Thank you guys for your feedback! It means the world! I'm also really excited to announce that on October 23rd, Torment in Daniel Grigori's POV will be released! Along with that, I will be posting the deleted scenes from Fallen in Daniel's POV because I think you should all see it on October 23rd as well. Thank you guys so much for your ever continuing support and I'm super excited to continuing the trilogy with you all. Let me know what you think of this chapter!

Love Never Dies,

Bella

Chapter 14

x

The Lion's Den

"Why would you fight with Cam, Daniel?" Gabbe asked, sighing softly but a scolding tone still hidden in her voice. Daniel was in the bathroom of his dorm, the door midway open so Gabbe could see in. He was leaning over the sink, using a washcloth to clean the first from his wounds, though they were practically healing up with every touch.

Daniel sighed and looked at Gabbe in the mirror, speaking nonchalantly, "He needed to learn his lesson."

"By stooping down to his level?" Gabbe scoffed, throwing her hands in the air. Daniel sighed and turned, leaning against the sink. His gray-violet speckled eyes holding a somber look in them, almost like a sad song had been filling the room. Daniel didn't speak, knowing that he was wrong – No denying he was. But he most certainly didn't regret it.

Then, a rhythmic knock on the door before it swung open and someone entered. A rustled up Cam, who stood in the doorway of the bathroom. Cam's eyes met a gaze with Daniel, whose face was twisted into an angered scowl.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel practically snarls and stands upright, striding over but being stopped at the doorway by Gabbe, her hands pressing against his shoulders, stopping Daniel from doing anything – Though that wasn't his intent. Cam raises his hands in defense, stepping back and raising his eyebrows.

"I came to say sorry-" Cam began but Daniel scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Sure," Daniel sarcastically grumbles, glaring directly at Cam. "Since when have you been sorry for have of the shit you've done to me?"

Cam shook his head, his fingers moving his black bangs from his face, shrugging slightly. "We, I just wanted to tell you my plans with Luce tonight have been disposed of – She canceled on me. So, you should see her at Social Night – Don't worry about me, I have business to attend to." Cam looked nearly bored, but a spark of mischief flicker in his emerald eyes before he spins and exits out the dorm before Daniel or Gabbe could even reply.

Since when did Cam give a damn about telling Daniel his plans? Daniel didn't know, and at this point, he didn't care. He tried to debate whether or not Cam had been saying the truth. Daniel could never tell anymore, they weren't as close as they once were, not after Lilith left him, not after he had berated Cam. Daniel's eyes stay on the door, his mind continuing its silent debate before finally deciding that Cam wouldn't had given a damn to bother telling Daniel if he wasn't telling the truth.

Only one way to find out.

XoXoX

Daniel walks out the boy's locker room, shrugging uncomfortably in the fitting blue Union Civil War uniform. His gray-violet speckled eyes glide over the crowd of student, most of the females in nurse uniforms and the males wearing either blue Union uniforms or gray Confederate uniforms. The entire crowd looked stuffy, hot, and annoyed.

Luce was nowhere in sight.

Daniel's eyes landed on Gabbe, who was smoothing out her dress apron and fixing her cap. Daniel traipsed to Gabbe, his eyes set in a stern look but glancing towards the group of students and the girl's locker room, hoping to see Lucinda exiting. Nothing, not even a glimpse of her raven black hair.

"Have you seen Luce?" Daniel whispered to her, his eyebrows furrowing and looking wildly back and forth between Gabbe and crowd. Gabbe frowned toward Daniel, shaking her head. "No. I haven't."

Daniel sighed and balled his hands into his fist and steered away from Gabbe. First, he had to figure out where Cam was. Daniel spotted Roland from across the room, leaning against the wall and keeping to himself. Daniel strode over, his fingers extending and his knuckles popping.

"Where did they go, Roland?" Daniel's patronizing voice whisper-yelled, his eyes narrowed as he leaned close to Roland, who blinked in surprised but then frowned.

"I'm sure you're talking about Cam and Luce."

