Ren's hand wove deeper into her hair as he drank. She was, no surprise, especially delicious tonight. He again felt her soften and seemingly snuggle into him more as he sucked her blood. When he was done, he extracted his teeth, but he didn't yet pull away. He held her closer to him and kissed her neck, always feeling the need to release some affection on her.

He raised himself just enough to look into her eyes again. She didn't say anything, and he thought she would say the same thing as last time. Instead, she asked, "... What the hell just happened?"

"You mean you couldn't figure it out?" he asked.

"No, I did. I just don't quite follow how we went from one thing to the other."

Ren sighed heavily. "Does it matter?"

Ivy hesitated. "I guess not."

She rolled Ren over and then climbed out of bed. He rolled back to his side, propping his head up on his arm as he watched her walk away. He assumed she was escaping to the bathroom, but she instead crouched at her bag, beginning to dig through it.

"I like how you're not shy," Ren commented as he watched her.

"Oh yeah?" she replied dryly. "We were all born this way. Well, I'm not sure if you were."

"I was."

She looked back at him, finding what she wanted. "Interesting."

As Ivy returned to the bed, Ren asked, "So why did you finally give into me tonight?"

"I was that uncomfortable and thought sex might ease some of the pain" she said. "And besides, I mean, I've been trying to protect myself—I have a feeling you must have a lot of girls, thus not really able to make any emotional bonds. Knowing that going into it, I finally figured, why not be one of them?"

"That was all?" he asked, not quite satisfied with the answer.

Ivy shrugged, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Well, I wanted to be. I don't hate sex," she answered simply. She sighed, "Except I like you that much more now that I know."

"Really now?" he mused. She opened her bottle of goo that she had retrieved from her bag, putting a tad on her fingers.

"Yeah, I'm drawn to the darkness, as you can plainly see..." With one hand she snapped the bottle closed, then twisted to rub the ointment on her tattoo, but upon seeing it, she cringed. "Oh God..." Ivy looked up at Ren, realizing what it was that she hadn't been able to put her finger on before.

He smiled as he finally saw it click, then taunted, "You're in love with me."

"I am not in love with you," Ivy countered. "I think I would know if I were."

"You think," he echoed, "but you don't know."

She sighed, refusing to continue with the conversation, seeing as he would only be difficult and only further complicate things and inflame his ego.

He was quiet for a moment, then asked more seriously, "Why are you so accepting and open when I bite you?"

"I don't know, it felt natural." Ivy finished with her tattoo and ran her hand down her arm, leaning on it and clutching her wrist.

Ren gazed at her as she cast her eyes down to the sheets. "Stay a bit longer."

Ivy finally looked at him. "Why? What else could you possibly want from me?" she pleaded despairingly.

"I just want you to stay with me a bit longer, unless you have somewhere better to be."

She sighed, defeated, then slid back into bed with him, lying on her stomach and crossing her arms to rest her head on them. He reached a hand out to touch her, running it along her back.

She allowed him to continue, then decided to tell him, "I wanted you to keep going."

"Just give me a minute and I can make that wish come true."

She narrowed her eyes at him, unimpressed. "Not that."

"You mean you wanted me to keep biting you?" Ivy nodded. "My apologies darling, but I can't take anymore without hurting you."

"Maybe I don't care if you hurt me," she replied simply.

Ren didn't like that. "I want to do a lot of things to you, Ivy, but I don't want to hurt you."

She gazed at him a moment, then pushed herself up. She crept closer to him, turning to face him and rest on her good shoulder. Their bodies were only inches away from each other and she moved her hand slightly, watching it as she touched the back against his chest, leaving it there, her arm pressed between them. Ren placed his hand again on her skin, running it down from her hip to the thinnest part of her waist, enjoying the feel of her blood pulse through her veins and the softness of her skin.

She looked up from her hand to his eyes. "Is this what you wanted?" she asked softly.

"For the most part," replied Ren.

"I'm still not going to let you kiss me," she whispered.

"I guess I can live with that," Ren conceded as he continued to stare at her, starting to feel rather serene again. He finally had her. It had been a long process up until now, and they had been through a lot, more so than with any other girl he had ever been with.

He wanted Ivy to remember this, but he couldn't narrow the window enough for her to just forget the bite. He had to make a decision, and thought it over carefully as he continued to gaze at her.

"I'm not going to erase your memory this time," he said finally.

Ivy furrowed her brow, a little surprised, but no anger reflected in her voice. "This time?"

Ren only looked at her, realizing now that he could have chosen better wording.

"Have you erased my memory before?" she asked.

"A handful of times," he replied.

She looked at him a moment longer, hesitating. "... Have I slept with you before?" she asked nervously. His silence gave her the answer. "... How many times?"

"Just twice. Once a week ago, once three years ago."

Her eyes widened. "Three years ago?" she repeated. She thought this over a moment, then questioned, "Did I... did I lose my virginity to you?"

"Well, at least you know now. I meant for you to remember, but you didn't," he answered.

She rolled to her back, his hand sliding to her belly. She looked up at the headboard and started to close her body. "That's why... Oh my god he was right," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought I lost my virginity to my ex, but when I didn't bleed he called me a lying whore and said he felt as though I had deprived him of something." She let out a slight laugh, but it didn't seem to suggest she thought anything was funny. "Then he proceeded to treat me like one, but I guess he was right after all."

Ren hadn't realized she had been through that, and a hate for man started to brew inside him again. Humans really are despicable, he sneered. Even I don't care about the women I have, and I treat them better than that. But Ren was also bothered because he had set her up for that treatment, even though it wasn't intentional. He glanced at her wrists again, and hated himself just a little bit. "I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say and was quiet.

