The distance between them was a fair enough size, it would have had to be for a horse family. However the jars of food and the breaking shelves they sat on took up a bit of space on their own. Many times through the night he'd had to shift the way he sat due to a shelf digging into his back or side uncomfortably until he finally found a spot without shelf and sat at an awkward angle so he didn't touch Judy. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position. His sides were protesting from the prolonged position, announcing their displeasure with aches. But it was a small price to pay so he didn't disturb her sleep anymore than his previous movements had. She lay as if dead now, not moving a bit, not even breathing softly with sleep. But then why would a vampire need to breathe? Their lungs no longer had to pull in and expel air. He had seen her breathing when she was awake sure, but like any predator she likely relied heavily on scents around her. To not take in air, she wouldn't scent anything that was possibly dangerous or her prey.

His lip curled in disgust at that as he looked away from her and set the jar at his side though he did so carefully. When he had moved to adjust his position before he had found out that she could wake up in an instant. The slightest little sound like his clothing moving against the wood of the shelves or the wall of the room had stirred her awake. Even now he doubted he had to make much sound to wake her up. And knowing that he wondered if she had been right as a kit. If vampires were so easy to rouse from a death like slumber, had Rogan known she was escaping? If he had then he probably hadn't thought she would get very far being weak from loss of blood. That little kit had proven him wrong however and Nick knew without it having to be said that Rogan had made extra sure she couldn't get away afterward.

He had also seen just how haunting the deaths of the Marin's still was for her even now. He had no doubt she would have been crying if she had the ability anymore, he had seen the sorrow for them and the hate for Rogan in her eyes. No doubt it had taken much for her to return here and he wondered if the only reason was because he needed food and she needed shelter. He'd know if he could read her mind, but he couldn't so her reasons were her own and he wondered if she would even tell him if he asked. He didn't see why she wouldn't, she was sharing her history with him after all. Had she been mortal he would have felt guilty for letting her open up to him with his intentions being betrayal. But she wasn't, good intentions or not she was a vampire, a monster. How much of her story was true? Vampires surely weren't above lying and she was already trying to plant doubts in his head of his own church. And nearly succeeded at that.

It made him feel sick and had his claws unsheathing, smarting into the pad of his paw as he clenched his fist. He was getting careless over the last night, starting to see her as more than just another demon just like she wanted. He couldn't let her get to him that way, he was pretending to trust her, he didn't need to let the act become reality like he'd been getting close to doing. And all within the matter of one evening! She was good at what she was doing for a certainty, but he couldn't and wouldn't let himself be swayed any further. A small reminder in the back of his mind wasn't shy about telling him he had told himself all of that before and did nothing for his growing frustration. But he resolved to really hold to what he was telling himself now. She wouldn't get to him, he wouldn't let her.

It was taking everything he had not to take his dagger and run it into her heart or open the hidden door and let the sun fry her. If she pretended to be so hurt over a family of horses burning alive then she could burn like they had. Maybe that would make up for her sins at least a little bit. The thought burned itself into his mind and soul though and his eyes grew wide at his own direction of musing. The thought of her burning disturbed him and that fact that it disturbed him made him even more disturbed. But he told himself that it was only because the thought had made it seem as if he wasn't sympathetic for the Marin's as if he thought their deaths meant nothing. No, on the off chance she wasn't lying about the family and their demise they had done nothing wrong other than unknowingly inviting a monster into their home. His own parents had done the same for a true stranger, the Marin's had believed the demon was a priest.

The Marin's had been a kind and selfless couple from what she had told him. He hoped that they resided in the best plain paradise had to offer and that they didn't see what had become of the kit they took in. And if Judy had really been as tormented as she said, he was sorry for her as well. A kit should never have to endure what she said she did. Hell a grown mammal shouldn't have to endure it. But there was no saving her from a vampire now, she had said it herself. She had become the monster she hated. She may not kill, may have never killed, but the taint of evil was in her, she was still an undead abomination. Like he had thought so many times as a priest, willingly turned or not it would not save a vampire from being slain. The best that he and his brothers and sisters of the cloth could do was pray for them when they were slain. Still, if what she said was true it was quite despairing that she especially hadn't succeeded in escaping Rogan or found refuge with someone who could help her.

The world had lost a very pure soul when she was turned into the creature she was.

And her dear family, never to be reunited with their daughter, sister, aunt, cousin.

His mind once again went back to Jennifer Hopps. The dear young doe had been so happy to know her sister was possibly alive. Then she was devastated when he tried to gently remind her that the "mystery doe" in question may not be her sister. It had made him feel almost guilty to so quickly raise her hopes and just as quickly crush them. It hadn't been intentional of course, but that made it no better. And soon he would devastate her further, he hadn't promised the vampire he wouldn't tell miss Jenny the truth of what happened to her sister. But he wouldn't take joy in hurting her any further than he had already. It was likely for the best she didn't know the full truth of what happened to Judith Hopps. He had heard of a few cases where rabbits had died of heartbreak.

