DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Teen Titans characters, or the DC Comic Characters.
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NINE
We walked into a large office. The oak wooden doors knew all the secrets that lie in Bruce's dark office. The carpet was a soft plush red, and bookshelves made up the walls. In the back of the room was Bruce's oak desk. Two seats were in front of it, and a large bay window behind it. Bruce stood up as we walked to the front.
"Hello Kori. I hope you had a good night's sleep." Bruce gave a warm smile. I nodded looking at Richard. I felt a blush appear on my cheeks and he gave me his charming smile.
"I did thank you for allowing me a safe place to stay." I nodded my head at him and he nodded his head.
"Please, take a seat. We have a lot to discuss." Bruce led us to the front, where Richard and I took our seats. Bruce was around the desk in a moment and took a seat.
"So about the other day Kori, did you understand everything?" Bruce asked me.
"Well, I think I have it covered." I bit my lip lightly and look to Richard who nodded his head. I felt more comfortable around him, feeling I had known him my whole life. In a way it was true because he had known me practically my whole life. "Well, you made a deal with God of the Underworld to save your love. I'm Koriand´r's ancestor. My blood was blessed by the Gods in order to discover a way to kill vampires. You don't want to kill me, simply draw blood with a needle to test me and try to figure out how to kill Slade."
Bruce raised an eye brow at me. "Ah, so you learned of Slade more and what we want to do?" Bruce raised an eye brow a proud smile on his face as he stared at his adopted son. It was obvious to tell that Bruce was proud.
"Richard helped me on some things." I said sheepishly.
"I see," the look that Bruce gave Richard was noticed by me and I smiled.
"What about Terra?" The thought came to mind randomly as I looked at Bruce in worry. Was Terra even alive? Was she worried about me? Where did she think I was?
"Terra is aware that you are not coming back. She and the rest of the public believes that you were captured and killed."
The words hit me hard as I felt tears roll down my cheek. My whole entire life was gone. I could never go back to live with Terra, or to see Koma again. Galfore would be heartbroken about me. I felt myself take deep breaths, and soothing hand was placed on my back. I looked back to see Richard. He had a worried expression on his face. I hated to see him upset about things that were out of his control.
"They won't hurt her right?" I looked at both of them in panic. Imagine if Terra was hurt because of me? What would I do? I couldn't bear to live with myself if I knew of a single person got hurt because of me, it would be too hard.
"Kori, everyone you love is safe." Richard rubbed my back and I nodded my head.
"Now that you know the basics, I want you to know more about our kind, since you are going to have to deal with us for awhile." Bruce gave a smile at me and I felt a sense of protection with these two. "Richard, take Kori out to the garden. Explain to her everything she wants to know, and dress her warm. It's been awhile since Rachel had to deal with a human who had the cold." Bruce let a small laugh escape his lips. I was surprised at his joyfulness. He seemed like such a grump, apparently I was wrong.
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The garden was beautiful even in the fall air; the garden was alive and blooming. I was dressed warmly in an old coat of Rachel's. I wore a pair of jeans from Karen, and an old tee shirt that smelled of Richard. I would have to ask the others if we could go shopping in the future.
Richard held me as we walked through the garden. He carried me everywhere and though at time it could be annoying, I loved being in his arms. His body was cold, and even though his heart was dead, you could tell it was warm.
A smile graced his lips as I snuggled into his arms more. He walked slowly allowing me to see all of the different types of exotic flowers. The colors of the rainbow clouded my vision looking at all of the small little plants.
"So, you said you were different from the Twilight vampires…how?" I asked a smile on my lips.
Richard looked at me and then up for a moment, thinking of a good answer. "For one, we don't sparkle." He laughed as I looked at his skin. He was pale and normal looking…well normal for a vampire. "I think that's kind of a pansy thing to do…sparkle." He laughed and I joined in with him, his laugh was musical.
"What else?"
"No one has special abilities. Though we all do have more of the ability to draw people in with our eyes and words, we can't read minds or see the future. The sun doesn't burn us, simply just hurts our powers."
"What do you mean?" I questioned him. He gave a patient smile as I interrupted him and I mouthed him a sorry. He grinned down at me.
"We are dark, evil. Even though we do try to do well in the world, the evil runs through our veins. The sun is a sign of light, of good. It weakens us in a way. We are still able to do everything, just not as well. For example, say I could run a mile in about ten seconds. If I do it in broad daylight it would take me twenty seconds instead of the normal ten. Make sense?"
"Yup," I nodded my head. "Are werewolves real?" As the question escaped my lips he chuckled at me and I felt embarrassed. My cheeks heated up as I avoided his gaze.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I wasn't laughing at you just that she wrote that. Werewolves aren't real. Neither are fairies, witches, or anything else." Richard had an apologetic look on his face and I gave him a small smile.
