AN: All right well it has been a long time since I have worked on this story. I will admit that it is going in directions that I hadn't foreseen when I started it. Right now I will be honest and say I have no real idea where it is going. I just sit down and if inspiration hits me I start to write. So far this is where it has led me. I don't know how long this story will take and I won't promise to update regularly because I haven't been writing regularly. This whole chapter I wrote over the last two days but it was a product of temporary inspiration. Who knows when it will hit again.

I would like to thank all the people who took the time to review this story. I am glad that some of you like where this is going especially since it really isn't a Doccubus story or it doesn't seem to be. I'm also grateful for all the people who had decided to follow not only this story but me as an author. Thank you all.

Faith stared outside of their bedroom window in a slight daze. Her honeymoon was everything she could have wanted it to be and more. The fact that she hadn't been intimate in that particular manner with Lauren before had been a little more daunting than she had expected but in the end it had been beautiful. In two words and one kiss Lauren had wiped away all of her fears. There was sincerity in those words and love in that kiss. It was enough to remind Faith of everything she was gaining instead of all the possible trials and tribulations.

She loved Lauren. It was a fact she knew long before she asked for Lauren's hand in marriage. She knew she would move heaven and earth for Lauren. It was a fact that scared her on more than one occasion. When she had seen a random glimpse of Lauren in the past her heart had seized and skipped a beat. Her breath had frozen in her chest and she knew without a doubt that there was no one else in the world for her. It had been that same shock of lightening paralyzing her body nearly four and a half millennia ago. The first time she had seen Lauren, or at least an incarnation of Lauren. The shock, that spark had told her more than once, when she had found the woman she loved. The only woman she would ever love.

"Deep thoughts?" Lauren asked coming up and wrapping her arms around Faith's waist.

"Not really, more like thinking of the past. I have lived a little too long." Faith said shaking her head slightly.

"Dark thoughts instead of deep ones." Lauren commented softly releasing a sigh into Faith's back.

"They aren't dark, they are just thoughts." Turning around Faith wrapped her arms around Lauren's waist and placed a gentle kiss on Lauren's neck. She felt the pulse beat and a part of her wished for a small taste. "I'm sorry." Faith said releasing another breath.

"Why are you apologizing?" Lauren asked thinking of all the things she would need to apologize for the second she got the courage to tell the truth.

"I have a lot of secrets in my closet, a lot of truths I glossed over when we first met. I wasn't completely honest with you Beatrice. I'm still not being honest. I'm not blatantly lying but I have bent the truth and I have omitted more than you possibly know." Faith said staring into the eyes of the woman she loved so faithfully.

Closing her eyes Lauren drew in a deep breath. "I've kept things from you too." She said on her exhale.

"I know." Faith smiled softly pulling Lauren closer.

"So who is going to go first?"

"Do we have to do that now? Do we have to open that chasm of secrets yet? I'm happy were we are I want to hold onto this happiness for as long as we can. Well at least until our honeymoon is over." Faith said with a chuckle.

"It is a rather large chasm isn't it? Amazing how much two people can hide from each other." She replied wistfully.

Pulling away from Lauren, Faith stared into her eyes. "I never want to lie to you. I have changed bits and pieces of what I have told you but I never really lied." Shaking her head she rested her head against Lauren's. "I don't ever want to have to lie to you. I love you. I have always loved you and I will do everything I possibly can to make you happy. I never want to give you a reason to be unhappy." Caressing Lauren's cheek she considered what else to say. "I may want us to stay in this little intimate bubble of happiness but I won't if it comes at the expense of our future happiness. Every relationship is based on trust and communication. I want us to have both those things. I don't want to wake up in twenty years and turn to see I've married a stranger. I want to be able to tell you everything and for you to tell me everything. I just know we will need time to do those things. It would take me years to tell you my entire life story. I've condensed bits for you but I do want to tell you all of it."

"And I want to hear all of it. I love you Faith. I don't say those words lightly. I don't know how it happened or when it happened but I fell in love with you. I can't picture my life without you." Lauren's breath caught as the thought of a life without Faith left her cold. Against all odds she had found someone who made her feel more, want more, and understand that she deserved more.

"How are you feeling today?" Faith asked pressing her hand lightly onto Lauren's stomach.

