Thus, the next day was spent planning how to get to the gem. Was there a means to turn off the magic so to speak? And if there was, how? Would one say a counter spell… although considering magicians do not use words to control magic anyway that would not really work. Caelan's minimal reading material consisted mainly of ancient, first print Asimov and Frank Herbert novels, which although were a great read were not much help when it came to obtaining the fragments. And even though it probably wouldn't have been very helpful, there was no internet connection down in the cave, let alone a computer. No helpful books, no public library and they pretty much couldn't leave the house in fear of being killed. They were off to a great start…

The day after that was also spent pointlessly trying to figure out a way to get to the gem. The only experience Valkyrie had with such an enchantment before was the book of names and although she knew her true name it was not through the book that she had found it out.

"Caelan?" she asked on the second day, prodding him awake as he had fallen asleep with the first 'Dune' novel on his face. "Are you even going to do any work?"

"There isn't much to do really. We exhausted our materials within ten minutes." he replied, rubbing his jaw and finding a fine layer of stubble.

"That wasn't even what I was going to ask you. Hang on." she frowned for a few seconds, trying to remember what it had been she wanted to ask. "That was it! You knew that I wouldn't be able to get near the fountain… why was that?"

"When I was very young, before I killed the vampire, I was dared to climb to the top by some other newly made vampires." he shifted on his chair, slightly uncomfortable. Valkyrie found it weird to think that he was once the same as her, newly introduced to the world of magic and quite probably in awe of everything. Including magic fountains that prevented people from climbing to the top. In fact, as nasty as it sounded in her head, it was strange to think that at some point in time Caelan did have loads of friends. But of course, when he wasn't being bitter and moody (or lovey-dovey) he was a nice person, slightly witty like her to boot and when he wanted to could easily turn on the charm, made easier by the fact that his face was very easy on the eyes. It wasn't impossible to think that he would have been… popular even. But then why had he thrown it all away? "No."

"What? I didn't say anything."

"You have that look that means you're going to ask me something." He explained.

"It could have been anything though! Like, I don't know, where's the bathroom." she fought pouting in irritation.

"Yeah," he smirked, "But you weren't going to ask me that were you?"

"Well, no, but that's beside the point. I was going to ask you if we left Gordon in the car. He's pretty much a hundred books in one echo-stone." This was kind of a lie. She did want to know where they'd left Gordon, but she really wanted to know why he had killed another vampire.

The vampire looked amused and horrified at the same time… somehow. "Do you really think I'd bring him?"

"Fair point… I just can't remember if I brought him or not…"

"Just on the off chance that you need your long dead uncle for something."

"Yeah. You know how it is." she said while wandering off to find her bag. To her surprise she found that she had indeed packed him, but only the stone it appeared. Caelan, oddly enough, did not look as pleased as she did that she'd remembered him, but she wasn't about to ask why that was. He moped quite a bit, so if she asked him what was up every single time… well, she'd get a sore throat, let's leave it at that.

The echo-stone now sat nestled in her cupped palms, giving off a faint glow. She brought it back over to the sofa, sat down again next to the vampire and placed the stone in the centre of the coffee table. Casting a quick look to Caelan, then to the stone and then to Caelan again she sighed, "Uh… knowing how my uncle is… could you make yourself a bit more presentable please?"

"Only because you asked." he groaned as he sat up and got off the sofa. "I assume this is because of the stubble?"

She made an oddly fond looking smile, "Quite possibly. I'm not bothered, but Gordon will be. He'd probably call you a bum who doesn't own a razor or something."

"Whatever you wish, my lady." he snorted before bowing deeply, making them both laugh. This noise caused the echo-stone to activate and a haughty looking Gordon appeared.

"Ah. It appears someone doesn't own a razor." he sniffed. "Stephanie, you could at least have picked a vampire who knows how to shave."

"Told you so." she muttered quiet enough so that Caelan could hear but Gordon could not. The vampire bit his cheek to prevent himself from laughing.

"Where are we now?" her uncle asked.