"Who else?" Daniel grumbles under his breath and Roland sighs. "A bar by Little Blackwater place, down the river, she was picked up ten minutes ago by some black Sedan."

Daniel curses Cam under his breath and turns his heel, storming towards the doors so he could not only escape this hell of a Social Night, but also to save Luce from whatever trouble she was getting herself into. Then, Sophia Bliss stepped in front of him, blocking him from exiting the gymnasium.

"Sophia-" Daniel began, going to step around her.

"Daniel, maybe you shouldn't worry about it tonight." Sophia whispers. "Is it really worth it?"

Daniel narrows his eyes leans in. "You know she means everything to me, and Cam is going to do something to her if I don't find her quick." Sophia sighs and slips from Daniel's way. He rushed out of the door and out onto the campus, his eyes rushing across the dark abyss of the forest. Daniel was tempted to fly to her, but he knew her constant curiosity – He had to be somewhat humane.

He broke into a hasty jog to the parking lot before spotting Sophia's white Taurus, and deciding it'd be the best victim for the night. Daniel's fingers snapped and the locks popped up, unlocking the car doors and Daniel slipped in. He found a set of spare keys just under the passenger seat and shoved them into the ignition. The engine purred and Daniel pulled out of the parking spot.

XoXoX

Daniel sped down the worn road, his hands grasping the wheel of the car so tightly, it could had been possible to see his veins The quick whispers from the Announcers practically breathing down his neck as they filled the car.. His gray-violet eyes wore a dangerous look as they narrowed at the empty road, turning roughly right and the tires screeching as Daniel saw the light from a bar glow on the street. Daniel eased on the break and slowed, stopping the car at the entrance of the parking lot. Some men were outside smoking, their tattoos bared and a drunken slur to their voice as they cheered on a fight inside.

Daniel's eyes squinted, looking through the dim windows and into the bar through the open doorway. He then saw Luce, cowering away on a bar stool while Cam came face-to-face with a random drunk fool. Daniel jumped from the car, pulling the keys free from the ignition and walked quickly to the bar, weaving himself through the cars and bikes and the crowds of drunks to get to Luce. Before he fully get around the men blocking the doorway, someone clashed into him, causing him to stumble back only slightly before he realized - It was Luce.

He steadied her hips and his eyes locked with her's, a troubled look seeping into his gray-violet eyes. "Are you okay?" Daniel's voice was filled with concern, almost wanting to yell at her for going here but he couldn't - He was far too ecstatic with the idea that she was here now, in his arms, and knowing she'd be safe.

"How did you find me?" Luce choked out, tears hazing over her hazel eyes that made Daniel's heart twist with need, need to help her. But, Daniel did nothing but quickly murmur, "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Daniel slips in hand into her's, their fingers twining together and he rushed back towards the car, tugging Luce quickly behind. A look of not only worry settled in Daniel's eyes, but also that dark frustrated and angered look from earlier was still residing in his gray-violet eyes. The subtle whispers returning above and making him glance up and scowl, watching them dissipate in the air above. As they reached the car, Daniel quickly glanced at Lucinda - Who was wearing a look of disbelief.

"What?" Daniel quickly asks, fumbling with the keys to the car before unlocking the car door and swinging it open for her. "Something wrong?" Luce sank into the seat and glances over at the bar.

"We do not have time for me to list the many, many things that are wrong. . . Look," and she gingerly gestures to Cam, who had stormed out of the bar with narrowed eyes and clenched fist. His emerald eyes deadlocked on Daniel. It was obvious Daniel had stopped whatever devious plans Cam in set - Which Daniel never wanted to know about - and it bought a small smirk that slithered over his ample lips and he shook his head. Cam shouldn't have tried, he'd never win, not when Luce was involved.

Daniel slipped into the driver seat and glanced over at Luce, who was fumbling with her seatbelt. Daniel softly chuckled and reached over, taking the clasp and the base. "There's a trick." He whispered softly, pushing the clasp gently into the base, listening to the soft click but couldn't help that soft buzzing feeling that sailed through his hands and through his body. Daniel awkwardly shifted away and started the engine, and began to back out of the spot, but stopping when he saw the figure of a man outside the tinted windows. Daniel rolled down the window, not bothering to look at , who was starting to approach the car after Daniel simply said, "Goodnight, Cam."

