They sat in silence for a few long moments, regarding each other curiously.

"So then what I've been feeling, it isn't real?"

"I don't know," Ren said in reply. "It hasn't completely taken your personality from you, as I've seen it do before,"

"You have experience with this, then,"

"Unwittingly,"

Rey wasn't sure whether or not to be angry with him or thankful that he'd saved her life. Of course she was thankful she still lived, but how would her life be if she was pining away after this man she didn't feel she could 'have'? Finally, she reached into her bag and pulled out the photos. She slid them over to Ren, who looked surprised and then curious. He picked them up and began sliding through them, his features vaguely confused and then concerned as he came across the drawing of him.

"Is this meant to be me?"

She nodded, slowly.

"I went to visit a friend and one night we went out just before dawn to find a bunch of humanoid figures surrounding his property," She said, pointing out the photo she'd drawn. "Just like this," She paused. "These were all done by me when I was a girl,"

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"I don't know, I was hoping you could shed some light on it. He said that they found me in that place,"

"I recognize this place," He said simply, his gaze growing markedly darker.

"You do?"

"Yes, it's as if I've been there before but I can't recall ever having been there,"

"You don't remember me, then?" She pointed to the picture of herself. He shook his head 'no' in response.

"Did he say where this is?"

"It burned down, a long time ago. I already looked," She had had a long bus ride, after all.

"You mean you were kept in this room? What about your parents?"

"I never knew them," She admitted. "I was taken in by Mr and Mrs Beckett when I was nine or ten. No one could ever find my parents. Luke said that they called themselves 'blood rite', and that they were in a cult...like in the text messages I got,"

"Blood rite," He repeated, putting the picture down.

"What does that mean?" She questioned, hoping he'd know.

Ren cleared his throat as if he were about to explain, but the server came in. It seemed to happen a lot. Ren tried to school his features so that they were friendly, and he put his hand on top of the photos that were set there on the table. He was trying to make sure no one saw. The server asked if there was anything else they would need, and Ren looked at Rey when he mentioned dessert. Rey was full, and though she was sure she might regret not getting dessert, she didn't think it was a good idea to put any more food in her stomach.

The server gathered the plates and came back with the check, and Ren put one of his many credit cards on the small plastic platter that was left behind. When the dinner was paid for, they quietly gathered up the photos and exited the restaurant, heading back to his vehicle. He opened the door for her, shocking her even further. He had never done so before, not in the weeks she'd been working for him, anyway. When he slid in beside her, he glanced at her.

"I have some things I suppose I should tell you," His voice was quiet as he turned the ignition. "But they probably shouldn't be spoken about in a public place. Will you agree to come back to my apartment?"

She nodded her head quietly in return.

"Good," He said. And they were off.

They were quiet and thoughtful in the car, and Ren turned the music back on. She watched the city lights roll by and occasionally, she would look at him, and he would look back at her. They said very little, and it lasted all through the elevator ride to his top floor apartment. Rey half expected to see Amalia come out to meet him, but the place was empty. She was thankful for it. Ren seemed to do a sweep, just to make sure. Finally, when they were both standing in the living room, Ren used the remove to ignite the fire place, pulling back the curtains to reveal a landscape that was heavily dotted with lights and buildings.

His place was beautiful, she had to admit. It still didn't quite feel like anyone lived there, with how clean and precise it was. Still, she looked out over the lights and understood, partially, why he had chosen it.

"Anything to drink?" He asked quietly. She shook her head before she came to stand near the couch.

They sat apart from one another, with him choosing the edge of the couch and her choosing the chair. It was more comfortable than the couch, she found.

"Blood rite?" She asked again, as if to remind him of what they'd been speaking about.

"It's hard to explain without first explaining some of what I am," He admitted.

"I know what you are,"

"Yes. Have you assumed, then, that there are others?"

Rey realized she hadn't thought about it much, but it did come with the natural assumption that he wasn't the only one.