"I see you are changing the topic. I will allow it." She said with a smile giving Faith a kiss on the lips. "I'm fine, no nausea as of yet. I feel great actually. I think I'm over the morning sickness hump." Looking down she noticed in her nightgown she had a slight ignorable bump forming. "Pretty soon I'll be huge." She said with a wistful sigh.

"I'll love you no matter what you are. I personally can't wait to see you swell." Faith said caressing the miniscule bump.

"You say that now. Wait until I am eight months gone and crabby. And did you just say you want me to swell? You clearly think I am going to be huge."

"I don't think you will be huge. Your figure is slight, willowy but strong. I think you will glow and look beautiful."

"So you don't think I'm glowing and beautiful now?"
"You are just being argumentative and searching for compliments. I will happily oblige you by showering you in compliments. I love how you glow. I love how much your breasts have already increased. I swear at least half a cup already. I desire every inch of your body and I know without a doubt regardless of how large and beautiful you get I will still intensely desire you." Faith said in a husky whisper kissing Lauren deeply. "Let's go back to bed. I want to show you how much I desire you."

Laying in bed with Lauren curled up against her body Faith listened as the steady breaths shifted. She knew Lauren was awake and a smile graced her lips thinking over everything that had happened over the last two weeks of their honeymoon.

"Is it really our last day here?" Lauren asked her voice a touch husky with sleep.

"It's our house. Well it's one of the houses the family owns. We can come back here whenever you want."

"I think we should come back each year." Lauren said snuggling deeper into Faith's arms.

"We can. So today is our last day...do you want to start talking or shall I?" Faith asked knowing the topic of her past and Lauren's secrets had been ignored for long enough.

"You start." Lauren replied unsure of how to tell Faith the truth.

"I'm a lot older than you think." Faith started, she stopped when she felt Lauren try to turn around.

"How old are you?"

"It's been so long sometimes it's hard to even remember. We had a different calendar than and a different method of tracking time. Roughly I am five thousand years old." Faith said feeling Lauren stiffening. "Time for us doesn't mean the same as it does to humans. We live for centuries and millennia so a day is almost like a year in the span of our lives."

"That's a lot older than I thought you were." Lauren said shift back to her side facing away from Faith. She wasn't sure where this conversation was going to go and she wasn't sure she wanted Faith to read all her emotions. "Where were you born?" She asked curiously.

"I was born in Egypt, upper Egypt to be specific. My father united the lower and upper parts of Egypt into its first kingdom. My father united the two parts a decade after I was born. He organized the humans and he made himself and our family into their first rulers. We ruled Egypt for centuries. Each member of the family taking a turn as acting Pharaoh though all of us knew my father was in charge." Faith paused gathering her thoughts on memories nearly forgotten. "As I told you before my father was not a kind man. His opinion of humans was unpleasant at best. However, his power and his strength was enough to keep our family in power for a millennia before it was temporarily lost to my father. During that time we were at war with the Fae and they were able to over throw my family and rule in Thebes for a millennia before my father wrestled back control."

"While we were ousted of power my father still maintained control of a small portion of the Egyptian population along with our own extensive family. Unlike my use of the word family in relation to here where most of my people are not related to me in one form or another. My family in egypt were all blood related. My father's law was once you married into a family all children born of that union belonged to the family. Permission to marry had to be granted by him and the selected bride or groom was chosen more often than not by him. He chose the brides and grooms of the majority of my cousins, my brother and even myself. Out of all the members of the family I was the only one to rebel against him in that regard.

"Now I told you I was married once upon a time and that is true. What I failed to mention is that I have been married more than once." That remark caused Lauren to turn back in a bit of annoyance. "Don't give me that look. Every time I got married, I married you." Faith said running her finger down the ridge that had formed on Lauren's brow. "I know your scientific mind might have a hard time absorbing this idea but I have known you in one form or another for more than four millennia. I have married you more than once and I have searched the world over each time I felt you return."

"Are you saying you think I am a reincarnation?" Lauren said in complete disbelief.

"I know you are. I also know you don't fully believe me but it's true. The first time I ever saw you I was nearly five hundred years old. My father was arranging my marriage to a prince of a different clan."

"Wait clan? I thought you were the only vampires in Egypt?"

