Sorry for any mistakes before hand, been busy but you guys are wanting a chapter so I rushed through it to get it done.

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It was early morning when Salem woke to find herself in bed with Aryanna's feet at hers. It took a moment to process when she'd fallen asleep, and she finally remembered that it had been on the couch with Strife. He must have returned her to bed sometime later before her parents or Aryanna got up. Though she was thankful about that, she felt a little betrayed that she'd obviously been sleeping without him by her side for a while.

Without even bothering to wake her cousin up, she went straight to the bathroom to take her shower and get ready for the day and whatever it would bring her. After that, she got dressed and studied the marks on her arms and legs, frowning. They were still a deep red, with only a little purple around the edges, but she could tell they would later look very nasty and would need to be covered up. To deal with them for now, she decided to pull on some longer shorts she had stuffed away in her clothes drawer. The bruises on her arms she could cover by keeping her arms to herself. She found it pretty pathetic she had to hide something like bruises, but she couldn't be angry at Strife. She had asked for it in a way, especially when she knew he was stronger than her and, anyone else on the planet for that matter.

She looked at Aryanna to make sure all the noise she'd made in the bathroom hadn't jostled her before pulling on her shoes and heading out the door. Her heart and mind began raceing as usual when she was about to see Strife and she felt that strange type of euphoric anxiety she'd felt since first meeting him. Naturally to her luck, of course, her parents were home, and so she thought of the idea to make breakfast for them all, to at least put on a cherade like she would be a good girl today. They seemed to be convinced by her good deed, at first, but then she heard them whispering to themselves on the couch, and when they came to the bar to eat where Salem had set out the plates, they brought a piece of paper with them. One covered in notes... though upon closer examination of both the note and her parents faces, she found them not to be notes, but rules.

"After you eat, you can read through them. And when whatever-his-name gets here you let him see it too. We don't want complaints or excuses as to why you can't follow them," her father said. He seemed stressed, even though he wasn't the one to fight with Strife and her last night. Salem stared at her dad for a long moment, and then turned to look at her mom. She looked just as stern as he did. Salem's brows were nitted together but she sat down and nodded. She could handle a few rules, right?

She tried to keep her face composed as she stabbed some of her eggs and popped them in her mouth stiffly. But she felt sour inside. She'd never had so many rules put on her before, and certainly not because of a guy. Couldn't her parents just let her have freedom now? It wasn't like she'd ever had sex, done drugs, gotten into trouble, or even cussed in front of them for that matter. She knew they only did it out of care but if they only knew how much she needed Strife in her life now they would surely be more lenient.

Aryanna joined them at the bar with a messy bun of hair a few minutes later. She'd clearly never gotten up this early on the weekend before, as her expression was fairly gloomy about the early risers sitting at the bar. "Thanks for letting me spend the night," she grumbled in a hoarse voice, not sounding very thankful at all. Salem felt a twinge of guilt for not spending more time with her.

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Salem's mother answered. "Anytime."

Almost grumbling to herself, Salem slid Aryanna a plate of food and quickly swallowed down her meal and a glass of milk before snatching the note up and running to the living room to examine her new prison rules.

Rule 1: You must be back at home before 6 everyday. If we suspect you aren't home while we're at work we will have someone start coming home to check on you.

Rule 2: He cannot be with you while you're home alone.

Rule 3: While we are here he may be here too, but you two cannot go to the back alone.

The list went on and on with rule after rule, most of them understandable, but when she got to the last one she was confused.

Protection must be signed and checked daily, it said.

"Uh...mom? What does this last one mean?" Salem got up and showed her mother the paper, but she looked to her husband.

"That one was your father's idea. Why don't you tell her about that one in the bedroom?" she said to him.

Salem's face twisted with confusion and anxiety, and she could do nothing but twiddle her fingers impatiently while waiting on her father to finish eating and take her to the back to tell her what the rule meant. She wished deeply that Strife were here to comfort her, but then again his presence would probably make her even more tense.

"Come on," her dad said, finally getting up from the bar stool. Aryanna shot them a curious look but Salem ignored her as she followed nervously to her parent's bedroom. Her father shut the door behind them and dug in his drawer for a moment before turning to her with items Salem could not believe. She almost made an anime fall as she leaned back on her haunches in surprise.

