Shock horror I've found time to write! So here is the next chapter. Thanks for all the great feedback and keep it coming.

This is chapter 14, read, review and enjoy!

the real vampire

Settling In

Dane once again found her slumber disturbed by a soft knock on her door. Eyes adjusting slowly to the near-dark of her room, she realised a number of hours must have passed since she had dozed off. The person outside knocked again, louder.

"Coming," Dane yelled, and hauled herself up off the bed, realising she was still wrapped in her towel. Groaning as her muscles protested against the sudden movement she checked her towel was still in place before making her way to the door. The aftermath of the earlier battle was making itself known in the various aches and pains beginning to assail her body.

The door slid open to reveal Jack and Z standing outside in civilian clothes. Jack took one look at Dane in her undressed state and couldn't keep the blush from his face. Z rolled her eyes and pushed her big brother out of the way, "Don't mind him; he's an innocent." Jack coughed from his position behind Z, but kept his eyes averted from Dane. Z ignored him and the black ranger fought to keep a smile from her lips. "It's a Friday night," the yellow ranger continued. "Which is pizza night for us and if you want to come along you're more than welcome." She paused and then added wickedly, "You'll have to put some clothes on first though or Jack won't be able to concentrate all night." Jack spluttered and Dane felt her cheeks redden.

"I'd love to come. Give me a moment." Z nodded and Dane dived back into her room to throw some clothes on and run her fingers through her hair. She was still trying to put her shoes on as she opened the door and Z smiled as she waited for her to finish.

"Ready?" Dane nodded and the brown haired woman laughed, "Syd would be horrified; you took less time getting ready than Jack did!"

As the three of them made their way down through the base, Dane was struck by how familiar Jack and Z were to each other and thought wryly that they acted more like brother and sister than her and Bridge did. But that was changing, slowly. She wasn't ready to let her twin in completely and perhaps she never would be, but they were regaining some of the closeness they had lost. Dane had no more time to dwell on her own thoughts however as they reached the foyer and found Bridge, Syd and Sky waiting for them.

"Sorry we're late, we had an extra guest to pick up," Jack said, jerking a thumb in the direction of Dane.

Bridge's face broke into a huge grin and he almost bounded over to his sister, "You came," he said happily and Dane couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Jack and Z invited me, if that's ok." Her eyes flicked almost involuntarily to where Syd and Sky were standing by the main doors.

"Nonsense," the pink ranger said briskly, her radiant blonde hair swishing behind her as she walked over to join them, her heels clicking on the marble floor. "You're part of the team now. You simply must come along, we won't hear anything else." She gave Dane a dazzling smile that instantly made her revalue her opinion of the other woman.

The other members of the team subtly sneaked looks at Sky, who hadn't moved from where Syd had left him. Sensing their apprehension towards him, he spoke gruffly, "Syd's right; you're on the team now and it's our team's evening. You're coming."

And that seemed to seal it. Before Dane knew it she was whisked up with the whole team and was being shown their favourite Friday night pizza hang-out; a chilled out restaurant less than a block from base. It was a memorable evening, if simply for the fact that is was completely normal. Dane sat between Bridge and Syd with Jack opposite the pink ranger and Z opposite the pleased Bridge. That left Sky opposite Dane, but for once neither one complained about the close proximity they were having to sit in.

It was a friendly and sociable meal and, although Dane and Sky could not have exchanged more than a dozen words the whole evening there was a noticeable lack of hostility between them. It was a promising occasion.

XxX

"Bridge, to me. I'm free!" The blonde haired woman yelled at her twin as she raced up the field, long legs flashing tanned skin up to the black shorts she wore.

Bridge, his head bobbing up and down furiously as he looked for an opening, dribbled the ball if not skilfully then at least with some measure of control. Glancing up he saw Jack, knees bent and arms at the ready in goal while Sky streaked down the left wing towards him. Vaguely aware of Syd also running up behind him, the green ranger booted the ball across to his sister. Dane deftly stalled the ball with one foot before striking it firmly; sending it flying passed Jack's outstretched fingers. The ball hit the back of the net, and the red ranger hit the dirt.

