A/N: Hey, look, I wrote a serious ITFOTN fic! Sorry, Risika's a little OoC, a little sarcastic. Oh well. This is after Demon In My View, too. Aubrey's workin' that bad boy thing. Hey, join SLEVH, Society for the Love of Evil Vampiric Hotties! Send me an e-mail!

She was dreaming.

She was walking, walking through a light so bright it hurt just to open her eyes. She hated light, as did all her kind. Not because it could kill them; no, simply because it was so -- good. So cheerful, happy, kind.

How she hated that, how all her kind did. They were creatures of darkness. Not light.

And yet she was, in her dream, walking in the brightest, harshest light she had ever known. It seemed she was walking through a tunnel with no end. She turned a corner---

And gasped at what lay before her.

A young man, or so it appeared, though she knew he was really older than time itself. Or at least able to defeat time, in a way. Shrouded in darkness, she could not see his face, yet she knew who he was. Though she had gasped upon seeing him, she was not surprised to find him there.

She was surprised, however, to see that he was crying.

She asked, as though the words were from someone else, "Are you alright?"

He turned. Cursed. Scowled. "Get away, Risika. This is not your place."

And then she felt herself falling, falling....

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Aubrey walked the streets of New Mayhem, sighing. He hated this dead city, nearly gone. Fala had gotten in a big fight with Lia, another very strong vampire, and most of the town had been destroyed. Most vampires had left. Not Aubrey. What better place for him than a dead city?

"Is that a rhetorical question, Aubrey?" asked a female voice coming from the shadows. "Because I have a suggestion."

Aubrey scowled as the vampire stepped out of the shadows. "Go to hell, Risika."

Risika laughed. "Precisely what I was going to suggest, Aubrey. You're getting very perceptive. I'm quite proud of you."

"I'm not afraid of you, you know."

"Did I say you were?" Risika asked. "I don't recall that. I am over 300 years old, perhaps my mind is going. Oh, wait. Silly me. I am both stronger and younger than you; perhaps I am not the one going crazy."

Aubrey scowled again. "We're all going crazy."

"How true." And she vanished.

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Risika was hunting. Ever since she had beaten Aubrey, she hadn't minded hunting, and now she had different methods of catching her prey. Seducing human boys--now that was a fun one.

"Hey Jared," she yelled suddenly over the loud music of Club Morte to the twenty-something she was dancing with. He was startled; Jared couldn't remember telling this girl his name. But when he looked into Risika's eyes, it really stopped mattering. "Let's go somewhere."

Minutes later Risika bent over Jared, ready to drink his life. She saw the fear in he boy's eyes-- he was just a boy, she realized, only 20. She shrugged and bent closer, when she heard a voice say, "Well, well, well."

"Aubrey." Risika stood up to face him. Jared ran, but Risika was in no mood to care. "How are you?"

"Don't play games with me, Risika." His voice was colder than usual. Brisk.

"Aubrey, darling, whatever do you mean?"

"Did you kill her?" Risika saw something new in Aubrey's eyes; something that looked like pain, like lost love. She refused to let it shake her.

"Who?"

"Jessica. I know you did. I know you did!" He punched the brick wall of Club Morte and cursed in pain.

"I didn't lay a finger on your little girlfriend, Aubrey. I don't go after mortals for no reason, you know. I would have at least drank her blood."

"She wasn't a damn mortal and you know it." His voice cracked on the word mortal and for just an instant Risika felt a pang of guilt.

But only an instant.

"Whatever." Risika struggled to sound bored. "I didn't touch her."

"Why the hell should I believe you, Risika?" Had a tear just dropped from Aubrey's eye? Of course not.

"Because I had no business with your little girlfriend, Aubrey. I don't play well with mortals who wanted this life."

"You don't play well with anyone." Aubrey glared.

"And you do?"

"Of course not."

Risika was becoming annoyed. "I really don't have time for this, you know."

"But you had time to kill Jessica." For once Risika was telling the truth, and Aubrey had the nerve not to believe her?

Risika glared back. "I. Didn't. Kill her. This is a circulatory argument, and very annoying and childish, so I'm going to leave now." And before Aubrey could even process what she had said, she was gone.

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Aubrey swore. Hell, he believed Risika. Didn't know why, but he did. Didn't know, either, why he cared about Jessica's death. Every vampire had had his mortal lovers-- sometimes they were changed, sometimes killed. But this one... he seemed to care for.

Dammit.

When mortals were involved, everything gets more complicated. And love..... Aubrey pushed his hair out of his face and sighed.

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A/N: I kinda left it at an odd point. So, y'all, how do you think killed Jessica? Should I turn this into a weird mystery-ish thing? Should we have some Aubrey/Risika? Maybe some flashbacks of Aubrey and Jessica's brief time together ala cheesy Blockbuster? Any ideas on who killed Jessica? I don't know yet. But whoever it was did the world a big favor IMHO. Angsty little thinks-she's-hot-stuff-cuz-she-doesn't-buy-into-cheerleading-and-the-prom bee-yatch. Neither do I, but hey, you don't see me dressing all in black, not talking to anyone, and counting down the days until graduation, do you?

~~~~Madgirl Insane