Steven sighed. Nuria sat down next to him. "What were your stories about?" She asked, leaning against the tree's trunk. Steven thought for a moment before answering. "Mostly about… I hate to admit it but, love stories" He said almost embarrassed.

Nuria smiled. She loved to read mushy gushy love stories, but it wasn't the ending the got her. It was the characters, how passionately they loved each other or hated each other at first but loved each other in the end. "There's nothing wrong with a man typing up love stories, just matters what they contain. Like Porn and all that." She said.

Steven shook his head. "No! No! Nothing like that, just your regular love story." He said. Nuria silently sighed in relief. She did not want to be around a perverted man, they most of the time could be nothing but trouble. "Well as I was saying, there is nothing wrong with a man writing love stories, many men do write love stories" She said.

Steven, on the other hand, looked uncertain. "Don't look so confused, you'll be practicing for frown lines" Nuria joked. Steven smirked. "Well Missssster Steven, are we gonna stay here all day? Or are we gonna get moving before sundown?" She asked. Steven looked up at the sky. Not a grey cloud in sight. "Why don't we stay here? It's nice here, and I don't think my legs are gonna be moving any time today" He said laughing. His legs had fallen victim to falling asleep, and it as not so easy to wake them.

They were both tired, so rest was good. Very good. They only had a about 301 miles left to go, by the way they were going, they'd most likely get to the city by tomorrow. 'That means, no more Nuria…she'll get on with her life, but...I don't want to leave her, I…I've gotten so used to her being around. I don't wanna take the chance of never seeing her again.' He thought.

He turned over, the sun may have still been up when Nuria was playing, but somehow it was now dusk. Now how the time had passed so quickly he'll never know, but what he did know was that, if Nuria was going to the city, they'd live close by if he had a say in it.

Which fortunately he did. Sometime during the night the two where joined. Sleeping next to each other, Stevens arms wrapped around her, Nuria snuggling close to him. The two looked much more peaceful in each other's arms. The night went by without any disturbances.

The next morning was peaceful, the wind blowing gently making Nuria's hair sway a little. In the shade the weather was fairly cold, but in the sun it was rather warm. Nuria's eyes opened slowly.

She took in a deep breath and sighed. At some point in the night she had rolled over onto her side so that her back was to Steven. She suddenly noticed that there was a strong arm wrapped around her waist.

Nuria turned her head back slightly so that she could see who was behind her, she might have been the only one she knew of here with Steven but you never know. Sure enough she saw his messy black hair, messier now than usual since it was now bed head, well more like grass head. Nuria smiled and put her left hand o his messy black hair, lightly patting his head, and hopefully not waking up.

A few seconds later a small snore sounded, startling Nuria. Nuria slowly sat up and slowly slid Steven's arms off her waist. She then walked over to her pack and shuffled through looking for her cell phone. Sure she may have lived in the forest where her parents were always working on something, but she still had one just in case.

She had gotten it on her very rare family trips to the city, to pick up things like medicine for colds, getting Grandpa Leo's Katana back from the cleaners, ECT. Nuria had always wondered what Grandpa Leo used the Katana for; there really wasn't anything that bugged them besides the random little trio of skunks that passed every summer. Perhaps for any wild demon that came trespassing on their property. It wasn't unusual. This thought brought up once again a flash back.

(Flash back)

Nuria was now about five years old now, she was now old enough to play the violin without having help from Grandpa Leo, and could play it whenever she wanted. She was in the house at the time, and it was in that rainy part of the summer the woods, where it wasn't too hot or too cold.

The Sky wasn't gloomy and dark, or bright and blinding, just in between it, like one of those bland Sundays. She stood up, wobbling a bit. She may have been five years old and knew how to walk but she had no balance, she had a habit of tripping over flat surfaces and every time she'd trip she'd say in her cute little voice "It takes talent to do that!" she made her way over to the front to the front door, which also had a screen door.

Nuria looked out the screen door, her tiny fingers clutching the screen door tightly. She started looking for her grandpa, she was getting bored and she needed someone to be with. No way would she play with her brother. He was annoying, stinky, and well a BOY! And boys were well...covered in cooties! She turned her head to the right and saw a person standing there. I

t looked like a girl, or…maybe it was a guy with really long hair. The person's hair was dark and covering their face. She had very pale skin, it was almost like snow. Her clothes were a fairly simple color; black.

She wore some very heavy combat boots along with some black pants which seemed to fit her with the black studded belt she wore. Her shirt was of course also black and slightly tight around her waist. The shirt had no sleeves at all. When Nuria had quit analyzing the person's clothes she looked up at their face. Their gaze slowly met Nuria's. Nuria's eyes widened. Black.