"We were. Unlike humans our methods of travel have always been advanced. We have travelled the world since the existence of humanity and some think before it. Our creation story is rather complex and involved and somewhat unbelievable. The Fae have one that is nearly as unbelievable as ours. However, I have never believed either the Fae or our creation story. I know that somewhere in the genetic pool we are related to humans in some form. I know that as long as they have existed that we have existed. I can't believe that one came before the other. Maybe we were here before homo sapiens but I doubt we came before homo erectus or homo habilis. I think we are evolved forms of one or the other and humans are a separate branch of us, Fae and vampires that is.

"However, that isn't what you asked. The answer to your question is that there were other vampire clans. They had formed other separate kingdoms. Some of them have been known throughout history while others have remained hidden. Our power as a species has allowed some clans to create whole kingdoms deep in the earth and for others within the folds of time and space, an alternate reality of sorts. It's a form of science or magic that I don't think I could ever begin to explain since I don't understand it myself. So yes there were other clans and those clans more often than not lived or coexisted near the Fae. In the case of my future husband my father had found a prince from Artash. He was the second son of the King's second wife. A man who would probably never inherit his father's kingdom but it was a powerful connection to have. My father was always keen on making powerful connections.

"I thought your father arranged your brother's marriage first?" Lauren asked clearly getting into the story.

"He did but it fell through. My brother was engaged three times. The first two possible wives died. The first was still an infant when the marriage was arranged. She died before making her final transition into immortality."

"Final transition?"

"I don't think I will ever finish this part of the story." Faith said with a chuckle. "Yes when we are born we are so close to being human. We need a mix of food and blood in order to survive and we are still mortal. We are able to die rather easily all things considered. When we reach our peak of physical strength we transition into full immortals. I made my transition at twenty seven. My brother made his at thirty two. His first bride died in a tragic accident, she drowned. His second bride died on the way to her wedding. She was from what is now Greece. He caravan was attacked by Fae and she was killed. She had already made her transition but even as immortals we can die it's just a lot harder to do. The older we are the harder it is in fact." Faith paused trying to gather her thoughts after all the side questions and tangents. Turning to the side table she picked up the glass of water Lauren demanded by left by the side of the bed and took a sip, followed by another.

"I don't mean to keep asking questions but really I do need a lot of clarification. How are you able to keep your population from becoming a risk to humanity if nobody dies?" Lauren asked taking the glass from Faith and taking a sip before returning it to the bedside table.

"Well we do die. We die in our youths and we die in our old age sort to speak. Most vampires tend to go to sleep for a century or two to prevent insanity. The years of built up memories can be overwhelming and those who go without sleep, hibernation really tend to go utterly made. The ancient ones such as I am afraid to admit it, myself, do eventually run out of reasons to live. We can be killed and the best method is full decapitation. It's not pretty but it does the job rather well. There are a couple of ancient forms as well, most out of practice and hard to find. Those don't always do the job and when we come back we don't come back quiet right. Most who have reached the oh my god you are almost a mummy stage can almost die. It's a half death where enough damage has been done to the body that we go into total failure. When we die our cells regenerate and at a rapid rate. However, it has consequences including a stronger hunger and a sensitivity to the sun. It will burn our skin and us to dust. That whole process is really what started off the myth of vampires dying by sunlight. An ancient who had come back from death decided that life really wasn't worth living and walked out into the light. From what I hear it is an excruciatingly painful death. It takes a rather long time to burn to a crisp."

"I'm glad I am past the morning sickness phase because that would have me running for the bathroom." Lauren said to lighten the mood a little bit. "So as a vampire you aren't sensitive to light or crosses or holy water right?" She asked just to make sure the myths were in fact myths.

"Clearly you haven't been reading any of the books in the library about our history." Faith said giving Lauren a look and a kiss. "No those myths came about with a bad batch of vampires who thought it would be a lot of fun to screw around with humans, reveal our existence, and terrorize a couple of countryside's. I took advantage of those morons and the rumors they created to make a story out of vampires. I hired a lot of public relations people and made sure a lot of our children went into that field of study. From their I funded the movies that put vampires in a slightly better light and the ones that make us so easy to kill or romantics who pine and search for a lost love. The right PR can get you anywhere. We are so prevalent within society that we can now walk abroad, mingle with humans, incorporate humans into a world, and no one is really the wiser. I mean vampires literally control 1/5 of the world's wealth. The Fae control about an eighth of it. I am immodest enough to admit that we are better at hording our money. They have more magic on their side though so I suppose in the grand scheme it makes us even in power.

