Rachel's loud laughter filled her tiny space. Her and Finn were crammed on her small couch, bags of blood in their hands, their thighs touching almost intimately.

"This shit is awful" Finn laughed as he sipped slowly.

"Your just saying that" Rachel giggled.

"No... Really Rach, it's like stale bread or something."

"You get used to it" Rachel said idly.

She didn't even know how long they had been sitting there, reminiscing about the centuries of time they had spend together, but it felt comfortable. The sun had risen sometime ago and it bathed the room with bright yellow light. The sun was one thing Rachel

could always count on to brighten even the darkest of moods. As Daywalkers they were able to lead mostly normal lives and she was grateful. Some of their kind had to live by the light of the moon alone. She could not image living an endless life, never able to venture out into the bright sunlight. Finn brought the blood up to his lips again sucking through a hole he had ripped in the corner.

"At least it's warm."

"Microwaves! One of humanities best inventions" she winked at him.

"Yeah guess I should get a fucking microwave then huh" he said sticking his tongue out at her.

"Real mature Mr. Hudson" she said daintily.

"Hey, those are your words princess."

"Never" she cried dramatically.

He stretched his long legs out turning and resting them across her lap. She was sitting with her legs folded under her, taking very little of the couch up.

"You can take the girl out of the 1820's but can you take the 1820's out of the girl?" he sighed.

"Hey I think I've modernized quite well" she responded.

And she had. Nobody would guess that Rachel was anything but a average 20 year old girl. She had traded long dresses and bonnets for jeans and boots. Her thick brown locks were cut and styled in trend with the time. Finn still remembered the first time he had seen her all those ages ago in that damp basement. Her long dress dirty and torn, her pinned hair falling around in disarray, still clutching a bonnet in her hand. Rachel had always been good at adopting the dress of the day, of fitting in with times, as the years passed.

She stumbled most with adapting the way she spoke and the way she acted. She had been raised a certain way and every generation had new rules and they had to constantly adapt to those. He remembered the first time he saw her in pants in the 1920s, it was such a sight to see the old Victorian dress of their era die out and a surgance of women dressing more like men emerge. At lot of men were not fans of the masculinization of women's apparel but Finn had kind of enjoyed women becoming more independent. Besides, Rachel looked cute as hell in a pair of cropped pants.

Now as he ran his brown eyes over her tiny frame he saw a 21st century women. Still just as beautiful as she always was but in a different way. He smiled at her his mind drifting back to the early days of their new life.

"What are you thinking about" she sipped her blood through a straw.

"July 28, 1825"

Ohio- July 28 1825

It had been over two years since they were changed into the demons they now were. Two years and the master had not made a move on his master plan. They would run mini attacks on small villages, the Daywalkers would scope out the situation for a few days and then they would attack under the cover of darkness. They would feed on most, turn a few who showed potential and then retreat. They were certainly inciting fear but they had not gained much ground in regaining their makers land and whatever else he wanted to prove.

The truth was the maker had not realized how hard it would be to control his large army of newborn vampires. Sure he was old and powerful but the Newborns were violent, unpredictable and very hard to control and the older vampires were out numbered. It was hard to keep the newborns fed and controlled without drawing attention to themselves before they were ready to attack. That and the humans were fighting back, they were onto what was happening and they were getting better at fighting the vampires. The master had played on the fact that humans were unsuspecting but it turns out that many were not.

Rachel and Finn had become inseparable in the past two years. The closest thing to family either had anymore, he had been there for her since day one of her new life and for that she was grateful. They related to one another on many levels and Rachel guessed they might have been good friends in their human lives.

It was late July and western Ohio was in the middle of a heat wave. The vampire army lived together in an old farmhouse in the middle of a clearing that the woods was slowing encroaching on. It was cramped, dilapidated and tensions were running high as the vampires fought for space and dominance. Rachel, Finn and a handful of their fellow Daywalkers took advantage of the daylight hours, moving through the house as their counterparts slept in the basement and darkened rooms. They were lucky as there were so few of their kind. The cursed ink was scarce as relations with the witches who made it had crumbled.

On that particular day they were sprawled around the parlor, the sunlight seeping through the windows, dust bunnies floating in it's rays.

"I say we just take off one of these days" Noah Puckerman spoke.

He was young, cocky man and was pissed off. Originally from Columbus he had been turned on his way back to the city after a business trip. He was nobodies servant boy and he was not happy about being a part of this army. He had enjoyed his human life, he was rich and a popular ladies man, or at least he had been.

"No way, that's a bad idea" Finn began "we can't leave until he releases us and if we try they will find us and kill us."

"Or until he dies" Puck, as he was called, scoffed.

"Who's going to kill him big guy? You?" Finn teased.

