Greetings gentle readers! Nothing to report this time around, so lemme just cut to the chase. I own nothing. And, as always, I appreciated the reviews from last chapter.

If You Only Knew- Chapter Three: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

Vince enjoyed the rare times that he had to spend with his undead girlfriend, without having to think of any cases. While he knew that he should have been investigating, Jamie had finally convinced him to take some time for himself. The other cops at the PCPD were under the impression that there were some wild animals loose, seeing how the puncture wounds didn't match any human dental records. Vince hated lying to his fellow policemen, but what could he do? The only reason why he was still investigating the vampires, much to his girlfriend's annoyance, no doubt, was because he wasn't giving up the chance that he might be able to pin this against them yet. But, in case that plan fell through, at least the other officers had some sort of an answer for the family.

They had given the blue-eyed cop the day off on request, much to Jamie's relief. He promised her that he would take the next day off seriously and spend it with her. And Vince meant every word of it.

The brunette vampire was practically jumping for joy when she heard about the day off. She actually had her man back. Don't get her wrong, though, the cop side of him was rather sexy. But she just missed her Vince. She missed the guy that held her close and didn't think twice about staying in bed with her all day. It just came naturally.

Jamie woke up that morning with a pair of strong arms around her, gently pressing her to his chest. She groaned a bit at the stickiness on his skin; that was the one thing that she hated about having sex with a human, the sweat and inevitable hot, sticky skin pressing against hers. Still, though, the vampire smiled to herself, it was well worth it.

Vince looked down at his girlfriend and caught his lips with hers. "Good morning, gorgeous."

"Mmm. You sure about that?" Jamie asked, eyeing the puncture wounds on his neck. Her boyfriend made a disapproving noise as he noticed that her voice was laced in concern.

The cop tightened his grip around his vampire and gave her a lengthy kiss, almost to prove a point. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm okay with this? Besides, it's too much fun to stop now." He grinned down at her rather boyishly.

"I just don't want you thinking that you're just my blood bank," the brunette smiled up at her human, rubbing his arm thoroughly. "You're my everything, you know. You're my boyfriend, my lover, my consort, okay and yes you're the source of my blood, but still…"

"Baby, you're thinking into it way too much, okay? I don't mind being your blood bank. You're my everything too. And if that's what I gotta do to make you happy, I'll do it in a heartbeat." Vince chuckled as his girlfriend nuzzled his neck in response.

"Okay," she pouted a bit, continuing to nuzzle his neck, "if you say so."

The human gave his undead girlfriend a few quick kisses, murmuring into her lips as he did so, "I love you. Even when you're over thinking stuff too much. It's… kinda adorable."

Jamie picked her head up and gave him a mocked-shock look. "Well, I'm glad that my worrying about your well being is adorable, my dear."

"It's adorable because you don't need to worry about me," Vince grinned down at her, earning a tiny smile in return. He just had to say it like that. The brunette couldn't very well respond in so many words because she was being bombarded by thoughts of all of the reasons why she did have to worry about him.

She still had no idea if her "family" would be looking for her or not. Her sire could easily pick her out from a crowd; it was a wonder how she hadn't found Jamie yet. Of course, she may have not been looking that hard. Maybe she didn't look at all. When they separated, it was on a mutual agreement. The computer savvy vampire hadn't agreed with their lifestyle and she simply had refused to live it anymore. They let her go, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't go over well if they ran into each other a second time. Especially if they found out that she was in love with a human.

"Jamie?" Vince called to her gently, bringing her back to him. Their eyes met and he could tell that something wasn't right, almost instantly. "What's wrong? Was it something that I said?"

"No honey, I was just thinking is all," the brunette answered coolly, smiling back at him gently.

"About what?" the cop asked, taking a hand back to fold a strand of hair behind his vampire's ear.

"About how I'll never let you get hurt on my watch," Jamie leaned into his hand, which caused him to cup her face in his palm. "You're my human. If anyone hurts you, it's gonna be me and it definitely won't be intentional, if you get what I mean," she smirked up at him, big brown eyes glistening back at him.