"Again you've made me lose track of my thoughts. As I was saying my father was busy arranging my marriage when I found you. I know it was you because I have had the exact same reaction every time I have found you. I feel an echo of it every time you are reborn." Faith paused lost for a moment in the past. "I had abandoned my guards, a habit my father was aware of and consistently angry about, and made my way to the market. The stalls were full of people. The smell of unwashed flesh, spices, cooked meat, and sewage mingled in the hot air. I walked between the stalls my outfit as common as I could manage. I didn't want to be an heir to the throne. I wasn't a fan of humanity at the time. Humans stank, they bred quickly and uncontrollably and their minds and actions were illogical more often than not. For a person raised to want power, to think before she acted, to control all outward expressions humanity looked inferior. I will admit I had acquired my father's superiority complex if not his competitive streak.

"However, my desire for freedom always led me to the markets. It was the one place my father refused to visit and the one place I knew he wouldn't send my guards to get me. He knew I was safe wandering among the masses. There were few vampires who wandered outside of the palace. There were even fewer Fae who were allowed into our cities. It was on the outskirts of the marketplace that I spotted you. I don't remember what drew my attention in your direction. I just remember suddenly looking on you and knowing that you were the one."

"What did I look like?" Lauren asked lost in the idea of being reincarnated, of having a past life.

"You had olive skin and golden brown hair with streaks of sunlight. You eyes were green like a cat and your smile warmed my skin and made my heart beat. You were the daughter of a travelling merchant and you didn't think I was worth your time or attention. You shut me down before I was even able to make a move on you. Instead you sold me a cheaply made bracelet for an exorbitant amount. I knew as I walked away from you that you thought I was a fool and an easy mark. I spent a week considering how to win your hand. I knew I wanted to marry you and I knew that my father would kill you if I ever did."

"So what did you do?" Lauren interrupted turning back around to face Faith.

"I married you." Faith said with a smile.

"So your father killed me?" Lauren asked a little shocked that Faith would put her life in danger.

"I wasn't strong enough to defeat my father but I was and am smarter than my father. What you may not know about vampires is that we are a lot like the Fae; our blood oaths are unbreakable. What you may not know is that like the wolves is that we have one love, one real love. We are able to love other people and find happiness in some form or other with that person but our real love is the one that makes our hearts beat."

"I'm confused, your heart was beating when I first met you. Your best man, Liam, his heart beats. Andrea's heart beats." Lauren said trying to remember everyone in Faith's household. She didn't particularly pay attention to whether or not someone's heart was beating it was just expected. If they walked and they talked and they breathed then their hearts must beat. It was a scientific fact.

"Have you ever noticed that Drake's heart doesn't beat?" She asked knowing Lauren had never paid Drake any particular attention.

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. He's old, very old actually but his heart hasn't beat since he was a hundred and fifty three. He has been searching for his heart's mate ever since." Faith said placing Lauren's hand over her heart.

"I'm not sure I fully believe you."Lauren shook her head trying to wrap her mind around the idea.

"Well believe it. My heart beating is how I was able to convince my father not to kill you. Unlike my brother the day my heart stopped I was truly bereft. I felt dead without it's constant beating. I felt unnatural and after years of rebellion my father told me about my heart's mate. That the day I found the one my heart would start again. He also made a deal with me when I demanded to go out immediately and begin my search. I would pledge my obedience in exchange for searching the length of Egypt for my heart. If I found my heart's mate before he was able to marry me off then I would get to marry and keep my heart's mate."

"I have a feeling it wasn't as easy to strike this bargain as you make it sound." Lauren said softly wondering what length Faith had gone to.

"No, it wasn't easy. It took years of subterfuge and diplomacy to get me my oath. It took nearly overthrowing my father's rule to get him to bend to my one request and even then it had conditions. We marry for life. Only in death are we free of our partners and even then for those of us who have found our heart's mate we are never really free. But I had found you before I was married and my father was forced to break his marriage contracts and let me have you as my wife. I promise you he wasn't happy about that situation, he was especially unhappy at the fact that you were human. The only bright side in his mind was that you wouldn't live very long and he would be able to make a new contract for a new husband." Faith released a sigh at how oblivious and controlling her father actually was.

