That morning, Dusk woke up to the sun shining onto his eyes. He growled and rolled over, facing away from the window. He felt movement beside him and for a moment he almost turned around to attack, but then he remembered who it was and relaxed.

"Turn off the sun," Isara mumbled burying her face into a pillow.

"I can't do that," Dusk replied.

"Then get some curtains or something."

Dusk flipped back over to look at her and raised an eyebrow. Isara had her eyes closed though and didn't notice. Dusk glanced at the time, realizing that the sun had just appeared. Normally, he would have gotten up right away, but Dusk decided to stay in bed a bit longer. He closed his eyes again, sliding a hand up to rest on Isara's side under the blankets. He could feel where the shirt had ridden up and he ran his thumb over the exposed skin.

Isara smiled at the gesture and moved her own hand down to his. She gently guided him underneath the shirt and he took the hint, gliding his fingers up and down her side. After a few moments of that, he shifted to her back and began to do the same thing along her spine. Isara pressed herself closer, pushing her face into his neck. He loved to do this, her skin was so soft and smooth and completely flawless.

"Don't stop," Isara mumbled after a little bit, her eyes still closed.

"I wasn't planning on it," Dusk murmured back. He began to rub circles into her lower back, knowing exactly where she liked it. Dusk felt her smile against him as he continued.

"We don't do this enough," Isara sighed. "Just lying around and relaxing."

"Hm…" Dusk agreed. He was now resting his head against Isara's, completely calm and content just to be with her. Soon, they both quickly lost track of time and Dusk didn't even realize how long they had been lying together until his phone went off. Jerking out of his dozing state, Dusk leaned over to his side table and snatched up his cell phone as he answered it.

"Dusk where are ya?" Sanguine's voice came out from the device and Dusk's mood immediately went down. "A guy hired the both of us and you never showed up, what's goin' on?"

"I got distracted," Dusk glanced at Isara, who had propped herself up on an elbow and was watching him curiously.

"Well get downtown now, our guy is going to be leaving the city soon and our window of opportunity is disappearing.

Dusk bit back a groan. "Fine, give me an hour."

He hung up before Sanguine could answer then leaned back on the pillows.

"I'm guessing you have to go?" Isara spoke up.

"Yes," Dusk growled. He sat up, throwing the blanket off himself and swinging his feet to the floor. Arms wrapped around his neck from behind and he turned his head to see Isara.

"Call me later?" she asked.

"Of course. Think you can let yourself out?"

"Yes. Who do you think I am? Sanguine?"

"You're not annoying."

Isara laughed and kissed his cheek then fell back, wrapping the sheets around her again. Dusk stood up and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. After getting out and brushing his teeth, Dusk came back into the bedroom to get dressed. Isara was sitting up on the bed, reading something on her phone.

"What are you looking at?" Dusk asked as he pulled on his pants.

"Stuff I have to do," Isara said. "I have to go shopping later today."

Dusk nodded and grabbed a shirt. "Want to meet up later for some coffee?"

"Sure," Isara said. "Where?"

"That café downtown."

Isara frowned. "Which one?"

"The one that a car crashed into three months ago."

"Okay sure, just text me when you're available."

Dusk nodded and finished getting dressed. He fixed his hair then kissed Isara and left.

…..

When Dusk arrived downtown, he found Sanguine pacing back and forth next to an alley.

"Finally!" Sanguine cried when he looked up and saw Dusk. "I started to think you had bailed completely."

"Where's the target?" Dusk ignored the Texan's outburst.

Sanguine sighed and gestured across the street. "In that shop. I'm expecting him to come out at any moment."

Dusk grunted. "Let's just get this over with."

After getting rid of the body, Dusk and Sanguine walked quickly away from the area to make themselves scarce.

"So where were ya anyway?" Sanguine asked as they crossed a street.

"At home," Dusk responded calmly. He kept his gaze straight ahead.

"What were you doing? Normally you're never late so what was going on?"

"Nothing was going on, I lost track of time-

"Was Isara with you?" Sanguine interrupted.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yep, she was. What were you two doin'?"

"Nothing Sanguine, she just spent the night."

"Oh, spent the night huh?"

"She's having a personal problem so I let her stay with me."

"Got it," Sanguine nodded. Dusk fought down the urge to roll his eyes and took out his phone to text Isara. They agreed to meet up in half an hour and Dusk left Sanguine, going off on his own. He arrived at the café and found Isara waiting at an outdoor table.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," he said coming up to her after ordering.

Isara saw Dusk and smiled. "Hey Dusk," she said as he sat down across from her. "Don't worry, it wasn't bad. How'd the job go?"

"Fine," Dusk said. "I got punched in the face once or twice but other than that it was okay. At least I wasn't paired up with Sanguine. That guy is so annoying."

"Everyone annoys you," Isara smirked.

"Everyone except you. And Gregor isn't that bad."