"Yes ma'am," Vince gave her another one of his boyish grins before leaning down to capture their lips together again. "You can hurt me all you want, if that's how it's gonna be."

The brunette whacked his chest and drew out a sigh. "Men, yeesh. What to do with them?"

"Love them?" the curly blonde pouted quite pitifully.

"Mmm. I don't think that's all we do with them," Jamie smirked and practically threw herself at her boyfriend, crawling on top of him quite suggestively.

"Maybe you can show me all you do with them, I seem to have forgotten all the possibilities," Vince began, going slightly cross-eyed as he held onto the hips in front of him as his vampire dropped feather-light kisses all along his neck and jaw-line.

"I'll show you everything," the brunette purred, making her human shiver as her sultry voice registered.

As their lips melded together, the police officer let his undead girlfriend pull him down for more leeway. The next few hours wouldn't be wasted, that was for sure.

Days off were amazing, Vince thought to himself.

o—o—o

Vince and Jamie considered The Bottoms to be a second home for them, seeing how they went there time and time again, just reminiscing about the first time that they met over at the bar. Normally, they went in for a few drinks and then went out back to reenact their first make-out session. It was fun for the couple; everyone knew what they were doing, but they never said a word, they just gave those two their privacy. Leyla, the head bartender and Vince's high school friend, probably had something to do with it.

Though, tonight, when they stopped by, nothing worked out according to plan in the end. The vampire and her human sat down at the bar like usual and ordered a few drinks, looking for a normal night. Leyla came over to talk to them after putting in their orders, smirking to herself as she noticed the bedroom looks that Jamie and Vince were giving each other.

"Hey tootsies, what's up?" the bartender began, leaning over the counter out of boredom. It had been a slow night in the bar, which was weird for a Saturday night.

The vampire glanced up at her, sparing her boyfriend's long-term friend a smile. "Nothing much. You know, the usual," she smirked over at the police officer quite privately, "Vince had the day off today."

"Ah. I see. So it's been one of those kinda days, huh?" Leyla let out a belly rumbling laugh as the couple before her just continued their private looks.

"Pretty much," Vince spoke up, breaking eye contact with his girlfriend to look over at Leyla. Though just as the bartender was about to respond, she was interrupted by a group of five people—a mixture of men and woman—all insanely beautiful, which was a little alarming.

"Can I help you guys?" Leyla met them with her usual heavily made-up eyes. They consisted of three men and two women. Both women were stunning redheads with electric blue eyes. The ladies would seem like twins, if you didn't look hard enough. As for the men, they were mostly brunettes. But their eyes were all incredibly dark, a contrast to the women's light eyes.

Jamie visibly jumped back at the sight of the five vampires that she spent most of her newborn vampire years with. Her human noticed her tense up, which prompted him to gently take her hand in his, stroking a thumb over her knuckles rhythmically.

"Well, well, well," the tallest male vampire began, concealing his fangs as he grinned at the younger vampire, "if it isn't our little sister."

Vince sent his vampire a wounded look. "Little sister? Jamie, do you know these guys?"

The computer savvy vampire pursed her lips into a thin line, refusing to say a word.

"Of course she knows us," one of the ladies piped up, immediately narrowing her eyes at the police officer, "the question is, who are you?"

Jamie let out a useless groan and turned to her boyfriend, "yes. I do know them, Vince."

Vince had a funny feeling about this; they were the only vampires in town, other than Jamie, that he knew about. So were they the murderers that he had been hunting? "Can I talk to you for a minute, baby?" As she nodded, a little more than nervous, he whisked her outside to talk in private.

The atmosphere between the two of them was thick, which bothered the brunette vampire to no end. She knew that she would have to come clean eventually, but she didn't expect it to be so soon. She had no idea how to tell him.

