As David's body relaxed, so too did hers. David laid his head on her chest exhausted and breathing deeply. Kali ran her fingers through his hair soothingly, trying to make sense of what had just happened. After a few moments, she rolled out from under him and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to compose herself. As she put her hand to her head, she noticed it was shaking. David sat up.

"Everything alright?"

Kali nodded, although it was not what she felt. She moved to lie back beside David. They lay there for a while, lost in their own respective thoughts. Kali looked over at him tenderly.

"Hey, you know what'd be really nice? If you and I went up and watched the sunrise. It'll be in about an hour."

A slight panic crossed David's face then. "Um…no offense, but it's not really my thing."

Kali's face fell. "Aww, come on, it'll be fun. We can grab some breakfast and sit on the bluff."

"Yeah, well I'm not really in the mood," he retorted irritably. Kali was a little confused as to his sudden change in demeanour.

"Haven't you ever watched the sunrise before?"

"A long time ago. Look, can you drop it? I don't want to watch the fucking sunrise OK?"

"OK, OK. I'm sorry. It was just a suggestion!" Kali got up then and began to put her clothes back on, her ego slightly bruised. She looked over at him sadly.

"I just thought it'd be really nice, that's all," she said quietly.

David breathed out deeply and patted the space next to him on the bed, wondering how he was going to tell her. Kali obliged and sat down beside him.

"There's something I need to tell you … about me and the boys. I haven't been totally honest with you."

Kali nodded knowingly.

"We're … you could say … different from most people. Our lifestyle is quite unusual and the only friends or family we have are each other. "

"Uh huh …"

"What I'm trying to say, Kali is … Marko, Dwayne, Paul and I are … we're um …"

Kali put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's OK. You can tell me." She was seeing a very different David to the one that she usually saw. This David seemed quieter and unsure of himself. Not the usual brazen, bold guy that rode around terrorising the residents and tourists of Santa Carla.

"We're … vampires, Kali."

Kali inadvertently snorted, looking at David in disbelief.

"What? I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh … but vampires? Come on, you're kidding right?" Kali's smiled faded when she realised David wasn't laughing. Surely he wasn't serious! She looked directly at him, his expression unchanging. Kali swallowed hard. "Holy shit. You're not joking … are you?"

David shook his head slightly. All the strange happenings over the past couple of nights now made sense: the late jaunts without her, only hanging out at night, his fear of the sun, his albino skin and almost black eyes. It all made perfect, twisted sense.

Kali turned her back on him, tears welling in her eyes. She jumped up from the bed, backing away from him.

"Is that what you really wanted then? To win my trust, seduce me and then kill me?"

"Kali, I don't want to kill you. I don't want to harm you in any way. I promise you."

"How can I believe that? You lied to me!" she protested.

David shook his head. "I haven't lied to you. I may not have told you the full truth, but I have never lied to you. I kept it from you because I wasn't sure you were ready to deal with it. I had planned on telling you once you'd recovered from last night's ordeal."

A realisation struck her then. "So you did catch me, didn't you."

David nodded slowly. "Yes."

This was all too much to take. Kali looked hard at David then. "OK. I want an honest answer now. No games. No elusion. What did you really want from me? I mean, from the very beginning? Why me?"

David looked at her earnest expression. He knew he had to tell her. She had a right to know.

"Alright. Honestly, the first time I saw you, I wanted you purely for my survival. Your beauty attracted me and I hungrily wanted what you had to offer. But, something stopped me. As I watched you, over time, I became infatuated with you, watching you most nights when you were working. I found out your name, where you lived and details about your lifestyle. You had the same energy and almost identical appearance as Angel, and I guess selfishly, I wanted back what I'd lost, which is why I really wanted to meet you. I couldn't destroy someone that resembled another that I once loved. For a vampire, that is peculiar behaviour. We generally don't feel emotions like that. I still wonder why I felt it." He stood up then, and started pacing.

"Anyway, one night, I saw you watching us, so I followed you home, which was the night we met on the boardwalk. I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to meet you in person. I won't lie though, there'd be times when I would have to fight my instinct quite hard, especially tonight." He took her warm hand in his cold one.

"Kali, you have stirred feelings within me that I haven't felt in a long time, and in some ways, have never felt. I know you felt it too and I know what you felt was real."

Kali closed her eyes. A solitary tear fell slowly down her cheek. It wasn't fair. Why did it have to be so complicated? "David, I can't tell you why, but I feel strongly for you too. It's strange because I barely know you, but I just feel like I've known you for so much longer." She moved over to him then, standing in front of him and took his hand.

"At the same time, I can't keep seeing you like this. I mean, no offense, but how do I know you won't just lose control one day and kill me?"

He looked hard at her for a moment. She had him there. Although…no he couldn't do that, could he? David looked at her, an almost desperate little boy staring back at her.

"There is a way. The thing is … it's irreversible."

"What is?"

"Becoming immortal."

Kali looked up at him, startled by this revelation. "What? Become a vampire?" Kali shook her head vigorously. "I can't kill people for the sport of it!"

"That's because you're thinking like a mortal. We don't have that feeling or attachment. Mortals are food to us, like cows and chickens are food to you."

"It's not the same thing."

"Why not?"

"Well, because … everyone eats cows and chickens. They're animals."

"We don't."

"Yeah, but you're the minority."

"That may be true, but how is it any different? Food can be classified as anything that a particular species eats for survival."

Kali opened her mouth to give him an answer, but realised she didn't have one to give. He had a point. It just wasn't something she could imagine.

"So, how do youbecome a vampire?"

"Well, there's two ways. You can either drink the blood of another vampire or another vampire can bite you and exchange their blood with yours."

"Ho … how did you become one?"

"I was bitten. To be honest, I don't remember it though. But that only means you'll be a hybrid."

"A hybrid?"

"Part vampire, part mortal. You don't become a whole vampire until … until you've made your first kill."

Kali went quiet.

"If you don't feed, you'll become weak and eventually die."

Kali screwed her face up at him. "Look, this is too much. I gotta get some air. I'm gonna go and sit up top for a while."

He nodded. "Yeah, well I need to sleep. I'm really tired. The sun will be up soon."

Kali understood. David twiddled a bit of her hair, then leant down and kissed her softly.

"I'll see you later." He turned to head toward the lower part of the cave.

"David?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like being a vampire?"

The smirk. "Sleep all day. Party all night. You never grow old and you never die. But for this, you must feed," and with that, turned back and headed down into the cave. Sometimes his cryptic responses really exasperated her! Why couldn't he just give her a straight answer?