Becca is kinda mine as well, but also belongs to Syvia, who she is modeled after. No touchy!

SVP, please, please, please email me if you can at DragonSeer85@hotmail.com I need to talk to you!

Raziel glanced down across the morning's paper listlessly. Possible declarations of war, treaties with foreign governments, humans facing some crisis or another. With no offense meant toward those said humans, it was all so dreary. What ever happened to fears of demon-possession, and the explosive powers of mages? Where were the supernaturals to cull the human herd? The humans of this world had grown lazy, dull, and ignorant. There was no spice to their lives. He sighed and set the paper to the side and glanced at his daughter, who sat next to him at the table, currently stuffing breakfast into her mouth. He shook his head slightly. Teenagers.

The door opened abruptly. He looked up to see Kain walk through, heading out toward the main doors. As he walked out of the room, he tossed back the comment, "If you'll excuse me, but I believe I'm going to rid this crooked little world of another of its unsavory parasites."

Raziel glared after the master vampire long after the doors had shut. He let out a breath in a growl, muttering to himself, "I am beyond ecstatic over the fact that he is truly not related to me."

From next to him, Rose looked up suddenly. "He's not related to us?"

Raziel shook his head emphatically, then paused and cocked it to the side, considering. "Well, no, he's in no way blood related to us. He was my creator when I was still a vampire, so I suppose if I was still a vampire, you'd share some of your blood with his, but since I was a Soul Reaver when you were conceived . . ." he shrugged. "Your mother would have had you call him 'Grandfather Kain,' but both Kain and I vetoed it. So, he became 'Uncle Kain'."

Rose sat there blinking a moment, then a malicious grin spread across her features. Raziel watched the transformation with a raised, confused eyebrow. Rose quickly suppressed the smile and finished eating, then started to excuse herself as Lara walked in. Her mother looked up at her.

"Where are you headed off to today?" she inquired curiously. Rose grinned.

"I'm going shopping for American styles of clothes so I somewhat fit in when I get there."

Lara blinked at her daughter a minute before telling her, "You do realize American fashion changes with the shifts in the wind."

Rose stared up at her mother innocently, saying, "No, does it really?"

"In other words," Raziel cut in, "you're using this as an excuse to buy more things?"

"I'm allowed to," she responded, pouting.

Lara just shook her head and told Rose, "If you're going to go, please take Uncle Kain with you. That way he can keep an eye on you."

Rose rolled her eyes as she headed out of the room, throwing over her shoulder, "Again with the overprotection."

"You're going to be out of our protection for a whole year before we see you again," Raziel shot back as the door shut. "I hate it when she does that. She reminds me so much of Kain's constant desire to get the last word in." He paused, then turned to Lara. "Speaking of which, she did something rather bizarre before you came in here. I told her Kain wasn't actually related to us, and her face broke out into a smile."

Lara's eyes had widened as he related it to her, and she let her face drop into her hands. "You didn't tell her that, did you, Raziel?"

"Why shouldn't I have?"

Lara blinked at him a moment before thinking to herself, 'Typical male.'

"Well, nothing's wrong with it," she finally responded. She would shove the worries to the back of her head until it was necessary for her to think about them. And she wouldn't tell Raziel of them. After all, if he thought for an instant that Kain and Rose might become involved . . . Raziel would be less than pleased, to put it as delicately and understated as possible.

In the meantime, Rose had gathered all the things up that she needed and headed out the front door. She noticed Kain walking up the driveway, his skin flush and obviously warm. She jogged down to him, grabbed one of his arms, and started dragging him toward the garage.

"Come on, you're coming with me."

He looked down at her and watched in amusement as he held himself still so as far as she was concerned, she was tugging a living—or unliving—statue. She grrred at him, then threw everything in for a last ditch tug. To Kain's surprise, he actually had to step toward her a couple steps to keep from falling over. She took that as her opportunity and dragged him to her car. He allowed himself to be shoved into the passenger seat and was grinning openly as Rose slid into the driver's seat, panting.

"Where are we going?" he asked idly.

"Shopping."

One of his eyes twitched and he turned to her slowly. "I'm sorry? I don't believe I heard you correctly. I could have sworn you just said you were about to take a master vampire and ruler of all of Nosgoth to go shopping with you."

"I am," Rose responded as she started up the engine, listening to the machine purr as it started into life. Kain turned away.

"I am getting out now."

"No you're not," she shot back. She thought about locking the doors, but realized that would only piss him off more, and would make him completely unreasonable, so instead she said, "Mother wanted you to go with me to keep an eye on me."

He paused mid-movement, obviously considering it. After a moment, he sat back against the leather chair again.

