A/N: Hello my lovelies! How have you wonderful people been? I was happy to see some new reviews for the last update and how many people are still supporting this little adventure. I was lucky enough to have the Muses come back to me for this update, so here's to a new update! Away, away!

OOOOOOOOO

Iona rolled out of bed later than she normally did that next day. She could smell the coffee down in the kitchen mixed with the warm scent of eggs and bacon. The gypsy girl raked a hand through her disheveled hair and threw her legs over the side of the bed.

Why didn't Grandmother wake me up sooner? Iona thought, climbing to her feet and pulling her silken robe around herself.

Stepping out of her bedroom, Iona saw that there were bags piled up in the hallway beside Roma's room. Curious, she peered into the boy's room and saw that most of the essentials had been stripped from the room. Iona heard his voice downstairs and then Gage's before the door opened and closed.

"Grandmother? Roma?" Iona called out, hurrying down the steps.

Grandmother Ruby looked up from the cup of coffee that rested between her hands. "Child, I am glad to see that you are up. Your food was growing cold."

Iona glanced at the plate that sat before her usual seat and saw that the food was still steaming like it was freshly made. "Sorry, Grandmother," she apologized, ducking her head as she took her seat. "I shouldn't have stayed out as long as I did."

"You are a young woman, Iona," Grandmother Ruby said with a small smile. "You can stay out as long as you want, as long as you make it home sometime." Her eyes lowered once more. "Though I worried about you last evening. After what happened with your father…"

Images of what had happened at the boardwalk flashed before Iona's eyes and she saw red as she remembered what Dwayne had done to the man. She jumped in surprise when her grandmother placed a hand on top of one of hers.

"Child, that bastard is no longer with the living," the older woman said, squeezing Iona's fingers. "He will never trouble us again. I swear it."

Iona nodded and looked at her food. "I believe you, Grandmother."

"You believe what you saw as truth." Iona's gaze moved back onto her grandmother's eyes in surprise. "Don't give me that look, Child. I know that you were present for the death of that man. I can see it in your eyes and I can see that you know what killed him. And that you aren't going to run away from the scene, even when you were given a way out of here. Out to safety."

"I won't leave you, Grandmother," Iona swore, turning her hand over to take her grandmother's hand in her own grip. "I won't leave my home. Ever. Not just because there are vampires around here that know that I know about them. They can't scare me off."

"Though sometimes I wish they would, Child."

Iona sighed and looked up as Roma came hobbling into the kitchen, resting heavily on his crutch as he tried to carry a large bag on the opposite shoulder. He smiled at the two women and dropped the bag onto the floor.

"This is the last one," Roma said, poking the bag with the end of his crutch. "And then we can head out."

"Head out?" Iona glanced between the two people in the room. "Roma? Grandmother?"

Roma frowned and shifted his weight awkwardly. "You…uh…didn't tell her yet, Grandmother?"

"I was getting around to it," Grandmother Ruby said, waving a dismissive hand. "Iona, your cousin and Gage have managed to scrape up enough money to leave this town. They're going to leave here well before night time and they will go far, far away from here. To a safe place that your cousin will not be bullied for his handicap."

Iona looked at her cousin as he helped himself to a piece of bacon from her plate. "How did you get the rest of the money? After our usual performance ended so quickly, I thought that would set us back a few more days…"

Roma shrugged a shoulder. "We did better than you thought, I guess. And Gage had a new wave of people come into his area. Speaking of which, he's going to have to close his booth for good before we leave, Grandmother."

"I'm sure he can handle that before you two drive off from here." The older woman motioned for the boy to come closer to her. "I will miss you, my special boy. Keep me in your thoughts as I will keep you in mine." She pressed a kiss to the side of Roma's temple. "Let God grant you a long and happy life wherever you go from here."

"Thank you," Roma said, pressing a quick kiss to his grandmother's cheek. "I'll miss you too, Grandmother." His dark eyes turned onto Iona and she held her arms open for him. "Iona…"

Little tears filled Iona's eyes as she held her cousin against her chest. "I'm going to miss having you around here, Roma," she told him, trying to keep her voice level. "You're the best partner in crime that I have ever had and the best guitar player in the entire town."

"But you won't miss me hogging the bathroom for hours at a time," Roma said, patting her on the back. "Right?"

"Right." Iona pulled back to look at her cousin, memorizing every detail of his young face. "You promise to keep yourself out of trouble, okay? And don't go chasing every girl that crosses your path. The right one will come along and you won't have to chase her. Okay?"

"Okay," Roma swore, placing a hand over his heart. "Iona, don't cry. Not for something like this. Please don't cry over me."

Iona smiled through her wave of tears and pulled him back into her arms. "I know, I know. I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to miss you so much. We haven't been separated since you came to live with me and Grandmother. It's going to take time, but I will always keep you in my heart."

"And now you're getting mushy," Roma complained, trying to pull away. "Gross. C'mon Iona. You're getting my shirt all wet."

Grandmother Ruby reached out and patted Iona on the shoulder. "Child, let your cousin breathe," she ordered gently. "You can help him move his bags out to Gage's vehicle after you have some breakfast. More goodbyes can be said then."

