A/N: Yay! I updated almost within a month. A record! Ha ha. How pathetic. Honestly the reason for that is because I got so many reviews; it put me in a good mood. What can I say? I'm a review junkie (I especially like the long ones ;D. *hint hint*). Anyways, I don't know if you guys find anything confusing so far, but if you do, just drop me a question and I'll have it cleared up for you a.s.a.p. Oh, and if you have any spelling/grammar corrections, please tell me!

And again, a WARNING: super bossy, possessive alpha male-ness in the near future. If you are a feminist or something and get annoyed by that kind of thing, then good for you and keep it up. But I gotta say, it's freaking hot when Darien does it. I want a Darien. Christmas is coming up… Hm…

Crescendo

Chapter 4: Me to You

Okay Serena. You are an intelligent and educated woman. You can easily think this through rationally. Sure you just got married to a vampire and have some weird glowing tattoo on your chest, but hey, if you're a vampire I guess anything can happen. Kim Jong Il will get a haircut and join 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'. Unicorns will pop out of the sky and eat us all, she thought shakily.

I understand that this is all coming as a shock to you, but let's not say ridiculous things. Unicorns, perhaps, but honestly, 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'? Highly unlikely.

"Hey, hey, HEY! Didn't I tell you NOT to do that? It creeps me out okay? Just let me keep my thoughts to myself alright?" Serena vented heatedly. "I understand you're 'all-powerful' and 'King of all Dark Creatures' and all that other 'woo-woo' crap, but honestly, just give me a little time to adjust here all right fang boy?" she ranted, waving her hands around in agitation.

"Well now, fang girl, you better get used to all this 'woo-woo' crap, because it's going to be a part of your life for about… Oh, say, the next eternity or so," he said with a smile. "Or at least, until I let you go…"

"Really?"

"…which will happen after about an eternity times infinity- a.k.a. never."

"Oh."

He took her into his arms again and gently ran a fingertip over the sharp points of her canines. "Honestly, does it seem that horrible to you? You will be a Queen, and will be treated and live like one. I can give you anything and everything that you ask for: money, jewels, luxury, security, love- it is all yours," he said, his voice as smooth as silk.

"And my friends, my family, my work? What will happen to all of that? What will happen to my life? Can you give me all that as well? Can you give me the same happiness and contentment that I had before you? Tell Darien, will I ever love you?" she mocked.

It was as if a mask had shuttered over Darien's face. Gone was the teasing man who gently held her in his arms, and in his place was someone completely different. Someone cold. Someone Serena was frightened of.

Hiding her fear, she held her belligerent and stubborn stance, refusing to back down. "So I see. You can't. You actually can't give me everything, can you? Darien, what right do you have to keep me here? Am I to just be your prisoner?"

Her words dug a hole in his heart, twisting the knife deeper and deeper until he was numb to the pain. She doesn't love me. After all, what have I done to deserve her love? She doesn't love me. How can I make her happy? She doesn't love me. I can give her nothing that she truly wants. She doesn't love me. It was too good to be true…

"I will take care of you."

"And if that's not enough for me?" she challenged.

"It will be."

"Ugh!" Serena threw her hands up in exasperation. "You can't honestly expect me to have that much faith and confidence in you!"

"Why not? Everyone else does."

"It just doesn't work that way I tell you! You can't just say 'you will be happy' and poof I'm happy." She stopped and took a deep, calming breath. She let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Okay, I'm willing to accept that you're a vampire and that I'm your m-m-mate, but you can't honestly expect to keep me locked up in this house forever do you?" She attempted to give him a weak smile. "Be reasonable."

"I am. You're the one who insists on sputtering all this nonsense."

"Me. Sputtering… Nonsense. You. Agh!" She thrust herself away from Darien and out of the bed, stomping towards the wall. Slamming both palms against the wall, she let out a slow, shaky breath. "Okay, first things first. My name is Serena Delancy and you are Darien Shields. I am 26 years old and you are of a few millennia. You are a vampire-"

"King. And you are my Queen," he interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, I was getting to that part. Hold your horses," she muttered. "Anyways, King of the Vampires, and you claim to have made me your queen. Therefore, that would make me-"

"A vampire."

"-as well. Damn it. Well now, isn't that just a fudging kick in the reality bucket. I'm a vampire. A vampire." She gave him a scornful look. "Don't tell me your real name is really Lestat or Dracula or something."

"No, they were executed under royal decree a few centuries ago for revealing themselves and our species to the human world," he said blandly.

She let out a sigh. "Okay. I can handle this. I can. Nothing too difficult..." She stopped for a minute. "Except… You don't really expect to keep me locked up in this house do you?"

Darien's face was completely devoid of emotion as he said, "it's a necessary precaution for you, as you are just a fledgling vampire, almost completely powerless."

