I want to give a big shout out to everyone that has read the story so far. I want to send a special 'Thank You' to xAngelofHardyx, Lady-Sony, Sinfully Sined, HighflyinJeffHardy and RoseanneMay. You guys rock!!! Here's Chapter 3...enjoy!

I called in sick the next morning. Chief told me to take all the time I needed. He told me, if I wanted to, I could work from home for a while, if I still wanted to work. It was up to me. Oh my gosh, I didn't even think about it but if Jeff was born a vampire and Matt was his brother, then wouldn't Matt be a vampire too. God, I wondered how many other people I knew were vampires.

John called me later that afternoon to check up on me. I never called in unless I was really ill. He sounded so concerned. He kept asking me if he needed to come over. He was such a good friend. He was willing to leave work and come stay with me cause he thought I was sick and alone. I reassured him that Maggie was with me and I was fine. He made me promise to call him if I needed him.

Around 2 o'clock, I was trying to find anything on TV to distract my racing mind. Maggie was getting ready to go to her closing shift at the diner. All day I had been thinking about what Jeff told me. I did care about Jeff but I wondered, did he care about me just because I was his kept or did he truly care about me?

I almost jumped off the couch when there was a knock on the door. I knew it was Jeff before I even looked through the peephole.

"What's wrong with you today, Sophi? You've been jumpy all day." Maggie asked me. She walked back to her bedroom. I got off the couch and walked to the door as he knocked again. I leaned in and looked through the peephole. Jeff was standing there with his hands on the door exactly where mine were. I leaned back and opened the door. He was standing there with his hands tucked into his jeans pockets. Tonight, he was wearing a dark blue button down shirt and black jeans. To top it off, he was wearing a black leather jacket. I just stood there staring at him. It had to be against some kind of law for him to look that good. He had this weird look on his face.

"Sophi, love?" I realized that he had already said my name a few times. I shook my head.

"Yes, I'm sorry. You're here a lot earlier than I expected." I was just wearing a worn out pair of jeans and a red tank top. My hair was still up in the ponytail that I had put it in after my shower. Thank God out of habit I had put on a little bit of makeup on when I got dressed.

"I just couldn't wait…I needed to see you, love." Damn, there were those butterflies again. I started to say something.

"Jeff…" I was cut off when Maggie walked behind me.

"Hey Jeff, what are you still doing out there? Sophi, you've been acting weird all day. Come on in Jeff, I was just about to leave." He looked at me to see if it was okay. I bit my lip. I nodded. I stepped back to let him in. He hesitantly stepped inside. Maggie walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "You two have a good night. See you later Sophi." She smiled at me and pulled the door closed behind her. Jeff slipped his jacket off and laid it on the back of the sofa.

"Sophi…" I started to walk away from him towards my bedroom.

"This is just so much to take in." I headed into my room. I didn't even bother with the light. Even though it was a dark overcast day, there was still enough light that I could see. "Jeff, I'm not sure I want to be a vampire. How am I supposed to be a Queen?" I was looking for my sweater that I couldn't seem to find. "I don't know how…" I turned around and he was standing right there. "Oh, Jeff, I didn't hear…" He didn't let me finish. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me up against his body. Then he kissed me. I was unprepared when he pulled me against him so my hands were laying against his chest. His other hand cupped the back of my neck, holding me where he wanted me. Oddly, I wasn't afraid of Jeff at all. I knew that if he wanted to, he could force me to do anything. But I was hoping that he cared enough about me not to force anything on me. My head fell back, useless against his hand as he started to drag fiery kisses down the side of my neck. His grip got tighter as he pulled my neck to one side. My hands fisted in his shirt.

"Oh, God, Jeff." I moaned. He seemed to be fighting himself. He kept grazing me with his teeth.

"Sophi," he took a step forward, pushing me back towards the bed. I started to unbutton his shirt. When my legs came up against the side of the bed, I pushed Jeff's shirt off his shoulders. He let go of me long enough to pull his shirt off and toss it behind him. That left him in his jeans and a black fitted wife-beater. I ran my hands down his chest. He placed a hand on either side of my face and kissed me again. His kiss was like one of those hardcore drugs. I couldn't get enough. I was addicted to his mouth.

