Sigh. It's been way too long since I last updated this story. You know, it would have been updated earlier but my comp wanted to eat up all of my files, so that I had to start from scratch, sort of anyway. Yeah, so I've been working on this, again, for a couple of seconds and this is what came up. Tis good. But I almost lost that spark that made me start the story in the first place. Eh, anyways, here it is.. Thanks for the reviews and whatnot. Hee hee..

I don't own Darkstalkers. So sad. I know.

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Chapter 3

"Ah, my dear Morrigan. What a pleasure it is to see you again. And at this time of day too… You don't strike me as the 'day-type' of person," he flashed a grin; the fake vampire fangs he'd forgotten to remove, teased his bottom lip.

"Don't start.." Morrigan had held up a hand to stop the other from speaking again. It was just too nice a day to start some argument for what type of day person she was. Of course, that wouldn't stop him from making other remarks. But then again that was Demitri for you.

Demitri Maximov. A sly devil wearing the wings of the angel he'd just slain. Okay, so maybe that's a bit much, harsh, whatever, but how else would you describe a man who knew what he was and could use it to gain him so much fame and fortune? He knew that his voice could calm and control most that heard it. That with his handsome accents, women would be head over heels for him at first glance (only Morrigan had turned down his invitations, so far). He knew all of this and used it for his benefit. Yet he stood there now and looked as if he didn't know, or had no control over it.

"Don't start what, my fair lady?" he said as he bent at the waist, took her hand and placed his lips on the back of her palm. His reddish hazel eyes moved up and caught her emerald ones. He smirked, lips brushing against her skin.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." She pulled back, reclaiming her hand, and wiped it on the hip of her jeans. "…and I'm not yours."

He gave a slight shrug, as he stood upright again, as if to say 'Not yet, but in time'. There was something about him, something with the way he carried himself that said he almost didn't understand how beautiful he was.

His dark brunette hair had been cut for the part, not his choice. It had been touching the middle of his back a couple of months ago, but now… Now it was short enough that it barely touch the top of his earlobes, and with the amount of hair gel they used to get it spiked back the way they wanted it, it hardly seemed like it was his hair at all. Yet he didn't seem too bothered by it and neither did the gaggle of women that followed him around. He wore a deep red, almost midnight black, dress pants that he tucked into his almost knee high black boots. The off white shirt, that covered his upper body was slipped into the top of his pants, had that early eighteenth century look to it. You know with that frilly collar that spilled down the front of his chest. Or maybe it wasn't that puffy. Anyway, over that he had on sort of blazer that stopped where his ribs did and had a tail that spilt into to two and trailed down to the back of his knees. The dark coloring to the clothes made his skin looked pastier than it should have. He was fair of skin but took some time to tan, sort of. It looked as if he'd given up part of the way… All in all he looked like the cliché count vampire, but with a slight twist.

"Ah, it seems as if your pet has finally made it over here."

"What?" she half expected to see Lilith behind her shoulder. It was only Zabel. Of course he was somewhat afraid of Demitri, but that didn't explain why he took he own sweet time. "He's not my pet."

"But he does follow you around everywhere you go, no?" There was a certain look in his eyes. That 'what' she had said before was a bit to high pitched for Morrigan's normal voice.

"No… He doesn't." She noticed the look on his face…She knew where this was going.

"But, someone does follow you around, no?"

"Ey.. Aren't we suppose ta be inside now?" it was Zabel. He came close but it was obvious that he was hiding from the other man's gaze.

"I believe you're right on that one…" He shot a quick smile at the other man then turned to face her, "Morrigan, I shall talk to you later, hopefully, yes?" He made a small bow with his head and walked off and turned the corner to the studio.

"And what was that about?"

"Nothing, come on. We're late as it is. I don't think that the Direct will be happy about it."

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…You've been my idol from as far back as I could remember. I just can't explain in words how you've inspired my body and soul, and made me reach for the stars…

"Bleh… They don't seriously mean this, do they?" The piece of paper was crumpled and tossed into the wastebasket that sat across the room. Two points. Lilith sighed and placed her glasses on the table beside her. She had taken a couple of the letters, secretly, and brought them into the living room to read.