"C-condoms?" she choked out. "Condoms..." she repeated again, and almost did again before her dad put them in her hands.

"It was my idea. Your mom seems to think you're some perfect child who can do no wrong, but, I know better. Accidents happen and I think you should be prepared for them. Now I know your mom gave you 'the talk' around last year but she didn't exactly take my opinion into consideration." His deep voice practically melted into the background as Salem stared down at the the packs in complete horror. "I think sex before marriage is perfectly fine as long as you care about him, you use proper protection, and you know you're ready."

Salem gulped. "I-I still don't get...the rule. Signed and checked, I don't..." she stuttered.

"Ah," he nodded and grabbed a sharpie from a cup on the dresser. He took the condoms from her and carefully signed the back of each one. "If you're going to use them, I'm at least going to know that you have. I'm going to check these every day to make sure they're each signed, they're a certain number, and none have been opened. I know you can hide store bought ones somewhere else, so if I think you're hiding any of those I will search your room, purse, everything. And don't think I won't strip search him too." He paused a minute, glancing over Salem's face which was in utter shock. Her mouth was opening and closing as she tried to say something. "I won't care if you use one, Salem," he said carefully. "I'd be more angry if you didn't. So if I find one missing or opened, I'll be proud you tried to be safe."

A single tear escaped down her cheek and she sat down on the bed, feeling light headed. She could not believe what was happening. Her dad looked a little confused at her reaction too and laid the condoms down beside her. "Just...always keep one on you. Okay?" He cleared his throat nervously and could think of nothing else to say, so he stepped out of the room to give her some privacy.

She sat on the bed for another ten minutes, staring at the ground with eyes watering. She suddenly felt more grateful for her understanding father but, jeez. How would she explain that little rule to Strife when he came over? He would probably laugh until his sides got sore. With wide, teary eyes she took the condoms to her bedroom and stuffed them in her underwear drawer. And, in respect for her father, she put one in her pocket, though she knew she wouldn't be using it. Well, unless she got really lucky and wasn't so embarrasingly nervous, but even that was unlikely. The thought of that, though, brought another to mind. How Strife had kissed her yesterday. Her tense suddenly relaxed as she remembered the feel of his warm lips against her skin, so ticklish and pleasing to her entire body. She shivered in her spot and felt her little heart pounding to be with him then and there, even if she could only look at him and not touch.

She realized after a moment that she was standing in the middle of her room thinking of this, and she rushed out the door, ready to go find him. But there was one more thing to take care of...

Aryanna was waiting for her, standing in the front hallway impatiently, slightly bouncing in her spot. Salem's mind groaned at the sight of her. Salem just wanted to go to Strife, not be with her cousin, as horrible and mean as it sounded. Her mind began racing with ways to ditch her, and she quickly came up with a simple, however indecent plan. "You wanna go outside?" Salem asked quietly with a hint of irritation.

"Actually, my mom just pulled up to take me home." Aryanna gave a fake frown.

"Oh," Salem tried to not seem so excited about hearing that. It saved her so much time. Aryanna frowned even more at Salem's simple answer, though, and she decided to add something she hoped the girl wouldn't lean on. "You can come back whenever and we'll hang out."

"Okay," was the only reply, and it didn't even sound hopeful. Salem walked her out to the car and waved goodbye as they left. Without a pause or even a second thought she began looking around nearby for Strife.

But Strife wasn't anywhere nearby. He was trudging Conquest up a hill in town to check things out to keep from being bored. He did that often when she was at school. He would have stayed nearby, but he figured he would give Salem some time with her cousin without being there, but, if he knew her well enough by now he guessed she was already out looking for him. Oh well, she could wait anyways, he didn't need to be in a rush. It wasn't raining anymore so she wouldn't drown or freeze to death... But, then again, he thought, she could probably find some kind of danger to get into. Fall in a hole and break her leg. Have a run in with a bear, possibly. Look for him at the lake and fall in to be eaten by the murderous catfish.

He yanked Conquest to a halt in the street and sighed. "Think she'll be alright?" he asked his horse. A disgusted, short snort was the reply. "Yeah...you're right." He nudged his mount foreword, only to stop him a few steps later. "Maybe I should just check on her to be sure." The mount practically sighed though his nose, but turned as his master commanded and trotted down the road back to Salem's home.

