Another chapter as promised! Shall do my best to post some during the week as well!

Chapter synopsis: Cat recieves a stark reminder of Henry's true nature.


Chapter Eight

"Okay, where are we going?" I finally asked Henry after sitting next to him in the car for the last few minutes in silence and realising we weren't heading to his apartment complex.

"Beguiling," he replied and turned left.

"Which is?" I was still none the wiser.

"It's a comic book store."

"Oh…okay. Why?" I'd thought, or at least hoped, we were heading straight back to his, for our…sordid plans.

"It's Wednesday." He answered simply.

"Ya know, you're really hard to have a conversation with sometimes. What's significant about Wednesdays?"

He looked over at me and laughed at himself. "Sorry, it's the day the new comics come into the store."

"Oh…didn't have you down as a geek." I teased.

He frowned. "I'm just checking out the competition."

"Hey, that's okay…I kinda have a soft spot for geeks." I grinned at him as he parked the car. "So…after comic book shopping, what are we doing?"

"We won't be long…few minutes at the most." he turned the ignition off.

"And then…" I looked up at him hopeful.

"And then…we can go home and make mad passionate love until dawn." He whispered as he leant over to kiss me.

"I like that plan." I whispered against his lips before kissing him back.


"Mr Fitzroy!" a couple of the assistants in the store looked thrilled to see him, and then frowned at me when they noticed we had walked in holding hands.

"Your groupies?" I teased, cocking an eyebrow at them - complete stereotypical geeks.

"Something like that," he laughed, and headed for the new release section.

I left him to it as he began to thumb through some new volumes and wandered over to a gothic themed section, looking at cute dolls and beautiful angel cards.

"You with him?" One of the geeks asked me after a few minutes.

I turned around and smiled at Henry's back. "Yes, we're…erm…" I wish I knew what term to call us, "we're together I guess." I shrugged, realising how insignificant that sounded, but not knowing what else to say. I wanted to call him my lover, my boyfriend - but I wasn't sure if he was.

"Oh…have you seen his work?" The other asked eagerly. "Isn't he amazing?"

I had to smile at their awe for him, it was kind of cute in an entirely creepy way. "I have, he's shown me his work. And yes, he is amazing." I smirked, my thoughts on that not having anything to do with his work.

"You know, I have his entire volume history, even got some of it signed." Geek number one enthused.

"Really?" I tried so hard not to laugh, he was almost trying to prove that he liked him more than me and it was utterly hilarious. "That's, really nice." I added before walking away quickly and bursting into hysterics.

I could hear them arguing behind me. "What did you tell her that for? You fancy him or something?" Geek number two teased him and the other snapped something back at him.

"There you are." Henry found me, a small stack of comics in his hand.

"Sorry, your groupies were amusing me," I started giggling again, "I had to get away from them before I wet myself laughing. They're in complete awe of you, it's so…"

"Flattering?" he offered.

"Weird," I amended. "Anyway, you done?"

"Uh huh, not much out this week. Did you want anything?" he asked, obviously having noticed me looking at the things before the geeks cornered me.

"Oh, no…" I waved away his offer. "You just get you're your stuff...and we'll go."

"Yeah, I know you just want to get home for sex." He leant in and whispered against my ear, before kissing me again. As he pulled back I caught my new geek friends staring at us open mouthed.

"Come on," I grabbed his free arm before I started to laugh again, and led him towards the tills to pay for his items. "Let's go before they," I nodded my head towards the corner of a shelf where they were both spying on us, "try and kill me or something for stealing their hero."

Henry turned and grinned at them as he was paying.

"And for your information mister…I do happen to like you for much more than just sex." I whispered as we left the store.

One of them overheard me and gasped out loud, which set me off giggling again.

"Are you sure you and Coreen never had anything this afternoon?" he looked warily at me.

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm just in a really good mood. And you're little groupies are so darn funny."


"So…," I began, walking back down the street to the car and holding on to Henry's arm. "I think Coreen discovered today that you and I are…" I paused, what were we exactly? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Lovers? In a relationship? Or just a couple of complete imbeciles who thought they could make this work?

"Enjoying one another?" Henry offered.

I smiled, that would do for now. "Anyway, she had all these crazy questions about…stuff. I tried telling her that what went on between you and me was no one else's business, but she's so…inquisitive."

