A/N: I would have had this posted weeks ago, except for computer problems, and then my editor was having computer problems (though hers were in the form of a brother, while mine had something to do with the hard drive) and so....yeah. Anyway, chapter ten is about half way done. It will be really long. Would you guys rather have one really long chapter, or two chapters of middling length with a cliffy? Please review and let me know. You know what's funny? Chapter nine of Far From Over was also called the truth. Hehe....I'll shut up now.

Disclaimer: Surprisingly all conversing characters in this chapter are mine. I don't own Selene, Michael, Lucian, Kraven, or Viktor though. Drat.

Chapter Nine: The Truth

When Chris woke, he was lying in a strange bed. He didn't know how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was passing out in the chair Ravyn had pushed him into after struggling to stay conscious throughout their trip from the city to...wherever they were.

Where was Ravyn anyway? She wasn't anywhere in the room with him, and he couldn't help but think that maybe that was a good thing. After what he'd seen last night... The image of her...feeding—that was the only word he could think of to describe what he'd seen—flashed through his mind over and over, and he shuddered with horror.

He sat up and ran his hands through his hair. It was clean. He looked at his hand in shock. He knew that he had been bleeding last night. He distinctly remembered bleeding. He touched his head carefully, feeling for the cuts that he knew were there. They were gone.

A blonde woman walked in, carrying a tray. She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, and was very tall. She set the tray on a table by the bed and said, "My name is Evelyn, and I'll be your waitress today, so if you're ready to order, I'll be glad to take it."

He stared at her.

"It's a joke," she explained. "Never mind." She picked up the tray and set it on the bed, trapping his legs under it. "Ravyn made you pancakes," she told him.

He nodded dumbly.

"Let me see your head," she commanded. "I want to see if I fixed you as much as I thought I did."

"That was you?" he said, shocked into speaking.

"Ah, so you do talk." She laughed. "I was beginning to wonder." She inspected his head briefly. "It all seems to be in order. Of course, Ravyn's the only one who will be able to make sure your mind's still okay, but I'd wait a bit before you do that. You two have some things to talk about first."

Evelyn left the room, closing the door behind her. Chris began to eat his pancakes. The door opened again and Ravyn stepped into the room. She looked at him, leaning against the door, her hands behind her back. They just looked at each other for a minute, then Ravyn broke the silence, saying, "It's weird, seeing you in here."

"Why's that?"

"This was my room," she said, simply, looking around and taking in the bookshelves lined with books, the white walls, the impersonal-ness of the room that was somehow lessened by his presence. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to him.

"Chris," she said, reaching for his hands. He flinched away. "What is it? What's wrong?"

He picked up the tray and moved it off his legs. He looked at her, trying to speak, but unable to get the words past his lips. He got out of the bed and went to the wall. He leaned his forehead against it. He could almost feel Ravyn on the bed, wanting to get up, but afraid of his reaction.

"Chris?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"I could ask you that same goddamn question!" he exploded. "What the hell happened last night?"

"Chris, I—" she started to say, but he cut her off.

"I saw you drinking the blood of a guard," he told her angrily. "What the hell is going on? Who are you? What are you?"

"Oh God," Ravyn said. Her hand pressed against her lips, trying to force back the confession she knew was coming, and was afraid to let out. "Oh God." She sat there, motionless, trying to think. Nothing came to mind. How did Mom tell Dad what she was? How can I...?

She took a deep breath and stood, facing him. "Chris, I'm...I'm not exactly human."

"No shit."

"I am the daughter of vampire...and a werewolf."

"You're joking," Chris said. He had expected something weird, but this...

"No. I'm not. It's a long story, but the Cliff Notes version is: there was a war between the vampires and lycans—werewolves," she explained. "My mother was a Death Dealer—a soldier—for the vampires. She thought that the lycans killed her family. My father was a human, but he had this special gene that would let him be bitten by both a lycan and vampire and live. He was bitten by Lucian, the leader of the lycans."

