Disclaimer: Guess what? I still don't own Jack…or Sweeney…or Willy.

Author's Note: This chapter has a little nod to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Why? Because it's beautiful, it's a vampire story and so is this, and because it works and fits perfectly. Also we get a bit of singing.

This is also a fluffy fluff of a chapter but I like Sweeney fluff, it nummy. But we're setting up future plot so there's a reason for it. Enjoy and REVIEW. It is short compared to the others. But as I said, plot moving along :)

Chapter 4

Look Inside

She'd fainted again. This was getting aggravating. Diana's eyes felt heavy as did the rest of her. Not wanting to really move, she managed to open them. She knew she wasn't in the living room anymore, at least not on the floor. She was comfortable and on a mattress she was pretty positive.

Things came into focus and she realized she was back in the darkened bedroom. She was wrapped in a blanket and her cheek was pressed against something very cool and smooth. Equally cool arms held her tightly.

Diana moved a bit, to look up at him and saw that his eyes were open and he was staring up at the ceiling. He had a strange expression on his face…it was hard to read in the darkness.

"You're awake." He said softly, without glancing down.

"Yes…" She blinked trying to clear her mind. She'd been dreaming again, the same nightmare she'd had for years; the blood and the car and being too afraid to move. "How long have I been asleep?"

His fingers lightly stroked her bare shoulder. Diana didn't mind how cold he was. Between the chill of his skin and the warmth of the blankets it was soothing.

"Not long." He told her. "I feel responsible for your condition." This he said with the barest hint of smugness on his pale face.

"You should." She replied back. "I never fainted until I met you." Being that she was lying naked in his arms, she figured she'd earned the right to be brutally honest.

She felt him hold back laughter, but he didn't succeed in keeping the smile from his lips. "I'm going to assume that's a compliment my darling."

Diana was still tired. Between what they'd done however long ago and the restless nature of her dreams she still wanted sleep. She nestled herself closer to him and felt him turn to look at her. "You were dreaming." His voice had grown softer, that tone she'd never heard him speak to anyone else in…it was gentle, tender. She wondered if this was the way he spoke before hell had visited Benjamin Barker's life and destroyed it.

"I guess you could call it that." Diana said, sighing heavily.

"Nightmares then." She could see his eyes glinting in the dark. "I have experience with those."

Causing or having, she didn't know which one he was talking about. But she didn't voice that question out loud. "Have you been peeking into my head again Mr. Todd?" She asked instead.

He narrowed his gaze, letting his fingers rest beneath her chin. "Our bond is a strong one Diana. I need not read your thoughts to feel when you are distressed." His thumb ran along her chin, and his eyes softened. "But I saw the visions you were having. Blood and screams, and being powerless against what was happening to those you loved. I know those types of dreams well my sweet."

Diana closed her eyes and moved to sit up, knowing she wasn't going to get much sleep anytime soon anyway. She couldn't face the nightmares again this quickly. Benjamin let her get comfortable, raising a brow but saying nothing as she made certain she was covered from view with the blanket.

He settled himself against the headboard and waited for her to explain what he'd seen.

Diana took a breath and let it out slowly. He was waiting patiently for her to begin. So she did. Diana told him all of it; the men who had attacked them, the gun fire, the fact that she'd been in the backseat being the only thing that had saved her. He didn't speak once. She'd noticed the room had gotten colder when she'd come to the part about their getting released without anything more than a slap on the wrist. Diana pulled the blanket more securely around her.

She'd glanced at him a few times wondering if he was even still there as silent as he'd grown. Once when she'd spoken about being trapped in the car with her parents bodies. When she'd said this she had looked at him from the corner of her eye. The barber's expression was still, narrowed. His eyes were burning with a gleam of anger that she recognized. She looked away quickly staring down at the patterns on the sheets barely discernable in the darkness.

The other instance was when she'd told him about the nightmares and when they had started, right after the trial. She'd had night terrors right after the murders, but it was nothing she could remember. The nightmares had really come into their own after the bastards had been released. The reason she'd looked up then was the fact he'd taken hold of her hand, his cool fingers lacing with hers. She'd turned to face him, surprised by the action, and had realized suddenly she had tears on her cheeks.