"Isla de la Infección." Caelan answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," Gordon's eyes widened in excitement as he looked around him. "Impossible. Stephanie would have been eaten by now if that were the case."

"You think I'd let someone eat her?" the vampire said with a small smirk. "They'd have to get through me first."

With a carefully raised eyebrow, Valkyrie commented, "You make me sound like a hotdog or a weak little girlie. I'm not sure which is worse to be honest."

"Anyway, I refuse to talk any further until you've gotten rid of that ridiculous looking stubble." her uncle said in a final tone and tried unsuccessfully to look 'hard'. Sure enough, her vampire rummaged around in his bag for a razor before ambling off to the bathroom to shave.

Shooting her uncle a stern look, she whispered, "That was a bit harsh."

"You've not exactly been the fairy godmother to him either, Steph."

"Fair point." she shrugged.

"So. I assume this isn't just for a friendly chat?" Gordon asked.

"Well. I should really wait for Caelan to be done… but…" Valkyrie pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do and how to phrase it, and then chose to stare pointedly out of the window instead. Night time was approaching, meaning the ambient light that filled the cavern would gradually fade away leaving only the neon signs and phosphorescent algae to light the area. After the first night they had spent, Valkyrie was confused to discover that through some very complex piece of magic, somehow vampires that stayed in Isla would not morph into their true forms at night, and not only that, but they would look like they used to before they were bitten. This last piece of information was found out by Valkyrie waking to find an attractive, young Spanish man in the room. Obviously, she promptly tried to immobilise him in case he was an enemy, and of course it was just Caelan, but damn did he wear the 'alive' look well! If she thought he looked good before… well that was nothing. For the rest of their stay in the Isla she found herself sneaking glances at him like some stupid girl with a crush. And to be fair, that's exactly what it was.

Naturally she demanded why he had not told her about that particular effect (while blushing like a fool), to which he replied with 'I forgot'. Because, obviously, regaining human characteristics when you are a vampire is something you would forget easily? Needless to say Valkyrie had her suspicions that he had not told her on purpose to watch her squirm with embarrassment. Bloody oestrogen.

"Fine." she frowned, deciding to tell Gordon simply because Caelan had not told her about the Isla's side effects on vampires, also she was in a bad mood. "So. Do you know of a way to negate the magic that stops you going up to things.

She shot him a stern look to which he said, "I'm sorry? That's very vague. You'll have to be more specific, Stephanie."

"Okay. Uh, so. You know the book of names?" A slightly dark look passed over Gordon's face but he nodded nonetheless. "Good. You know the magic that prevents people from reading it?" Another nod. "How do you get past that?"

"You can't. That's the point."

Valkyrie glowered out the window once more. A small crowd of vampires travelled to the square in the distance decked in colourful clothes and laughing loudly. It was at that part of town that the 'bars' were. Having only seen them from afar Valkyrie was not sure what they sold. However she could guess. Blood. She made a mental note to ask Caelan when he returned.

And at that very second he walked back into the room, clean-shaven, hair slicked back and presentable. Although Valkyrie found herself wishing that he would wear his hair slightly ruffled more often. As he sat down he asked Gordon (for he had been able to hear their conversation from the bathroom), "And you're certain there's no way to negate the magic?"

"Yes. There's no way… unless you can find a loophole or something similar. The magic used for complete repulsion is very complicated, so often such things are made. And, of course, people skip parts that they feel aren't needed."

"How long does it take to create a repulsion spell then?" Valkyrie demanded, curious at just what this piece of magic took.

"On average, about ten years if one performs it in its complete form. If you miss certain parts off you can cut it down to four years while having it still function. I'm guessing that if someone made one in here it should have plenty of loopholes on account of all the distractions that a city filled with vampires would provide."

"So how to figure out the loopholes?" Valkyrie realised that they would need to preserve the echo-stone's charge so took care to ask him as much as they could in the shortest way possible

"Stephanie," her uncle smiled, "What can vampires do and not do? You have a prime example there so ask him." And with that he zipped out of existence.

