A/N: You do still love me! Thank you all for reviewing. It was entirely more than what I expected. I'm glad to see y'all have taken to my plot so well. So I guess I have some backtracking to do in this chapter. Must explain myself, yes? Just a quick apology for odd mistakes on spelling. Ninety percent of the letters on my laptop have been rubbed off from all of the writing abuse it goes through, so I'm sorry. Have fun at my expense. It feels great to be back!

McFadden-

Chapter Two

Abby stood, dumbfounded for a moment before coming back to her senses. Her body was numb to everything as what he said echoed through her ears. She just couldn't believe what she heard. Her voice was barely audible as she attempted to speak.

"What?"

King just looked down, not being able to meet her eyes. Abby was trying to process and wrap her mind around what he could've possibly meant by that. She just whispered.

"You made a vampire?"

When King didn't reply, finding it more comforting to idly stroke a strangers wrist, Abby's blood began to boil. Instead of meeting her accusatory stare, he looked down at the woman. She knew that it was true then and she screamed at him.

"You fucking made a VAMPIRE!"

Abby approached him haughtily, berating him with questions.

"What's her name then King? Huh? Who is she?"

She got closer to him and saw that he instantly grew defensive while trying to keep his composure.

"Not now Abby..."

But she certainly wasn't finished. This news repulsed her to no end. The very poster child for suffering from vampire blood had actually made one for himself. It changed every thought she had about him. She just kept goading him. Abby couldn't hide the spite in her voice. The sarcasm was spitting out in every word

"Well this definitely explains a lot. No wonder you wanted to go home."

He looked at her again in warning. There was enough problems adding up for him right now, and he didn't want to have to explain himself in this mental state.

"Abby, I told you to drop it. You don't know anything of what you're talking about."

There's no mistake that she was bordering on a dangerous subject, but she just couldn't seem to let it go. She was as determined just as she was stubborn. She didn't feel like she knew him now.

"Do you have your own personal harem of vampires? Or was she your special little pet? She certainly is pretty enough...Tell me who she is!"

She watched how King looked at the woman. It was like she was made of glass to him. But as Abby said those hurtful things, he just shut his eyes, hoping to shut her out in return. When that proved irrelevant, King finally had all he could stand.

"Keep pushing me Whistler!"

The violence in his tone was enough to shock her into silence. He had never spoken to her that way. But, it was the way he looked. She thought that at any moment he was going to grab her by the throat and rip her apart. He was reacting in part of his primal protective nature. Abby couldn't think of a point where King had scared her so directly before. She just stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and nervous stupor. His eyes tore into her and after a moment his shoulders slouched and he got up off of the cement with the girl head resting on his left shoulder, her arms hanging limply around his neck. When he spoke again, it was still short, clipped, and in a measured restraint, but the violence was gone out of it. That left behind only the rawness of exhaustion and faint worry for person in his arms.

"She's gonna die if we don't get her back soon."

Without so much as a glance behind to see if she followed, King left Abby trailing after him. As promised, Caulder was waiting for them outside in the Expedition. He merely raised an eyebrow at the atmospheric drop between Abby and King, but knew better to keep his mouth closed. Deciding to take notice instead, of the more than ominous woman King held. Abby was right, she didn't look like she was going to make it through the night. If time was on their side and they were lucky enough that she retained some strength, once the blood was transfused back into her system, maybe they could at least get some inside information from her before she died. He wasn't going to get his hopes up.

Everyone got into the car without a word. Making the drive a little awkward for Caulder since he had no clue as to what was going on. He looked in the rearview at Abby, who was seated as close to the window as she could get without falling out of the car. She looked highly uncomfortable and disturbed. His eyes looked over to King who was in the back seat with the woman laid out next to him. He seemed very attentive of her. Despite Caulder's nagging curiosity, he chose to let the questions lie until later. It didn't take an idiot to realize that now wasn't the perfect time to ask anything.