"That name sounds familiar," Chris said. He was feeling a little calmer, and he moved closer to the bed.

"Kraven mentioned him. Lucian and Kraven had a deal to end the war and take over the vampires. Kraven thought Lucian lied to him, so he shot him."

"And he's still alive?"

"I'm getting there," she told him. "Mom's sire showed up, and then Kraven shot Dad with silver nitrate, which would have killed him if Lucian hadn't told Mom to bite him."

"Silver nitrate?"

"It's a special bullet," she explained. "Specifically engineered by the vampires to kill lycans. The lycans had ultraviolet ones to kill vampires. Anyway, Dad and Mom's sire fought, and she ended up killing him. Her sire, not my dad," she added quickly. "And then I was born."

She stopped.

"So why were you drinking that guy's blood?"

"Chris! Weren't you listening! I'm part vampire! That's what vampires do; we drink blood. I hadn't fed in days. It was either him or you. And there was no way I was going to bite you."

"Well, that's comforting," he muttered sarcastically. She went around the bed to him and took his hands.

"Chris, I would never hurt you," she told him softly, squeezing his hands. He looked away, and his eyes fell on their hands. He saw thin white lines encircling her wrists.

"Ravyn, what happened to your wrists?" he asked, holding up one of her hands. "Where did these scars come from?"

"Those are from the cold iron. It cut into me when I was trying to get free."

He stared at her. "I thought...How long have I been out?" he asked, confused.

She laughed. "Not long. Hybrids have the ability to heal quickly."

He stared at her. With everything else she had told him, this was just too much. He let go of her hands.

"Chris," she started, trying desperately to calm the wild look in his eyes. "I'm still me. I'm still Ravyn."

He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I...I have to..." he trailed off. Shaking his head again, he turned away and left the room.

"Chris!" Ravyn called after him. "Chris, please!" But he was already gone.

Chris left the basement and went outside, thankfully encountering no one. He couldn't think, couldn't focus, couldn't believe what she'd just told him. How could she have kept such a big secret from him for so long?

He looked around, realizing he had only a faint idea of where he was. Oh well, he'd find his way back eventually. He didn't know if he even wanted to go back.

He felt her mind probing for his, and shut her out. He didn't want to talk to her right now.

"How could she have lied to me?" he wondered aloud. When she was in his mind, he was in hers too; how could she have kept something like her species from him was a mystery to him.

And why? Didn't she think she could trust him? She knew how he felt about her.

He thought about everything that had happened since they had gotten the job to kill Kraven. Suddenly, it all made sense. Every time she had corrected herself, said things he knew were half-truths, she had been covering up her real self.

But what was her real self? She was a killer; he had seen that in Kraven's basement when she'd drunk that guard's blood. But he knew that already. He had helped her kill, had killed himself. Was it possible that she was still the same girl he had always known and loved, but just not human?

As he thought this, he realized it was true. He did love her, and screw her species. It didn't matter. She was still his Ravyn.

He looked around, and hoped it wouldn't take too long to get back.

Ravyn sat on the front porch. Chris had closed his mind to her. All she could do was wait—and hope—for him to come back.

He had seemed to be taking it well, until he saw the scars on her wrists. She stared at them and rubbed them gingerly. She wished they would go away. But she knew it would be a long time before they were gone. Evelyn had had hers for years.

She wished she had told him earlier, before they'd even started this job. Maybe then he wouldn't have reacted the way he did and left her.

There was a sound behind her. She turned and saw Amarice.

"Hey," she said softly. "You okay?"

Ravyn shrugged. To be honest, she didn't know.

"You told Chris, didn't you?" Ravyn nodded. "Didn't take it well?"

She shook her head. "No."

"He'll come back," Amarice told her. She said it like it was a fact, without the slightest hint of doubt in her voice.

"How do you know?"

"I've been where you are." Ravyn raised an eyebrow at her, then went back to watching the road for Chris.