The black ranger punched the air in delight, "Yes!" There were cries of jubilation from Bridge and Z, and groans from the three members of the opposing team.

Jack retrieved the ball from his net and tossed it to Syd. "Our centre," he announced, rather pointlessly as they all knew how the game went.

Syd and Dane faced off in the middle of the pitch and the pink ranger caught Sky's eye. With a barely perceptible nod, she tapped the ball forwards as the blue ranger ran to receive it. Bridge darted forward to tackle Sky as Dane dropped back to cover Syd, all of them grinning excitedly. The game was on!

Unbeknown to the six rangers, they were not the only ones taking an interest in the happenings on the pitch. They were being watched. Anubis Cruger stood at a window in the base, overlooking the soccer field, his eyes focused on the game unfolding below him, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He couldn't help but laugh as Z saved a shot from Sky by replicating herself across the goal in the blink of an eye. The blue ranger glared at her indignantly as Dane and Bridge broke into hysterical laughter at the expression on his face. Even Syd couldn't hold back a treacherous giggle as Sky groaned and threw his hands up in mock despair, conceding defeat. On Dane's urging however, Z left goal and was replaced by Bridge. Cruger could not hear what was being said, but he could guess the reason for the exchange: Z, Dane, Sky, and, to a lesser extent, Syd all had powers that could be used advantageously in goal. Bridge's powers in that position were harmless and as for Jack, it would be highly disadvantageous for the red ranger to activate his. Cruger barked a short laugh as he watched Z tackle Sky, the blue ranger being roughly elbowed aside by the young brown-haired woman.

Behind the Sirian the door slid open and Kat Manx entered, her dark brown hair tied back in a messy bun, data pad in hand. She paused, a smile appearing on her face as she took in the scene in front of her, before softly walking over to Doggie, looking over his shoulder at the rangers enjoying their game. "They look so happy, don't they?"

The blue dog jumped, startled. He'd been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard the technician enter. Kat smirked at him, after all it wasn't often she got one over on her Commander. He returned the smile easily, "They do," he agreed, tearing his eyes from the window to focus on the feline. "What can I do for you?"

Kat waved the data pad vaguely, "Oh I was just going over some of the zord schematics but it's nothing important." Her eyes flicked to the scene outside on the soccer pitch. "I that that match out there is more important to be honest." She smiled as she saw Dane go in to tackle Sky, only for Jack to pick her up, legs kicking uselessly, and swing her out of the way. The blue ranger, his way now clear and unobstructed, took a shot at goal. Bridge dived enthusiastically in the wrong direction and the ball rolled across the line. As Sky, Jack and Syd celebrated, Kat returned her gaze to Doggie. "What are you thinking?" she asked, seeing the distant look in his eyes as he watched B-Squad.

"I'm thinking how well they've been working together recently. These past few weeks they've just gone from strength to strength. And look at Dane! Her and Bridge are almost back to how they used to be." This remark was enforced down on the pitch by Dane grabbing her brother around the waist and attempting to wrestle him to the floor. Play came to an impromptu halt as the other rangers stopped to watch them. Doggie caught sight of Sky on the sidelines, grinning at the twins' antics and his own smile widened, "Even her and Sky have called a truce and their peace seems to be holding. But…" His smile faltered.

Kat rested a cool hand on his arm, her expression a mirror of his own, worry and apprehension flitting across it in equal measures. "But you don't know how much longer it's going to last," she finished for him, a frown pulling the corners of her mouth down.

Cruger sighed and nodded, his eyes finally leaving the window to meet Kat's worried green ones. "I know Sky, he likes answers and since Dane arrived he's had nothing but questions. Soon his need to know why she killed Chris will come back to the surface, and then I don't know what'll happen. Hell Kat, even I don't know why she did it." Cruger slammed a fist down onto a small wooden table, revealing his own frustration at not knowing. In that respect, he was not dissimilar from Sky. Kat jumped slightly, an expression of guilt crossing her features, but she had promised the girl… Awkwardly she tapped at the data pad, not really paying attention to the technical plans of the zords she was looking at. Anubis, sensing her unease but misunderstanding the reason behind it, sighed, "I'm sorry," he said apologetically.

