A Dangerous Pairing

by Mg

In a world with werewolves and vampires, Mamoru Chiba searches for the ultimate challenge in hopes that it will be better game. This is a dark fic. If you can not handle movies such as Blade, and Interview With the Vampire, then this story is not for you.

21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

By mg

Don't own SM…

AN: This is where I left off. The next chapter shall be the one that no one has yet to see. When it comes out, I hope you enjoy….

Oh, and you have another snow day to thank.

Olivia rocked her crying baby in her arms back and forth, cooing her so that she would calm down. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had only lived a month and a few short weeks of happiness when everything was taken away from her, and now she would be forced to give away her first child when she was only a baby. Her heart ached. She wanted to be able to see her grow old and become a woman. Life wasn't fair. Why did she have to go and fall in love with a vampire? Now her baby would be made to suffer for her actions. She wanted to cry as she placed her in the basket asleep and tucked the blankets around her.

Serenity. Charles had named her Serenity. He said that he thought it was fitting, that she was so beautiful to him that she couldn't be named anything else. Again, her heart ached. She would miss him.

She lifted the basket from where she had settled it in on the floor and brought it through the darkness to the house whose aura, as far as she could tell, was a good one. Her hope that they would take care of her little girl was the last thought on her mind as she knocked on the door, and took off into the dark night.

~*~

Serenity held the cloth bag close to her bosom as she glanced around the small hut towards the dirt road ahead.

Empty.

She sighed as she placed the handles around her shoulder and paced quickly down the road to her home. If she were lucky, they wouldn't see her. She walked out in the open, watching in somewhat fright as an eaten apple whizzed by her foot to land before her.

"Freak!" She heard a voice call out in the distance. She attempted to ignore it, walking quickly now as another apple hit her hard and square in the shoulder.

"Look at her! She's such a freak!" She picked up the pace, her feet aching as she stumbled over small rocks embedded in the ground. Her eyes were somewhat awkward, she couldn't see in front of her very well. Another apple hit her square in the back of the head. She faltered slightly, picking up her pace.

"Freak!" The chants of the children of the small gypsy village grew louder as she ran down the road, stumbling two more times along the way. At one point she fell, the groceries in her bag scattering across the dirt road. She hurriedly picked them up, wincing when she felt several various objects beat against her back.

"Look at the freak go!" She wanted to cry, but she held it back.

"It's the freak of Northbrook Town! She has white hair for a crown! Eyes like a corpse, waves like a horse, if you find her appealing you're one too of course!" The girls chanted, giggles filling the air as they repeated the horrid rhyme over and over again.

"Leave her alone!" Hearing the familiar voice, she picked up her bag fully without turning back and ran.

~*~

"Sere?" Her mother called out to her when she entered the kitchen. "You have the groceries?"

"Yes mama." She replied solemnly as she walked slowly up to a stool nearby and sat down upon it, placing the cloth bag on the wooden counter.

"You're not your usual bubbly self child. Have the children been picking on you again?"

"Mother…do you think I'm a freak?" She sniffed, rubbing at her nose with the cloth of her sleeve as the old woman began to put away the food from the bag.

"Of course not. What would make you think that?" She smiled.

"Everyone else thinks that." She whimpered. "All the kids say I look like a horse…do you think I look like a horse?"

"Child…" She smiled as she walked over to her and dabbed her finger onto Serenity's small nose, her long black wavy hair winking in the sunlight. "How many times have I told you that it doesn't matter what other people think…it only matters what you think." She smiled. "And for the record, I think you look beautiful."

"But I look so different!" She cried. "My hair is white and my eyes are gray! And…and I grow faster than all the other kids!" Her mother sighed; she hadn't thought that Serenity had been knowledgeable enough to pick up on that fact yet.

"First, your hair is not white, it more of a white diamond I think. And second---have I not told you that to be unique, is to be beautiful?" Her mother smiled as she grabbed her small chin in the palm of her hand and forced her to look up at her. "Child, you are beautiful…don't let anyone ever make you feel different." Serenity looked away.

"Why can't I go to school with Richard?" She continued softly. "I want to read and learn like all the other children."

"Because Sere…people fear what they do not understand."

~*~

"Sere!" She looked down from her spot high up in the tree to see his form below.

"What?" She replied slightly disgruntled.

"Can I come up?"

"It's your tree." She sighed as the medium sized willow shook slightly with the weight of his body coming towards her. When he was at a branch almost level with her own, he situated himself until he was comfortable, and then merely stared at her. "What are you looking at?"

"You look bigger." He replied as he reached out to touch her hair; she drew back as if bitten.

"Stop doing that."

"Sorry." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Why didn't you wait for me today?"

"Because…I didn't…I don't want you fighting just to protect me." She whispered. "I'm not worth it."

"You're worth it to me."

"Whatever…tell me what you learned in school today." She quickly changed the subject, she didn't want to argue about what she was or wasn't worth today.

"Oh, we learned something cool." He replied with a smile. "The girls were all excused, the teacher says it's only for the guys to know now…but they talked about something they call coputating-coupuna-." He paused in thought, trying to get the word right. "Copopulating!"

"What a stupid sounding word." She replied as she turned away from him.

"Isn't it?"

"What is it anyway?"

"Well, Mr. Shernan says that a man sticks his penis inside of a woman."

"What is…what's a penis?"

"You've never seen one before?"

"No stupid, or else I would not be asking."

"Well, it is where our pee comes out."

"Oh, then that means I have one."

"No, only guys have one."

"Show me."

"Excuse me?" She rolled her eyes.

"You have one don't you?"

"Um…yeah…"

"Then show me." She replied with skeptical eyes.

"Oh...okay then…fine." She watched patiently as he untied the rope from around his pants. She peered over and looked inside.

"Ewww." She scrunched up her face; he quickly tied the rope in place. "Why would I let you stick that in me?"

"Who says I wanna stick it in you anyways?" He stuck out his tongue before turning away from her.

"Richard! Sere! Come and eat!" They heard their mother cry out from below. Serenity sighed as she watched Richard hurriedly climb down from the tree before slowly climbing down after him.

~*~

Serenity shivered as she clutched her blankets tightly to her with sweaty palms. The night was chilly and it was a full moon. She could hear wolves howling out into the darkness. She wondered what Richard was doing, if he was as scared of the wolves as she was. She had remembered the stories that he had told her about them and how they stole people in the middle of the night and killed and ate them. She was so frightened she had the urge to urinate in her bed. She glanced at the window; sunrise was a long time away.

More than she had feared the wolves however, she had feared that her mother's man friend would come tonight. Her mother had met a new man named Thomas and he had been courting her for a while. He had seemed so sweet and had always teased Serenity and played games with her and Richard. Sometimes he would stare at her long and hard and she couldn't understand why. Then one night he came to her room; her mother was sleeping.

He hurt her. He told her not to tell, or else. He came to her room often, almost every time he visited her mother. She had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that she looked 14, or so her mother told her; she was only nine.

It started to rain outside and she could hear the raindrops falling on the roof of her room. She was scared. Scared he would come tonight. Scared he would touch her again. One night she had actually tried to protest, to put up a fight, but he pulled out a knife and put it to her throat. She didn't say a word; only lay there lifeless as he moved his rough haggard body against her, slow tears spilling down her cheeks. He told her after that, that if she ever told anyone, he would hurt her mother. If she didn't comply, he would kill Richard. She cried, into her pillow, so her mother wouldn't hear.

She huddled beneath her blanket, shivering. She knew he was visiting tonight, she hoped he would get drunk on that old sake and pass out in the guest room that her mother had set out for him. Perhaps he would forget all about her. She heard the door creak open and then close. She gripped her sheets tighter in fear.

He had come.

~*~

It was getting late in the afternoon as Richard searched everywhere but couldn't find her, looked through all of their favorite playing spots, but she wasn't there. His mother had called the both of them in for dinner a long time ago and he had yet to find her. He was getting worried.

He ran for the lake with a gust of speed, past the tall trees and the huge rocks. She wasn't there. In fact, the only thing he could see was their favorite boat floating in the lake.

It was odd.

He had left it tied to a log on the shore early that morning. He called out her name.

"Sere!" He howled. "It isn't funny anymore, stop hiding! Mama's worried!" She didn't answer. He watched the boat float further away from the shore and something in him told him to go after it. "Sere!" He called out as he sloshed through the muddy water. When he was about waist deep he had still four feet to go before reaching the small boat. He lunged for it, grabbing a hold of the side and heaving himself up to see over the edge. When he looked in side he almost blanched. She lay inside lifeless and pale, blood dripping from her wrists. "Sere…Sere!" His voice quivered as he reached in for her and grabbed her, shaking her to see if she was all right. When she didn't respond he grabbed hold of the boat and with all his might pulled it back towards the shore. When he reached he hefted her out, a great feat considering she was so much bigger than him now, and began to wash away the blood with water. It was now all over her clothes and some in her hair. However, there were no wounds. He watched as seconds later she started to breathe, coughing up blood to the side of him. He rubbed her back as she had done so. It terrified him to see her this way.

