Chapter Twenty-One

Step Towards Good

It had been almost two weeks since he'd gone to the apartment and stolen Alexander from her. He knew that what Vladimir had asked of him was probably not very pleasant, but didn't actually know what he had said to him only that he needed to keep his word for Morgan's sake.

The past two weeks had mostly been him going out and Ashley tagging along, and they had started to grow closer with each adventure. Now that she was positive that he was still on the side of good, she started reaching out and trusting him more and more. Most the time she talked about Morgan, he figured she realized how much he enjoyed it. He liked getting to hear about the parts of her life he'd been forced out of.

On the other hand, he was also starting to get annoyed. Vladimir had told him that he had passed his test and that they now trusted him, but he had yet to actually ask anything else of him. All he did was sit around talking to Tiffany and Ashley or go out hunting; Vladimir hadn't even really spoke to him since the night he had brought him Alexander. It was starting to get very irritating.

Levi was sitting next to Tiffany and talking to her, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashley abruptly turn as a smile spread across her face. He had to assume that Vladimir had walked into the room. Ashley had become so attuned to him recently and he was almost 100% positive that she wouldn't want to become human again. It was obvious that she was falling in love with him and wouldn't want to be separated from him; if only she understood the danger in that.

Vladimir walked up to her and placed his hand on her cheek smiling down at her, at least he seemed to be feeling the same way. Levi had never seen him act this way towards any of his other "wives" other than Morgan's mother and secretly hoped that it was a good sign.

He suddenly turned towards him, as if he knew Levi was watching them, "Good afternoon, Levi."

"Good afternoon, Vladimir," he stated with a smirk. "I was wondering, if by chance, there is anything I could do for you, sir? Maybe you perhaps have an errand I could run, or have anything further planned for the future of your daughter?" He couldn't actually say her name, it had started to hurt him too much.

Vladimir paused and thought about what he had just said, and then he quietly spoke, "I may have something that you could do, but do you think that we could speak quietly for a moment?"

He paused for a moment, taken aback by the suggestion, "Of course, sir."

"Follow me," Vladimir stated and then took his leave down the attic stairs and into the darkening hallway that awaited them. After Levi had descended the stairs and securely closed the door behind him, Vladimir turned to face him, "I want to apologize Levi. I'm afraid that even though you were told that you were trusted, I have had a hard time actually remembering to do it. I kept wondering if you were actually going to try to go running back to her. I can tell how hard this is for you."

"I told you that I am here to help you Vladimir. I meant that sincerely."

"I know Levi," he stated. "And I have finally come to the point where I believe that," he paused for a moment, as if deep in thought, then continued. "I wish I could say that I have something for you to do, but I honestly do not. I am having a hard time deciding who I can fully trust all of my thoughts to... Mary is not an option because she has proven to me in the past that she is not trustworthy. And I am not entirely sure how much I can tell Ashley," he murmured, "She seems to be trying to get closer with me every day, but I cannot be positive what her motives are..."

"Believe me, Vladimir, when I say that she can be trusted," Levi said. "I am constantly watching Ashley, and although I know that Morgan," he winced slightly when he spoke her name, " would not be pleased with this situation, I believe that Ashley is becoming very attached to you."

Vladimir's eyes brightened slightly, as he looked deeply into Levi's searching for the truth in his words. He smiled faintly, "Have you also realized that I am becoming very attached to her, as well?"

"Yes," Levi whispered, slightly taken aback by how much Vladimir was actually telling him. "I know that you and I have had a rough past because I was always on her side, but I have never seen you act this way towards any other vampire other than her mother. I hope that it means that you will protect Ashley with your life. Ashley is one of her very dear friends and she will not be pleased that she will no longer want to become human again."

Vladimir's eyes brightened even more, "Do you really think that she has begun to care about me that much?"

"Yes, I really do."

Vladimir stood there quietly for a very long moment before he finally spoke again, changing the subject, "I feel I have done wrongly in trying to confront Morgan," he whispered.

He had spoken so quietly that Levi wasn't sure he had heard him correctly, "You regret how you've treated her...?"

Vladimir gently nodded his head; he looked as if he disgusted himself. "I want her to trust me again, and I now know that I have forgotten how to do that without applying force."

"I have never seen her hate someone so much before," Levi stated, "I don't know if she could forgive you after everything you've done..."