Twenty minutes passed, they pulled up to the Hideout and Caulder grabbed King's duffle bag for him, figuring he would have a difficult enough time trying to get inside. Dash met them at the entrance and took the girl from there to the medical room. Abby steered clear from King who followed Dash. Caulder threw a concerned eye her way and she waved it back. Making it clear that she wanted to be left alone. In the medical area, Dash set up the IV for the blood as King retrieved a wash cloth and some rubbing alcohol to clean things up a bit. Caulder came in and King looked up, wondering where Whistler went to hide. It took the foreigner a good fifteen minutes to prep for the EDTA administration. With the girl in a coma, it would be easier to do since there would be no fighting involved. He moved her hair away from sticking to her face and made an offhanded comment to no one in particular.

"She's a pretty one."

Hannibal's eyes darted to the Norwegian, who in turn, looked back at him. King just nodded silently in agreement. Caulder could see something more there though. His colleague was acting weird, but he disregarded it because everyone was stressed and tired, not just King. Before leaving, Caulder said one last thing.

"She shouldn't be alone when she wakes up."

King just nodded. His mind was too busy whirling around with all sorts of questions and conflicting thoughts. Still being aware of his surroundings, he didn't miss it when Abby entered the room an hour later. He just chose to ignore it. She was quietly watching him from the door. She'd clearly beaten herself up for what happened earlier. Her face was stricken with fatigue as much as his must've been. She startled when his voice unexpectedly broke the silence in the form of a quiet whisper.

"Her name is Joselyn. She was just 21 when I first saw her..."

Abby realized that he was going to tell her the whole story so she slipped into a chair and settled in for the explanation as King continued, completely engrossed in the past of his mind, not looking up from his hands.

"That was three years ago. Danica drug me to this 'Eyes Wide Shut' sort of fetish party for sone ungodly reason. I noticed her first. There were nothing but guards outside until I looked over and saw this anxious and shaking woman who didn't look like she belonged there at all. Danica taunted me about her from the moment I expressed interest. Something so innocent shouldn't have been there. I would find out only later that she'd been led there by a guy she was friends with. You'll never guess who tried to get in her pants. He was a pro wrestler at the time. You and I know him more affectionately later as the pillow-biting cock smoker, Jarko Grimlin."

It was the only joke he made tonight, but Abby was shocked to hear more ties that went on in the years before she knew King. He glanced up at her for a second, then returned to his former stance.

"...Yeah, I was surprised too. But it never turned out. It seems that once she found out what the party was really about, she refused to go inside and apparently Jarko was just too stupid to try and force her. So, he left her outside. God, it was such a bad mistake for me to look at her! She was more beautiful than anyone that could come into that house and Dan knew it. So, she had Asher go and persuade her to come over. Apparently it was proven a difficult job to do, because she refused until Danica walked up, tugging me with her. As soon as our eyes met I knew that Danica took notice of my reaction and reveled in the fact that, despite my current situation then, I was attracted to this one. As soon as I saw that bitch smile I knew nothing good could come from it. I tried to warn Joselyn to leave by pleading at her with looks, but the Slut Puppy was watching me too closely and grabbed her up and out of my sight. Jealousy was never one of Danica's strong points..."

He paused to rake his hands in his hair. Abby didn't dare say a word. She just witnessed as her friend began to mentally breakdown infront of her, and there was nothing she could do or say to stop it. This was a long lost demon coming back to haunt him. He broke off again and looked at Joselyn laying there on the bed.

"Josie..."

His voice held a tenderness to it that was foreign to Abby. It was so soft and sad. She saw the pull that just saying her name was having on his emotions. By that nickname alone, she realized that King had invested more than just a night with this girl. She feared at any moment now, he was going to lose it. He fleetingly pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets to get rid of the mistiness that was forming there. Giving him a second, he cleared his throat slightly and started again.

"It wasn't till three days later that I saw her again. Dan decided that she wasn't going to feed me loke she did by bringing in blood I was chained to my favorite fucking floor, when the door opened and Jarko threw her unceremoniously to the ground infront of me. I remember her face. It was exactly the same as I saw her tonight. Apparently Jarko raped her, but Danica had bigger plans. Josie was so scared. She just cried and cried until I got close enough to touch her. I held her against me until she calmed down enough to speak. All she kept asking was why. Why did they do this to her? And I didn't have any answers for her Abby... So I just rocked her back and forth like a baby whispering that I would never hurt her. She had no reason to trust me. She didn't know anything about me. For all she knew, I could've been another decoy. She didn't even question about the reality of vampires. I'll never know why she believed me, but she did. How anyone could retain so much beauty after being beaten like that was beyond me."