"Sophi, love," I had started to run my hands up the inside of his shirt against his chest, "I'm sorry," kiss, "I'll stop. I didn't mean to," he kissed me softly, "I just needed to." I leaned in as he leaned away. I kissed him this time. I don't know what was wrong with me, I was never this aggressive. I ran my fingertips down his abs. I felt him shutter. He let go of my face and grabbed my wrists.

"Jeff, I don't think I want you to stop." I kissed his chin and the side of his neck. "Just…try not to bite me." Jeff groaned as I ran my tongue over the pulse in his neck, one of his favorite things to do to me.

"Love," he took my hands from under his shirt, "I don't think I can help myself. Please stop. I don't think I'll be able to control myself and I have something I need to tell you."

"Tell me later." I leaned in kiss him again, but he leaned back out of my reach.

"Sophi, please. This is important for you to know. After I'm done and if you still want to talk to me, I'll let you do whatever you want to me." He smiled slightly. "Anything you want, okay?" He rubbed the insides of my wrists with his thumbs. I nodded.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. What is it that you needed to tell me?"

"Do you remember last night when you asked me about my parents?" I nodded. "And I told you that they were killed by The Ministry?" I nodded again. He let go of one of my hands and urged me to sit down on the side of my bed. He kept holding on to my one hand as he sat beside me. "Well, Taker, the leader of The Ministry, is one of the oldest vampires I've ever met. He and my father were friends when they were younger and stayed friends until my dad trued my mom. Mark, that's what Taker used to be called, was in love with my mom but she wasn't his kept. He decided that he was going to true her anyway. Before he could, she met my dad and, well, you know the rest.

Dad and Mark had a falling out and Mark left town. I was still young when we started to hear rumors of Mark all across the country, now going by the name Taker. Taker was short for Undertaker. He got the name cause by this time he had gotten himself a gang of some pretty nasty evil individuals and were terrorizing towns and cities. If someone tried to stand up to him or run him out of town, he would just kill them." I could feel a cold chill running down my spine. Why did I feel like this wasn't going to be a conversation that I liked? Jeff must have sensed that what he was telling me was making me nervous. He lifted the hand he was still holding and kissed it. That calmed me down a little. He wouldn't look at me. The one time that he did, I gasped at the color of his eyes. They were darker than black, if that was even possible. It was like they were absorbing all the color around them.

"Did he try to take your father's city?" I asked quietly.

"Yes. The first time he time, he killed my mom when she refused to leave my dad. Normally, when a vampire loses his kept, he dies soon after she does. The bond is so strong that they loose the will to live. The only thing that kept my dad alive was me and Matt. Taker disappeared for a while, then, 10 years ago, he showed up. When he came back last time, Matt and I were out of town. We tried to get back when we heard he was here but we didn't make it in time. My dad was killed because we weren't here. It's my fault." I could hear the pain in his voice and see it on his face. I used my free hand to touch his face and make him look at me. He closed his eyes again, trying not to scare me.

"Jeff, look at me. I'm not afraid of you, it just surprised me how dark your eyes were. Please look at me." I smoothed my hand across his cheek. He breathed in deep and slowly opened his eyes. They were back to their normal green. "Jeff, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for their death. They wouldn't want that." He leaned his face into my hand.

"If I had been there, then maybe…"

"You would be dead too. Where would that leave the rest of your people? Where would that leave me?"

"Sophi," he raised my hand to his lips and kissed it again.

"Jeff," I started to run my fingers through his dark hair. It actually did feel as soft and thick as it looked. He closed his eyes (not before I saw them flash Emerald again) at the feel of me running my fingertips across his scalp. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, love. Ask me anything you want."

"Why are you the King instead of Matt? Isn't he older?"

"Yes, he's older but he doesn't have a kept yet. She hasn't been born." He smiled at me. "I knew the moment you were born. I had this feeling."

"You had a feeling about me?" He grinned and nodded.

