A/N: xxdarknessxfallsxx here! To make up for the error with posting 3 instead of 13 and keeping you all in suspense, we give you a very long and enjoyable chapter. No time to lose!

Chapter 14: Blood

So give them blood, blood,

Gallons of the stuff!

Give them all that they can drink

And it will never be enough

So give them blood, blood, blood.

Grab a glass 'cause there's going to be a flood.

-Blood, My Chemical Romance

Reed easily dodged out of the way, narrowly escaping their deadly blows before retaliating. As his eyes glanced over the three men's scarred and mutilated complexions, he felt a small part of him wither- while the other part, the demon part, rejoiced. They were obviously werewolves- probably hired hands, hit men, sent to dispose of the guy who's giving their enemy the upper hand in the war. He clenched his jaw, muscles tensing. At least Hayley wasn't here, which was a pleasant reversal from his dreams.

"How can I help you fellows?" Reed asked, and acted the poster child of politeness as he simultaneously cracked a glass vial of acid over one of the werewolves' head. It howled in pain, but the other two mutts didn't seem too concerned about the welfare of their companion. Interesting.

"Don't play games, parasite. You know why we're here," the first of the werewolves snarled, stuck in some grotesque half-human half-wolf form.

Reed's eyes narrowed in response to being called a parasite, and with admirable grace, he cracked his neck. "Well then, wouldn't want to keep you in suspense now, would we?" he replied teasingly. His eyes began to smolder within their reddened depths.

"Funny," one of the gruffer-looking werewolves remarked. It stared curiously at the werewolf currently suffering from the acid burns, who at least stopped howling as the liquid only slowly ate into his pores. Reed was almost positive that some of those glass shards would fuse to his scalp when the healing process kicked in. "I didn't know you demon cowards put up a fight."

Just like that, Reed let the demon take over completely. His features sharpened and became more harsh and defined, and he barred his newly sharpened teeth at the three intruders.

"You'd be surprised," he growled, tensing for the fight. At that same second, the door to his workroom burst open, and all four inhabitants turned to stare at the interruption. With a sort of morbid fascination, Reed watched as three undead demons stumbled into his work room. After a few seconds, the fascination gave way to annoyed rage.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he growled, barely able to dodge out of the way as one of the demons started throwing balls of dark energy. "This just keeps getting better and better."

Hayley's POV

I frowned at the television screen, idly petting my cat Lucy as I tried to center my thoughts. It seemed like every other second my thoughts would run off into some irrelevant direction. And that irrelevant direction was Reed. I grit my teeth, deciding to give in and try to figure out the puzzle that was, and currently is, that demon.

For one, he liked me- that was obvious enough. At least, I hope he liked me. There could be no other explanation for that kiss- that's what I told myself anyway. No, he liked me, and that was that. I returned those feelings, but after that kiss I wasn't sure if we were on the right plane. Feeling all of that pain, and longing, and…darker stuff in that one kiss had done something to me. Altered me. I felt as if my heart had broken- for him.

Oh, what was I blabbering on about? This was all spiraling out of control. Finally, after what seemed like hours trapped in my own thoughts, I stumbled to my room and collapsed onto my bed; too exhausted to turn out the light.

….

The next morning, I went to see my mom again. It seemed like every time I saw her glowing, healthy face, I was able to actually feel some glimmer of hope. She would get better. She would live out her life, and grow old, and have grandchildren…maybe.

So, in a good mood, I skipped down to the graveyard, bag of panacea vials safely tucked away in my coat. The wind picked up considerably, and was pinching at my cheeks by the time I made it to Reed's workroom. I noticed that something seemed very wrong as soon as I approached the old tomb. The large stone door was left ajar, and I could see what looked like fire damage and leftover soot on the ground. Hesitantly, I entered the room. It was empty as far as life forms went, but completely trashed. I couldn't even begin to fathom the mayhem that the room was left in.

"What the hell happened?" I whispered to myself, my gut twisting fear. Where was Reed? I took a few steps more into the workroom, inspecting the amount of damage, before my eyes came to rest on a pair of glowing red ones in the far, darkened corner. I let out a sigh of relief, taking a step forward.

"Thank, god," I said softly. "Reed, what happened? What did you do?"

