Rey didn't sleep very well that night. She was unsure about what had happened. Had it really happened? Or had it just been a dream? She realized that she wouldn't be able to run from him forever. They were now linked in some unfathomable way, even if he was an asshole who had asked her to see him and clearly had someone else in his life. She remembered Amalia's face with certain clarity, and Ren's face begging to allow explanation before she'd come crashing back to earth.

Rey was not going to cry over it again.

She had trouble getting back to sleep, and finally at around five AM she decided to get up and get dressed. She had been wearing jeans and warm shirts with sweaters pulled on over them. She didn't bother with make up, but she brushed her teeth. She went downstairs to find that the house was dark. She was surprised, considering that Luke was often up way before she was.

She turned the kitchen light on with the intention of making coffee, and she saw his silhouette in the dark morning standing out in the front of his yard. Lion sat with him, and they were looking out into the wilderness at something that Rey could not see. That was when she heard the howling, every single one of his canines was howling. She was surprised she hadn't heard it before, but it was as if she'd been somewhere else entirely. She pulled on her borrowed coat and went out, calling after him. She saw that he had draped a heavy woolen blanket over his shoulders and he was wearing his sleep wear. She wondered how long he had been standing out there, and why.

"Luke, what's wrong?"

He turned, glancing at her, bringing his finger to his mouth to shush her. He turned back to look out at the darkness. She wished the sun would rise, but it was just beginning to reach it's fingers across the inky black sky. Rey looked, and looked, trying to see what he was seeing. It was dark and it took her a few moments, but she could see in the dark the reflected light of eyes blinking back out at them; they looked like shiny coins flipping in the dark. She didn't know how many there were, and she could not catch the silhouette of what they were, but they appeared to have humanoid shapes. Rey gasped, lifting her hand to her mouth to try and silence herself. Luke continued to watch, as if he were a centurion, protecting the ground from the strange intruders.

She swallowed heavily, and was glad when the sun got higher into the sky. She watched as the creatures began to sink back, before the howling tapered off and when she looked, she found nothing in the forest beyond. Luke finally turned to look at her, his features unreadable. He went back inside, quietly, and Lion followed in his footsteps.

Rey followed him, feeling uncomfortable at turning her back on the forest, unsure if those things were really gone.

Luke sat down at the kitchen table before setting the coffee pot on for coffee. He motioned for her to take a seat beside him, drawing his blanket tightly around his shoulders.

"Rey, there's something I should tell you about how we found you when you were a girl," He said simply. "You know that I used to be a police officer, right?"

"Yes," She said, stammering a bit.

"Hold on," He stood up, deciding that he needed to retrieve something. He came back with an old folder in hand. "We found you in this house that we'd long suspected of being a cult house," He said simply. "You were so skinny, I couldn't believe you'd lived, but you had such a strangle hold on life,"

"What do you mean, cult house?"

"People were disappearing, mostly of their own volition, but those who stayed there called themselves 'blood rite',"

Rey felt her heart sinking into her stomach, and panic rising up like bile at the back of her throat.

"They were connected to a few murders around the state, but we couldn't ever prove it to any degree where it would hold up in court," He paused, sliding a clump of photos over to her. "Every one connected with the house was found dead. Except you,"

Rey took them in hand. There were photos of a room, presumably where she'd been kept. Rey couldn't remember any of it, no matter how she tried. Then she began drawing forward things she'd drawn. She was a child and they were not good, most of them scribbled in charcoal and messy. She pulled forth one that was a series of shadow people with open, white eyes. It looked just like what they'd experienced that morning.

And then, she came across those that looked like a version of Ren - and she almost cried out in alarm. Even in her unskilled hand, she could tell immediately who it was. She had even used red crayon to recreate the pinpricks in his eyes. He had fangs. She couldn't wrap her head around it. What did it mean? Then, she came across a picture of herself as a girl. A girl she hardly recognized - a girl with a haunted, hungry look in her eyes. It couldn't have been her, but Rey knew it couldn't have been anyone else. The next picture was a picture of a brown haired girl with yellow light scribbled all around her. She wondered if it was meant to be her.

She found even looking at them made her uneasy, and she slid them back in Luke's direction. He watched her carefully and put them away, sliding them aside. She imagined he had a whole closet of cases that bothered him, but she realized then why he was so connected with foster kids around the state. Maybe he felt bad for them, maybe he wanted to help, but she was a case that even though she'd lived, parts of it had stuck in his craw for years.