"Soon after, I started to dream about you as an adult. I couldn't see your face, but I knew it was you." He kissed my hand again. "Do you know," he flipped my wrist over and laid a kiss against the pulse in my wrist, "the night before I met you," kiss, "I finally saw your face in my dream." Kiss. "That how I knew it was you when you got out of the car that day." I scooted closer to him. I wanted to distract him and stall.

"Was I wearing the same thing in the dreams as I was that day?" He smirked at me.

"Not even close."

"So," I scooted closer. Now we were pretty much hip to hip, "what was I wearing in the dream?"

"Not a thing." I felt a wave of heat wash over me as his eyes transformed to their brilliant Emerald color. I started to ask him something else. "Sophi, I know what you're doing. God knows, its working, love, but this is really important and you need to know." I sighed.

"Okay. Go ahead." He looked down at our joined hands.

"The whole point of my story about my parents was the fact that…Taker's back in town." My heart dropped to my stomach.

"Jeff, no." I pulled my hand out of his and wrapped my arms around him. "He's coming after you Jeff." I squeezed him to me. I hadn't really know Jeff for all that long, but I knew in my heart, if something happen to him…I didn't want to even think about it. I felt Jeff's arms envelop me. "Can you stop them?" I started to cry. Just the thought of Jeff getting hurt was painful to think about. "Why don't you leave town. If he can't find you, he can't hurt you." He leaned back so that he could look at my face. The tears were quietly flowing down my cheeks.

"Love," he stroked my cheek. He wiped the tears from under my eyes with his thumbs. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me." He leaned in and kissed me. "Don't cry love. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you safe. I'll never forgive myself if something happens to you."

"Me? Don't worry about me. You're the King for God's sake! Why would they want some no-name reporter? I'm nothing special."

"You are to me love. That's why he's back. They know I have some leverage now. If they get to you they'll use you to make me give up my seat. I can't let them do that to you."

"Why would you give up your seat?" He pulled back and dropped his hands from my face. He looked at me like I was insane.

"You still don't understand do you?" He looked discontented by the fact that I wasn't grasping what he was telling me. He stood up and started to pace in front of me. "You're my kept. I will go to the ends of the earth, shit, I'd even go through hell itself to keep you safe. They know that. They'll use you."

"Jeff, I don't think…" He cut me off, yelling.

"Damn it, Sophi, they could kill you!" My mouth snapped shut. "It won't be quick. They'll torture you until you tell them everything you know and then they might kill you to put you out of your misery." Jeff had never yelled at me before. I was stunned to say the least. He had his back to me. I watched him run his fingers through his hair, defeated, as his words actually hit me for the first time.

He turned around to look at me. My face had to reflect how I was now feeling. "Sophi," he walked over and knelt on the floor in front of me. "I'm sorry, love." He placed a hand on either side of my throat, rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs. "I didn't mean to yell at you." He kissed me softly. "I'm sorry I scared you." He kissed me again as I encircled his wrists the best I could. "This is just so serious and I'm worried about you."

"Are you gonna die on me Jeff?" I felt the tears starting to well up again.

"I'm going to try not to. But I will die to protect you, love."

"Jeff, I don't want you too." He kissed me, preventing me from saying anything else.

"If you decide to let me true you, you will feel the same way I do love, I promise. I know you don't understand how I can feel this way but I swear to you, love, I do."

"I know you do. Oh…" I had just realized something.

"What?"

"What about Maggie? If you want to protect me, you have to protect her too. We made a pact when our parents died that we would take care of each other. Jeff, she's all I have in this world. I don't want her to be in danger too." I started to cry again. God, what was wrong with me? I was usually not a crier. But I was scared and upset. Jeff slipped his arms around me, pulling me close.

"Shh, love. I'm going to take care of her too." I laid my head on his shoulder, tucking my face against his neck. "I'm going to call my two closest friends. They are also my best men. They are like brothers to me. I trust them with my life." He leaned back so he could look at my face. "I trust them with yours too." He kissed me. "I want them to come over here and meet you, okay?" I nodded.

