Partiers shot left and right as Ruby burst through the trees, in full frenzy mode. Hair streaming behind her she emerged like a demon from a circle of fire. Snarling, snapping, talons gleaming. Around her the Boys took down prey, one by one. Necks snapped, gashes bitten into flesh, blood spilled. Paul took down two girls at once. Dwayne took down a muscular jock that was probably Chet.

Yet, Ruby still had not taken prey. They darted past her as her hunger blinded her. So much blood yet too confused on how to capture it. She stumbled after a screaming girl in a bikini. Wasn't she supposed to automatically just have the prey fall into her hands? Ruby worsened as her gaze went red, hazing everything in her sightline.

"Childer." David's voice brought part of her mind back. "Over here." Where was David? Ruby kicked a body from her path, a sickening crunch revealing she'd probably broken the ribs post-mortem. "This way. Come."

Following David's voice like a bloodhound does scent, she made her way past the carnage of the other Boys. Very few of the partiers were left now. The Boys certainly worked quickly. The scent of charred flesh flew into her nose. Ah, cleaning up after themselves.

"Ruby…" David purred. Finally Ruby locked onto him and ran. He was at the edge of the lights, holding a screaming girl by the hair, her arm bent up behind her back. He was grinning, blood staining the stubble on his jaw. Ruby stopped, her vampiric senses locking onto the screaming mass of flesh. "Fetch childer."

David let the girl go and the girl did not disappoint, taking off in a dead run directly towards the water. Ruby tackled her from behind, taking her down 20 feet from the surf. David watched on as his childer snapped the girl's head back, rendering her paralyzed. The girl no longer struggled, barely able to breathe, her spinal cord useless.

"That's it Ruby. Be one of us." David's voice whispered on the night air that breezed past Ruby's ear as she sunk her fangs into the tender skin of the girl's neck. Hot blood fed by fear and fight for life flooded into her mouth. The force of the final act of change hit Ruby like a semi-truck but she held on. She drank and drank feeling the warmth fill her and spread through her body. She felt her heart almost begin to beat again, fed on the life force of this dying girl.

"Release her Ruby. Withdraw." David was standing over her now. The waters of the Pacific crashed over Ruby and her victim, swirling in eddies around David's boots. "Withdraw childer. You must. There's nothing left."

With a screaming roar, Ruby tossed the corpse from her. Blood streamed from her lips, slashed on her mouth like crimson lipstick. A stream down her neck and chest, staining the shirt she wore. The body was pulled by the undertow towards the ocean as Ruby watched, gasping for unneeded air.

David smiled like a proud parent. "You did beautifully, just like I expected you would." Strange praise for taking a life. Ruby felt no remorse, no guilt; she had taken life to keep her own. Such power.

"Sire…" She looked up at David, eyes wild. The change was completing, the Gift taking hold.

David leaned down, taking Ruby's face in his gloved hands. Their mouths met hotly, as hot as the spilt blood. Ruby kneeling in the surf, David bent over to reach her. They tasted each other as well as the blood, tongues dancing together. David tasted the last of Ruby's innocence leave her, shaking him to the core. It was something one tasted maybe once in a lifetime…

"RUBY!" Marko screamed, breaking David and Ruby apart mid-kiss. "NO! How could you!" Running full force, Marko slammed his outstretched hands into David, knocking him away from Ruby.

"Marko!" Dwayne called, running after him. Paul followed, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"Marko, don't start." David warned, voice low.

"You're fucking stealing my girlfriend, you asshole! You took her with you, telling us you'd bring her back safe and sound and you brought her home dead! With your blood in her!" Marko was going berserk, throwing anything he could find at David. David backed up, only to move away from the projectiles.

"Bud, it's not like that!" Paul called, trying to grab Marko's arms. Marko dodged and picked up a large piece of driftwood. It was then that every one noticed the end pointed at David was sharpened. Like a stake.

"Marko." David spoke; Ruby could feel him trying to use his bond to get Marko to stop.

"Marko!" Paul and Dwayne cried, trying to tackle him. Marko just snarled, stepped past them and started on a dead run, the makeshift stake aimed at David's chest.