With a sigh Caelan got up once more to close the curtains and switch the lights on. The young necromancer pulled her legs up to rest on the edge of the sofa and rested her chin on her knees and then reconsidered when her insides twisted in pain.

"Someone's looking like they're about to give up." Caelan commented.

"And someone looks like they need to have their injection right now." Valkyrie shot back when she noticed the hunger beginning to form in his eyes. "Here, take mine. You can put more formula in it when you're done." She pulled her jab out of her jeans pocket and chucked it at him. "I don't want to take any chances; it's already pretty late."

At first she felt her insides squirm a little at the sight of the hollow needle disappearing into his flesh and wondered how on earth that needle even managed to penetrate the tough skin of a vampire… At any rate, she bit the inside of her cheek and forced herself to watch. Needles had never really been her strong point, but she tolerated them, and, besides, if she were planning on sticking around the vampire for any period of time then she would have to accept the fact that she would be seeing a lot more of them.

Deep inside her abdomen something twitched and twisted, making her grit her teeth. Cramps. She had been having them all day and knew that it meant she had be getting her periods pretty soon. 'Thank you very much, body. Thank you for deciding to have my periods in the middle of a city filled with bloody vampires.' Really, what she needed was some paracetamol and a hot water bottle, and after a brief search she found the first. No matter what pain she experienced, teeth falling out, jagged cuts, broken bones… there really was something else about a serious bout of the cramp. Really, she had hoped this entire fiasco would be over with my now and they had only found one piece! Snorting, she spread herself out over the sofa, feet at one end and head at the other since Caelan was no longer sat on it.

"Hm?" he made a confused noise at the sight of her once he'd pulled the jab out. "Someone looks comfortable."

"I may look it, but I'm really not." she sighed, staring at the ceiling. "The way we're sat looks like I'm at a psychologists."

"And how do you feel about that?" Caelan asked, earning him a carefully raised eyebrow and a smirk from the girl on the sofa. "I see. And would you say that this implicated your later life?"

"Later life as in, when I throw my shoe at you?" She teased.

"Quite possibly."

"Right." she said, sitting up again then wincing at the cramp. "Swap seats. I need to interrogate you."

"Why, can I ask?" Yet he lay down on the sofa nonetheless.

"To find a loop hole in the repulsion spell… thing. If I were Dayo, who I assume cast the spell, then I sure as hell wouldn't spend my time ticking out all the boxes. I'd try to leave gaps in it which I knew wouldn't matter."

"And how are we going to find those out?"

"Easy." she smiled in a slightly patronising way. "We use our noggins." And tapped the side of her head in the same fashion she would use with a very small child. "So. We couldn't just walk up to it. Obviously you'd keep that part. You probably wouldn't be able to throw things at it to knock it down; that would be too easy. Although… hang on. Vampires can't use magic can they?"

With slight hesitation he replied, "No."

However, of course, Valkyrie had noticed the hesitation, and although she'd usually ignore it, something told her to follow it through. "Not… not ever?"

"That's generally what 'no' means."

"Caelan, a two year old would have picked up on that hesitation."

That dark look he was so superb at returned as he glared at her, and as always she refused to back down, returning his glare with her raised eyebrow as if he were a particularly stubborn dog that just would not sit. And as usual Valkyrie got her way, probably helped by how she was looking down at him.

"Listen, if I didn't… well you know… I really shouldn't be telling you this. No… wait, no I'm not!" Caelan stammered.

Upon deciding that a different approach would be needed to get the information out of him, Valkyrie pouted. "Damn. That would have been really useful." She then looked towards the centre off the coffee table and closed her eyes, trying her best not to snort as she pulled her best forlorn face. "I'll have to find another way to find the fragment then."

"Because that's going to work." the vampire said. Valkyrie smirked inwardly, that was exactly what she had wanted him to say at that.

"Well what do you want me to do? This could be important and if you won't tell me… I have no idea how to get you to tell me it!" she cried, flinging her arms out and then remembered to keep her voice down. The vampires prowling outside could swarm very easily once they learned of her presence. Sighing, she turned to him and hissed, "What do you want in return for this information?"