"Has something been happening?" Luke finally asked. His face was kind, and his eyes crinkled a bit as his face softened. He reached for her hand, taking it into his own, calloused one.

"A few weeks ago I applied for this job as an overnight receptionist for SoloTech," She said quietly. "The girl who was there before me disappeared, and then they found her murdered," She muttered. "Ever since then I've been getting strange texts and feeling like someone has been following me," She didn't think that telling him that she'd almost died would help. He certainly wouldn't understand how she'd lived through it. "The texts mention blood rite, a lot," She said, sadly.

"SoloTech, huh?" Luke asked, thoughtfully. "Who runs that place?"

"Kylo Ren," She said, feeling strange with his name tripping off of her tongue.

"Huh," Luke said. "I don't recognize the name, but I've heard about the murder," He said simply. "So that's why you came here?"

She nodded her head, slowly. He let go of her hand after a few moments, leaning back into his chair in thought.

"No other reason?" He pushed. If Luke had been a cop, he probably knew she was omitting some information.

"No," she said. "The apartment doesn't feel safe. Rose moved back home, so I had to find another place to live. Someone was in there one night, I'm sure of it,"

"Hmm," Luke breathed out, looking at her carefully. "So what are your plans?"

"I don't know," She said, earnestly. "I was trying not to think about it, and I was hoping it would go away,"

Luke laughed.

"I wish that was how it worked,"

"Me too," She said, taking a sip of coffee.

"What about school?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it,"

"Well, as much as I like having you around, I don't think you'll be happy here forever. It's a pretty singular existence,"

She nodded her head, frowning.

"Have you called the police?"

"No," She said. "A friend of mine said there wouldn't be much they could do,"

"That might be right, but you should at least file a report," Luke said. "That way there's a paper trail in the event that it escalates,"

It had already escalated, but she didn't feel like burdening him with it.

School came on her quickly, and she remembered that winter break had seemed so much longer when she was a kid. She decided she couldn't let this take over her life, and take her life from her. She didn't want to run away forever. The time at Luke's had helped her clear her head a bit, and the ache for Ren seemed to dull just a bit. She dreamed of him often, but she never ended up in his apartment again, and even though he'd sent her a few text messages and tried to call her a few times, she never responded. Didn't he understand that she was trying to ghost him?

She knew she would have to face him again, though.

Luke had made copies of the photos for her, and she put them away into her backpack along with all of her other belongings. She had to catch the bus. Each night, the shadow people came and stood outside of the edge of the house. Luke sometimes went out and watched them, but they never seemed interested in crossing the property line. Maybe it was the dogs that kept them at bay, but eventually the activity slowed. She worried about him, but she knew he could take care of himself. She only hoped she hadn't brought something to his door that he wouldn't be able to handle.

Luke drove her to the bus stop and saw her off, reiterating that she was welcome at any time and thanking her for her help. He gave her his card, and the card of a detective who was still on the force. He told her to call him, and talk to him about what had happening. Apparently, he was aware of what had happened at the compound, and how she'd been found. Luke thought he might be able to help her. He made her promise that she would call him.

The bus ride was uneventful, much less eventful than it had been the first time around. The closer they got to the city, the more Rey felt dread, rising up in her with the realization that her life was still here, and it was still terrifying. She had, perhaps, been lulled into a false sense of security when she hadn't received any more weird texts, but she wasn't about to assume that it was the last of them.

When she reached the bus station, she lingered, moving slowly back in the direction of her new apartment. She walked with her hood up and her hands delved into the front pocket, avoiding looking too long at people. She didn't have the sensation that she was being followed, but she was much more aware of her surroundings after what had happened with Roman. She didn't know where the man was, after all. When she looked at her phone, she saw a message from Luke: Get home okay?

She responded in the positive, finding her feet carried her too quickly towards the apartment.

She punched in the code and was admitted, surprised to find that Ren hadn't ripped the security system out of the place. He had a girlfriend, and a life, and she could almost believe that what had happened to her was merely a bad figment of her imagination. Kylo Ren wasn't really a vampire. He was just a man. No matter how many times she repeated it to herself, she couldn't believe it.

