First, to deal with an inconsistency, I realized that in Ch 2 I mentioned that it was Spring time; however, after rereading "Immortal Hearts" I realized this should actually be set just after Halloween, thus at the end of Autumn. I will continue this fanfic based on the book's timeline. Sorry about that.

Also, please forgive the long break. I am already working on chapter 5. We will finally start getting into the meat of the story. These characters are so naturally fluffy, so there is a lot of Alexander/Raven fluff to get though.

Please continue to leave reviews. I am grateful for your response.

My head was throbbing. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and snuggled into my warm pillow, willing the pulsing to subside. It was then that my pillow rumbled softly beneath me accompanied by what sounded almost like a chuckle, and I felt long, slender fingers comb through my hair.

"Finally awake, my dear?" came a melodic baritone voice. I began to smile in spite of myself and cuddled further into my dark king's embrace. "Not yet," I whispered.

Then there came a succession of loud shrieks that seemed to echo through the creaky manor and penetrate the haven that was our casket. I nearly jumped out of bed. I might have, had my head not collided with the ceiling of the coffin. Thank goodness it was padded.

Every muscle in my body screamed in protest at the sudden movement, and I found myself wincing in pain. I covered my ears with my hands. It muffled the sound, but did nothing to stop the throbbing of my head.

"What is that?" I questioned Alexander, who I noted had a distinct expression of annoyance on his face.

He held up his finger for me to wait. After what seemed like an eternity the wailing finally stopped.

"That," he said, propping up on his elbows, "was a particularly obnoxious wake up call." When I gave him what I thought was an inquisitive look he continued, "When I was younger I didn't always like to get up early, so if I ever stayed in bed past midnight the alarm would go off every five minutes until I was forced to get up, but it was supposed to have been disabled ages ago. I haven't 'slept in' in years."

Saying that Alexander looked put out would be an understatement. He must have noticed my surprise at his adverse reaction to the alarm because he looked up at me meaningfully. "I don't like being interrupted," he stated before rising to give me a long, breathy kiss.

He pulled away ever so slightly, his razor-like fangs tracing my swollen lower lip. His firm hands tracing over my bare skin lit a fire in the pit of my stomach, and I found myself pressed against his hard torso, kissing him with all my might.

Then the shrieking returned. I felt myself jump again, but Alexander's strong arms held me in place. I felt his breath on my lips as he gave an exasperated huff. "I guess we'd better get up," he sighed.

My knight of the night pushed a button at the edge of the coffin lid and it swung upon. "Sometimes," he said, "you gotta love modern technology." He sat up straight for the first time and began to stretch his arms and shoulders, watching me intently as he did so. At the same moment I felt the chilled November air from the outside world come into contact with my bare skin.

I felt my cheeks begin to burn as I realized exactly what Alexander was looking at. Suddenly now exposed to the world outside our coffin, I felt the desperate need to cover myself. I grabbed the silky black bed sheet in a weak attempt only to uncover my groom's previously covered lower half. What I saw only made my face burn all the more, and my abs screamed in protest as I turned away from him.

My gothic knight's deep, rumbling chuckle reached my ears before his arms encircled me. "Don't be like that, love," he whispered to me in a pouty voice. "It's cold when you steal the covers like that," he said childishly, pulling the silky sheets from my clutched hands and resting his forehead just behind my left ear so I could feel his warm breath on my naked shoulder.

"Besides," he continued. I shivered as I felt his warm tongue slither up my neck and over the shell of my left ear. "After last day I'd say there's not much to be embarrassed over."

He shifted to kiss my cheek before rising out of our casket-shaped bed, leaving me fighting to keep my breath even. My eyes followed my gothic prince as he crossed the room to retrieve his clothes from the bathroom which had been abandoned the night before. He was beautiful, his sickly pale skin painted an almost glowing shade of blue in the darkness.

It was only then that I looked down at my own now exposed body which to my surprise was covered in bite marks.

"What the heck, Alexander!" I exclaimed, shocked by the number of wounds covering my body. I was at eleven and still counting. All thoughts of covering my nakedness were abandoned at this point as I stood to examine myself more closely.

The perpetrator himself emerged from the bathroom halfway through buttoning up his pants. "What is all this?" I demanded.

When he realized what I was talking about he only gave a small laugh. "You didn't seem at all opposed at the time," he said as he approached me. "In fact," he whispered huskily, "if memory serves, you seemed to quite enjoy it."

I desperately wanted to deny it, but as the memories of last night flooded my brain it was all I could do to keep myself from melting into a blood red puddle of embarrassment. My dark prince handed me the shirt he had worn last night before moving to pick up my discarded dress from the floor.

"Besides," he continued, "you weren't exactly gentle either."