"Oh, and the diet of drinking just animals is disgusting. I've tried it, and it's hard to do. Your system doesn't react well at all to it. I never knew vampires could throw up, but apparently you can." Richard let out a laugh.
It was nice getting to know more about Richard. There were so many questions to ask, but certain ones stood out more than others. I wanted to know more about Richard's personal life rather than vampires in general.
"Can vampires get a human pregnant?" I watched his reaction. His blue eyes looked a little shocked I had asked that and I felt myself giggle as he stumbled on his words.
"No, they can't. I mean let's say that all of our systems are dead, except for the reproduction system, for boys that is. Women vampire can't get pregnant. Men vampires can still get hard and ejaculate, except the sperm is dead."
"So I see." I laughed at his awkward expression and then we both laughed together. We were now in the middle of the garden where a beautiful fountain laid in the middle. Benches sat upon gravel and flowers. It was beautiful.
"This is beautiful." I smiled as we took a seat on a bench. Richard sat next to me closely.
"Yes you are." His whisper was gentle and he looked down embarrassed when he realized I heard.
"What was it like?" I asked him randomly. I looked up at the sky, the clouds were moving by slowly, gracefully.
"What was what like?" I felt his gaze on me and I looked back at his penetrating eyes.
"To watch me for fourteen years and not be able to say anything to me, let alone drink my blood." I watched as he thought carefully on his answer.
"At first I was angry. I didn't want to babysit you when I could be out with the others, having a good fight and so on. The first few nights I would find myself leaving early to do something else, but Bruce made me stick it out, watching you.
"I loved to watch you sleep. No matter what age you seemed to be you would always mutter incoherent things and most of the time look peaceful. I hated it every time you had a bad dream. You could tell because you would toss and turn and your forehead would crinkle up like this." He scrunched his face together and I laughed at him. He smiled at my smile.
"You seemed to grow up so fast. You were four, then six, then ten, then fourteen, then now…eighteen. You grew more beautiful over the years, if that was possible." He let out a small laugh and I blushed at the compliment.
"It was hard not to say anything to you as time went on. After a bad date I wanted to hold you. After a good date, I wanted to find the guy and kill him or even touching you. I had all these emotions I never felt, and they only came out when I was with you."
"What about now…how do you feel?" I scooted closer to him, and slowly I leaned my head on his shoulder. I could feel chills throughout my body as his cold skin made contact with mine.
"I'm happy now…the happiest I have been in a long time." Richard's words were quiet.
"How are you happier?" I asked him. He was thoughtful for a long time. I thought he had almost forgotten about the question until he took a small breath after what seemed like ten minutes.
"Kori my whole entire life I have been surrounded by death. Even before I was a vampire, death was a big role in my life. I was alive though, and I hadn't felt alive since I had become a vampire. When I watched you though, I felt more alive than I ever was. Your smile, made me want to smile. Your tears, made me want to cry. Your anger…well that just made me want to beat the shit out of whoever made you angry.
"Life was just something I couldn't care less about. I had nothing to live for the rest of eternity for until you came along. After everything you had been through you had still been able to love, to laugh, to live. You don't know how inspiring you were for me."
I looked up at Richard to see his eyes sparkling. I escaped his grasp as I sat up, and climbed on top of his lap, straddling his legs. He looked a little taken aback as I brought my hands to his face, memorizing his face.
It was then I closed my eyes, leaning in my forehead against his. I opened my eyes to see Richard with his eyes closed tight. His hands were fists at his side. I leaned in close, my hot breath against his face. I felt myself release a slight whimper as he opened his eyes and leaned in close to me; his breath, minty cool on my face.
"Richard, get Kori out of here!" the fierce battle cry of Victor was released as I pulled away from Richard quickly. I looked around quickly to not see anything, but apparently Richard did.
"Fuck," the words were whispered as he pulled me into his arms quickly. "I need you to hold on tight!"
"You really think you are going to escape with her Grayson?"
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AUTHOR'S COMMENT
* Ok…sorry for lack of updates! I feel so horrible! I haven't been feeling well, and school is keeping me busy. I hate excuses, and here I am saying them ha. I'm trying my best and I want you all to know I would never give up on my story without notifying you first, and having a good reason to! So sorry if you guys think I dissed Twilight, I really didn't. It's the characters points of view. Do you think the chapter was too fluffy? Feedback? I try to listen to it as best as I can!
So about the plot of the story, sorry it seems drab and getting a little slow. A lot is going to happen in the upcoming chapters, so I'm trying to pace myself. Along with this story I am currently working on another one, Night's Hero. You should check that out! Thanks for the great feedback; I am so happy you guys are enjoying the story. Another chapter soon!
