Ugh, this chapter bugs the hell out of me! i have no idea why but, well, i dont beleive i did david any justice by this part of the story... i dont believe it truly followed his character as well as it has before.... plus it is extremely difficult to write proper dialogue for characters like him... well, it is for me atleast....grr. *sigh* maybe its just me nitpicking my own work, you kno, perfectionist and all.... :3

I suppose i'll let you guys be the judges of that. i may later come back and revise this chapter anyway..... Anywho, enough of my ranting and nagging, and now for the revealing of Chapter Nine. Thanks for the awesome reviews, guys! And putting up with me and this story! Please feel free to review agian....lol.

Enjoy! :D

Chapter Nine

His face was shrouded by darkness, his body cloaked in black, his unnatural presence was filled with a sort of intrigue and mystery that drew you in and made you feel like your heart couldn't keep up with the steady beat of inquiries that flowed through your mind.

Lily's pulse was unsteady and her jaw hung slightly ajar as she wheeled around to see him, leaning indifferently against a large oak tree on the outskirts of her yard and the edge of the forest. A soft gasp escaped her lips, and she tried to muffle it.

His eyes scanned the horizon, fixing themselves on the last withdrawing beams of light from the retreating sun; a sort of pained longing withheld itself in the clear blue pools of his eyes. The red glow clung to the sky, contrasting the navy purple of the evening, as if a last attempt to live on through the night, but some things are just not meant for the night. His bright blue orbs finally met Lily's green eyes. He held her gaze for a few moments that felt like hours to Lily, then stared out at the distant sky again, which was now almost completely devoid of the orange glow of the sunset.

He opened his mouth a bit, but he made no attempt to speak.

"David?" Lily finally uttered, shakily, breaking the silence which she felt to be awkward, and he did not. And immediately after saying it she felt young and ignorant, and realized it was kind of a "no duh." sort of thing. It also felt strange to her to call him by his name, although she did not know why it would.

He immediately gave her his attention, shifting his position a bit.

"I never got your name." His sentence trailed off slightly at the end, and his lips parted revealing his brilliant, compelling smile. He said it, as if it justified the fact that somehow he had managed to seek her out and find where she lived, which, when one thinks about it, is quite peculiar…

"Oh…Its, um, Lily…Lily Monroe…" She suddenly felt self-conscious and somewhat inferior.

"H-How," she began again, "Did you find me?" Not that she minded his finding her…

There was a pause.

"I have a way of finding things." David looked away again, he knew his "people" skills were a bit rusty. He reveled in the memories of his more chivalrous days, so long ago, when he was the top dog, ruling over the surf Nazis, the coolest guy around. How had he become so antisocial?

Lily finally dared to ask a question she'd been pondering the answer to, "How come you were in the old Emerson house, anyway? Last night?"

"Curiosity," He looked down for a second, then looked her straight in the eyes, "Gets the best of all of us, doesn't it?" He smiled a crooked smile, seeming to find some sort of humor in his words.

"And you?" he asked.

"Oh, um, well it was sort of a… dare…. My friends didn't really put me up to it…" She smiled, a bit of pride still in her, "They were just too scared to do it."

In an instant, David was resting his elbows on the edge of the porch swing, leaning them on the back of the swing, next to Lily. She muffled another gasp; he was quick, too quick, something about him scared her a little.

"And you weren't?" He said it as more of a fact than a question, bearing just a hint of a smile. He was closer now, and Lily could smell something on his breath, a sort of pungent, rusty odor. Not entirely unpleasant, but strange none the less. But David himself had the scent of aged spice, sort of antiquey, a sweet, enticing smell Lily could not help but noticing.

She lost her composure for a moment, but quickly regained it, slightly tilting her head to the sky, proudly.

"No." she said, defiantly.

He grinned again, quietly chuckling to himself.

Unsure what to say, Lily racked her mind for more trivial things; she did not want him to leave. Or think her shy, for that matter.

"I don't think I've seen you in town before… D-do you live around here?"

"You could say that." He scoffed.

"You go to Santa Carla High? That's where I go."

He paused, looking down again, half smiling. Was there some inside joke I'm missing? Lily wondered.

"No…I don't go to school. No, not here."

"Graduated?"

"In a way, I suppose. Graduated is such a broad term."

Now he was starting to scare her a little. But the first thing that came to mind was a high school drop out, troublemaker for sure… but then again, he had saved her life. So he couldn't be all bad, could he? She thought about that again, and realized she had never even thanked her rescuer.

"Um, thank you." His eyes flicked back to her face. "For, well, uh, saving my life… I guess I kinda owe you now, don't I?" She smiled, gently, nervously.

"I guess you do." He grinned again. "How about this, you let me take you out one night. For a ride." A quizzical look came over Lily's face. He smiled wider. "I've got a pretty wicked bike, you can hear it from a mile away. I think you'd like it, Lily."

She couldn't help but smile when he said her name, the way it just rolled off his tongue like they'd known each other for years, like old friends. The fact that she barely knew this guy, just hardly crossed her mind. Lily, being different as she was, didn't always get a lot of attention from guys, like her friends usually did, and she was just a bit desperate… And couldn't resist the offer. Plus, she loved motorcycles. They were a sort of guilty pleasure of hers.

So, against her better judgment, Lily said, "I think I'd like that." She grinned slowly.

Then, she heard a screen door creak open and slam shut, seeing a silver ghost streaking towards her out of the corner of her eye, and turned in time to find out her dog was running straight towards them. And, Boomer, the "silver ghost", had a bad habit of jumping up on things…

"Boomer, No!" she yelled.

But it was too late. David's eyes widened and his smile faded slowly, as a huge grey dog launched itself towards the tree swing on which he was leaning. It jumped up on the bench on all fours next to Lily who tried to hold the dog back, which was going straight for David's face.

The sight Lily saw next made her laugh more than she had in a long time. David froze. Boomer was covering his chin in slobbery wet doggie kisses. David's expression was pure wide-eyed bewilderment, part of him looked like he was disgusted while the part looked like he was sort of angry.

Lily managed to grab her overly affectionate pooch by the collar and pull him off the bench and away from her rescuer's face. She was still giggling, while he still just looked disgusted.

"I guess he likes you." She smiled, snickering a bit.

David looked at her then down at the dog who was staring at him and wagging his tail, and back to Lily again, who was still smirking.

"Yeah, I bet he does…" He said begrudgingly, still getting over the initial shock.

"Aww come on, he's not usually like that with strangers. Its kind of weird for him to be so open with them."

David's one of a kind smile came back and he chuckled again, Lily laughing with him.

Lily released her hold on the dog's collar, and Boomer, looking offended, cautiously made his way over to David again, and sat by his feet looking up at him stupidly. David held his hand out for the dog to smell, like anyone does with a strange dog.

"Oh, he can't really smell, he was a police dog once. Got his nose burned and now he can barely breathe out of it." Lily corrected.

David nodded, acknowledging.

There was a brief pause of silence before someone from inside the house yelled out, "Lily, get inside! You have school tomorrow! Come on."

"Well…I-I guess I should probably go…" She said reluctantly. He turned his head towards her again and the moonlight seemed to glow in his bright eyes.

"Alright. I'll, uh, catch ya later then." He let his hand drift along the edge of the bench as he turned away. "Goodnight." He said softly, and then disappeared into the shadows of the woods.

"Goodnight…" Lily whispered.

She stood there for a while. Just, thinking. And half wondering if he would come back…

Boomer whimpered next to her, bringing her back into consciousness.

"What? It's your fault you know." He cocked his head to the side. "Oh, come on." She said as she gestured for him to follow her back to the house.