Timmy continued through the mall, looking for something Vicky might like, he had stopped at a few weapons and cutlery stores, though he surmised that Vicky likely already had one of everything from most of these places, and purchasing firearms was out of the question, they likely wouldn't sell them to him anyway. And besides, Vicky seemed to be an up close and personal type of person.

"Cosmo, do you have any ideas?"

"About what, Timmy?"

"What Vicky might want for her birthday?"

"It's Vicky's birthday?"

"Yeah, you and Wanda granted the wish to find out when it was, remember?"

"We did? Why would you want to get her anything anyway? You two only recently stopped being enemies..."

"Because we're... dating?"

"Who's dating?"

"Me and Vicky." Timmy deadpanned.

"You are?!"

"Yeah, we are, and now I'm having an argument with a pigeon!"

"Well Timmy, I don't know what she might like, Vicky isn't like most girls..."

"I know, that's why we've been shopping for things she likes... I just haven't seen anything that she would really like or doesn't already have, she steals most things she wants and extorts for everything else."

"Have you tried buying her something... out of the ordinary? You know, whatever ordinary is for Vicky..."

"Like what?"

"Does she like flowers?"

"Pretty sure you know she doesn't, and besides, I can do better than that!"

"Okay, what about jewelry?"

"I dunno, I've never seen her wear anything like that..."

"Then get her that, something nice, but with some symbolism maybe?"

"Is your being stupid just an act or...?"

"It just takes a while before the gears start turning, that's all."

"Fine then, jewelry it is. Where's the nearest store?"

"Right over there." Cosmo pointed his wing in the direction of an expensive looking store.

"Good thing I've been saving up..."

Meanwhile...

Vicky wiped the blood from her swords on the body of a nearby bandit.

"Y'know, you could at least try to keep up, Twerp."

"I'm trying my best here! You have the two swords, I have one, and a shield!"

"Then use two swords?"

"Someone around here has to keep themselves defended in case one of us falls. Correct me if I'm wrong but, you don't know any healing spells, do you?"

"I don't. The college said I was too reckless and requested I leave before I had time to learn any, I went to the inn to drink, and you came in, all happy because you had passed all the trials and graduated to 'Expert Wizard' or whatever."

"Yep and then you challenged me to a duel, telling me to- and I quote- "nut up or shut up" and so we dueled, and it was a draw, like in all the old stories, my sword at your neck, both of yours in a scissor position at mine."

"Yeah that's right... Why didn't we kill each other?"

"I told you then, how often in this short life do we meet an equal? It would be a shame to end each others lives there, so I offered we team up."

"And I knocked you out cold."

"That you did. Punched me hard enough to feel it through my steel helmet, but the next day when I awoke, there you were sitting on the inn's front steps, waiting for me. We began walking together and that's how it's been ever since... That was... a year ago now... give or take a few days."

"Yeah, you and me against the world, the gods must have one hell of a fucked up plan for us." there was an amused tone in her voice.

"You ever think maybe the College kicked you out for that other reason?"

"What reason? They said I was reckless."

"The archmage caught you drinking the blood of your fellow students."

"Well I never read any rules about how vampires couldn't come and learn like everyone else."

"There are no rules about Vampirism as long as you keep it quiet and don't drink the blood of your fellow students, that's assault!"

"You don't want to see me without having fed in a few days, trust me."

"I'm not worried, if you were going to kill me, you would have by now."

"Who said kill? I'd just be... ravenous, and I cant guarantee your safety around me then."

"If you won't drain me dry, then what?"

"Well vampires have the disease..."

"Sanguinare Vampiris."

"Yeah that, but whenever you fight one, you could be infected."

"Yep everyone knows that, if a vampire so much as scratches you, you'll turn into one blah, blah, blah..."

"Well what do you think happens if you're bitten and you survive?"

"I assume you skip the disease stage..."

"Yeah exactly, that's why you don't want to be around when I'm hungry... Unless of course, your whole plan was to become a vampire? Pretty elaborate I must say."

"It never occurred to me that you were looking out for me all this time, that's sweet of you Victoria."

"I told you it's Vicky, and I'm not looking out for you!" Her face, what wasn't covered by visor, was turning a light shade of red.