I waited expectantly for a reply that never came. When I repeated the question and was again met with nothing but silence, my fear went into overdrive. I stared into the glowing crimson eyes and knew as surely as the moon was full- that was not Reed. As if responding to the sudden change in my demeanor (I was now standing stock still and wide-eyed), the demon burst forth, with a glowing ball of fire in his right hand. Doing the only thing I could do at that point, I screamed, moving a busted chair in the demon's path, and took off running.

Surprisingly, my little chair decoy worked in giving me time to escape. The demon tripped and fell, then tried to use its hands to cushion the fall, but the ball of fire in its' hand ricocheted off the floor and hit it directly in the face. I didn't have time to marvel over the complete strangeness of what just happened because I was too busy panicking. I ran out of the workroom and was in the process of making my way to the graveyard gates when a spine-shivering sound cut through the late dusk air.

It was a howl.

I froze and my eyes carefully scanned the area. I couldn't hear anything anymore beside my breathing and the heavy pounding of my heart. There was a flash of motion in the corner of my eyes; I swiveled and came face-to-face with a giant, beastly wolf-man.

Resisting the urge to cry, I backed away, clutching my coat tighter to my chest. What the hell was going on? Why was everything attacking me?

There was a sound behind me and I turned to see another wolf stalking towards me. Oh good god, this was getting ridiculous. Together, the two wolves began herding me back towards the workroom and I began to really panic. I was going to die, and Reed could already be dead, and I had no idea what these fucking things wanted.

Suddenly, I was struck with an idea, and a coy grin spread across my face. I stopped backing up, but the wolves continued forward, trying to intimidate me into moving by snarling and snapping. I reached for the bag of Panacea in my pocket and closed my hand tightly around one of the syringes.

"You're gonna have to drag me if you want me to go back in there," I said stubbornly. One of the wolves seemed to bristle, but gave no further indication of attacking. The other one however, was already in the air. My scream was cut off, my breath sucked out by the impact of being tackled by a two-hundred-and-something pound wolf. But, my plan had worked. With all the swiftness I could come up with in my restrained state, my hand with the syringed vial of Panacea came up, and the needle easily sank into the wolf's skin. I watched as the glowing purple and gold contents of the vial were emptied and the wolf's eyes flashed golden before it fell off of me. High as a kite.

I smirked at the shivering wolf, smoothing down my jacket once I was back on my feet.

"Don't worry," I cooed. "The first one's always free."

A threatening growl brought me back to the present and I grudgingly looked back at the other wolf-man. Without giving it any time to attack, I ran again. It chased me an entire three blocks, but disappeared completely when I got into the more heavily populated area of town- my neighborhood.

Gathering up an air of calm, I kept my pace relaxed but brisk as I passed people on the sidewalk. Jesus, I probably looked like some wild-eyed witch. Down the street, I spotted a familiar mane of silky blonde hair and came up with another idea. My street was more secluded than this area, and I did not want to risk being alone with that wolf again, so I quickly made my move.

"Hey Becca," I called out at the pretty blonde. Becca's cool blue eyes met mine and a small smile lit up her face.

"Hayley, what's up, girl?"

I smiled at Becca's attempt at western slang and skipped my way over to her.

"Nothing much, but I just remembered I still have your notes from science in my backpack. I can walk you to my house so that you have them for tomorrow's test," I said, suddenly wondering why I only sucked at lying to Reed. It wasn't a lie that I had Becca's notes; the lie was that I didn't really give a shit if she had them for the test tomorrow or not. I wasn't even sure if there was a test.

Becca didn't seem to notice this at all. Instead, she smiled appreciatively at me and wrapped her arm in mine.

"That'd be awesome, thanks Hayley."

"Don't mention it, hun," I replied distractedly, scanning the area for wolves. Nothing in sight, although there was a particularly hideous man across the street, and he was staring at me. That didn't leave me feeling too good. I stared back at him, but he didn't look like anyone I'd ever seen. And I would have recognized that face- it looked like he had been burned by fire, or acid, and sometimes the sun reflected off his bald scalp like there were tiny pieces of glass stuck to his skin. I shrugged it off as him having a sweaty head, but still couldn't shake off the creeping feeling of danger.

"Do you know him?" Becca asked, her nose crinkling in distaste as she took in his appearance.

"No, but he's freaking me out. We better hurry," I said quietly, and we began walking. When we reached the turn onto my street, I glanced back to where the man was standing, hoping to get another look- but he was gone. Shivering, I continued towards my house where safety would hopefully be waiting.

….

When we finally reached my porch, I was exhausted. All that running and panicking had really affected me. I hopped up the steps to where my backpack was perched against the front door and turned to give Becca her notes.