"Okay." Jeff went on to tell me that once I met them, I could decide who I was more comfortable with and they would be, for a lack of a better term, my personal guard. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but if that made Jeff feel better then who was I to argue with the King? Since I couldn't find my sweater, Jeff gave me his shirt that I had stripped off of him earlier. I sat on the couch in the living room, curled up in Jeff's shirt while he paced back and forth in front of me making his phone calls. Just watching him pace, I could see that he exuded power. It pretty much just emanated off him.

He stopped, with his back to me, to look out of the large picture window in our living room that overlooked the small playground behind our building. He was waiting for someone to come back on the line. I watched his shoulder muscles bunch and shift as he ran his hand through his hair. He blew out a breath, sounding exasperated.

I stood up. The need to comfort him was extremely strong. Even though I was in danger, all I wanted was to make him feel better. I walked up to him and slid my arms around his waist. I pressed my cheek against the wide span of his well defined back. The heat that radiated from him warmed me more than his shirt ever could. He laid his hand over mine where they were crossed over his stomach. While he talked to someone, I pressed soft kisses to his back. In turn, he lifted one of my hands and kissed it while the person responded to what he said. I heard him snap his phone shut. He turned around to face me. He snaked his arms on the inside of the shirt and pulled me closer to him. I laid my head on the upper swell of his chest. He placed his chin on the top of my head. We stood that way for a few minutes. There was never an awkward silence between the two of us, it was just perfectly comfortable.

I lifted my head off of Jeff's chest when I heard the knock on the door. He let me go so that I could answer it just in case I needed to invite them in. I was so nervous. What if these guys didn't like me? Beyond the fact that Jeff was their King and they didn't have a choice, they were his friends. I walked to the door and looked through the peephole. I smiled and pulled the door open.

"John! What a nice surprise!" I stood to the side so that he could walk in. I shut the door behind him. I turned to him and gave him a hug. When I had taken the job at the paper, Maggie and I had just moved in town. We didn't know anyone. I met John on my first official day at work. Our desks were right beside each other. He had come over, popped a hip up on my desk and introduced himself in his usual cocky way. He told me his name was John Cena and proceeded to flirt with me. Granted, John was ridiculously good looking but for some reason, it just wasn't there between us. Now, I knew why, I was meant to be with Jeff. But beyond that, John and I became really good friends.

I looped my arm through John's and guided him into the apartment.

"What are you doing here? I told you I was fine, I just needed the day off." I smiled when I remembered that Jeff was in the room, "John, I want you to meet someone." I walked him over to Jeff. "John, this is my…uh…" how did I describe what Jeff was to me when I wasn't completely sure myself, "my boyfriend, Jeff Hardy." I noticed that Jeff gave John a look.

"We know each other." Jeff told me.

"You do? How?" I looked up at John. He just shrugged and grinned at me. Oh my God! I pulled my arm out of his and stepped away from him.

"John, you're…" he nodded. I was stunned. Then I got a little mad. I hit him in the arm. "Why didn't you tell me?" He shrugged again. He looked at Jeff.

"It wasn't my place to tell you." He nodded towards Jeff. "Our King here, told me not to. I was going to, but he said 'no'. He wanted to be the one to tell you."

"Oh, I guess that's okay." I walked back over to Jeff to stand beside him. "So, John is one of your 'best' men?" I asked. Jeff wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

"Oddly enough, yeah." There was a knock on the door. "That must be Randy." John walked over and pulled the door open to reveal an amazingly hot guy. What was the deal with every vamp I met being really attractive? Randy nodded at John and Jeff.

"John, Jeff." They both nodded back. I just stood there watching them interact.

"Love, you want to invite him in?" Jeff asked me quietly.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry Randy. Come in, please." He nodded and walked in.

"Thanks." John shut the door behind him. Randy started to wander around my living room looking at my stuff. John just settled himself on the couch.

"Sophi," Jeff started, "this is Randy Orton. He runs 'Kiss' and 'H' downtown." Randy walked away from my bookcase and shook my hand.

"It's nice to meet you." I told Randy.

