-Title: Violet Eyes
-Author: Kaelyn Marble_kittyn@hotmail.com
-Rating: 15 for the most part
-Spoilers: Uh, general NW, I guess, nothing specific
-Disclaimers: The Night World and everything in it belong to L.J. Smith, not to me (although that would be cool if it was) All characters you don't recognize such as Lei and Avalon belong to me so if ya want to use them, ask!

-Summary: Avalon and Lei have been friends for a long time. Avalon has always known that Lei had a secret, but when she walked in on his brother feeding from a human, her whole view of the world changed. Will she still be able to be friends with Lei now that she knows about the Night World? That question depends on whether she is able to survive first...

-Author's Notes: Yay for pathetically long periods between updates! Whoo hoo! Erm...yeah. Really sorry, 'specially since I had said I would be updating this. Once again, I won't promise, but I will try. Please forgive me! Responses to comments are after the chapter! And please, reviews are always and blessedly welcome!

Chapter 11:


Lei felt relief flood through him, although the little island of guilt was still lodged firmly in his stomach. At least she wasn't mad at him. She came back over and sat down next to him, laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Am I a vampire now?" she asked, snuggling into his embrace. Her question surprised him and he pulled her closer.

"No. Not yet. Probably close but not yet. One time almost never does it," he replied. She nodded, shifting so she could lay with her back against his chest.

"What about before though? This wasn't the first time," she said, voice lacking the fear he would have expected. He shook his head.

"Nuh uh, that was too long ago for it to count. The effects fade after a week or so and that was almost two weeks ago."

"Oh." Lei held her protectively to him and rested his cheek against the top of her head, feeling the silkiness of her hair against it. She smiled up at him, craning her neck to look him in the eye. Suddenly feeling a bit playful, he dropped a quick kiss on her forehead, then one on her cheek. She closed her eyes and smiled even more, then suddenly spoke. "You kissed me you know, last night." Lei blinked, startled. He had? Searching back through his memories of last night, which were few and far between thanks to consuming enough alcohol to make a human drop dead from poisoning. Vaguely he remembered desperately wanting to kiss her but couldn't remember actually doing it.

"Did I?" he asked, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry."

She sighed in frustration, blowing the air up so it ruffled her bangs and gave her the look of a cute little pony. "Are you really?" she asked, voice annoyed. He paused for a moment. Didn't she want him to be sorry?

"Not really," he found himself saying before he had really thought. She smiled again at him and nodded in satisfaction, putting her head back down into a more comfortable position.

"Good," she said firmly. Again Lei found himself speaking before he knew what he was saying.

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" He cringed a bit, aware that he had probably just set himself up. Now she would laugh at him and ask him if he was kidding. Or even worse she would take him seriously and give him that pitying look that he had seen her give hundreds of other boys and say in that soft voice...

"Yes."

Wait, that was wrong, normally she would say 'I'm sorry but I just don't feel that way about you'.

Avalon waved a hand in front of his face. "Lei did you hear me? I said yes." He looked at her, pure astonishment glowing on his face. He broke into a huge grin and hugged her tightly.

"Really? Cool!" he said. His words seemed to trigger a memory in her and suddenly her eyes widened. She clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh, no!" she cried in dismay. He looked at her, uncomprehending.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worried. She shook her head sadly.

"Promise not to get mad at me?" she asked meekly, not looking him in the eye. Lei felt as if his stomach was sinking.

"Why?" he asked. She sat up and turned to face him, looking rather sheepish.

"Yesterday while I was walking home Jace asked me if I wanted to go with him and I said yes."

Lei's stomach stopped sinking. It downright disappeared. He stared at her with something like shock and betrayal on his face. She winced back a bit.

"You what?" he shouted, shock quickly changing to anger.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, tears springing to her eyes. "I didn't think you would ask me and he was so sweet and..." she trailed off, realizing she was only making him angrier. "Please, I'll call him and tell him I had a change of plans. I want to go with you," she said, pleading now.