She wore that visor to shield her eyes, an invention of hers, she told him, that she had made after becoming a vampire, she called them 'sunglasses', he told her they would never catch on. The visor's usage was twofold, it kept the sun out of her now sensitive eyes, and it kept people from seeing what her eyes now looked like, windows to the abyss, with flames slowly swirling inward. The only time she removed the visor was at night, and only in his presence, no one elses. Even then, for the first six months they traveled together, she never took it off, even at night, she didn't think her eyes were nice to look at, most people only saw the predatory hunger in her eyes, nothing else. She figured Timmy would be the same, until one day he told her she could take it off, it was affecting her combat prowess in the dark. She growled at him but complied, and her fighting improved instantly. After that she felt somewhat more comfortable and would remove the visor around him.

It was the night after he told her to take off her visor that he noticed her eyes when she took off the visor, where most people saw the eyes of a predator, Timmy saw beauty, her eyes emitted a soft, pink glow, and the way they looked didn't bother him in the slightest. He wanted to tell her, but before he could speak, she cut in first:"What are you looking at?" her voice had an edge to it. "Nothing!" he quickly responded.

"Here, carry this." Vicky's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She was handing him various things looted from the bodies of the recently slain bandits, weapons, armor, jewels.

"I can only carry so much, Vicky... we really don't need this stuff..."

"I like money."

"Then just take the jewels!"

"Argh... fine!" Vicky dropped all the loot in a large pile and began tossing out the lesser items, except the weapons, she used those to staple the corpses to the ground, a final insult towards those who attacked them. She then returned to the remaining items and pocketed them, mostly gold and jewels. "Happy?"

"That I don't have to carry all that stuff? Very."

"You're lucky you know healing magic, otherwise I might have to hurt you..."

"You're lucky I know how to heal vampires, most people don't."

Looking at her now he noticed that not all the blood she was covered in was that of their enemies, she had a few deep gashes in her side, a cut below her eye, and a single long gash going up her arm.

"By the nine, you're a mess... come here." he took off his helmet so he could concentrate and began healing her arm first. The wound quickly began to close itself under the gold light emitting from his hand.

"Why bother? We both heal pretty quickly..."

"But you don't in the sun, and it's noon."

He continued healing her wounds until they were all healed, she looked at him with a pouty expression.

"...Thanks..."

"Don't worry about it. If you used a shield, this wouldn't happen every time..."

"Good thing you're here then, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Timmy himself had come through the fight relatively unscathed, despite the fact that they both preferred lighter armor, Vicky fought recklessly, he was afraid that she cared little for herself.

"You really should be more careful, what if I wasn't here? You don't heal in sunlight, and most people are all too eager to kill a vampire..."

"Goin' somewhere?"

"No, I just don't like to see you get hurt!" he hadn't meant to snap at her, but she was taking his concern for her as a joke.

"Ha... Since when do you care...?"

"I do care! Why else would I be here?!"he pulled off her visor and looked her in the eyes. Those eyes that seemed to stare through everyone else, looked directly into his. She saw what he felt in those eyes, and stared in disbelief at him.

"You? Really? But why me? I'm not pretty, I'm not nice, and I'm a vampire... there are plenty of people who would be better for you..."

"I don't want other people, I need you..."

"Heh... you're an idiot..." she rested her forehead against his and they sat in silence like that for several minutes before she spoke.

"Do you trust me?"

"...I do..."

Vicky suddenly moved Timmy's head to the side, exposing his neck and lunged forward, biting his neck and drawing blood, she drank deeply for a few seconds before releasing him. Timmy staggered backward a few steps and grabbed his neck, then healed the bite.

"Damn it! Warn me when you're gonna do that!"

"Sorry, I was worried you would refuse the offer. Then, instincts kinda took over..."

Vicky watched as his skin paled slightly, then his eyes changed to become similar to hers, though they emitted the slightest blue glow.

"There, you're like me now..."

"That was fast... Did the sun get brighter?"

"No, that's how it is now, it seems brighter because you're a vampire. You get used to it."

"So that's it then? Together forever?"

"Until the mountains are dust and the oceans dry up."

"Let's get moving then, I'm feeling... thirsty..."

Vicky's eyes suddenly flew open.

"Tamriel? Vampires? What now my dreams and video game playing are affecting each other? Wanda what time is it? Have I been out long?"

"A few hours... well several hours, I fell asleep too... It's nearly seven."

"We better get going then, Timmy will be worried most likely..."

Timmy meanwhile, was searching the mall for Vicky, he had spent a few hours looking through various stores for a gift for Vicky, and eventually found something for her, now he had spent a few more hours looking for Wanda and Vicky, and was getting somewhat worried. He felt a sudden pain in his neck and quickly brought his hand up to it, but found nothing. "Weird..."

"What's wrong Timmy?"