Abby chose to be brave and ask a question.

"Tonight, when she said 'Three days, three days they tortured me...' I saw you shut down. That scared the hell out of me King. That why I got so angry. I didn't understand what I thought I was seeing."

King sighed.

"I didn't understand what I was seeing. I thought she was dead..."

He scooted closer to the bed and took Joselyn's limp hand in his, caressing the back of it soothingly with his thumb. Distractedly, he brought it to his mouth, kissing it.

"It's okay..."

He spoke to her as though she had told him she was frightened. He then picked up again where the story left off.

"We were completely alone for three hours before Danica showed up. She took one look at us wrapped around each other for comfort and laughed maniacally in amusement. She passed by me, grabbing me by the hair, tugging it in her affectionate way saying, 'Oh King, you look so weak, starved really...' Eyeing Josie, the most sadistic smirk spread across her face. I'd never felt so sick to my stomach as I did then wondering what she was thinking. She walked over and ran her hand over the top of Josie's head and I felt her cringe in my arms. My senses pinpointed on Josie to try and escape Danica, but I didn't miss what she said next. 'If you love this one so much, then I guess you'll have no problem making her one of us.' I'll never forget the look in Josie's eyes when she looked at me then. It was pure terror. "

Abby's eyes snapped up. King just kept talking, afraid that if he stopped, he wouldn't be able to start again.

"Danica was right in my ear. 'Aww...looks like she doesn't love you as much anymore. Don't worry King, that always happens. You still have me...' Josie was begging, telling me that I wasn't like this. But Dan's voice was pushing, coaxing, and my thirst was so great. So I bit down..."

He was shaking by that point.

"...God the screaming Abby. It was so loud. I can still feel her blood. I can't get away from it."

Abby met his eyes.

"King, that's not you anymore, you know that. There was no control over what happened."

King just shook his head as though he didn't believe her.

"I'm the reason why she's like this. One thing you don't understand about a bloodletting is that once you make a vampire, you always feel them inside you. I can't lie and say that I didn't look for her every time I went out to hunt when Danica and Asher were still alive. And I can't promise that I would've killed her either. After Drake's death, I was almost certain that she went down with the rest of them. It killed me to know that. Until tonight, I've never felt her presence. When we walked into that building it was so strong that I couldn't breathe. I thought it was just because that's where they kept us until she turned. After that, she never looked at me in the face without pure hatred."

Had Abby known all of this, she would've left earlier that night when he asked. But there was one thing he was leaving out.

"What about the mark?"

King shut his eyes tight and clenched his jaw.

"I did it myself. Danica wouldn't let her leave my side no matter how much she screamed and swore to comply with whatever they wanted her to do, just as long as she could get away from me, she'd do anything. But my Miss Murder had sick pleasures of seeing our agony play out like a movie. At first, I apologized and tried to at least touch her. She'd just snap and bare her small fangs at me. It was like that for a year. Sometimes, when she wasn't aware, I would catch her looking into space with so much sadness and regret. It built up until I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know if it was out of anger because she would never look at me, or the face that I wanted to remind her of who I was. It was never that she belonged to me, even though I wished she did. I just remember diving up to Danica and telling her what I wanted to do. She was happy as an addict with a line of coke. Asher made a ritual of it. He brought it a consummation bed with ties for her wrists, and Dan brought in A newly changed Jarko to watch the spectacle. I'd lost my mind that day. I didn't care that there was a whole audience there to watch me. I just wanted Josie to be mine. It was the sickest I've ever been because I enjoyed having her under me. Just to get a reaction out of her when she tried to hold back..."

He paused knowing what Whistler must've been thinking at that point.

"I guess you didn't know me as well as you thought."

Abby ran a hand through her hair trying to get a feel for what she should say to him as he waited.

"King, you were malnourished and weak. That alone can make people lash out and act crazy. Lest we forget that you were a vampire. Their actions are different than ours and you know that. What you were, isn't who you are now."

"Yeah, but she doesn't know that."

Abby just took a moment to look at hin directly. Movement caused both of their eyes to shift to the bed as Josie turned slowly. She was beginning to come out of it. Abby got up and walked over to where King stood up. She watched his reaction to Josie and jusr replied quietly before leaving the room.

"Then you have to show her."