"My blood line was considered 'royal'. It's a big part of the reason why I was turned in the first place," He paused. "You see, there's a whole community of us out there, and someone has to make sure that we're not caught out by humans at large. I make sure that we aren't," He admitted.

"That explains all of your strange guests. So, what, you're like a sheriff?"

"Seneschal is the term that is used among vampires,"

"So what about this blood rite?"

"It shouldn't surprise you that a vast majority of us are superstitious, considering what we are. It also shouldn't surprise you that many of us took with us our mindsets from the dark ages," He paused, glancing at her where he'd previously been looking at his hands. "Blood rite was this belief that there was a blood line out there that when utilized in a ceremonial way..." Rey didn't seem to know the particulars of it. "...would call out to a sleeping ancient, and wake them from an eternal resting place,"

Rey was silent while she tried to mull over what this meant for her. It all seemed like a coincidence, but she couldn't be sure. She had seen what Ren was capable of, wasn't it possible that some great vampire had been orchestrating her entire life up until that point? It was too spooky to consider fully, and she looked up at Ren, who was looking at her.

"What do you have to do with all of that?"

"From what I recall, the ceremony would have to involve one of my bloodline," He admitted, his gaze dropping to the couch.

"Is it real?" She asked.

"What, the blood rite? I don't know, honestly. I was always of the belief that it was superstitious talk,"

"Hilda said you knew what I was," She finally said, and he looked at her.

Ren looked surprised.

"What you are?" He asked, blinking. "I would never want to wake a sleeping ancient," He admitted. "It would be death by fire, for everyone,"

"But obviously, you were meant to be involved somehow," She said, pulling out the picture she'd drawn of him.

"They are a cult," He said. "They spring up every so often and then are ultimately responsible for their own demise. I wouldn't involve myself with it, it's a radical line of thought that believes that if we cleanse the world entirely we might be reborn again as human,"

"Wow," She whispered, setting the picture down on the coffee table.

Wow, wow, wow.

"I'm guessing then, that somehow this rite involves my death,"

"No," He said, looking at her carefully. "Mine,"

"Yours?"

"I don't know the particulars," He finally admitted. "But I'm sure they're not pleasant,"

"I'm sure," Rey repeated quietly.

"Do you think they're the ones who have been stalking you?" He finally asked.

"Yes," She said quietly.

"Have you heard anything recently?"

"No, the last text I received was a few weeks ago," She paused. "Have you noticed anything...stranger than usual? With your job?"

"There's a general sense of unease. But that isn't uncommon,"

"I can't understand why Hilda would try to kill me if this was what she was a part of," She said, more to herself than to him.

"I'll see what I can find out," He finally said after a long moment of silence.

"So, I'm supposed to believe you have nothing to do with this?"

"You can believe whatever you'd like," He finally said. "I wouldn't exactly blame you for feeling as if I'm being dishonest,"

"It isn't that," She finally said, her eyes dropping to the floor. "It just feels too intentional to be a coincidence. You hired me because you needed someone for the job, and nothing else? What about hiring me as your assistant?"

"Rey," He smirked, just a bit. "I'm not used to having someone tell me no as openly as you do," He admitted. "It's also been quite a number of years since I've had someone tell me how despicable they find me. It was refreshing,"

When he said her name, instead of calling her 'Miss Beckett', it felt more intimate than anything else.

Rey stood up abruptly and moved over to the window. Her thoughts were churning at a tumultuous pace. She was the type of girl who wanted to find a solution to a problem, but he'd just presented so many problems to her that she wasn't sure how to deal with all of it. She looked out over the view to try and find some clarity in it, but she just felt muddled. What did it all mean? Finally, she took a deep inhale and exhaled through her nose, trying to steady herself and prevent the rising panic. What had she gotten herself into? If it hadn't been this job, would it have been another?

She felt him next to her as surely as she felt one of her own limbs, and she realized he'd gotten up and had come to stand beside her. She had to remind herself that her body reacting to him was merely a side effect of his saving her life.