That did it. I wanted so badly to just collapse back into the bed and never be seen again. I settled for covering my face with the shirt. It was true. I didn't even remember how many times I had bitten Alexander last day, and he had the bite wounds to prove it, just as I did. I knew I shouldn't be this embarrassed. He was my husband now after all, but I had no idea how I was supposed to react to this situation.

Graciously Alexander interrupted my thoughts. "Put that shirt on for now, until we can get upstairs to find something better for you."

Resigning myself to the fact that we would eventually have to leave this room I obeyed.

"Do you think that when we get down stairs I can get some aspirin?" I asked. "My head is killing me."

My dreamy knight of the night only laughed. "Sure." He extended his hand to help me out of our coffin. I took it and felt my face wrinkle in pain as I stepped over the short wall and onto the floor.

Alexander sent me a concerned look. "Are you alright?" he questioned. He really noticed everything.

I almost laughed. I might have had my head not been throbbing so fiercely. "It's your fault," I accused. "I'm sore all over."

Half an hour later after showering and dressing in fresh clothes from my gothic husband's closet, we descended the stairs hand in hand. My groom wore his usual casual clothes, while I had decided on an oversized black band hoodie and a smaller pair of Alexander's black gym shorts, no shoes required.

Waiting for us in the dining room was one very bored looking Sebastian, his dread locks tied back in a ponytail. My gothic knight's best friend stood when he saw us. "Well it's about time," he said, "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to enable that stupid alarm."

I sent Sebastian a particularly evil glare that I hoped communicated everything I was screaming in my head.

My true love's best friend only smiled pleasantly at us. "Don't look like that. It takes away from the glowing newlywed look," he laughed. "Anyway Stormy will be back in a few hours. Do you really want her to be the one walking in on you?"

Alexander glared at him. "Just wait 'til it's your turn," he breathed threateningly.

"Won't happen, man," Sebastian laughed. "When I decide to settle down, I'll be taking a long honeymoon somewhere far away from possible interruptions." He settled back down into his chair and motioned for us to follow suit. "So it's really your own fault for staying here," he finished.

Alexander sat down at the head of the table, and I had just settled into the seat across from Sebastian when Jameson entered the room carrying a tray holding two glasses of what looked like bubbling water. He set one on the table next to Alexander's hand and gave the second to me. Aspirin.

I smiled up at the kind old man. "Thank you, Jameson. How did you know?"

The butler inclined his head to me before responding, "Forgive me for being so forward, Mistress Raven, but I have been around long enough to know a blood hangover when I see one."

I got the basic idea of what a blood hangover was when Sebastian burst into laughter and clapped Alexander on the back, the sudden outbreak causing both of us to wince. Loud noises and throbbing headaches were not a good combination.

"It sounds like you two had a fun day," Sebastian said as he began doing an exaggerated search of Alexander's neck apparently probing for evidence of last day's events. I gulped down the aspirin in an attempt to ignore blond-headed grinning nuisance and hopefully hide my own reddening cheeks as Jameson retreated back into the kitchen. I usually enjoyed Sebastian's fun-loving attitude, but tonight I was just not in the mood.

Alexander drained the last of his glass before turning to his friend. "Do you have it?" he questioned.

I cocked my head in question. Sebastian gave us both a toothy grin as he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Alexander. "Everything is in place," he said. "All you have to do is turn this into the office when you arrive."

My dark king's pale red lips spread into a grin as he looked over the document. "Thanks," he said, his long fangs peeking through as he turned his beaming smile on me. He extended the paper toward me. "Take a look," he said, his eyes gleaming.

I carefully took the paper from his spidery white fingers. I felt my eyes grow wide when I saw the heading. I looked up at my knight of the night in shock. I know I really shouldn't have been so surprised. It made perfect sense, but still… "This is a marriage registration form," I began, dropping the document face-up on the table.

Alexander nodded, smiling at me and took my hand in his. "I thought as it is already official," he began, intertwining his long fingers with my pale black tipped ones, "we may as well make it legal."

He lifted our connected hands to his lips and gently kissed the soft skin covering the back of my hand. His voice dropped into a tone that was somewhere between comforting and threatening. "I won't give anyone an excuse to take you away from me," he said. I felt my whole body quiver as his deep brown eyes bore into me.

What was that? I managed to shake it off to smile back at him.

I laid my head against his cold palm. "I'm not going anywhere," I reassured him, and his smile grew, exposing his razor-like fangs gleaming red in the candlelight.

I plan to start a "Tips for Writing Accurate Vampire Kisses Fanfiction" section, all meant to be humorous of course. I will give one tip for every chapter. Please tell me what you think of them.

The 1st is this:

Make sure that the main character is an incredibly immature teenage girl who would be so excited to become a vampire that she completely forgets that she will no longer be able to live at home and doesn't bring so much as a purse with her to her covenant ceremony. Thus she has nothing but a ridiculously fancy Halloween dress and her love for her boyfriend. She's a basic Juliet archetype.