"NOOOO!" Ruby's scream echoed back off the trees, the cliffs, and the very waters of the ocean. Marko stopped dead in his tracks, and all four Boys turned to face Ruby. With a snarl, Ruby took down Marko bodily, knocking the wood from his hands. Pining him on his back in the sand, her hands closed around his neck, talons digging in. Marko struggled, hissing and snarling.

"Ruby!" Dwayne shouted. Both he and Paul started towards the lovers, to break them apart. David roared and stopped them in their tracks.

"He stole you from me Ruby!" Marko snarled out his words as Ruby's chokehold tightened on him.

"You tried to kill my Sire!" Ruby spat back, eyes blazing.

"Ruby release him. You cannot kill him." David's gloved hands closed over hers, forcefully prying her grip from Marko's throat. He was frightfully stronger then her, could have snapped her fingers. Ruby snarled but found David was forcing her release. Her last talon came free and David hauled her off Marko. Ruby stumbled, David pushing her behind him. His hand shot out to Marko, in an offering of peace. Marko spat at him and kicked David's hand away.

"You've turned her against me David."

"Marko… bud…" Paul tried to bring his own version of peace but Dwayne silenced him with the shake of his head.

"She acted of her own accord Marko. If I had been you, she would have done the same thing." David held out his hand again. "You're right. I could have told her to attack you. But you know me Marko. I would never ever turn against you, never turn Ruby against you. You know deep down I'd never do that to my own pack brother. You know I

did the only thing I could, took the only choice I had. Now we go from here. Together as a pack. Or divided. It's your choice."

Time stood still as Marko stared at David's hand. None of the Boys spoke, moved or breathed. Ruby's hands were clenched into fists, her talons digging into the flesh of her palms.

Finally Marko took David's hand and was quickly pulled to his feet. "I'm sorry David. It's just… I… she… she's…"

"I understand Marko." David's compassion showed through again as he clasped his pack brother in a half hug of understanding and comfort. Marko choked a bit, now far from his vampire form, back to his human side. He quickly rubbed the sleeve of his jacket against his eyes. "We will talk back home."

"Yeah." Marko nodded, not really looking at anyone. "Ruby?" No response. "Ruby?"

The Boys turned and found their sister gone.

David dropped from the dark sky, his coat settling around him like folded wings. He hadn't needed to fly far; with her shields shattered, he'd tracked her internal monologue up under the railroad bridge that crossed the San Lorenzo.

"Ruby." He didn't need to speak loudly, she'd hear him. But she didn't answer. Cursing, David jumped back in the air and glided closer to the bridge. She was wedged in between some of the crossbeams that hung under the tracks. "Ruby, running off isn't the answer."

"Yes it is. If I'm not there, there's no problem between you and Marko."

David sighed, looking for a place to sit. There wasn't any. Grabbing some of the steel bars, he held on and dangled. "Ok this wasn't a comfortable choice."

"You stole it from the movie."

"What?"

"The movie. Remember? The train scene."

"Oh. I wondered why it seemed familiar. Of course, I didn't originally do it."

Ruby let a smirk slip. "Kiefer fell a few times. Good thing they had harnesses on."

"I could just hang upside down you know."

Ruby cocked a brow. "Oh that would so go unnoticed." Pulling her feet back she made a bit of room for David to sit.

"Thank you." Dropping down, he leapt up onto the beam. "As I was saying, running off is not a choice, childer."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do. And no, don't bother, I can hear your thoughts."

"Damnit." Ruby grimaced.

"I told you to keep practicing your shielding."

Ruby frowned more. "I do. But it wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind tonight. And besides, you were so deep in your thoughts I figured you wouldn't hear mine."

"I was thinking about you." David confessed.

"What?"

David shifted uncomfortably, but Ruby couldn't tell if it was the wooden beam or his thoughts that were the cause. "You felt it when we kissed."

"I felt a lot of things. None of which I'm really proud or happy about right now."

"No. Yes. Wait. I meant something else."

"What?" Ruby drew deeper into the crevice.

"I'm not going to do it again Ruby. You know the loss you felt when Jeremy died?"

"Oh god, please don't bring my brother up right now!"

"No, it's the feeling. Bear with me. It's the only thing I know to liken it to, to get you to understand." David picked at his glove. "Remember how I told you I saw you, hiding, when Austin was killing your brother." He turned and looked right in her eyes. "I vowed if I ever found you I wouldn't lose you again."