"I never said thank you," She said, softly.

"For what?" His eyes were on the skyline.

"For saving me,"

"Did I save you?"

He turned to glance at her, and she looked up at him. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. She was thinking that maybe, she could use another drink. She was also thinking about how it was probably better if she went home. She lingered, though, and so did he. He reached out, his fingertip idly twisting up into one of her curls. The sudden movement was surprising, but Rey found she did not want to leave it and walk away from him.

"May I?" He asked in a hushed tone, and she was unsure about what he was asking permission for before he leaned in, his eyes on hers.

She felt both of his hands in her hair, fingertips brushing her neck as he leaned in a bit closer. There was a moment of panic when she realized she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Some terrible little part of her wanted to pay him back for the night where she'd thrown herself at him, but instead of doing that, she leaned up just an inch until they (sort of) met in the middle.

This time he kissed her as if he wanted to. Though it started out slowly, causing her eyes to flutter closed and her lips to part just so, he pulled her ever closer with each physical indication that she gave that she wasn't exactly against the idea. She found him strangely chilled, until he began to warm up, that same strange borrowing of warmth that had happened before happening again. She expected the kiss to become quick, but he kissed her with an unusual slowness, as if he might not get a chance to do so again.

It was color blossoming behind her eyes, it was her blood pulsing heavily through her body, warming her up and softening her towards him. She couldn't imagine that this was all just a side effect of his blood, and she found she didn't care right at that moment. It was something she wasn't expecting. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch him, her fingertips grasping his t-shirt before her hands flattened out and she ran them along the exposed bits of his skin.

He caught her wrists with his fingertips and drew them around his neck and shoulders, grasping onto her and pulling her that much nearer. He pulled away briefly, allowing her to gasp in a bit of air before he kissed her again, ever advancing on her in a way that suggested he was far from indifferent to her.

When the buzzer on his door erupted with a loud noise, the pulled away from each other quickly, both of them looking at the source of the noise with a feeling that was addlepated. Ren gave a small little curse, obviously irritated with the disruption.

He reluctantly released her, and she reluctantly released him, her tongue flicking out over her lips. He tasted vaguely of the wine they'd been drinking earlier in the evening. Ren leaned into the intercom, trying to be as polite as possible considering that he'd just been thwarted. The door man advised him that it was Amalia, and she was insistent on being let up, even though Ren had told him that he wasn't to be disturbed. Rey flushed, realizing the kind of hell that might be unleashed if Amalia found her up here. Ren managed to talk him out of letting her up, and the buzzing stopped.

"She's a vampire, isn't she?" Rey asked, watching him make his way back into the living room.

"Yes," He said. "Why?"

"Don't you think she'll find a way to get up here anyway?"

"It's a possibility," He said. "But I have no reason to believe she will,"

"I should go," Rey said, pulling her skirt down a bit self consciously.

"And I supposed if I asked you to stay, you would say no?" Ren looked at her with a smile on his face. Rey noticed that familiar red pinprick in his eyes.

"Probably," She said in response, a small smile lifting her mouth.

"Will you stay?"

"Maybe for a bit," She replied, and was glad when she saw the surprise register on his face.

Rey was the first one to speak again. Her head was foggy and muddled from the information she'd received, and obviously, the kiss.

"Do you have something to drink?" She asked curiously, keeping her spot near the window.

"What would you like?"

"Wine? Or whatever you have," She said, glancing down to her booted feet. "What do you do?" She asked, curiously. "In your job as sheriff," She said, smirking as she carefully moved into the kitchen. She watched the back of him as he moved around, preparing the drink she'd requested. This wine was white.

He slid her an elegantly stemmed glass, and she saw the condensation clinging to the glass from the chilled wine. She took a sip, finding it was sweet.