"Likewise." He did the whole look me up and down thing, totally checking me out. "You're a lucky vamp Jeff." Randy said with a grin and walked back to the bookcase. Jeff smiled at me.

"Since you're already friends with John, he'll be your supraveghere." My what?

"Jeff?"

"Yes, love?"

"At the risk of sounding completely dumb, what does that mean? I don't know if you know this, but I don't speak what I assume is Romanian." Jeff smiled again and leaned into kiss me.

"You could never sound dumb, love." He kissed me again. "It means 'guard'."

"I guess that makes sense." I smiled at him, earning myself another kiss.

"Damn! You guys need to get a room. I don't want to sit here and watch you two make-out all night." John said. I kicked his foot where it was propped up on the coffee table.

"Actually, this is my room." I said, smiling sweetly at him. John made a face, but didn't argue. Damn, this Queen thing may have it's perks.

"Randy, I need you to watch over Maggie. She's Sophi's cousin and they're pretty close." Jeff told him. I noticed that Randy was looking at one of the pictures of me and Maggie together. Jeff's phone rang. He rubbed a hand down my back and turned away to answer it. I walked over to Randy to see what he was looking at. Randy was almost just like John. I had just met him but I felt at ease with him. Normally, I'm pretty reluctant to be around new people. (I'm actually extremely shy.) I was as comfortable with Randy like I had known him for years. When I stopped beside him, Randy picked up the picture he had been looking at.

"Is this Maggie?" I looked up at him. He was almost a foot taller than me. Now that I think about it, I was the shortest one here. Jeff and John were the same height, about 6'1", Randy had to be pushing 6'4", hell, Maggie was 5'7" and here I was barely hitting 5'5". God, it sucks being short.

"Yeah. She works at Starlight Diner." I thought I saw Randy's eyes flash briefly to a bright Sapphire color before he blinked and it went away.

"I know." He turned to look at me. "I'll take care of her Sophi. I promise." I saw Jeff close his phone.

"Okay. Are we good?" Jeff asked John and Randy.

"I'm cool." John said. He would be with me if I left the apartment and Jeff couldn't be with me.

"Randy?"

"I'm good. I'll go to the diner now. I got some paperwork to take care of. I'll just hang out there." I headed back over to Jeff, who wrapped his arm around me.

"Good, good." He kissed the top of my head. "Love, we're gonna leave you alone for a little while so you can get some sleep." He rubbed my back softly. "Don't answer the door for anyone you don't know personally." I nodded.

"Okay. I promise." John stood up and stretched.

"See you guys later." He winked at me and vanished.

"I'm gonna head out to. Oh," he looked at me, "I like blue, by the way." Randy said. He vanished as well. I shook my head.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that." Jeff laughed.

"You will, love." He kissed me. "I'll be back later. We can talk. You can ask me anything you want, about anything. Okay, love?" I smiled at him, hooking my arms behind his neck. He placed his hands on my hips, holding me to him.

"Anything I want?" I asked, smiling up at him. He smiled and kissed me.

"Anything you want, love."

I blinked at the clock when I heard the front door open. It was a little after 11pm. I had fallen asleep an hour after Jeff left. I just laid down, thinking I'd never fall asleep and here I was 6 or 7 hours later.

Before I could even turn on the light, Maggie ran into my room and jumped into the bed with me.

"Soph, guess what? You'll never believe what happened tonight." I reached over and clicked on the light.

"What? What happened?"

"You know that guy that comes in every night and sits in my section?"

"Yeah, the one you say that is 'too hot to be real'?"

"Yeah, Hottie McHott. Well, anyway, his name is Randy and he runs a couple of clubs downtown. I think they're the two that Jeff owns. Any who, I totally talked to him." She grabbed my hands. "He asked me out." I knew it.

"Really?" I wasn't that surprised.

"Yeah, I just ran up here to change really quick. We're going out for a late dinner. Oh crap, what am I gonna wear?" She hopped off my bed and threw open my closet. "What about my nice jeans and your red sweater?" I smiled, remembering what Randy said to me before he left.

"No, no. Wear the blue one."

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