"You mean nosey?" He laughed.

"Well, yes," I giggled. "But she was even worse than Vicki." I laughed.

"Vicki wanted to know what we…do together?" He looked surprised.

"Yeah…and watch it mister. I know you had an…attraction to her not so long ago. But, a girl's liable to feel jealous, you know." I tapped his nose playfully.

Henry sighed deeply then and seemed a touch awkward all of a sudden. He pulled away from me slightly and looked at me seriously.

"We have to talk," he began and my heart immediately plummeted. "What?" he asked, obviously noting the distraught look upon my face.

"Oh here we go again," I groaned and let go of his arm as I stepped away from him. "You'd think my heart would learn it's lesson…but no…could probably live as long as you and still never learn." I rolled my eyes over dramatically, feeling so incredibly dumb.

"What…are you talking about?" Henry asked confused, watching me in bewilderment.

"This is it, right? The 'hey it's been fun, but it's over' talk? Well…great! Just great!" I turned away from him, not wanting to cry in front of him.

"That's not what I…"

I cut him off. "Never tell a guy you love them, always makes them run a mile."

"Will you let me finish?" he asked, annoyed now by my solo melodrama.

"Why? So you can torture me just a little bit more? I get it…you've had your fun and now…"

Suddenly, before I knew what hit me, Henry had me pinned against the wall down a nearby dark alleyway. His hands held my wrists against the crumbling brick work and his eyes flashed to black as he practically snarled at me. "Will you listen to me?"

For the first time since I discovered what he was, I became scared of his vampire ability. I'd seen him angry before and I knew what he was capable of, but until now I'd never really felt threatened by him.

"You're hurting me," I hissed through clenched teeth and struggled against him

He growled, and flung my hands aside as he started pacing in front of me, trying to dissipate his temper.

I watched him, rubbing my wrists were he'd held me too tightly, the same wrists that had saved his life two nights ago. I was in two minds whether to run from him, I'd never seen him like this and he was scaring me. But in the end I did nothing. My heart was pounding and I knew he'd be able to hear it.

"I'm sorry." He spoke, his back to me. "I didn't mean to scare you." He turned around and I was relieved to see his eyes return to their usual colour.

But I couldn't bring myself to look at him, I knew silent tears were running down my face whilst still rubbing my wrists unconsciously.

"Oh God, I hurt you," he realised remorsefully, reaching for my hand to look at my wrist.

His fingers merely touched me, and I flinched away from him instinctively, pulling my hands close against my chest.

"Cat…I'm sorry, please," he held his hand out for mine. "I would never hurt you. I just…I got frustrated."

"Huh, someone should teach you anger management." I sniped and then wished I hadn't when I saw a muscle in his jaw tense.

He turned away and took a deep breath before letting it out in a gust. "Come on, I'll take you back to Vicki's." He began to walk away from me, heading for his car.

"What? Why?" I asked, suddenly feeling panicked, but not really knowing why.

"Because the way you're looking at me right now, you look as though you don't want to be anywhere near me." His eyes now looked hurt, remorseful and a little guilty.

My fear of him lessened a little at his expression. "Wait, what did you want to tell me?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"Well, it was so damn important just a minute ago!" Damnit, why did I keep pushing him? Hadn't he just freaked me out enough?

"Now is not the time or the place," he spoke firmly, careful to keep his voice calm so as not to scare me anymore than he already had.

"Henry…" his name came out so softly, but I didn't know what to say to him now. Perhaps he hadn't been about to break it off with me, but I was certain he was going to now. "Please, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm not talking about this in some dirty alleyway. If you'll trust me and come back to my place with me, I'll tell you. And then I'll still take you to Vicki's if you want me to."

"I trust you." It didn't take me a moment to consider that fact. I was still in love with him, regardless of what had just happened.

He nodded slightly and began to head back towards his car. I followed silently after him.


Reaching his penthouse suite, he went around the room turning lights on and removing his jacket as I hovered by the door.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked, and I would have laughed knowing the only things in his kitchen were bottles of water.

I shook my head, but didn't move.

"I know I scared you out there, and that I hurt you. But, that's the last thing I wanted to do. I really am sorry." He spoke sincerely. "Please can you forgive me?"

He seemed so contrite that I managed to give him a weak smile.