Diana felt like a fool for crying. She should be used to the damn dreams by now. She went to wipe the tears away, but he grabbed her hand before she could do so.

"No my Diana, don't waste your anger." He tilted her gaze back to his. "Do not be ashamed of your pain. To do so only takes your strength and gives it to those who have wronged you." The barber reached up a cold hand and swept it along her cheek gently, causing a shiver to roll through her. He closed his fingers, and she saw him clench the fist tightly for a second, then he opened his hand. There in his palm were her tears, only they were glittering and solid. Like diamonds or crystals.

He took her right hand and let them fall into her own palm. Diana realized they were frozen; he'd turned her tears into shards of ice.

"You must use your pain and anger." He told her, his voice growing as dark as the room itself. "Take it and forge it into something you can use. Let it harden you against their power and make it yours." There was the barest hint of a smile on his pale lips. "Then turn it loose upon them."

Diana gazed up at him in wonder. No one had ever told her anything like that before. The barrage of psychiatrists and doctors who'd tried to help her through her grief had only tried to get her to deal with the emotions. Let go of it all and move on. No one had ever told her to take her pain and the misery it had caused and use it against the ones who'd been its source.

She shook her head letting out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Benjamin, I don't know if I can." Her head fell against the pillows and she stared up at the ceiling. Diana didn't feel strong and she felt overwhelmed like she always did.

The barber leaned closer to her, turning her head to the side so she was looking at him once more. "Yes my Diana, you can and you will. I'll show you the way. I'll help you achieve that which has been denied you." He took her hand in his and brought her knuckles to his lips, kissing them slowly.

Confusion clouded her eyes. He smiled, "I know your secret heart Diana. I know what will silence your nightmares forever."

"Benjamin…" She had an inkling of what he was thinking, and part of her screamed YES, YES, YES. But that damn voice of conscience was trying desperately to be heard.

His eyes stared into her, piercing like two sharp pieces of onyx cut to a razor edge. He could see the doubt still hanging on. But she would see he was right. He moved closer to her, pulling the blanket aside until they were touching once more, skin to skin. She didn't shrink away when his arm went around her, holding her to him.

"Listen to me my girl." His voice wrapped around her like a song, sinking into her skin as the chill of his touch did. "Within you is the hunger, a hunger like mine. For the blood of those that took from you, to drink of it like wine. Let your pain be a guide, let your sorrow show the goal. We shall take from them that which from you they stole. Joy, love, family, life…this we shall replace with sorrow, agony and strife."

His fingers trailed along her body in lazy patterns, helping along the spell his voice seemed to be casting on her. "I will be your weapon, your lover, your guide. And from us none of them shall be able to hide."

"Yes Benjamin." She replied, her voice melded with his in a duet of darkness.

He smiled, leaning down he kissed the patch of pale flesh above her heart reverently, the tip of his tongue tasting the thrum of its precious beat. "Tell me Diana. Tell me what we will do."

Diana smiled back at him, that little voice of conscience having been impaled by the sharp black eyes of Benjamin Barker. She threaded her fingers in his hair and pulled his face to hers. "We're going to dance in their blood, and dine on their screams. We'll put a stop to my fears and an end to my dreams. They'll see they can't run and they tremble inside for they won't be able to stop me with you by my side. I'll rain vengeance upon them, dark and red it will flow. We'll waltz in it together, beneath the full moons glow."

The barbers smile was wickedness itself in the darkness. He felt her heartbeat quicken, saw the bloodlust in her eyes turn them the color of the stormy skies he'd never see again. Her eyes were the closest he would ever come to it, and that was all he'd ever need. "That's my girl." He said in a soft growl and then his mouth found hers

This led down the path to yet another coupling; scratched arms and backs, bites and kisses combined. Afterward Diana fell into a blissfully dreamless slumber from pure exhaustion, the coppery taste of blood on her tongue…and her last thought being she didn't know if it was his or her own.