"You remember Rhys?" Amarice asked. Ravyn nodded absently. Rhys was Amarice's betrothed in the Other World. He was a prince, and his kingdom and Amarice's had been enemies for a long time, and their marriage was to be a political one as well as a love match. "His power killed his little sister when he was young. He renounced magic. When I told him what I was, well, he reacted much the same way Chris did."

Ravyn turned her attention to her friend. Amarice's voice was very serious. "He avoided me for weeks, even tried to break off our engagement. But he realized that my power is part of me, and that it doesn't really matter. Chris will come back. If he's really the one for you, he'll come back. I promise."

Ravyn looked at her for a long moment, then said, voice and eyes filling with tears, "What if he doesn't?" Amarice leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her friend. "He will. I know it. I can sense the love he has for you. He'll come back. Trust me."

She stroked Ravyn's hair as she cried, waiting patiently for the tears to subside. When they did, she pulled away, holding Ravyn at arm's length.

"Do you love him?" she asked seriously. Ravyn sniffed and nodded.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Amarice clasped her friend's shoulder and went inside.

Ravyn wiped the tears from her face and looked out to the road. Chris was there, at the very end of it. She stood eagerly and hurried across the lawn to meet him.

Chris saw her rise from her place on the front step and move towards him. He broke into a run. As he drew nearer he saw that she had been crying.

"Ravyn," he said, just before he embraced her. He held her close, savoring the feel of her body against him.

"Chris," she whispered. "I was afraid you wouldn't come back."

He pulled back so he could look into her grey eyes. "It doesn't matter. I don't care what you are. You're still my Ravyn." She smiled at him and opened her mouth to say something, but Adara called to her from the house. She turned slightly to answer.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything?" she asked, seeing their arms wrapped around each other.

"No, not at all," Ravyn told her, blushing furiously and pulling away from Chris. He let her go reluctantly.

"Reece and I are going for a ride," Adara informed her. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," Ravyn said enthusiastically. "Chris?"

"I've never ridden a horse before," he admitted.

"Well then, you have to come," Adara declared. "Can't have a green rider, not in this house!"

"Come on," Ravyn said, walking out of the room and pulling Chris after her.

"Green?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Beginner," Adara clarified. "I'm thinking Sunspot for you. Don't you think so Ravyn?"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to put him on one of the elven ones just yet."

"Elven?" Chris repeated, almost in a panic.

Ravyn twisted in her seat atop Georgian Pie, the half-elven cousin of Wind Dancer, Adara's mount, and Dark Moon, Amarice's horse. Chris, riding behind them, was shifting uncomfortably in the saddle, looking extremely out of place.

She slowed George and waited for Chris to catch up. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, but my ass is going to hurt like a son of a bitch tomorrow." She laughed. "It's true!" he protested.

"I know. That's why I'm laughing." She grinned at him. "You're lucky, you know. These horses are so well trained, it's not as bad as it could be. My first ride was much more eventful."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Most horses aren't fond of wolves," she told him dryly. "And when you get right down to it, I'm part wolf. It took almost a whole year before George here would let me ride him." She patted the horse's neck.

"Hey, Ravyn," Amarice called from up ahead.

"What?" she called back.

"You in the mood for a picnic?"

"Sure!"

Adara and Amarice pulled their horses off the trail, and began to mutter under their breath in unison as the horses moved through the thick grass that lined the trail.

"What are they doing?" Chris asked Ravyn in a whisper.

"You don't have to whisper," she told him. "They can't hear. They're casting a spell."

"What?"

"They're...oh what's the word she used?—enchantresses! They're enchantresses. Evelyn, too."

"You're joking."

"Nope. And if they're casting the spell I think they're casting, we're going into another world." She peered into the air in front of them. "Yep, that's what they're doing."

"Another world!" Chris exclaimed, incredulous. "But how?"

"I don't know; I can't do it. You see those silver sparkles in the air? That's the sign that the border is opening."

