A/N: Recovering from a flu sort of virus without any meds is hard and tiring. And being on room restriction from 7:45 – 11:00 pm excluding Saturday nights is really annoying, especially since it's for something that I didn't even do. The entire floor is on room restriction. Anyways, I've churned out 4 ½ pages for you. Enjoy.
Boston, Massachusetts

Her hand still lay in his, silent… motionless. Why were shivers running down her backbone at his warm touch? Vaguely, her mind randomly wondered why he was warm. Weren't vampires supposed to be dead? Then how could they be warm? A soft chuckle halted her questions in an instant, inside her mind.

"Are your questions always going to be this endless?" he asked, slowly beginning to move, pull her a little closer, his fingers playing with her palm. She stood there, letting him caress her with his gentle, yet impossibly powerful, touch. Silent… stunned. Why? She didn't know why she had to, but she summoned up some courage, straightened her spine, and pulled her hand away from his. He let her go.

"Maybe, if they irritate you, you shouldn't read my thoughts," she said, trying to make her voice sound like it had when she'd shoved off some cops for trying to arrest her when she didn't even have any stash on her.

Adara….

That struck a thought that she'd nearly forgotten. "And furthermore, why the hell did you give me a name that means 'virgin'?" she demanded, setting her hands on her hips, knowing that she was glaring straight up at his eyes. Gray… perfect, her shadows… multi-shaded, flawless. No! Don't fall for his eyes; you're not even supposed to be able to see.

This time, an audible chuckle reached her ears. "Adara means 'virgin' in Arabic, but, in Greek it means 'beauty'. Honestly, I don't particularly like Arabic; Greek is much more… classy. Plus, naming you something that you aren't, that would be pointless." Adara had to fight hard to keep herself from blushing. How the hell can he know that? She wanted to slap herself in the forehead but refrained from doing so. "I don't even want to know, so don't tell me." He laughed again, and she wanted to tape his mouth shut with duct tape, even though she knew that he would still be able to laugh in her mind, and she'd probably never even manage to get it over his mouth. Plus, where would she find duct tape? He had no right to make her knees weak with just a laugh; he had no right to make her feel so… so….

"Listen, sweetheart, I know that you'd love to just stay here and chat all night, but I've got someone waiting who I want you to meet, and I've got some business to take care of while you're at his place." A hand, offering… she wanted to slap him, but her better instincts told her to take it without a comment… or a thought. She couldn't help the first one though.

"You're going to drop me off at some guy's house and leave me there, alone? Why not just dump me off at some sleazy bar in the city and let me make you a few bucks instead of being a free fuck for a buddy of yours?" Tightening… squeezing… her bones hurt.

Don't. The pain stopped. She wanted to snatch her hand away, but she somehow knew that she shouldn't. Just hold onto my hand and walk with me. A tug, she followed, carpet, linoleum, stairs; he warned her, slowing down, sliding his arm around her waist and stepping down slowly with her.

Outside… cool, evening air… slight warmth in… that direction, she knew… turning her face towards it, feeling the temperature change on her cheeks, she wanted to find out what it was. She didn't realize that she had stopped, him with her. She turned back towards him as she noticed. "Sorry," she whispered softly.

"Don't worry about it. It's pretty tonight… here," he said, moving her, turning her body to face the warmth, her back against his torso… rock hard abs, pecs, she fought the desire to turn and memorize him… she wanted it so badly, to know him… why? His hand ran down her right arm, pushing up the fabric of her top as he took her hand in his and lifted it, pointing it in front of her. "Right there, over treetops that barely reach the top of the skyline, imagine… the sun, it's golden, fades to red, orange, and then a bright, brilliant pink," as he described the scene, he moved her hand up, moving to the different color levels. Suddenly, with a giant sweep, he bent back, her against him, his legs holding both of them up, his knees, clad in jeans, she figured at the feel, reached her mid-thigh, so much taller…. "This, up there," he held her wrist in his hand as she balanced on him, "The deepest violet imaginable… like that water color paint that you had when you were five, remember?"

She could almost picture it, closing her eyes, trying to see the colors… violet, purple, the soft bristles of the brush that someone had given to her… for her birthday? She couldn't remember. Swiping it violently against the cheap computer paper that failed to produce a purple whale when she wanted it to.

She was still partially lost to the memory as he righted her against himself, standing up straight but keeping his left arm around her waist. She tried to turn around to face him, but his arm held her in her place, tucked snugly against his torso. "How did you know that?" she asked quietly, ceasing her struggle.

"You never got the whale, did you?" he asked.

"No."

Hold onto my arm; it's not too far from here.

She tried to remember how many paces, the turns, the twists, but after the third right turn she sort of dropped the memorization and focused on what she could sense around her. Sidewalk, hard, her boots clacked against the cement. Clack. Clack. Clack. So loud, compared to his silent steps. Not even bare feet could be that quiet.