"Nothing. I'm not telling you."

"Please, I can tell it has something to do with vampires having magic." she said near casually with an easy flick of the wrist, and then in a slightly more sympathetic tone, "Come on. Please. How often to you hear me say please anyway?"

Caelan gave her a slightly lopsided grin that sent a small fire burning in her heart, which of course he could see. Bloody human form. "Ironically, not a lot considering you're so high and mighty with me around manners."

She frowned. "That's because your manners are rubbish. It's like wolves raised you or something. Anyway, we're losing focus. I need to know about this. It's important!"

"How many times? I'm not telling you." he insisted, but the resolve shown on his face was lessening.

"Caelan! Please!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because!"

"Ugh, you sound like my Dad! Anyway, that's not even a reason!" she said, by which point they were both stood up glaring at each other. If one were to go by body language alone, they would probably guess that they were both as furious as each other. One at how the he was being a stubborn idiot, the other at how she were a nosey, stupid little girl.

While she did not want to resort to bribing him with affection (she was a woman, not an object) frankly, there was not a lot more she could do at that moment. Besides, he was not exactly ugly, and as much as she could try to deny it, she had a thing for him. It would not be a difficult task for her to undertake, it would just be the repercussions that would be a bother. 'The knife is in your hand, Valkyrie, remember to use it. Well… the metaphorical one that is.'

Shaking slightly, she reached out her hand and with the tips of the fingers, traced the side of his face, finally drawing her fingers to a stop at his lips. She felt the slight shiver, how he took in a gasping breath. It was an odd thought, how she had affected him so that he felt it necessary to breathe. Even Valkyrie found herself inhaling sharply as he ducked down and kissed her on the neck.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you." He whispered, and as if they had a will of their own her arms encircled his neck (seriously, what were they thinking?), pulling him closer than either of them expected, his face deep into her hair, which to be fair did not smell amazing due the gap in between her last bath. But, damn, he didn't even care because somehow she pulled his lips towards hers and she kissed him on her own without needing blackmail or anything. At first he was more shocked than anything, letting Valkyrie kiss him without even responding, but instinct kicked in and he pulled her closer, arms wrapping around her waist, hands running up and down her back.

And then she ruined it by pulling back and whispering in his ear, "Please?" Of course, Valkyrie could well have been referring to anything. One word was a rather vague sentence, but both knew what she meant.

'Well, she wasn't really just going to kiss me out of her own choice was she?' he thought. "Did you seriously just try to seduce information out of me?"

"Obviously." she frowned, looked as if she wanted to add something then turned to hide her extensive blush. "Didn't work though."

"I am a hundred years old. Not all vampires are as innocent and virginal as Edward Cullen."

"Wait… are you trying to tell me people that tried that on you before?"

"People have had a century to get it out of me, and so far nothing. I doubt you'll achieve anything in a few minutes." he smirked but nonetheless felt a little guilty. In truth only two girls had tried it on him, and obviously neither got anything out of him. Also one man who needless to say left him more than a little disturbed (Caelan, being straight, had shoved him off as fast as humanely possible and ran). In a way he was taunting her, hoping she would try again. He certainly would not be complaining if she did.

"What is it you want?" she asked, exasperated. It was almost as if she could sense that this would be important later on. But then looking at him stood across from her with a carefully blank expression that was at odds with his ruffled hair, and god he looked good… well. But then the image of Fletcher popped into her head as the good side of her whispered to her thoroughly tempted mind, 'No, you can't do this! Article one: you already have a boyfriend. Article two: that is a vampire. Article three: he's about a hundred years too old for you. And article four: the moment you kiss him you will feel terrible. And how will Fletcher feel? It's practically like kicking a puppy!'

'What Fletcher doesn't know won't hurt him.' She thought. Caelan looked at her oddly, as if wondering what on earth was going on in her head as she mentally debated with herself. God, she wanted to kiss him again. 'Think of the god-damn puppy, Val!'.

"Stuff this." She muttered.