That's all there was. The person's eyes were pure black. Now that she saw the person's face Nuria could tell the person was a woman. Just as their gaze met the person took a step forward. As Nuria was just about to do the same she was pulled back into the house and the door closed in front of the screen door. Nuria could no longer see the person that was there. All that Nuria heard was a loud screech come from outside.

(End flash back)

"Lamb? Laammb??" A voice brought her back to her senses. "What?" Nuria said, sounding like she just woke up. "Are you all right? You were staring at your phone" He said almost worried.

Nuria shook her head to clear the blurriness of morning out a little bit and smiled. "I'm fine but I'm glad you care if I'm okay or not" she said. Steven blushed slightly and said, "Just as a sheepherder watches over his sheep".

Nuria shrugged and said, "I was looking for my cell phone, I was seeing if I could get any service or …whatever it's called I forget" She said. "Why?" He asked. "Well if I get service it's a good chance we're close to the city" she simply smiled at him. Sure they could just think of all the miles they had traveled but as the days passed it started to get more difficult, since it was hard to remember.

As they traveled it started to rain again. "Why aren't the weather people ever right? They said light showers not, heavy, flooding rain!" The rain was pouring down hard.

They would have stopped to wait out the rain, if they were like a day or two into their trip. But they were running out of time. By the way the storms were appearing it'd be getting close to rain season, either that or a very bad flood.

The rivers were rising at an alarming rate. Soon the whole forest would very likely be covered in water. Nuria was soaked to the bone, shivering slightly, as was Steven. They were practically running towards the city. They had finally come close enough to at least see a few of the suburb houses. "Any ideas where the nearest hotel would be?" Steve asked. "Not the slightest clue, but we'll be good, just stay at one of these houses." Nuria said. "Are you sure they'd let us stay?" Steven asked cautiously.

Nuria sneezed then said. "No, but it's better to try then to have never tired at all…and if they won't let us stay then they could gives us directions to the nearest hotel" She reasoned. "Well let's just get there before you get a cold" He said.

They ran even faster, their clothes sticking close to their skin, making it uncomfortable to run. Nuria ran up the steps to the first house. It was fairly dull grey color, matching the clouds color. The house was not too big or too small like many suburb houses. Nuria knocked on the door. Now that she was standing still she could feel that she was shivering.

The door opened and a woman that looked about maybe in her late twenties. She had long brunette curled hair that went to her shoulders. She had a very thin body, if Nuria had known her well enough she'd drag her down to the nearest fast food restaurant and then make her eat everything they had.

Behind the woman she saw that there were a lot of people in just that one room. It didn't look like a party or a meeting; it was too big to be a meeting. 'All these people must have come from the woods…because of all the rain storms that were "predicted" 'Nuria thought. "Can I help you?" she asked. Her voice sweet and soft, you could hear her all the same though. Nuria's eyes lay on the room behind the women…she still saw all the people so she wasn't hallucinating. "Miss?" Nuria was pulled away from her thoughts as the woman tried to get her attention. "D-do you know where the nearest hotel is?" Nuria asked she was shivering; it was starting to hurt the lower part of her back.

The woman stepped back and closed the door. "Fine then" Nuria muttered about to leave when the door opened wide. "No, but you can stay here" She said. 'WHAT?! You mean to tell me there's more room in that cramped house?!' Nuria thought. But when the door opened wide she saw that the people that had once been there were now gone.

By force of habit she shook the water off her like a cat would, soaking Steven even more. "Thanks" Steven said sarcastically to Nuria. Nuria just smiled at him and turned back to the woman. "Thank you" Nuria said. She was much too cold to argue with modesty. The woman led them into the room and told them to wait while she got them some towels. Nuria looked around the room.

Where had all the people gone? Was she losing it? Hallucinating because of the cold? Nuria's eyes wandered around the room. The room had that earthy feeling to it, as if you could touch anything and you could feel one with the Earth.

The room was painted an evergreen color, and it even smelled like pine too. The floor was a dark wood color, most likely made from wood. The furniture was either a darker version of the pine green or had that brown wood color. Nuria saw this small little box that had cravings into it that reminded her of wild flowers. Then there was a metal box next to it.

It had only one button on it. 'Can't resist…must…push…button' Nuria pressed her finger to the black button and suddenly all the people that she had once seen in the room appeared again. Nuria pushed the button again and they vanished. Nuria smirked. "Well that's one way to keep out the home wreckers" She mumbled to herself. The box next to it opened up and started playing a pretty song that reminded Nuria of those little Christmas movies she used to watch; right when the person went to sleep or so.

