A/N: Hello my lovelies! It's been an eternity since I've last updated. Explanation time: I've been dealing with medical issues, family issues, and just recently lost my usual Office program. I have not forgotten this story or any of my other projects. I have not forgotten you guys. I've just been going through a lot of crap.

Anyway, this is the last chapter of this story. I thought that there would be more originally, but it kind of fizzled for me. Sorry, but there could be good news from it. Either way, please enjoy this little gift from a tired author.

OOOOOOOOO

Iona was aware when Dwayne's body tensed up more than it had moments before. She frowned and squeezed his hand to let him know that she was there and that she had noticed. He hardly glanced down at her, but squeezed her hand in kind.

"What's going on?" she asked as he guided her along the farthest edge of the boardwalk. "Dwayne?"

The dark vampire sighed and released her. Iona watched as he leaned against the wooden beams separating them from the drop to the ocean. He ran a hand over his face and looked off into the distance.

"I can't do this anymore," he muttered, shaking his head. "I can't do this to you. Not like this."

Iona pressed a hand to his shoulder, startled to feel his muscles tighten under her fingers. "Dwayne, you need to tell me what's going on right now. Maybe I can help you or something?"

"You can't."

"Then tell me what's going on. Tell me."

Dwayne shook his head again. "You don't have any more time to decide if you want to become a vampire or run away, Iona. You don't have any days let to choose."

Iona stepped back one step. "What?"

Dark eyes met hers and she saw the pain in them, something that she had never seen in his eyes before. Oh my God, he's really scared about this and how I'll choose. Iona's eyes narrowed. I should kill Max for putting Dwayne through this. All because he wants to have someone play Mommy.

"Are you mad at me?" Dwayne asked, staring off at the ocean.

"No. I'm mad at Max. I couldn't be mad at you." Iona sighed and leaned her hips against the railing. "He does cause a big mess for you guys every time he finds someone interesting, doesn't he?"

Dwayne nodded. "I don't want to put you through that." He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a roll of cash, offering it to her. "Here. If you go back to your hotel and grab your stuff, you should be able to catch a bus out of here. You might even run into your cousin."

Iona took the money into her hands. "You want me to go?"

"I want you to be happy."

"Dwayne..." The gypsy girl pushed him so that he was facing her. "You make me happy. The Boys and Faith make me happy." She reached down and slid the roll of cash into the front pocket of his jeans before hooking her fingers into the belt loops.

The vampire made a small noise as he was pulled flush against Iona's body. "Iona...?"

"Listen here, Dwayne," Iona ordered. "You are all that I have left. Everything that I have ever known is gone. It literally went up in smoke. I have nowhere to go. I just have you and the Boys and Faith. You guys, you guys are all that I want right now. Bad, good...I'll take it beside you, so stop trying to push me away." A small smirk touched the gypsy's lips. "I'm not worried about Max anymore, Dwayne. I've been dealing with dick-wads like him for most of my teenage life. He doesn't matter to me. Just you and our happiness as a family. Okay?" She pulled him even closer, so that her breath mingled with his. "Don't push me away again. I'm not leaving."

Dwayne looked down at her. "So, you're saying that you want to..."

"Become a vampire?"

The vampire nodded.

"Yep," Iona said, popping the 'p' sound. "And it's gonna happen through you and no one else. Especially not your asshole sire. Okay?"

A small smile touched Dwayne's lips and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Iona grasped one of his hands and guided him towards the entrance of the boardwalk. She made sure that they passed near Max's store, just so she could pull a face at the owner, knowing that he couldn't do anything to change what she had in mind.

OOOOOOOOO

Dwayne had too many voices going off in his head as he sat in the hotel room that Iona had been staying in. David was trying to keep him posted on Max's location, just to make sure that the old man didn't try anything like he had when David had changed Faith. The other Boys were singing a bad rendition of the birthday song as they waited for Dwayne to tell them that Iona was one of them.

The dark vampire's eyes turned towards the bed where Iona was lying down. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing shallowly. Blood trickled out of the corner of her lips.

His blood.