"You got a better idea? This is bullshit. I didn't ask for this and this certainly ain't how I want to spend eternity. Sitting around this shit hole with you boring ass fools and those disgusting night dwellers downstairs. I would rather be dead then bossed around by some old ass vampire with a vengeance"

"You are dead dude"

"You know what I mean Finn. This ain't glamorous" he motioned to the room "besides, I got to admit I think we are just going to be disposed of in the end. I say we just take care of this before it gets to us."

"That will never work" Rachel said softly "your not capable of killing him."

"I thought women were meant to be seen and not heard" Puck shot at her.

Rachel rolled her eyes, Puck was a bit of a chauvinist, that didn't shock Rachel though, most men were. It was just part of the world they were in, even in death men held the dominance.

Before she even had a chance to respond they heard a commotion outside the house. It was tucked deep in the woods, they never got visitors out here and the vampires tensed.

"Do you smell something burning?" Rachel asked suddenly jumping to her feet.

"Yeah" Finn said moving equally as fast.

Thick smoke filled the room as the roof of the house caught on fire. They could literally hear the wood starting to pop and burn. Rachel peered out of the window and gasped. Outside a large mob was throwing burning torches on the old wooden framed building. The dry wood was catching quickly.

"Guys" Rachel said a bit of fear in her voice.

Fire was one thing that could actually kill them.

"Run" Puck shouted shooting to his feet.

They raced to the rear of the house bursting out into the bright sunlight running for the woods that backed the house. There were people all around but nobody seemed to notice them they moved so fast. Inside they could hear the screams of the vampires dying. Some ran into the sunlight clawing at the humans before bursting into flame. A few were able to take down a human or two as they scrambled for the woods. None made it that far. The rest were trapped, they had no where to go, the fire would kill them. The humans had been smart.

They did not know about the small group, their number not more than 10, of Daywalkers who now stood at the clearings edge watching their comrades burn to death. A couple more of the vamps burst out into the daylight, their skin sizzling in the sunlight, grabbing at the humans in the clearing. For Finn and Rachel a realization hit them as the house burned. They were free; free of the army, free of their maker, free of all ties that bound them to this place. They were on their own, saved from death by a witches curse.

"That's when our afterlife truly began" she smiled at the man next to her.

It kind of freaked him out a little, even after all this time, when she was able to read his thoughts. It didn't happen often but when it happened from time to time it was only between them. She had never been able to read anyone the way she could Finn, even others with the same maker were still a shadow to her.

"We were finally free to live our lives as we pleased. It was glorious" Finn responded.

"Still is"

"Yeah" Finn wasn't so sure the last few decades had been at top of his list but were still better than that old farmhouse.

"Do you ever wonder what happened to the others?" she asked

When they had left the burning farmhouse they had stood together and watched it burn to the ground, nobody saying a word. The flames meaning different things to each of them. The humans danced around them, unaware of what evil was in their presence, celebrating their victory. They could have banded together, taken revenge on the humans in the clearing but none of them had moved. Despite their nature they didn't necessarily blame the humans, as they stood and watched the demise of what had been their prison. As night fell they slowly left, one by one, until just Rachel and Finn remained. The air was heavy with smoke and death but both had stayed for quite awhile until Finn took her hand and led her away.

"I actually spent the 70's in Vegas with Puck" he laughed bringing her back to the current time "now that was interesting. That man is exactly in death as he had been in life, only more destructive. And I've seen Tina and Sam in passing over the years."

"You spent the 70s in Vegas" she said slowly.

He looked over at her.

"You..." She said it again "spent the 70s in Vegas. With Puck!"

"Yep"

"Like you were wingmen" she giggled.

He didn't respond to her taunting just looked at her with those big brown eyes and smiled at her with the crooked smile that had always gotten her.

"You don't want to know the details Rach, trust me" part of him was egging her on, part telling the truth. There were a lot of women, and blood, in those days.

She felt her blood surge a little as he held her stare. He was so handsome, even more so in his modern dress, it hit her to the core. She could not believe she was sitting here with him again after all this time. It was so easy with Finn it always had been.

After the fire Finn and Rachel had headed to New York City for the first time. They were free from the hold of their maker and had an eternity in front of them. Finn told her to pick a place she always wanted to see and NYC was it. They wanted to see the world, experience everything they could and learn to adapt their new life.

In New York they had truly found each other though and love hit them hard and fast. It was the first time Rachel had realized the impact that their heightened senses really had on her. Everything was brighter, bolder and sharper and that included her feelings for Finn. Those early days in New York were some of Rachel's most cherished memories. They stuck with her through everything that happened after because it was the first time in her life she had felt as though she belonged with someone, she was totally connected to Finn, something that went beyond their shared blood. And their bond was strong enough to last for 109 blissful years.

New York City- October 17, 1825

Fall was settling into the city and Rachel had never seen anything more beautiful in her life. She was giddy with excitement, it was running through her veins. It was like the city actually ran through her. She had never been out of Ohio and here she was, Rachel Berry, in New York City with her best friend in the world.