Silence reigned between them when she looked up and saw the obvious question in his eyes. Why? She turned away from him.

"Don't tell mama," was all she said as she got up as if nothing happened and walked back towards their home. When she reached she changed her clothes in the back of the house, wiped the blood marks from her body, and set her soiled dress to soak in a small tin filled with water.

~*~

It wasn't the last time that he caught her in the act of trying to kill herself. He had made it a point to try and be by her side always when he could. But she didn't go to school with him, so there were always those times when he would catch her trying to slash various parts of her body. With each time he found her, there would always be more slashes still. Just as always, he would wash them off and find no wound. However with each time she tried, she would get weaker. He was afraid that one day he wouldn't make it in time, that one day the wounds wouldn't heal.

He considered several times why she would do it. When he asked she would only reply by making him promise not to tell his mother. His mother…

Their mother had sat him down one day to tell him that Sere wasn't his sister, that her real mother had to give her away. She had told him that when he had inquired as to why she grew so different from everyone else. She didn't know the answer to that question, only that Sere was not a gypsy. In the end he decided that no matter what, Sere would always be his sister.

He wondered if Sere knew about her mother. Perhaps this was why she had changed so suddenly. She was always so sad, never wanted to play with him, and always wanted to be alone. He never understood what had come over her. Was it because she knew that her real mother had left her? Did knowing that make her want to kill herself? He promised her he would keep her secret, but it didn't mean he was going to stay out of her life. He was going to find out what was wrong with her.

~*~

Richard yawned as he walked down the hall towards the small kitchen to get some water. For some reason, he was extra thirsty and it kept him from being able to sleep through the night. He stretched his lanky arms, pausing in step when he thought he heard some weird noise coming from Sere's room. Feeling odd, but sure it was nothing he stepped somewhat closer until he could recognize two voices in the room. One was Sere…and the other sounded like, like his mother's man friend, Thomas.

"I pr-promise I won't tell---if you leave me alone." Her voice quivered, she sounded like she was going to cry.

"I won't leave you alone until I get what I want, and you still will not tell." He could hear the sound of cloth ripping apart and the bed squeaking. His face turned red, he better not be hurting his Sere.

"Please." Her whisper was followed by a smack.

"Shut-up." Richard slammed open the door, his wild eyes as he looked upon the display. He wanted to choke when he saw Serenity lying beneath Thomas, her nightgown torn from her body as he lay above her with his pants down to his ankles. Upon seeing Richard enter he almost immediately pulled out his knife and swung it to her neck.

"Richard." She squeaked, only to have the knife nick her throat, drawing droplets of blood.

"I said shut-up." He turned to glance at Richard whom stood at the door stock still, wanting to help but not wanting him to hurt her. "Go to bed Richard." He whispered slowly through clenched teeth and hard blue eyes. "This doesn't concern you. Go to bed or I'll hurt Serenity." Serenity watched with fearful eyes as Richard backed a step towards the door afraid.

"Richard, please don't leave me." She cried out quickly and he punched her in the face, making sure to keep the knife within inches of her neck. Richard watched from afar as Thomas slapped her afterwards. He was so scared for her, so angry that he felt like he was not himself. It was as if he was watching from afar.

"I said SHUT UP!" Serenity whimpered.

Richard then watched as his body lunged at the older man, no longer in any sort of mindset. He watched as the knife sliced through a bit of Serenity's neck. Watched as he pushed Thomas to the ground with surprisingly great strength, his hair and nostrils flaring, his eyes bright green. He saw himself grab the knife from Thomas's hand and begin to repeatedly stab him with it. No remorse, no feelings, just a lust for blood and for vengeance, for hurting his best friend. He felt a weight suddenly bare down on him and it was only then did his body and mind become one to see what was going on around him. Sere was crying against his shoulder, weeping tears mixed in blood.

There was blood all over them. All over his clothes, her body, their hair. He started to cry as well, holding on to her like she would just get up and leave if he didn't. That's how their mother found them. A half naked dead man at their feet, Richard sitting with his back against the wall crying and holding a crying and half nude Serenity to his chest.

There was blood all over them. Only blotches of pale skin here and there told her that these were her children. She scanned over the scene before running to them and crying with them. Afterwards she carried Serenity to the bathroom and told Richard to wait in the hall. She came out sometime later, carrying her in a huge towel. She stumbled slightly; Serenity was not as light as she used to be. She would have let her walk, but she had to keep reminding herself that this girl was only nine years old no matter how she looked. She needed the comfort of being carried close and held tight.

Richard watched as she walked towards her own room and laid Serenity on her bed. He sniffed repeatedly, wiping his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his shirt. He stood as tall as he could, attempting to be a grown man in a little boy's body. She wrapped several blankets around her before walking out; leaving the door open in case she called.

She helped Richard to clean himself up then, cleansing away the blood from her son's weary eyes. Afterwards she gave Richard a knowing look and he immediately understood. They walked outside of the house together under the darkness of the night, into the back that was heavy laden with trees, and began to dig a hole using some shovels that had been leaning against the wall of the house.

After that, Richard took note; the suicidal attempts had stopped.

~*~

Several years later…

"Hey freak! Richard around?" Serenity stilled in her movements, dropping one of the sheets that she had been previously taking such care to secure over the line to dry. Now that she was tall enough to see over it, her mother had made it one of her chores; it was also because she was now older that her mother entrusted her with taking care of more things around the house while she worked in town. She turned around to glance at the source of the haughty high-pitched voice; it was two young black haired girls from village, probably friends of Richard. She turned back to her work and continued without a beat, pretending that she didn't hear.

"I'm talking to you!" The same girl pestered. Serenity sighed frustratingly as she picked up the pace at which she was working, taking down old clothes and putting up new ones.

"He's out chopping wood for the winter." She replied as she plucked the fastening pins from the dry linens and dropped them in a basket for dry clothes.

"Then go get him idiot."

"I'm not your servant girl." She heatedly replied, attempting to keep her anger in check.

"Really?" She replied snobbishly. "There aren't many things to do for women whom don't go to school so I suggest you be kind to me because otherwise I won't be so when you are older and are licking my boots to clean them!"

"Why don't you go home?" Serenity could feel her lips quivering as the words the girl said hit close to home. "You're trespassing on our property." She dropped the last sheet into her basket and bent over to heft it up.

"Serenity." The girl paused, watching as Serenity stopped in her trek to the house at the sound of her name. "You will never be worth anything then the job of a whore or a slave. No man would want you other than for a role in the hay and no job would serve you other than that which you requires that you be put under by the boot." She smiled sweetly. "Play nice and just maybe I'll let you be my servant girl." She paused. "Oh, and do tell Richard that Isabelle came by to see him." Serenity ran into the house at her words, dropping the basket inside at the front door and running to her room. She slammed the door behind her, locking it before falling to her bed in tears.

~*~

"Thhheeen h-he wa—walked…aw--aw." Serenity paused, pushing her glasses closer to her face and moving her head closer to the book so she could see the next word. "Away?" She looked up inquisitively at Richard who sat beside her beneath their favorite willow tree, holding one side of the book as he attempted to teach her to read. He nodded his head.

"Yeah, keep going." He replied. Sighing, she focused narrow eyes back on the page as she furrowed her brow.

"For the fit---the fift---the fiftent-"

"Fifteenth." He supplied.

"For the fifteenth tima…tem-"

"Time."

"For the fifteenth time…he locked up-"

"Looked, not locked."

"Ugh!" She pulled the book from his hands frustrated and threw it as far as she could, coming her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I'll never learn to read! The words are so long! I hate it!" Richard arose from where he was sitting to go fetch the book, picking it up from the ground and dusting it off with his shirt.

"You'll get it Sere." He replied as he sat down next to her once more. "You're doing really good. You're learning much faster than I did." She brought her knees up to her chest and settled her forehead on her forearms.

"I'm fifteen years old and the least I could know is how to read…but I don't." She replied softly as she lofted her head. "I wish I could go to school like all the other girls in town. I feel so stupid compared to them."

"You're not stupid."

"Well they seem to think so!" She cried, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She never told Richard about the many times the girls had come over from town and picked on her insecurities; she was too ashamed of what the girls had said, it was embarrassing. They picked on everything about her, from the way she looked to the way she talked. "They all do."

"I don't think so."

"You're just saying that because you're my friend." She turned towards him to see that he was staring at her with concern.

