A/N: Hello lovely people and reviewers! Here's another chapter, isn't it great that there's going to be an update! I'm pretty excited, I think you should be too! I'm starting to slip slowly back into activity, so that's good news for you. Make sure to check out MISSxMAGIC's finale of The Different Girl! Now, if I can get- this might be a shot in the dark here- TEN, yes TEN reviews, then I will upppdate MONDAY. Yea, you heard it, MONDAY. Make sure to check out the poll on my profile, we've got a pretty good race between Team Steve and Team Darren. In your review, lemme know, which team are you on? Alright, let's get on it.

Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned something I wouldn't be on FANFICTION, so obviously I don't own anything. I'm done with these, gah, I'm an angry girl ;)

My mouth had gone dry, I couldn't even stand still. I legit had the feeling that right then and there I was going to throw up all my guts, and pass out. No matter how long I stared at it, that silver wedding band just taunted me- that stupid little wedding band. But Steve's expression stayed the same: sincere, genuine, full of love and something I couldn't put my finger on, but I couldn't look to into that right now. My knees had gone out and I sat back on the couch, my jaw had stayed wide open ever since he had gotten down on one knee, and my heart had never slowed. Taking in a deep breath, I reached up a hand and ran a finger through my bangs, ruffling them through the light spirals that fell onto my shoulders.

"Steve, I-" My voice cracked, and it sounded weaker than I had ever heard it before. What was I supposed to do? Yes, I loved Steve. But it felt wrong to give myself away to someone when most of me belonged to someone else. Curse you, Darren Shan. Curse you for polluting all my thoughts, heavying my breaths, and living in my dreams. The look on Steve's face almost broke my heart, I could only imagine what was going through his mind. I tried to be a little logical and put myself in his situation. Okay, so let's try it. I'm in love with Steve and helped him heal from a terrible, horrific breakup from the love of his life. We made a pretty good life, and found love with each other, and even though I was irrevocably in love with him, I was never sure if I always completely had him because of his love for so and so. Then whatsherface comes and he has to go away with her for a really long time an- yeah, that's not good.

"Veronica Dexter, I love you," he whispered, setting the velvet box down on the coffee table, his eyebrows threading together with a pleading affection, "I promise that I will never let you down, I promise that I will never leave you alone. I promise when you're cold, to take you in my arms to make sure you're warm. I promise whenever you're upset cheer you up with sushi," he started to chuckle as he began to list examples, and each one he gave, I felt my heart sink lower and lower- and myself getting pushed closer and closer to the edge. "I promise whenever you lose your temper, to soak you in a tub of water to cool you down. I promise not to turn off your Eminem CD when you're playing it too loud, and when you wake in the middle of the night, I promise I'll stay up- all night if I have to, until you are sound asleep."

"This is so sudden Steve, I mean-" I started, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes, but he leaned forward, interlacing his hand behind my neck and standing me up so that I was looking into his eyes. I felt his biceps curl around me and the space between our bodies disappear, and throughout it all, he had never stopped looking in my eyes. My breath came out in broken gasps as he spoke, his lips grazed mine, and if it weren't for my vampire senses, I probably wouldn't be able to hear what he had said.

"I would die without you."

I closed my eyes tightly, the tears seeming to pour out of my eyes, as the words swirled around in my mind. I tried to keep my gasps and cries soft, but I couldn't and ended up hiccuping and sounding like a dying, gasping animal.

I would die without you, I would die without you, I would die without you.

I had heard those words before, and I felt as though I would totally shut down. I felt as though I was being bent, bruised, broken and manipulated, my mind was going in all different directions, but I could only think about one thing.

I never thought I'd find someone like, you." he breathed, in between kisses. "I'm so glad I did." he finished, I pressed my eyes together tightly, wrapping my arms around him. I parted my lips, his tongue sliding over the entrance. I leaned in deeper, his scent filling up around me. As I leaned against his chest, I could feel his heart quickly beating. I felt even better, knowing that it wasn't just my heart that raced whenever I would kiss him. It was the same feeling that was there the first time we had kissed, and it never had changed. After a couple of minutes, we both pulled back. And just looked at each other, I took note of his face. His eyes dark, and full of dimension, his lips were perfectly shaped. I couldn't help but tear up, my heart felt as though it would beat out of my rib cage, and right into his lap. His arms still around me, I leaned closer into him, his chest stopping me from getting any closer. I felt his arms flex, as he wrapped his arms more around me, and I had moved my way into his lap, without even knowing. I placed my hand in the nook of his neck, the tears still at home in my vision. "What's wrong?" He asked, I just shook my head. I was never a sap like this, and refused to cry more than once or twice in a span of months. And with that whole bear accident and the events that had led up to my vampirism, and being where I was now, I probably had filled my crying quota for the rest of my life.

"Please don't ever leave me."

"I would die without you."

As Steve kissed me, I knew the same feeling that I had felt back then would never return, I knew that nothing could ever compare. But how I felt with Steve was the closest I could get, so I breathed to him,

"Yes."

Steve's Point of View

I smiled widely as my heart beat in my chest, it felt as though it was going to beat out of my rib cage, but there was the thought in the back of my mind that exterminated the amazing exhilarating feelings that made me feel as though I was going to jump out of my skin and was floating on top of myself. Ronnie wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve, something she had always done even since we were young, and I remembered when she did that- when Darren had first 'died' and we were sitting on her couch. But I did what I had to do, I had a duty to the clan. I was the Lord of The Vampaneze- and this was all apart of the plan. I loved Ronnie, but I had to put my clan first, so I could gain my rightful throne as the Lord of Shadows and beat Shan once and for all.

"I have to pack," she said, giving me a weak smile that was still more beautiful than ever. Her bright blue eyes seemed to glow against the red that had formed since tears had spilled from her irises. I nodded giving her another kiss on the lips before she turned and walked towards the room, mumbling to herself. That girl always talked to herself, but I had learned to not think about it. Once the door had closed, I heard a sound that made me feel as though I was being skinned.

"Very, very good, Mr. Leonard!" Desmond Tiny clapped from behind me, but I whirled around, shushing him briskly.

"Be quiet! Do you want her to know you're here?" I spat, but Mr. Tiny just waved it off- as always, Ronnie was blasting music in her room, the bass shaking the pictures on the wall and I could hear her rapping faintly with the Drake song that played, not very well, but rapping none the less.

"Don't be so uptight, this is all good fun!" Tiny laughed, fiddling with his watch.

"I don't know if I can do this- I don't think she can handle this," I said honestly, my conscience kicking in for a moment.

"Oh," Desmond smiled cynically, "she will handle it just the way I want her to."

"But if she gets betrayed again, I think she'll go postal and downright insane." At that, Desmond just let out another loud laugh and then narrowed his eyes, and the smirk that was painted on his lips made my breath catch in my throat, and his cooed,

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

DUN DUN DUN. REVIEW REVIEW!