Isara laughed and drank some of her coffee. He mimicked her movement then spoke. "Did you go shopping yet?"

"Yeah," Isara put her cup down. "I went by apartment to drop the stuff off."

"Any more plans?"

Isara nodded. "I got a call a few minutes before you got here. I have to go get rid of someone after I say bye to you."

"Have fun with that."

They talked for another half hour before Isara had to go and Dusk, not needing to do anything else, headed home. When he reached his house, he stepped inside and found Gregor leaning against the time-locked cage in his living room. The blonde man flashed a grin when he saw the vampire. A duffle bag was at his feet.

"Hey Dusk, sorry about picking the lock. I waited around for a bit, I swear, but I didn't want people looking at me funny so I had to make my way in." He seemed genuinely sorry so Dusk just grunted.

"I don't mind. Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to talk."

Dusk raised an eyebrow and Gregor held up his hands. "Not that kind of talk. Trust me, so far I don't have any problems with you; at least at the moment."

"What do you need to talk about then? Did something go wrong with your plan for Steve?"

Gregor snorted. "No way. I scared that guy so bad I doubt he'll be bothering you for a long time."

"So what is it something?" Dusk asked.

Gregor sighed. "I'm sure you know about how Isara and I's father died when we were little and Steve isn't much of a father. Because of this I've sort of had to take over in that aspect so I'm just here to talk to you and find out exactly what kind of person you are."

Dusk frowned.

"I promise I'll try to make this as painless as possible."

Dusk nodded. "Let's go upstairs," Dusk said. "We can sit down up there."

The vampire took Gregor upstairs into the living room and they sat down. Gregor was on the couch and Dusk was in an armchair.

"Nice place you have here," Gregor said. "Trust me I've been in some pretty crappy places."

Dusk waited for him to continue.

"Okay, first question. Why are you dating my sister?"

Dusk paused needing to think it through. "Because she's interesting, and she has a lot in common with me, and she's an interesting person."

Gregor nodded thoughtfully. "How well would you protect her? I know she's tough, but I need to make sure she has someone to help her when she needs it."

"Understandable. I will protect her," Dusk said. "I will keep her safe. I beat up Steve after all."

Gregor laughed. "Yes you did and I wish I could have been there to see it. Anyway, what do you plan for you and Isara?"

Dusk had to think again on it. He definitely knew for sure he didn't want to break up with her, but he couldn't say exactly what would happen. "I don't know what will happen in the future," he finally said slowly. "I'm not much of a future-planner and with the life we have nothing can be certain. But I do know that I don't want to hurt her or leave her."

Gregor was thoughtful once more, going over his answer. "I'm glad that Isara met you. She's been through so much she deserves some peace for once. She's had a really rough life you know."

"Isara told me a little bit about her childhood," Dusk responded. "She told me about your father dying, then your mother marrying Steve."

Steve's smile was dry. "Yeah," he said bitterly. "She said that it was 'in our best interests' to have a father figure. It was all for her though, she didn't care about us. She just wanted the money to keep living the life she had."

"Isara mentioned a little bit about some of the things that had happened to her."

"Oh really? What did she say?"

"She said how her step-father would leave her out in the woods, sometimes all night."

Gregor swore softly. "I always suspected things going on," he said. "But I never had any proof. I tried to get my siblings to tell me what went on when I wasn't there but they never told me. I think they were too scared."

"Why didn't you do anything?" Dusk asked. "You are protective of Isara, but you didn't do anything to stop it."

"Like I said," Gregor replied. "I suspected it, but I didn't have any evidence and I never act without evidence. Besides, I was so young. I was only about twelve or thirteen when my father died and I left him before Steve came along."

"I wanted to kill him," Dusk said. "But Isara wouldn't let me."

Gregor nodded. "Sounds like her. Even now she's too scared to face both him and our mother. I offered to do the same thing but she told me no as well."

"Sounds like a lot of trauma," Dusk muttered.

"It is. That's why she has such bad nightmares. Most of the time the only way she'll sleep is if someone is with her. Otherwise she can't."

Dusk paused, thinking. That would explain why she had, had a bad dream that time when they were in a cabin.

"Do you know anything else about her?" Dusk asked. "Anything that happened?"

Gregor paused, like he knew something but wasn't sure if he should say it. "She had a boyfriend once," he finally said. "They were in a very serious relationship; he was actually the one to turn her."

"I know about that," Dusk said.

Gregor relaxed. "Oh good. I wasn't sure if you wanted to hear about that."

"I don't care," Dusk grunted. "Continue."

"Any way, they had to go separate ways for a while, and Isara's reason was because she needed to sort things out with our family; also known as my mother and Steve. I'm not entirely sure of exactly what happened, but what I do know is that when I walked in the door that night Isara was on the floor in a pool of her own blood."

Dusk's eyes widened slightly.