She whirled around to face Darien, her pale blue eyes sparking. "Yes. And thanks to who?" she raged furiously. "I can't believe this. I didn't make this decision. This wasn't my choice."

I don't believe so. Do you not remember your own words?

Before she could even realize that he was in her mind again, a memory slid into her head, making her body burn as she recalled the hunger, lust, and desperation she had felt earlier. She remembered the craving and painfulness of her thirst, the need for fulfillment making her body sensitive, responsive to the slightest touch. Of how desired him. Of how she was wet for him. Of how she loved him.

"I'm yours. I'm yours. Your mate. Anything. Everything. I don't care. You have me. Now and forever…Yes. I love you. Please, Darien…Forever…"

The words echoed throughout her mind and body. "No! It's not true! That wasn't me! I mean it was, but I wasn't- I didn't know what I was saying! You did… things, and I couldn't think. I didn't want this!" Serena cried.

It's out of your hands. Fate has made it your choice. It's our destiny: you were made for me, as I was made for you. There was nothing you could've done to keep it from happening.

So you strip me of my freedom? Am I now so weak that I can no longer think for myself? Am I to be your slave, locked up because you demand it? You say that we are married, yet I see no union, no "matrimony." I see no future. I'd rather die than remain like this, no power, no opinion, no freedom.

Serena didn't care that she was 'speaking' the very way that she just forbade him to do moments ago. All her thoughts were too consumed by the enormity of the situation. Her mind said no, her body said yes, but her heart didn't know where to follow.

Darien's soul grieved for her as he felt her pain and confusion. But he couldn't risk it. Would not risk it. To have come this far and to lose her as quickly as he had found her would break him. He knew it was selfish and unfair of him, but he couldn't help it. Couldn't stop it.

The silence stretched between them, Darien's emotionless mask staring down into Serena's flushed, angry face.

"Well you know what? You may have taken my life, my freedom, and my power, but you will never have me. I will never love you," she hissed.

He snapped.

Serena knew her words were cruel and harsh, but she couldn't stop herself. All her fear, her anger, her confusion, her resentment came pouring out of her through her words.

She could see that with each word that left her mouth, Darien's face grew colder and colder, until all traces of emotion were wiped clean. He stood ramrod straight, making his already imposing height look even more threatening. Then she noticed something strange. His eyes…

Just like before, his deep, dark blue irises were encircled by a ring of red, the color bleeding into the oceanic depths.

She stared in horror as two long, deadly fangs emerged, curving dangerously over his lower lip. She began to back away slowly, her body too stunned to flee as she should've, stopping only when she had backed up against a wall. Before, when the same tension and power clogged the air, she had been too distracted by the hypnotic pull of Darien's eyes and the heady scent of blood that had consumed her thoughts.

By this time, his beautiful eyes no longer even held a trace of their previous color, as crimson rings surrounded his pupils. She stared on in fascinated horror as a huge set of thickly feathered, glossy black wings emerged from his back, the very tips touching the floor.

A vampire… With wings. How is that- How could he-. Serena really had no idea what to think. She had accepted the idea of vampires, but this new development, not to mention the vicious look glinting in Darien's eyes, was causing her sense of reason to go haywire.

Darien began walking, no, gliding, towards her when she heard a strange, ripping sound. Looking frantically around the room for the source of the noise, she saw that it was coming from the floor. The feathers from his wings that were being dragged across the carpet were slicing right through the carpeting and floor, like razor blades easily tearing through tissue paper.

"You deny me so easily; how you must despise me." Darien's voice was strange, almost guttural, not the same, silky voice that she was used to. "But I'm afraid you have no choice in this matter. You. Are. Mine. Anyone or anything that gets in the way of us will be immediately exterminated. I have waited long and patiently for you to arrive, and I fucking deserve this. I have ruled fairly and greatly for the past thirteen centuries. Now it's my turn to get something in return. I waited for my reward; even when I thought was going to go insane, I didn't give in, like so many others did. But you're here now, and you'll be here forever, regardless of whether you want it or even if you don't love me. I don't give a fucking shit. I will love you, and You. Will. Stay." His body towered over hers, the power radiating from him making her skin burn and sting.

She wasn't going to back down. "So reduced to being a dog now? Pat me on the head, and say 'stay'. If I'm good will I get a treat? I'm not even allowed to be a person anymore. No, now I'm a canine."

"STOP IT!" he roared, and wave of power exploded from beneath his feet, so powerful that Serena was thrown back against the wall. The red of Darien's eyes faded slightly when Serena cried out in pain as the back of her head slammed into the panel, but didn't completely disappear.