"Luce," Cam frowns, standing outside the car now. "Don't do this. Don't leave with him. It will end badly. I'm sorry." But, Daniel ignored Cam and before Luce could even get the chance to reply, he drove off out of the parking lot, leaving Cam behind in the dust. Daniel couldn't tell if Cam was being truthful or not – If he truly was sorry, if perhaps he didn't have fully bad intentions. But Daniel couldn't help but think that Cam was possibly putting Lilith as Luce's image, using her to numb something. . . Daniel couldn't tell anymore, yet he knew that Cam would never love Luce – He gave up on it years ago after Lilith gave up on him.

Daniel didn't know where he was driving, nor did he exactly care. His mind was buzzing with questions too why Luce had gone there to why had Cam bought her there in the first place. His eyes stayed on the road, a eerie silence filling the space between Luce and Daniel before Luce finally said, "You still haven't told me how you found me here, or how you knew I went to meet Cam. Or where you got this car."

Daniel didn't bother with any of the questions revolving around her location or Cam, but simply answered the last one, "It's Miss Sophia's."

"Miss Sophia let you borrow her car?"

Daniel wanted to laugh, shaking his head slightly at her question. Daniel was more than capable of breaking in, especially cars – He probably didn't need his minor gifts. "After years living on skid row in L.A., you might say I've got a magic touch when it comes to 'borrowing' cars."

"You stole Miss Sophia's car?" Luce scoffed and looked out the window, shaking her head in disbelief. Daniel wanted to point out to her she was acting a bit hypocritical, but then – It wasn't as she would remember ever stealing, breaking and entering, and sometimes even killing, in her past lives.

"We'll bring it back," Daniel assured. "Besides, she was pretty preoccupied by tonight's Civil War reenactment. Something tells me she won't even notice it's gone." Daniel glances over at Luce, who was looking him up and down, obviously seeing the Civil War uniform for the first time.

"Don't you laugh." Daniel held back a chuckle because it was a ridiculous thing, the Social Nights that were planned. "You got out of possibly the worst of Social of the year tonight."

Luce then flicked a button on his jacket, "Shame," She playfully pouts and then puts on a fake drawl. "I just had my belle-of-the-ball gown pressed." Daniel's lips twitched in a smile, chuckling softly under his breath before remembering the stunt she had pulled – Sighing indecisively.

"Luce. What you did tonight – Things could have gotten really bad. Do you know that?"

"I didn't mean to come here," Luce's voice sounded almost betrayed. "I wish I hadn't." She added, her voice but a whisper. Daniel shook his head and banged his fist on the steering wheel. She couldn't get it, she never would. She could had killed herself tonight, all because she wanted to skip with Cam. Daniel grinds his teeth, his fingers tightening around the wheel.

"I just can't believe you're involved with him," Of all the people you could have, of all the life and love you deserve – You choose to hang with someone as cunning and betraying as Cam.

"I'm not," Luce insisted, "The only reason I showed up was to tell him. . . " But Luce trailed off and sighed. Daniel sighed and waved her off. "You don't have to explain," Daniel whispered. "It's my fault anyway."

"Your fault?"

Of course she'd be perplexed, but the reason was all too obvious – But what is obvious varies to the eyes of the beholder. He had been ignoring her, he left her with nothing, and it was practically what he was begging her to do. To be with someone other than himself. He left her, he allowed her to fend for herself and that was what she did – Even if she didn't make the brightest choices sometimes. Upon seeing an opening to the beach, Daniel turned off the road and eventually halted the car, stopping at the edge of path. He turned off the car and sank back into the leather interior and stared off at the dark ocean, the sun setting over the horizon.

"Are we lost?" Luce asks, and it only made Daniel realize he need air, space. There was an overgrowing heat in Daniel's bone and he found himself escaping from the car and started down the boardwalk. It didn't take long to hear another car door slam behind him."What's going on, Daniel?" He could hear her feet in the sand, rushing behind him. "Where are we? And what do you mean, it's your fault?"