Conquest was an intelligent mount, and as he paced down the road he considered how his master had changed since coming to earth. He knew Strife had always brought women home often, but lately he'd only been with this one named Salem, and he really seemed to worry about her, something he'd never done with anyone, not even his own brothers and sister. And something wasn't right about her, Salem. It wasn't that she was ominous or there to hurt his master, but she seemed like his master. Not by being cocky or egotistical but simply by her smell and aura. And along with her aura, Conquest could sense something similar to the Council in a way. Being an animal, he could sense something like that. But there was no way to tell his master, as he could only converse certain things. The only thing he could do was watch how this all played out and hope for the best.

Almost halfway back to Salem's house there was a group of elder teens hanging near the alley of a thrift shop, the very one Strife had lured the mounted policeman into to take his clothes for a disguise. (Thankfully that body hadn't been found yet and probably never would, as Strife had found missing person signs all over the town with the man's face on it.) Strife overheard the teen's conversation and immediately stopped Conquest again at the sound of "good alcohol at the party". He reined Conquest over to the teens and they each tensed up and grew quiet, expecting that they were in trouble. Luckily though, Strife wasn't wearing his normal vest or they may not have spoken to him at all. "Party, huh?" Strife inquired as he dismounted and approached them.

"Yeah, a bonfire," one of the boys with long brown hair answered.

"And I think I heard something about...alcohol?" the Horseman grinned.

The teen paused, "Um...you aren't a cop, are you?"

Strife chuckled, "Far from it."

The boy lit up with a smile, seeming to accept Strife's answer quickly. "Yeah, and good drugs. You in? We want as many people as we can get."

"Hell yes! When is it?"

"Next Friday night around 9 O'Clock, maybe even into Saturday too if everyone sticks around that long. It'll be at the little ranch a few miles from here. Down that road, take a left at the dirt road and it's the last house on the right before you get to the lake." The boy pointed and gestured with his hands the directions. Strife already knew which place the boy was talking about since he'd explored it a few weeks back while Salem was in school.

The Rider threw up a thumb and went back to mount his horse. "I'll be bringing a girlfriend too, if that's okay."

"Oh, yeah, sure. There's no tattle-tale adults so..." the boy veered off with a chuckle and a wink.

Strife smirked and saluted them with two fingers before taking off down the street to Salem's road with the team of boys staring after him. He skid to a halt in the front of her house to find her sitting on the porch with muddy ankles and shoes and a depressed expression, though as soon as he came prancing up she immediately lit up at the sight of him. "Strife," she gasped happily and sprinted towards him and his horse.

"I knew you'd be wanderin' around the woods for me if I didn't come back, with your muddy ankled self."

She looked down at her feet and nodded sheepishly. "I can't sit still when you're not here," she admitted, blushing. Strife smiled at her and dismounted, backing her up to the porch by intimidating her with a hovering stance.

"Really now? And why not?" he crooned.

"I dunno," she shuddered, backing into the beam of the porch.

He towered over her with a grin and slowly leaned down to kiss the side of her neck, his lips making a seal over her vein where he could feel her heart jump sporadically. She shuddered against him and the beam, and reveled in what she'd been waiting for all morning. Her breathing grew heavy as he teased her, gliding his lips over the side of her neck and pecking her in several places. His hands found their way to either side of her waist, while hers remained nervously tense at her sides. When he realized he was enjoying the simple act more than he should have been at the time, he pulled back to look at her face, though his smile never faded. He pinched the strands of hair that her in her face and brushed them behind her ear. "I was waiting on that all night and morning," he admitted without shyness.

"I wish you'd greet me with a kiss on the lips sometime," she smiled slightly, still tensed from the teasing.

He smiled so wide his cheeks stung. "Soon, maybe," he purred another tease. He would normally meet such a request so confidently asked for, but he had another idea in mind for that moment. "And speaking of soon, I have us set up for next weekend."

"What do you mean? Oh..." she looked down, "and I actually have to talk to you about something too."

"You first." He pulled her down by her hands to sit beside him on the porch.

She frowned and pulled out the paper filled with rules that her parents had given her. "This..." she handed him the note and he glanced over it quickly, his golden eyes flickering over the page. His nose crinkled up to snort a laugh but he managed to compose himself. He was the one to mention giving them both ground rules to her mother after all, but he'd never imagined this many. Some of them were pathetically rediculous, but he could instantly tell just what her parents were trying to prevent.