"Is that what you think? That I want you to be my slave? You are my mate. My wife. My equal. My queen. You do not submit to anyone. You will never have to bow before anyone. The world will bow to you."

She said nothing as she gingerly touched the back of her head, expecting to feel a lump, only to discovered that not only had the pain already disappeared, but that her head was perfectly fine. "Then what is that you want?"

"You. I only want you to remain by my side. You do not have to love me, you don't even have to care about me. You just cannot leave me." His words were so bleak and hopeless that Serena could feel her stubborn heart wrench.

She continued to avoid looking at him as she spoke. "I don't really have a choice here, do I?" she said wryly. "Would you let me go if I refused?"

"No," he replied without hesitation.

"Then what choice do I have?" she sighed. "Alright, Darien, I agree. But remember the terms. I will stay, but you won't matter to me. I won't care about you. I won't love you. Do you agree?"

"I do."

"Then leave. I will remain in your prison. But I don't want to see you." Serena could feel her heart breaking, dying. She had lost everything overnight. She would never be able to return to her old life. She'd never she the people she loved ever again. It was gone. Everything. Her soul mourned at the thought of the pain this would cause her family, her friends. To have disappeared instantly, without a clue or an idea why. The tears she had so desperately tried to suppress threatened to spill.

It was all his fault. That thing's fault.

Darien.

When she finally dared to look at him again, he had almost returned to his previous state, his elongated fangs now just two abnormally sharp and pointed canines and his eyes only slightly tinged with red. Only his wings remained, the massive collection of razor-sharp feathers that sliced through everything they touched.

They stared silently at each other, neither of them moving until Serena's first tear spilled. She hadn't cried the entire time. Not even during the painful transition had she shed a single tear. But now, her heart so burdened and empty, her soul began to weep, and tears began to stream down.

Darien reached forward, wanting to wipe away the evidence of her unhappiness, but stopped abruptly when she flinched away from his hand. That single movement was like a blow to his stomach, wrenching him so harshly that for a split second he wished he could take it all back and to just spare her this pain.

He recalled earlier when he lost all control, and completely let loose. Serena's cry of pain as she was thrown against the wall echoed over and over in his mind, torturing him. Yet he welcomed it, wanted to be punished for being so thoughtless as to cause Serena harm. He claimed that he wanted to protect her, yet he was the only one hurting her.

He reached forward again, ignoring the look of fear and hate in her glistening eyes. As the silent tears ran over her cheeks and began to drip, he caught each one in the palm of his hand. It was not until her tears stopped that he spoke again. "I will make everything in your world beautiful. You will not regret this," he said softly.

Taking her hand in his, he put the hand that caught her tears over her palm. When he opened his hand, he released a handful of perfectly cut, clear, and flawless diamonds, each in the shape of a single tear into her palm.

She didn't even spare them a look as she carelessly dropped her hand, not caring as the sparkling stones scattered across the carpet, some of them tumbling beneath the furniture.

"I already do."

They stared at each other, Mina warily and Kunzite hungrily. It had been more than a year since they had last seen each other, but it seemed like it had been more than a century.

"I told you I'd find you," Kunzite said calmly. "Did you really think I'd let you go?"

"I didn't really care, as long as I could get away from you," Mina shot back. "So you found me. Big whoop. I'll just leave again."

He moved so quickly that Mina barely had the chance to react, let alone move away before she found her herself pinned to the ground below Kunzite.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken. One time is more than enough. I allowed you this ridiculous sense of independence for a while, but now you will return with me," he declared firmly. His eyes softened as they roamed over her face. "My poor Mina. How tired and weak you look." He traced a fingertip over her lips and down her chin.

Defiantly, she turned her head away, attempting to resist that longing urge to accept his gentle touch. "I'm no longer with you Kunzite. My place is not with you. That ended a year ago."

"On the contrary, it never ended. I understood that you needed some time to adjust, so I gave it to you. Did you honestly think that it was the end?"

"It doesn't matter. It ended when you lied and betrayed me. I trusted you. I loved you. But not anymore. I know better now. I know the truth. What you really are. And I don't ever want to be with you again," she hissed.

"But you do not have a choice in this matter. We are linked, we are one. You need me, your body calls for me. Tell me, when did you last feed? It must have been quite a while ago, if your current weakened state is of any indication."

She didn't answer him. Instead, she quite her eyes firmly averted and tried to ignore the delicious sensation of Kunzite's long, hard body pressed against hers. But she knew she couldn't deny it. She craved him, wanted him, and longed for him. But it hurt too much. It broke her once, and she would never risk what remained of her heart again.

"Mina?" he said softly, burying his face into the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply, absorbing that delicious scent that only belonged to his mate. He ran the tip of his tongue over the delicate blue vein that ran along the side of her neck, and teasingly gave small nips with his fangs, not ever breaking the skin. He smiled in satisfaction as he heard the small moan that escaped from Mina's lips. Encouraged, he ran his hands down her shapely body.

