Hello again. Thank you once again to all those who reviewed and especially to those who have continued to review. I very, very, very much appreciate it. The last chapter didn't get as many reviews so I'm guessing people didn't like it as much. Anyway, I hope everyone likes this chapter, please review it whether you do, or whether you don't. Sorry it took a little longer to get up, school started, then I got a cold/flu, very busy, will try to get the next chapter up a bit quicker. Oh, almost forgot, thank you very much to the person who came up with a suggestion for this chapter. As you can see, suggestions are both appreciated and used so if you have them, review, tell me, within reason I'll use it.

Chapter 6

Wrestling the collar over Lucifer's head Ally raced downstairs to answer the door, throwing it wide open she launched herself into her boyfriend's arms without a second thought. So happy to see him she barely noticed that he did not hug her back and pulled away rather quickly. Pulling Darien through the door she quickly shut it behind her then turned around to face him.

'Darien! It's so good to see you again; I always miss you when you're gone. Where did you go? You must've forgotten to tell me.' Reaching out she took hold of his hand. She started to get a little worried when Darien didn't answer her and seemed to be looking around the room.sniffing! 'Darien?'

'What!' he muttered impatiently then seemed to remember where he was. 'Right, yes, of course, I must have forgotten to tell you.' He pulled away from her and wandered through the rooms of the house, still sniffing, and blatantly not answering her question.

Ally followed her boyfriend around, starting to wonder if he'd hit his head on the way in the door, he always wore such ridiculously chunky heeled shoes, he liked to feel much taller than everyone else for some reason. She had always found it a bit weird that he wore higher heels than she did, but knowing his strange temper and even stranger sense of pride she knew better than to mention it. Finally she saw him running his hands through his hair in frustration and come to a stop. Patiently she waited with a frown on her face to hear the excuse of his peculiar actions.

'There's a disgusting smell in your house and I can't work out where it's coming from. I mean, it smells almost like a dog, but that's impossible, you don't have a dog, and no one we know has a dog either.' Suddenly he turned around to face her, a disgusted look on his face. 'It's not you is it? I mean, I know you don't like perfume but that's no excuse to smell that bad!'

Ally just stood there, staring at him, mouth hanging open in absolute amazement. 'Where the hell do you get off talking to me like that?' her fists suddenly clenched and she became more than a little fed up with his little mood swings. 'Of course I don't smell that bad and I have no idea what horrible smell you're talking about, the house smells fine! For your information though I do have a dog, shows how little you know about me doesn't it? You and Lucifer should get along just fine, you're both arrogant, egotistical bastards at times!'

Whirling around, shaking slightly with anger she stormed up the stairs and slammed her door behind her. He would follow her, he always did, but she wanted a bit of time alone first. Banging her head back against the door, she slowly let herself simmer down and slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor. She shut her eyes and asked herself for the thousandth time why she put up with him and the way he treated her. He cared for her she reminded herself, and she cared for him, nobody was perfect that was all. Suddenly she became aware of a quiet noise in the background and she furrowed her brow in irritation. With her eyes still shut she located the direction the noise was coming from then slowly opened her eyes, really not in the mood to deal with anything right now.

What confronted her made her blink a couple of times and then groan in defeat. Facing her from across the room was a very large pissed off dog.wearing a pink collar and lead. After a few seconds she saw the hilarity of the situation and burst out laughing. Bordering on hysterical she slowly sank down until she was lying on the floor, helplessly convulsing with fits of loud, infectious laughter. Eventually it subsided to giggles then stopped completely and she let out a sigh of relief, laughing had always calmed her down, got rid of stress.

Rolling onto her stomach she crawled over to her beloved dog and plopped down beside it on the mat. Slinging an arm around Lucifer's shoulders she cuddled up to his side and rested her head on his neck, the feeling of the hard, quivering muscles oddly soothing. 'Well doggy dearest, now you know how I felt this morning. You're just going to have to put up with the wretched collar aren't you; well think of it this way. I could have gotten you the leopard skin collar with the bow on the front; somehow I think you'd like that one even less.'

The door in front of her suddenly, but predictably crashed into the wall and she slowly turned her head to view the large boy standing in her doorway. Instinctively she moved closer to Lucifer and strangely she noticed he was growling more.at Darien! Turning her head back again she looked forwards and backwards between the two, now wasn't that odd, she'd been sure they'd get along just fine. Sighing, she slowly stood up and moved to her wardrobe to grab her coat and slowly made her way out the door, nudging Lucifer out in front of her.

She knew all too well that neither of them wanted to argue, that it never did any good, so she quietly made her way through the front door, lightly grasping Lucifer's collar in her hand. As Darien stepped out after her she snatched her bag off the mantel top and locked the door behind her. Suddenly he seemed to become aware of the dog closely leashed to her side, still trembling with rage and now growling ferociously. Feeling a backlash of the dragon's momentarily unrestrained power he staggered back several steps and fell over the plant pot Lucifer had dumped his dry food in the previous evening. Lying in a crumpled heap on the floor he barely even noticed his lap-full of dog food as he stared incredulously at what appeared to be an average, if extremely angry dog in front of him, not understanding how the waves of raw power could possibly be coming from it, and trembled slightly in fear.

Lakh, realising what he'd done, quickly leashed in his power. Much as he'd like to sit here all day, tormenting this little wretch, he had a cover to maintain. Once he had put all of his mental wards back up and disguised all signs of being anything other than ordinary he stopped barking and walked over until he was standing above Darien.

With unexpected calmness he slowly cocked his leg and emptied a full bladder over the quivering vampire. Turning to give him a look of utter disdain and disgust he turned and roughly kicked a pile of dirt over the slowly spreading stain. Walking back to Ally's side he had a look of smug approval on his face as he surveyed the sight before him. In his opinion, his efforts had actually improved the boys' stupid attire. No one should wear all white; it just looked stupid, as if they were dressing up as angels. He knew for a fact this boy was no angel so he had no excuse. He would make him pay for the way he treated his girl. While she was under his protection no one messed with her, and that meant no one. Other than him of course, he only did what was absolutely necessary and it was for her own good after all.