New chapter! Woo! Tuesday's seem to be what's working right now, so hopefully the week long wait is a little more bearable than the whole three year hiatus (facepalm) but yes! The story goes on! I hope you guys like the new chapter! We're almost done with part one! 3 more to go before things get really intense. I'm gonna tell you that the end of part one is not gonna be happy but the whole of this story has a very happy ending, so just bear with me guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Little Vampire and all characters belong to their owners

Special thanks to:

sarahmichellegellarfan1

Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967

Scarletknight17 (Thanks so much! I hope you stick with me! Enjoy the new chapter :D!)

Your reviews give me life guys!

- Chapter 17-

"No."

"Gregory-"

"No." He pulled away from her completely and turned his head to stare angrily at the wall.

Nancy blew the hair out of her eyes in exasperation. She should have never even mentioned invoking to him. Now he really was going to fight her on this one. She didn't know if she should be glad or mad for that. Her eyes narrowed at him as he made to leave her behind with his refusal. "Not so fast," she grabbed hold of his shoulder and held him in place.

Gregory bristled at the contact and turned to face her with a scowl. "Why would I help you invoke, you just told me it was dangerous and that Witches avoid invoking at all costs." He snarled at her, "Why would you think that I would let you do that, you're enough trouble as it is." He tried to shrug free from her hold.

Nancy held fast and swung him around to face her. "I have to. Don't you understand that I have to Gregory?" She looked into his grey eyes with conviction. "If not for your family's sake, then for my own." She looked down and pushed some dirt around with her boot. That goddamn tree trunk flashed into her brain."You saw me out there, I was helpless," she swallowed and looked back up. "I-I'm running out of time."

Gregory felt himself pause when she said his name. Even in their strange closeness they both rarely said the others name. He felt a warmth and an emptiness grow inside of him at her words. He supposed that's why he tried to bite her. Not only because his attraction to her made him thirsty, but in part to the idea that if Nancy were to become a Vampire she wouldn't have to leave him. Granted, he had come back to his senses before it was too late. If he had forced this life on Nancy he knew she would leave him. Just as surely as she had left her old life behind, she would retreat once more without a second thought to him or his family. He would have truly betrayed her trust. He'd be no better than her mother really. He frowned at the thought. He sighed and his shoulders slumped. If he didn't help her, she'd just find a more dangerous way to get what she wanted. She was insane like that."...I'll do it."

Nancy caught his defeated look with a small tense smile. "Thank you." She released her hold on him only to reach back in and embrace him.

Gregory allowed the contact and gritted his teeth. His own arms wrapping around her in the only real protection he could provide her.

- O -

Gregory felt waves of anxiety wash over him as he left Nancy to prepare for the invoking. She told him to come back in a few hours time and she'd be ready to go. She needed to be by the ocean she said. Gregory cringed at the thought of taking her back to the first place that they had shared feelings only to desecrate it with, what was sure to be, a terrible memory for him. He really did hope that this would be the end, and that she'd be able to conquer her demons at last. He found that the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to become human again. He never minded being a Vampire, but if he regained his humanity, would Nancy still want to be around him? He knew little of her feelings for him. She was hard to read, maybe even worse than he was. But he weirdly found that he wanted their lives in the catacombs together to continue. It went way beyond her abating his boredom now. He-

"Gregory dearest?"

Gregory froze at once at his mother's voice.

"M-mother?" He turned to see her leaning against the wall near him, a smile on her lips.

"You've been spending awfully a lot of time with Nancy lately," she remarked curiously, a twinkle shining in her eye.

Gregory felt his anxiety spike at the question. He didn't need his mother involved in this. "S-She's foolish, I merely enjoy watching her try to bat her way around the world," he said quickly and left her to her musings. His head hurting at the prospect of his mother finding out about his complicated love life.

Freda just kept quiet and smiled a Mother's knowing smile at her sons retreating back.

- O -

Nancy's heart pounded in her ears as she pulled herself up out of the catacombs. The cool night air feeling wonderful against her feverish skin. The magic within her tickled with the anticipation of the invoking. She really hoped it wouldn't backfire on her this time. She had a lot riding on this going well for her. She smiled at Gregory's grave expression as she met him beside their designated tombstone.