So she all but lunged at him and they kissed again, lips crushed against each other's and neither particularly caring where the others hands roamed. For perhaps a millisecond she wondered 'should I really be doing this?' but it was soon forgotten as the vampire's hands settled low on her hips, making Valkyrie's abdominal muscles tense up, her stomach filling with an odd fluttering sensation. Had it ever felt like this when she kissed Fletcher? Maybe the first time… damn, she couldn't even think straight with Caelan's mouth at her neck- oh hell no!

"Hey!" She pushed his face away with one hand as quick as possible.

"What?" Looking confused and slightly flushed he fixed her with a dark eyed look. "Oh, I wasn't trying to bite you. I was just… you know."

"Great, now it's awkward. Sorry." she grunted, banishing the picture of a hurt Fletcher with puppy-dog eyes from her mind to the best of her abilities.

"I can fix that." he offered and tugged her closer once more. Valkyrie found herself briefly wondering what would happen if she cut her tongue on his teeth, but then her mind was soon distracted by other matters.

Isla de la Infección's light did not manage to enter the room, meaning that when Valkyrie awoke she had absolutely no idea of the time. The lights were all off and as for her watch… she had no idea where that was. It could be in Italy for all she knew. A small orb of fire was summoned into her palm, and yawning she realised that not only was her watch on the table where she'd left it the night before, but it was almost ten 'o' clock – prime exploring Isla time. Caelan was asleep, and when he was asleep you could not wake him for the life of you. But she soon realised this was a blessing in disguise; she had not had a chance to explore the house yet, and although it was mainly empty, she was near certain that she would be able to dig out something about Caelan that she had not known previously.

The previous night had been anti-climatic, Valkyrie imagined, for Caelan. No sooner had she accepted him she looked at the clock and decided that she absolutely needed to get to bed that minute. He slunk off somewhere upstairs and Valkyrie sat on the sofa trying not to panic. Okay, so she kissed Caelan of her own will! Big deal! She often kissed her Mum and Dad before going to bed… on the cheek… In some cultures a kiss was just like a hug. Sure, Ireland was not one of those places, but did Caelan know that? Actually, considering that he had lived in Ireland two, maybe three times longer than she'd been alive, he probably did.

Three portraits lined the top of his one bookshelf. Two showing a beautiful dark-haired and eyed woman with a self-conscious smile, the other a little girl with shoulder-length black hair and a face similar to Caelan's grinning at whomever had drawn her. They'd all been drawn in painstaking detail with a pencil, each laugh line and subtle change in shading added in. Approaching them she noticed a messy scrawl of writing in the bottom corners of the drawings. It was just about legible on the second picture of the woman, which read 'Roberta', yet she couldn't make out the little girls name. Caelan's handwriting was still terrible decades later…

"So, he's an artist, huh?" a voice said casually, making Valkyrie turn speedily, a ball of fire ready in her hand to blast whomever it was that dared sneak up on her. For all she knew it could well be a vampire sneaking in. "Oh, calm down. Your paranoia is making me edgy."

"Dayo." the necromancer said in a tone that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a snarl. The ghostly apparition stood by the sofa, looking as radiant as ever while smirking a little.

"I do hope you're going to extinguish that fireball of yours. I'd hate for you to set fire to the house."

"So, what, am I asleep then?" Valkyrie asked, confused as she could have sworn she'd woken up, but then again no one really had a clue what was real and not when they were dreaming.

Dayo grinned dazzlingly and nodded, her curls bobbing up and down with the rest of her head. "Now then, go wake your vampire sweetheart up before we begin. This task is notoriously hard. In fact, many would say it's near impossible."

"He's not my… never mind. Will you be waiting in here then?" Another nod from Dayo. "Good."

The stairs proved to be a bit of a challenge given how fast she was trying to take them and nearly lost her balance on the second last step. Caelan, as expected, was still asleep and to her amusement snoring. But due to her eagerness to start the next task she spent no time staring at his sleeping face and ripped the covers off him, forgetting he had a tendency to sleep only in loose fitting cut offs. When he didn't so much as flinch she frowned, remembering that there was a high chance vampires couldn't feel cold in the same way as a human. Although he certainly complained when it was too hot…

She squatted down in front of him and shook his shoulder roughly, "Hey, Caelan, wake up."