"Dessert wine," He said simply. "Since you didn't get any dessert," He leaned against the counter. She had to admit she was glad the island was between the two of them. "I try and solve disputes," He admitted. "It's more PR than anything else these days. In the age of camera phones and internet videos, it gets harder to keep ourselves a secret,"

She nodded. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she didn't want to overwhelm him and shut him off again. She felt she needed to be careful about the type of questions she asked.

"How old are you?" She asked curiously, watching him draw out from the other side of the kitchen island. She saw him coming nearer to her with a glass of wine in his hand, though he passed by her and moved back into the living room. She watched him take a seat, and followed.

"I'm very, very old," He teased. "At least by human standards. By vampire standards, I'm still fairly young," He took another sip. "Will you come back to work?"

She was surprised he had asked her. She hadn't thought about it, she had been so sure that she would not.

"Why?" She asked, curiously.

"Why not?" He asked back, setting his now empty glass of wine on the table. "Unless you are intending on walking out of here and never seeing me again,"

"I don't think that would be possible,"

"I don't either," He admitted, though she wasn't sure what he was admitting to. Their apparent blood blond, or something else? "Whoever these people are, they feel they benefit from our connection,"

"Yes," She said, setting her drink down in front of her.

"It seems better, after what happened, to have someone who can help you," He admitted. "I respect how independent you are, but there are certain things that you won't be able to fight off,"

"Being a squishy human, you mean?"

Ren laughed.

"Yes,"

She really wanted to believe that if she walked away from him, these strange things might stop, but the time she'd spent with Luke made her realize it was unlikely. It had found her out there, whatever 'it' was.

"I'm afraid of going back into that building," She admitted, for the first time, to anyone.

"I don't blame you," He said simply, watching as she retrieved her wine glass and took a sip. "I'm afraid to let people back in," He admitted. "It turns out that they've been disappearing, steadily, for quite awhile,"

"Really?" She asked, unaware.

"Yes. I'm not so stupid as to eat where I work, and I certainly wouldn't want to bring the police to my doorstep. I have to believe someone has chosen me for a reason,"

Rey felt herself blanching when she realized and remembered what exactly he lived on. She felt she might be sick, but when she was sitting so close to him and he was so languid, handsome, and charming - it was easy to forget what he was.

"I apologize," He said. "I know it's difficult to stomach,"

She finished her wine off completely, and it seemed as if Ren was getting nearer and nearer to her. She hated to admit that she found comfort in his nearness, and when he dropped another soft kiss to her mouth, she leaned into him and they both fell backwards onto the couch. She placed her hand on his wrist, his hand again on her features. She pulled back just a bit, looking at his strange eyes and licking her lips.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything," He replied, surprised.

"Will you...read to me?"

"Really?" Ren smiled, unbelieving, his nose brushing at hers in a gesture that was wildly affectionate.

She nodded slowly, reiterating that it was what she wanted.

Ren got up and retrieved a book from his collection. It didn't really matter what it was, at least not to Rey, but he'd chosen a novel that Rey had never read. She took her shoes off and they settled back into the couch. She leaned against him carefully, as if he was glass, when really she was the one who was glass.

She fell asleep to the honeyed tones of his voice, and it was perhaps the best she'd slept in weeks.

There was a lot of information to process, and if Rey had been in any state of mind that wasn't exhausted, she wouldn't have been able to sleep. It seemed an opportune time to grab a few moments of peace. Neither of them seemed to know how long it would last. When Rey woke up, she didn't know how much time had passed, but she felt Ren's solid frame beside her, having grown warm with her sleeping against him. At some point, he'd put the book down and drew a blanket around her. She wasn't sure if he was sleeping, or if he even needed sleep. He'd drawn the black out curtains and the place was dark, and when she opened her eyes completely she saw Amalia standing there in front of him. She gave a startled gasp and shot up, shifting enough so that Ren noticed.

"What a sweet picture," She sneered out.

srry that this chapter is a lil short. i have a case of the depressies. also, amalia you beast. also, lots of fluffy stuff. enjoy your fluff. also, some of you asked for the play list for this but you are a guesty so i can't send it to you. i see you guesty.