Disclaimer: I do not own Josef, Mick or anyone else that you may recognize. Riley and all of the others that come out of my head are of course mine. No copy write infringement is intended.

Chapter 18

He looked me in the eyes and I couldn't be happier than I was at this moment, just being able to sit here with him. He pulled me tight against him.

"Riley, I love you." Time froze as he spoke. I couldn't breathe, I was too afraid that if I moved in any way I would wake up and none of this was going to be real. He pulled back from me a little, just enough to look into my eyes. I could see the fragility and sincerity pouring into my own eyes from his. I felt a small tear slide down my cheek.

"I love you too Josef." The fear and uncertainty disappeared and I was rewarded with a smile that lit up his entire face. I reached my hand up to his face and pulled him towards me. I pulled him close enough so our foreheads were touching and I had wrapped my hands back around his neck. He gave me a light kiss and pulled back away from me. He stood up and he laughed just slightly at the pouting expression that I was sure had taken over my entire face. He pulled his shirt off and the proceeded to lay down in bead with me. I was pulled me even closer to him; my back was pushed completely up against his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere, Ry." He kissed me lightly on the cheek and I relaxed into his arms. Within moments, I was asleep in Josef's arms and I couldn't have been happier.

I woke up the next morning smiling for the first time in a long while. Last night had been the first night in weeks that I hadn't been plagued by nightmares. I rolled over, expecting to bump into Josef at some point and was surprised when I didn't find him lying next to me. I sat up and looked around the room. The sun was peaking through the curtains and I looked over to the clock. 8:00 was much earlier than I had planned on waking up, but I guess I couldn't do anything about that now. Who knows, maybe if I actually got my ass out of bed I would get to see Josef before he either went to either the office or his freezer.

I made my way down to the kitchen and the scent of coffee surrounded me. I walked over to the fresh pot and poured myself a glass. I grabbed a granola bar and continued on my search for Josef. I had covered most of the first floor in about 5 minutes and was about to make my way upstairs when I caught site of that beautiful blonde hair. I went to push open the door but stopped when I saw that he was with someone.

No matter how much I wanted to I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. He pulled the girl that was with him closer, until she was flat against his chest. He slowly kissed her neck and I continued to watch with morbid curiosity. I couldn't believe that this was happening, yet I couldn't seem to do anything to stop it. "You taste far to tempting, my dear." I heard him whisper to the petite brunet that stood with him. I couldn't stop the tear from slipping out of my eye and watched as Josef pulled away a little, to let his fangs grow.

I was about ready to slap myself. I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to think that Josef was really cheating on me. This girl was obviously one of his donors, his freshies. I turned away as I saw his fangs slide so seamlessly into the girl's skin. I walked back out to the front room to wait for him. I sat down with my coffee and tried to calm myself down. He was turning me into the jealous girlfriend. I didn't really know if that was a good thing or not, but it was who I was becoming.

I had finally convinced myself to relax when he walked into the room with that damned girl. I really had to find a way to keep my thoughts under control. Josef saw me sitting on the couch and walked over towards me, leaving the other girl glaring at me.

"Morning, love. Did you sleep okay?" He pulled me up so that I was standing with him and gave me a small peck on the tip of my nose. Okay, I really had no will power when it came to him. There was really no way that I could stay mad at him. I was about to answer when the girl started tapping her foot. I was going to kill her, I really was. She was pissing me off way to much this early in the morning. Josef turned around to look at her, seeing how upset she was at being momentarily forgotten, he started to walk back over to her, hopefully to show her out. Yeah, I wasn't giving up that easily. I grabbed a hold of his hand and walked over with him. He glanced at me and I could tell that he wasn't totally sure what was going on.

"Sorry about that, Alexia. Let me walk you to the door." He smiled at her and I almost felt sorry for how clueless he seemed to be at this point. She reached down and took a hold of his other hand and smiled at me. It was fake and showed exactly how much she didn't like any new girl around Josef. It was amusing when I realized that she thought I was a new freshie.

"Listen, Hun, you don't mind if Josef walked me to the door alone do you?" I swear I wanted to smack that stupid smirk off her face. I took all of my control to keep from doing just that.