"It's alright," Kat said, hoping her forced smile would look natural. "I'm sure Dane will one day be able to explain her actions. Until then the team will cope. It's what they do, Doggie. They survive and no matter what personal issues exist between them they will get over them and continue to work against Gruumm to the best of their abilities."

The feline's strong, confident words soothed the Commander's fears, but even so there was still a nagging worry at the back of his mind for the young woman on the soccer pitch. He rubbed a hand distractedly over his eyes and sighed, "I hope you're right Kat, I really do."

Back on the pitch, Sky sent the ball flying passed Bridge and into the back of the net, making the score five-three to his team and thus ending the match. While Sky, Jack and Syd celebrated, Z pulled faces at them and joined the twins to commiserate. None of them had taken the match too seriously however and, after the winning team had finished gloating, the six of them grabbed their stuff and began to walk back to Delta Base, laughing as they retold the game. The sun shone down on them, but it had lost some of its previous summer strength and now was just a pleasant warmth on the skin, rather than a scorching heat. There was a smell of freshly cut grass blown to them on an idle late afternoon breeze and everything was bathed in a soft golden light as the sun began its descent to the to the west. Dane smiled contentedly as she linked arms with her brother to walk lazily home. Home; she hadn't even realised that was what she'd started to think of the base as, but that was certainly what it had become.

Taking leave of her teammates the black ranger made her way up to her room, warmly greeting cadets she knew on the way. Entering her room, she smiled as she caught sight of the latest addition to her room; a photograph of B-Squad taken only the week before now had pride of place on her desk. A sudden feeling of joy flooded through her and she picked up the control lying on her bed and pressed a couple of buttons. Music flooded her room and Dane couldn't help but to dance along to it, forgetting completely that she had her door open.

Sky was making his way to his own room when he heard music filtering up from one of the corridors. He sighed; he knew the cadets in that corridor should be in class at that moment, not listening to music in their rooms. The uptight, rule-abiding part of Sky Tate flared to the surface and marched down the corridor to apprehend the truant.

He stopped short as he reached the open door and saw the scene within: Dane dancing around her room, eyes closed and blissfully she was unaware she had an audience. He hadn't known Dane's room was down here, in fact, he hadn't known where her room was at all. He knew she had one, well naturally, but they had always gone their separate ways before reaching her quarters and he had never thought to find out where it was. He smiled as she twirled happily, remembering how she had loved to dance when she was little. The realisation that he knew that floored him; he had almost forgotten it, but it was there, a real memory. She had loved dancing. Sky's smile widened as he studied Dane, noticing for the first time the beauty that lay beneath her hard exterior. She wasn't that immature little girl he'd known before. She had been pretty back then but now… Now she had blossomed into an attractive, even stunning young woman. Sky had been so focused on her hard, often cold and definitely stubborn outer shell that he had never really looked at her. At that moment her saw Dane in a new light, and what he saw floored him… Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, his face flushing, Sky slipped away before Dane could see him watching her. Walking quickly back towards his room, the young made was wracked with mixed emotions. Since Dane had arrived at SPD, all he could think of was how she had killed his friend, how she had hurt him. He had forgotten all the good times they'd had and how close they had been. And they had been close, but Sky had been so determined to think of her as a monster that that was all he had seen of her. But Dane's normality had unnerved him and since she had been forced back into his life he had begun to see that she wasn't the monster he had told himself she was, the monster he had wanted her to be. Because if she had been a monster, then she couldn't have hurt him; after all, you can only be hurt if you care enough about the person that betrays you.

This jumbled confusion of thoughts continued to run around Sky's head as he made his way through the bustling corridors towards his own quarters, but they were pushed aside by that last image of Dane, beautiful green eyes shut, a smile of pure joy on her lips as she lifted up her lovely tanned arms and spun in time to the music, blonde hair shimmering as the last rays of the sun shining in from the window caught it, strands of gold trailing across her face. She had looked… happy. And, despite knowing her as a murderer, the sight of her looking so happy had made him feel happy… Sky tried to force these strange and unwelcome thoughts from his head. He didn't like Dane; he couldn't, not after how she had hurt him. He hated her.

So why did that image of her dancing persist in replaying in his mind?

