Disclaimers: Don't own anything but my orange hoodie.

Summary: Henry, Vicki, and Mike are pulled into a battle against an unexpected advisary.

Chapter 3

Vicki sat up to a burning sensation on her arms and the washcloth fell from her eyes. The room was spinning, her vision was sharp, and her wrists were on fire. She covered her mouth and tried to find her direction in the livingroom. She felt arms around her, leading her somewhere. Helping her down to...she emptied her stomach of the remainder of it's contents and leaned back against the person holding her. Slowly, the bathroom stopped spinning and she calmed her breathing.

"Henry, what..."

"Mike found the girl. She's in the livingroom."

"Right. Okay. I'll be out in a minute."

"There are some extra toothbrushes under the sink." he nodded. He helped her up and went into the livingroom. Mike and the little girl both looked worried.

"Is she okay?"

"The marks are making her nauseous. And you must be Lorelai?" Henry asked. The little girl nodded. "And where were you all day? Your mother was worried."

"I was walking. And then..." Vicki came out of the bathroom, stopping in the doorway, and the girl looked at her.

"Alright. What are you and where's the little girl?" Vicki demanded. Henry looked at her.

"Vicki..."

"Henry, you said it yourself. It was a regular case. A little girl in the suburbs vanishes right before what her mom says is her favorite thing in the world. No little girl with all of that goes missing. She was taken. I don't know how, but this isn't Lorelai."

"Wouldn't Henry be able to tell?" Mike frowned.

"I've been confused before. Vicki, are you sure?"

"Do you have an explanation for it?"

". . ."

"Thought not. What are you?" Vicki looked back at the little girl. She was smiling sweetly.

"Me? I'm just a little girl."

"And I'm the Easter Bunny. What are you?"

"Such an intuitive little sleuth, aren't you? Fine. I'm a demon. Big woop. I was summoned to help Callisto." at that moment, the girl shifted into a mimic of the vampiress. "Being a child is so boring. You can find her body in the garbage cans outside of the pizzaria five blocks from her house."

Henry grabbed the demon's throat and looked at the sword on the wall. "Mike, that one." he said. Mike grabbed it and handed it to the vampire, whom promptly ran the demon through, then chopped it's head off. It vanished and it's blood faded away. He put the sword back on the wall and went over to Vicki. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but that seemed too easy."

"Don't discount small blessings, Vic." Mike frowned.

"That's two, count em, two, things he sent after you to get to me. If he's trying to earn points, he sucks at it." she crossed her arms and pouted angrily. Henry smiled and kissed her forehead. "I should probably go get the girl's body." she sighed.

"I can..." Mike began. She gave him a look.

"Yes, because that makes perfect sense. You wandering around and just happen to look into he garbage can? It'll make more sense if I find her. Then you can work the case later."

"I'll go with you." Henry offered. She nodded, grabbing her asp and purse, and they left Mike in the apartment. Henry drove them to the pizzaria and she tossed back the lid of the huge blue trash thing. In the bottom lay the small blonde girl, a terrible smell coming from her. Vicki closed the lid and Henry set a hand on her arm. She pulled out her phone and called the police station to report it, then sighed.

"Any chance you remember the number to her mom's cell?"

"Of course I do." he nodded. He recited it for her and she called the woman.

"Hello? Lorelai?" the quick, tear-filled voice of Lorelai's mother answered.

"This is Vicki Nelson."

"Did you find her?"

"Yes, I did. The police will be here soon and..."

"Police? She..."

"I'm sorry, she's dead. I'll suggest they send a grief counselor."

"My baby..." there was a click and Vicki put her phone back into her bag.

"Worst part of the job?" Henry frowned. She nodded.

"I need lots of chocolate ice cream and a large pizza. Maybe some liquor." she mumbled. He nodded and they went to Vicki's usual grocery store and pizzaria, picking up everything. Henry'd insisted she only get a small amount of alcohol, so she'd gotten a six pack and shrugged innocently at his frown.

They got back to his place and saw Mike looking through a book. He looked up and saw the food. "One of those nights?" he frowned. She nodded. "I should get home. They'll probably call me to work it since you called it in."

"Sorry. And her mom will need a counselor." she shrugged.

"I don't mind. But you're helping me if I need to write a fairy tale for this report." he smiled. She nodded. He got up and hugged her before kissing her on the cheek and leaving. Vicki looked at Henry. He was...smiling.

"Usually if he did that in front of you, you would've been glaring daggers through him. What gives?"

"I've accepted he's a part of your life, Vicki. And he doesn't look half-bad in something other than suits." he shrugged. She looked at him, jaw slack.

"Did you just hit on Mike?"

"Yes, I did. I figured there had to be something about him you liked. I did my own investigating. Good, honest man. Hardworking. Passionate. Enjoys feeding ducks at the pond."

"He only does that during his lunch break when he works days. How'd you find out?" she frowned, setting the pizza on the table. He put the ice cream and beer down.

"I have my ways, Vicki."

"Did you hire another PI? He goes to a pretty secluded part."

"I didn't hire another PI. How could I do that to you?" he smiled. She shrugged. "I got someone to follow him and report back to me that night."

"Right. So you had someone stalk him."

"Yes." he smiled. She rolled her eyes. "Hey, would you prefer I had killed him for that?"