"Grandma!" Roma protested, looking at the older woman. "Don't tell her that! She'll embarrass me in front of the neighbors is she does that goodbye thing outside."

"Oh like their opinions matter when you're not going to be living here after today," Iona teased, hooking her arm around his neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I need to send you off with love, Cuz. And that's what I'm going to do."

OOOOOOOOO

Dwayne wandered along the boardwalk with Laddie at his side that night. The others had told him to take the little boy with him because it was apparently his turn to babysit the "spoiled brat" as David had started calling the boy. The boy was welcome to walk with Dwayne – they had always had a close relationship – but the older vampire didn't know how he could be with Iona at the same time. Babysitting a little boy was probably far off of her list of things she wanted to do on the boardwalk with him.

She does have that cousin of hers, Dwayne reminded himself, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. But Roma is older than Laddie, so maybe she won't want to tolerate the small child.

Dwayne led Laddie towards the part of the boardwalk where Iona was usually set up at with her crippled cousin and froze. Her spot was empty and it looked like she wasn't going to show up.

Dwayne's undead heart clenched painfully as he stared at the spot. Where is she? Did she change her mind about hanging out with someone like me and run far from here? Was last night just an act to throw me off the scent?

"You should have dealt with her when you had the chance," Max's voice invaded Dwayne's head.

"No…" Dwayne hissed from between his teeth, turning away from the street performers that littered that part of the boardwalk. "No…"

"Hey!" someone called as he led Laddie away from the area. "Dwayne! Where's the fire?"

Glancing off to the side of the boardwalk, Dwayne's eyes saw that Iona was perched on a table with two large things of cotton candy in her hands. She smiled at him and waved one of the sticks in his direction like a magic wand. It took him a moment to realize that she wasn't wearing her gypsy garb like she normally did.

"Why aren't you over there dancing?" he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

Iona shrugged a shoulder. "I have no reason to dance anymore. My cousin isn't in need of money and I really don't want to dance for the pleasure of drooling pervs." She pointed at Laddie, who was still holding Dwayne's hand. "Who's this?"

"Laddie," Dwayne said in answer. "My little brother…"

The mentioned little boy pulled his hand out of Dwayne's hand and moved closer to the table that Iona was sitting on. He raised a hand and pointed at one of the cotton candy sticks that Iona was holding onto.

"Can I have one of those?" he asked, already reaching for the one in Iona's left hand.

Iona nodded and held the cotton candy out to him. "I hope I'm not ruining your appetite for dinner later, Laddie." Her eyes lifted to meet Dwayne's again. "Is he?"

Dwayne knew what she was asking and crossed his arms, nodding. "Half."

The gypsy dancer's mouth dropped open in a silent "O" before looking away from Dwayne. She smiled at Laddie as the boy tore into the cotton candy like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Plucking a bit of her cotton candy, Iona popped it into her mouth and rose to her feet, jumping from her perch on the table.

"Wanna walk with me?" she asked, holding a hand out to Dwayne.

With a glance at Laddie, Dwayne reached out and took hold of Iona's hand. The little boy followed after them, licking at the sticky residue on his fingers. Iona didn't seem bothered with any of it, smiling as she walked under the bright lights of the boardwalk.

"What did you mean when you said that your cousin doesn't need money anymore?" Dwayne asked, glancing at the gypsy girl as they walked. "Did something happen to him?"

"Yeah. Roma got enough money to leave this place with Gage. They left for the unknown this afternoon and they're never coming back. That's the promise that they made to me and my grandmother."

"And you trust that Gage will keep your cousin safe?"

"Of course. He's always kept us safe," Iona said, taking her hand out of his grasp in order to help herself to another poof of cotton candy. "Gage loves Roma like a son that he never had. And even though he doesn't know about vampires, I'm sure that he could hold his own if it came to a fight with one."

Her gaze slid onto his as they waited for a wave of children to move past them towards the rides. "You seemed surprised when you first came here and didn't see me over there…Did you honestly think that I was going to run away from here? From my home just because I know that you like the red life-giving wine?"

Dwayne shrugged.

The gypsy girl leaned in close to him and jumped onto her tiptoes. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily, Dwayne. I'm not scared."

"You should be," Dwayne told her truthfully.

"Well, I'm not," Iona said, pressing a small poof of cotton candy against his lips until he opened his mouth. "And you're just going to have to deal with that." She followed the cotton candy with a small peck against his lips before stepping back to look at Laddie. "Hey Laddie. You wanna go ride some of the rides with me and your big brother?"

The little boy nodded and carelessly threw his bare cotton candy stick onto the weathered boards that they stood on. "Can we get ice cream after that?"

Iona smiled at the boy and held her hand out. "Sure." She stuck her tongue out at Dwayne and let the little boy pull her towards a ride. "You can have whatever I can afford tonight."

Dwayne shook his head and shoved his hands back into his pockets. "Spoiled brat…" His eyes turned towards the area where Video Max sat when a word crossed his mind from his sire's own head.

"Motherly…"

"No."

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: What do you think about this? Please leave a little review in the box and let me know what you like, hate, or want to see happen in the near future. I know that a lemon may end up happening at one point, but I have to get it into it at a natural point. Please let me know what's up! –Scarlet