A/N: Argh, I hated the end of this chapter. It made me wanna go "Nooooooooo!"

On another note, Everto Angelus, thank you for being, like, the coolest reader ever - you reviewed every chapter, I think! That totally makes me day/night/whatever time it is, lol. As to your question, nope, you're not prying, and er...I don't actually know, lol. I've written about three or four of them, and each one has been better. I write part of it from experience :ahem: and the other part is all the characters. The quality and much of the wording depends on which characters are involved. Kieran's a little shy...ish...lol, and Stanton isn't one for vulgar language like you read in most sex scenes, so it came out that way.

I blame the characters. It's all their fault.

On with da shtory!

-Cali :)

Sensing Kieran was about to fall asleep, Stanton carefully got off the bed and disposed of the condom in the trash can. Just then, he heard a harsh knock on his door. Wait, he told whoever it was, and found his boxers and a pair of jeans rather quickly. Just as he was about to open the door, he turned around and covered Kieran in his sheets, not wanting her to be more exposed than she needed to be. He didn't need to ask who it was standing outside his room. He recognized her aura, if not the anger he felt emanating from her, reaching him through his door. Reaching forward, he turned the knob and opened the door just enough to keep Kieran out of sight. "Hello, Cassandra," he said calmly.

"Don't 'hello Cassandra' me. What are you doing in here?" she asked, trying to see past him rather ineffectively. When she tried to push the door open, Stanton sighed and stepped out, quickly closing the door behind him. "And why are you shirtless and sweating?"

"What do you want, Cassandra?" he asked exasperatedly.

"When are you goin to turn her?" she asked bluntly. "You are going to turn her." It should have been a question, but it sounded more like an order to Stanton.

He bristled. "You do not give me orders," he told her sharply. "Now if you'll excuse me," he said, and rested his hand on the doorknob. "I need to get back to Kieran before she wakes. If I lose her trust, we'll lose a follower," he told her, trying to explain why he wanted to get back to his girlfriend.

"She's asleep?" Cassandra asked in a completely different tone of voice, and stepped closer to Stanton.

"Get away from me," he hissed, and opened the door, intending to step in and close it before Cassandra could get in. She, however, pushed past him and walked into his room. As the room itself was fairly small, she immediately saw Kieran and Kieran's clothes lying strewn across the floor.

She scowled when she realized the girl was lying naked under Stanton's sheets. "You slept with her?" she asked, sounding hurt. "What is wrong with you?" she practically yelled.

Stanton glared. "Get out. You'll wake her."

"No! I will not get out," Cassandra snapped, "until I know exactly what is going on in your head. First you told us you just had to gain her trust, and about a year later, you're still dating her?" Stanton started to interrupt, but Cassandra stopped him. "Let me finish!" she shrilled. "She is a human. We need more on our side. You need to turn her tonight, or I will report you to the Atrox."

"And tell it what, exactly? That I didn't turn a human when I had the chance?" He rolled his eyes. "Cassandra, the Atrox won't care. You just can't come to terms with the fact that I don't love you, can you?" he asked nastily, and glanced at the bed to make sure Kieran was still asleep.

"We could be great, Stanton," Cassandra said, unconsciously running her fingers along the white scars in her chest where she'd begun to carve Stanton's name into her skin years ago.

"No, we couldn't, and we won't be. We were never anything significant. There never was a 'we' and there never will be. Can't you just accept that?" Disbelief filled his voice. Why couldn't she just leave him be?

"You can't possibly love that girl," Cassandra insisted for the second time that night.

"Why, because she's not you?" Stanton asked immediately, and at that, she fell silent. He waited a few seconds before continuing. "I will never love you, Cassandra. Part of the reason I love Kieran -"

"-no..."

"Is because she is nothing like you."

"No," Cassandra said, shaking her head. Her maroon hair began to fall out of its updo, and Stanton started to back the girl out of the room.

"She doesn't shamelessly worship former teachers," he sneered, taking slow and deliberate steps, forcing her backwards. "She is innocent," he continued, reaching quickly around Cassandra to open the door. "I love her because of who she is, and because of who she is not. Now, if you'll - "

"-She may be all that, but she doesn't know your past. She doesn't know who you really are," Cassandra insisted, keeping her foot in the doorframe. "Would she still love you if she knew what you really were? Hm?" she asked skeptically, folding her arms over her chest.

"She would," Stanton told her confidently.

"Why don't you show her and find out?" the girl sneered, leaning into him.

Stanton stayed in place. "I will not turn her," he said firmly.

In her sleep, Kieran felt tension rise in the air so much that it woke her. She began to open her eyes, and Cassandra, facing into the room, noticed this.

"Well then," she said, overly cheerful. "If you really won't turn her, I guess I'll have to." Before Stanton could register what she'd said, she pushed past him, walking quickly over to Kieran.

Kia, don't look at her eyes! Stanton warned her, but too late.