There was no noticeable change in scenery. They were still in a field, but the trail completely disappeared behind them, and the houses and other buildings that had been seen in the distance were gone. If asked, Chris would have been unable to say the exact moment it happened, but suddenly he realized that they weren't there anymore.

"Here we are," Adara said. She swung off her horse and knotted the reins so they wouldn't fall off Dancer's neck, then walked a few feet away. She pondered the ground in front of her as Dancer wandered off, and one by one, the other horses did the same as their riders dismounted.

"Is that a good idea?" Chris asked, gesturing after the horses.

"Don't worry about them," Ravyn said. "They're of elven kind. They'll come back."

"But I thought—"

"Well, Sunspot's just a horse," she added, almost as an afterthought, "but the others will keep him with us."

"But—"

"Don't worry about it Chris. Let's have some lunch."

"I didn't even get breakfast," he muttered.

They turned their attention to Adara, who was waving her hand over the ground. A blanket appeared on top of the grass and a picnic basket on top of it. Amarice said something that sounded like, "Marilf!" and then grinned at Chris.

"Keeps the ants away," she told him and turned back to the blanket.

"There's another one for you two over there," Adara pointed to a spot about ten feet away.

"Trying to get rid of us?"

"Well, no, but...I figured you have some things to talk about that you won't want to do in front of us."

"You're meeting Gary and Rhys, aren't you? That's what this whole picnic is about?"

Both Adara and Amarice had the grace to blush.

"We'll go over there, but don't do anything naughty," Ravyn warned.

"We won't, Mother," Amarice said, her cheeks a brilliant red.

Ravyn shook her head and led Chris to their blanket and basket.

"Who are Gary and Rhys?" he asked.

"Their boyfriends. They live in this world, so they don't get to see each other very often," Ravyn said, rolling her eyes.

"I see," said Chris, though he clearly didn't.

Ravyn opened the picnic basket and began looking through it, talking as she did so. "I can't believe Evelyn let them meet out here by themselves. Though I suppose Gary and Adara are married, aren't they. But Amarice and Rhys are still a little young, so I don't know why Evelyn—why are you laughing?" she asked Chris, who was practically rolling on the ground with laughter.

"You sound like an old woman!" he exclaimed, trying to get his breath back.

She grinned. "I do, don't I? Oh well." She handed him a sandwich. "Are we still on for the mission?" she asked him.

"Mission?" he repeated around a mouthful of bread and ham.

"You know, killing Kraven?"

"Oh! Nearly forgot about that." He swallowed, nodding. "You owe me a kiss, you know."

"What!" Ravyn said. "I do not!" She was blushing almost as red as Amarice had earlier.

"Yes you do. Remember, in the café, when we agreed to do this together? I said, if I got all the other information we needed, you said you would give me one kiss."

"I—I did?" He had scooted closer to her on the blanket and she was having a very hard time focusing.

"You did. So pay up."

"I—Chris, this is hardly the time."

"Why not? They aren't paying attention." He gestured to Adara and Amarice, who were sitting with two men on their blanket, looking rather pleased with themselves, and paying no attention to Ravyn and Chris. "And now that I know what you are, and don't care, there's no reason not to."

"Oh, all right," she muttered, and leaned over, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"That is not a kiss, Ravyn," he told her flatly.

"What is?" she snapped back.

"This," he said, putting his hand on the back of her head and drawing her closer. Their lips met. Their sandwiches lay forgotten on the blanket. Ravyn's hand moved up to touch his cheek. She'd been kissed before, but nothing like this. There were no words to describe the sweetness rushing through her body from all the places they were touching. He pulled away slightly.

Their eyes met and he whispered, "I love you," and then their lips were together again. Chris's arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer. She lay down on the blanket and pulled him down with her, never giving a single thought to what anyone around them might think.

A/N: That's it. That's the end of this chapter. What do you think? Please Review!!!