Author's note: I apologize for the lack of any update. For the past year, real life got hectic for me, and not in the good way, and putting up the last chapter of this story was placed on the back burner. Yes, I did write "last chapter" as this was as far as the story had gotten. However, XDavien and I are beyond thrilled at the reception our story received. We continue to write stories with our characters when we are able to, and if you're interested in reading more stories about them, please let us know! A speical thank you goes out to everyone who's left comments here or sent us messages elsewhere!

Chapter Three

The force of Jane abruptly ending their kiss and backing away caused David's hand to pull free from her neck, but he kept the other one wrapped around her waist. As their skin-to-skin contact ended, so did the strange feeling David got from it. He opened his eyes to look at her, and almost ducked as a reflex, expecting to get smacked.

Yet there she was, again surprising him. Rather than looking angry, as he expected her to, she looked petrified. David tried to catch her glance, wearing a question on his face. A question of wanting to know what was wrong. Never had he gotten that type of reaction from a kiss.

But she wouldn't look at him. Long lashes obscured the eyes that stayed cast down, fixed on his chest, on the quickly healing wounds there. The word that her lips formed shocked him even more. Vampire. How could she have possibly figured that out so soon? He never actually told anybody what he was, not even those that he tried to initiate into the gang. David's mind raced over how she accomplished such a feat. Could she have sensed it or seen it somehow? Was that what the odd pulling sensation was that he felt when he touched her?

Well, shit, no wonder she was so freaked. His free hand glided down her arm and rested at her elbow. David didn't deny her claim; he gave her a slight nod of the head, a small notion, but a confirmation nonetheless. He clenched his jaw, the muscles in his cheeks become pronounced, as he worried. If he wanted to do the opposite of what he normally would, this was a shining example of that. But the choice had been taken out of his hands, not that he ever would have come clean about what he was. David floundered for a moment, feeling like he had been taken out of his element, out of control. He had already figured he was about to lose this anyhow, but he may as well try. How could it hurt at this point? His tone became soft, trying to calm her down, sincerity burned in his eyes.

"I won't harm you."

Jane really had no reason to trust him, but he hoped that she would believe him. That she would know that he very easily could have hurt her already, if those were his intentions. But even if she believed him, he highly doubted that she would be okay with this revelation.

Trying to cease those thoughts, his mind lingered on the how. How she figured it out. "What happened when we touched? Is it how you know what I am?"

"I saw from you," Jane replied, finding her voice after she recovered from her stupor. Easing the grip she had over him, she straightened her back so that she was able to look into David's piercing blue eyes. "I can't ever control it," she went on, "my powers, unless I wear clothes over my exposed skin. I can't ever touch anyone or anything alive without hurting them and seeing into their memories. It's just what I am, what I always have been since I became this way."

Curiously she lifted a hand from his shoulder and she dared to brush her fingertips along the rough stubble on his jaw. She marveled at the way she could touch him like this without hurting him. She couldn't help but start laughing a little, because she continued to feel this exhilarating surge flowing back and forth between him and her and nothing else. No harm, no foul.

"The only time I could safely touch anyone like this was if they were a corpse," Jane stated, knowing this would have sounded creepy to anyone else except maybe to a vampire. "No life or memories to steal, since they're dead. But you, David, if you're not alive, but you're not dead, then it makes sense that this can happen."

She forced herself to stop playing with his face and look into his eyes once more. Though her fingers danced along his upper arm, feeling how cold his skin was compared to hers. She knew the basics about vampires, how they had a supernatural allure to them to compel their human victims and charm them. This went beyond any allure for her, because she could touch him and he would still be all right. She could scream for joy if she could! However, her expression turned business-like, like it had been when she was first tending to his wounds, as she thought back to the last visions she saw right before she broke their kiss.

"What will you do now, David?" she asked him, putting herself and her minor victory over her abilities off to the side momentarily. "Do you have any more family or were those boys - and that girl - were they it?"

David's mind slowly processed the explanation about what she was, the power she possessed. But the sheer closeness of her, the feel of her fingertips moving along his face, was distracting enough to make his mental acuity sluggish.

So, she was some sort of vampire herself. In the sense that she fed off of people's lives, taking in their memories, and leaving them dead. His very own Goldilocks reaper. But this wasn't something she did on purpose or could control, and it wasn't a necessity for her survival, so he understood why it troubled her. Guilt was something he had to let go of in order to not go insane, and to survive as a vampire. Taking others' lives was just something he was required to do and he accepted that. It was what let him be immortal. And that was why Jane was able to touch him without killing him, because of what he was.

Her touch. It was so warm. So comforting. He could hardly believe that she still sat in his lap and was holding onto him. After knowing what he was. That she wasn't out the door or looking for weapons to use against him. He knew that he should be more focused on what this meant, what she was, but all he could think about was how nice it would be to get even closer to her.