XxX

One seemingly unremarkable day the following week Dane was in her room relaxing after that mornings training and was waiting for her brother to knock on her door for lunch. Rain had begun to hammer down outside; Autumn had snuck up on them and the past few days had been grey and overcast, dark clouds hanging ominously low over New Tech City. The other rangers had been glad the threatening rain had held off until training had finished, but Dane was fascinated by it. She had thrown the window open and now stood in front of it, the wind blowing the rain onto her face. The drops of liquid were startlingly cool on her hot skin and left icy trails of moisture behind as they rolled down her cheeks. Smiling she stretched out her arms to embrace the long-forgotten sensation of rain drumming gently down onto her skin. It was her first rain in five years and Dane grinned broadly, drawing one of her arms back in so she could tuck a skein on soaked hair behind her ear. She held her hand up in front of her face, marvelling as she watched the water roll off her fingers and drip onto the window ledge.

Dane's stomach gave a sudden growl of hunger and she turned to look at the clock, wondering where Bridge had got to. She was starving. Breakfast had been a good seven hours ago by this time – almost one in the afternoon – and the hard mornings training had worked up an appetite. Just as she was seriously considering going to find her brother herself, Cruger's voice came over the loudspeaker, "Rangers report to the Command Centre." Dane groaned; please don't let Gruumm disturb my lunch… But she merely sighed, made sure her morpher was tucked securely into her belt and headed out. Duty calls…

Making her way up through the corridors the young black ranger was surprised not to see any of her fellow teammates join her in the bustling stream of cadets and other workers in the base. Dodging around clumps of students and lone employees busy with their work, Dane jogged up the final few passages to the Command Centre and, with still no sign of the others, entered by herself.

As the doors slid open there was a loud cry of "Surprise!" and the flash of a camera bulb blinded her. Once her vision cleared Dane was met by the sight of all her teammates and Cruger, Kat and Boom standing beneath an obviously homemade banner that read simply: 'Welcome to SPD Dane Carson'. It was decorated with pink hearts and Dane had strong suspicions that Syd had been behind it. Z was clutching a camera and grinning broadly, while Bridge was standing beside her and almost jumping up and down with excitement. Jack held a cake.

Dane stood stunned for a long second before stuttering, "W…wha… what's this all about?"

Syd smiled as she walked over to Dane, "Well you've been here a month now and we never really did anything to properly welcome you so we've sort of combined the two. Welcome to SPD!" She gave Dane an impulsive hug and felt the other woman stiffen for a moment before relaxing and returning the gesture. They broke apart and Syd grinned, "I made the banner."

Suspicions confirmed, Dane laughed, "It's lovely, thank you. And thank you all for this. I don't really know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Have some cake," Jack said, staring hungrily at the iced cake he was holding. Z grabbed it off him and scowled. Jack backed away from her, towards the table of food behind him.

Dane smiled, "I'm absolutely starving," she announced, "Let's eat." Jack and Bridge let out a cheer and practically fell on the table of food laid out, causing everyone to laugh. Even the sullen Sky, who had stood at the back doing his best to feign an air of unhappiness, couldn't hold back a smile as he watched Dane effectively distract Jack long enough to take a bite of his slice of cake before he could notice.

The smile did not go unnoticed; Bridge saw the corners of his teammate's mouth twitch upwards and he subtly slipped off one of his gloves and waved his hand discreetly in Sky's direction. Seeing the other man's aura, Bridge grinned and replaced his glove before sidling up to the blue ranger. "Stop pretending to be a miserable git, Sky, and cheer up. It's a party, enjoy it. Have some cake." Sky gave the green ranger a withering look, but Bridge merely wiggled his fingers at him and Sky finally grinned.

"Okay, okay," he said in a resigned tone, "The cake better be worth it."

Less than ten minutes later, Dane was just tucking into her own piece of cake and laughing at something her brother was saying when red lights started flashing and an alarm started shrieking throughout the base. Instantly the rangers switched into serious mode and rushed to a monitor, but the torrential rain prevented them from seeing what was really going on.

"Ok," Jack said, "Let's move out."

"Be careful rangers," Cruger said as the six of them rushed out to face the unknown.