*pops head out of rabbit whole* God I am short. Anyways! Bonjour mon amis! Welcome to the tenth chapter of Raven's Ballad. Now I got asked if this will have a sequel, I can't say yes or no to that. I'd like to have one but I don't know what I would write about. Plus I think I should end this story before I make one, right?

So read on!

Remember:

Italics = Dream

It's starting out as Alexander, btw.

Chapter.10

No, No, No!

He hadn't slept at all. Not even when Raven woke up and told him to go back to sleep, doing so herself. Alexander looked blankly at the roof of his casket only listening to the sound of Raven's even breathing. He would look down at her to make sure she was still there and tighten his hold on her. Alexander had to face the truth even if his common sense was yelling to deny it. But he knew he couldn't for much longer. But he had to tell Raven, it was her life at stake after all.

She shifted as Alexander thought her name. "Hmm, Alexander?" Raven made a face as she opened her eyes to see her boyfriend staring back at her. "Have you been awake this whole time?" Alexander shook his head but she knew better. "You need sleep, we can't both be exhausted." She yawned at the last word. Raven reached a hand out to touch just underneath Alexander's eyes tracing the little tired bruises that were blossoming. She didn't think anyone could look so amazing tired but he proved wrong as usual. "What time is it?" She yawned again and mentally berated herself.

Alexander opened the lid and sat up. "The sun set about an hour ago so six." He unwrapped his arms from her and stretched, tiny pops came from his back. "You slept the whole day away, love." He bent and kissed her lips softly. Raven eagerly returned the show of affection with a smile hinting at her mouth.

"I would love to wake up like this every night." Raven pulled back and rested her head on her boyfriends bare chest. She couldn't see a thing in the closet room but she didn't care, she could be like this forever…

Alexander chuckled in agreement. "I would love to do nothing more than lay here for eternity but the living, and Jameson, await us." Raven groaned and followed him out of the coffin. Alexander watched as she moved, making sure she was the same Raven and wouldn't change into something. Paranoia was becoming his number one emotion now. He pulled on a black t-shirt with a 'No Smoking' sign on it and plain black jeans.

Raven on the other hand was timid. She could feel her boyfriends eyes watching her and she tried not to focus on it. She should tell him everything, her dreams, suspicions, everything but couldn't bring herself to. She couldn't handle it if she were right and she was the Heir. But it wasn't a girl, not a girl, not a girl, she repeated over and over. "Not a girl." The words left her mouth before she knew what she was saying and felt Alexander look right at her face. "I need to get dressed." She said quickly before he could say anything to her. Raven didn't meet his eyes as Alexander left. Alexander heard the slip up but didn't respond. Everything Raven was doing was confirming.

"Master Alexander." He heard the voice down the hall and walked to meet his Halfling butler. Alexander looked down the stair case to see Jameson holding out the landline phone. He hadn't even heard the phone ring. He walked down the stairs and took the phone hesitantly. "I'm sorry." Jameson left without saying anything more. What had he meant?

"Hello?" Alexander cradled the phone to his face. He looked at where the butler had stood and narrowed his eyes.

"Nice of you to answer, son." Alexander swallowed as his father's voice came from the receiver. "I received an interesting phone call that awakened your mother and I. I'm sure you know what it is about." Alexander felt his heart shatter and turn to dust as he listened. Jagger had told.

"Father I can explain if you would let me-," But the older vampire cut him off.

"Alexander I know you know who the Heir is and won't tell anyone. I don't see why you wouldn't, you know it is for the best." Because it's Raven, He wanted to scream. Because he loved her, adored her, she was everything to him now. He couldn't believe his father was letting it go so easily. "Especially since Raven is there. Don't you want to protect her?" Wait. "If you don't kill him for our kind then at least for her, son." So he didn't know.

"I can assure you I don't know who the Heir is yet." He tried to keep his voice even, Constantine could always tell when he was lying. But he was only half lying, wasn't he? "What call did you receive? I have only spoken to Jameson and one of our kind about it." Again, only half a lie.

Constantine sighed from the other end. "At noon for humans I got a call from your old friend Lillian. Care to explain why?" What. Alexander's eyes widened. Why would Lillian be calling his father, she didn't like the vampire, and where had she gotten his number? Alexander cleared his throat. Distantly he could hear Raven leaving his room and almost ended the call there.

"I have no idea why she would call. Constantine I have to go." He ended the call, forgetting what Jameson said, with a press of a button and just in time for Raven to come to stand next to him. The look in her heavy-lined eyes gave away. "My father," He smiled down at her, "He wanted to check up on me. On you too." Might as well make the lie a believable one. If he weren't eternally damned already Alexander was sure his soul was going to burn for all the lies he was spouting.

"That's nice. Are your parents coming back?" Raven tried to hide her suspiciousness with eagerness and it worked. She even smiled hoping he wouldn't know that she had heard his side of the conversation.

Alexander felt a little relieved and shook his head. "I'm sure my mother would love to come back but they can not. Now how about something to eat?" Raven's stomach grumbled in agreement and she clasped her arms around her torso in a vain attempt to silence it. Alexander chuckled and took her hand and led her to the dining room. "Jameson is out for the night so we have the mansion and anywhere you want to go to ourselves." Raven felt a slight bit of blush turn to her face and was happy her makeup covered the embarrassing feature. "What would you like to eat?" He led her to the kitchen, which Raven had never been in. the macabre look extended to this part of the house as well but there were little features that reminded her of a grandmothers house. Well duh, it had been Alexander's grandmother's home once. Alexander looked out of place as he waited for her to answer. She had no clue. "Or we could go to Hastie's if you wanted."