She smiled, barely sparing them a second glance, and stared at me.

"Cool deal. Thanks again, Hayley."

"No, thank you," I said politely. "Those notes helped me a lot." Another lie. God, I was getting good at this. I shouldn't have felt so proud about that.

Again, Becca smiled her seemingly permanent good-natured smile and walked back towards her own house. I watched for a few seconds before going back to my front door. It took me a good ten seconds to unlock it, and I raced inside once I finally fiddled the key into the hole. I didn't waist a moment to shut, lock, and bolt the door closed. Once I felt the warm safety of home envelope me, I closed my eyes and leaned my back against the cool wood and took a deep breath.

Today had been hell.

When I finally calmed enough to function again, I opened my eyes. Horror slowly crept into my veins at what I saw.

Blood.

Everywhere.

A giant puddle rested not two feet from me, followed by a smaller trail into the living room. I hesitantly followed it, afraid of what I would find. The room looked the same as it always did, except for the one pale figure lying motionless on the carpet, a smaller puddle of blood growing around him- making it impossible to tell exactly where the blood was coming from. I didn't need to see the pale white hair or crimson eyes to know that it was Reed. Without even thinking about moving, I was crouched above him, my wide eyes staring down at his closed ones.

"Reed?" I said uncertainly. No reply. I could feel the onset of panic ten times worse than the panic I had experienced in the graveyard, and it hit me with full force. "Reed?" I choked out again.

Still nothing.

A drop of water hit Reed's cheek, and I realized that I was crying. He can't be dead. He can't die. I brought my index finger up to his nose and breathed a sigh of relief when I felt warm air fan across my hand.

He was breathing. That was a good sign.

I glanced at the growing puddle of blood and resigned myself to the task of stopping his bleeding. Sparing one last look at his face, which seemed to grow paler by the second (for an albino, anyway), I unbuttoned his shirt and scanned his body for wounds or punctures. It was all smooth perfectness until my eyes came to rest on three large gashes across his rib cage- still seeping blood. The gashes closely resembled claw marks and I growled under my breath, thinking of the wolves. Out of my mind with dread, I quickly took off my coat and tore a huge amount of my t-shirt. I think I went a bit overboard with the ripping, because I left myself enough fabric to cover my bra, and the rest skin. I pushed that thought aside and began ripping the fabric into smaller strips when my mental voice thought that it would be a good time to interrupt.

What are you doing, idiot?

I ignored it and began wrapping the fabric along the gashes, careful to put enough pressure on each one.

He's a demon, moron. Human methods of healing won't work on him.

I worked my jaw nervously, growing increasingly worried that my inner voice might be right; blood began seeping through the fabric.

He's going to die! Give him the fucking Panacea.

I froze, frowning softly. Why the hell hadn't I thought of that? Well I just did, didn't I?

I shook my head clear and found one of the panacea vials in my coat pocket, and before I could give myself time to hesitate, I sunk the needle deep into Reed's skin. The effects were almost instantaneous. Like magic, Reed's wounds disappeared completely and his chest swelled as he sucked in a deep breath. His eyes snapped open and appeared to be a brighter red than usual. I sucked in a breath of my own, and then cried out in relief. I pulled him up and hugged him tight against myself until I could hear his heart and feel his breath. I finally let my tears fall, and sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder.

"Hayley, what's wrong," Reed demanded in his usual, irritable voice, but his arms closing around my waist told me he wasn't irritated by me. I had saved him- he was already talking like himself. I felt pride swell within my chest.

"You," I replied, wiping my tears and pulling back enough so that I could look into his eyes. "You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you were going to die."

"I'm surprised I didn't, actually. What'd you do?" he asked. My heart was still pounding madly within my chest, and I couldn't do anything but stare at him. He was alive, he was alright, and… he looked just as beautiful as ever. Perhaps it was the effects of the drug, but he seemed to be even more animated than usual, as if he were glowing, but not.

Probably figuring that I wasn't going to answer him, Reed did an inspection of his own- on me. His eyes didn't stray far before snapping back up to my face.

"What," he said lightly, hand coming to toy with the frayed edge of my shirt- or rather, bra cover. "Did you do to your shirt?"

I blushed from my head to my chest and looked at him nervously. "I was…trying to stop the bleeding," I admitted. "There was so much blood, I could only think of using my shirt…" Reed raised a pale eyebrow, and then, suddenly my back was slammed against the hardwood floor and Reed was above me, positioned between my legs. Before I even had time to comprehend what was happening, Reed's lips were against my neck, trailing small kisses along my throat.