Daniel sighed and turned to her, the most uppermost look of defeat in his eyes, as if he failed, as if his life were crumbling under his wake. . . Though it seemed that was how it was going right now.

"I just need some time to think," Daniel's husky voice keeping a steady tone however and his eyes drooping, hiding the pain that hid itself in those gray-violet speckled eyes. He watched as Luce's face flushed with frustration, tears glistening in her eyes. It took everything in Daniel at that moment to not kiss away her oncoming tears.

"Why rescue me, then? Why come all the way out here to pick me up, then yell at me, than ignore me?" She questioned angrily, wiping her tears away with her shirt. "Not that that's very different from the way you treat me most of time, but-"

Daniel smacked his hand hands to his forehead, spinning around and both of his hands tearing through his blond hair. "You don't get it , Luce." He nearly whimpered, shaking his head. "That's the thing – You never do." Daniel's voice broke and he kept his back faced to her, staring out at the purple sea. Why was he here now? Why didn't he take her back to Sword & Cross and just leave tonight? That's what he should be doing, not here having a fight about something she wouldn't understand unless she remembered.

He heard Luce huff behind him, "I don't get it?" Luce started. "I don't get it? Let me something about what I get. You think you're so smart? I spent three years on a full academic scholarship at the best college-prep school in the country. And when they kicked me out, I had to petition- Petition! - to keep them from wiping out my four-point-oh transcript." Daniel then turned back around, facing her and then stepping back, she was getting too close. but every step he took away, she quickly took back. "I know Latin and French, and in middle school, I won the science fair three years in a row." Luce continued her rant and Daniel found himself backed up against the railing of the boardwalk, his fingers grasping the splintery wood and his heart pounding heavily in his chest. A part of Daniel wanted to stop her there, but he could tell she wasn't quite done – And it seemed she needed to blow some steam off. He owed her that much at this point with him treating her like crap these past few weeks.

"I also do the Sunday crossword puzzle, sometimes in under an hour. I have an unerringly good sense of direction. . . .Though not always when it comes to guys." Luce swallowed and panted, catching her breath. Daniel stared into her hazel eyes, though their gazes never met. His eyebrows were furrowed and his gray-violet eyes were filled with sorrow, guilt. She had a life, something she was proud of – and it crumbled because of his choice.

Their choice.

"And someday, I'm going to be a psychiatrist who actually listens to her patients and helps people. Okay? So don't keep talking to me like I'm stupid and don't tell me I don't understand just because I can't decode your erratic, flaky, hot-one-minute-cold-the-next, frankly hurtful behavior." Their eyes finally locked. She was practically steaming with emotion, a tear or two had slipped in the process of her rant and Daniel wanted badly to brush them away, to cradle her face. Daniel sighed and shook his head.

"Shut up," Daniel breathed, standing upright slowly and towering over her. "I don't think you're stupid." Daniel closed his eyes, thinking of how to continue, trying to imagine his Lucinda, his one and only Lucinda. "I think you're the smartest person I know. And the kindest. And-" Daniel then paused, swallowing the growing lump his throat and his eyes open to look at her, which were beginning to haze over their glimmering violet. "-the most beautiful."

"Excuse me?"

He sighed, glancing away from her and cursed in his mind how unfair it was. "I'm just. . . So tired of this," Daniel whispered, his tone, his eyes – Everything about him at this moment showed his bitter exhaustion.

"Of what?" Luce's voice was so comforting, that he couldn't help but look at her, his eyes holding their deepest secret. A secret he could never share. His eyebrows were slouched in a sadden way, his violet eyes looked glossy though they retained no tears. Where was she? Where was his love in her body? A part of him wondered how lost she was, or how close she was.

It was moments like these that made him feel they were closer to each other than they believed.