At her questions, shadows invaded his thoughts and features. The pain from losing his family and the betrayal surging through him once more. David didn't know just how much she had seen, but it was enough to know that his family had been taken away.

"They were it," he answered at last. "I spent a long, long time alone. The gang, those boys, they were my family. My new family. Suddenly I wasn't alone anymore and it was awesome. But there was still something I thought I was missing. And that girl? Well, I thought I had found someone to join me in eternity. She, however, didn't like that idea so much. I had tried to get her and another to join the family, become one of us."

There was meaning in his eyes, he knew that Jane understood what he was talking about. "They fought it, tried to take us all down in an attempt to be free of the change, I guess. Some of them just wanted us dead for what we are. But I'm not giving up on my brothers. When I'm well enough, I'll try to find them and see if I can bring them back somehow. And now that I have your help, I'll be better quicker."

Playing coy, David tried his best to look angelic as he grinned at her, the smile sounding even in voice. "But I probably will need to stay here with you for a while. I don't think I'm well enough to leave and be on my own."

Jane fixed David with a hard stare. Her mouth tensed with a bit of tightening of her jaw. Him? Stay HERE? On one hand, she knew Maria was going to be away for a few days… Unless she decided to come home early for whatever reason. If that was the case, then they would have to cross that bridge if it came to that. For now, it looked like it would just be David and Jane, alone, in the apartment. On the other hand, most sane people would probably freak out over having a vampire stay with them. Jane was a little different from most people in more ways than one. She was risking herself by remaining this close to David the Vampire. If he wanted to, he could have already drained her of her blood and been done with her. That was, if she hadn't read his thoughts via touch and knew he wasn't going to hurt her. He was needing to heal, but he wouldn't harm her. She sure as hell couldn't throw him out after what was revealed between them.

And the way David was looking at her… He did have such a handsome smile. She could still recall a hint of warmth between their lips when they had kissed.

Squinting her eyes closed, she carefully removed herself from his grasp all together. She climbed off of his lap and got to her feet, where she regained her sight and made her way to the front door. She made sure that the locks were all secured before she turned around and leaned against the door.

"This is just a temporary arrangement," she stated firmly. She tried not to think of when he would have to go out and feed on someone. It was bound to happen sooner or later, after the next sun set, when he would leave, go hunt down a human and drain them – possibly kill them, then come back looking like the fine-looking devil that he was. But he was also same devil whom not only didn't get hurt from her, but more or less accepted her for what she was.

Then after softening her features, Jane said, "Just so you know, I really am sorry for what happened to you and your family."

David curiously watched her walk away, wondering if she was doing so to show him the door. But then the locks clicked into place and he relaxed, happy that they were now locked in with each other and that the action of that was an answer to him staying there.

A temporary arrangement, huh? Well, hopefully them being together wouldn't be temporary; he would do everything in his power to make sure of that. "Don't worry, I'm not lookin' to move in. Not when I have my very own resort. You should see it. It's pretty cool."

Even though the cave didn't have any of the modern luxuries that Jane's home had, he was still very proud of it. It had taken the boys quite a while to decorate it the way they did. Bringing home interesting things that they found on the beach or nicked from the boardwalk.

"Thanks. You and I both." He furrowed his brows at the thought of everything that had transpired with his family. David would get his vengeance and help his brothers. Eventually. But for now? Now he was here with Jane. Recuperating. Everything else could wait.

A shiver running through him, prickling up hair, reminding that he was still half naked. He grabbed his shirt, feeling the tacky blood sticking to his hands from it and looked up at Jane, who was still at the door. He patted the space next to him on the couch. "C'mon, I don't bite."

He then realized the phrase he had just uttered and his lips curved up. "Or at least I won't. Not you." It was actually really refreshing to have her know what he was, to the point that he was already joking about it. He slipped his hands through the armholes of his shirt, still watching her. "Do you have family, or are you alone?"

"Alone," Jane simply replied before she moved away from the door and went through the motions of securing the curtains and blinds closed so that no light could come in when daylight arrived. It wouldn't be just for the living room but for all of the other rooms as well, just in case David didn't feel like restricting himself to just one area if he happened to wake up during the day time. Did all vampires completely sleep throughout the day or did they move around, tossing and turning, like humans would at night? These questions filled her mind and it kept her from dwelling on her own family past. That was another life for her, one she didn't care to reflect on.

She went to Maria's room and fetched a pillow along with a blanket and then returned to the seat that David patted for her earlier, right next to him. She chose to keep a polite distance by placing the pillow and blanket she folded up between them. They were not even an arm's length away but she didn't want to get carried away with the fact that she could touch him and he would be fine, except for his memories. He would be an open book to her and she didn't want to leech off of him in order to learn more about him. For now, she depended on her will power to keep her hands to herself.

