A/N: Wow, the feedback to the last chapter was OUTSTANDING! Thank you all so much for the reviews, it really means a lot to me! And I'm glad to see, well not glad but I'm glad to see that it made you as sad as I did! I must have portrayed my emotions pretty good! Well without further ado, the next update! Thank you, thank you again! I hope I can keep delivering. I've been waiting to say this forever!

Team Steve, or Team Darren? ;)

A thank you to my beautiful reviewers, who really outdid themselves last chapter: _, MISSxMAGIC, ferretgirlsz, BlueMoon1334, Rocky181, Sapphiet, RoxyPony, Hayley, I-love-Freddy, hpluvr, Amela333, Carlthellama, LilBat54, AlwaysReading25, xsuperxsadistx, MOONLIGHT-97, Slytherin Queen 1.30!

Disclaimer:I don't own anything other than Ronnie. You know the usual drill, the super fierce owns Cassie and RoxyPony owns Kayden and all of her awesomeness.

"Steve?" I choked, not turning around from my seated position on the floor. My heart still screamed from inside of my chest, but suddenly stopped when I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me and bring me to my feet. Steve pulled my head into his chest, where I surprisingly began to sob once again, my emotions not able to contain themselves. I couldn't believe what had just happened, I hoped that this was just a sick, terrible dream and that Darren would shake me awake any second. But he wasn't going to, this was real. I had seen the person I loved so much, turn into something I never thought he was capable of being. Steve pushed my shoulders back to get a better look at me, his brows scrunched together. He held my face in his hands, running his thumbs under my eyes to wipe away the stray tears. I wondered when he would realize that I was supposedly dead, and I barely looked like I had changed in the years I was supposed to be dead.

"Wait a second..." there you go, Steve. "Why are you here? I thought you were a vampire?"

"The truth is, I'm really a vam- what?" I gawked, shocked at the fact that he didn't ask me what I expected.

"I know that you're a vampire, Ronnie." Steve snickered, he hadn't changed one bit.

"Wait, how?" I pulled away from his arms, but he quickly grabbed me back as if he thought I would vanish if he let me go. I remembered him telling me about him being part vampaneze, so I was kind of on edge. But the familiar feeling I felt around him was something I didn't want to let go.

"I'll explain, but let me take you back to my place, and get you cleaned up, okay?" His eyes shined with pure sincerity, and honestly if it was a trap or something I could care less. It's not like there was anything that I had to live for anymore, at least that's what it felt like. I nodded my head limply and followed as he basically pulled me down the street my hand firm in his grip. I dragged my feet on the floor, I was exhausted from all the running and not eating. He let out a grunt as he shoved a key into the lock of the door in an apartment building.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Steve grinned, shuffling a hand through his hair. I ran my hand over a pair of couches, and forced a weak smile, I felt like I was never going to be able to truly smile again.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked, I shook my head and his eyes widened. "Wait, did YOU, Ronnie, just say you weren't hungry?" A giggle escaped my lips, and I guess I proved myself wrong. Steve was able to make me laugh, even when I was in- what it felt like- was the darkest hole I had ever fallen into.
"Yea, I just don't feel like doing anything." My voice trailed off, I knew that he was going to ask me what happened, but for right now I was going to put it off for as long as possible. "But I do feel like taking a shower, mind showing me in the right direction?" Steve just nodded, shuffling through the his drawers to give me a towel and then pointed me in the way of the bathroom. I let out an exasperated sigh as I let the water run, steam filling the room. That's one of the things I missed most at Vampire Mountain, the opportunity to take a nice, warm shower. I slid off my clothes and held the tattered bit of Darren's cape in my hand, I looked around the room and threw it in the corner sinking it straight in the trash can. When I stepped into the shower tears silently fell from my eyes involuntarily, I refused to let myself sob especially when I should be enjoying the warm welcoming shower. After a long amount of time, I reached for the towel and squeezed my dripping wet hair with it and then tied it around my body. I swiped my hand across the foggy mirror, and stared at my reflection. The girl looking back at me was one I had never seen. Her eyes were empty and her face was alarmingly pale, due to the moisture her thick lashes were bunched together, the whites of her eyes were tinted pink and the skin around them was swollen from tears. Damp blonde waves fell in front of her face, and when she pulled them out of the way she looked devastated and alone. I shook my head and walked out of the bathroom, a smile spread on my lips when I saw that Steve had left out one of his large hoodies and a pair of boxers. I rolled my eyes imagining the comment he was going to make seeing me in his garmets but I had no other choice. I stepped into the pair black boxers, rolling over the waistline a couple times so they fit more snug. I couldn't suppress my relieved sigh as I pulled the large sweatshirt over my head, I hugged myself and let out a low 'ahhhh,' as I stretched in the newly found warmth, my lower back cracking. I shook my hair with my hand and flipped it a couple of times, it was already starting to dry and form into blonde spirals. I stepped out into the living room,

"Nice, I could get used to this." Steve commented raising a brow, I snorted. I called it! "I got you something to eat while you were in the shower." he shoved a white take out box towards me as I sat down on his couch crossing my legs.

"Steve, thanks but I'm not-" My lips pulled into a wide grin and Steve smirked, he had gotten me my absolute favorite. My band-aid in food form. He knew I couldn't refuse. "-is that sushi?"

The Mountain was unusually quiet. Evra, Cassie, Larten and Kayden all sat along a wooden table in the Hall of Khedon Lurt, silently sipping at bat broth and their mugs of blood.

"This is bull shit!" Kayden finally boomed, slapping her hands down on the table.
"Kayden, watch your tongue!" Larten snapped, not in the mood for any of this right now.

"Don't even start with me, Larten!" Kayden glared, "Isn't this weird to any of you? Ronnie's gone. And you all are just sitting here sipping your bat broth like nothing is wrong in the world!"

"That's not the only problem, Darren is going to die!" Evra snarled, on edge. Sure he cared that Ronnie was gone, but now he was going to have to watch his best friend die.

"I don't care about that little jackass." Kayden answered, Cassie placed her arm on Evra, calming him down.

"I can't really choose sides, without knowing what had happened. Yes, Ronnie is my best friend and what Darren did to her was wrong. She's my best friend and I can't believe that she just left. And trust me," Cassie paused making eye contact with Kayden, "I am pissed. But am I the only one that smells something a tiny bit fishy?"

"All I smell is a bunch of bull-" Larten shot Kayden a glare, "poop."

"There is nothing that we can do, I came in here with two assistants and now I have none." Larten frowned.

"Boo hoo." Kayden sassed under her breath drinking the warm blood from her mug. "Have you talked or dreamed with her, at all?" Cassie just shook her head,

"I haven't gotten any sleep at all since she left, and I just feel that she hasn't either." she had gotten used to the fact of the connection between the two of them. Just like she surprisingly gotten used to the fact that she was conformable living temporarily in a Mountain due to a sadistic vampaneze tracking her and her snake-husband down.

"Sires! Sires!" Someone busted into the hall, running up to the Princes who were sitting at another table, a dark expressioned Kurda trailing behind him.

"The boy, he escaped!"

"Oh great," Kayden groaned, standing up knowing that she had to go on duty due to her general position. Before they all went into a huge frenzy, Cassie spoke up once more,

"Before we say anything," she piped up, looking around, "where's Gavner?"

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!