"Vince… before you go accusing me of lying to you… I'll go ahead and tell the truth, okay?" Jamie looked up at her boyfriend, who was frowning down at her. "Those are the vampires from your case. I… I didn't know how to tell you that they were the ones that taught me everything that I know about being a vampire. One of the girls sired me when I was sixteen and they brought me back to their pack. I didn't want you thinking that I was just as bad as they were…"

"And what do you think that I think of you now, Jamie? You kept that from me. And now that the truth's out… I don't even know what to think but… why? Why didn't you tell me?" Vince asked, his wounded eyes boring into the vampire's.

"Because I was trying to protect you from them!" Jamie raised her voice a notch, which made her take a deep breath to calm herself. "I knew that, if you knew that I was related to them, you'd do something drastic without even consulting me first," she crossed her arms defiantly, not willing to lose this. She did have a point though. Her human was a blockhead like that.

"Let me protect you, Jamie! If you can't trust me enough to tell me these things about your past… then what are we doing, really?" The cop's eyes widened at that thought. Was he overreacting? Probably, but what else was he supposed to act like towards this revelation?

The brunette's eyes widened to twice the size of her human's. "No, please don't think like that! I wanted to share everything with you, but… I was worried that you would take it a step too far…"

Vince drew out a sigh, running a hand through his hair exasperatingly. "But you still didn't trust me enough to try."

"That's because there are five of them and only one of you. And not even I can fight them off. I was worried that you'd end up getting yourself hurt," Jamie watched her human warily, tears threatening to fog up her vision. She didn't want to fight. Not here. Not anywhere.

The cop let a sad smile tug at his lips as he noticed the tears flooding in his girlfriend's eyes. He couldn't stand to see her tear up like that. "You were really worried, weren't you?"

"You have no idea," the vampire smiled a watery smile, tears finally cascading down her cheeks.

Vince snaked an arm around Jamie's shoulders and gave her a solid kiss on the mouth. Pressing his forehead against hers, he whispered, "I love you, Jamie, so much. But we've gotta work on this trust issue thing. Even if I do overreact to things, it's just because I care so damn much about you. And I can't handle you not being able to trust me."

"I always thought that I'd be able to hide that part of my past," the brunette looked down at their feet, only to have her boyfriend tilt her chin up to meet with her eyes again. "I never knew that they were still living here, Vince."

Vince kissed his girlfriend yet again, drawing this one out for quite a few seconds. "'C'mon, I think there's something that we need to settle. After this, I sense a long bubble bath in our future."

By the time that the couple got back to the group of older vampires, they were all settled down at the bar, downing shot glasses like no tomorrow. Although, to think of why the shots had a hinge of red in them was just a little unnerving.

Jamie sat down next to one of the girls, her human obediently following suit. The older vampire had to ask about him, of course, but the computer savvy vamp knew better than to lie about that. Her family would know that she did.

"Oooh. A nummy treat! And look, he's even a cutie, too! Good job, Jamie," the redheaded vamp grinned back at the brunette, fangs extending along with the pull of her lips.

"Sarah, he's my boyfriend," Jamie began, giving the other vampire a stone cold stare.

Sarah looked oblivious, blinking repeatedly. "But he's a human." She burst into a fit of laughter, placing a maternal hand on the younger girl's knee. "Please tell me that you're not in love with a human."

"I am. And I'd appreciate it if you leave him alone," the brunette added, her stare not withering by the littlest means.

The older vampire's oblivious look quickly turned into a wounded one, though it was hard to tell whether it was sincere or not. "Jamie, I'm hurt that you would think that I would try to horn in on your happiness."

"Fine. Well, I have no intention of turning him into a vampire. That will make me anything but happy," Jamie began, her forehead crinkling as her thoughts started getting the best of her. She would never wish this kind of torture on her worst enemy, let alone her lover.

"You think that now, my darling. But what happens when your boy starts getting older? Or when he gets one of those terminal illnesses? What are you going to do then? Let him die?" Sarah asked; she was now actually concerned for her creation.

The brunette vampire ran her tongue against her fangs in thought. What could she say to that? If she let him live forever, was that her being selfish? Or was that her saving him from the pain of dying for good? "I… never thought of it like that."