"No…I'm not." He whispered. "At school they don't teach all the girls to read and write…only a few…most of them they just teach how to take care of a home. The few that they do teach, they teach them so that they can become teachers."

"I don't want to be a teacher…"

"I know." He paused. "But, they only teach the girls who are really smart how to read, they pick up really fast…just like you."

"They do?" She picked at the hem of her long light brown dress.

"Yeah." He replied, sitting at attention, as he looked at her in sudden wonderment.

"What?"

"I---it's nothing."

"No…what is it?"

"You'll think it's stupid."

"That's an understatement." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, just tell me."

"Well, I was wondering if…well…you ever kissed anybody?" He asked out of the blue.

"What's a…a kissed?" She arched her brow in confusion at the word. He wanted to be frustrated but knew that her innocence was genuine.

"A kiss is when you press your lips against someone else's."

"Oh…anyone?"

"Well…guys don't do it to guys…they do it to girls."

"You know I've never talked to any of the other guys in the village except you." She replied. He turned his body fully towards her.

"You wanna try?"

"What?"

"Kissing."

"Why do people kiss?"

"I don't know but…I saw a man and a woman doing it in town today, they were all over each other and making sounds…I'm curious." He paused. "Sometimes people kiss during sex too…that's what I heard one of the guys in my class say…he saw his mother and father having sex."

"Oh." She paused, starring off into space. "I don't know why people have sex…it's a waste of time—as---as far as I know…"

"Because it feels good…" He winced inwardly, feeling stupid for the comment he had made as he watched her turn away from him and bury her head in her forearms. "…s-so I hear." He paused as he nervously slipped his fingers through his black bangs. "And when you have sex you can make babies."

"Does kissing make babies?"

"No…I don't think so."

"I don't wanna have a baby now…babies make you look fat."

"I don't think kissing makes babies."

"Okay."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Do you wanna try?" She swallowed, licking her lips and furrowing her brow.

"Will---will it hurt?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay."

"Ready?"

"Mhmm."

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because I always see people close their eyes when they kiss."

"Why?"

"Sere!"

"Sorry." She closed her eyes nervously. She could feel his breath against the skin of her cheek, as he got closer to her.

"I'm gonna kiss you now." He whispered. His breath was warm and it made her lips tingle.

"How long?"

"I don't know."

"What if I don't like it?"

"Then we can stop."

"Ten seconds."

"Okay."

"Richard I-" He silenced her, inwardly counting to ten as they experimented with this new feeling. He paused at three, pulling back.

"Wh-what?"

"Your glasses."

"What's wrong with my glasses?" A hurt look crossed her face.

"They get in the way." He reached for them at the same time as she and their hands brushed. They jerked back at contact, their eyes locking almost instantaneously. He pulled back and looked away, allowing her to take them off herself. When she did, he pulled her face to him by placing his palm on her cheek.

"Your skin's really soft…and you look pretty without your glasses on." She blushed. "And I like your hair, it's different. All the other girls have dark hair, mostly black. Yours is prettier, and it sparkles."

"Really?" He nodded his head before pulling her all the way to him. They kissed for ten seconds. He released her when he had finished count and sat back with a dazed look on his face.

"What do you think?" He murmured after sometime.

"I don't know…it's different…warm."

"Not like when mother kisses us on the cheek is it?" He turned towards her and she blushed.

"No…it isn't." She paused. "Do all grown ups do that?"

"All married people do."

"Oh." She paused. "So that's a kiss."

"Half a kiss."

"Half?"

"I know it sounds weird but…sometimes their mouths open."

"I don't think I wanna try it with my mouth open."

"Maybe another day?" He could hear their mother calling them in the distance to come inside for their meal.

"Maybe."

~*~

Several weeks later found Serenity inspecting her hands, which were now bruised and blistered from washing the soiled linens that her mother had given her early in the morning. It had literally taken her all day to clean them considering the amount of things she had to wash. She sighed as she placed the last sheet into the basket and almost screamed when muddy hands rested on her face.

"Richard!" She turned around to see his laughing form. He was dirty from head to toe and it had been obvious that he must have just come from working in the fields.

"You should see your face!" Her face turned beat red as she looked down at the drops of mud that now rest on the clothes she had just finished cleaning. She looked back up to him with her fists clenched at her sides; he backed away slightly. "I didn't mean it!" He put up his hands in defeat as she stood up and started stomping towards him.

"You better run really fast!" She ran after him when he took off, chasing him all along the shoreline.

~*~

Richard laughed as she squirmed beneath him. She had caught up to him but he had managed to pull her down to the ground and pin her there. She had been beating him mercilessly before, but now it was only her legs he had to worry about.

"Calm down."

"Why?" She fumed. "It took me all day to wash those lines and you---you insufferable-"

"I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to do it on purpose!" He screamed.

"Sorry won't fix it! My hands are sore and blistered from all the work I had done!"

She paused to breathe. "And you single handedly-"

"Look, I'll help you this time all right?"

"Help? Help?" She called out incredulously. "You'll do it yourself you intolerable, obnoxious bast-" For her tongue-lashing she got a mouth full of tongue as he thrust his mouth over hers on impulse. Her body stilled as he rubbed his tongue against her own experimentally. He groaned, deciding that he liked the feeling. Now he understood what all those noises he had seen people make when they kissed were all about. When he felt hers shyly touch his own, he groaned again before releasing her. She looked up at him shocked, her tongue coming out to lick her lips. Not knowing why, she suddenly pushed against his chest and sat up, moving slightly away from him. "I—I have to go clean the clothes." He watched as she all but ran away, his mind still somewhat hazy and clouded over what had just happened.

~*~

Serenity lay in bed that evening, her arms beneath her head as she stared out the window. She brought her hand to her lips slowly. When Richard had kissed her this time it…it was different. It made her feel weird. She wondered how he felt. Did it make his lips burn or tingle? Did it make his heart feel like it would jump out of his chest? She sighed, unconsciously licking her lips; the tingling sensation was still there.

She hadn't meant to run away from him like she did; but now she understood why she had. When she felt something hard press on her between them, she got scared. It brought back painful memories that she didn't like thinking about. Perhaps she could apologize to Richard for her behavior tomorrow. She didn't want him thinking that he repulsed her.

~*~

Richard sighed the next morning as he carried two buckets of hot water towards the bath in the back of their home. He poured the water into the tub before wiping the brow of his forehead.

"Sere!" He called out. When she didn't answer he sighed. "Sere! Your bath is ready!" He waited impatiently before she walked quickly outside from the side of the house with a book clutched to her chest. "Reading those stupid books again?"

"They're not stupid!" She barked back at him as she pushed her thick rimmed brown glasses to her face and walked past him behind the huge cloth that hung over a line to cover her from view. He chuckled as she placed the book down on a stool nearby before disappearing behind the sheet again.

"Yes they are!" He smiled. "Why are you so fascinated with him anyway? He's a murderer!" He called out from the other side, pulling an apple from his pocket and taking a big bite.

"He's interesting!" She shouted back as she began throwing her clothes onto the line and over the sheet one by one.

"You're so weird!"

"Why don't you go bother some other girl who cares!" She shrieked as she took the huge bowl, dipped it in the water and began to pour it all over herself. "Like---like Isabella! She fawns over you enough! I'm pretty sure she would love for you to hang around her all day!"

"You're jealous!" He challenged as he sunk his teeth into the apple for another bite.

"Jealous ha!" She laughed haughtily, rolling her eyes. "Jealous of what?"

"That I give other girls attention!"

"Please Richard! Don't make me laugh." He could hear her splashing water about as she continued her wash. "I would rather not have the attention that you give other girls if you don't mind. Especially if I'll start giggling and laughing every time you make stupid remarks." She rolled her eyes once more. "You should have heard Rachel the other day! She came by the house with her giggly friend when you were in the forest chopping wood and she asked me how old you were!" Rachel was another girl from Richard's school, another one of his admirers.

"So?"

"When I told her you were eighteen now, I heard her and her friends start to laugh. Saying that it meant you must be good with sex as if age was a defining factor or something." She heard him laugh from the other side and she rolled her eyes again. "So are you?"

"Am I what?" He leant against the wall of their home nonchalantly with his arms crossed, he could somewhat see the distorted silhouette of her body against the sheet as she stood up to wash her hair. Inside he was a bit curious as to what would happen if he had pulled the sheet aside. Ever since what had occurred so long ago when she was nine and he eleven, her mother had forced her to wear excess clothing and padding beneath her to hide her body. She had even placed a thick sheet around her hair. It was only in moments like these that he could tell somewhat what she had now looked like beneath.

"Hello?"

"What?" He jarred himself from his thoughts.

"I asked if you were experienced in sex you imbecile!"