Ruby's brow furrowed. "I don't understand, David."

"Something about you, something in you. I can see things, well, feel them about people. I don't think it's exactly a vampire power; I did it a lot before I was turned. Maybe it's gut instinct. But there was something about you and I let it slip through my grasp. When Marko brought you over in the bar back in Los Angeles… I swear my heart skipped a beat and it hasn't beaten in over 100 years Ruby."

"So you're saying you're glad you made me a vampire? Or that you want me for something, some purpose you don't even know yet?"

"No."

"Then what David."

"I think I'm in love with you Ruby." The confession was barely whispered.

Ruby's jaw fell open. "Oh no."

David looked at his hands folded in his lap. "Yeah, tell me about it. I realized finally what it was, when you were dying. I guess I tried to deny it, or ignore it, or make it into something else. Especially because of what you and Marko share. And now it's all exploded in my face, and you're mine on a level Marko can't have you, and I want it all to go back…

"No you don't." Ruby looked at him. David paused, words still on his lips. "You don't want it to go back. I felt whatever we share, the link, it sang when you kissed me. In a way that's never happened between Marko and I."

"It was probably just the bond."

"No David. Stop it. If you're professing love for me, just do it and stop trying to find a way to admit but say it's not your fault. And you can't hide it because I know what I felt… it's still in me… ringing in my head."

David looked out over the river. "Ok. I'm in love with you Ruby. More then likely have been since I saw you. Every bit of me wanted to point you out, because of what you witnessed. That's what I should have done. Leave no witnesses. But I didn't. What you don't know is what I did after that night."

"What did you do, David."

"I broke off with Austin's pack. They weren't my own in the first place; I tagged along because I knew I'd be safe and have shelter and hunt, instead of scraping by like I was before I'd met them. I ditched and rode back up to the gas station. It was days later but your scent was still there. I tracked you back to a house. I lived in the goddamn woods, watching your house, watching you come and go, watching you grieve and go on."

"You were the thing that haunted the old mine. The one the middle school kids said was a ghost."

"More then likely. I remember an old cave, a lot of it's hazy now except the parts involving you." Ruby smirked. "What?"

"That mine was a popular make out spot. And when you took it over, the junior high kids had no place to make out."

"Lovely."

"My dad found a cougar, or at least the remains of one once, out on one of the acres. It was shredded he said. Was that you?"

"Living off animals was pretty much the only blood supply I had. It is seriously no way to live."

Ruby rubbed her arms, shivering. "Then why did you do it?"

"I was afraid Austin had seen you. And I wanted to make sure you weren't attacked. Plus I felt responsible for you, because I'd seen you. I knew what you'd seen. If it had been found out you survived, they would have killed me for breaking the laws."

"You said back in L.A. that all these years you didn't know if I was alive or not."

"Partially true."

Ruby thought for a moment. "You were forced out. I remember the mine had a collapse about a year before I left home." David nodded.

"Yeah, so much for a safe haven. By then I'd never seen Austin, not even a scent of another vampire in that town. And I was really sick of feeding off animals. The cave in was the last straw. I hit the road and came down here and created the Boys. Tracked Austin's pack and you know the rest."

"I only know you paid them back."

David sighed. "You want details?"

"It's only fair, isn't it?"

"Be careful what you wish. But you're right. We tracked them to LA, and most of the pack had been picked off. Probably by the Bloods, the ones who attacked us. They don't take kindly to non-affiliated packs. Anyway, Austin was still bigger and stronger then me, but the Boys made quick work of the few left. As for Austin, I took him down myself. I ate his heart, Ruby."

"A few weeks ago I'd be disgusted. But something in me recognizes that as an acceptable victory."

"Hm. I wonder if you have access to my knowledge, or it's passed down through the blood. I'm surprised you understand that." David removed a pack of Camels from an inner coat pocket, lighting one. "I made up the bit about paying us back, because I wanted you to come home with me. Us. And it wasn't hard, really, you falling head over heels for Marko. Although that was never part of my plan."

"It burned you. Knowing I was with Marko."

"I pushed it down, not understanding what I felt. Up until tonight I still didn't get it. I'm stubborn; we all know that. But there's not a hell of a lot of room for love in the vampire world. It's not a common thing. Attachments are different, because we last forever when the world comes and goes, and literally dies around us. That's why love wasn't on my mind." He exhaled a long stream of smoke.