Laughing, chattering… young children, at least two boys.

"C'mon, Jack. You can throw it further than that!" The bouncing of a rubber ball, echoing off of pavement, the skidding of tires, the honk of a horn. A window screaming open. "Jack! Charlie! Get your butts in here this instant. Stop terrorizing the neighborhood with your antics!" A mother's shriek, a baby wailing inside. Slam. The window shut.

The scent of freshly baked cookies… when was the last time she had eaten hot chocolate chip cookies and milk? Wasn't that supposed to mark a special memory in every child's mind? Clack. Clack. Clack.

Traffic, they turned a corner, crossed a street a block down, about fifty feet. Cars rushing by, but he was between her and the street. She could sense the buildings next to her, tall, multi-story, with lots of large windows, the shattering of glass, a shout, screeching tires again.

"You've never been to Boston before, have you?"

"I've lived in New York for my entire life." Arm tighter around her waist. Harsh steps coming towards her.

"Hey you two," a ragged drawl, sleazy. Dealer. The thought struck her mind instantly. She could smell the pot. Not only that. She knew that he had heavier stuff on him too. Hard. Voice. Sounded like a chain smoker.

She knew that she should want something. Why? Why wasn't she shaking, shivering? At this point she should be screaming in her bed, unable to move, shuddering, crying. It has something to do with him. She didn't know what made her conclude that.

"Go away." Voice. It was him, holding her tightly. It held such command.

Five seconds later… gone, just the two of them.

"How the hell did you shove off a dealer with only two words?" she asked, pushing him away from her as he began to walk forward again. His body didn't go anywhere. Puzzled, she shoved at him again, this time a little harder. "What's wrong with you?" she snapped, pushing him away as he drew her closer to himself.

"It's a Jedi mind trick." With that, he let go of her, and… gone! His aura, he wasn't there, in front of her, behind her, anywhere. She stood there shocked.

"What the fuck?" she snarled, whispering under her breath. She reached out violently, finding nothing. "Damn it!" She stood there, still, listening to the traffic around her, the distant honks of car horns, the groan of tires beginning to move on a semi as a traffic light turned green, the swift pacing steps of people crossing the street, the laughter of a couple of teenagers somewhere near her right.

Feel… she stood, stock still. Traffic, slight wind, to her right. Echoing to her left. She must be on a sidewalk, the street to her right, brick walls to her left. She turned towards her left, close to what she hoped was ninety degrees. Please don't let me run into anyone, she begged, though to who, she did not know. Arms out, hesitant step. One more. Another. So far, no moving presences around her. Step, once again. There! Her hands reached brick. Never before had she been so happy to have a solid, secure surface beneath her fingertips… except maybe when it was Evan beneath her hands.

She turned to her right, keeping her left had extended and resting against the wall. They had come from behind her, so it would have made no sense for her to turn back. Forward. That first step into the completely unfamiliar was the hardest. Eventually, she developed a rhythm, a beat. Slow, but not hesitant. She developed some confidence after about thirty paces, but then she ran into what she discovered was a payphone.

Her knees wailing, she leaned against the brick wall and looked up, listening to the city. Much to her surprise, she actually missed New York. She'd grown up there. She was secure there, astonishingly. She'd known people; she'd known who to trust. Here… she had no choice but to trust Avery… and him. He still hadn't really introduced himself to her.

"Would you prefer it if he did?" She jumped at the intrusion into her thoughts, and, instinctively, she wanted to strike out at who she wanted to assume was Tidus, but… no… different aura, different voice. More like… a… musician, but not a singer…. "Yeah, I play guitar in my free time when I'm not filling drink orders and talking to pretty girls like you."

Now she wanted to get away.

"Leave me alone," she said, trying to turn and walk back from where she'd come from, but an iron grip around her arm kept her from doing so.

"Honey, there are a few problems with you heading back that way. One, that dealer's back there watching you, waiting for me to give him up. Two, you'd get lost incredibly easily if you managed to throw him off. And three, Tidus was bringing you to me to hang out at the bar while he takes care of some stuff. I just came out to get you."

She glanced back in the direction of the iron hold. "But… how should I know whether you're lying or not?" A soft chuckle. It didn't annoy her as much as Tidus' did.

"Cute. You basically have no choice. If any normal person looked at your circumstances, I'd guess that they'd come with me, just because of the dealer over there and the fact that they'd be cowardly about not being able to see."

He's a vampire. There's no way that he could do the same stuff as Tidus without being one like him.

"Right on, sweetie."

"My name's Adara."

"He gave it to you, didn't he?" She nodded softly. His grip loosened, and he moved so that his other arm was around her waist. "Come on. It'll take us two seconds to get there," he said, turning her back around and walking in the direction that she'd been going in until she'd run into that goddamned payphone. "By the way," he said quietly, holding her in a soft sort of embrace that didn't… make her want to push away from him. "I'm Kai."

