"We need to talk."

"What could we possibly talk about hmmmm Darien? The fact that I've become a vampire over night? Or the fact that I'm the frigging mate to the vampire king? Or could it be the fact that we seem to be fucking like rabbits constantly!"

Darien couldn't help it but he wasn't listening to her talk; he'd become somewhat distracted, sure she was standing before him fuming and he should have been fearing for his life, but it wasn't the standing before him that distracted him, oh no, it was the standing before him naked that had his head tilting slightly to watch as her breasts jiggled when she stomped her feet at the end of her mini rant. Shaking his head, he came to his senses as Serena began walking away from him, annoyed at his lack of attention and response. If only that was the case, he was responding all right, just not in the way he should have been given the anger seeming to cloak itself around her like a well used blanket.

"Serena wait."

"For what? You to stop ogling my boobs?"

Serena's eyes narrowed as Darien opened his mouth to respond.

"I'd think long and hard about your next words Darien Shield 'coz they just might be your last."

Darien supposed that if his heart still had a beat it would have just skipped one… or maybe three or four at her threat. Sure he was a vampire, heck he was the vampire king, but they still had no way of knowing what Serena's powers were and provoking her till the point of using them against him, well it just wouldn't qualify as the smartest thing to do now would it. Keeping that in mind, he decided to rethink his choice of words.

"Look Serena, we really do need to talk, especially seeing as you are now the Queen of the entire vampire race."

From the rapid way her face paled, a commendable feat for any vampire, Darien guessed that her being the Queen to his King hadn't really crossed her mind and he seriously didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this moment in time, though the decision was made for him when Serena turned to walk away from him and her legs crumpled underneath her.

Using his enhanced speed, Darien was able to catch her before she hit the ground completely, his arms protectively tight around her naked body, scooping her up into his arms, he walked over to the bed, ignoring Serena's small protests and weak assurances that she was now ok, her midnight blue eyes gazing unfocusedly into the atmosphere. Reluctant to leave her side for any given amount of time Darien went in search of some clothes she could wear, eventually coming up with a baggy t-shirt and some pyjama shorts.

"You know a couple of days ago I was an ordinary girl, with ordinary friends and an ordinary job. Now, I'm a vampire queen, mated to the vampire king with vampire friends." Her voice was little more than a whisper on the wind, yet he heard it loud and clear, wincing as she stressed on each "ordinary".

Though her general lack of emotions was causing his emotions to fly of the scale, rocketing right from sorrow through anger to fierce love for his mate, heck, he couldn't even feel her emotions; it was like she was one big black hole, void of anything and everything.

"You know…… maybe we should spend some time apart. Give me a proper chance to accept-"

"No." The words were out of his mouth before she'd even finished talking.

Her eyes were startled as they lifted to meet his; shocked at the steely resolve they saw there.

"But…"

"No."

"Please…"

"I'm sorry Serena, you have no idea how sorry I truly am, but there is no way I can allow us to part."

"It's not like I'm asking for a divorce or something like that. I just want a little time to myself. Just to process all that's happened recently-"

"No."

"But…"

"If something was to happen to you because I wasn't around to stop it, I'd never forgive myself." Shaking his head at the thought of Serena becoming injured, when he could have done something to prevent it, Darien once again gave his answer.

"No."

"What if I allowed the girls to stay with me? That way you don't have to worry about my safety."

Darien looked to the sky as if seeking divine interference before he peered back down into the disheartened eyes of his mate. Sighing, he knew there was no way he was gonna deny her her request, no matter the utter devastation of his heart breaking at the thought of being separated from his mate.

"Fine, have it your way. The girls go with you everywhere… and I mean everywhere, you take a piss one of them had better be watching, you understand. And you're gone for no more than 2 days-" Darien held up his hand to halt her protests at the time limit, "-that's non negotiable Serena, just be glad I'm letting you out of my sight at all, never mind 2 days."

Nothing more was said as Serena watched Darien become fully dressed with nothing more than an unexaggerated wave of his hand. Her eyes fluttered shut and a single tear began a slow descent down the smooth plane of her cheek, as he bent down to place a soft lingering kiss on her forehead, before he walked out of the door, his emotions unreadable as she watched him go.

