The worst never came. There was a moment of tense silence before Nick spoke softly, almost reverently. "My God, Natalie. How stupid could we both be?"

"Pardon?"

"Nat, I love you and desire you like no woman I've ever met. And here I've been thinking that while you may be attracted to me, you're repulsed by the vampire, and altogether I'm really just a fascinating puzzle to you."

"But you are a fascinating puzzle," she said with a grin. "And not just scientifically. You are, simply put, a total enigma. Four years we've known each other, and I'm still trying to figure out what makes you tick. You challenge me, perplex me, sometimes irritate me… and you make me feel in a way I've never felt before. You've expanded my concept of the world around me. Knowing you has totally changed my life, and I don't regret it." She blushed, dropping her gaze to her lap. "I can't imagine what you see in someone like me, after all those centuries of being surrounded by the most gorgeous women."

"Natalie," he protested. "Do you not see how breathtaking you truly are? It isn't just your looks I love. I love your passion for life, your determination, your intelligence, your kindness and dark sense of humour. Sure, I've been with my share of women. I won't deny that. But most were for fun - bimbos, really. There are very few who I genuinely enjoyed their companionship. You are both my best friend and the only woman I've truly loved. No one could ever be you. You have both beauty and brains - a very rare combination, in any century."

"I have a confession to make," he added. "In the beginning, I wanted to be cured to lift this curse from hanging over my head, but…"

"But you don't want it now?" she asked softly.

"No, that's not it. My reason for wanting mortality has changed. I want to be mortal again so I can show you, in every way, how much I love you. I want to give you a normal life and children. I can't do that as a vampire."

Natalie pondered this. It was touching really, even though he was sorely mistaken. "Nick," she said. "Do you really think I can't love you because of the vampire?"

Nick fell silent then, tilting his head downward for a pensive moment. When he lifted his head, his eyes were radiating an amber glow and his fangs were unsheathed. "How can you love this?" he asked her, the strength of his soft baritone augmented by the releasing of his beast.

As he gazed upon her, changed, he saw no fear in her eyes. Only love was there. When she placed her soft hand against his cheek, he leaned his head into her touch, emitting a purring note. She then told him, "Nick, I love you very much. And I'll take you any way I can get you. Vampire or no vampire."

Nick felt a lump forming in his throat and tears threatening to reach his eyes, so touched was he by the certainty in her declaration. "But I'm a monster. You deserve better."

"You're no monster, Nick. There are plenty of mortals more monstrous than you could ever be staining the pages of history and walking on the streets today. And you know that better than I do, because you've seen or met some of history's worst offenders. Besides," she added firmly, "I don't want 'better'. I want you."

Tenderly, he took her hand in both of his. She curled her fingers around one of his, and he brought her fingers to his lips, lightly kissing them individually. He closed his eyes, until they returned to their natural dark blue, still holding her hand.

"So," he said finally. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well, now that we've both admitted we love each other, we've gotten past the hard part," she said quietly, which was followed by a sigh. "Now the tricky part comes in making it work."

"Nat, do you know why I lied to LaCroix at the Azure?"

She shook her head. "No, not really."

"I did it to save you from him. In the beginning, a few years after I had become what I am, he fell in love with my mortal sister, Fleur. I told him that he was only with her to satisfy his lust, and he let her go. But I foolishly made a deal with him after that, promising that once I had truly fallen in love with a mortal, he would be able to take her from me." He sighed. "I had no idea what I was getting into, and thought that I would never fall in love. Vampires aren't capable of falling in love… or so I thought."

"I still stand by my declaration that he should've never even considered bringing Fleur over. She wouldn't have survived as a vampire. She was too gentle and kind-hearted to be a killer." He sighed, removing one of his hands from hers to run it through his hair. With the hand he still held hers by, he gave a tender squeeze, then placed her hand on his lap.

Her hand freed from his, she gently stroked his thigh. He gave a sharp breath, golden flecks returning to his eyes. Clearing his throat, he managed to continue, "and it isn't just LaCroix. It's the Enforcers as well; the ones who maintain our secret. It's against the code, vampire law, to reveal one's nature to a mortal and let the mortal continue to live as they are."

"I have been breaking the code left and right since I've met you by telling you so much, and allowing you to experiment on me. If the Enforcers ever catch wind of this, we're both as good as dead." He paused briefly. "And if, by some miracle, we manage to avoid both LaCroix and the Enforcers, we still have my own bloodlust to worry about. To say that the odds are stacked against us would be an understatement."

"Considering the odds, it might be easier for you to bring me over," she told him, her tone pensive. "Although I don't think I'm quite ready for that just yet. I want to know as much as possible first."

Nick was shocked by her proposal. "Nat, I couldn't bring you over. I don't want you going through what I've gone through all these centuries. And I don't want you to end up hating me for making you a killer." A brief pause. "And, let's face it, my track record with fledglings isn't all that great."

"I guess there's only one solution for us then. We take one day at a time," she told him. "Now, I believe the most immediate concern is your bloodlust. Care to elaborate on that?"

"Remember what I told you about feeding? Well, consider that, because of the nature of sharing blood with another vampire, sex becomes almost a redundancy," he told her matter-of-factly. "Not that we don't have sex. We do. But sex is a fun game leading up to feeding, whereas it's the feeding that is what pushes us over the edge."

"So… sex is to vampires what foreplay is to mortals?"

He nodded. "In a manner of speaking. As a vampire, I can't reach orgasm without feeding. I can enjoy sex, and have. But I can't climax without taking blood. Taking blood while having sex is the most incredible experience you can have."

"How much blood do you require to reach orgasm?"

"Generally speaking, just a few swallows. However, because I love you, I'm afraid I might not be able to control myself and get a little too greedy. I want to experience every part of you, and to do that… well, it could prove fatal."

Natalie considered this. "There's got to be a way," she said softly, her voice holding the intensity of her yearning in its tenor. "I want that experience too. I want to feel you in me. I want us to be able to make love together, without any fears holding us back."

Nick listened, his arousal renewed with the tone of her voice, her confession of wanting to make love to him, and the hand that was steadily tracing it's way up his inner thigh. He could feel his burgeoning erection straining once again at the zipper of his jeans. In that moment, he did the only thing he could think to do - hastily exit her room.