Chapter 5: Wanting Normal

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She watched him sleep, his breathing even. Fucking vampires. He had bandages over 60 percent of his body. He looked like shit. Like, when he'd been brought in the first time. She ran her fingers through his hair and down along his jaw. God. How did it come to this?

Infatuation.

It was dangerous. Too close of ties with member of the team led to weakness out on the field. But as she looked down at his sleeping form, she found her resolve weaken. God, how she wished that they were two normal kids, kicking around the city, able to have fun and go out and be normal. How she wished that the biggest problem that she would have to deal with would be deciding what outfit she was going to wear out on her Friday night date with him or deciding whose place they were going to spend the night at or even fucking studying for exams…

He shifted in his sleep, moving against her hand like a child searching for comfort.

She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips, a thrill going right down to her toes. "Get better, Hannibal. I need you."

As she left, his lips curved slowly up into a smirk and he shifted to a more comfortable position.

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He woke a week later, ravenous and full of energy. He was a bit stiff and sore and not completely healed but close… He loved that he'd kept at least some of his vampire healing powers. Sliding out of bed, he peered inside, drumming his fingers on the door. "What'll it be?" he muttered to himself.

"Wanna eat Count Chocula and watch Saturday morning cartoons with me?"

He jumped. "Sh-" he caught himself in time "-ure." Grabbing the milk, he closed the fridge to find a smiling Zoe on the other side. "Let's go, Princess." He grabbed bowls and spoons and she grabbed the cereal.

She took his hand. "I'm glad you woke up."

"Me too," he replied as they started for the rec room. "Me too…"

He caught up with Abby later on in the day, beating the shit out of a punching bag, wired up with her Ipod. He tapped her on the shoulder and had to duck as she swung out at him.

"Hey," he said as she removed her headphones.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," she reprimanded, checking him over quickly with her eyes. He looked much better. Not a hundred percent but better.

He shrugged. "Vamp healing. One of the perks. And you're one to talk," he added, staring at the bandage on her arm starting to show blood.

She shrugged back. "I'm fine. You're the one who almost died…"

"Yeah, thanks for saving my ass… again…" He kicked at non-existent rocks on the floor.

She shrugged. "I saved yours, you saved mine. Dangerously, I might add. How the hell did you make that shot?"

King grinned. "The magic of Disney…" he called as he started out of the room. He could hear her go back to the bag. He smirked. He loved to push her buttons.

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"Tell me again why we're at this club?" Abby yelled over the music.

King grinned. "Recon work. Apparently there's a ring going on in the clubs – perfect place to pick a victim. You can get sex and blood at the same time!"
She surveyed the room with a frown. "I can't even hear myself think in this place."

He'd been scanning the room but now cocked his head towards her. "What!"

She tugged on his shirt, pulling him down and putting her mouth close to his ear to repeat the statement.

He revelled in her closeness, her smell, the feel of her hand on his arm. He closed his eyes, enjoying it for a second. Then, No time for that now, King, his inner voice snarked. Stay on task. "You get used to it!"

"You're loving this aren't you?" she asked, her face inches from his.

He jerked, thinking she knew. How did she know?

"You're in your element here!" she finished.

Oh. She didn't know. She was talking about the club. Damn. "I'm going to go grab a drink at the bar!"

"I'll go dance!" She tossed him a dazzling smile and sashayed off to the dance floor.

He ordered a whiskey and threw it back, idly watching Abby strut through the bar. If she didn't attract the suckheads, he didn't didn't know what would…

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God, the girl could move… King took a sip of his beer, feeling lightheaded, partially from the moderate amount of alcohol he'd consumed, partially from watching Abby. She'd been on the dance floor for an hour and attracted four vamps. One leaned in close and whispered something. She laughed, a dazzling laugh, and nodded. They started to leave. She tossed him a wink over her shoulder.

She was weaving, playing the drunken college chick role to the hilt. She kept moving from guy to guy, making sure they didn't get hold of her long enough for a pre-taste.

They were four blocks from the bar in a quiet area when the vamps decided to make their move. Two grabbed her by the arms. A third bared his fangs at her.

"Hey baby, ready for this?" he asked.

She turned, the light of battle in her eyes. "Oh yeah." She jumped up, kicked him in the face, them spun and kicked one of her captors.

King came out of the shadows, guns blazing.

They were dust in seconds.

"Well, that was fun," he remarked, holstering his guns and brushing the dust from his sleeve.

She grinned. "Amazing."

He eyed her for a second, her eyes bright, her body alert and ready for battle. "Hey, you want to go back for a bit?"

Abby cocked her head to the side. Typical King, wanting to party after the kill. It could be worse… "What?"

"Yeah," he said casually. "Blow off the rest of the night and be two normal college-aged kids looking for a good time at a bar?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I thought this was our good time?" she teased.

He smirked, a classic, sexy, trademark King smirk. "Ah, this was just the warm up… C'mon." He grabbed her by the hand and started back to the bar.

She protested half-heartedly. "But we have so much stuff to do… patrols, clean-up, weapons checks…"

"Whatever, that can wait. You're only young once, Whistler. You can fight vamps when you're a granny. They don't let you into clubs after the age of thirty-five…" He paused. "Unless you've aged real well," he added, partially to himself.

They showed their stamps at the door and were back into the world of dazzling lights, writhing bodies, and pounding music.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked, leaning down towards her.

She smiled. "I need a drink if I'm going to be able to handle your dancing!" she called back.

"I'll get you one!" He weaved through the crowd towards the bar and ordered a beer and a long island iced tea. Looking back, he could see her leaning back against a stand-up table, eyes alert and scanning the crowd, weight supported on her elbows to show off her ripped muscles and perfect chest. She didn't know how sexy she was, dammit, and that made her even more irresistible. She didn't stop hunting, even on her off-time, apparently.

Guys' eyes were drifting to her, humans, and a few even worked up the courage to go talk to the beautiful huntress. He was shot down, to King's relief, as she shook her head and gestured to the bar and him.

He grabbed the drinks and made his way back to the table. "Evening gentlemen," he said, handing Abby her drink and moving possessively close to her. He wanted to kiss her to show them that she was his but knew that he'd get his ass kicked across the club for it. They nodded, backing down and drifting off and he turned to Abby. "You never ease up, do you?"

"What?" she asked innocently, sipping her drink. "Oh, this is good."

"I saw you scanning the club, fingering stakes as they came near. Can't you turn it off for one night? Let's just pretend that we're two college kids, we've been studying hard for a whole week and now we're ready for a break… so we come out here to do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight… ohh!" He caught the blank look on her face. "Oh, come on. You've never heard that song?"

She shook her head, taking another sip. "Sorry, King, I'm not as cultured as you. And I ease up. I have fun."

He took a swig of beer. "Sharpening your knife collection doesn't constitute as fun, Abigail Whistler. Now, I'll race you to the bottom and then we'll go get some tequila shots."

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Okay guys, I know it's short but I couldn't cut the next part up any other way…