Ruby checked herself one last time in the bathroom mirror that was caked with soap scum. A massive amount of face powder gave her a more "life-like" appearance and some color to her cheeks. A tinted lip-gloss enhanced her lips, making them lush under the florescent lighting. She'd put her hair back in a nice French braid, effectively hiding any of the smaller braids, string, and trinkets Marko had put in her hair. One of her nicer t-shirts and the jeans she'd patched with leather pieces made her look not so vagabond vampire girl anymore.

Pressing a hand to her stomach in an effort to quell the butterflies, she grabbed her hooded sweatshirt and stepped outside. David was awaiting her, leaning on the side of the building, one foot up against the wooden façade boards. He flicked his cigarette away as he saw her come outside, and grinned.

"Damn… take this as a compliment that I want to turn you right back around into the room and fuck your brains out, Ruby." He rubbed his gloved hands together as Ruby shrugged into the hooded sweatshirt and zipped it up.

"I always knew you had a dirty mind, David. You just hid it well." Ruby rolled her eyes as the blond vampire licked his lips slow and suggestively.

"I'm not exactly hiding it right now…" David slid his hand over her shoulder, stepping closer. Ruby closed her eyes, fighting the swoon and the call of their bond.

"Please, I've got to get this over. I need to see them." She whispered. David stopped short, instantly. The bond call broke off and he was all business once more.

Mounted up, Ruby with her arms tight around David, they rode down through the main street of the town, up towards the northern part where the forest still jutted up against the backyards of houses. Then up into those trees, along a dirt road until there were very few houses, with plenty of untamed trees and brush lining the well-kept but unpaved street.

David made a left turn onto a gravel road lined with small bushes, letting the bike go slowly as they approached the house Ruby had grown up in. It was quite a different sight; originally an A-frame built as a cabin for hunting and fishing, over the years her parents had added on something akin to a ranch-style house that blended in to the side of the original A-frame cabin.

The two vampires stopped next to the old rusty truck parked beside the wooden carport, David putting his boots down on the gravel to keep them and the bike balanced. Lights blazed away in the house, cheery and warm, and gray smoke billowed continuously from the chimney in the A-frame's roof.

"Ready?" his voice was so low Ruby almost had trouble hearing him. She nodded and slid off the back of his bike. David followed, heading towards the front of the house.

"No." Ruby told him softly, catching his arm. "They never answer the front door." She tugged the sleeve of his coat, picking her way between the truck and motorcycle, heading towards the backside of the house. The rickety and unpainted picket fence was still there, the gate hanging crookedly and unlocked. Ruby stepped through, closely followed by David.

Using the lessons David had taught her, she picked up the scent of two humans, heard two heartbeats coming from inside the house. Both her parents were indeed home, and thankfully there was no company tonight. Ruby absently wondered if her mother still taught pottery classes.

Picking her way as silently as she could up the wooden stairs, she caught David again just before he could put his boot down on the loose board that had been there since she was a child. Ruby moved up a step to make room for David to follow without hitting the board and announcing their arrival. She'd always jumped on that board when she was younger, sending out a signal to her mother she was home from school. Not this time.

Breathing hard needlessly, Ruby reached the flat porch area, decorated with potted plants her mother loved to tend. David hung back, looking out over the vast backyard that meddled with the forested land behind it. Except for the small yard that was fenced, everything else was wild. A doe and her baby darted silently through the underbrush, having picked up the scent of the vampires on the still night air.

Ruby could hear her parents talking, probably in the kitchen, as she knocked sharply on the doorframe. There was a pause in the talking, then her mother's footsteps. The old wooden backdoor creaked open, leaving the worn screen door between Ruby and her mother.

"Hello?" a soft but warm voice asked, as a woman in her mid-fifties pulled back the door and peered into the darkness. A switch was flipped and the yellow porch light came on with a pop.

"Mom?" Ruby whispered

"Ruby?" the woman stared through the glasses, her face breaking into a glowing smile. "Ruby! Charles! Ruby's here!" she called over her shoulder, unlocking the screen door and pushing it open. Out rushed the woman, whose hair was graying and pulled back in a ponytail that straggled down her back. She was pleasantly plump, wearing a pair of old work jeans and a sweatshirt that had hand painted lilies over the front.

Ruby found herself hugging her mother as tightly as her mother hugged her. She was careful though, not to over hug. Her strength had tripled and she could do serious damage.

"Oh Ruby! Why didn't you call? How'd you get here! When did you get here?" her mother raced through questions, patting her daughter's hair, looking her over. "Oh Charles, get up and come out here! Ruby's here!" the woman called back through the open doorway. Ruby heard her father grunt, then boot falls as he came up the hall.

"What, Ruth? What are you yelling about now?" A man half a head taller then David stepped into the doorway; his hair was long and gray as well, pulled back in a tight braid. He was grizzled, and a day or two's beard growth covered his jaw. His eyes were the same ice blue as Ruby's, and he had a rugged look to him. But his eyes lit up when he found his daughter actually standing there on the porch, and instantly grabbed her up in a bear hug. "Ruby! My little girl!"

Ruby laughed, enjoying that her father still gave the same great bear hugs he'd always given her. It was all quite a joyous family reunion. Her parents continued to hug her, dropping kisses on her head, looking her over.

"My, my! You've certainly become more of a city girl, Ruby!" her mother remarked. "Look at how thin you've become! And your hair! Is it really that long?"

"Ruth, lay off the girl! She just got here. You can prod her later." Charles patted his daughter's back. "Come inside, take a load off. How long are you here?"

Ruby smiled and nearly stepped inside the house with her parents when she remembered: David. She turned but he wasn't on the stairs behind her anymore. Blinking, her eyes darted around in the darkness, trying to locate him.

"And who's that?" her dad asked, gruffly. He'd spotted the blond vampire first. Ruby looked down over the railing and saw David waiting silently, his hands in his trench coat pockets, looking up at the family.

"Mom, Dad. This is David." Ruby paused, suddenly not sure how to explain David and who he was, and what he was doing here. "David's one of my best friends. He was able to give me a ride up here." She winced inside, knowing that was so vague but it would have to suffice.

"A friend, eh." Charles eyed David. Ruby knew her dad was too smart to buy it. Her mother leaned over and looked over David as well.

"Well, come on up David! Any friend of Ruby's is welcome here!" Ruth smiled cheerfully, motioning David to come along. She turned and headed in the house, pulling Ruby along. David made it to the top step, where Charles blocked him with his massive bulk.

"David, eh."

"Yes sir." David nodded slightly.

Charles looked him over. "What's your last name?"

"O'Brien, sir." Charles nodded slowly.

"Not from around here, are you."

"No sir. I'm from Los Angeles, via Boston."

Charles nodded again, thoughtfully, before extending his hand to the blond vampire. "Welcome then, David O'Brien, to Brookings." David shook Ruby's father's hand in a strong shake, remembering how it was back in Boston days when he'd meet one of his father's associates. "Welcome to our home. Thank you for bringing Ruby up to see us. It's been a very long time since we've seen our daughter."

David's face spread into a smile. "It was my pleasure, sir."