Sitting on the center four-seat couch, she drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them lightly. "How could she stomach them all? Hmm… Maybe that's why she doesn't read all of them…" She sighed and let her body tip to the side. The world was on its side now as she eyed the room. Taking in another deep breath she stretched out and traced the pictures that decorated the walls in various places, part of the varnished wooden bookshelf to the left (she didn't want to strain her neck to view all of it), the hunter green coffee table that sat in front of her and the deep green carpet underneath. There were other couches where sprinkled about the room as if they just tossed them in here and didn't want to move the place around. The whole room was meant to feel like the outdoors. And with all of the browns and greens, with some white here and there, it really did feel like the outdoors, minus the wildlife that came with it. She was happy for that.

Lilith rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling fan, following the blades as the made their way around. Even though it was on low, it was still making her head dizzy, forcing her to look elsewhere.

She turned and rolled once again, so that her face was lost in the pillows of the couch. She inhaled and took in the scent, sighing as a blush crawled over her cheeks, "…it smells like her." She wrapped her arms around the pillow and curled up, closing her eyes as she lay there.

"Everything smells like her… But I should be used to it now, right?" She nuzzled the pillow. "I mean, she leaves me here most of the time, by myself. So, this shouldn't be new… But, why do I feel like this? Maybe I miss…" She shook her head and didn't want to finish off the sentence. All she had done was held onto the cushion.

"Morri—"

Ding dong

"—ahhh!" The girl jumped up and was sitting upright, with her heart pounding away at her chest, the pillow on the floor next to her feet. She stood up sluggishly. It felt as if she'd been running awhile and was just regaining the ability to feel and use her feet again. It was just all that blood rushing to her head. She took in another deep breath, which seemed to calm and slow her heart down a bit.

Ding dong Ding dong

"I'm coming!" Her voice was a little shaky, but at least she could walk.

Whoever was at the door had to have enjoyed ringing the bell over and over again. By the time she reached out and took the doorknob in her hand, it had rung over twenty times. Her hand hesitated. Wasn't she supposed to check who it was first? But they had guards, and they wouldn't let just anyone through the fence, right? But then, wouldn't they tell whoever was behind the door that Morrigan left for work? No one ever came to the house when she was alone, because no one knew Lilith enough to come and chat.

"Hey? Lily? Are you hooomme…? Will Morrigan let you come out to plaaaay…?" A man's voice. One that Lilith heard before. But where? "You can open the door… I won't bite. I promise, this time." You could hear the smirk on his face when he said 'this time'. He chuckled, "Lily…"

"I thought you said—" it was another voice.

The door suddenly creaked open and one of Lilith's strawberry flavored eyes peeked out to check who it was. Her eyes traced up and down on the only person she could see and thought there was.

He was tall, about five inches taller than she was and had slender body, even for a guy. He had muscle tone but it looked as if he ran more than lifted weights. His hair, the color of light brown, almost a dull yellow, was slicked back and caught in a tight ponytail that sat on the back of his neck; some strands flying free and falling in front of his face. He took the couple of side strands and tucked it behind his ear; smirking, his sky-danced blue eyes locking on to her own, "No need to be afraid now, Lily." His smirk grew wider as he placed he hand into a pocket, just one hand. He stood there in his navy blue blazer with a white shirt underneath and pants to match, all nonchalantly.

"What…do you want?" She let the door ease open a little more, ready to slam it in his face at any moment.

"Now, now. Is that anyway to treat a guest?"

"You're not my guest."

He made no notion to deny it, "Well, is that anyway to treat one of Morrigan's friends?"

"She didn't tell me that anyone was coming today… So, I have to be careful." She sighed and let her whole face be seen, but her body was still hiding behind the door. At first glance, someone might have mistaken it for a floating head. "I don't personally know who you are," she looked him over again and his expression didn't falter, "…so I can't just let you waltz in here."

"So, how about," he leaned in, placing his free hand on the wall outside, and came closer to the girl's face, "we learn about each other, personally then?"

Her face was flushed with warmness, and she knew that she was blushing. She pulled back, bad idea. He wedged he foot between the door and the doorway, so that she couldn't shut the thing closed, which she had tried to do just a millisecond ago.

"What do you want?" she half screamed as she pushed at the door with her shoulder.

"What's with the hostility, Lily? I just want to talk, that's all… Really." Apparently her pushing didn't work because he stood there without even budging.

"Yeah, right! I- I don't even know you all that well… And you just come here and want to be my friend? I… Highly… Doubt… That…" With every word she struggled with the door.

"Well that's why I want to start…" His voice was coaxing, as if he was trying to ease her mind with his words.