"Boy they sure don't want us having sex, do they?" he chortled.

"Sh!" Salem hissed and pushed him, though it did nothing to move him. "Don't be so loud."

"I'm just sayin'. But they couldn't stop me if they wanted to," he chuckled. Oh, he wanted to alright. It was his own self control that kept him from it for this long. "Wait, what's that one?" he asked, pointing to the very one Salem had questioned earlier.

Her face suddenly turned red and she studdered. "Um...Well apparently my dad's not trying too hard to keep us from doing something like that...so...he got us something," She paused and looked at him, hoping he would understand.

"I'm sorry?" Strife looked at her, confused.

"He...he..."

"Tell me!"

"Unngg," she groaned, covering her head with her hands. "I don't want to."

"I'll find a way to get it out of you." He grinned, reached around, and slid his hand under her to squeeze her butt. She uncovered her face with a jump and sighed in defeat, but, not without his notice, she didn't attempt to move his hand before answering.

"Well..." she started, "My dad...my dad thinks that if...we were to do something, we should be safe."

Strife snorted. "What'd he get us, a crane?"

"That's not funny," Salem growled defensively. "He..." she sighed, "He bought us condoms and signed them so he'd know if we use one and he's going to check them every day, I guess."

He blinked casually a few times. "What's a condom?"

Her lips parted slightly in disbelief and she dug into her pocket and pulled the single pack out. "People use them to uh...keep from getting pregnant and get venarial diseases. You know, STD's and stuff."

Strife snorted again, paused, and then burst out laughing. He snatched the condom from her and held it up to the light. "You have got to be sh***ing me! You humans are so weird!" he squealed.

"Strife, shut up! My parents are inside!"

He ignored her and continued to bellow his laugh. "This thing goes around my...? Oh, by the Creator! This wouldn't even fit. Hah hah hah!"

Salem simply stared at him judiciously without speaking, knowing he wouldn't be quiet no matter how many times she told him to shut up. "It stretches," she eventually said. "I think...I don't know, I've never used one!"

"Look, even if I do f-...uh, make love to you," he grinned widely, making sure he used the proper verb for such a lovely girl,"which I think about daily I might add, so it will probably happen," he paused again to study her reaction, which wasn't calm,"...I ain't using this."

"Um...what?" Salem had shot up like a daisy. "You mean...Wait...wait..." She took a minute to process that with growing excitement, but before she commented on that she had to satiate her other curiosity. "Why wouldn't you use it?"

He rolled his eyes and snorted like it was obvious, then placed his hand around her waist to pull her close for a lesson. "I can't get you pregnant for one thing, I mean we're practically a different species. Plus, to keep our kind from being repopulated, the Council made us infertile." He looked at her for a reaction again and continued. "As for diseases, I don't get sick or catch things, my immune system is too advanced for that. I could be with the skankiest, most diseased women and walk away clean. Not that I like skanky women, I'm more classy than that but-"

"Okay, I've heard enough. You're superman, I get it." She said that sarcastically, but she had just heard the words that eased her mind about everything she'd been worrying about.

He smiled at her. "Now. What I had to tell you. I overheard some very kind, drugged up young adolecents and they were planning a party, or a bonfire they called it. And we're going."

She thought about that for a minute and then started shaking her head. "I don't think," she started and then changed her mind, "That would kinda break the new rules, wouldn't it?"

"Yep," he grinned. "Don't worry, I won't let us get caught."

"I don't know...I haven't been to an actual party in a while. Last time people got rough and perverted and this time there'll be drugs and alcohol and I don't really-" She stopped when Strife took her chin in his hand and made her look at him.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want too, and I won't let anyone put a finger on you if you don't like them." Actually, he wouldn't let anyone put a finger on her period. Just her saying someone had gotten perverted with her angered him and made him jealous. "Listen, everyone only gets to be young and party for a while, you know, except me of course. We're going to that party. I mean, what else are we going to do besides hang around here with your parents eyeing us constantly." She still stared at him with a hesitant expression and he squeezed her cheeks together until her lips puckered out. "Must I drag you there?" he grinned. She shook her head and he stopped squeezing and moved his hand over her cheek slowly. His eyes squinted slightly as he looked over her face and her cheeks lit up a tomato red. He smiled and leaned in even slower to peck her cheek and run his fingers over her neck to feel her racing pulse, as well as that tremble down his own body. "That'll never not be entertaining," he chuckled.