Her apartment smelled of spoiled milk, and she realized she'd left a cereal bowl full of milk out. She dumped it into the drain and tried to rescue the bowl, letting the garbage disposal run for a long time. She took the trash out and did other little errands, trying to avoid sitting down at her computer and going through her emails. Finally, after she had done just about everything she could do, she sat down and began dealing with her school checklist. She had to deal with the loan, and the books, and making sure she was registered.

When she was all finished, she started looking through her emails. There was nothing that stood out, which she was glad for. Finally, she turned her phone on and began rolling through her contacts. Her finger hovered over Ren's contact for what seemed like a very long time. She was debating on whether or not she should call him, but she knew she had questions she had to ask him. She had to know if he had known about what Luke had showed her prior to hiring her. She had to know if he'd willingly drawn her into all this, or if it was by some other machination that she'd found herself on his door step.

Finally, she pressed it and pulled it against her ear, hearing it ring. He answered after a few rings, surprise in his tone.

"Rey?" He asked. "Is everything alright?"

"I called to ask if I could meet with you," She decided to take on a business like tone. She would deal with him like he was an associate, and nothing more.

"Of course," He said in reply. "When?"

"I start school next week, but if you have any open time in your calendar before then I can work around it,"

"That's not necessary," He said simply. "What about tonight?"

"You're not working?" She asked, her tone dropping curiously.

"I am always working," He said. She felt like she could fall asleep just listening to him talk to her. She snapped out of it. "I can make time, however,"

Rey hated it when he decided to be kind. It made it harder for her to stick to her guns.

"Tonight is fine. Should I come to the building?"

"No, I'll come and pick you up,"

"That's not really necessary," She said, always fighting the draw.

"I would like to take you to dinner, if I have your permission,"

"Oh, well," She felt her face growing hot. Why? Why? "That's okay," She replied.

"I feel as if I owe you at least that,"

"What about Amalia?" She questioned. "Will she be there?"

"No," He said. "Will you allow me a chance to explain?"

She was silent for a few long moments, and he seemed to be listening to her breathe.

"What time?" She said, finally, after a few long moments.

"Just after the sunset?" He questioned. She could almost see him looking at his watch.

"Fine, I'll see you then,"

"Rey," He said. "I'm glad to hear from you,"

She hung up the phone before she had a chance to say something stupid.

Rey stood in front of her closet for a long time trying to decide what to wear. She couldn't think of anything really fancy to wear, but she didn't exactly know where Ren was going to take her. She thought it might be a fancy place, but she felt stupid in assuming that it would be. It wasn't a date, after all. She had questions for him, and she wanted to show him the photos that Luke had given her.

Finally, she decided on a simple, midnight blue dress. It was fancy enough, it was made from fake crushed velvet and it had a flirty, swing skirt. She wore tights and a pair of flat booties. She pulled a black sweater on over the whole ensemble, and tied a scarf around her neck. Her hair was curled and she braided half of it back away from her face. She kept her makeup simple, trying to convince herself that she'd put in any effort at all because she wasn't sure where he was going to take her.

She paused in front of her perfume before deciding that would be taking it a step too far.

When the sunlight was gone, she felt her phone vibrate. It was Ren, telling her that he was outside, waiting. The nights were cold, but nothing compared to how cold Luke's ranch had been. She drew her fuzzy sweater tightly around herself and grabbed what was left of her belongings in the old purse she'd dug up from her closet. She stepped onto her small stoop to find him standing there at the side of a zippy little sports car that was obviously a classic car. She blinked a bit, wondering where his black sedan had gone. Honestly, she was glad he hadn't brought it. It might have been hard for her to be in the back seat of that car again.

He was dressed nicely in a loose fitting white t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, but he wasn't dressed in a tuxedo or anything like that, so Rey had to assume that they weren't going to an expensive place. She carefully shouldered her purse, trying not to stare too long at him. He came around and opened the door for her, and she slid into the finely upholstered leather seats. She drew her skirt around her knees and watched him get into the car. He had sunglasses on his dark hair, which was as perfectly styled as ever. She wondered if he had someone do it for him.

"I'm glad you called," He said, his voice conversational. Rey wanted to keep her defenses up, but it was difficult being this close to him again.

It wasn't as bad as it had been after that first night, but his voice gave her small shivers and she felt the small hairs on her arms drawing up, as if they themselves were reaching out for him. She had a brief moment where she thought about straddling his lap in his small sports car - but she visibly shook it off.