"We'll bring you both in and help you teach him everything there is to know about being a vampire," Sarah smiled back at Jamie, though there was a dark look glistening in her eyes that told the younger vampire that that was a bad idea. They were murderers, after all.

"You killed that girl. The one that worked with my father, right?" Jamie challenged her sire in a low voice, one that Vince had to strain to hear. When the older vampire's lips quirked up into a smirk, the brunette tensed up visibly.

"What can we say? We were hungry and she was an easy catch," Sarah shrugged her shoulders, her hair sliding off of them in a swift movement.

Vince clenched a fist and hid it behind him. Dammit; why didn't he have a recorder when he needed it? But then, if he turned that piece of information in, he would be selling out his own girlfriend. Peter Fleming still had no idea where his daughter was, and if Vince turned this in to the station, Jamie's whereabouts would be found out. Not only that, but, the police wouldn't get anywhere. No records of them whatsoever. They were dead. The blue-eyed cop had to stifle a sigh; he was screwed.

"That's why I stayed away from you. I don't believe in killing humans for a snack. Not anymore," Jamie threw back at her sire, getting a look from her boyfriend in return.

"That's right. 'Cause you've got your own blood bank now," Sarah's lips twitched into a small smirk again, which irritated the younger vampire.

"He's so much more than that to me, Sarah. Yes, he's my source of blood, but if he didn't want me to anymore, I would stop in a heartbeat," the brunette spoke matter-of-factly, sending a small smile over to her boyfriend, who gave her one right back.

"Fine. Our offer is still open, though; we'll keep an eye on you two. If you decide to change your mind, good," the older vampire looked over at the other vamps, who were staring at Vince like he was a juicy sirloin.

Jamie held out a hand for Vince to take, which was accepted without a second thought. "Well thank you. But we really should be going."

The cop took his hand back long enough to place a tip under his glass. Once his and the brunette's hands were locked together again, they started to walk away from the bar.

"Jamie, come to the old mansion down on Sycamore. We have a… family business there at the moment and I think that you'd be interested in seeing it. Although you'd probably want to ring our necks out in the end," Sarah shrugged her shoulders again, "who knows? Just come and check it out."

Jamie nodded her head just a bit and tugged her boyfriend's hand for him to come along. She really didn't want to be anywhere near them.

o—o—o

"You do realize that this could be a trap, right?" Jamie asked her human. Her arms were crossed defiantly as she stared up at him. He was trying to convince her that going to this "family business" could be a way to put a break in the case. The vampire loved her human to death, but this was definitely starting to get on her nerves. He would stop at nothing, wouldn't he?

"I know. But I think that it's better to take the chance than not with this," Vince grabbed his girlfriend by the hips and pulled her closer, kissing her hair. "I think we'll be okay."

"You don't know them, Vince. And the fact that they want you to become a vampire is a little unnerving," the brunette unfolded her arms and slid them around his neck. "That's like a fate worse than death for me."

"Maybe they have a point, though. If I get sick, then what?" Vince asked, his eyes boring into hers again.

"I don't know, honey. If I let you live forever, that just seems selfish to me. Living forever isn't always what it seems to be. You see everything. And a lot of it is something that you don't want to see," Jamie stretched onto her tiptoes and kissed her boyfriend as thoroughly as she could, "I want to be with you forever, but I love you too much to subject you to that horror," she whispered into his lips.

Vince was about to reply when his phone rang, startling them out of their proximity. He held a finger up towards her as he dug his phone out of his pocket to answer it. Jamie watched her boyfriend's face with wavering eyes, knowing deep down in her gut what that phone call was about.

And when he finally hung up and turned back to her, his eyes said it all. "There was another murder. Jamie, please consider going to that mansion."

Before she could reply, his lips were on hers again, their bodies pressing dangerously close together. "Okay, okay. I'll have an answer by the time you get home."

Vince smiled at his girlfriend and gave her a gentle kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, Vince," Jamie replied with a tiny smile. She watched her boyfriend leave the room to go get ready, not even able to move at that point.

What the hell was she going to do?

And so the plot thickens. Again. You know what to do!