"Well," she said blushing again, "Feel free to be entertained whenever you want."

"Hm..." he layed his hand on her thigh and stroked it a few times. "I shall."

She smiled at him and hesitantly put her hand on top of his. She watched it, again waiting for him to pull away, but he seemed to enjoy it and turned his palm up towards hers so she could lock her fingers with hers. "So...what do you want to do today?" she said, pulling her eyes from their hands to his perfect face.

"Actually, since it doesn't look like it will rain anymore, I got the idea that, at the lake, we should swim."

"R-really? I'm not that great of a swimmer and I don't think that's the best place to swim. No telling how deep the water is."

"You think I'd let you drown?" he snorted after a laugh.

"I wouldn't put anything past you," she grinned, joking. "But...if you promise not to let me get eaten by anything, I'll go."

"Oh, I bet those fish are starving for some toes. I couldn't stop them if I tried."

She smiled. "I'll go put my swimsuit on." Her mind wanted to move to do what she'd said, but her body refused to pull away from him. It was just too perfect. His hand was in hers, they were leaned together so closely, their faces mere inches apart. She couldn't leave that.

"Oh no, I swim naked, sweetheart." He winked at her. "And you should too."

"Um..." She blushed and paused long enough for Strife to get his hopes up. "I better not."

He pulled his hand away to cross his arms in dissappointment but then made her go inside to change. He could always undress her later, anyways. And while he was waiting he planned on how he might do that. Before or after, slowly or suddenly, passionately or roughly? He played with his choices for a moment and then decided to just see what happened and chose them when it came to the spur of the moment.

Salem came out a moment later with her hair in a bun and in the same clothes she'd had on. "I didn't want my parents saying anything about us swimming so I said I was walking to the store," she whispered. "I hope they don't see us going the opposite way."

"They usually have their eyes glued on that screen, so it shouldn't be a problem. Conquest will be quiet."

She looked up at Conquest who'd been standing there the whole time and for some reason, she suddenly felt self concious for being with Strife. It faded, however, when he took her up like a child and slung her in the saddle. When he climbed up with her her thoughts went into a different direction. She closed her eyes and leaned back into him until she could feel his chest rise and fall slowly. She found a new ease in his arms, and her mind wandered curiously as they rode to the lake.

She began to get curious about the customs he had off of earth , and the abilities he has that only seem to be in comic books in the human world. She thought about the previous conversation they'd had about the condoms and realized that clearly not ever race has the same customs, and so the question grew... "Do uh...other races in other realms reproduce like we do? I know you told me there are alot of other creatures out there like demons, and angels, and those makers, or whatever, so...do some of those creatures do stuff differently than us?

"No, actually. Not any that I've met. I guess the Creator only had that one thing in mind for reproduction when he made them all. Some other creatures do things slightly different sometimes, though, like the demons...man, they get weird. And they aren't ashamed of it either.

"Angels on the other hand take things simple," he shrugged. "Most of them don't know a female orgasm exists. And I hear they don't have much pleasure in it since they do it as reproductive purposes only, not really for fun. They believe pleasure in sex is sinful, pft."

He explained more as she asked questions, and as usual he became a little sore on the topic of his own kind, but it made for a great educational trip, and maybe even some ideas of what to do later on if she could conjure up the courage.

After dismounting with him, she remembered the last time they were here and couldn't believe it was only yesterday that he'd kissed her like that. She turned to him and smiled, hoping he would catch on to what she wanted. Unfortunately, despite his abilities, he couldn't read minds, and he simply grinned back at her with that deviant look in his eyes. She'd hoped she wouldn't have to ask but, shyly, she walked up to him and bit her lip. "Strife?" she asked innocently.

"Mmhmm?"

She looked down at first, and then looked him in the eye. "Do you remember what we did yesterday?" He grinned and nodded, but said and did nothing. He wanted her to ask the question. "Well...can you...kiss me again? Like that?"

He looked at her for a moment and slid his hand under her shirt, then pulled it off, revealing her bathing suit with it's black cat design. "I didn't realize all that was under those clothes," he said, examining her breasts, held up nicely by the tight suit. "Maybe I should have been stripping you down sooner." He then slipped his fingers under her shorts and yanked them down, revealing the second piece of her suit. She looked confused and nervous when he stripped of his own clothes down to the underwear and his necklace, and was wondering when he might kiss her exactly, or if he had some other plan in mind. She prepared herself for anything, knowing him.