"What? This better…" He then yawned widely, giving her an excellent view of his many pointed teeth perfect for sawing through skin and muscle. "This better be good."

His sentence amused her, prompting her to tease him (rather cruelly) with, "Good as in a cure for vampirism?"

"Nah, I've gotten used to immortality." he sighed, still essentially asleep. His response annoyed her slightly; how he was constantly changing his mind about if he liked being a vampire or not.

"Wake up, you!" she all but cried, shaking him harder until he grunted and sat up, finger-combing his hair until it looked vaguely decent. "Bed hair?"

"You're not doing much better." he gave her a lazy grin that caused her to flush when she realised that not only were they very close and he topless, but that he had that look on his face that meant he was about to kiss her. Damn it all. In the few teen books that she had read, the two mains would be all awkward around each other until they kissed for the first time and then suddenly all the tension would evaporate as if by magic… Why wasn't this happening with her?

Turning quickly towards the door to avoid him she said, "Meet me downstairs ASAP," Paused, then added with a wry grin, "preferably fully dressed."

Once he'd joined her downstairs Dayo manipulated the landscapes and they were surrounded by the vast whiteness once more. The strange woman dusted her heavily bustled dress down as if worried their previous environment had contaminated it. When she'd finished she looked up at them and sighed, "Glad to be rid of that place. I despise vampires." And then smiled once more, completely aware of the vampire stood in front of her trying his best not to glare at her. "And so we begin with your next task. This would be your… second task would it not?"

"Uh… don't you remember from last time?" Valkyrie asked. "You were there…"

"It's a different part of me at each site," Dayo said with a dismissive flick of her hand, "didn't I mention that last time?"

"No. You didn't." the necromancer sighed. "So what's our next task?"

The strange woman smiled widely, which was never a good thing as far as Valkyrie and Caelan were concerned. Dayo made a strange swirling motion with her hand, and suddenly a strange amulet was clasped between her fingers. A second motion and the floor turned to glass, revealing a deep chasm of dark, swirling water. "Retrieve this." It slipped from her palms and plopped into the water, sinking far quicker than it should have, and sooner than you could have said 'Damn it!' the amulet winked out of sight.

"How deep is that, may I ask?" Valkyrie said, trying her best not to let the fear show in her voice. After the incident in the underwater lake she'd found herself with an aversion to deep water.

"Sorry?" Dayo turned to her from staring at the water with fascination. "Oh, deep. Very deep. You have as long as you can stay alive. Good luck!"

And with that the floor fell from under them, replaced with dark, dark water.

Okay, first things first. Sorry sorry SORRY this is so late! School has been pretty stressy at the moment and as a result a few weeks ago I got sick. Nothing fatal, but enough to make me feel pretty bleh about writing… but excuses aside, I should really have gotten this done, which makes everything even lamer because nothing really happens here other than terrible fluff… D:

On that note, the reason this isn't listed as a romance is because I cannot write it at all. Ask anyone. So if you think that was the worst thing you'd ever read please tell me so I can try better next time… or if you think it was better than the invention of sliced bread, which is cool… um I'll do whatever I did here again?

Also, big thanks to reviewers! Particularly to Luna Kelly who has reviewed a lot! Thank you! And on the subject of the fight scene, wow, I hadn't realised the first bit was so messed up. I've rewritten a bit of it, so I hope it's better now? And to Madame Morte on 'monster' who pointed out my grammatical errors in speech. I'm not sure if I have the time to go through each chapter and correct it all, but the ones after this will be correct at any rate. ^^

Finally, as I said on 'monster'. It isn't linked to this so Caelan isn't trying to murder Valkyrie in this. And next chapter I should be half way through this fiction! It'll be ending in two ways. Über dramatic or less dramatic… I'm not sure which yet, but I'm leaning towards über dramatic.

And thank you very much for reading! ^^