Lei shook his head and got up, anger and humiliation burning sullenly like a lump of coal in his chest while his throat burned for a very different reason. Trying to hold back tears always did that to him. He threw a glance around the room, searching for his shirt, which he found on the floor at the end of the bed. He pulled it on quickly.

"Please, I'll call him now," she said again. He turned to her, glaring.

"Don't bother, I wouldn't dream of taking you away from the love of your life." Avalon gaped at him in shock at the cruelty in his voice. Her face twisted in righteous outrage.

"Don't you dare act like this Lei! I have been waiting forever for you for you to like me. Just because someone happened to beat you to the punch line doesn't mean that you can be a total jerk about it!" she yelled, pushing him slightly, holding back angry tears. Lei's eyes blazed with an unholy light and for just a second, fear outran her ire. She stepped back but he was stepping with her, closing the distance quickly. He grabbed her shoulders roughly but before she could cry out or twist away he did the last thing she had expected him to.

He kissed her.

Not the soft, spider webs and snow flurries way she had always imagined he would, but a hard, angry kiss that made her jaw ache with its intensity. It shook her to the bones and she had the faint idea that someone had shoved a live wire up her spine. And she could tell that he was affected just as much as she, could feel it in the slight tremors that ran through his body as she clung to him, could see it in the brilliant bursts of colored feelings that were creating the fourth of July in the back of her mind where he was still connected to her. It scared her but at the same time she never wanted it to stop.

Avalon brought her arms up around his neck in an effort to soften the kiss but he pulled away abruptly, tearing from her grasp and leaving her with a mind numb with shock.

"Lei..." she began softly but he only shook his head, jaw still tight with pent up anger and eyes dilated with emotions. He turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him. Once outside the house he started running, needing to take his mind off what had happened.

Too bad he couldn't outrun his heart.

*~*~*~*

Music blared loudly through four large speakers placed throughout the gym. Streamers and corny looking cutouts of flowers and rainbows littered the walls of the room and a refreshment table with two chaperones stood near the back, completely ignored by the dancing students.

Jace led Avalon out to edge of the floor whhere they could dance without worrying about stepping on others toes. "You look really pretty tonight," he shouted over the noise, looking her up and down. She was wearing a pure white dress with a boat neck collar and three-quarter length sleeves. The bodice of the dress was made of a clingy material that showed off her slender figure nicely without giving too much away. The skirt was made up of a white gauzy material that flowed out easily as she twirled and had a slightly milky translucence to it. She knew it made her look slim and graceful as a dancer. That was the effect her mother and she had been going for when they made it.

She had let her hair flow free that night, tumbling down her back like a black ink stain over the white dress, a thin diadem of silver with a dangling crystal borrowed from Susan the only decoration. She had gone simple, to compliment the dress, and the only jewelry she wore were the charms, which she never took off. She had very little makeup on; she and Susan had decided that natural was the way to go. Avalon nodded once to her date. "Thanks," she yelled back. "You too.

Look handsome I mean." He laughed.

"Thank you," he said. Indeed he did look nice in a white dress shirt and black pants, the top button of his shirt casually undone. Simple but stunning.

"Let's take a break," she suggested. He nodded and led her over to where a few chairs were, and deposited her there while he went to go get some drinks. Avalon sighed wearily. Looking around at the rest of the dancers, she spotted Susan dancing with Brier. She smiled and waved at them, then continued to look around. Finally she saw what she had been looking for. Lei was dancing close to Annetta, the school slut. It was obvious that they at least were having a good time; every second that girl pushed herself closer to him and from the look of it he didn't seem to mind one ounce.

Avalon looked away, feeling her heart thump dully in her chest. She had thought she would be having the time of her life, instead she was miserable. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned, pasting a brittle smile on her lips. Susan sat down next to her, keeping a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"How're you doing?" she asked. Avalon shrugged, letting the false smile fall off her lips. Susan knew what had happened. She turned to look at Lei again, struggling to keep from jumping up and breaking them apart.