"Are you ready?" He asked quietly, offering his hand out for her to take.

She took it without hesitation, and Gregory felt dread overtake him as they ascended into flight.

- O -

They landed in the clearing without a hitch. No unnecessary skydiving from Nancy and no distractions from Gregory, though he wished hopelessly for a disturbance to impede Nancy's decision. He watched her as she unloaded the ritual items from her satchel and began to create a pentagram in the grass.

The moon shone brightly above them, catching the silver light of Nancy's cross earrings as they dangled from her ears. They tangled in her hair with her movements, while the sage crinkled as she took it out of her bag and and lit it with her lighter. Billows of smoke swirled off of the lit kindling as she moved purposefully around the magic gathering she was conjuring. God she hoped this would work. Another hex might very well break her already fragile mental state. She glanced over at Gregory and frowned at his creased brows. Even he was worried for her.

"How is it that you know how to do this?" He approached her as he asked the question.

Nancy tried not to react and tossed the smoldering sage into the torrid waves of the ocean. She wasn't going to lie to him. "...I've done this to myself once before." Her eyes clouded with memories as she stared into the roaring black ocean tides.

"What do you mean!?" He flinched from beside her in surprise. "You said it was dangerous, and that it should be avoided, I don't understand-" He shook his head, the knotted plaits of hair swinging with the movement. "You've done it before? What-"

She turned to face him and steeled herself for her own explanation. "I-I-" she swallowed before trying again. "I thought I could control it the first time, I thought that-" she stopped herself from saying too much. "A lot of bad things happened, and it was my fault. This time, I won't make the same mistakes again. I'll control it."

Gregory stared back at her warily as she smiled at him. He tried to find comfort in her words but only found more questions. Questions he knew she still wasn't ready to answer. So he accepted her smile with a grimace and breathed a heavy sigh. Damn Witch. If anything happened to her-He'd-Damnit, she better be fine.

Nancy face evolved into a genuine smile as she watched Gregory struggle to accept her words. He truly didn't understand what it meant to her that he was allowing her to have her secrets, and to trust her to tell him in her own time. It's honestly why she found herself continuing to be honest with him. He didn't push her. Not in this way, and it meant the absolute world to her. She grinned as she closed the distance between them and took his cold hand in hers.

He blinked at her in surprise before closing his eyes as she leaned into him for a kiss. Their lips moved against each other tenderly, not at all like the hurried sloppiness at the catacombs. While that had been fun in its own way, Gregory enjoyed the warmth and affection he felt from her in this kiss. Gregory liked kissing Nancy he decided. Not that he had anyone to base on for comparison. But he had a rapidly growing fondness for her that he couldn't explain. He sincerely hoped this wouldn't be their last kiss.

She delicately twirled a lock of his wild hair around her finger as she carefully caressed the side of his face with her other. He groaned as she pulled away and looked up at him through her eyelashes regretfully. "It's time Gregory."

He frowned as she pulled away from him and approached her pentagram. Shedding her jacket and pulling her beads off from over her head, she left them haphazardly in the grass as she entered the now glowing pentagram. She smiled shakily at him one last time before stepping into it fully and making her way into the semicircle at the center of it. Gregory wanted to look away, out of his own nerves, but found that he couldn't.

"Hear me Manon!" she yelled from inside the bright glow of the circle. The light illuminating her pale features. "I come to you now and offer my body as a vessel to your power! Grant me your grace once more!" She rose her hands up and extended them out to the sky. "I invoke thee!"

Gregory felt the instinct inside him rise at her words. The instinct to run for his own survival. He could feel the power radiate around her like a heavy fog and he looked around and watched as birds flew into the sky and escaped over the tree tops. He wanted desperately to join them, but he just planted himself further into the soil at the thought. He couldn't leave Nancy.

