AN: Another one! Thank you for the follows and favorites! Enjoy and please review!

Chapter Eight

Don't Fear the Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult

Come on baby, don't fear the reaper

Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper

We'll be able to fly, don't fear the reaper

Baby I'm your man

Cassidy's eyes widened and he turned his head to look at Elain from where he was resting against a pew, freshly healed and covered in blood. He realized as he got up from the floor that he'd forgotten all about her in the melee.

Elain had been reading in bed when she heard what sounded like a gunshot, a chainsaw, and then more gunshots. She'd been too curious to see what the hell was going on. She'd checked Jesse's room first, but when he wasn't there, or in the kitchen or living room, she began to panic and headed toward the noise. She'd come in just as Cassidy was beating one of them over the head with a bible.

She stood staring at Cassidy, at the bloodshed and the two dead men before her, killed by the guy she was only beginning to admit to herself that she was falling for. A queasiness was forming in her stomach. A part of her was relieved Cassidy was okay, telling herself that he wouldn't kill two people for nothing, but she was also terrified at how he'd viciously taken them out, how he'd seemed to enjoy it.

"How…how much did you see?" Cassidy asked, walking toward her, starting to panic slightly. He'd been so desperate to get some blood in him to heal that he hadn't noticed her. Normally he wouldn't care if someone found out what he was, but this was different and she'd seen him in action. He stopped immediately when she took a step back and his heart started to pound in his chest, not because of what he'd just been doing, but because of the way she was now looking at him. Fear was shining in her eyes as he stood not two feet in front of her.

"Enough to know you should be dead," she answered, her voice quiet but firm.

"And why exactly do you think that is?" he asked, keeping preternaturally still. The last thing he wanted was for her to turn and run out of fear of him.

"I saw you…drinking their blood…after you…you…"

He held his hands out in front of him, fingers spread. "I'm not gonna' hurt you. I would never hurt you Elain." Something softened in Elain's eyes at him speaking her name, at the sincerity in his voice, but she couldn't help but be disturbed at the scene before her. What little light there was in the room glinted off Cassidy's red hands and he remembered they were currently covered in blood so he dropped them.

Her next words surprised him. "You have no idea how to fix the air conditionin' do you?"

"Not a bloody clue," he answered, letting out a small sigh of relief.

"You were…those men were after my brother?"

"No, they were after me." Cassidy said, watching her as she kneeled down next to Jesse, checking on him.

"Because of…what you are?"

"And do you know what I am?" he asked softly, carefully.

It was Cassidy's turn to have fear shine in his eyes. Fear of what she would think of him. The real him. The monster. Now that she'd found out who the man she'd been spent so much of the last couple weeks smiling at really was.

"Tell me," she said, staring at him. She wasn't even sure she could get the word out. It just seemed so absolutely ludicrous. She couldn't say it.

"I'm a vampire. A hundred and nineteen actually, but who's countin'. "

She looked away from Cassidy and back at her brother. "Is he gonna' to be all right?"

"Yeah, he's just drunk."

"That doesn't surprise me," she huffed out as she stood, crossing her arms over her chest. "Does he know?"

He knew what she was asking about. "No."

"Are you gonna' tell him?"

Cassidy shrugged his shoulders.

They stood an arm's length from one another, the air thick with tension and the coppery scented tang of blood.

"What were you doin' comin' in here to investigate anyway?" Cassidy asked.

"I…I don't know. I just heard the noise and I couldn't find Jesse and…"

He took a step toward her and was inwardly relieved when she didn't step away from him this time. "You could've been hurt," he said, concern in his voice.

He was right, of course. But she'd been frozen in shock and fear. She literally couldn't move once she was a few feet in that room, not even as the still working chainsaw moved toward her brother or as she watched the man she'd been falling for lick blood off of the floor. "I-I need to go lie down," Elain said, reaching up to run a hand over her face. There was a light sheen of sweat coating her skin and she involuntary shivered.

"Now that right there is an excellent idea. I'll take care of the mess before Jesse even wakes up."

Before Elain could respond Cassidy watched as her eyes went wide and she turned, vomiting onto the floor. "Shite," he spit out as he hurried to her. He held her hair back from her face as she dry-heaved, her hands clutching her stomach as she bent over. "It's all right. I've got you," he reassured, his voice at her ear.

"Ugh," she groaned, trying to get a handle on the nausea. Cassidy wrapped an arm around her waist as she straightened up. "Thanks. I'm gonna' go back to my room now," she mumbled, avoiding his gaze.

Cassidy reluctantly let go of her and watched as she made her way back the way she came. He turned to the room before him and surveyed it before bending to start up the chainsaw and pick it up. "Right. Say hello to my little friend."

~O.O~

Elain was in the bathroom. She was standing in her bra and underwear in front of the sink, scrubbing away the blood that had transferred from Cassidy to her arm and cheek when he'd held her hair back. She mused that that was sweet of him, while also still being terrified at what she'd witnessed. He had kept Jesse from being hurt and if those men were coming after Cass, then they deserved it right?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

"Hold on." She quickly dressed in fresh PJs as the ones she'd been wearing were now in the trash. As she'd brushed her teeth she noticed they had also been smeared with some blood thanks to Cassidy's help. She opened the door to see him standing there shirtless.

"Feelin' okay now?" he asked, concerned.

She nodded, trying to keep her eyes on his face, not his bare chest which was currently at eye level.

"Well, it's all cleaned up. I was goin' to get rid of the bodies but the suns up so I figured I'd shower instead."

"So the sun thing is true?"

"Oh yeah," he said like this was a perfectly normal conversation to be having. Elain realized that for him, it probably was, at least every time someone found out what he was.

"Jesse?"

"Still out cold. Want me to move him?"

"Nah. That's what he gets for drinkin' so much. Emily will probably wake him. Won't be the first time."

Cassidy chuckled, not bothering to tell Elain it was his fault her brother was out cold as things were already tense between them. They both remained standing on either side of the door frame. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked. There it was, that concern in his voice, but he was also hesitant, because he wanted to pull her to him and reassure her that everything was fine. They could continue on like normal, like he wasn't a monster, even though he knew he was.

"I'm fine," she assured him quietly. "Pretty tired."

This time Cassidy didn't hesitate. He placed his hand against her cheek and gently tilted her face up so she'd look at him. "Seriously though," he said, his thumb stroking her cheek. "What if you'd gotten hurt heading into the source of danger like that. You could've been killed even."

"It's not like that would real-" she stopped mid-sentence, catching herself. She shook her head and Cassidy dropped his hand. "Never mind. I'm really tired Cass. Night."

She brushed passed him and his brow furrowed. He hadn't missed a word of that almost sentence and was now wondering why on earth she'd say something like that. He reminded himself that he didn't really know her all that well despite the attraction he was most certainly feeling and resolved to get to know her more. Properly. If that was what she wanted. After what she'd just witnessed, he wasn't sure she would want to even be around him. That thought sent a slight panic through him. He'd spent a good amount of time with her since he'd ended up in this town, even if she wasn't interested in him the same way he was, he still wanted to be around her.