"Won't you sit down? Please?" He took a seat himself on the couch.

Cautiously, I moved towards him and then sat on one of the chairs opposite him, rather than next to him.

"Cat…I wouldn't have hurt you. I know that I hurt your arms, and I'm sorry…that was an accident. But I wouldn't have…well, done anything else. Honestly…you have to believe me."

"Why should I?" I mumbled, still upset about it all. I think that was it, I was more hurt with him than scared now.

"Because…I care about you, a lot. You're very special to me…and I wouldn't have done anything that would harm you. I mean that."

"So why did you? I've never once felt threatened by you before."

"I lost my temper, I got frustrated and wanted you to listen. And I'm so sorry that I scared you or made you feel threatened. But you know who and what I am. You know what I'm capable of, not that I'm proud of it. But, I am a vampire."

I sighed deeply. "Okay…at the risk of getting my heart stomped on again here…yes, I know what you are, and yet I still love you in spite of that, and I know that perhaps I'm being totally unrealistic here and I know things aren't going to be easy. But Henry, without trust we have nothing…so tell me, can I trust you?"

"You want promises and guarantees? I can't give that to you." He got up and began to pace around the seating area. "I don't know what may or may not happen. I can only promise that I would never intentionally hurt you or harm you in any way." He sat down on the corner of the coffee table in front of me. "You say that you love me, and I'm flattered, but if you really mean that, then deep down, you must know that you already do trust me." He made a move to take hold of my hands and looked relieved when I let him. And then he inched my sleeves up to look at my wrists, they were already slightly bruised. "Oh God I'm sorry." he whispered, his thumb caressing the tender spots softly.

"They're okay, really. They don't hurt anymore." I tried to pull my hands back.

"Let me," he said gently, softly rubbing them and strangely making them feel better. "You know…I wasn't about to break things off with you out there," he began, watching what he was doing, rather than looking at me, but sensing perhaps I was slowly starting to forgive him. "What I actually wanted to talk about…would hopefully give our relationship…"

"Our relationship?" I interrupted him.

"That's what we have here, isn't it?" He looked up at me for approval. "We're involved with each other?"

I smiled, a true smile for the first time in the past hour. "I've been searching for the correct term for us all day."

It was his turn to smile. "There's still an 'us' then? You don't hate me?"

"No…I don't hate you. I'm upset with you, but I don't hate you."

"Alright, I deserved that," he frowned slightly. "So…as I was saying, what I wanted to talk about would hopefully give this relationship a better chance of surviving."

"Go on then, I'm listening."

"You might not like it," he warned.

"Try me." I took my hands out of his grip, that were actually feeling much better now, and folded my arms, leaning back in my seat, waiting for him to start.

"I don't want to hurt you, and I don't really want Vicki trying to kick my ass either. So, if we're going to have some kind of relationship here, I want to be honest with you and make sure you understand something about me."

"Get to the point Henry."

He stood again and paced a few steps, before turning to face me again. "Right. The truth is, I can't…feed from just one person. Not all of the time."

"Why?" I frowned, my vampire knowledge that wasn't of the kind portrayed in the movies seriously lacking.

"Because, if I did, even if it was only every other day or something, you'd get really weak first, and eventually, I would kill you. It would be too much blood to take from you, and your heart would stop."

"Oh…" I realised how serious it was.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't want to feed from only you." He sat back down in front of me on the table.

"Why not? What's wrong with my blood?" I asked feeling rather indignant, the very question sounding totally absurd to even my own ears.

"Nothing, it's very sweet…pure. Free of all toxins."

"Erm...okay, that was a rhetorical question Henry. I love you and all, but hearing you describe the taste of my blood is a bit creepy."

"Sorry," he whispered. "I wouldn't want to, because you're more to me than that. You're not just…someone to feed me. You're much more special to me and I don't want to take advantage of you. And whilst we're at it, I like you for more than just the sex as well." He smirked.

He made me smile. "So, what you're saying is…"

"What I'm saying is, I will have to go out and hunt strangers to feed from. I will have to…use my usual techniques to get blood."

"Usual techniques?" I wasn't sure what they were, but I didn't think I was going to like it.

"My powers of persuasion, my charm. Seduce them into giving me what I need without them even knowing what I'm doing to them."