"All right. But only for a few hours. None of this four, five hour female business."

"Wouldn't have dreamed of dragging you along on one of those shopping sprees," she responded. "I'd be too afraid that by that time you'd be eating the customers."

He gave her a deadly glare, but she just ignored it, inciting him to begin to plot malevolent things to instruct her on her proper place in life. After about five minutes, he threw the whole idea out the door, as he remembered Rose had never paid any attention that those lessons as a child, and probably would be even more resistant to them now.

It was a quiet ride to the mall, and slightly longer than usual, as she decided it would be better to go to the other mall, rather than the one they had been at the day before. Once they got there, she glanced around the parking lot, and managed to find herself a nice little space at the front of the lane within comfortable walking distance. Rose shook her head at herself disgustedly. She was just as a lazy as the humans on this planet. Ah well, growing up in a place like this impressed bad habits on the youth. That, and going to school. One could pick up so many bizarre things from school.

Kain followed her patiently as she moved quickly through the store, picking out what she wanted. He did have to give her credit to the fact that she didn't take more time than was necessary, and once she had made a decision, she stuck to it. After about only half an hour, she had collected the clothes she had decided on, and gone into the changing room. Each room was it's own little private section, so Kain easily slid into a seat outside the door of the one she had gone into.

"Why are you going to America?" he asked.

"Well, it had originally been because Jeremy was nearly finished with his service, and he was going to come join me." The walls muffled her voice, but he heard it clearly. "Now it's because I'm signed up and accepted, and I would like to see what the U.S. is like."

She opened the door and cautiously stepped out, her cheeks developing a rather light cherry color.

"Well? What do you think?"

Rose was dressed in a top that had a V-cut neck and cut off at midriff. It was a dark red-maroon, and to accent it, she wore a mid-thigh black skirt. She was pleased to see Kain's mouth drop slightly, but it caused her blush to deepen. He nodded once as he quickly snapped his mouth shut.

"It looks good."

"Just good?" she responded, and a giggle actually made its way through her lips. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, and her faded blush came back full strength. She retreated into the changing room with Kain's laughter following her. She quickly changed, berating herself for letting such a . . . a girly sound come out of her mouth, then headed out and purchased her items.

On the way home, she inquired, "Will you be going back to Nosgoth when I leave after the next couple days?"

"Perhaps," he replied vaguely. "Perhaps I'll stay for a while. Depends on my mood when that day comes."

She was silent for a while, then glanced at him. "How long will it be before you come back?"

"I don't know. It will probably be a while before I come back from Nosgoth. Five, perhaps six years. Maybe more, but I doubt less."

"Oh." Rose grew quiet, saddened by the fact he would be leaving that soon. "I'll miss you."

He smirked. "No you won't." At her horrified expression, he laughed. "Trust me, Rose, by four to five years, you will probably be so sick of any mention of me, you'll wish it will be longer."

"How could you say that?!"

He chuckled. "Just wait and see, my little Rose. Just wait and see."

The next couple of days sped by relatively quickly. Rose didn't get to spend as much time with Kain as she would have liked, as she had to finish the rest of her shopping without male annoyed influence, and she had to pack. It was during the day of her scheduled plane trip that her rest was interrupted by a nightmare. She wasn't scheduled to leave until eleven o'clock that night, and a dream consisting of glowing green eyes and a haunting laugh hounded her in her dream.

"There is no escaping destiny," the voice told her soothingly. "You are as bound to us, the Pillars, and Nosgoth as you are to your precious little planet. You will come home, Rose."

Rose sat up abruptly in the dark of her room. She glanced toward her window where her thick black curtains blocked out any and all traces of the sun. She wrapped a blanket around her body and walked down the stairs, knowing trying to fall asleep would be an exercise in futility. Should she actually manage to fall asleep, she somehow knew the dream would hunt her out again. She found herself standing in front of the door to the guestroom Kain was using. She hesitated before it.

'Should I really bother him with this?' she thought to herself, unsure of what to do. 'It's only a dream, after all, and I'm a big girl now.' She bit her lower lip, knowing she wanted to be assured it was a dream and only that, but her pride wouldn't let her ask for comfort. She was about to turn away when the door opened. Kain stood behind, looking down at her.

"Your thoughts are as loud and as obnoxious as you are. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She turned to move away, but he touched her shoulder gently.

"Rose, what is it?"

