She wondered for a moment, absently as she felt her body shifted and the pleasant glow that always accompanied her soulmate's nearness dull the edge of her pain a bit more, whether they would make it to the ground before those brilliant rays, that reminded her vaguely of a certain set of predatory eyes, slipped off the edge of the earth.

Belatedly, her mind sputtered to life like an ancient engine, just long enough to remind her of a very obvious fact. No human could support even her minimal weight on his back while repelling down a vertical cliff without even a hitch as new braces were set and others removed. What did a vampire need sunlight for, when the night was his natural habitat?

With that comforting thought in mind—and it was oddly comforting to know that she was tied securely to the back of a blood-sucking monster while suspended hundreds of feet above flat ground—she closed her eyes and let the darkness take her even as the last thread of gold unraveled to fall into the forest and the stars took over their vigil.

TBC

This isn't much, I know, but it's what I wrote last night after my Day O' Hell came to a somewhat unexpectedly OK ending. It's almost my excuse to pose thank you's to every one, and a sort of promise for more to come, for those who remain interested. I hope everyone can understand it, because I know I was getting wordy in some of those descriptions. That's what happens when I don't get sleep for forty-eight hours, and don't do more than growl for twenty-four.

Reviews would be appreciated and have a great affect on quality and quantity of updates.

To Whitesiren (my EIGTH reviewer, hot damn!): I, too, am glad you've read the books and can appreciate a good Maggie/Delos fic, such as people claim this one to be. It is simple, and I don't plan on making it that much more complex. Sorry if this disappoints.