Vladimir's face instantly grew angry. "You may leave," he said harshly.

Levi didn't expect his reaction and grew angry himself, "I didn't say that is was impossible, but your only choice would be to slowly gain her trust back... perhaps a "peace offering" of some sort..." And with that he turned and made his way back into the attic letting his words sink into Vladimir's thoughts, hoping that he understood what he was hinting at.

XxX

When it grew dark outside Mary led the small group down through the church and out into the cemetery. Since Vladimir was nowhere to be found, Levi asked Mary if he could take his leave for the night and then set out with Ashley by his side.

She was particularly quiet tonight, when normally she was very talkative. Levi glanced over at her, "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," she murmured, sounding worried.

"What's wrong?" Levi asked.

"I'm worried about Vlad," she stated quietly.

Levi stopped walking and turned to her, "Why?"

"What did you two talk about?" she asked.

"I'm not sure if he wants me to talk about it, "Levi stated. "It seemed like he was trying to confide in me. Like he knew how close Morgan and I had been and that he knew I would understand her reactions and be able to interpret her thoughts better than anyone else.

"He cares about you a lot, by the way," Levi whispered as he turned and started walking again.

Ashley started walking again too, matching his stride, "Really?"

He could hear the smile in her voice. "Really," he smiled down at her. She looked up at him, returning his smile, but then he grew serious, "But I want to warn you of the danger in that."

She frowned slightly, "What do you mean?"

Levi stopped walking again and turned to face her. "Vladimir has never been overly protective of his 'wives'. I'm not entirely sure if that's what he's considering you or not," Ashley winced subtly at his words, "and that may be a good thing. I've never seen him ever truly care for another person like he did Morgan's mother, and that may never change... but it may be changing. I just want you to watch out for yourself. Don't be like the others and expect him to protect you, because he may not."

"Okay," Ashley whispered, "I promise I'll look out for myself, no matter what."

"Thank you," Levi rushed, pulling her into a large hug. "I would hate for you to decide that this life is what you want and then have it end so quickly. We may be super powerful and immortal creatures, but we are hunted just like any other animal... and Slayers do not give up very easily." He pulled away so he could look down into Ashley's eyes, "Do you think I would have ever left Morgan's side for any other reason? We used to be inseparable..."

Ashley placed her hand on his cheek, "Have you ever told her how you felt? How you still feel?"

"It's not that easy," he said quickly, pulling away from her.

"But it is that easy, Levi. You have been in love with her forever, and you're too scared to tell her how you feel. Too afraid that confessing feelings for her might ruin your friendship... But not really realizing that telling her would most likely just make your life better. Is it not obvious that she's in love with you too?"

"I don't know how she feels about me," he lied.

"I know that she does," Ashley stated angrily. "But because you couldn't tell her she got eyes for another guy and then you got jealous. But instead of just talking to her about it peacefully you stormed out of the apartment and did the worst thing possible. You joined her father who is planning her demise!"

"I know I made the wrong choice," he yelled. "I know I ruined my chances with her by making this decision, but I still want to try to help her! I want Vladimir to trust me, because I do know Morgan better than anyone else, and I'm pretty sure I know that she would rather make amends then to battle for her friends lives. But unless someone else says it for her, she's gonna do it the hard way. Vladimir's side doesn't have to be the bad side! I want to help her, and they only way I can do that now is by helping him!" He turned on his heels and started walking away from her briskly.

Ashley was taking aback by his rage, and was frozen for a moment. When she finally decided she needed to catch up with him, someone stopped her by placing their hand on her shoulder. She spun around in surprise, ready to defend herself, but immediately relaxed when she saw it was Vladimir.

He looked down at her, "Head back to the cemetery dear. I need to speak with Levi alone."

Her eyes grew wide with fright, but he smiled at her reassuring that he was not going to be mean, and then pushed her in the direction of the cemetery and started off after Levi.

XxX

Levi could hear footfalls behind him, and assumed that it was Ashley following him so he just ignored them. But after they had followed him for another fifteen minutes, he was starting to grow angry. Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want company? He squeezed his eyes shut in fury then spun on his heels, "Stop following me Ashley! I don't want to be around you right now!"

"It is a good thing I'm not Ashley then." Levi's eyes snapped open to find Vladimir standing in front of him, smirking.