He lifted her up to him so her legs were locked around his waist and she hung tight, realizing what he was about to do when he started walking towards the water. Now the lake here didn't slowly go down deeper into the water like a sea shore would. Instead, the edge of the water was formed by large boulders and immediatly the water was very deep. She just knew when he jumped down they would sink underwater, but surprisingly it was smooth and easy the way he did it.

The transition was immediately warm, but she began tingling after a few seconds, thinking of all the little creepy things that were in there in the water with them both, from microscopic parasites to alligators and the loch ness monster. But when he began attacking her neck with quick and passionate bites and kisses those thoughts faded away as quickly as they came. As he pinched her neck between his fangs his breathing became so heavy it was all she could hear, and it was all she wanted to hear. Even with having to kick violently to keep them both above water, he was able to crush her hips to his waist as he kissed her, and she couldn't help but let a few quiet mewls out of her mouth. When he pulled away minutes later, she felt it was much too quick and tried to pull him back down to her.

"I really need to stop," he admitted with a laugh, but he was proud of her brave attempt.

"Why?" she whined.

"Let's just say some large snake might appear beneath your legs if I don't quit now."

She sighed and wondered why he even let that stop him from continuing. Surely someone like him wouldn't let an opportunity like this pass, and why did he care if he took her now or later? "I thought you weren't a patient person?" she mumbled unhappily.

He smirked and set his forehead against hers. "Don't get pissy because I won't kiss you more than you want. You'll thank me later, anyways."

She wanted to be angry, but for the sake of this moment she tried to smile at him. "Fine." She couldn't be angry at him long anyways.

As a tease, at to keep her coming closer to him, he suddenly let go of her so she had to swim on her own. She gasped, forced herself to him again, and squeezed him tight when she wrapped her limbs around his body. His plan worked like a charm. "Don't let me go!" she yelped.

He chuckled and pulled her close, squeezing her waist, which even though it wasn't tiny it was small under her hands. "No problem, sweetheart."

She suddenly blushed and realized his skin was to hers, closer than they'd ever been before. In fear of letting go she'd locked her legs around his waist and he was the only one keeping them afloat, though she'd never quite helped in the first place. After relaxing, she let her arms slide to the front of him to rest against his hard chest, and found she suddenly couldn't peel her eyes from his figure; it was just so firm and eye catching, the kind of body every woman wanted for their lovers and husbands. She panned her eyes up to look at his face, and thought it should be so easy to lean in to kiss him, and so many girls would gladly take that chance, but she blushed at the thought and her face curled.

"What?" he laughed.

"I just," she started but shook her head and looked around quickly to change the topic so she wouldn't have to explain. She had hardly noticed her surroundings until then. They were a little farther down from where they'd been yesterday, but all of it really looked the same. The sun hadn't come up far enough to reach over the trees yet but there was still a white glare of ripples on the water. And of course, that allowed her to see the fish move and jump nearby. Without realizing it she tensed up and leaned in closer to Strife.

"You would probably crush a normal man's hips right now," Strife said a moment after her tensing. "I wonder what you could do with those thighs in the bed..."

"Suffocate you," she said swiftly.

"What makes you think my head will be down there near those thighs?"

She smiled mischeviously. "Give and recieve, right?" She didn't blush this time, but her voice was quiet and shy.

"I need to get you in the water more often, little girl. You get dirtier."

"And wetter," she asserted.

"Mmm." He ran his hands up from where her thighs met his skin to her shoulder blades. She seemed to enjoy it until she realized he'd slickly, almost professionally undone her top. She gasped and grabbed her breasts to keep the material over them.

"Strife!" She scolded, but in a playful voice.

"Yes?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from her breasts.

"Fix it!"

"Nah." He smirked and pulled her a little closer.

She sighed and reached behind with one hand, but she'd forgotten it was a tie string and she had to use both hands to redo it, but everytime she reached around the fabric moved from it's place, so she couldn't finish without risk of revealing herself. Strife knew this, and watched in satisfaction. She gave him puppy eyes and puckered her lips after several failed attempts at doing it herself. "Please tie it back? Por favor?" she asked nicely.