She smiled awkwardly but she didn't respond, unsure of how to respond without continuing on a conversation she wasn't sure she wanted to have.

"You look nice," He finally said, turning out of the parking lot in her apartment and out into the traffic.

"Thank you," She responded, trying to keep that business like tone.

"Ah, she speaks," He said, his lips lifting into a smile. She found she liked the way his eyes crinkled up when he smiled. "It's unusual to have you so quiet," He admitted.

"I don't..." She wasn't sure how to continue, so she didn't.

They drove along in silence. It was cold, so Ren put the top up and turned on some classical music that drifted lightly around them. It gave her the feeling of calm, and she felt that serene quality drifting in. She felt safe, even though she knew he was the very last person in the world she should feel safe with. She found herself examining his profile, the slope of his nose and the shape of his lips. She remembered them stained with her blood, and she remembered the fangs that hid just there, within his mouth. He caught her staring at him, and she quickly looked away as he looked at her. They were distracted by his phone ringing. He checked it, but surprisingly, he didn't answer it.

It happened a few times, and he surprised her each time by not answering it.

Finally, he put it on silent and turned it over, ignoring the blinking light that was probably mocking him.

"You can answer it," She said, glancing at him curiously. The Ren she knew wouldn't have let it go.

"It's alright," He said simply. "Tonight, I'm yours," He looked at her, his eyes shining liquid amber in the low light.

The sound of his voice and the choice of his words caused her to give another shiver, but she was glad it wasn't visible. It certainly felt visible, and she clenched her knees together and bit into her lip to try and bring herself back down to planet earth. She was glad when they pulled up to the restaurant, realizing he'd taken them all the way down to the coast. Rey stretched and caught a glimpse of the beach, hearing the waves crash against the shore seemed to give her an immediate calm.

The restaurant was a sort of lobster shack place, but it had the aesthetic of one of those catalogs that sold linen and beach glass. It was a nice place, lit up with yellow glowing tea lights and twinkle lights that were strung every which way. It was nice, but it wasn't exactly what Rey had been expecting. The place bustled with activity, and even though there was a wait, the host recognized Ren and they were lead back into a room that had french doors which opened out over the beach. She could tell he had rented it specifically for this purpose, and she began to panic.

It was all too romantic for a cold, professional business meeting. She knew it was too late to back out now, though, and the pictures she carried in her purse kept her on the forward path, even when Ren casually slid his arm at her lower back to redirect her from bumping into one of the servers. They were lead into the room and the doors were shut behind them, closing out the din of the restaurant. There were candles and wine glasses, and two menus were put down in front of them.

"Do you like seafood?" He asked curiously, crossing his leg easily over the other and leaning back into the chair as if he belonged there. He certainly looked like he did.

"It's been a long time since I've had it," She admitted. "But yes, I do,"

"Good," He said simply, looking at her a moment too long before his eyes dropped back down to the menu.

"Can you...uh...eat?"

"Not really," He said, calmly. "But no one will notice,"

"Why bring me to dinner if you can't eat?"

"I was just..." He paused, and she wondered what he was thinking about. "I wanted to do something nice,"

"Oh," She whispered quietly, looking back down to her menu.

Rey waited on bringing the photos out, as the server was bustling in just as she had decided what she would order. Ren ordered wine, a brand she'd never heard of in a vintage she was sure she couldn't afford. It certainly didn't compare with her trips to the wine depot looking for boxed wine that would keep through an entire party. She ordered the lobster and handed the menu back to the server. Ren looked at her.

"Nothing else?"

"No, that's fine," She said in reply.

Ren ordered a few other things, surprisingly. She wondered what they would do with all of that food, but she had a feeling he was ordering it for her benefit. She didn't want to spend the night puking from all of the rich food, but she had to admit she was curious to try a lot of the items he'd ordered. The server gathered the menus and disappeared, reappearing a few moments later with a bottle of wine that he opened at the table. He poured a bit for Ren, who tasted it. He seemed to agree that it was good, and he poured them both a glass, neither a hair off from being uneven from one another. She wondered how long it had taken him to perfect that talent.