"That's none of your business."

"Afraid that I will tell mother Richard?"

"You can tell mother all you wish, I am a man now and can do as I please!"

"Whatever…" She drawled. He watched as she paused for a second before continuing. "About yesterday…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I ran away from you…I—"

"It's okay." He quickly interjected, sighing in remembrance as he lay back lazily against the wall of the house.

"Can we just forget about it and…and pretend nothing happened?" She whispered.

"Yeah." He croaked. "Sure…if-if that's what you want."

"Yes." The silence was so pensive it scared her. "Could you go get me a sheet, I am almost done and I need something to dry off with."

"You always forget to bring a sheet…let's suppose that I do not bring you one."

"Richard!" She growled, happy to find a reason to change the tension in the air.

"Okay, okay!" He replied defensively, already walking back inside. She sighed when he had gone, getting down on her knees in the bath so that she could wet her hair and wash out the herbs she had put in it.

~*~

When he walked back over towards the bath from the other side of the house, he almost immediately darted back around the corner, his back pressing against the wall, his chest heaving in shock. From this side of their home he could see a perfect view of Serenity standing, leaning slightly over with her long damp hair over her shoulder so that she could squeeze the water from it. It had been the first time he had seen a woman naked. It stirred him up like crazy. He never realized she looked like that under all those clothes. His heart beat exceptionally fast; she was breathtaking. How was he going to forget about that kiss now?

~*~

That evening he sighed, as he lay in bed awake, staring at the ceiling. Her sixteenth birthday was coming up soon; it was the same night as his rites of manhood ceremony. His mother had wanted him to attend, but it meant leaving and searching for a new home. That's what you were supposed to do one week after the ceremony, leave. Tradition also said that you pick a woman from the ceremonies to be your wife. Sere wouldn't be there. Life wasn't fair. He turned on his side and stared out the window.

He wondered what she was doing, if she had been awake. He didn't want to fall asleep. After seeing her nude earlier, he knew that his dreams would be filled with her. He had to hide from her and his mother all day because his penis was acting up. He had been taught that seeing a woman could do this to him, but he wasn't prepared for the emotional feeling that would come with it. He closed his eyes in agony. Wondering what it would be like to touch her and see how her skin feels. How her breasts feel. He had even been taught as to what position one should take when having sex, though he would never talk to Serenity about that. To believe that he along with all the other boys were flustered that day from the details that were given to them later in the years when they were 15.  He tried to shake the thoughts away, to think about the ceremony. After the ceremony he would be allowed to have sex for the first time. Serenity thought he had been with another before. She didn't understand much about his people.  Whatever woman he chose, that woman would be with him for the rest of his life. Both him and his mother agreed that it was not necessary that she know everything.

She would be mad that he wouldn't be there to celebrate her birthday. Her mother had already told him she would stay home with Serenity and bake her a cake, so he would be going to the ceremony alone. Besides, Serenity never attended any of the community gatherings; too many bad memories. He hated to admit it, but none of the children liked her, especially the girls, and for the mere fact that she looked different.

His mind trailed back to the events of the party and how he was told it would take place. At the beginning of the ceremony all the new young single men of age would be given a red ribbon, by the end of the ceremony they were supposed to find a woman and tie it around his wrist and hers, binding them. Only you had to do it together, as a team. The woman had to hold one side of the ribbon and the man the other side. You had to tie it around both of your wrists together, a feat that was a lot harder than it sounded. This signaled union. Once this union was made, you became husband and wife and you fed each other the wedding ceremony cake as a symbol of this. You were to consummate your first night as husband and wife without breaking the tie until the morning. If you kept it in tact, it meant that you fit perfectly together and would have a happy life; if it fell apart while making love it meant that your marriage would fall apart. However, if it fell apart after you consummated but while you slept, if meant that you fit together, but your marriage would suffer many trials before your life would be happy again. He wasn't looking forward to the evening. It made him wish that he wasn't what he was. His people were tied into too many rituals.

He wondered inwardly how much Sere knew about what went on during the ceremonies. If she knew anything, she gave no inclination of that fact. She did, however, seem more withdrawn from him than usual. She seemed always angry at every little thing he had done, always frustrated with him. Then there were those times she would talk to him and bring up some new girl that had come over and asked about him, saying on occasion that she was tired of being his go between.

He had considered not going, but his mother refused to let him do that, saying that it was a tradition of their people that he could not break. He was eighteen now; he had to choose a wife.

~*~

Gaia watched her half daughter somberly as she picked at the piece of cake before her, placing small pieces into her mouth every now and then. She was usually a lot more talkative. But she figured her newfound disgruntlement had something to do with the conversation that they just had about the ceremony that Richard had gone off to hours ago.

Hours.

She had waited until today to tell her about it because otherwise she knew that things between Serenity and Richard would have been spread thin. She sighed. She had a feeling that those two had felt something for one another but what could she do? Richard had to go and Serenity had to stay. Unfortunately that also meant that Serenity wouldn't be there when he made his pick. She had a feeling that she wanted to be. But then there was their heritage, she wasn't sure if him picking Serenity as a wife would be a good thing.

"Do you like your cake?"

"It's good mama." She whispered.

"I have a gift for you Sere." She began as she pulled out a package from underneath the table wrapped in parchment. She placed it on the table before her. "Open it darling." Serenity looked up at her mother before reaching for the package and tearing it open slowly. Inside was a long and pretty iridescent off the shoulder gossamer dress that came down to mid-thigh at the sides and then in the back and center it came down towards the middle of her legs in an upside down triangular formation. "Do you like it?" She had spent a lot of time working and getting money so she could afford to by the material.

"It's beautiful." She half smiled. "Thank-you mama."

"Why don't you go try it on to make sure that it fits?"

"Yes mama…I…after I think I shall retire for the night." She whispered; she wanted to be alone when she cried. She didn't want anyone's pity over her.

"Of course." Her mother replied, watching as Sere got up from her seat, leaving half the cake on her plate, to come kiss her on the forehead.

"Goodnight mama." She whispered brokenly.

~*~

She almost burst into tears when she closed her bedroom door behind her. They had turned Richard's room into her room and the small guestroom into Richard's room long ago after the incident. So as she looked at the four walls all she could think about was him. She clutched the dress to her bosom as she sat down at the edge of the bed. She cried for a while longer before she decidedly wiped at her eyes, placing the dress atop the bed so as to not wrinkle it.

All she could think about was the fact that tonight Richard would be picking from one of those many girls that hated her to be his wife. Whomever he picked, they wouldn't allow Richard to see her. She'd never see him again. And to believe the last thing they did before he left was have a big fight because he couldn't stay for her birthday. She told him she hated him. Now she was filled with regret.

She took off all of her clothes slowly and placed them on the bed behind her before slipping the dress on her small frame. She stood up and looked at the old mirror in the corner of the room. Her eyes glanced over the way the dress fit her as she wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands.

He probably thought she was ugly anyway. He always said nice things to her, but he was probably just being that, 'nice'. All the other children had thought she was ugly. She looked at the way her glasses framed her face. She had none of those things all the other girls had. They had pretty dresses, and pretty dark hair. Hers was light, long and ragged, strained from work. And then she had those thick brown square rimmed glasses that she had started wearing when she was eight years old. She pushed the glasses further up her nose to keep them from falling off her face.

She realized suddenly that the source of her tears was not that Richard would pick someone she hated, but that he wouldn't pick her. She hugged her arms around her body as she walked over to her bed to lie down. She placed her head on her cloth pillow and cried herself to sleep.

~*~

She didn't know how long she had been sleeping when she suddenly jolted with a start, looking towards the window when she heard her door creak open. She placed her head back down on her pillow, thinking it was her mother; she became alarmed when a hand came down over her mouth. She struggled at first until she saw his face.

"Calm down it's me." He whispered. "Come on, I want to show you something." She sat up quickly.

"But---your ceremony."

"I—don't worry---I just want to show you something first." He whispered again grabbing her by the hand, pulling her to stand, and dragging her towards the door.

"Richard I-"

"Please Sere…trust me." He paused mid-step. "It's a birthday surprise."

"Oh." He thought he heard a bit of regret in her voice but decided to dismiss it.

~*~

It was dark as he brought her to their special wooden house near the edge of the forest they had played in as children. It was like a tree house, except it was on the ground. It had a window, a low floor bed and a small table. He pulled her by the hand inside and made her to sit down on the bed in the darkness. She noted that he had dressed the bed nicely with soft sheets. She brought her knees up to her chest, unsure of what he had brought her here for, watching as he lit a candle in the center of the table before bringing the table closer to the bed. She noticed a small cake sitting in the center.