"So was I happy to be marrying a princess? It's quiet an elevation of status."

"I wish, for all the work I had gone through to have the right to have my heart's mate I was rather disappointed with the initial results. You hated me with a passion that surprises me even now."

"What would I hate you? Or becoming a princess for that matter?" Lauren asked shifting to get more comfortable.

"You hated me because I didn't give you a choice. You were already in love with someone, or at least you thought you were in love with someone. A member of your caravan who you had known since you were a child. Your father had intended him for you and for the two of you to take over the family business. I interrupted all of those carefully laid out plans. I still remember my father decking out the guards and following me to make the royal decree that I had chosen you for a bride. You were shocked and outraged. Your father, unwilling to disobey a king bowed down to my father's orders and gave you to me with his blessing. In less than an hour your whole life was stripped away and a new one filled with rules and obligations was given to you.

"I didn't know what to do or how to make you like me. I couldn't understand why my fated mate would think so poorly of me when I had given her the world. I gave you a lavish room, silk and cotton robes, clothes embroidered in silver and gold, and jewels to enhance you beauty. I gave you an abundance of food when so many in the streets of Memphis were starving. I practically groveled for your attention and all I got in return was your disdain. You weren't impressed with all of my worldly possessions. You were interested in the lifestyle I could provide for you. Instead the only thing you wanted was to be rid of me and return to your life."

"So what did you do?"

"I did what any self respecting vampire raised by a patriarchal tyrant would do." Faith replied with a sad smile.

"I'm guessing I'm not going to like how this story is going to go."

"I dominated you, I threatened you, and I made sure you knew on a daily basis that I would slowly kill every member of your family if you didn't cooperate. I am sorry to say but my behavior made my father proud. I cowed you in front of him and made you into the picture of subservient."Pausing Faith pulled Lauren close, snuggling into Lauren's neck she breathed in deeply. "I am truly ashamed of the things I did to you then."

"We didn't live the happily ever after story did we?" Lauren asked a note of sadness tingeing her voice.

"No, we didn't, by the time I learned to change, learned what you needed it was already too late. You couldn't see me for anything but the monster my father had raised me to be. All my gentleness was for not because I had already broken you." Releasing a shuddering breath Faith held on tighter. "You killed yourself two years into our marriage. You went to take a bath and you slit your femoral artery. I found you an hour later floating in a pool of your own blood."

Lauren felt the tears slowly soak into her nightgown and knew the horror Faith was feeling. She wasn't sure how she felt about the past life she had just heard. It wasn't a performance she wished to ever repeat. Part of her wished Faith was delusional but another part heard the truth in Faith's words. A part of her knew without a doubt that everything Faith told her was true. That she was Faith's mate and that they had met on more than one occasion over the history of mankind.

"We did better the next time we met didn't we?" She asked hoping their history together wasn't always filled with tragedy.

"Yes and no. I could spend years telling you a little bit about every time we met. We didn't always work out but I had learned my lesson. I never treated you like property. I learned to hate my father and never be anything like him. I left home not long after I found you. I couldn't stand the idea of being in a place with such terrible memories. It's a kind of madness that consumes anyone who had lost their heart. I travelled the world hoping and praying that you would be born again. That I would have another chance to make you happy, to have you love me."

"Come on, let's go have breakfast. This conversation has been enlightening but rather dark. I think we should go enjoy the rest of our day together before we have to return home." Lauren said pulling out of Faith's embrace and moving toward the bathroom to get dressed.

"Are you going to tell me whatever it is you have been keeping from me?" Faith asked knowing she would never push on the topic. If Lauren revealed whatever secret she had that was great. If she chose to hide it for the rest of her life that was something Faith would learn to accept.

"Not yet, not today at least." Lauren said disappearing into the bathroom.

Laying back Faith considered the past and smiled that the future would be better. Each time they had met things had gotten better.

"Are you going to join me?" Lauren said peeking out of the bathroom.

"Yes ma'am." Faith said quickly jumping up and following Lauren.