She was silent a moment, then said, "... Don't be. It's a horrible memory for a first time, I like the thought of losing it to a vampire much more." Ivy almost smiled. She turned to look at him. "Besides, since I don't remember it, it can be as good as I want it to be."

"It was good," Ren added vehemently. "I've been trying to find you since."

"Hmm." Ivy reached out, watching her fingers as she ran them down his chest.

"What?" Ren asked.

"It's somehow validating to know that you specifically came after me for a reason. I'd just thought you had thought I was attractive enough and would be easy. It makes you less creepy."

"That's what you said last time."

"The bats that night, that was you too?" she asked, continuing to think everything over.

"It was."

Her eyes flashed up to him. "And I slept with you after that?"

"Yes."

"Did I find out then, too? Was that why I slept with you?" Ivy pondered.

"You didn't find out until later," he answered. He kind of liked watching her think.

She looked back up at the ceiling and pouted a little in surprise. "Huh," she murmured.

"In fact before you did, you made fun of me for my fangs," Ren added.

"I did?" Ivy seemed to laugh a little as she turned her head to look back at him. Finally, her body followed and she rolled back to her side, again at the proximity he preferred. "Can I see them?" she requested.

"Can I have that kiss?" he returned.

"No."

"Then no, you can't," he retorted.

Ivy reached up anyway, resting her hand on his cheek and pulling his lip down. She didn't really have time to see them, though, because as soon as she disregarded him, he felt it was then ok to do the same.

He quickly moved in to kiss her, but Ivy stopped him by catching and biting his bottom lip. She held it, preventing him from being able to kiss her, until he drew back.

"That's a dangerous game to play with me, princess," he threatened.

"Why?" she asked, smiling.

"Because I have sharp teeth-"

"No you don't," she countered quickly in an attempt to get him to prove her wrong, a big smile on her face.

"I know what you're trying to do, it won't work." He looked at her a moment. "You know, I think that's the first time I've seen you really smile since I met you."

Ivy, now self-conscious about it, rubbed her lips together, hiding them for a moment, and washed away the smile.

"I don't see how you can have supposed meaningless sex, but you can't let one kiss slide." He ran his hand to the small of her back, trying to pull her closer. "You know, if you let me kiss you, not only will I let you look at them, but you'll be able to feel them."

"Oh hell no," Ivy replied. Ren glared at her, and she explained, "I don't want to cut my tongue, that could really hurt. I don't see why you're so hell-bent on kissing me."

"I don't see why you won't let me."

"Are you in love with me?" she asked.

Ren looked at her a moment, then declared, "Of course not."

"Then no."

Ren huffed. "Well, it's your loss."

Ivy moved on, still processing. "So, do you have any other abilities?"

"I do. Do you feel any better since I bit you?"

"Maybe, why?" she answered.

"Every vampire has an affinity, or blood preference. It's always a characteristic or emotion, and we suck that out with the blood. Mine is stress."

"Interesting, I've never heard that one before. So how many of your other girls know about all this?" Ivy asked.

"What other girls?" Ren contended. Ivy gave Ren a look, clearly disbelieving him. He gave in. "None, you're the only one."

Ivy looked confused. "Why me?"

Ren wasn't sure why being this honest with her was this easy, but he knew the more open he was, the closer she would get to him and was much more likely to easily give in to him. "Because you're quite difficult and tonight has been a good night, so I wanted you to remember it. And you seem to like me more when you know. Most importantly, I don't think you'll tell anyone: you're not chatty enough."

Ivy looked at him a moment before laughing and shaking her head. "You're good," she said before she began to roll away, seemingly as though she was going to leave.

Ren smiled wide. That was just what he wanted to hear. He caught her and made her come back. "Now where do you think you're going?"

"I should really leave if I'm going to get any sleep," she answered.

"Darling, it's 4:30 in the morning. If you go to sleep now you'll never wake up. You might as well stay with me." Ren pulled her against him and again went to kiss around her ear. "If you think I'm that good, I'll keep going. I won't let you get any sleep-"

Ivy pushed him back, sitting up a bit. "Again, not that."

"What then?" he asked annoyed.

She looked away, shook her head, and again tried to climb out of bed. Ren only trapped her her in his arms again, this time pulling her back against his chest, allowing her to face away. He encased her, kissing her cheek, and pressured, "Come on, if I can tell you all that, you can surely tell me what you mean."

She didn't answer him right away, but he could feel her sink back into his arms and waited patiently. All she confessed was, "You just, know how to play the game."

The ivy across her ribs was again exposed to him and he ran his fingers over it. "Go on."

Ivy hesitated again, and Ren continued to run his hand down her side, then slid it just under her silver spider. He wrapped his arm all the way around her and pulled her closer to him, kissing her exposed shoulder. "Well..." she began. "Women can find it difficult to have meaningless sex the way men do. Whether we want to or not, we can tend to develop emotional bonds-"

"I know. It can be really annoying," Ren interrupted.

Ivy rolled back into him a little more. "You think it's annoying? Try being the one with unwanted feelings." Ren worked to remain in denial about how he could now relate to this. "So, I haven't had intimacy in a while, and you tell me that I'm the only one you've told, it makes it hard to remain..." She sighed, "...unattached." Ivy twisted back to finally look at him, quickly adding, "But it's only to the smallest degree. I'm hoping it will be completely gone by the end of the week."

Ren smiled. "I'm not."