Luce's hazel eyes held the same look, but more as if she was realizing something, but it hadn't full clicked. "You can show me," She finally whispered and Daniel's heart leaped to his throat and he shook his head. He didn't know how to at this point, he was to scared, in to much pain, to tired to even bother with the slightest movement. Their gazes held as she took a step closer and began to lean up on her toes, staring up at him, moving ever so slowly and her hand gently caressing his cheek. He only blinked, afraid to do or say anything else. It was when she closed her eyes and their lips finally connected that Daniel had fully understood everything once again. The reason behind it, why they fought, why every moment – Whether bad or good – was a preserved memory. Their infinite love, the never ending feeling that only seemed to grow more with every sight, every touch, every kiss. . .

Then, Daniel moved. He enveloped her into his strong arms, spinning them so she was now the one pinned against the boardwalk's railing. Their bodies tangling together but in such a fine frenzy it was like a recited dance. Daniel's hips pinned against her's, locking her down and his hands on both sides of her waist, drawing her closer, one hand slipping up her back into her black hair. Daniel's lips trailed, leaving soft wet pecks along her ear, his lips making their gentle squeaking pecks before they trailed, his lips sucking and nibbling along her jawline and neck, delicately and compassionately placing kisses along her skins as she were a fragile piece of glass. His fingers tugged her hair gently as he listened to her moan to him, his lips returning shortly after – Already missing their feel of their plushness and their taste.

He kissed her with such depth, that it made their souls glow intensely in the night. Daniel sucked on her bottom lips, feeling their chest heave up and down in perfect rhythm. His tongue then slithered into her mouth, tasting her mouth once again. She tasted different from what Daniel last remembered, but more delicious, only making him want her more than his body already did.

Their bodies, their lips, their breathing matched perfectly, their own dance. His hand skimmed down her body, feeling her, exploring her as his tongue explored her's as her's explored his own. It was such an easing feeling, kissing her – It was easy to do, and the only thing he wanted to do. It was his sweet addiction that he knew he could never let go of.

But he had to.

Daniel then retreated from their nonstop kiss, staring down at her as it dawned on him – They only had seconds left. The most grieving look filled Daniel's violet eyes, but she smiled at him, his lips lingering back on his – It was impossible to not at least return the quick and brush-like subtle kiss.

"You're still here," Daniel whispered, but was returned with a laugh from Luce – Oblivious to what he had meant at all.

"They couldn't drag me away."

Daniel then stepped back and paced back and forth, rubbing his forehead until Luce tugged on his sleeve like a child, urging him to come back to her. "What's wrong?"

Daniel then went in for another gentle kiss, but his fingers traced over her cheeks, through her hair, his hand running along her body, before pulling back and gaping at her. Was this happening?

How could she be alive? She should. . She should be dead – How is it possible? She remembers too much, they're too close already, how could she, how can she be alive? Daniel then pulled away from her, and sank somewhat beside her on the railing, glancing up at the sky. "Where are you going?" She whispers, watching Daniel as he stared up at the sky. Nothing. Only the stars and the sky above.

"You said nothing could drag you away," He croaked softly, almost if could had been talking to himself. "But they will. Maybe they're just running late."

"They? Who? Cam? I think we lost him."

Luce's words were the definition how far apart they were with the lost of her memories. "No," Daniel then rose back to his feet and started walking away, shaking his head in disbelief and shivering. "It's impossible."

"Daniel,"

He couldn't comprehend it – It was impossible. He hadn't been able to kiss her and not lose her in years, some lifetimes ago. And here she was, with more information than she had in her previous life. Daniel was so scared to put his hopes up there, afraid to lose her, afraid to having to feel that ache, that twisting pain in his stomach, and the emptiness in his heart.

"It will come," Daniel whispered, mostly to himself however.

"You're scaring me." Luce followed Daniel, not a clue in her mind what was happening. "Talk to me." She then pleaded, causing Daniel to stop in his tracks and hesitantly, he turned to her – His face was pale white a ghost, his violet eyes holding the most agonizing look, and his arms spread – As it to say he were giving up.

"I don't know how to stop it," Daniel whimpered, his eyes watering slightly. "I don't know what to do."