Cassandra's gaze was mesmerizing, and Kieran realized belatedly that her eyes were glowing phosphorescent.

Stanton rushed to Kieran and covered her eyes, shoving Cassandra mentally, throwing off her concentration. Get out! he barked at her, but Cassandra only flinched a little.

"Turn her! It's who you are! It's what you're here to do!"

"They were telling the truth?" Kieran asked in a disappointed tone of voice as she sat up with the sheets wrapped around her. "Serena and Jimena were telling me the truth about you?"

"I-"

"Turn her!"

"Tell me, Stanton."

At Kieran's calm request, Stanton turned to her. "I love you. That is the truth, Kieran. I adore you more than anything or anyone in any world."

"I mean about you. Not me. I know you love me," she said calmly, and Cassandra could only stare in silent disbelief at the conversation she was hearing. "Nothing will make me stop loving you," she said reassuringly, and Stanton leaned forward, pulling her into his arms. "Tell me."

He sighed and pulled back. "Yes...everything they told you is true," he admitted ("puh-lease." Cassandra rolled her eyes). "The danger is real, and so is all the information you were given." Stanton closed his eyes. What he had to admit to her now was going to be one of the hardest things he'd ever had to say. "I...was supposed to turn you awhile ago." When she opened her mouth, he silenced her with a look. "I couldn't, and I don't want to. I don't want to condemn you to a life like mine. Turning innocents becomes a physical and psychological addiction, and I can't do that to you. It's not fair...I don't want to hurt you, Kia."

The pain and regret that filled his voice hurt Kieran, and she looked away from him, silent until she couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Were you ever going to tell me?" she asked finally, pain filling her voice, too.

Can't you leave already? Stanton asked Cassandra sharply, and she just smirked, folding her arms. "I was," he told her a little helplessly. "I was going to tell you before it got this far." He shook his head, looking past her. "I never meant for it to get this far. I didn't -"

"Oh, enough already!" Cassandra yelled, getting sick of all the excuses, explanations, and lovey-dovey bullshit. "He's an evil bastard, he was going to turn you to our side, but he grew a conscience on me and is repressing who and what he is because of you!" she told Kieran quickly, and pulled Stanton off the bed. "Now he's going to turn you," she told Kieran while looking at Stanton, "or I will," she threatened.

Stanton hesitated. "Cassandra - "

"Now!" she shrieked. When he didn't move, she screamed in frustration, and pushed him hard enough to send him flying. All in a matter of seconds, she sat down on the bed next to Kieran and before the girl could look away, Cassandra grabbed her by the back of the neck, forcing her to look into her eyes. Kieran's scream died in her throat, and she felt herself falling as Cassandra pulled her into her memories.

"No!" Stanton stood quickly and, rushing over to Kieran, he threw Cassandra off the bed and onto the floor. Turning Kieran's head in his direction, he tried to snap her out of it, but it was too late. Cassandra had taken her hope.

"Turn her now, Stanton. It's too late to save her, so you might as well just pull her over the line," Cassandra told him, malicious glee filling her voice.

Kia, Stanton whispered across her mind, please turn away...He looked into her hollow eyes and could immediately tell she wasn't seeing him. "Please turn away," he said again, aloud. As he watched, the glitter that had been in her gaze before became dull, but shone again only when her eyes welled up with tears that slipped down her cheeks in tiny rivulets.

"Turn her," Cassandra said again. "Even I can feel that you want to. She's asking for it - begging you...look into her dead eyes," she told him.

Stanton didn't need Cassandra to tell him that part of him did want to turn her. He had three choices - he could leave her hopeless and emotionally dead, he could try to bring her to the Daughters and hope that they could fix her, or he could turn her. His first thought was to bring her to the Daughters. They'd helped initiates before, why not again? Then he realized - the Atrox would not let her go. Kieran was lecta, and it wanted her.

He couldn't just leave her the way she was, though. This was worse than turning her, leaving her hanging. Stanton brushed Kieran's tears away and kissed her unresponsive lips gently.

"Turn her, Stanton," Cassandra whispered into his ear like some demonic inner voice.

Stanton watched Kieran's emotionless gaze for a little while longer, trying to think of another way. Soon, though, he realized he couldn't save her. She was too far gone, too deep into her emotionless black hole. "I'm sorry, Kia," he whispered to her, and felt his own eyes filling as his gaze bored into hers. He took her deep into his memories of the Atrox while part of his mind screamed at him. The other part, however, took over completely. His eyes dried and his voice developed a different tone when he spoke.
"Now turn, sweet one, and face the Atrox."

A/N: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AHHHHHHHHH!

...Why do my characters always screw with my plots? (literally and figuratively...haha...get it? Screw with...oh nevermind...)

Yeah, so I'm not sure what's gonna happen now. I mean, I have ideas, but I dunno what they characters are gonna let me do. When they get all determined like this, it's totally up to them what happens. I've lost control again. Argh. Oh well. That's usually a good sign...anyway...

Review!

-Cali :)