It was raining, that was the first and only thing she really noticed as she woke up that day, her finely tuned senses tapped into the therapeutic rhythms that the individual droplets of rain made as they encountered various surfaces to land on. Sighing, Serena pushed back the bed covers and desolately made her way towards the bathroom. Flicking on the light, she winced as its harsh glare momentarily blinded her. Blinking rapidly, Serena waited for the spots dancing before her eyes to disappear before she made her way over to the sink, shocked at the gaunt image that greeted her as she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

Vampires were meant to be ethereal creatures, beautiful to the point of pain, blinding the eye with every glimpse, but tempting you to keep looking back anyway. So how come she didn't feel very beautiful? How come the sight that greeted her when she looked in the mirror was of an ordinary girl with bags under her blood shot eyes from hours of crying the night before, how come her silvered hair was tangled beyond repair, knotted and gnarled, her cheeks blotchy, skin too pale, something she would have laughed at if she wasn't feeling as if someone had reached into her soul and snapped it in half, while all the while knowing that the someone was her.

She couldn't feel him; no matter how hard she'd tried yesterday, she couldn't feel him at all. When she'd asked for space, she meant physically, not mentally too, something she was quickly finding hard to cope with. Turning on the tap Serena proceeded to wash her face, not at all startled when she heard someone knock on her door having sensed Raye and the girls as soon as they'd entered her apartment building. With her head hanging over the sink, her hair trailing and sticking to the wet surface of the porcelain, Serena debated whether to go and open the door to them or not. Despite her promise of having the girls baby-sit her she was loath to face any person right now, whether they be friend or foe.

It wasn't until she heard the gentle sound of her front door clicking shut and the sound of voices getting nearer did she realise that while she had been debating with herself, the girls had decided to take matters into their own hands. Sighing, Serena fumbled around in the mirrored cabinet above the sink until she found a thin head band and slid all her hair back, feeling some of the wet tendrils stinging as they slapped against her t-shirted back. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for what was to come… though when she made her way out of the bathroom and into her living room, and almost tripped over the beach ball lying harmfully in the middle of the doorway, did Serena realise that no amount of bracing would have prepared her for the sight before her very eyes.

Lita was literally chasing Mina around the room, objecting flying in every direction as Mina scrambled for her life, not caring about the welfare of the various objects Serena had collected over the years… objects that held sentimental value now crashing to the floor as Raye screeched in the back ground, trying, and failing, to the get the two girls to stop and "quit damaging Serena's apartment", her arms waving in the air in exaggerated movements, while Amy stood adrift from the rest of them, her head held in her hands as she prayed diligently to what powers may be to spare her from Serena's wrath when she saw what they'd done.

Serena's knew her eyes were startled as she watched the proceedings going on before her, though they quickly became enraged as the sight and sound of her most beloved music box crashed to the ground, it's once harmonic melody dieing on an unearthly squeal.

"Enough… just enough."

Her quiet voice had the same effect as if she'd yelled out into the chaotic atmosphere: All activity halted immediately as the four girls swung their heads to look at their new friend, heads hung low in a meek show of apology before each of them snuck a quick glance up simultaneously, immediately began clucking around her like mother hens, commentating on her pale complexion and voicing their very different opinions on Darien's actions, even though she knew - and she was sure they knew - that her current state was something she'd brought upon herself. Sighing, she untangled herself and but some distance between her and rest of them, eyeing them almost warily as she finally registered the fact that the beach ball, was a) not hers and b) not the only beach accessory that was littered around her apartment's floor.

"Ummm guys, what's with all the beach stuff?" Now Serena wasn't as stupid as people like to believe about women with her hair colour, before she became a vampire that is, was; she had some incline into what the stuff was doing in her apartment and she was vehemently praying to the same powers that be as Amy previously had been that they weren't planning on taking her to the beach. Because someone who was taking some time from their life mate didn't want to be seen in public, especially an over crowded, child infested, single jerks populated public place. No, there was no way that they'd do this to her in her current condition………

"Oh, isn't it obvious, were going to the beach." Mina cheerfully clarified for Serena.

………Oh fuck the powers that be, this was now personal 'coz when she got her hands on those in charge there'd be some 'xplaining to do, that was for sure.