"I brought you some of the cake from the ceremony for your birthday." He smiled slightly, seemingly nervous about something.

"The wedding cake." She looked away, how cruel and dense could he be? "Is that what you brought me here for?" He sat down beside her, observing as she absentmindedly picked at the icing, a habit she had since she was a child. She brought it to her lips for a taste, paused for a moment before reaching for the cake once more. "It's good…there…I've had some. I can go to bed now and you can get back to your ceremony and pick your wife." When she picked a little more of the icing off the side he stopped her fingers before it could reach her lips. She watched confused as he slowly brought each finger to his lips to slowly lick the icing off. She licked her lips unsure. Wasn't this another part of the ceremony for picking a bride or was it a part of the ceremony for when you were married? Everything was a blur and she was now confused. She scrunched her nose, her eyes watering, a crease forming between her brows. She looked at his eyes that gave her a knowing look as they licked each finger slowly. She was still unsure what to think until he stopped, having tasting it from every finger, and brought a red ribbon out of his side pocket. She started to cry as he took her hand in his and placed the ribbon to lie atop her wrist.

"I---I believe this belongs to you because—I don't want anyone else but you." He whispered. "Do you want me?" She nodded her head yes, biting the side of her lip as he reached up to remove her glasses from her face. She looked down shyly, afraid and unsure of what they would be doing next. "You know that I would never hurt you…don't you?" He knew that he would have to be gentle with her, her remembrance of this act between man and woman wasn't a joyful one.

"I know." She whispered. At first she jerked back somewhat when he reached for her, but the second time she forced herself to stay still, to trust him.  "I—Richard what…I don't understand what I'm supposed to do." He felt nervous inside, unsure of how to explain it to her when he felt so hot and lustful for her.

"I…you know that when we tie the ribbon…you know that it means that we will be husband and wife…right?" She nodded her head with a blush as he pulled her hand in his and softly rubbed. "Well…tonight…tonight we're going to spend our first night as husband and wife…we…I'm going to have sex with you." She bowed her head and chewed softly on the side of her lip.

"Oh."

"I'll go slow…if you want me to stop…if you don't like what I'm doing."

"I know."

"You once asked me if I was experienced in sex." He paused as he leant close to her ear and spoke in a soft gentle murmur. "The answer is no…but I…I would like to learn what it means to please the woman I love, from you." He helped her to lift her dress overhead and once nude before him, she withdrew, covering herself with her hands and her dress and backing up against the wall, insecure about how she must look before him. "Sere?" He extended a hand to her, unsure of what to think of her actions.

"Maybe you should go back…"

"Why?" He choked.

"You could do this with any one of your 'girl' friends…I am sure they would be happy to oblige…I…I'm not worth the energy."

"But I don't want to share it with anyone else but you." She wrapped her arms around her body, shivering as the tears continued to fall. "Sere…I won't, I won't hurt you---I--I love you."

"Don't say that." She bit. "Please…it's not true…I mean look at me! I'm not beautiful like—"

"You're beautiful to me!" He placed his palm on her cheek and leant over to kiss her softly before pulling back. "Sere…I know that you were hurt before but I won't hurt you…don't you love me?" She looked up at him with weary eyes.

"Yes."

"Then trust me." He whispered sincerely. "I'll take care of you."

"You promise?" She squeaked.

"I promise." He slowly reached over his hand and brought her back towards him. He took the dress from her and placed it on the table, she brought her arms up to cover her chest once more.

"Do you really think I'm beautiful…Richard?" She whispered as he stood up and began to remove his clothes.

"I think you're the most beautiful and breathtaking girl I've ever met." He removed his pants and undergarments in one full swoop. She took one look at him and looked away. "Inside and outside."

"But do you---do you want me? I mean…do you desire me?" She bowed her head again, her hair coming down over her body to cover her up as she chewed on the edge of one of her nails. She didn't know that when a man wanted a woman, that it made him hard for her. Her mother had spoken to her about sex, but it had been a glossed over description.

"Of course I want you! I want you so much that it's taking everything in my will power to go slow tonight just for you. I've never done this before but I know all about it and I'm so anxious that I-god Sere!" He spoke passionately as he sat down on the bed in front of her. "See this." He pulled her hand quickly to touch him and she pulled back, surprised at his actions. "This means I want you…very much."

"Does it…isn't it always-"

"No… this is what happens when a man really wants a woman." She blushed as he picked up the ribbon that he had allowed to fall on the bed. "Hey, don't get shy on me, it's not like you haven't seen it before…you remember what it was like when it wasn't like this right?" He chuckled and she laughed softly; he dangled the ribbon before her eyes. "Grab one side." She complied slowly, understanding filling her eyes as he placed his right palm against her own so that their wrists were touching. It took them a while to tie it and she almost got frustrated and started to cry, but he calmed and relaxed her; they had gotten it at last. "If we clasp our hands together it will never come apart." He whispered as she leaned back slowly so that her back was against the cushioning of the bed. They placed their joined wrists above her head and against the bed. "Now we are husband and wife."

"Husband and wife." She whispered against his lips right before he kissed her. She was so nervous that he could feel her body trembling. He lifted his head from her face for a moment to tell her to open her mouth before reaching down again. She moaned as he explored her with his tongue. She shivered as she felt his other hand stray and begin to explore her body starting at her shoulder. She squeaked, jerking back, her body shaking even more and becoming somewhat alarmed when he touched her breast.

"It's okay Sere…don't be afraid, it's me." She relaxed into his caress then, closing her eyes, continuously reminded herself that this was different; this was the man she loved. His lips started to follow his hand until they were at her breast. He paused for a moment; unsure about what to do next, whether such a thing was allowed when he looked up at her. She nodded her head, giving him his permission. He started by placing light kisses all around the nipple, watching amazed as it hardened before him and became taught, her trembling body arching forward of it's own accord in offering. He took her nipple into his mouth then and she moaned, squeezing their joined hands and bringing the other hand up to caress his hair. She had always wondered what it would feel like to slip her fingers through it without a care in the world, and now she got her chance.

She could feel something wet and warm forming between her legs, something new for her. She never felt anything like this when…she didn't want to think about it. She knew however, that it had probably something to do with the fact that this time she actually wanted it. She closed her eyes as he moved to the other nipple, suckling and placing kisses all over it for some time as well. She could feel his tongue against her and it brought vivid feelings of passion to her mind. He moved further south, planting wet lingering kisses all down her abdomen. When he could move no lower because of their joined hands, he came back up towards her and reigned kisses all over her face. It was then that she noticed the hardness pressing against her belly. She pressed her palm against his chest to push him away in half surprise, half fear.

"Stop." She whimpered, furrowing her brows, a crease forming between them.

"Shhh…it's me." He whispered consolingly into her ear. He looked into her eyes. "You trust me don't you?" She nodded her head yes and he kissed her bottom lip one time. "You know that I would never hurt you?" He had to repeatedly ask, he didn't want her to be afraid of him.

"I know." She shivered, she had never been so afraid of her own feelings in her life.

"Tell me what you want, anything, I'll give it to you." His thumb from the hand attached to her own repeatedly caressed the back of her hand.

"I---I want you…I…just love me Richard. Love me." Her lips trembled.

"Are you sure?" He whispered against her cheek and she nodded her head. "Sere, if you don't want to I---I can stop." He could feel his penis twitching against her. He wasn't sure that if she told him to stop that he'd be able to fulfill his request.

"I want to be your wife…I---I want to be yours."

"You already are." He whispered against her lips before kissing her, moving in her at the same time. She gripped his hand tightly; crying out into his mouth at the pleasure that one movement had brought her. It was a tight fit that she was not quite accustomed too, but it felt good nonetheless. "Is it okay? Are you-" He stammered, straining as he attempted to still his body within her. He couldn't believe how overwhelming and good it felt to be inside her. She nodded her head.

"I'm fine." She croaked. "Keep going…don't stop." He groaned as he moved against her, grinding his hips as he delved into her with each motion. She started to move with him, greedily, lustfully. She wanted him to be hers, to be close to her, to feel as much of him that she could; she wrapped her legs around him. He whispered sweet words in her ear and she wanted to cry. I love you. He told her repeatedly. She did cry then, tears of joy; her body suddenly convulsing in a way she had never felt before. She looked at him with wide eyes as he waited for her to relax, wanting to watch her experience this new phenomenon for the first time, before driving into her hard and fast, achieving his own release as he pulled out quickly and emptied himself to the side of her. She had watched as he had looked down at her with wide eyes as well, his body going rigid before convulsing atop her. When he had finished, he collapsed onto her body and she reached up with her hand to slip her fingers in his hair in a comforting manner. They were a heated mess; their bodies damp and sticky from love making, tendrils of hair plastered to their faces as they heaved deep breaths in attempts to relax.