"I don't want to start, Mister." She huffed. It was getting tiring and her body just wasn't cut out for something like this.

"Mister? Please, please. It's Jedah. Boy, Lily… I feel hurt that you forgot my name. And after all the fun we had." He sounded as if he was sobbing, but something told her different.

She finally remembered where she had seen him before. It was three months ago; Morrigan had a party that celebrated her, and someone else's, movie. Of course it was a big hit, so she had invited a lot of people over, one of them being Jedah. It wasn't like she didn't like him; it was just being around him felt wrong. He'd been following Lilith around the party for most of the night, after Morrigan had introduced Lilith as her 'long time friend'. Mind you that they only met five months prior to that. But anyway, he had been tagging along and she couldn't brush him off, so she had to stay close to Morrigan, which neither of them minded. It only seemed to bother Jedah, because he couldn't be alone with her. However, that was some three months ago and there was no word from him. So, why the sudden appearance now?

"Come on, we'll come back later." It was the other voice that she hadn't heard earlier. His tone was a touch deeper, softer, than Jedah's.

"Who's that?" By asking the question, it took her mind off the door for a moment, a second too many. Before she knew it she was on her butt, staring up at the guy in blue and his friend, or what she thought was his friend, behind him.

Jedah squatted down, on the balls of his feet and grinned at the sitting girl, "Oh, Lily… You don't remember either of us do you?" He shoved a thumb in his friend's direction as he came in and closed the door. Privacy you know. "You don't remember Jon? Tsk tsk.." he wagged a finger at her. "It's rude not to remember someone's name, my little one."

Well, how was she to remember anyone if all she could think about was, how to get this creepy guy off her back. She looked up at the other man's face and tried to remember. He did seem vaguely familiar. Maybe she did see him through the crowd, but even from standing here and outside for so long, she could tell that he was the quiet type.

Jon had white hair that fell just past his shoulders. Not gray, it was actually white. You'd think that with her own lilac colored hair, that any other color wouldn't catch her for surprise, but it did. He wore a pale blue dress shirt that stopped at his hips with the arms rolled up past his elbows and the collar popped. The first couple of buttons on his shirt were undone showing off the thin wife-beater he had on under it. His loose pair of jeans was the deepest blue that it was almost black, but the rip at the knee sort of threw the whole outfit. Sorta.

"He's cute, eh?" He'd brought his face closer as he whispered in her ear. He grinned; causing his cheek brushed Lilith's.

She was brought back from the daze she was in while she was staring at the guy standing behind Jedah. Her heart raced again and started to scuttle backwards, only getting so far before he took her by the wrist. "What do you want?"

"Lily, Lily… I just want to talk, really I do." He got to his feet and brought Lilith up with him. With all of her fussing, it was a wonder how he kept his hold on her wrists.

"Let go of me! Now!" She tried to pull her arms free and found that his hold only tightened more to her struggle.

"…Don't hurt her." Jon's voice made her heart skip a beat. She still wasn't used to hearing him speak yet.

"I'm not. Don't worry… I'm just…" He reached down in one swift movement and lifted the girl over his shoulder and walked deeper into the house, turning the corner and ending up in the living room. "I'm just trying to keep her from hurting the both of…us."

Jon had followed him into the room, but hadn't taken a seat. His deep gray eyes scanned the room as he spoke, "Doesn't look like it." He leaned against the door jam with his arms crossed as he watched Jedah sit the girl down on the center couch. "We didn't come to hurt her. And I hope you'll remember that."

"Yeah, yeah… I know." Jedah had his eyes on the lone one in the doorway as he set Lilith down, but quickly turned back to her face, staring into those brilliant ruby eyes of hers. "I wouldn't want to hurt her anyway."

She was getting slightly annoyed from being treated as if she wasn't really there. She took in a breath and let it out slowly. She wasn't one to get angry or yell that much, but she was the type to hurt someone if she bothered long enough. Now, only if she paid attention to her self defense classes, this would have been a piece of cake. "Get off me and out of my face."

"Heh… Still fightin are we Lily?" His smirk was a slow and luring one as he straddled her lap and held onto her wrists with one hand. He lifted her arms over her head and held her chin with his free hand. "All I wanted to do was talk, in a civilized manner…" Jon made a small snicker that Jedah didn't hear or just ignored, "…and you had to make it so difficult on me. Now, if you help me out here," he licked her cheek, "I'll be outta your hair, Lily. Okay."