"Bad dream," she responded quietly. He sighed slightly, but pulled her into the room, shut the door, and embraced her, letting her lean against his chest. After a moment, he easily picked her up, settled into his sarcophagus, and let her curl up against him. He closed the lid quietly, and let an arm wrap lightly around her, giving her the comfort she wanted. She felt immediately better in his arms. She watched him close his eyes and fall asleep. She snuggled against his chest a moment, then moved to look down at him. This was going to be the last time that she'd see him for at least half a decade. It seemed like she met up with him only to be separated from him. Gathering her nerve, she leaned down and kissed him. To her surprise, she found a response from his lips. She jerked back, and promptly smacked her head against the top of the sarcophagus. Forgetting her surprise, she placed her head back against his chest again, hands on the back of her head, moaning, "Ow." She felt Kain's chest moved as he chuckled. She looked up at him.

"I thought you were asleep."

He smirked. "Do you really think I fall asleep that quickly, Rose? I'd be a dead man if I did. I was actually awake when you kissed me the first time the other day."

"You were—" she stuttered, looking for words to describe her outrage. Finally, she settled on asking, "Why were you awake?"

"That was actually your fault. I woke when you hit your head on the sarcophagus."

At the reminder, her head started hurting again. She rubbed it. Suddenly, she found his hands on either side of her face, and he gently kissed her again. Too surprised, she didn't respond for a moment.

"Ah, Rose." He gently poked her nose. "You are beyond words at times."

She blinked down at him, breathing in the familiar sent, studying the eyes she had grown up loving, and was struck with the same sadness he was going. Shoving all thoughts of consequences to the back of her head, she pressed her lips to his again. She felt his hands slip around her back, pulling her against him. With quick, deft movements, he undressed her, allowing her lips to fasten hungrily against his. He noted the hesitance, though, in her movements, the way she moved as if unpracticed. He pulled back and looked at her a moment.

"You haven't done this before, have you?" he asked quietly. She blushed slightly, looked away, and shook her head. He smiled and pulled her against him, craning her face up to his.

'I'm flattered, then, my little Rose. I promise you I'll be as gentle as I can, if you are still interested in doing this. Are you?"

She nodded after a moment, and he kissed her again.

"I have to go now," she whispered to Kain a few hours later. The two stood slightly to the side, waiting for the time to go. Kain smirked and touched her cheek as she looked sadly up at him.

"Remember what I said. You will be sick of me."

She shook her head emphatically. "No, especially not after that."

"We'll see. Now get out of here and go."

She kissed him once more, then headed out the door. Kain watched her, a small smile on his face, then shook his head to rid it as if he was just coming back to his senses. What in hell was he doing with this girl?!

Another mind wondered the same thing on the other side of the hall. Standing in the shadows watching, Lara stood and cursed silently. Now she had to go make sure Raziel didn't find out about this.

Rose finally got into the United States, specifically Massachusetts. She quickly located an apartment quiet and far enough away so that no one would ask about any odd comings or goings, but close enough to the college to comfortably walk. In her spare time, she went and picked up a class list to re-familiarize herself with it. School started the day after, and she wanted to know where everything was.

All her classes were as they should be, and she quickly found the rooms for all of them. The only thing that seemed funny was her English class didn't list a teacher. All it said was 'pending.' With a shrug, she went home, forced herself to sleep during the night, and got up at eight to head to classes. Mostly it was just introductions, though she did get a few easy things to do for homework. Right before lunch, she finally came to her English class. She glanced around cautiously. All day the male members of the species had given her looks, and many had been interested by her British accent.

The English class was relatively full, so she took a seat in the back next to another young woman. Rose glanced at her. She had chocolate brown hair that fell to her shoulders and when she glanced at Rose, the crossbreed noticed she had gray-green eyes.

"Hey," she greeted Rose. "New here?"

"Yeah," Rose responded. "First time in the U.S. Do you know who the teacher is?"

The woman looked surprised at her accent, before responding, "No, I don't." She extended a hand. "Rebecca. You can call me Becca or Becky if you like."

Rose took her hand and shook it. "Rose. Pleasure to meet you."

"You too."

The door suddenly opened and the class looked up as a young man walked in. He had long white hair, was dressed in an impeccably clean three-piece suit, and small, fashionable rectangular glasses perched on his nose. His golden eyes took in everyone dispassionately.

"UNCLE KAIN?!" Rose yelped in surprise. He glanced up at her, nodded once, then turned back to the class.

"I am going to be your professor for the year," Kain began. "I like to think of myself as fair, but I am hard and ruthless. You will have to work hard to get a good grade in the class, and I will expect you to work honestly. Believe me," he looked over the edge of his glasses, "I will know if you cheat. And you don't want to know to what happens to those who cheat."

Rose let her head slip down to the table, her hands over her head, and Becca looking at her curiously as she whimpered.

"My uncle is my English teacher!!"