She grabbed Finns hand dragging him to the trees excitedly. They were in Central Park, the afternoon sun was warm but the air had a crisp edge to it. She could smell the the season changing, the humidity finally releasing its hold. The leaves changed in Ohio but it was nothing like this, this was a literal rainbow in the middle of this big concrete jungle. Finn glanced down at her and had to laugh a little at Rachel's childlike joy.

"Get me one" she said to Finn pointing up high into the tree.

"Get you one?"

"That red one up there" she pointed.

Finn looked around cautiously making sure no eyes were on them before jumping into the air to grab the leaf. He landed without a sound and handed the leaf to her.

"Thank You" her voice was soft.

"You know you could have done that yourself" he smiled a half smile at her.

"A lady doesn't jump into trees Mr. Hudson" she said running a finger over the blood red leaf.

"You are not a traditional lady Miss Berry" he responded the deep red of the leaf making him hungry.

"I might be a vampire but I'm still a lady" she told him.

"A lady of the night" he laughed.

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder and he caught her up in a hard embrace.

"I'm having the most amazing time with you Rachel. Thank you for suggesting New York"

"It is my pleasure Mr. Hudson" she smiled at him taking his hand as they strolled down the path, leaves swishing around their feet.

They walked like that in a comfortable silence for blocks, when the trees of the park had turned into the brick structures of the inner city. And they continued to walk, all the way to the Hudson River where they took up residence on a bench watching the water flow by. Rachel leaned her head against Finn's strong arm taking in his scent. It would be a scent that would later haunt her dreams, creep up in her memory long after he was gone and at times she swore she could smell him even when she was awake. They sat there on that bench until the sun sank behind the horizon and night blanketed the city. It had been a few days since they ate and both knew they should find a nice meal but neither wanted to move from the comfort of the moment.

"I'm hungry" Rachel finally said to him.

"Then let's go find some dinner" he said to her rising to his feet extending a hand to help her up.

"Your always such a gentleman" she smiled as they strolled looking for a good meal.

"You can thank my mother for that" Finn said softly his mind drifting back to the Ohio farm he had to leave behind wondering if she was well, if she was still grieving for her missing son.

"She must have been a good women"

"She was, is" He responded as they began to walk "she was sweet, hard working and used to make a killer Shepard's Pie."

"All my Mom cares about was that I was going to marry the right man."

"I doubt that. I think she was hard on you because she saw your potential."

"Maybe.."

Her long dress swirled around her boots, her hair pinned neatly in place. She was the vision of a well bred women. They looked like a young couple out for an evening stroll not the demons they really were. It was their innocence that made hunting so easy for them, their prey was always unsuspecting. They were careful in the hunt to make sure to never to kill their prey, they would drink until they were weak and them compel them to forget the whole thing.

It was a comfortable way of living, though at times they both had to fight to stop the feed and they had left a few victims in their wake while figuring out how to feed carefully, blood was still their life force but they were getting better at controlling the urge and to read when a person was close to death. The breathing and heart would slow dangerously and that's when they would stop. Their new lives were a learning curve.

"Finn" Rachel said as they walked back into the bustling streets of the city "I want that one"."

Finn looked across the street to where she was pointing and laughed "No way, I get to pick this time."

"Finn please" she batted her eyes.

"No way, your not getting away with that."

"Fine" he could hear the pout in her voice.

He turned to look down at her, the moon reflecting off her skin and eyes. She looked beautiful and Finn felt himself reacting before he even finished his thought. Another side effect of what he was, impulsiveness. He had been fighting these feelings for some time now and it had become a daily battle. His gaze was strong on her and the electricity crackled between them. She was gorgeous and he felt to lucky to be here with her.

Suddenly he swept Rachel up into hard hug, crushing his lips down on hers. Electricity flew between them as their embrace tightened, then he felt his fangs slide down into place. He pulled away from the heated kiss to see Rachel staring up at him, her own fangs down. She moved her lips around a little, the feeling of having them there still strange. He ran his tongue over his own fangs and smiled down at her the electricity still sizzling between them.

"What was that for?"

He took her small hand in his large one "The moment got to me, you get to me. Let's go find some dinner".

"Sure" she said "but I get to pick"

"Rach…. Rach…..RACHEL" Finns voice broke into her memory.

She looked over at him, her fangs extended with a far away look in her eyes. She felt her fangs retract as the memory faded but the burning in her stomach remained. It was still strange to her how fully the memory was able to effect her.

"What are you thinking about?" He smiled at her "You were really gone there for a minute."

"The night I fell in love with you" her look was honest and soft.

"October 17, 1825" he said fondly "I was already falling hard by then."

"It felt like everything fell into place that night and it never stopped" she told him honestly.

"Even now?"

"Even now!"