No, he wasn't being dramatic.

It wasn't from taking their own lives.

Their hearts just couldn't take it and gave up.

Going from the exchange between himself and the gray doe before, she would likely meet the same fate. Which meant he would inadvertently kill her. It would mean that he'd lie to her. He'd tell her that he had come to find she had indeed been captured and died while in captivity. Her body had been cremated and her ashes sent to the winds, he'd tell her. It would still hurt the rabbit, but it wouldn't be nearly as devastating a blow as finding that her beloved sister had become a beast and was destroyed by him. He'd have to pray a lot for lying to her, but he dared say that it would be worth it. He'd make certain there was another priest for her to talk with as well when the pain of her loss began. He wouldn't have the heart to continue to lie to her and give her beliefs her sister was a fine young doe, words he didn't mean.

He caught himself before he let loose a heavy sigh, reminding himself that at present he was in a room with a vampire that would wake up from such a sound. Instead he slowly let it out and while he seen her ears twitch from his peripheral. She didn't move anymore than that and he let himself relax just slightly before turning his eyes up toward the door to the room longingly. He was cramped up down there, in the company of the very creature he loathed and he could do nothing about it. He needed her right now as much as she needed him and until Rogan was destroyed he would keep needing her and she him. It didn't mean he had to like it though and he didn't. He really, really didn't.

For now he could do nothing about it though as he thought before so he may as well try to get comfortable. As comfortable as he could be at least. Not too comfortable though, he didn't want to fall asleep though his body was already more than a bit lethargic. One of them had to be vigilant and he was the only one awake at the moment. Of course she was still aware enough to hear him moving when he did. But that wouldn't mean she was going to be awake enough to move quickly if they had to fight from an unforeseen and unwanted guest. So that left him to guard until she woke up. He was sure that his grogginess was more because of the silence than it was any actual fatigue. But then he had never been the victim of a succubus before that night either so he didn't know if the forced sleep and her mind control hadn't put a strain on him. Plus he was nocturnal by nature himself but he had thought he'd gotten that under control.

He just had to stay awake though, that shouldn't be too difficult. He had done it a time or two when on other missions. Of course on those other missions he had been given a constant source of energy either in potions or in the energy spells he or his comrades would cast. It served to give bursts of energy for short amounts of time, but the following fatigue was impossible to ignore. Even with the help of those nasty potions-potions he would never use unless there was absolutely no way he could sleep-he would eventually conk out. Now he didn't have potions he could use and if he cast a spell it would wake the vampire with him and the energy of the spell would act as a beacon to anyone who could see or feel it. As long as he kept his mind active, he should be fine though. Doctors everywhere were always saying an active mind kept the body awake.

So he used that excuse to internally recite the brotherhood code both to keep himself awake and to remind himself of it.

Never face a vampire alone, never play the hero. As strong as a slayer is, a vampire has at least three times that strength.

Never expose yourself to the enemy, surprise attack is always the..best attack...

Never-

Nick found himself bound at a stake and struggling to break free in spite of his weak and injured body. He could feel every wound, old ones reopening as he struggled against the rope that bound him and new ones opening further. He could feel the hot stickiness of his own blood running freely from the wounds which swords, spears, and stones had opened. Not to mention the vampire that had fed on him before it was stopped by his brother's of the cloth. But they hadn't done it to save him for just as soon as they stopped the attack which he strangely mourned he was bound and forced into a cell to wait for dawn at which time he would be executed.

Somewhere in a distant part of his mind he knew that they had to have found out that he'd been working with a vampire. They surely would have understood had he plead his case though as he was sure he had done. A whisper in the back of his mind told him he had and the Father had responded with something along the lines of "yet the flames still burn". He knew he had sinned in siding with a vampire, but he'd seen no other way to achieve his goal. Now how far he had fallen, going from the best slayer in the Order of Archan to being executed while the slayers he had trained himself stood in the crowd watching. As his pain filled and pleading eyes searched the group he saw that only two of spectators looked on with sorrow and sympathy. Jaden and that dumb broad that had almost ruined their mission before, Gazelle.

They looked on, felt sorry for him, but did nothing to stop what was happening while Nick struggled against his bonds and would have been pleading for them to listen had his mouth not been silenced with a gag. Each struggle shuffled his hind paws and had him stepping again and again on thorns of the branches they had placed around him to set afire when the time came. Each movement made more of his life giving blood leave him, weakening him and making his movements become more and more sluggish. This continued until he couldn't move any further and had no choice but to listen to Father Bogo tell the others gathered that this was what happened to those who consorted with vampires, those considered a traitor to the church. He could do nothing to defend himself with his mouth bound and could only pant harshly both in fear and from his struggles, but that didn't keep him from trying to communicate with his eyes.