His lick made her wince and turn her head as if it had burned. She couldn't do anything to his with how they were situated so she just sat there, eyes on the coffee table and a light blush on her cheeks.

"Stop messing around…" Jon said.

"A little foreplay never hurt anyone. Right, Lily?" She stayed quiet as he kissed her cheek. "Besides, you're just jealous that you're not sitting where I am…"

"Ha. Right. At least when I do get a woman, I don't have to force her into positions like that."

"You might not have to force them, but they never stick around for long, now do they, my friend?"

There was a deep growl-like sound that bubbled in Jon throat, "What…?" His hands dropped and formed fists at either side of him.

"Calm down, boy."

The growl boiled up to the surface as he showed off his sharp canines. "Don't call me 'boy'. I am no dog of yours!"

Jedah had buried his face in the nape of Lilith's neck. Her pulse quickened as he brushed his teeth against her skin. Was that a fang she felt? And what was up with Jon? Why did he—

"Ah! What did you just…do? Get off me…please." She shook her head, "Just get off." Her neck was throbbing with a sharp pain.

"Sorry I couldn't help myself, Lily." He licked his lips then licked at the bite. "I can see why Morri would keep you around for so long." He'd kissed the wound and brought his face up to met Lilith's eyes. It seemed as if he'd forgot about the angry "man" at behind him. Ignoring worked, as Jon calmed down. Maybe Jedah's done that a lot; gotten Jon mad and just ignored him until his temper was turned down a notch.

"Stop it…" Her voice was soft as she spoke and eyes could only hold his stare for a moment before she looked away, blushing slightly.

"I'll try my best." He leaned in and nuzzled her neck, taking in the scent of her. "But, I'm not sure how long I can, with a soul that smells and tastes as divine as yours. It's a shame that Morrigan kept you away from me." Lilith didn't see it as a shame, maybe a blessing but not a shame.

"My soul…? Wha-what are you? And what do you want from me?" She glanced to the man at the door and then wriggled under the weight of Jedah's body and tried to pull her hands free, but to no avail.

"You're struggling, Lily…"

"Because…you won't tell me anything. You barged in here, and said you want to talk.. But I haven't heard anything yet.. And… and…" She sniffled. All of this was just too much for her. What had she done and what did they want? Her eyes glossed over as tears filled her eyes. She titled her head down and stared at her lap, or what she could see of it. "…I just want you to…leave me alone." She shook her head, and said, "Morrigan…help me," under her breath.

Her sniffling had caught Jedah off guard. "Lily? Oh, Lily don't cry…"

"Nice job, idiot."

He turned and faced Jon, "Shut up." He directed his gaze to her, "Lily, don't cry. I really didn't mean to hurt you. I just can't control myself sometimes."

She made little sobbing noises, afraid to speak and hear her own voice.

"Look…" She didn't. "Look at me, Lily." She kept her eyes lock on the little table to the side. He took her chin in his hand again and lifted her face to meet his. Her tear filled eyes and overflowed and left a trail down both cheeks. His kissed her tears then her lips. A small kiss, just lips nothing else. He had a soft spot for crying girls, and didn't want the reason for this girl to be crying, because of what he did.

She didn't fight it but it had left her shocked. She blinked slowly trying to get everything in focus.

"Lily?" He said her name in a sort of singsong.

"You're really bad at this, you know. Look what you did to her… I bet you she won't even talk to us now." Jon had walked up to the couch from the doorway and just looked at the both of them. He was still angry, kind of, but let that remark from before slide until a later time.

Jedah ignored his friend and only had eyes for the girl, whose lap he was sitting on. "Lily…" He kissed her softly again, but didn't get the same reaction.

So many things were swimming inside her head. She couldn't think straight and just closed her eyes after the second kiss to block things out. At this rate she'd probably crash, not just from all the random thoughts that were passing through her head, but that bite he left on her skin seemed to have taken a lot out of her system.

"We're going to have to come back later, because of you, Jedah. I told you just to ask the questions, but you just had to get carried away."

"I didn't think she was this frail." He cupped her cheek in his hand and let go of her wrists, watching for a moment as her limp hands fell to her sides and on the couch. "I thought, that maybe, since she was hanging around Morrigan all this time, that maybe she'd be used to this."