"It's... It's nothing, just got a sudden pain in my neck, it's probably nerves or something..."

"Why don't you try calling her with your cellphone?"

This is what he meant, Cosmo always acts stupid, but comes up with ideas that he would never think of, though to be fair, this idea wasn't hard to think of, Timmy just hadn't thought of it.

"Right, good uh... good idea..." he took out his phone and dialed Vicky's number. The phone only rang once before Vicky answered.

"Timmy? What's up?"

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Did you get whatever it was you wanted to get?"

"Yep! Did you?"

"I err... fell... asleep in a furniture store... in a massage chair."

"So I assume you didn't get anything..."

"Nope! I just woke up like, ten minutes ago."

"So you've been out for almost eight hours?!"

"Give or take."

"You're gonna be up all night!"

"I can think of a few ways to pass the time and tire me out..." her voice had taken on a sultry tone.

Timmy blushed red, knowing exactly what was going through her mind. "And you call me a perv?"

"Women can't be perverts, Timmy."

"That sounds like a double standard. Just meet me in the parking lot, preferably somewhere away from people."

"'Kay, bye!" the sweet tone she usually reserved for his parents was back.

Timmy returned his phone back to his pocket and looked at the wrapped gift in the gift bag.

"You think she'll like it Cosmo?"

"Who will like what?"

And apparently Cosmo's intelligence had disappeared again.

"Nevermind. It's fine, I can't return it anyway..."

The store had a strict policy that said if you take off the price tag, you can't return it, and you had to take off the tag when it was a gift for someone, especially if it was a birthday gift, especially if the receiver of the gift was Vicky. So there was no way to turn back now, besides, it's the thought that counts, right?

A few minutes later Vicky found Timmy waiting for her in the parking lot.

"Why did we have to meet out here again?"

"Because you wished us here, remember? We need to be inconspicuous with our wishing, and we're alone here so would you like to do the honors?"

"... I wish we were back at Timmy's house...?"

Cosmo and Wanda produced their wands and, after a moment, they were suddenly in the Turner's kitchen again.

"Oh wow..."

"What?"

"It's just... all of this... I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, y'know?"

"Yeah, I felt the same when I first met Cosmo and Wanda, you hear stories about magic as a kid, but to have it at your disposal, it's a whole other feeling..."

"And even harder to understand is your decision..."

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon Timmy, I was miserable as a kid, but I was never granted Fairy Godparents, and to be honest, I really don't deserve them..."

"Stop it. I don't know why you weren't given fairy godparents, but that doesn't mean that you weren't miserable, from what you told me, things were far worse when you were a kid than anything you ever did to me, except dressing me up in a maid outfit."

"That wasn't that-" Timmy had a grin on his face. "Oh yeah very funny, tell jokes while I sit here baring my heart to you..." the was a tone of mock hurt in her voice.

"The point is... It was my decision to make the wish for us to share Cosmo and Wanda, I love you and I know I won't regret the decision."

"I'm really lucky to have met you, Timmy."

"Yeah you are."

"Alright don't go getting a big head..."

"I feel the same Vicky, I really do."

They entered a tight embrace and were silent for a time before Vicky spoke up.

"So what's in the gift bag?"

"It's a surprise..."

"I told you, you don't have to get me something for being your girlfriend!"

"What about your birthday?"

"What about it...?"

"I know it's tomorrow."

"How do you know? I'm pretty sure I never told you, in fact I'm positive I didn't."

"I pay attention to subtle things, more than people realize."

"So... Can I open it now?"

"Not until tomorrow..."

"Did you get a cake?"

Opening the fridge, Timmy looked in, he knew he hadn't, but he had a remedy for this situation.

"I sure wish I bought a cake for Vicky's birthday..."

A large cake reading 'Happy Birthday Vicky' suddenly poofed into the fridge.

"Well, would you look at that, I did buy you a cake!"

He noticed Vicky motioning towards the gift bag on the table.

"Hey! No, not until tomorrow!"

"Grr... You're no fun!"

"I'm plenty of fun, but I also follow tradition to some extent, and you have to wait until tomorrow!"

"I wouldn't do this to you... In fact, I know exactly what you're getting for your birthday..."

"You're a little late, Vicky, my birthday was in March..."

Vicky stopped and had a contemplative look on her face. "I know exactly what you're getting for Christmas..." she winked when she said this.

"I know what that wink insinuates... if I'm a perv, you're a flirt."

"I can live with that."

"There's actually another way I learned to tell when your birthday is coming."

"What's that?"

There was suddenly a rumble of distant thunder.

"That."