His efforts only earned a barely held back sob from Gazelle as she stared back at him and had Jaden looking down so he wouldn't see what was coming. That was when Nick noticed Father Bogo's speech had cut off and the heat from his torch reached him. It renewed Nick's struggling though he wasn't able to thrash nearly as much as before and the rope didn't give so much as an inch. That didn't stop him from trying and adrenaline set in when smoke reached his nose and heat got even hotter until it was raging around him and smoke made his eyes burn and water. He knew he was about to die and couldn't stop the whimpers from leaving his throat though they were muffled around the gag and all the while his struggling never ceased until he again tired out.

Not even adrenaline could save him he knew, he could only watch helplessly as the flames licked against the wood nearest him and began to scorch the fur of his hindpaws. He could only feel and whimper as the heat reached his clothes and made them unbearably hot against his body. He could only breathe in the smoke with every panting breath he took until his vision began to go gray and hazy. But his ears worked fine, he could hear screaming suddenly over the roaring flames surrounding him.

"-ck! Ni- ..ake up!"

He heard it clearly, he may not have caught everything, but knew someone was calling to him. But couldn't find the strength to open his eyes or lift his head. He tried to make a sound to show he could hear, that he was alive and made a strangled whimper. It seemed that wasn't enough for the voice.

"Nic- ..ke up! Co- on!"

He didn't want to open his eyes, all that waited was black smoke and fire.

"Wake up! It is not real! NICK!"

He jerked awake with a gasp and didn't register when his wide eyes met equally wide violet before he began to cough. He didn't register anything around him as he coughed and hacked to expel the smoke from his lungs. But strangely he felt it and was comforted as she rubbed his back though when she sighed he wasn't sure if it was more from relief or frustration. But as his coughing turned into panting he realized there was no blaze around him, no smoke, no spectators. He was still in that same small room and a shelf was digging into his side again. He realized then that he must have fallen asleep in spite of his best efforts to stay awake and concluded that reciting the code had been what had caused that nightmare.

But it had been vivid, almost as vivid as when he had dreamed about Judy before he woke up to find her in his room. It had been detailed, he'd even felt the pain of the thorns, the heat of the blaze, and smelled the smoke. He'd felt himself growing weaker, in pain because of wounds he didn't have while awake. He had just felt himself dying and slipping away so was that really a nightmare? Or was it-

He shook the thought from his head before it could complete itself and straightened up as well as he could in the space that he had. His brothers and sisters wouldn't betray him that way. They would listen to what he had to say, he would go before the mighty Empyrean church before execution if his deeds were thought to be bad enough. All of that considered, he knew the nightmare was just that, a nightmare. Most likely brought on by reciting the code before he fell asleep.

"You were thrashing and whimpering in your sleep.." Judy said softly.

His eyes opened and turned to her quietly and found her watching him. She seemed sympathetic as she regarded him and moved so she was sitting, leaning against a shelf on the wall across from him. Only then did he realize how close she'd been to him, likely she'd been shaking him to wake him up. Thrashing and whimpering wouldn't have caused so much alarm in her that she'd be almost desperate to wake him. It had been her voice calling to him in his nightmare he was sure and the sound had been quite desperate.

"You saw."

It was a statement and not a question though she answered with an affirmative nod all the same.

"The images was what woke me. You were practically screaming your nightmare into my head.. Do you think that, that will be your fate?"

He wanted to deny it immediately, to tell her exactly what he had told himself before. He wanted to tell her they would never betray him and that it had been nothing but a nightmare. He wanted to believe it without a doubt himself. But the fact remained that the nightmare had been so vivid that even now he could almost feel the heat and wounds, he could still almost smell the smoke. So instead of denial his answer was:

"I do not know.."

TBC...

AC: Here it is at last, the new chapter. I hope this makes up for how long it took to come out. I hate this internet I swear, but so far, no trouble today. Let's see if it holds out to upload this chapter. Fingers crossed. I'll try to get the new one out next week though I'm not going to continue to make promises with my net being as temperamental as it is. So all I can say is I hope to get it out next week. Thank you for your patience everyone!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and even that I have help with.

Shout outs: As always to TheWyvernsWeaver, lgarniger, and Wodahseht for helping me with this story. Big thank you to lgarniger for the comic he's creating for Crimson Dusk as well and to Wartoxdude who is scripting it for him. You all rock! Thank you all once again for everything you do for me!