Of course it wasn't Christmas music at all, which she was grateful for. When it came around Christmas time it was okay if they played Christmas songs every once in a while but after you hear it in every store, every T.V. commercial, every where you went; well it gets annoying.

Nuria was pulled away from her thoughts when a blanket was put over her head. "Sorry I don't have anything bigger then a bath towel but anything else is in the wash and soaking wet already" The woman said. "Thank you Mrs.…." Nuria just realized that she had no idea what the woman name was.

The woman laughed and said "Sorry I forgot all about introductions, my name is Eirný, Eirný Hakon"
Nuria smiled. "Thank you Miss-"Nuria began but Eirný waved her hand. "Feel free to just call me Eirný" She said. "Thank you Eirný" Nuria said.

Eirný shook her head and said," Nah, no trouble, no thanking needed. I have two spare rooms upstairs" she pointed to the stair way which went on the to rest of the house. "The bathroom is down the hall" She once pointed to the left of the stairs to a wooden door. "And the kitchens over there" She said pointing to the right of the stairs. "If you need anything just give me a call, a yell or scream, which ever you prefer" Eirný said, laughing slightly. "I'll be in my study, I have some things to take care of" She smiled, warm and bright, and walked to the door that was right by the stairs and, leaving it open.

Nuria sat on the floor of the tub, letting the warm water hit her back; her clothes on the floor by the door, which was locked.

Nuria sighed. 'I'm at a complete strangers house, and yet she welcomes us with open arms, it's rare to find anyone who would do that. If I my family was still at home, and had someone come up to our door, mother would turn them back to the street, since there weren't any hotels nearby' Nuria thought to herself.

The bathroom was fairly decent, in fact it sort of reminded her of home, and the walls were a blinding white. The floor was a creamy very light red color, almost beige. Nuria changed her position so that she sat on her knees. She was beginning to feel home sick. But what could she go back to? An empty house with no family? Just herself? Nuria sighed.

She missed her family dearly. How could they just abandon her? How could they? Sure at first Nuria didn't care but then again she hadn't left home just then. She even missed Cole. Nuria sighed and finished her shower, thinking of her family.

(15 minutes later)

Nuria stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in her black shorts and black shirt with red lettering, which said "Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door..." and on the back it said "If ya can't beat 'em, join ' ya can't join 'em, bribe ' ya can't bribe 'em, blackmail 'em. If ya can't blackmail 'em, kill 'em. If ya can't kill 'em, you're screwed" Nuria was holding her backpack which was soaked, but luckily the water didn't reach anything on the inside.

"You can use the shower now Steven" She said shaking her wet head, making the little droplets of water in her hair fall down to the floor. Steven nodded then ran into the bathroom.

Nuria looked around the room. 'Which way was it to the guest bedrooms?' she thought. Nuria went into the study and was blown away. There were more books in here than in a city library, which is a lot.

On the outside of the house, I didn't look like it could hold as near many books, maybe a few shelves of books but this was beyond a few shelves, The room had about 3 levels worth of books! There right in the middle of the room was a desk, with paper work and a small but functional laptop. Behind the desk working was Eirný. "Wow" Nuria whispered. "this place is huge" Nuria walked up to the desk. "How can so many books fit in this room, there's enough books for 3 levels, but there's only two levels to this house" Nuria said. Eirný smirked.

Nuria's tail swished behind her, her cat ears perked up. "Not everything is what it seems Nuria, I thought you of all people would know that" She said, pointing to the top of her head and smiling at her. Nuria was confused. 'What is she talking about...can she see my demon side? Why is she pointing at her own head?' "Can you see them?" Nuria asked.

Eirný smiled. "If you mean your demon side then yes, it's kind of hard not to notice. If you hadn't figured it out already, I am a witch Nuria, and witches can see Demons, like your little friend Steven out there, He's a demon." She said. 'Maybe that's why he hasn't said anything' Nuria thought. As if reading Nuria's previous thoughts she walked Nuria to the stairs and pointed to the first door on the left and said, "that's one of the guest rooms, again if you need me don't be afraid to shout" and with that she went back into the study and this time closed the door.

Nuria Walked up the stairs and into the room. The room smelled of cherries, the smell wasn't too sweet or to bitter, just right. The room was a dark purple and had a bed against the wall, which was already set up. The bed was fairly plain, the mattress was black and the bed posts which held it up where black as well.

The floor was a dull dark grey that could pass as a different shade of black. Nuria crawled into the bed, apparently it wasn't just a mattress it was a mattress with sheets, just no pillows. Nuria set her bad on the bed and laid her head on it, using it for a pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I loved writing it. Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!