I drove to the hospital faster than I imagined I could. I sped through the streets not giving a damn whether I had to bribe a cop to get to the hospital, to get to her. I found Sorin waiting outside her room in the hallway.

"What happened?" I asked anger rising in my throat like flood water.

"She was mugged. The knocked her out with some kind of sedative, and beat her up some. It looks worse then it actually was, but the doctor wants to keep her sedated for awhile after she wakes up. She's past the point of exhaustion. She works herself so hard she doesn't sleep much. Dr. Jarvis wants her to rest for a few days," Sorin explained. I examined his face. There was something to what he was saying, or rather what he wasn't saying. He was holding something back. I entered her room, and sat down at the bedside chair grabbing her hand. The doctor entered after me.

"A friend of Miss Rayne's?" He asked looking through her file.

"Yes sir."

"Well, then you should know that she is very lucky to be alive. The stab wound went right around her vital organs," he explained.

"Yes she is very lucky." The doctor showed himself out, and talked to Sorin in the hallway. There was some shouting, and Sorin swore at the doctor in Russian, and the doctor stalked off. I reached into my pocket, and clasped her necklace around her. After a few minutes her pale pallor improved greatly, and her eyes fluttered open, and a small smile played at her lips.

"Hey you," she said quietly.

"Hey, you kind of scared us," I rubbed her forehead. Her color was back to full strength, and she was full of energy again.

"I'm so sorry. I guess it's kind of lucky that the company had a vital sign monitor implanted on me," she gave me a weak smile.

"Very lucky. I guess the luck is being spread around here pretty thick today," I said in a good natured tone, but we both knew how true that was. I was ushered out an hour later as the doctor looked over her again. He came out shaking his head after five minutes.

"Well, doctor do you think she'll be okay?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, yes. She'll be just fine," he looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself. He went over to where Sorin stood, and the two men began to walk away from where I stood speaking in hushed voices. I looked into her room, and saw her sitting up in her bed looking at her dressings. Where there should have been stitches there was nothing but healed skin. I began to think heavy thoughts. The doctor said she was lucky to be alive. That the knife had come close to hitting her vital organs, but now there wasn't even a knife wound. I rushed in, "Wow, you must be getting all of your antioxidants," I looked at the non-existent wound that she was desperately trying to hide.

"Yea, guess I am," she finally got the bandage into place. I moved my hand over it.

"Why cover up the beautiful undamaged skin?" I pulled the bandage off, "We agreed to be honest her Rye."

"I can't explain this Ollie, not without endangering your life," she said looking down in defeat.

"I'm a big boy… I think I can handle myself," I said snatching her hands. I looked down at her palms, and saw something that made me remember our past all to vividly.

She grabbed my hand as we sat in front of the library, "Really Rye what were you doing in a bookstore like that?" I asked as she traced the lines on my palm.

"God, you make it sound so dirty. It's not like I was in a porn shop Oliver. It was an occult book store. Some of my friends from class frequent there. I was just checking it out. One of the shop owners is a fortune teller; she showed me a trade secret," she looked intently at my palm, "See, this is your life line. The span of it is supposed to mean how long your life is, and see this your love line crosses your life line. That means you'll have love in your life. If it doesn't cross you'll be alone."

"Yeah right," she continued to look at my hand an almost sad look crossed her face before she pushed my hand into my lap, and got up. I watched her walk away for a minute before I jumped up and followed her.

"Well, at least if you're an epic fail at the empire. You can make money in the park," I grinned mischievously.

"You never told me what you saw that day Rye," I whispered as she traced my palm over and over again.

"It's not my story to tell," she explained looking up from her trance.

"Is it that bad?"

"No, I just decided that your life is what you make it, and we can't let little wrinkles on our hand decide how we are going to live it," she sighed and dropped my hands.

I decided to let it go, but I still wanted an explanation, "Okay, can you tell me what happened? Why you are completely healed? How the hell this actually happened?" I finally asked.

"You wanted honesty right Ollie? No matter what I tell you, you can't judge me," she sat up stark straight, and leaned forward like she was going to tell a very interesting story, "You remember my dad gave me this necklace. Well, when he did, he told me to never leave home without it. It would someday save my life. I laughed off his warning, but after he died I wore it all the time because it was a piece of him. It made me feel like I had near me always. Well, one day, not long after Lex dumped me. I was racing my motorcycle with a bunch of guys from Excelsior. One of them put some stuff out on the road, and it caused a huge accident. I was cocky, and I wasn't wearing a helmet. I remember feeling my head, and seeing all the blood gushing from it. Those guys just left me there too. I laid there, and I waited for death to come. I fell asleep from the blood loss, and I woke up a day later in a hospital bed. I had been brought in, but I had no injuries. Oliver, I assessed my damages. My left arm, wrist, and leg were all broken. I had cracked my skull open enough to be hemorrhaging, but now twenty-four hours later I was fine," she stopped and sipped from her water, "This happened a few more times. You know how reckless I was for awhile, but it just kept happening. I did some research on my necklace, and learned that this particular necklace was said to have been charmed by a witch in the sixteenth century. Oliver it's the only way I can explain what happened, what keeps happening to me. The only reason I'm alive is you. You brought me my necklace," she clasped her hands in mine, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"If you have the necklace on you can't die?" I asked.

"Yes, but I've never tested the whole being dead and putting it on to revive me theory yet. I think that might be tempting fate a bit," she chuckled.

"A bit? Okay, and how did you really happen upon these injuries?" I shuffled a little suddenly flustered.

"I just told you that I have a magical necklace that makes the wearer unable to die, and you want to bog ourselves down in the petty little details?" she was avoiding the subject, and I wasn't going to let this fly.

"Rye!"

"Okay," she trailed off visibly wincing, "I was kind of shot with a tranquilizer arrow," she leaned back on the bed and braced herself mentally for the eruption which was about to take.

"You're the little leather clad pest that's been following me around?" I glared at her.

"Pest? I'm not pesty. I beat you there fairly," She explained.

"How though?"

"I might have had your signals forwarded to me before they are actually forwarded to you," she braced herself even more.

"You what? No,no,no this is not going to happen! This isn't happening! We cannot, I repeat cannot happen. We are not both going to be superheroes," I annunciated each word.

"We should discuss this another time. The nurse is about to come in to sedate me," she said laying back on the bed.

"Yes, this conversation is definitely not over," I rose from my perch on the edge of her bed, kissed her forehead, and whispered, "Goodbye."

After Rye Linn was discharged from the hospital, her apartment was ready. After three days of her being gone, and my phone calls not being returned, I sought her out. She agreed to meet me, and I was taking her on a date. I arrived at her apartment 5 minutes early, and the guard stationed at the door let me in, "Miss Rye's expecting you."
"Thank you," I said entering. Her apartment was spacious. A two level loft style. She came down from the second level her black strappy heels clicked against the steps. She was wearing a crimson sundress, and it took every ounce of strength I had in me not to pull her back up the stairs, "You look beautiful."
"Why thank you kind sir," she teased, "You clean up pretty good too. So where are you taking me?"
"Aren't you going to give me the tour?" I asked steering her back around towards the stairs.
"The tour can wait. You feeding me however, not so much," She giggled. It felt like it used to again. We always had a good time, and our personalities complemented each other. Sure, we fought, what couples don't, but our fights usually strung from petty annoyances rather than life altering problems.
"Yes ma'am," I followed her out.
I took her to a small Italian place, and after two bottles of wine we walked back to her apartment.