"Look at them," she said in disgust. "I don't think it's possible for her to get closer to him. What does she think she is, plastic wrap?" Avalon could hear the jealous derision in her voice but didn't care. Susan laughed and nodded.

"Perhaps. But then, she acts like she has a horrible case of static cling with any boy, not just Lei," she commented. Avalon nodded.

"I know, that's what makes it so disgusting. He's letting her and you know all he's thinking about is the rumors about her. I mean really, three guesses as to what they'll be doing in an hour or so, and the first two don't count," she complained unhappily. Susan said nothing to that, only nodded her agreement.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. He's only doing it because he's hurt." She sighed.

"I know. You can go back to dancing if you like. I don't want to keep you down," she said glumly.

"Are you sure?" Avalon nodded and Susan left. Jace came back and handed her a drink. She took it listlessly, staring at the bright red fruit punch without actually drinking it. Jace looked as if he was about to speak but she shoved the cup back at him.

"I need to freshen up a bit. You don't mind do you?" she asked him, shooting him a dazzling smile. He smiled and nodded. She left the gym quickly, searching for silence and solitude. She felt kind of bad for Jace, she wasn't being a very good date. The music echoed through the halls of the school, but at least she wasn't around all the kids. She sighed with relief and sat down in a little niche underneath a water fountain. The cold of the tile underneath her brought a strange relief and along with it tears. Putting her head down in her arms, she let them come.

*~*~*~*

Special thanks to:

*Dulce Ambrosia: Thank you so much sweetie! I'm glad that you've liked the story so far, in spite of the long waits between chapters! Yeah, Avvie and Lei do have a rather funny/strange relationship. And it's only going to get worse before it gets better! *giggles evily*

*Keya: Erm...*hides shamefully* So much for planning on continuing...well, I am, just very very slowly. But I'm going to try and get the pages all set up so I don't have to do the coding. I'm really glad that you like this story so much, and that you've had the patience to stick with me since the beginning! Thank you! I'll try not to disappoint you again!

*tjones: Thank you! Oh no, don't cry! But it makes me happy to know that you thought it beautiful! Bwa ha ha. The dance...well now you see! Drowning himself in promiscuous women...*shakes head* Silly Lei.

*AnthyRose: *grins* I can't really answer any of your questions, as that would really give away everything but I will say this...My goodness! Are you a mind reader or something!? Thanks for the review!

*JennyDean-Harman: Hey! The best? Well, I doubt that, but I'm not one to throw away compliments *grins* Thanks! I did email you, though it's been so long I dunno if you really even care anymore.

*clairekygal: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Hmm...dunno if it's a good thing or not that you aren't sure where it's going, but I'll take it as that way. Oh, and did I mention thank you?

*Unknown person: You didn't leave a name, but thank you for reviewing anyways! So much for updating soon though. *sighs*

*ArrA: Yay for favorites lists! Thank you! *does little happy dance* As for the shield thingie...that remains to be told, but I will tell you that you may be right...or maybe not. Sorry for the slow update, please forgive me?

*Cristina: Heya! Well, once again, I've emailed you, though I don't know if you still care or not. But thank you for reviewing! It was much appreciated!

*Belle: Yet again, sorry for the slow update! Thank you so much for the review though ('specially since I think you must have had to dig this up from far back in the LJS archives to even find it) Happy that you liked it, and hope you didn't really die! *grins*

Well, that's all for this time. We'll see if I actually hold to my resolve this time: I'm hoping for the best! Reviews are always welcome, and now for a bit of self promotion: I'm writing a new original story called Changelings, and I'd love it if you guys could tell me what you think! If you like this kind of stuff then you should like it...Please? I am not ashamed to beg! I'd love you so much if you would go and review it too! Okay, enough of that. Thank you again, and until next chapter, see ya!

Kae

Email: marble_kittyn@hotmail.com

Website: www.kaelyn.devili.sh

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/~koneko_no_kuroi/