"I invoke thee!" she chanted again. The sky opened up at her call and released a hellish downpour. Gregory tried to cover himself with his arms as large raindrops pelted him and soaked him through all the layers of his clothes. He wrapped his arms around himself and tried to ward off the cold. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this cold. Probably since before he had been turned. It must be the potency of Nancy's magic. He watched as she held her arms up even higher, not even reacting in the slightest to the heavy rain soaking her through and plastering her wild hair all over her face.

"I invoke thee!" Lightning struck down and cracked onto Nancy's form. She held the bolt in a stream of crackling light as it charged into her hand from the dark clouds above. Gregory watched in awe as she literally held a bolt of lightning. Definitely not a sight he ever thought he'd see. But here it was. He watched frozen in shock as she wielded the lightning and manipulated it until it hummed through her body and fell down into her from the sky. Dissolving into a dull light as it pulsed beneath her skin. The storm evaporated as the last of the lightning flashed jagged into Nancy's skin. He stood in shock as she fell to her knees and screamed in agony.

Fuck! Nancy felt her skin crawl with the surplus of magic. The forces inside her fighting for control as she was left a writhing mess on the ground. The magic was still strong inside of her from the first time she invoked and she could feel it react immediately to the force of the fresh magic. Two powerful sources fighting for dominance rather than just existing and mixing together. She had severely underestimated the fickleness of magic. She cried out as waves of pain raked over her body and left her a convulsing mess in the grass. It burned. It burned through her bones and she could feel her body seize with the war waging within her.

Gregory's eyes widened in horror at the sight. Nancy's body was shaking with the force of the lightening that had struck her. He didn't know if that was the magic that had caused this of if that lightening had been some type of unforeseen circumstance within this ritual. The storm had seemed to cease for now though. The dark clouds looming quietly and ominously overhead as Gregory stood helpless beside the pentagram. He'd tried to enter the glowing design when Nancy had first started convulsing but the magic around her had expelled him backwards and left him breathless in the dirt. He couldn't do anything but watch as she suffered alone. He was furious with how powerless he felt.

- O -

Nancy didn't know how long the pain had lasted but she remembered when it stopped. The pain at last receded from her tormented body and it felt as if cool water was washing over her and healing her wounds. She breathed deeply at the sensation and felt herself stand up. Magic coursed through her veins stronger than ever before. She felt fire in her blood as she got to her feet and gazed up into the clear starry sky above her. Well, she'd gotten off to a rough start but she was going to call the invoking a success this go around. Her body shuddered at the repressed memories from her first invoking. She had to be one of the only Witches alive to invoke on her own. Twice now. She couldn't tell if she should be proud or horrified with herself. She stared down at her shaking hands. She felt like her body was going to explode if she didn't cast a spell soon. She closed her fists tightly at the feeling. She needed to save her magic this time and not give in to her needless magic desires. Her control would truly slip again if she allowed herself to give in to the magic fully. She had a comet to track and a stone to find. Personal agendas on the back burner, she needed to help her Vampires. She wouldn't let them down.

Speaking of Vampires, where was-

His iced hands grappled onto her shoulders, almost dislocating them in his effort to posses her.

Nancy concentrated absolute effort into not shrieking in rage, but gave up all hopes of not losing it when one of Gregory's vice grip hands reassembled at her throat and tilted her head sideways as he leaned forward to ravage her mouth. He kissed her hard for a full solid minute before Nancy trembled with fury, biting down hard on the eager muscle in her mouth. "Bah!" she bellowed, as Gregory stepped back and finally gave her a centimeter of her own space.

"Oh my god! You scared the crap out of me! What the hell was that for?!" she spat.

"You nearly died!" He retaliated, moving his arm from his mouth and attempting to invade her space a second time.

Her punch to his chest halted him, "That doesn't mean you have to finish the job with your tongue!" she shrieked.

Gregory breathed deeply to calm his nerves and felt his mouth crack into a relieved smile at her words. She was okay. It'd been hours as he watched her writhe in pain within the pentagram. Watching as she scratched and clawed at her own skin, screaming out in agony unable to speak outside of screams. He would never forget the hopelessness he felt as he watched her. Nancy wriggled in his arms as he reached out to embrace her. She struggled in his hold for a moment before at last calming down and allowing him to hold her.