"No." The word came out less than a second after her said that. Raven didn't want to go back there, she couldn't face anyone right now. Alexander's face flashed a small hint of hurt before Raven shook her head. "Not after last time, I'm sorry. How about we just order pizza?" Alexander nodded and reached for the landline again. Raven walked out to the drawing room. Then stopped. Something felt off from the last time she'd been there. Raven narrowed her eyes and looked around, what was it? A prickling sensation built on the back of her neck and she spun 360. "Who's there?" Her voice was barely above a whisper as she looked. The drawing room wasn't that big so she didn't understand why she couldn't see who was in it. If there was anyone there. Something moved in the corner of her eye and she slowly turned to face it. But there wasn't anything. What. The. Hell. Raven walked slowly toward the velvet red chair she always occupied and looked around the room once more before resting her head back. Even if she had slept a day away she felt exhausted and wasn't protesting when her eyes drooped.

"Raven, wake up honey." Hmm? "Raven, come on it's time to go see them." See who? "Come on sweetie." It was her mom. Or Sarah. Raven opened her eyes and let out a groan. Another dream. Once again, they were in the cemetery but it wasn't cloudy and dark like last time. The sun was out making the graveyard look almost alive as Raven's eyes focused. She was in the same bush as before but there weren't any thorns to cut into her. Raven shook her head letting a little wave of vertigo took over her body. Her mouth felt like cotton and mind foggier than a winter's night.

"Mom?" Raven stopped mid stance. The voice she heard…was her own? It was so light and kind it made her do a double take. She couldn't remember when her voice sounded like so and she almost didn't believe it was her. But it was and she looked at her lithe miniature self sitting with her parent's on the same bench as before. The girl couldn't have been more than five or six. Raven almost tripped on a headstone as she watched the three. Raven kept her eyes on Sarah, the woman's stomach looked round and Raven figured she was pregnant with Billy. She flinched as the familiar sound of creaking wood came from a mausoleum, the same as before. Raven crouched behind another tombstone as she tried to come closer to look at the woman and man again. But instead she noticed something else. The little girl with Sarah and Paul, who she thought was herself, wasn't. The child didn't seem to have obvious signs of a gender even if it was dressed as a girl. Raven fell back as the child seemed to turn right to look at her. The child resembled her, with midnight hair that traveled to her shoulders and green eyes that flashed but that was almost it. This child had skin so pale it was almost blue and little etchings at the edge of their perfect mouth; they looked like stitches. Raven gasped and felt just the hint of nauseous hit her. This proved she wasn't the Heir and felt sickly happy but that meant her parents still had lied, they even admitted it. And if she wasn't the Heir then where were they? And why couldn't Raven tell if this child was a boy or girl? Had her parents disguised the boy as a girl or was it a girl? It was frustrating. Was this how Alexander was feeling trying to find them? She sat back up on her heels to watch. Raven focused on the emerging bodies and watched closely. The same woman and man. Now she was certain these were the parents of the child. They had to be. "Mommy, Daddy!" The child squealed running towards the two. The figures met the child half way and the woman dropped the grab the child. The child only giggled and wrapped their arms around them. Raven had the urge to run over and take the child's place but held herself. But then Raven noticed something else. The foreign woman's stomach was round too. Oh god. Raven didn't even bother covering her mouth to hide her astonishment. Nothing, nothing was how she thought.

"Oh Raven, honey we are so happy to see you." The man's voice was clearer this time. Raven watched still peering. The child was looking at her again and Raven felt a chill run through her spine. That look could send soldiers running. Raven wanted to run forward, grab the child, and shake them asking who they were but she held back again.

"We have a surprise." The woman, wasn't her name Sally, took the child's small pale hands and put them to her stomach. "This is your little brother." This time Raven didn't have time to catch herself and fell onto her knees almost right in front of the group. None of them seemed to notice but the child who simply smiled. Raven scrambled back, her knees feeling bruised and bleeding, to a tombstone. They couldn't see her but could hear her. Quietly she came to stand near them looking closely at the foreign man and woman. Who were they and why did they seem so familiar.

"Mommy can I name him?" Denial tried to edge into Raven's mind but she had to face it. She knew this man and woman and the child. "My mouth hurts too." She pointed to the stitch like marks, Raven felt slightly revolted as she watched the man pull at the stitches and they came undone, little strings in his hand after. He did the same to the other side and the girl smiled a broad smile. Raven bit back the bile in her mouth and felt coughs and spasms trying to take her over. Now Raven saw it. Of course she knew the child, it was her. With the stitching gone there as no mistaking it.

Raven started to shake her head violently. "No, no, no. no." Her words came out as slurs at first, she felt like she'd forgotten to speak. This time all of the group's eyes looked at her. "Not you, not you." Raven looked at the child, fear, confusion, and hate built in her. "I'm not an abomination, not a monster. I'm not. Your someone else, someone who is a monster. Not me, not me." Her words came out garbled as her eyesight started to go hazy and she felt herself falling into darkness again. Not her, was all she could make herself think.

A/N: Sorry if it is confusing, I had to make myself write this.

Raven: trust me, it's been a hard week. I mean she made two people pregnant in this chapter, it was rough.

LBVBA: Thanks for that. Anyways, the story will really pick up after this. I hope to have it finished by the middle of March.

Raven: what was the "it was her" thing about? Copying movies now?

LBVBA: Glad you asked. What I meant could be taken two ways, two directions the story could go. Her could mean Raven or someone Raven knows. Who knows?

Both: So review!