It was the best feeling in the world. He smiled, chuckling into her ear at some hidden joke.

"What's so funny?" She breathed.

"I remember someone expressing that they thought this was disgusting…" He laughed.

"I remember another someone voicing that same belief." She replied, picking up on what he was talking about.

"I didn't say it was disgusting, I had only said that I wouldn't share it with you." She laughed in return, enjoying the feeling of his chest rumbling, the feeling of his bare skin pressed against hers. He smiled. "I think that I shall enjoy being married." They fell asleep as they were, his body lying partially over her own, neither noticing as the tie that bound them together loosened, and fell to the floor.

~*~

Gaia looked at her two children strangely the next morning from where she sat at the table across from Richard; the both of them were not acting their usual selves. For one, if Richard had found a wife, he shouldn't even be here, at her table. But here he was, sitting at the table hoarding some food that Serenity had cooked that morning. Which was a shock in itself; Serenity had actually been the first one up and had cooked breakfast for everyone. To top it off, she was now washing dishes and humming a tune. Washing dishes! Serenity hated washing dishes. And her son never ate that much in his life!

Gaia continued to eat the food Serenity had prepared and smiled secretly when Serenity sat down at the table to join them. She looked at her two children for the second time. It was really more Serenity's attitude of cheerfulness that had shocked her. She didn't even think her daughter would wake up that morning let alone make breakfast. She watched as Serenity began to pick at her food, once in a while glancing across the table to where Richard sat eating before blushing and looking away.

"How did you sleep Sere?" She inquired.

"I---I slept wonderfully mother." She replied, bowing her head to hide a blush that was crossing her face.

"I see."

"So you are feeling better then?" She arched her brow unsure. Last night she could tell that Serenity was going to cry.

"Yes mother." She replied.

"Then perhaps you could go wash the clothes by the river for me darling, I need to speak with Richard alone." She looked up sharply at that, unsure if her mother could tell what was going on or not.

"Yes mother." She finished the last bit of food on her plate before getting up and putting her dish in the tin pail filled with clean hot water. When she was gone, mother turned towards son.

"Care to explain?" Richard put down his fork and looked up.

"Explain what mother?"

"Why your half sister is prancing around happily when last night she was ready to cry because you left to find a wife." She crossed her arms and looked pointedly at him.

"I found a wife." He replied simply, looking away slightly. "Do you disapprove?" What his mother had to say meant the world to him. She sighed.

"No…I just wish you would have told me."

"I didn't really know myself." He sighed as he lay back in his chair.

"What happened to the ceremony?" She inquired.

"There were more men than females anyway this year and I…I couldn't see myself happy with any one of the women…only with her." He replied. "Do we have to leave as per tradition?"

"Since you've already broken tradition by leaving the ceremony, what am I to say if you leave or not?" She paused. "However, it is improper for a newly married man to live with his wife in the same home as his mother. If you want to stay here, you'll have to build another small one room house behind this one."

"Yes mother." He replied respectfully.

"And until then, if you plan to lie with her in this house," she paused, feeling old knowing that she had to talk to her son about sex. "Take care that you are 'reserved', about it."

"Yes mother." There was a moment of silence before she continued.

"You know, I knew that in time this would happen, which is why I told you so early that she was not your sister…I wanted you to be able to understand that any awkward feelings you had for her were based on something far from kinship." He looked down at his almost empty plate.

"You've known all along that this would happen?"

"I suspected it, yes."

"Then why force me to go to the ceremony?" He paused. "I've noticed that you've kept us separated in many things."

"I was afraid Endymion." She replied, for the first time in a long time speaking his first name, his father's name. "You know that you're not like her."

"I know." He looked down.

"Have you ever told her this?"

"No."

"She has to know."

"I know mother, but I'm afraid." He suspired. "Afraid that she'll be scared of me, that she'd think I'm a monster."

"You can't help what you are."

"I know."

"She's your wife now and you have to tell her the truth before you hurt her."

"I could never hurt her in that way mother." He looked steadily into her eyes. "I could never."

"You know this for sure?"

"I still recognize her when I change, just as I recognize you." He replied.

"You have to tell her soon son, because if she becomes with child, your children will be different...you know that with you it will probably only take one time…in fact, there is a possibility that she will not be able to be with your child" She paused. "She has to be prepared for that." She licked dry lips before settling back in her chair. "Go be with her."

~*~

Serenity hummed a tune as she washed the soiled linens. Her white diamond hair brought away from her face with a light blue gossamer scarf, the edges of her dress wet from when she had gone deeper in the water to soak the clothes. She smiled inwardly as she rubbed the clothes against a rock, blushing as she thought about her night with Richard. She couldn't believe that she was now his wife. She looked at her reflection in the water; she noticed that she had stopped growing since she had turned sixteen, her body looking her age for once. She often wondered why she had grown in such a weird pattern but excused it for her being different. She was caught of guard when Richard lifted her in the air and twirled her around; she smiled beamingly down at him.

"Richard!" She giggled. "I have to wash the clothes!" He placed her down on the ground and hurriedly placed his mouth on hers for a quick kiss.

"Come lie with me." He whispered huskily, dangerously, as he pushed her away from him at arm's length. She blushed.

"I have to wash the clothes, mother will be upset if I-"

"I told mother, she knows that we are married." He paused with a wide grin. "She approves."

"Oh." She replied as she wiped wet hands on her skirts.

"Lie with me." He pulled at her hand and began to drag her a little ways down and away from the shore to where their favorite willow tree stood.

"Here?" She almost exclaimed.

"Yes, here." He smiled.

~*~

Serenity sighed as she looked up at the filtered pieces of the sky that she could see through the branches of the willow tree. They had made love twice, and the passion from there became subtle. She was content to having him kiss and touch her skin all over. She jumped slightly, squeaking somewhat when she felt his fingers delve into her. She looked up accusingly at him.

"You were too quiet." He smiled. She smiled back.

"I was content." She looked up at his bare body; his chest was smooth. She never knew a man could be this beautiful.

"I don't like contentment, I like hunger." He laughed. She turned away from him to lie on her side.

"Making love on the sand makes me feel dirty." She pouted.

"You feel dirty my love? Allow me to remedy that." He chuckled.

They made love in the river.

~*~

Serenity lay awake beneath the covers on her side in the nude, waiting for him to come. Despite the fact that he wasn't but so far away, chopping more trees, she missed him. Winter was coming; he had told her that he had wanted to prepare as much logs as he could now so that he wouldn't have to go out in the cold later.

As soon as she was done with her chores for the night she all but ran to her room and stripped off her clothes before getting beneath the sheets. They had never discussed where they would sleep, but she was hoping that he would come to her in her room. She didn't think she could make love to him in any other room; it brought up memories of her past that she hated.

She could feel her heart beating wildly, anticipating his arrival so that she could feel him between her legs again. It's funny how she hadn't even really been interested in this sort of thing until yesterday night with him, and now she craved it. She wanted him to come so that he could light her on fire. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the door creak open and close before locking.

~*~

His eyes skimmed over her form that was outlined by the blanket she was covered in. He stripped off his clothes and then lifted the blanket, before slipping beneath. He brought his arm around her body and snaked his leg around her. He kissed a spot right behind her ear, his hand spanning to caress her hip.

"Awake?" He whispered.

"Yes."

"Tired?"

"No." She turned around then to face him and he brought his lips down to hers. He released her quickly, clamping her lips with his hand, turning her head to the side and bringing his mouth down to suckle her neck. She bunched up her fists on his chest in fear, her eyes going wide.

"Calm down Sere, we have to be more reserved, mother sleeps down the hall." Her eyes softened in understanding, her body becoming lax to his caresses before giving her body to him.

~*~

It had been over three months since they had been married and though he had treated her like a wife, had coupled with her many times and built them a small home behind their mother's, on certain nights he wouldn't share a room with her. She noticed that it was always under the pretense of a full moon; he was hiding something.

On the mornings after those nights she would always find him hanging tirelessly over the edge of the bed in her mother's guestroom nude. Sometimes there would be scratches all over his skin as if he had been in a wild fight. She sighed. She wanted to entrust him with her feelings but it was hard when he seemed to have secrets of his own.

She had been going through some changes lately; subtle changes that only she could probably see. Her body seemed to be changing, not the same way in which someone grows but…it seemed as if she was getting some more womanly attributes. Her mother had told her that it was just her transformation into womanhood but she inwardly believed that it was attributed to something else. Then there was her sex life with her husband. To get down to it, she wanted it more, hungered for him almost all the time as if she couldn't get enough. And god help her, sometimes she wanted it rough. She didn't understand. Did everyone have sex that way? He would bite down on her flesh and she enjoyed it, screaming passionately for more.

