Part II

The Vampire didn't stop moving until we burst out of the club into the crisp night air.

"there we go" he commented as he slipped an arm over my shoulders, and once again my body acted as if it had a life of its own as my arm moved to slip around his waist. I breathed a deep breath, the cool air helping to clear my head after the lights, noise, and crush of the club. With my thoughts in a more coherent order I stopped, and opened my mouth to speak,

"So, vamp" I began calling him what he was, as he had taken to calling me. "Mind telling me what your name is? Seeing as you know everything about me"

He laughed softly, and looked off down the road for a moment before returning his attention to me,

"Darien" he stated, "you can call me Darien…"

I nodded, and broke the first rule of slaying, "I'm Serenana"

He laughed again, that same dry laugh, "I know Serena, I know pretty much everything about you."

I blinked in surprise 'what????"  What was he talking about??? How could he know about me??'

As if he could sense my inner distress he soothed,

"Shh, little slayer, don't worry. I know all about you and how you are here to kill me"

I stared at him and suddenly wished that I had the cold steel hilt of the dagger, firmly in my hand. His voice calling my name jerked me from my thoughts once again,

"Ah Serena, you have gotten lax, haven't you?" and there he was, holding the slender weapon in one hand.  I stared at the weapon in awestruck terror, how had he done that without my noticing?? I hadn't felt a single thing, and yet there it was in his hand, hilt towards me.

"How did you do that?"  I gasped, looking up at his face, his strong boned features illuminated by the street lamp.

He said nothing, just placed his fingertip upon my lips, in a gesture for silence, before moving away, mouthing the words,

"You want it? Come and get it" before he slipped away into the shadows.

~*~*~

I stood fixed in place for quite sometime, looking at the place where he had vanished. I couldn't believe this. The Chief said this was an easy job, you know, the old find and slash. Wahoo, Vamps alive one moment, and then dead the next, but I should have guessed it wouldn't be like that for me. Nope, that wasn't for Serena, instead I had to have the luck of trying to kill the sexiest, smartest Vampire on my first mission. Not to mention, I just had to have some type of childhood connection with him, combined with the fact that my stupid body wouldn't co-operate whenever I was within two feet of him, Hell yea! This job really would be a synch! And now I really was in a pickle, he had my dagger, and I couldn't exactly go back to head quarters, and ask for a new one. Besides, I don't think Darien had any intention of killing me in the first place, more like play with my mind, and then try to get me into bed. At least that was what his father used to do, if what I'd heard of him was right.

So there I was, standing at a little crossroad of life, I could either a) return to base, and say that I couldn't do the job cause Darien knew me, and I wasn't immune to his powers, or b) I could go after him, play his game a little while longer, and see what it was he was after, even though I had a sinking feeling that it was me he was after.

I heaved a sigh, for me failure just wasn't an option, and so I marched onwards, placing one foot in front of the other on the path I was certain would lead me right into danger.

The road was getting darker, the streetlights further apart as I walked away from the club, and I began to wish more than ever that I had some other type of weapon on me aside from my bare hands, and a pair of high heeled boots.

After a little while, I felt as if I was being watched, and my training set back in, putting me on high alert, as I categorized every sound, trying to gather as much information as possible about my surroundings for either a quick escape, or some means to give myself the advantage in a fight.

The not even the barely audible sound of shoes on pavement proceeded Darien's re-appearance; he was just there, having emerged seemingly from the night itself to materialize before me.

"What do you want with me" I demanded, determined not to fall under his spell a second time.

He fixed a quizzical look at me, "what do I want with you?" he repeated, "I think you should ask yourself, what it is that you want with me"

I was taken aback

"WHAT?" I exclaimed in surprise.  How dare he go suggest that this was all my idea!

"Well, you are the one that followed me…" he stated,

"You didn't give me much choice" I shot back, my eyes glaring daggers at him.

"Ah, so you only wanted the dagger back then?" he commented,

"As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind having it back"

"Mmhm, well if you want it, you're going to have to come with me"

I looked blankly at him for a moment, my gazing then shifting to his hand, as he reached out to me; silently I made a split second decision, and took his hand. Those cool fingers of his closing about my own, as a smile lit his face, together marked the moment when I realized that I wasn't really afraid of him. This fear I had, was not so much for my safety, as I knew that he wouldn't harm me in a physical sense, but as my heart-beat quickened in my chest, I began to wonder if my emotions would survive.  

~*~*~

Once again he was leading me somewhere and I was following him, as willingly as if he was no more than a regular guy, leading me off for an afternoon of fun and adventure in the park. Only this "park" was a dark, lightless street in a neighborhood that people with any amount of common sense generally steered clear of. 

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him as he pulled me along past a row of houses, before passing through a gate, and up a long driveway.

"To my home" was his reply, and then it was there, towering above us in its entire moonlight splendor. I was stunned; it wasn't a house, more like a mansion,

"What? You live here??" he laughed in reply, proving the place was really and truly his as he turned the key in the lock, opening the door and flicking on a light, to illuminate the massive entry way.

I didn't know what I expected, maybe cobwebs, coffins and bats, but that wasn't at all the site which greeted my eyes, and once again I was stunned. I had never in my life been in anyplace as grand as this, I stood just inside the door taking in my surroundings for a moment, before following him down a hallway and into another room where I stood in the center looking around, my eyes darting about, scanning the many paintings, and sculptures that adorned the walls, and tables.

"That's my father over there" Darien remarked as he appeared beside me, a mug of steaming liquid in his hand, at my puzzled glance he went on,

"It's just tea Serena."

I smiled then, and took it from him as I moved to curl up in an oversized chair. Finally settled, I watched him as he moved about, the light from the halogen lamp in the corner tracing shadows behind him as he knelt upon the great oriental style rug to light a fire in the fireplace.

It was then that I let my mind wander; I knew that I had to kill him; just things were slightly more complicated now: 1. He still had the dagger, and 2. There really wasn't anything handy I could use to "get him out of the picture" so to speak.