"No, Hun, that's fine with me." I pulled Josef toward me and pulled him into a deep kiss. He wrapped his free arm around my waist and eventually I felt his previously occupied hand take hold of some of my hair. I almost forgot that I was doing this all to make that poor girl jealous, well almost all for that reason. I pulled back and smiled at Josef and the look of lust that flashed through his eyes. "We'll talk when you have shown Alexia out, love." I knew that my anger flashed through my eyes when I said her name. I also knew that Josef saw it. I took a few steps back, keeping my eyes locked on him the entire time. There was a slight look of confusion in his eyes, but he forced it away in moments. He gave me a slight nod and I turned away and walked back into the kitchen.

Josef joined me only a moment later. I knew that he was confused about my behavior and I also knew that there was little I could do to stop myself from being jealous of every single one of those girls that he give attention to. I pulled myself up and sat on the counter as he stood there staring at me. We stayed like that for a while. I could admit the obvious to myself, but I wasn't really willing to admit it to him yet. I didn't want to tell him that I hated him giving any other girl any bit of attention. I mean really, I didn't need this issue right now. However, I also knew that he wasn't going to stay silent like this for long.

"Riley, what is going on? What was that show out there for?" Yep. Right on cue.

"It's nothing." Yep, I guess I figured if I could keep my mouth shut as much as possible, maybe it would make the fact that I was getting jealous over something that we couldn't avoid seem a little less crazy. It was going to be nothing but short 2 or 3 word sentences from here on out.

"You know I don't believe you at all, right?" I nodded. Wow, it might be easier than I thought to keep my mouth shut. "Ry, I need you to talk to me love." As he said this he walked over to where I was sitting on the counter. He put his hands on either side of me and just stood there.

"I wanted a kiss." I said this with a smirk and I knew that he wasn't going to let it go. This was going to be one long ass night.

"Ry, if you wanted a kiss all you had to do was ask. We could be up in your room kissing right now. However, I don't think that was all." He leaned down and gave me a small kiss on the corner of my mouth. "What's going on love?"

"She started it." Well there goes that plan. Josef looked at me, one eye brow raised slightly. "Okay, fine. So I might have possibly seen you feeding off of her when I went to look for you this morning. And I guess I didn't like seeing you with her. And then there is the fact that she treated me like I was just some girl off the street that you picked up when you were walking her to the door." When I looked back at him I almost smacked him. "You really think this is amusing, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Riley. I just didn't know you were the jealous type, that's all." He still had a little smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"I'm not normally. However, you seem to bring out that side in me. I don't want to share you. I know its stupid and I know you have to eat, but I still don't like it. I don't like that they think they have a chance. I trust you, that isn't the problem. I just don't trust them around you." I hadn't looked at Josef through most of my little speech, and I was afraid to now. I didn't like this side of me, but I loved Josef to much. The thought of having to share him with any one hurt me.

"Well, I have to say I am slightly flattered. There is something you need to here though." He took my hand as we walked back upstairs and sat down on our spot in the library, in front of the fire. "Riley, I have only been in love one other time. I thought that she was the one for me. I tried to turn her eventually and it didn't work. I lost her. I didn't think I would ever find someone that could make me feel like this again. I mean what I said last night. You're it for me. I don't know what I would do if I lost you. I would never do anything to screw that up." He held my eyes the entire time he spoke. I could see every emotion that he was experiencing through his eyes as he spoke. "If it makes you more comfortable, I will build a back house, and I can feed out there, that way you never have to see it. If I need to eat when I'm around you, I will make due with the bagged stuff. If this will make you more comfortable then I will do it." I realized exactly how much I loved him when I saw the look of pure adoration in his eyes. I couldn't really rely on being able to speak at this point, so I nodded in response to his question. "Then it's done. There was something else I had been planning on asking you this morning as well. I know that we were originally just using this as an arrangement until we got you a new place to live, but I don't know if I want to lose this. I like having you here. I like being with you all of the time. I want you to move in with me, Ry."

I knew that I had a somewhat shocked smile on my face. I knew that last night had changed everything, but I didn't think he was going to ask me to make this so permanent so quickly. But at the same time, this is what I wanted, what I needed. I put my arms around him and just sat there in his lap. He put his arms around my waist and held me closer than I though possible. I loved him so much I never wanted to let go.

A/N: Okay, sorry this took a little longer than normal. I meant to have this up last week and just ran out of time to proof it. So hope you all like it, leave me reviews and let me know what you think! I thrive off of your feedback! I am finishing up with my semester at school so I hope to have a little bit more time to update in the next few weeks!