He knew every dip, every curve, and every shadow. He remembered that some nights, after they made love and Mina had fallen into a deep slumber, he would pull off the covers just to stare and memorize her relaxed form, at the body that fit perfectly with his, that was made for his.

Her golden hair fanned across the floor, and he could remember how lovely it looked when it was spread across his pillows, as his own silver-white strands entwined with hers. But the thing that he missed seeing the most was her eyes. Clear and as blue as a cloudless sky, her eyes were pure and beautiful, for they had always shined with love and happiness. Every emotion she felt he could always see in her eyes, and it killed him all over again to see her eyes so empty. Those blue orbs that once stared at him in adoration were now full of distrust and betrayal.

And he knew it was his fault.

But he did not regret his choice. He'd once almost lost her for good, and he never wanted to take that risk again, despite the consequences of his actions.

She'd never leave him again.

Mina gasped aloud in shock and in lust and Kunzite's long fangs penetrated her skin. The familiar sensation of his mouth suckling brought a torrent of desire and hunger. She plunged her fingers into his silky silver hair and made small noises of encouragement as he continued to drink from her. His hands by now had gone under her baggy nightshirt and were palming her breasts, and she writhed under the pleasure of his hands.

"You taste so delicious. I've been starving for you. Aren't you hungry as well? Do you think I cannot tell how much your body calls for mine? How it calls for my blood? Take what I freely offer to you, Mina. Sate your hunger." His voice was hypnotizing her, seducing her. She could feel the deep ache of hunger stringing her stomach.

As she lifted her hand to his neck and delicately wrapped her fingers around the side, they never once broke eye contact, as they continued to stare deeply into each other's eyes. Mina's fangs slowly slid out and as she lowered her mouth to his vein, he closed his eyes in anticipation and excitement.

Her fangs pierced his skin.

Mina… I love you.

Upon returning to her room (actually, it was Darien's, but she really didn't give a rat's ass), she found that the door leading to the bathroom was open. Upon entering she found the wide, impressively large Jacuzzi bath filled with hot water and scented bubbles.

Psh. He thinks he's so clever. Lure me to the dark side with jewels and bubbles, will he? What a fucking bastard. God I need to get out of this place.

Oh yea, since your last escape attempt turned out so well. You became a vampire for goodness sake. Next thing you know, you'll be a fucking werewolf or something.

Dismissing the little pessimistic voice in her head, she ignored the tempting looking frothy water and drained the tub, opting to take a quick shower later instead.

She finished her shower and wrapped in a thick black terry robe that smelled oh-so-familiar, she sat on the dainty chair that accompanied the delicate bureau that looked conspicuously out of place amongst the masculine décor. Looking up into the large mirror on the wall above the bureau she examined her face.

I can see my reflection. Guess that's just an old wives' tale…And I really, really crave some garlic bread right now… Is that normal?

She said the Lord's Prayer aloud, and repeated it.

Okaaaay. Well I didn't just spontaneously combust or anything… What isvampiric about me?

She opened her mouth to examine her teeth. Other than her canines being just slightly more pointed than before, they looked perfectly fine. Not elongated or abnormally large or anything.

Serena looked at the large grandfather clock and noted the time.

Five-thirty a.m. It should be sunrise soon. She looked at the heavy drapery hanging over the large windows, the thick material not even allowing a sliver of light into the room. I wonder…Maybe I'm not a true vampire. Maybe I'm still a little human and that's why all those things don't those affect me. The words sounded pathetic and desperate to her own ears, and she knew that she was grasping at straws, but Serena didn't care. It was her last hope.

Standing up from the chair, she walked over to the windows and stopped before the part in the curtains. I'll just open it a little, and take a little peak. Darien said that only very powerful vampires aren't affected by the sunlight. If nothing happens, maybe that means that I'm not really totally a vampire.

Her hand trembled slightly as she reached for the curtains. As she pushed the heavy material back and the golden rays of the early morning sunlight shone in, she held her breath as the warmth of the sun kissed her skin.

And then she screamed as pain engulfed her.

A/N: I realize that it seems like Serena is overreacting and freaking out too much, but I've had enough stories of when the heroine gets kidnapped and falls instantly in love with her kidnapper. I mean, how ridiculous is that? If a person got kidnapped, they'd be freaking out and going crazy. Not to mention if your kidnapper claimed to be a vampire and starts bleeding all over the place; they'd think that the kidnapper was a psychopath or something. So yea. Darien's gonna have to through a lot of crap for being all he-male and stealing Serena. Mua ha ha ha ha.