"No. But I don't know how he'll respond to the -vampire wants to fuck me- thing."

"You've adjusted nicely."

"Henry!" she laughed. He smiled. "I have no clue what you're talking about. You never gave me the slightest indication you were interested." she smirked. He sat next to her and a wicked smile curved his lips.

"I didn't? How rude of me." he leaned forward and their lips brushed lightly. He pulled back. "You eat and I'll go find something for you to sleep in." he whispered. She nodded and twisted open a bottle of beer. He went into the room.

When he came back out a couple minutes later, there was an empty bottle on the empty half of the pizza box, two slices were missing, and she had another slice in one hand with a beer in the other. "Wow." he nodded. She laughed.

"So I'm a bit of an unhealthy eater."

"A bit. This okay?" he held up a large t-shirt and a pair of boxers. She nodded.

"Anything's fine." she shrugged. He nodded. "Thanks for not...you know, being an insensitive guy."

"Me? Insensitive?"

"I know, but there are some guys that would've said so what and just left it at that."

"Well, those men aren't me."

"I know. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have found you and Mike both. You're both wonderful men."

"I fear a but coming on?"

"So do I." she mumbled. He shook his head.

"I won't ever cause you to leave me. Nor will I ever leave you. And if Mike can withstand being around this long with me as competition, I'd say he'll be here for quite awhile, too."

"Competition?" she smiled.

"Vicki, don't play dumb."

"Who's playing? Right now, nothing exists to me but this conversation, my pizza, and my beer. I put the ice-cream in the freezer. I don't think chocolate on this carpet would've looked nice."

"Very kind of you." he nodded, smiling.

"Have you...fed?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I'm fine. It's not an every night necessity."

"But when Mendoza..." she frowned, confused.

"He drained me of the blood I had. I can go four days without it when I'm just too busy to bother."

"Let me guess. Met some deadlines that way?"

"Frequently. I always find something wrong with some of the pictures and go into crazy mode."

"You? Do wrong? Do mine ears decieve me? Holy cow, call a priest, Henry made a confession about not being perfect." she finished off the slice in her hand and downed the rest of the beer. He looked at her, a hand over his heart.

"You wound me, Lady Victoria. Such stabbing comments from a maiden so fair."

"Maiden so fair?" she snorted picking up another slice of pizza.

"Yes. Maiden so fair. Today's standards for beauty are unrealistic and you've managed to meet, nay exceed, them." he brushed back a lock of her hair and she smiled.

"You're being romantic and I'm cramming pepperoni down my throat."

"Would you prefer I stop?"

"Until I look half-ass decent, yes."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

"Why?"

"Because you always look beautiful."

"Yes, but I just went through a terrible night..." she stopped. "Henry, I didn't keep that sun-thing because of you. I kept it incase there was ever another vampire. It happened."

"I already told you I wasn't angry..."

"Anger isn't the only emotion that comes from being betrayed like that."

"It doesn't matter. After what happened with Mendoza, I would've taken it, too."

"And what's that mean?" she shot him a look. He frowned.

"Vicki, you were there."

"Yes."

"And you saw that I wasn't exactly civil."

"I saw that you were tortured and hurt. And that you begged him to send me away. I don't know what you saw, but I saw you worrying about me, trying to save me."

"And then I snapped."

"And then you lost a battle with your more primal side. It happens."

"Not to you."

"You forget, I shot Mike."

"You said that was an accident."

"I lied. It was that time of the month and he ate my chocolate. Primal instinct kicked in."

"Primal instinct? You shot him over chocolate?" he laughed. She nodded.

"Yes."

"Dangerous."

"Fear it. Embrace it." she smiled. He sighed happily and watched her eating, then she stopped and looked at him. "Yes?"

"Nothing."

"Why are you watching me eat?"

"Is it bugging you?"

"A little. I'm cramming my face and you're watching me. That disturbs a lot of girls."

"Would you prefer if I ate, too?" he smiled.

"One: Do you even eat normal food?"

"I can. I choose not to because it seems like a waste."

"Right. And two: Mine." she gathered the final pieces up and stacked them, looking at him like he were about to steal them. "My precious." she sighed. He grinned.

"Okay. I'll go work on my next issue. You sit here and eat. When you're ready to go to sleep, tell me and we can go."

"Go where?" she raised an eyebrow.

"To bed." he said, as if it were obvious. She nodded.

"Right. Okay. I'll tell you when I'm done." she nodded. He kissed her forehead and went to his drawing station. She finished her pizza and a couple more beers, then picked the clothes up from the couch and took her purse into the bathroom. She changed and pulled her toothbrush from earlier out. She came out minutes later and saw Henry still drawing. She threw away the pizza box and bottles, then put the last beer in the fridge and walked to where he was drawing. He stopped and looked up at her.

"Done?"

"Yep. I didn't want to sneak up on you. I know that makes you go all crazy."

"Yes, it does." he smiled, nodding. He put his pen up and she held her hand out to him. They went into the bedroom and he crawled onto the bed, then pulled her onto it next to him. She smiled.

"So, is this the part where you give me a classic vampire line?"

"No. This is the part where we go to sleep." Henry kissed her forehead and she nodded, snuggling against him. He pulled her closer and they just laid there until they fell asleep.