"Used to what? You? Morrigan, yes… But you're not Morrigan." Jon shook his head and eased back towards the door jam, with his back to the both of them. "I hope you didn't do anything to her that might damage her too badly. Morrigan will have your head."

Lilith had let her head bow down and had her eyes closed in sleep. She could still hear things, but in choppy, fragments. Nothing made sense, but the voices seemed to be arguing or deciding what to do. She hadn't even felt that her hands were free and lay numbly at her sides. Having your arms up at the angle had made the feeling in her wrists fade for that moment.

"Come on, let's go. Morrigan is probably on her way back here." He turned his head slightly and moved his eyes the rest of the way. "What are you doing? Haven't you done enough?"

"I'm making her comfortable…"

"Nice timing. You should have thought of that before you did that to her. You should have also thought of asking her something before you started your horny escapade."

"As I've said before… I couldn't help myself."

"That's a first."

"It is. She has this power to her soul that I'm drawn too." He had placed her body out on the couch. He propped her head up with a couple of pillows and grinned down at her, as if he was proud of his work. "I'm surprised that all I did was bite her. If you weren't here, I might have been able to get away with so much more."

"And do you think that Morrigan would allow you to get away with that?"

"Of course not. But I wouldn't have been thinking that in the course of it all."

Jon turned back around and headed for the front door, leaving Jedah in the room with a sleeping Lilith. "We leave."

"As you wish. Lily…? I shall see you later. Maybe next time you won't faint on me, eh?" He leaned down and placed his lips against her forehead. "Morrigan can't keep you away forever." He stood up completely and took a couple steps back. If anyone had been in the room, awake mind you, they'd probably think it was just a dark navy blue blur.

Lilith was left in the living room, snoozing on the couch. The fan blades still lazily followed their path around in a fixed circle.

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Inside of the studio was way darker from the bright sunlit parking lot out back. So, it took a while for Morrigan and Zabel's eyes to get used to the little amount of light inside. It didn't take long for Morrigan to get adjusted, but Zabel had that dazed look on his face, after the fact that he blinked so much that his eyes started to tear.

"I 'ate this bloody studio. You'd think they'd be smart enough ta get more lightin' in 'ere."

She had pay no attention to he remark and started toward the center of this big room. "Morrigan…? Aye! Wait…wait for me!"

Electrical cords, lighting equipment, cameras, make-up artists, clothing assistants and a handful of other people had swarmed the whole place like an oversized flea market. Every time Morrigan would come here, she realized why she stayed home so much and hated going to work. No, it wasn't that she was claustrophobic or anything, it was just that this many people tended to get on her nerves and more often than not, she found herself repeating the same things over and over again to different people. It was just tiring sometimes. Everything just seemed like an organized mess.

Zabel was trailing behind her by a couple feet. He had almost tripped over a wire that was the size of a small anaconda. How he missed that is beyond her, but she thought that he was probably still trying to adjust. "Ey love, see any signs of the boss yet?" He made a little trot towards her with one hand out, just incase he fell, or something.

She glanced at him and shook her head, with a little smirk on her face. "No, not yet. But I don't think he'd go on this long without—"

"Morrigan. Zabel. How nice of you two to join us today."

"…noticing us. Damn." She let her head turn off to the side as she cursed softly to herself. She sighed and turned back to look up at him, showing off a sweet smile. She had to lift her head a bit because of where the director/producer stood. He was up, high on what looked like one of those elongated cherry pickers, or those fire escapes on the side of the old city buildings that everyone forgets about. There had been stairs leading up to where he stood. But he made no effort to come down. Maybe he liked being that high up. Made him feel as if he was more important than everyone here. Neither Zabel nor Morrigan thought that was true, but they wouldn't say that out loud, not while he was watching anyway.

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Whoot Chapter 3 is done? It ended kinda abruptly there didn't it. I wanted to stop there because it saves me something to fill up the next chapter with. Whoo! Oh, oh. Did you like Jedah? (I heart Jedah. Muhuhahahaha. He was kind hard for me to use in Darkstalkers 3. But I still liked him. Creepy, that's what drew me to him. Fun Stuff.) Chea so anyways. I gotta go finish working on the next chapter and my other story that's coming out. I'm still kinda sad that my comp ate all my pre-typed, well kinda pre-typed, fanfiction. But I guess that it gives me a chance to start over and make it better. That meh, always looking at the better side of things. But only after I let some heads roll, first. Eh, hehe heheh…