"My step-father and cut her across the stomach with a knife," Gregor's expression was dark. "She had suffered head wounds as well and she still has trouble remembering things before that night. He was going to kill her too, I think, but I guess my mother decided that it wasn't worth it to kill her so they left her. I think I would have killed Steve that night if it wasn't for the fact that I had to take care of Isara. When she got better and I told her that I wanted to kill Steve she told me not to and I respect her enough where I agreed not to. Although many times I find myself wishing that I had gone out and killed him. Things would be so much better right now."

Dusk went quiet, absorbing the new information. Gregor didn't say anything either and they sat in silence for a while. Then he spoke up again.

"So, all in all I approve of you to date my sister. But there is one more thing."

He leaned forward a bit, a slight grin returning to his face. "What do you think about sports?"

…

"No Tanith, I haven't talked to Dusk about a double date yet. Because, I don't think he'll go for it. Alright, fine I'll talk to him soon. I have to go, bye." Isara hung up with Tanith as she reached Dusk's house. She put the phone away and made sure that her jacket covered the fresh blood on the front of her shirt. After all she didn't want people asking questions. Just as she went to knock on the front door, she heard something in the back yard and she frowned.

Confused, Isara walked around the house over to where the noise was coming from and stopped. Her brother and her boyfriend were running around throwing a football back and forth.

"Go long!" Gregor yelled and threw the football. It flew through the air in a perfect spiral, Dusk catching it easily after backing up almost to the fence. He threw it back to Gregor, the sorcerer almost needing to sprint to get it. Isara watched for a few minutes, amused, before stepping over to them.

"I see you two are getting along fine," she said.

Dusk and Gregor turned to look at her, the football landing somewhere behind Gregor. He scooped it up then came over.

"Hey sis!" Gregor grinned running up to her. His hair was wind-blown and his clothes were rumpled and covered in grass stains. "Dusk and I were just getting to know each other a bit better. Right Dusk?"

"Yes," Dusk agreed following. Even he looked slightly dirty. "Your brother is good at sports. I wish you had introduced us sooner."

Gregor beamed and threw an arm around Dusk's shoulders. "Same here man. I hope we can do this again soon."

Isara laughed. "I knew you two would like each other."

"Then why didn't you call me over sooner?" Gregor cried.

Isara just shrugged and Gregor sighed then stepped back from the two.

"So how did it go with Steve?" Isara asked, suddenly nervous.

Gregor beamed. "Awesome. I don't think he is going to be bothering either of you two for a good long time."

"I'm not even going to ask what you said or did. I know you won't tell me." Isara relaxed.

Gregor winked. "You know I won't sis. Anyway, I just stopped by to say my good-byes."

Dusk frowned. "You're leaving already?"

Gregor sighed. "I don't want to, I was hoping for a couple more days off. You know, to catch up with Isara, but something apparently has gone wrong with a deal or something so now I have to go and smooth things over." He snorted. "Mortals, can't trust them to do everything huh."

He gave Isara a quick hug. "Promise that you'll call me if you need help again. Don't hesitate, I promise I will come no matter what."

"Of course I will," Isara said hugging him back.

Gregor stepped back from his sister then grinned at Dusk. "See ya Dusk, nice meeting you."

"Same here," Dusk said. They shook hands and Gregor waved one more time then walked away. Once he was gone Isara turned to Dusk.

"What was he doing here? I know he didn't come just to throw a ball around with you."

"He wanted to talk to me. Make sure that I'm someone who is good for you."

Isara rolled her eyes. "Figures. I don't mind though, it's nice to know that someone cares."

Dusk nodded, his arm wrapping around her waist. "Let's go inside," he said pulling her over to his house. When they entered through the sliding glass door Dusk kissed her lightly on the lips, placing his hands on her waist. She kissed him back, her arms going around his neck, and they stayed in place for a minute before they broke apart.

"Can I stay over again tonight?" Isara asked. "I like it here and I want to stay with you longer."

"I don't mind."

Isara smiled and pulled him in for another kiss. Dusk tightened his arms around her as they began to get more into it. Isara responded with her own arms pulling him closer to. Needing something to lean against, he pushed her over to a wall and pressed her back into it, after about a minute. Isara tilted her head to kiss him deeper and they relaxed more into each other. They broke apart after another minute and Isara laughed.

"We don't do that very often," she said.

"No we don't. We should though."

"I couldn't agree more."

She grabbed his collar and pulled him into another heated kiss. This one lasted much longer, but Dusk wasn't complaining. Eventually they parted and Isara laughed again. He leaned his head against hers and kissed her cheek.

"Let's go and relax," Dusk said. "Now that Steve's gone things will be better."

Isara sighed. "He'll be back. Not right now, but he will come back. It will never be over until one of us dies."

Dusk pulled her closer. "If anyone is going to die it is going to be him. We're fine, I promise."

He kissed her one more time and even while she responded she had her doubts. Steve would be back, he always did.

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