"In other words, you have to go out and pick up complete strangers on a regular occurrence. Great." I rolled my eyes.

"I did warn you that you might not like it. This is a necessity to me. But, as long as we're together, I promise not to sleep with any of them or bring them back here or go any further than necessary. They mean nothing to me, but what I need to survive. So, what I need to know is, can you understand that?" He watched me hopefully as I tried to understand what he was telling me.

"It's a lot to ask a girl you know!"

"Hey, if relationships with vampires were easy, everyone would be doing it," he joked.

I cracked half a smile at his attempt. "I suppose I always knew this was never going to be easy or even normal." I sighed, realising I had no choice about the matter. Either I understood what he had to do, or I stopped seeing him.

"You understand then? You won't get jealous or let it come between us?"

"So long as I never have to see anything or know who you've been with…I can try. I mean, I hate the idea of your mouth on anyone else, but…" I shrugged, "it's a necessity to you, so…I'll have to deal with it."

"Well, I guess I can't ask for anything more than that." He looked relieved.

"One more thing though…" I stopped him, before he got up again.

"What?" He asked quietly, gazing at me.

"You will still…bite me sometimes," I requested shyly. "You know, when we…make love." I felt myself flush again.

He chuckled. "You liked that huh?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Well…if you really want me to…a small taste sometimes when we make love won't hurt."

"Good." I smiled, pleased that the intimately erotic act wasn't barred from me completely.

"Speaking of which…" he had a cheeky grin on his face as his fingers crept up my thigh. "Didn't we have plans?"

"Henry!" I yelped, totally amazed at him as I slapped his hand away. "For some reason, I think I kinda lost the mood."

"Oh," the hopeful, naughty look on his face fell. "Sorry."

"Look…you're forgiven okay?" I asked, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "But…I'm kinda tired, it's been a really emotional day." I ran both my hands over my face and sighed, cradling my head in my hand as my elbow rested on the arm of the chair.

"Alright, do you want me to take you back to Vicki's then?" he assumed, already heading for his jacket and his car keys.

I shook my head. "It's almost four in the morning…if you don't mind…can I just sleep here?"

"I don't mind," he threw his jacket back down and looked relieved that I still wanted to be around him all night. "So long as you don't mind if I join you later? I erm, only have the one bed."

"You know I don't. I do trust you Henry." I assured him and leaned in to kiss his lips lightly and then ending the kiss abruptly as I involuntarily yawned.

"You're tired, go to bed," he whispered against my ear.

"I will, first I just, I wanted to apologise for carrying on tonight. And, well frustrating you."

"You don't have to." he shook his head.

"But I want to explain." He nodded for me to go on. "See, the thing is, I don't…handle rejection very well, though you'd think a girl would get used to it the amount of times it's happened to me," I rolled my eyes. "I guess, all anybody really wants is to feel wanted by someone, that they're needed…and that hasn't happened to me very often. I've never really felt wanted by anyone outside my family. You know how I feel about you…and I thought I was being rejected by you as well, I suppose it's a defence mechanism I've learnt…lash out at people before they hurt me. I'm sorry…I just…I thought I wasn't wanted."

"Of course you're wanted," he took my hand. "I love having you here…I like that there's someone to wake up to or come home to, being with someone, it…makes me feel almost normal, makes me forget for a short while. What you said days back, about it being such a lonely existence for a vampire, you were right, it is. And with you, I don't feel so alone, I feel…understood, you see me." He paused and letting go of my hand he began pacing again. "I don't know if I can ever be what you want me to be…I haven't…allowed myself to love for such a long time, I don't even know if I can anymore. But…"

"I understand…hell I've been hurt enough in my years, so I can't begin to imagine how many times it's happened to you. But…sometimes you have to take a chance…and whenever you're ready, if you're ever ready. I'll be here." He returned to my side then and pulled me into an embrace, placing his lips upon mine and kissing me tenderly.

I yawned again when we parted and Henry smiled at me.

"You go to bed," he leant back in for another short kiss on the lips. "I have some stuff to do, so I'll join you later." He took my hand and pulled me up from the chair, before pointing me in the direction of the bedroom. "Night Cat."

"Night Henry." I yawned again, giving him a small wave and shuffled off to his bedroom.


More to come soon...this is only number 8 out of 25 (and they're all written! just need editing!)

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