"I'll be honest," Jane began as she tucked a lock of her hair behind one of her ears before looking upon the vampire. "I'm not going to be comfortable with you going out to feed on the blood of humans, but I know you have to do it if you want to get better. It's in your nature and I accept it - I don't have a choice. The only thing I ask is that you don't come back looking like a crazed lunatic with blood all over yourself. Maria and I already have a neighbor like that two doors down and we do our best not to run into him - day or night."

Such a vague answer, alone, but enough for David to know that Jane was in the same boat as he. But maybe they wouldn't need to be anymore, not now that they had found each other. Jane could actually touch him, which meant that she could be with him in a way that she wouldn't be able to be with anyone else she had known (or at least he assumed so.) For a moment he felt jealous of how she could just make contact with him and see so much. Know so much. With just a touch. It wasn't exactly fair. So he resolved himself to insistently question her until he knew everything he wanted to know.

As Jane began to speak he moved the pillow, tucking it next to him against the arm of the couch. He shook the blanket open and put it over both of their laps. It didn't take him any time to break the barrier she had put between them and for him to shift over, comfortably close to her. He did it all in a very nonchalant manner, even though being near her about drove him crazy. He kept thinking of how it would feel to have her warm hands back on him, even if she may see more disturbing things from his past. Jane was taking his vampirism surprising well, even though she wasn't exactly thrilled by it.

"I really didn't think that you'd be too into that," David said and shrugged a shoulder. "But it's the price for immortality. It's just what I have to do to survive But if it makes it any better, I target certain people. I wouldn't go after a kid or anything. But asshole security guards and surf nazis? I don't have a problem at all with feeding on them."

He actually delighted in feeding off of those that annoyed him. David gave Jane a smug grin. "Hey, it's like I'm cleaning up the beach, taking out the trash. It's a public service act, really. And that guy you mentioned that's your neighbor? Well, that sounds exactly like someone that I would go after. Especially if he's been bothering you."

It was already almost like she had given him permission to go after the guy by mentioning him. "But you don't have to worry about that tonight. I'm good. Tonight I'm all yours." He mischievously grinned at her again, unable to help himself.

"I should be so lucky," Jane remarked somewhat sarcastically, even though it wasn't every day that a vampire and a, well, whatever she was (she always just thought of herself as cursed) were able to spend the night together. Should she be worried about him possibly draining her dry in her sleep? Or doing the other stereotypical things that vampires did to their living mortal companions? It was possible, but from what she saw in David's mind, she trusted him. She believed him when he said she didn't have to worry about tonight.

I still have a lot to earn about David but I would rather not steal any more of his memories. Vampires, immortality, death Those people he killed over the years...

Her mind could go on with thoughts about the justifications of killing others but being so close to David, physically close, made her comfortable. So comfortable that her eyelids began to droop. She was leaning against him, her head resting upon his shoulder, careful not to apply any of her weight upon his still-healing wounds. Her hair fell against her cheek but instead of brushing it off, not wanting to move from beneath the blankets, she kept still. For the first time in years, she was able to truly relax.

Relaxing with a vampire. Ha! How many other people could claim that?

More importantly, who would have imagined that an encounter at Video Max in the dead of night would bring Jane out of her own strange isolation and into a world of the supernatural? Not only that, but she was able to meet the first person who seemingly accepted her for what she was capable of. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

David sat with Jane in a comfortable silence. It felt natural to him; to just be with her, not needing to talk. Even though he did want to know more about her, he was feeling exhausted again. That was one of the things he noticed a lot since being impaled; the need for massive quantities of sleep. But he did heal the most while he slept, so that made sense. Extra blood and extra sleep. If there was such a thing as a vampire doctor, David was sure that s what would have been ordered.

Blue eyes glanced over at the blinds, making sure they were now fully closed, and trying to assess what time it was getting to be from the color of the sky behind the shade. It was late. Probably getting closer to morning than night.

Jane's head against his shoulder became heavier and her breathing become slow and slightly louder. He knew before looking that she had fallen asleep. Poor thing is all tuckered out, he thought. Probably wasn't used to staying up so late.

He pushed the stray locks out of her face, brushing his finger along her cheekbone, and felt a pang in his heart at just how much he already liked her. David's eyes traced her face and he wondered how her power worked while she slept. He could feel the same sensation. Would she be dreaming his memories? He frowned for a moment at that; she would probably think they were nightmares. Quickly, he stole a kiss, placing his lips against her forehead before pulling them and his hand away.

He wasn't sure which bedroom was hers, but decided to bring her to one of them to put her to bed (he had also decided to just join her there as he wasn't about to lose this contact any time soon.) But as soon as he tried to pick her up, bride-and-groom style, he winced. Being reminded of his injuries by the pain searing through his back. Instead of picking her up, he shifted them both over a little and moved their legs onto the couch, so that they laid side by side. Her small frame was tucked against the back of the couch and partially on top of him, and he left his arm around her as his head collapsed against the pillow. Almost instantly, David joined her in sleep.

THE END