Sometimes she got this strange feeling that it wasn't sex that she had been hungering for. Not that he had never given her release; he had always completed her. But it was weird. Not to mention that she always felt thirsty nowadays; no matter what she drank, the feeling almost never went away, it was starting to drive her insane.

And then there were the marks. Her final cue that something was really wrong. It wasn't the marks on her own body from the times that Richard and her had engaged in rough sex that she was worried about. It was the ones on his neck. The ones that came from when she would suckle him there almost mercilessly. She didn't understand or know why she had been so preoccupied with that part of him. But almost every time after they made love now, the next morning, the marks were there, and they lasted for days. She was so frustrated with herself that she couldn't believe, and her thirst for something was getting stronger and stronger everyday. She just wished she knew what she was thirsting for. Something told her she would find out soon enough.

~*~

Serenity walked into her mother's kitchen early in the morning and deposited a pail of eggs by the door. Her mother smiled.

"Good morning dear." She didn't get a chance to reply; overcome with a wave of nausea, she ran outside and threw up. Her mother watched her with a keen eye as she walked back inside the house, dipped a small cloth in the tin of water by the sink and wiped her face. "You okay?"

"I'm fine mama." She bared down as the feeling arose in her again; after a moment it passed. "I've just been a little sick lately is all."

"Sere, when was the last time you bled?"

"Yesterday mama."

"For a full term?"

"Yes mama, why?" Her mother sighed. She didn't know whether or not she should bring the matter up, but she was concerned. They'd been married for some time now; long enough for Serenity to become with child. She didn't know how she could bring it up, she was afraid to find out that something was wrong.

"It's nothing dear---I----"

"Mama?" Serenity sat down in a chair opposite the one her mother had been sitting in at the table as she sewed a white cloth dress, and stared at her attentively. Her mother was silent for a while before she placed down her threading utensils and spoke.

"When you lie with Richard—" Serenity blushed as she looked down at the wooden table. "Do you---where does Richard spill his seed?"

"Mama?" She looked at her confused, unsure what she was asking.

"Every time a man becomes satisfied to a point in which he can not contain…he spills his seed."

"Oh." Serenity flushed a bright red, as she understood where her mother was going; she twirled her thumbs nervously. "I---he spills to the bed sheets or—or to the ground where we---where-"

"You need not go further child, I understand." She paused. "Do you understand that unless he spills in you that you will not become with child?" Serenity furrowed her brow in hurt and confusion.

"I---no---but, then I must tell Richard because I-I want to be with child." Her eyes glossed over as she thought about the idea. "To be with his child." She smiled as she looked down and rubbed her belly. "It would be nice."

"Right, you must tell him…" Gaia spoke softly as she assessed the situation. Something was going on; she knew very well that her son had been taught in these matters, which meant that he was purposely holding back. But why? It was okay to do such a thing, but to not tell your wife or share with her what you were doing? It wasn't right. She watched with narrow eyes as Richard walked through the door at that very moment, his chest sweaty and dirty from being up and about early in the morning in the fields. She began to wonder if he had yet told Serenity about what he was.

"Good morning Sere, mother." He walked over to a wooden counter and picked up the pitcher of water and poured himself a cup, gulping it down in almost one swig.

"Richard." She arose from her seat, lifting her half-knit dress with her and placing it down in a basket on the floor. "I believe that Serenity has something to speak with you about." Serenity looked up at her mother shocked as Richard turned his gaze towards her. "I shall just get out of your way, just don't dawdle all morning." Richard watched with an arched brow as his mother left before occupying the seat she had been sitting in only moments before. Serenity stared at him nervously before looking down at her skirts.

"What is it love?" He reached for her hand across the table, encouraging her to speak.

"I---I was speaking to mother." She stuttered, licking her lips; he could feel her hands shaking. "She-she told me---I---did you know that when you spill your seed outside of me that I-I can't have a child?" He sighed.

"I know." Her head snapped up at that and she furrowed her brow.

"You know and you did not tell me?" Her eyes grew heavy, and she pulled her hands away from his before rising from her seat to turn her back away from him. "Why?" She whispered brokenly.

"Because I thought…that maybe it was too early…that we may want to enjoy ourselves…for a bit."

"Oh." She paused as she wrung and unwrung her hands. "Well…I…can we perhaps…can we try to have a baby?" Her voice cracked as she turned towards him with watery eyes. "I…it---wouldn't you like to have your son or-or your daughter growing inside me?"

"I do love." He stood up from his seat and walked over to her; he wasn't prepared to face this matter just yet. "But I'm not ready for that yet, we're not ready, I---we don't know anything about being a mother and father and I just want to relax."

"Relax?" She breathed, her voice getting louder with every word. "How long do you wish to relax? A year? Two years? Three?"

"Sere, you know that that is not what I mean." He tried to approach her but she pulled away.

"And what makes you think I'm not ready?" She paused. "I may not know about raising a child but I know that I am ready to be a mother to one. We do all the same things everyday! Work, eat, come home, make love, work, eat, come home, make love! God Richard! Don't you want a change?"

"You think of me as a part of your daily routine?" He tried to change the subject.

"No Richard," She paused as she looked up at him with hard eyes. "You think of me that way." She breathed. "And I'm sick of it!" He stepped closer to her and she attempted to push him away but he grabbed her quickly; she beat her fists into his chest as she sobbed, tears falling down his sweaty skin. "I want to be your wife, why won't you let me be? What are you hiding from me?"

"I'm sorry." He kissed her temple and sighed, ignoring her latter question. "I shouldn't have…if you want a baby, I'll give you one."

~*~

Serenity licked her lips and bit them at the side as Richard lowered her slowly to the bed. She shivered as he stared down at her nude body for a long time.

"What?" She whispered nervously, even after the many times he had seen her, each time with him still felt like a new time.

"Nothing I---it's just that I---I could just lay here worshiping your body forever." He whispered with sincere eyes. Her eyes welled up in tears as he lazily trailed his fingers down the length of her body from shoulder to thigh and back again; she arched her body towards him. "You're so beautiful." He cupped her breast in his hand, his thumb passing gently over the nipple, and she closed her eyes. He leaned down towards her then, tracing her lips with his. When she attempted to lift her head and meet him the rest of the way he withdrew slightly; she let her head fall down to the bed and he reached down once more. Her lips tingled, as he only rubbed them gently with his. "We're going to be together forever, I'm never letting you go." He breathed before breaching contact and placing his parted lips fully on her open ones. She arched her head back against the pillow, his head tilting to the side and his lips moving slightly above hers as he guided himself to slide fully into her. He stilled himself in that moment, savoring it for as long as he could.

"Richard." She whimpered brokenly as he clasped her hands into his own behind her head. She slid her legs around his waist, encouraging him to continue. "Don't stop." He pressed his cheek against her own and groaned before drawing back, sliding back to the point in which he was almost out, and then sliding back into her slowly again. At one point he pulled out completed and teased her entrance with his tip. She practically screamed out his name at that before he slid back deeply into her.

He moved rhythmically in her, in and out, in and out, before rolling over so that she was on top of him. She kissed up and down the sides of his neck, pressing his hands into the bed while suckling him there, her body sliding up and down his own. She leant on bent elbows, her lips still passing passionately over his neck, and gripped his hands above their heads as she continued the movements atop him, feeling his moist body in close proximity with her own.

"Sere." He murmured against her ear as he closed his eyes tightly. "Gods you feel so—ah god." He half moaned half-croaked as he rolled them over with his knees so that he lay atop her once more. "I can't hold back anymore," He groaned as he dug into her deeply and pulled back, each time picking up the pace and the force at which he had done so until they were both shaking, and he was spilling himself deep inside her. She held onto him then, crying as her legs clenched around his body, accepting his gift to her and wanting every drop.

~*~

Richard sighed, his hand tangled into the mass of curly white diamond strands. They had made love three times. The last two times a lot rougher and fast paced than that of the first. He was certain that in the morning they would have bruises to show for it.

Now she was asleep; slumbering peacefully with her body curled up and halfway sprawled atop his. Her arm lie across his chest and her other hand was entangled in his hair. Inwardly he wondered when her hair had suddenly changed texture but dismissed it as easily as the wind. He turned to the window to look at the moon; he had more things to think about than how smooth and silky her hair felt.

God, what had he just done? What if she was pregnant now, just like she wanted? He wanted it too, but not like this. What if his mother was right? What if because of what he was…it would only take one time? What would their children look like? Would they be like him, or would they be normal, like her?

He needed to tell her the truth, let her know exactly what was going on. But how do you tell your wife that with every full moon, you turn into a monster?