He tilted his head a little in consideration and then rolled his eyes, reaching around her to redo it.

"It's not like you haven't seen a pair, anyways," she grumbled.

"Ah, but I haven't seen your pair. But I will," he grinned. "Gimme a few more weeks. You'll regret you didn't show me sooner."

"Will I?" she challenged.

"Of course. There's always a reward for such behaviour." He grabbed her face in one of his hands after he was done tying it. "Don't you know that?"

She raised her brow, curious as to what surprise that might be, and then took his hand from her face into hers and held it up between them. Just as soon as the thought came across her mind, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Haven't done that in a while," he grinned, revealing his short fangs which she wished he would use on her lips. He slid his hand up her palm to catch her fingers in his hand and gently bit her mid-knuckles, keeping his eyes on hers as he did. As she blushed at him, he licked her hand covertly and let go of her hand.

"Do I taste good?" she joked.

"Better than you realize." He leaned down to her ear and after a soft kiss whispered, "Want to go futher out into the water?"

"No!" she yelped, but he did so anyways, ignoring the way she was now starting to hypervenilate. When he made it a good thirty foot from the bank he stopped and allowed her to clutch to him as tightly as she needed to keep from panicking. She buried her face in his neck tightly and shut her eyes. "Ee! Take me back, Strife!"

"Just relax, I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

She took a few deep breaths and leaned up to look around. Her hands grabbed his arms and she squeezed his muscles in a rigid grip. "How deep do you think the water is?" she inquired, shaking.

"Just don't worry about that. I won't get tired of swimming to let us drown and I won't let you go. Unless you get on my nerves," he added.

She took alot of deep breaths and let her legs loose to float down with his to help with the swimming, though obviously he needed no help. She had just started to relax when she felt something nip at her toe. She screamed and practicaly jumped out of the water and onto Strife. "Something touched my foot!" she screamed.

He spit out the water that'd gotten into his mouth and pulled her away from him so she wouldn't drown the both of them, even though he technically could be drowned. "Your foot probably just touched something," he sighed.

"No, something bit me!"

"Are you going to be a struggle the entire time?" His voice sounded mean but there was still a smirk on his face.

She frowned and hugged tight to him, laying her head on his shoulder. "No," she pouted. She certainly wasn't going to tell the truth to anger him so he'd wind up letting her go.

"Good girl." He paused and laughed out loud. "I didn't realize you were so scared of the water."

"It's not the water, it's what's in the water." She swirled her finger around in a circle between them.

"The only thing you should fear that's in the water is me."

"I think we established this yesterday, I'm not afraid of you."

"I know, because you're a stubborn ass little girl. But I meant you should fear me because I could hurt you, not that I would... Again... Intentionally."

She smiled wide and hugged him. "You can always hurt me in the good way," She grinned and before he could comment she asked, "Now, can we please go back to land where I can actually feel something under my feet?"

"I don't know...I really like you clinging to me." He grabbed her rear end and pulled her to him in a thrusting motion. She blushed and her loins burned from the contact, and she was suddenly in a moment of daze. He grinned at this and rubbed her behind. "We can do that on land too, though. If you'd like." She blinked a few times and nodded, imagining it in her head.

"Just one more thing though," he started, grabbing her face again to make her look at him. She froze again and gave him a questioning look, nervous about his tone of voice.

He grinned and acted as if he were about to kiss her, and then dunked her under the water instead. "Ugh! Strife!" she screamed, spitting out the filthy water she'd gotten in her mouth. "You're cruel!"

"You don't have to tell me that, I know it." He smiled and lifted her legs up so he could swim with her bridal style to the shore. He helped her onto the rocks before climbing out himself and went to his pile of clothes on the ground. She noticed, as he walked unconcerned, that his wet underwear didn't leave much of his rear end to the imagination. She suddenly wished she'd been paying attention more when he was in front of her, since the water had covered it all in the lake. Turn around, she thought. Turn around! But as she watched him pull on his shirt, begging in her head before he could pull on his pants to turn around, he dropped his wet underwear before pulling on his pants. Her jaw dropped as she absorbed every inch of his tight little white behind and she almost died in her spot. She spun around in a blur when he finally did turn around so he wouldn't see that she had been looking, but when he approached her it wasn't hard to tell. She held her arms and legs close together in a rigid stance, and her face was as red as a beet behind her hands that were sealed to her face.