"Geeze, you were really worried for me huh?"

Gregory tightened his hold on her, lightly scratching her with his claws.

Nancy cleared her throat. Uncomfortable with Gregory's blatant affection. She felt embarrassed with his warm embrace and she pushed him gently away after a few moments. "I'm okay, I swear it."

Gregory eyed her warily as she tried to assure him. He chose not to be offended by her coldness. He was being rather childish, clinging to her like that. But he couldn't help but smirk when he saw the red blush explode onto her cheeks. The blood in her cheeks making her appear all the more enticing to him. He reached out for her again.

"What did I just say! Oh my god!" She yelled at him, swatting his hand away and turning on her heel so that she could gather up her spent belongings. They were all but useless to her now, but that didn't mean that they couldn't still serve a purpose. She bent over to pick up her silver chalice and as she did she caught a glimpse of Gregory's stupid smirking face. Freakin' bastard. He was doing this crap on purpose. Part of her wanted to joke around and tease with him like normal, but a larger part of her felt like a magic loose canon. About to set off on anyone and anything in her proximity. She wouldn't forgive herself if anything happened to her unofficial Vampire boyfriend. She liked their oddly blossoming relationship just fine thanks. So she had to protect him. Even if that meant protecting him from herself.

- O -

As they flew back to the graveyard, Gregory clung to her offered hand in a vice. She seemed normal, but he could see the strain in her face. This invoking was definitely coming with a price. Her ominous words from earlier in the week proved that. But as much as she tried to deny his fears he would never forget the pain he saw her endure at the cliff side. She was so much tougher than he had ever thought her capable of, and it made him even more worried for the past that she was harboring. To act so unaffected after so much pain, he shuddered to think of what she'd been through. As an ageless Vampire he'd seen much human suffering. There was much he caused with his own hands. But Nancy had an annoying habit of creeping beneath his defenses and touching his long cast off empathy. He glanced over at her, her short curly dark hair wrapping wildly around her face as they flew. She was beautiful, in a strange way. Her pale skin so much like his own, but being on the run and traveling only at night will do that to a person. It took him a while to get used to that. She truly looked liked she belonged with his Vampire family to begin with. It really made sense now that he knew a little bit more about her, but that really was like pulling teeth, she was always so vague. Ever the mysterious Witch.

- O -

Nancy felt the flash of a vision strike her as they landed on the mossy earth of the cemetery. Stars and lights danced behind her eyelids as she got lost in the magic as it washed over her. She tried to relax herself as the images of the comet and the amulet shifted into her focus and with a final breath she was able to attain some very useful information.

She came back to herself with a large gulp of air.

Gregory had taken hold of her shoulders sometime during the vision and was currently holding her up so that she didn't collapse. "Are you well Witch?" he asked her as she appeared to recover and blink up at him.

"Gregory!" She lunged forward at him in recognition and sudden clear understanding. She'd seen it! She could help him now! "The comet!" She shouted at him in excitement, her mouth creasing into one of her infamously large smiles. "It will come in August of this year!"

Gregory blinked at her in shock before the reality of that came crashing down on him. While he still had mixed feelings about his Vampirism, his family did not, and he needed to tell his family about this development now. Gregory leaned forward and planted a hurried grateful kiss onto Nancy's cheek before quickly disappearing down into the catacombs to inform his family of the news.

Nancy watched him go with a small tired smile. Happy to help, but feeling a little empty at the same time. She hoped that the vision hadn't cost her more control than she could spare. She'd willed it onto herself from the moment they took flight, and the quickness of its manifestation left her a little breathless. She'd never been able to bring on a vision that quickly before in any form of conjuring.

Not even in her first invoking.

She winced when she felt a strange tightness in her hands. It felt like coils were wrapping and squeezing around her finger tips. That seemed like cause for worry. Looking down at her hands in alarm, she held them to herself and gazed up at the bright glow of the moon. She really hoped that things would turn out differently this time around.