~*~

Serenity had not been as unaware as her husband had thought. She could tell that he was avoiding answering her whenever she asked him if he had been hiding something from her. Not to mention the fact that they had been trying for three weeks and she had yet to get pregnant. She was tired of being given the run around and decided to take some action. She had a strange feeling that everything had something to do with those nights when there was a full moon.

After careful planning and thought, one evening she had become determined to find out what was going on with him. She sat down in the guestroom of her mother's house, the room that she had loathed for so long, and took his axe into the room with her. She knew that he would be looking for it, as it was his excuse to leave her for the night. She stripped down to nothing and slipped beneath the sheets, waiting for him. She could hear his footsteps in the hall as he searched his mother's house for his tool.

"Mother…have you seen the axe?" She heard him whisper.

"Check the guestroom." She replied.

Serenity waited for him to open the door, sitting up and holding the sheets to her bosom. She breathed deeply when he opened it and stood with his mouth agape.

"Lie with me, Richard." She had put him in between a rock and a hard place. If he told her that he had to go cut the wood, she would know something was wrong. But if he stayed…he told his mother he had told her already and that she knew, but it was all a lie, and now he would be forced to face that lie.

"Serenity." He swallowed hard as he looked out the window to see the darkening skies. The moon was full and bright tonight, only now the dark clouds obscured it. He breathed; he knew the moon would not be obscured for long. "I---"

"Why is it you never lie with me on a full moon? Why do you hide from me?" She replied teary eyed. "If you love me tell me what's wrong, if nothing is wrong, then lie with me." He looked at her with a tight expression; he didn't know what to do. He decided perhaps that he would suppress the urge as long as he could, long enough to satisfy her. He removed his clothing quickly and climbed onto the bed, slipping beneath the covers and on top of her. When he made a movement as if to go fast she put her hand on his chest.

"No…slow." She whispered. "Slow, like it's our first time." He wanted to cry as he slowly slid into her, his head beaded with sweat. He pushed back the urge to do what he had been normally compelled to do under the pretenses. Pushed it far back into his mind as he could. He could feel his body becoming taught and stretched as she wrapped her legs and arms around him, encouraging him to gradually pick up the speed as he had normally done at other times. She arched her back against him, her eyes shut tight as she moaned. She squeezed his shoulders with small fingers. "Okay." She whispered as she did so many times before when wanted him to drive her mad, make her insane with his movements. He did then, driving into her forcefully and deeply, enough to make her scream his name repeatedly. They came together; their release was like fire. She sagged into the bed afterwards, her eyes becoming heavy. He moved from inside her and arose from the bed, his body now diaphoretic; he needed to get out and soon. She felt the bed move and could tell he was trying to leave.

"Don't leave me." She whispered, suddenly awake and scared as she stared up at him with glowing silver eyes. He became mesmerized, his body fighting the urge to change until it was no longer there. He came back to her and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him back down to the bed. She kissed all over his face, telling him that she loved him. His eyes trailed to the window and noticed that the moon was barred but he didn't feel the need to change at all. He groaned, as her lips trailed to his neck and suddenly became fixated. She suckled him hard and he only caressed her from her back to her leg as she had done so. But then something happened that had never happened before; she cried in pain as she suddenly grew two sharp teeth, and bit into him. He gripped her body in pain.

The blood rushed into her like a liquid fire. Filling her and completing her like nothing before. With it came a sense of awareness of everything around her. It was all new, yet old, different, but the same. Her mind filled with the knowledge of ten thousand books, ten thousand generations, ten thousand worlds. She couldn't believe how fulfilling the fluid was; her eyes closed in passion.

It took her two minutes to realize she was starting to drink her lover's life away, the once death grip he had on her body becoming weak and lax. She pulled back in horror as she stared at the blood dripping from his neck, from her mouth to her hands; some coiling it's way thickly down her arm to drop down to his chest. His body began to convulse beneath her and she cried.

"Se-sere?" His pain filled face was like a dagger in her heart.

"Richard?" She cried. "Richard!" She screamed then, her body shaking. She hated herself. Why didn't she stop, why couldn't she stop? Maybe if she gave him her own blood. She bit into her arm and winced in pain, it healed almost automatically. Frustrated, she leaned over and hugged him to her. "Richard, you have to live, you have to live." She cried into his chest, surprised when he suddenly and weakly bit into her. It was an instinct grown into him that he could not help, the instinct to survive.

Her scream pierced the air as she writhed above him, the pain intense.

"St—stop!" Her eyes glowed as she pushed away from him harshly just as her mother ran into the room to assess what had occurred.

"Richard." She cried as she ran over to her son whom lay lifeless on the bed. She scanned the room to look down at Serenity; she was sitting in a corner shivering, her eyes vacant, blood on her hands, her lips, her chest, her hair. "Serenity." She whispered but the girl didn't respond, only started rocking back and forth. "Sere!" She continued on as if she couldn't see her, her skin growing pale and sickly as she began to bang her head into the wall. Gaia looked towards her son and daughter for a moment before running to Sere. She slapped her across the face, attempting to make her break out of it. It worked. Serenity grabbed for her mother like a lifeline, crying her heart out into her nightgown. Gaia pulled her away at arm's length. "Sere, you have to go get a doctor."

"N-no I couldn't-I."

"Sere! If you get a Doctor he can save Richard you understand? I need you to do this for me. I'll do what I can for him but if you don't get the doctor he'll die."

~*~

Serenity ran off into the night, as fast as her bare feet could take her and went to the first home she could find. It opened just enough for the occupant to see her face before slamming the door once more. She beat on the door incessantly this time with no answer. She ran from home to home, knocking and getting the same reaction. She wanted to cry when she finally reached a small hut with a red cross, she knocked on the door hard, her fists getting bloody when a tall man opened the door with muddy black hair and deep green eyes. She almost paled as she recognized those eyes, very familiar, yet different.

"You're the daughter of that wench that my brother was seeing before he disappeared." Serenity backed away afraid, shaking her head. "I know she killed him but no one would believe me." He clenched his teeth as he looked down at her as if she were filth. "Where did she hide the body you bastard of a child!" He grabbed her arm, her face momentarily illuminated by the old oil lamp that hung outside the door. When he saw the traces of blood in her lips and her hair his eyes narrowed. "Evil witches!" He fumed.

"No!" She shook her head in horror, trying to release herself from his grasp as he squeezed her arm all the harder.

"Witchcraft! You and your family are practicing witchcraft! Evil black magic!" He roared. "Drinking our blood Murderers!" He tried to pull her into his home but she pushed him hard in defense, he released her, flying backwards into a far wall in his home. She ran away in tears, unsure what she would do now as she ran back towards her home.

~*~

When she reached the house she ran to the guestroom to see how he was, her mother stood outside the door in tears.

"Mama?" She questioned wearily, not wanting to believe or for a second think that he could possibly be…no, she wouldn't think of it. "How's Richard? He's going to be all right, right mama?" Her mother didn't respond, only stared out into the darkness. "Let me get you some clean water and some towels and maybe we can-"

"He's dead Serenity." Her mother spoke the words softly. "He will not respond to me, he's so lifeless, so pale. I can't…he won't respond to me." she ran to her mother and cried, cried for a long time.

She couldn't have known how long they had been standing there holding each other like there was no tomorrow. But the sound of heavy beating on the door brought her out of their shared moment.

"Open the door witch!" Serenity tensed, she had forgotten all about the man whom had grabbed her earlier. She should have warned her mother, now he was likely outside the door with others to assist him. She ran to the window to see several men with torches in their hands, the angry man from earlier at the door. Her mother pulled her back just as a sack of clothing on fire was thrown through the window; it landed at their feet. "We know you're in there! Open the door!" They watched in horror as the house began to catch on fire, the wood burning up almost instantly.

"Richard!" Serenity almost lunged for his door but her mother grabbed her by the waist, holding her back. "I have to save him please! He isn't dead! I know it mama! Please!" She cried, tears falling freely down her face as she fought to get out of her mother's embrace. "We have to get him out of here!"

"Sere!" Gaia sternly called out to her half daughter; she stopped struggling. "You can't save him…but you can save yourself." She dragged her to her room, carelessly throwing things in a bag as the pounding on the door grew louder and louder, the fumes becoming obnoxious. She dragged her to the kitchen after, avoiding the flames and throwing whatever food she could in the bag. "Take this and run. Run for the woods! Don't look back."

"But mama you-"

"Don't worry, I'll be all right." She dragged her last child to the back door and pushed her through it. "Now go." She watched as Serenity ran, ran with all her might. She knew that if they both ran the crowd wouldn't stop until they caught them; she wasn't about to see both her children die. So she stayed, stayed so that they would waste time on her, stayed so that Serenity could get ahead of them, stayed so that she could buy her daughter time.

At the cost of her life…