He snorted a laugh, knowning what he'd been hoping she'd see, and quickly but softly popped her behind and shoved her over to her clothes. "We'll talk about my beautiful ass later, when you're ready. For now, though, I think you'd better get home because I hear your parents callin' you."

She paused to listen, without taking her hands from her face, but couldn't hear anything but the birds nearby and the wind rustling the trees. After she felt it was safe to let her face go, she dropped her hands to pull on her clothes over her wet bathing suit. She turned to him, now trying to remain serious, and frowned, giving him puppy-eyes again. "I don't want to go home right now," she pouted.

"You ain't gotta beg me about it. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know and I don't care," she sighed, "I can already tell they're going to put me on lock down from now on."

He snickered. "You think I'm going to let that happen? You're my girl now, not theirs."

Salem couldn't help but smile at that. "Really?" she asked sheepishly.

"Well, seeing as I've been babysitting you, yes."

She rolled her eyes then, but found herself still smiling. "Do you really mean it like that?"

"How do you want me to mean it?" He already knew of course, but he always enjoyed dragging it out of her.

She stepped up to him nervously and leaned up on her toes to reach him, and set her hands on his chest. "You know," she chirped. She slid her hands over his hardened muscle, hoping to tease him, and even thought of reaching around to grab his rear end, since she'd now seen it. She let that idea slide for now.

He felt chills flitter up his spine as she touched him, and his skin burned. She just had no idea what kind of thoughts and feelings flooded his mind and body whenever she touched him. Maybe if she did she would be more confident in herself around him, and maybe that's just the kind of confidence he should give her. He thought thoroughly for a moment as she rubbed him and eventually he decided on an answer. "I think you can safely say that you're mine because I enjoy your company a little too much sometimes, and I find myself disliking it when you're around other people and not me. Especially, when you're with someone of the opposite sex. You know how pissed I get when I see those boys watch you as you go into school during the week?" He sighed and gritted his teeth, but his grin never faded. He paused. "Is that what you wanted?"

She blinked back a few tears and her heart and muscles jumped with excitement. She was fairly sure a squeal escaped the back of her throat without her notice. She nodded stifly, since her jaw was too stiff to answer verbally. She hugged him tightly and caught herself wanting to scream out three little words out of excitement, but she bit her tongue and held them back.

"You know every thing comes with a price," he said, grinning. "Since I told you that, you have to return something to me."

"Yes?" she asked quietly. She was still too excited to answer in a normal tone.

"Kiss me."

She immediatly remembered the way she'd been atop him and kissed him on his stomach, as well as on his neck behind the house, but she knew he wanted more than those soft little baby kisses. She looked at him, and he looked back with anticipation and coyness on his face. She took her finger to pull down the collar of his shirt and leaned on her toes again to plant a kiss between his collar bones. Her arms came up to wrap around his neck so she could pull herself up higher to kiss his neck and throat. He helped her by pulling up her legs to wrap around him, as he'd done in the lake, and let his fingers curl into her back as he dropped themselves both to the ground. She kissed him as smoothly as he had done her, shyly at first, and after a moment more confidently and even roughly, with her teeth. He closed his eyes in enjoyment and kissed her back on her shoulder, teething her as a puppy might. Desire filled in her so badly she jumped him so he lay flat on the ground beneath her, and she stopped herself, panting. "I'm sorry," she hitched.

"For what?" He grinned at her and patted her back. "I was expecting something a bit more innocent, but I'll take that. How'd you get so good so quickly?"

She blushed a beet red and shyly moved off of him to lay beside him on the hard rocks. For a moment her mind filled with inappropriate thoughts as she tried to convince herself into doing something with him, but when he turned on his side and stroked her face, she reverted to much more innocent thoughts. "I learned from the best," she finally answered.

He smiled approval. "I hate to shoot my own gun," he said tapping the guns at his hips, "but you most certainly did."


Sorry for the wait guys, this year has been really busy. This chapter was actually going to be longer with the party included in it but I knew it would take too long and you guys were waiting so I just wrapped this one up. Don't worry, there will be a next chapter! It just takes time, especially with all the work I'm having to do. I got three essays I need to be typing, but instead I write fanfiction :P The story of my life.