Damian flew swiftly back to his castle, his brides not far behind him. He was seething the entire time, angry at Erik for coming and attempting to save Anna, but most of all, angry at himself for allowing it to happen.

When he reached his castle, he stormed down the hallway toward Anna's room. After he slammed open the door, his eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light and saw that she was indeed gone. Damian let out a deafening shout, like a daunting roar.

"Adrianna! Sonia!" They rushed to his side. "Search the castle at once! He may still be here. I will go into the woods and look for him there, just in case." His brides complied as he started to leave. When he opened the castle doors, his skin began to sizzle and he became temporarily blind. The sun was beginning to peek through the clouds. He quickly shut the doors and his vision returned. The burned skin on his face quickly regenerated. He yelled out in frustration, but was quieted when a solution came to mind.

He went to find his hooded cape and gloves and put them on, pulling the hood over his head. He found a scarf that he wrapped it around his face, leaving only his eyes and forehead exposed. As long as he kept these exposed areas out of direct sunlight, he would be safe. Holstering his sword, he went swiftly into the woods in search of his prey.

Erik looked to the sky when the sun came out and sighed with relief. He knew that vampires couldn't stand the sunlight. He and the boy would be safe…for now.

After searching for an hour, they founed a small stream, but no food. They filled the leather pouch that Lucian's father had given him to use and, after drinking their fill from the stream, took it back to the cave. Lucian's parents drank their fill first and laid down to rest. Lucian joined his parents in their nap for he was exhausted from the events of the day. Erik took the pouch over to Anna. She was still sleeping, though it was slightly more restless than before.

"Anna," he whispered, stroking her face gently. Her eyes fluttered open and she met him with a warm smile. It quickly melted away, however, as she remembered the horrible events of the past days. She suddenly forgot where she was and started squirming. "Anna. Anna, it's alright. He's not here. You're safe now. Here, drink this." He lifted her head and held the pouch to her lips. She stopped squirming and drank the water greedily until her thirst was quenched.

"Thank you…for everything," she said quietly. After a moment of still silence, Anna spoke again. "Can I ask you something?" Erik nodded his head. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you put yourself through all of this just to save me? We had only just met. You don't even know me." She looked up at him with questionable eyes.

"I…I don't know. I suppose I couldn't stand the thought of him hurting you. I know what he's capable of and I didn't want you to go through that." He looked away, just slightly blushing.

"How do you know him?" He told her the whole story. He started from when he left Paris to when he met her. He did not want to mention Christine or his abhorrent past to her.

"So," he continued, wanting to point the discussion away from himself. "Why were you going to Paris?"

"To escape," she said bluntly as she eased herself into a sitting position.

"Escape what?"

"My life, if you could call it that." She looked to Erik and found a look on his face that told her to continue. So she did. "I came from a little town called Brighton near the shore of England. I lived with my mother, my father, and my brother, though it didn't seem that way. I was invisible to them. My parents never showed me compassion, love, or even the slightest recognition of my existence. I didn't have any friends, though I used to. When I was younger, I had a few friends that I would play with, but as we got older, they turned on me. They would gossip about me behind my back, and they treated me like dirt to my face. I started spending my days alone, away from everyone. I would read or write or just lie on the ground staring at the sky as I sang to myself. Music always comforted me, though I never took up an instrument. I never had the opportunities that other kids my age had. So I just sang to myself instead.

"One day," she continued, "my brother's friend, Luke Thomson took an interest in me. He asked my parents for my hand and they gladly gave it to him, against my will. They could not see him for the person he was, but they wouldn't have cared even if they had. He was a horrible, wretched man…" Her sentence trailed off as tears welled in her eyes at the thought of him. Thoughts of Damian soon followed and she couldn't hold back any longer. Tears started to stream down her cheeks, but she tried to continue. "I had to get away from him. From him and everyone else. I didn't want…I didn't want that to be my life anymore." She buried her face in her hands as more tears spilled from her eyes.

Erik enveloped her with his arms and let her cry. He understood all too well what she had gone through. He suddenly felt a stronger connection with her. Neglect. Betrayal. He had suffered through these too. Oh, how he had suffered! He held her and stroked her hair until she had calmed down.

When she had stopped crying, she lifted her head, finding herself only inches away from his face. She looked into his eyes and found them to be softer and kinder than they were the first day she looked into them on the train. She quickly looked down, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.

"I'm…I'm sorry for burdening you with my troubles. I don't know what has come over me. I don't normally talk so freely about my past." He placed his finger under her chin and lifted it up so that she met his eyes again. He gently stroked his thumb across her cheek, wiping her tears away. His head began to lower slowly toward hers. Anna's heart started to beat faster. Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips slightly brushed hers in a light kiss. She felt herself kiss him back, though she had not told herself to do so. She seemed to had lost control over her own actions. And yet, she didn't seem to care. His lips pressed harder into a deeper kiss as he pulled her even closer to him. Her whole body had become weak with his touch and she allowed her body to press against his. She heard a quiet moan and wondered what it might be before she realized that the moan had escaped her own throat. He lifted his head, breaking the kiss.

"Did I hurt you?" He looked at her, worried.

"No," she responded before she placed her hand on the nape of his neck and pulled him back into the kiss. She was feeling a hunger rise within her that she had never felt before. She couldn't quite explain it. Erik was feeling the same thing, though he knew what it was and had felt it before. They were both so lost in each other that neither of them heard the footsteps approach. They were completely ignorant of the nearing figure until a chilling voice sounded from the entrance of the cave.

"Well, well. What have we here?"

AN: Thank you all for the comments! I suppose I should warn you all...there is only one more chapter to this story. I hope the ending satisfies you, and if it doesn't you can all send me suggestions on how you would like it to end and I will write an alternate ending using my favorite suggestion.