"The kiss told you what it was."

"Bingo."

Ruby sighed. This ran way deeper then it should, far longer, and far greater. And she wasn't prepared to handle this on top of being a new vampire. "I don't know what to do, David. I can't hurt Marko… but I already did. I just… when he was running at you with that driftwood, all I could see was he was trying to hurt you, and my blood boiled and I tackled him. I would have killed him."

"I know."

"And I didn't care. That's what scared me. I love Marko and I would have strangled him, torn him to bits, and not cared."

"That's a big reason why vampires make childer. Partially to protect them. And when one is killed, you can make several more to replace it." David took a long pull from his cigarette. "I never agreed with that. It's selfish. I was telling the truth when I said I've never made a childer. And I never ever thought about making you one, even when I knew Marko would eventually want to bring you over. I feel sick from all this confusion, because usually it's so clear. A to B. No need to question or plan or plot. You were an upheaval to our lives, but a good one so we adjusted. And you were creating what we were unable to."

"Sire, what do we do?"

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure it's worth mentioning."

Ruby took the smoke from his mouth and took a pull, coughing at first. "I haven't had one of these in weeks." David removed another and lit it. "Tell me your idea."

"We still have that house in town. The one we used during the movie. The renters in there now are moving out soon and I was going to have to find some new ones. What if you and I moved in there?"

"What the hell?"

"No no, not in a shacking up sense girl! In a sire/childer sense. I have a lot to teach you. And I really don't like the others interfering. It really pisses me off, and while some of it is just my nature another part is you are my creation and I need to be able to teach you what I feel you need to know to survive. Without a whole bunch of opinions and interference."

"You were pretty mad at Marko telling me about how killing gets to you after a while."

"Yes, that's a prime example. It gets to Marko because he never learned to separate his humanity from his vampiric nature and not get it muddied. It's why he suffers some days. Nothing terribly wrong with it, but it's just a hell of a way to exist. I can teach you to cope, to separate, to understand why you do what you do."

"Marko's your childer too."

"Only partially. He's part Dwayne's. And he has free will on what he wants to learn. I offered but he only took bits and pieces."

"Oh. I'm different. Because I'm all yours."

"Pretty much."

"That's hardly fair."

"You have to give me a chance to teach you Ruby. Whether you use the knowledge in the long run or totally ignore it, it is my job. My right. If Marko had solely been mine, it would be the same way." David flicked the smoke away.

"So we go back and you tell them you're separating me, to teach me."

"That's the basic idea."

"Is there more to it?"

David looked at her. "You are with Marko. I will not interfere with that what so ever. Kissing you was a mis…"

"No it wasn't. It answered what you couldn't understand."

"I shouldn't have done it in front of Marko."

"No."

"See."

"It doesn't matter David. It's done. And you've not turned me against Marko. He was wrong about that."

"Then what?"

"You'll find out. I need to talk with Marko. Alone."

David nodded. "All right. We should be getting back. I'd have you practice flying but my bike is still down in the woods." He started to rise when Ruby's hand held him back. "What?" David turned, seeing Ruby looking at him, her hand against his chest. "What childer."

Ruby's hand slowly slid up his chest, along his neck and came to rest on his jaw, pulling him in towards her. Her mouth was still bloodied, her lips slightly parted. David swallowed then abandoned caution. Ravaging her mouth with his, he turned enough to dig his fingers in her hair, tangling the long strands around them. She was hot from the hunt under him, arching against his fingers.

Above them the express train's whistle sounded loudly. Again they broke apart, both gasping.

"You would have, wouldn't you." Ruby breathed.

"Yes." David admitted. Ruby bit her lip. "Apparently, if it's going to happen, it won't be right now. The interruptions are obviously meant to stop us from doing something we'll regret." David gathered her up against him and slowly descended to the sandy riverbank below. She was hard in his arms, and he hoped she didn't notice parts of him harder then his arms.

Instead of saying anything, she gently brushed against him before leaving his grasp. Sucking in a breath, David closed his eyes.

"Ok, now we know you inherited some of my teasing ability."

Ruby smirked, looking back over her shoulder at him. "Who said I didn't already know how to tease?"

"You're an exquisite torture, Ruby." David hurried to catch up.