She looked towards him, to her right and up. Brown… flashes of amber light and mahogany wood. If that was really where his eyes were, he was at least a foot taller than her. She wanted to run her hands up his arms and onto his shoulders, memorize his face to know him…. His arm around her waist was comforting a friendly sort of way, the way that Darren used to hold onto her when she cried, the way that Cameron would come in when completely stoned and lay in her arms, burying his face into her hair, holding her as she held him.

She was pulled out of the memory as Kai slowed them down, moving in front of her, pushing something open. The tinkling jingle of sleigh bells caught her ears. Sleigh bells… it wasn't even Christmas…. Soft rock music, the kind that played in bars during the afternoon, soft beat, soft voice… she rather liked it. The scent of draft beers, clean, crisp, yet enticingly dangerous in a golden halo sort of way.

Lazy… hardly anyone was here; she could feel it. Old, worn wooden floors beneath her feet. Slipping a little, he held her closer, walking further into the building, finally stopping and leading her hands to a barstool that reached her waist. She found the railing, underneath the bar counter, stepping up and carefully sitting, then spinning around like a child.

He laughed softly next to her. When she ceased spinning, she leaned her elbows on the wooden counter, feeling the dips in the wood underneath her bare skin. "I hardly know you," she stated, resting her cheek in her right palm, "and yet I feel an insane sort of trust that's been founded in less than ten minutes."

"Funny," he said, laughing softly. "What do you want to drink?" She pondered for a moment, believing that she was looking straight into his eyes because of the brown shades that suddenly burst into her vision. Color, brown, beautiful and golden- pure.

"I want something, some kind of elixir that will actually let me see you and not just the color of your eyes, and it's a little early for getting drunk, and what's the point of a drink without something to jazz it up a bit? Can I just have some tea?"

"Chamomile?"

"Perfect. And honey." He laughed again, across from her. There was a presence towards her left. A child….

"Kai?"

"Yes Maddie?"

"Can I have another hot chocolate please?" A parent, rushing over, she could feel the movement behind her.

"Not now Maddie. We need to get home soon, okay, sweetie?" Mother… Adara tuned her head, bright brilliant blue, and soft muted browns, not nearly as beautiful as Kai's. Blue… like the sky reflected perfectly.

"Here, Maddie. I'll fix you up one to go, okay? Don't worry Kate- it's on the house."

"I can pay for it, Kai."

"I said it's on the house. I know you can pay for it. I don't want you to."

Suddenly, a tug on her top. Small fingers brushing her skin.

"Who are you? Are you Kai's new girlfriend?" Maddie. Adara was lost in the colors of her eyes. She couldn't respond… blue, blue, blue.

"Maddie, you're so silly. She's not my girlfriend."

"But whenever you bring pretty girls, they're always your girlfriend, and she's the prettiest!"

"Maddie!" The mother, Kate… shaking her head, she could feel the movement…. The squirt of whipped cream coming out of a can, the snap of a plastic lid.

"Here you go, Maddie. Make it last!"

"Thanks Kai!" A woman's sigh.

"Thank you, Kai. You spoil her too much." Laughter, and the blue eyes disappeared.

© Silver Phoenix 117, January 2006


A/N: Adara has some sort of special… talent. Even though she is blind, she can see the colors of people's eyes when she meets their gaze straight on. She can't see their actual eyes, but the iris colors she sees with all of her vision, not just a speck in the darkness. Just wanted to clarify that incase I was confusing about it.
Review Responses:

yinyang-shadow: Thanks! Intriguing… actually you spelled that correctly. Yay! I'm going to start a group though that's going to be called: Bad Spellers of the World UNTIE. Hope you liked Ch. IX!

Madam Jinx: Yeah… Avery is going to be fun to write up. I wish I were the reader of this instead of the writer sometimes because I'm writing this the way that I wish everyone would write their stories. Long… good length of chapters… flawless spelling, if not grammar. Ha, ha… I'm not very conceited, am I? Hope you liked Ch. IX!

Sonora the Free: She's not emo at all, thank god. I hate emo kids. Have you heard "Emo Kid" by Adam & Andrew? It's so hilarious. I highly recommend checking it out. Just Google search it, and it should come up under their mySpace or something like that. I'm working on stealing FFX from my friend.

Unknown: Me too. I couldn't stand being blind. Thanks!

lovenotknown: I'm so excited about going to go see Rent. You have no idea. I'm going to go run around the dormitory until I'm exhausted and sweaty now. Proceeds to scream with excitement.

Between2Worlds: I was just having some fun w/ you. OMG… I love food, and virtual food is the second best thing. I've actually just finished eating a box of Thin Mints in less than 24 hours. I'm wired. Bounces up and down. I can't wait until I write my Christmas chapter(s)! But I can't tell you anything! Hope you liked Ch. IX!