She felt the wind going out of her sails. The more this went on, the less she wanted to bring those pictures out. She wanted to enjoy the salt air, and the sound of his voice, that felt like a soothing balm after weeks of not having heard it. She decided to get settled into the chair, and she removed her sweater and hung it over the back of the chair, along with her purse. He watched her carefully, his eyes tracing the cut of her collar bones. She noticed it, but as soon as she looked back at him, he was looking away.

Rey tried the wine, finding it was much more robust than anything she had ever had. She set the glass down carefully before she looked across the table at her dinner companion. Neither of them seemed sure where to start, but finally he did speak.

"Why did you call?" He asked, curiously.

"I wanted to ask you some questions about...what happened," She was trying to choose her words carefully.

"I expected you might," He admitted. "Like what?"

"How am I alive?" She asked, lifting up the glass and swallowing back a bit more wine.

"It's an effect of my blood," He said simply. "It works fast to heal human flesh,"

She knew there were more important questions she had to ask him, but she wanted to know why, after she had thrown herself at him, he had told her no. She wanted to know why he had shown up at her door with an awkward confession and then turned her down. She wanted to know how Amalia played into all of this. She felt unsure of how she would ask all of those questions...and she was becoming less and less sure she wanted to confront him with the pictures she had drawn of him as a child.

"Why didn't it turn me?"

"The process is a lot more complicated than that," He said simply. "But I'm sure you've noticed some side effects,"

"Yes," She breathed out, abruptly. "I can't stop thinking about you," She blurted it out without thinking.

"Yes," He said. He knew about this. He took another sip of his wine, though he stopped after only a few sips. "That is an unfortunate side effect of my blood," He said, looking at her. "Usually it fades after a few days, but it hasn't, has it?"

Rey shook her head.

"It hasn't for me, either,"

She was a bit shocked by the reply, until she remembered him licking her blood from his fingertips. Surely, since she was not a vampire, it couldn't have had the same effect on him. Was he implying that it had?

"What about that night I ended up in your apartment?"

"I've never seen anything like that," He said. "I was thinking of you, and there you were,"

She was surprised to hear that he had been thinking of her, considering who he'd been with that night, and considering how he'd turned her down when she had kissed him after almost dying. She was mulling it over, and Ren was looking at her. Finally, she reached up and took another unsteady swallow of the red wine. This was uncomfortable for both of them, she was sure.

When the server came in jovially with the food, he got a little quiet when he sensed the air around the pair. Rey probably thought it was awkward and thwarted, on both ends. The food was laid out, and Rey realized she was hungry. She looked at all of it as the server poured her out more wine. Ren stayed his hand over his own glass when the server tried to pour out more for him. He gave a light nod before exiting the room, and Rey heard the doors click shut behind him.

She tried the lobster, and the shrimp, and the pasta that Ren had ordered. He never took a bite, and it would be nearly impossible for her to finish it all, though she did eat most of her lobster and a few bites of everything else. She worried it would go to waste, but Ren didn't seem to be the type of man to care about waste.

"What else?" He finally asked, looking at her in the low light of the private room.

"Mm?" She questioned, carefully putting a piece of food into her mouth and lifting her hand to cover her mouth as she chewed.

"What other questions did you have?"

"I...uh," She took a drink of water. "Why would you tell me that you wanted to see me when you already have a girlfriend?" She decided to just come out with it.

"Girlfriend?" He asked, obviously unsure about what she was talking about. "Oh, you mean Amalia?" He laughed, finally pouring out a bit more wine for himself.

"She isn't my girlfriend,"

"Your wife?"

He shook his head, sighing.

"She's the sister of a very old friend," He admitted. She wondered if he was lying, though Rey could say that she'd never seen them actually express any sort of physical connection to one another. She'd never seen them kiss, or hold hands.

"So?" Rey asked.

"So, she's always had a fixation on me," He admitted. "But it isn't anything worth having from her. She views me as sort of an important possession she would like to have,"

"Oh," Rey said, feeling the wind go out of her sails ever further. "So that night when I...when I kissed you," She started, looking at him.

"I knew it wasn't you, it was an effect of my blood on you," He admitted, easily. "I had this insane idea that I wanted you to like me for me...and it seemed wrong to take advantage of the situation, even if I wanted to,"

Oh.

Oh.

this chapter was a little sexy, right? RIGHT?! tell me it's sexy or i will cry for a million days. also, quick update, but i go back to le job so don't expect another so soon...sowwweeee