"Reed?" My tone wasn't repulsed, but it did highlight my confusion. I felt overjoyed that he healed, and my body enjoyed the physical attention, but his sudden mood change came out of nowhere!

Those bright, glowing red eyes lifted from my neck and stared into mine. Usually, the demon's eyes appeared a deep crimson, even under light, but right now they couldn't be darker than a shiny ruby. I wondered momentarily if the drugs had anything to do with his intense mood swing.

"Don't look so astonished. Increased healing ability is just one of several attributes my kind has," Reed explained smoothly.

The depth of emotion in his eyes couldn't be distracted by his words, and I knew that the emotion he felt was sexual, raw, and erotic. I, as well as my stimulated body, recognized this Reed; however, my thoughts jumped back to yesterday in his workroom, when he gave me a kiss that tried to tell me what he truly felt inside. This intense sexual drive he had now, was it because he wanted just my body, or my body along with me as well? As I debated, his hands gently caressed my flat stomach and slid upwards to the cups of my bra.

I pushed my palms on his strong shoulders so he would have a harder time exploring my skin and I could concentrate for a quick minute- needless to say, the ravenous Reed didn't respond well to this, grabbed my arms and pulled me up so I was standing.

"I know what you want, Hayley." As he said this, the rest of his shirt fell from his shoulders and his thumbs hooked onto the waistband of his slacks. "And if I'm wrong, tell me so."

I couldn't help but stare at him- all of him- including the bulge that threatened to be revealed. He was right, no denying that, but I wanted so much more than his body. As I my previous do-anything-to-save-him actions proved, I wanted him to live and be healthy, and not only be living, but be alive. I wanted to give him joy, and find joy for myself in my success with making him happy. It was selfless but so egotistical at the same time: I wanted to be his savior.

If anyone should be stripping for someone, it should be me for him.

"I do want you, Reed," I confessed. My heart pounded as I gained the courage to do something bold, like remove my shirt and bra in one go. "But I want you to want me too!"

His glowing-ruby eyes widened with surprise. The next thing I felt was my back on the cushions of the couch that was in the room and Reed's hands tugging my bottoms off as quickly as he could get them. I stretched my bare body out and then Reed fell on top of me, to a familiar space between my legs. He pulled my thigh up so I wrapped around his body and he could grind his erection against my equally sensitive counterpart. I arched my spine as a shameless moan escaped, while he kissed his way from my neck to breast. Right when his teeth pinched my nipple, his fingers touched the aroused slit between my legs and I nearly came undone right then. Reed seemed to sense my nearness to that ecstasy, because he stopped what he did with his mouth, but not hand. I pushed my head into the cushion as his fingers flirted against an area of extreme sensibility, then slid inside. The sensation was wonderful, but I had the strangest feeling that it wasn't his fingers that should be inside me at the moment.

"Hayley, I don't know how to ask, but-"

"Yes," I moaned, interrupting him because I knew what he wanted to tell me. Call it a woman's intuition.

"I didn't even ask the question yet." He looked completely dumbfounded, and I could only shake my head at him.

"I know what you're trying to say, and the answer is yes. I want you to be my first." I couldn't actually believe that I'd said that out loud! It must have been all the encouragement from down below. I glanced at the sheer shock found in Reed's eyes, not on the indifference of his face, and repeated myself with even more sureness, "I want you to be my first, Reed… and second, and thir-"

It was his turn to interrupt, by placing his free hand over my mouth. "Sweet God," he breathed as his head dipped into the space between my skull and shoulder. He recovered by kissing his way along my collarbone until he reached the outer side of my arm. Reed sucked in a long breath before uncovering my mouth. "You… you have to be certain," he said, completely serious and awestruck in one glance. I found it amazing how much I could read from his eyes while they were glowing so bright.

Before I could reply, a new voice cut me off.

"Interesting," it said simply.

Both Reed's and my head shot straight to the intruder, who stood in the doorway to the room.

The vampire Caden leaned casually against the jamb with his arms crossed over his chest and a faint smirk present on his face. I screamed and pulled the blanket draped over the top of the couch against my naked body while Reed tumbled to the floor. Caden seemed extremely amused with our blatant distress.

I'm Hayley Kindler, and I have never felt more mortified in my life.