Dwayne glanced down at his arm where he had bitten himself to draw the blood that Iona needed to become his sire-ling. She had drunk fairly greedily from him, a feeling that had interested the older vampire. It had been Iona that had pulled away when she had consumed enough blood. Her eyes had gone confused and then she'd passed out on the bed. It had been two hours since then.

She's one of us now, Dwayne thought, brushing his knuckles against her cheek. Max can't touch her. Not without going through me...

Dwayne?

Dwayne was startled to see that Iona's eyes were opening. "Iona...Are you okay?"

The vampire fledgling nodded and pushed herself onto her elbows. "I guess so..." She blinked. "The worst part of the Change has happened, right? Now I've got to munch on someone..."

"That's the unfortunate part of the Change," Dwayne said, offering her a hand up and grabbing her duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "We'll go find some beach bum to feed you. No one will miss them for a while."

Iona nodded again and slid her jacket back on. She linked her hand with his and Dwayne felt the heat of her humanity draining away with each moment that passed. He realized that very soon, there would be no more heat to the girl – not as she had had a human. She'd never blush or run a fever again.

Remember what you can, Dwayne. And look forward to what you'll have when she finally becomes one of us, David's voice floated into Dwayne's head. It's just the price that we have to pay when we find the person that we can't live without. It sucks, but what can we do?

Dwayne squeezed Iona's hand again after they left the hotel and she smiled up at him. She calmly took her place on the back of his motorcycle, wrapping her arms around his middle like it was the most natural thing in the world. The feeling of her thighs around him stirred bestial reactions in his body, but he pushed them aside as he kicked his bike into life.

He took her to a part of the beach that no vampire master claimed as their own feeding ground and guided her onto the sandy expanse. Bonfires dotted the stretch, surrounded by drunken kids and Surf Nazis. Iona's body tensed up as she looked at them and Dwayne saw that her eyes were darkening as she looked at the oblivious drunks.

"Do you know what to do?" Dwayne asked, looking down at her.

Iona switched her weight from one foot to the other and nodded. "Yeah."

"Prove it."

A small smile touched Iona's lips. "Oh, I will, babe. I will."

OOOOOOOOO

Iona released the beach bum that she'd chosen as her first meal and wiped her lips on the back of her hand. She looked up when she heard someone clapping and smiled when she saw that it was Dwayne, approaching her slowly.

"Not one blood drop escaped," he commented, throwing the body into the ocean. "None of the guys could even do that after a year of being a vampire." He looked at her once more. "You might want to put that face away before someone sees you."

"Aren't I still pretty?" Iona teased.

Dwayne brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "Always. But others may think differently."

Humans. Humans might think so, Iona realized and she quickly hid her new vampire features behind her natural one. I've got to remember that now.

"Can we go home now?" Iona asked, slipped her arm around Dwayne as he slid an arm around her waist. She blinked. "Wow. Can we go home now? Where the hell did that come from?" She shook her head at herself. "A day ago, I never thought that I'd be part of another family. I've never thought about being a vampire. But look at me right now. I'm a vampire. I have a vampire family. And I'm so eager to go live with them. Something seems so wrong with this picture."

The gypsy girl pulled away from Dwayne and looked up at the stars. She sent a silent prayer up to her Grandmother for guidance. But rather than answer with words, a feeling of dread filled Iona's stomach. She turned and grabbed Dwayne's hand.

"We need to get back to the cave," she exclaimed, pulling him up the beach. "Right now!"

OOOOOOOOO

Dwayne didn't understand when Iona had pulled away to look at the stars after mumbling to herself and he was even more confused when she had told him that they needed to rush to the cave. His brothers were screaming in his head and Iona was muttering incoherently, trying to decide if she wanted to try to fly there on her own, even if she didn't know how. It wasn't until he was closer to the cave-hotel that he knew something bad was going down.

Iona flew off the motorcycle before he could park it and rushed into the cave. Dwayne followed shortly after and saw that Iona was now standing between Max and Faith, who had Laddie at her side. Iona's expression was deadly as she stood with her arms outstretched.

"Leave them alone," Iona hissed, spitting venom. "And get the hell out of here."

Dwayne moved to stand beside her, his body tensed as he looked at his sire. His brothers groaned from where they had been apparently thrown by the master vampire.

"I could have given you everything," Max said calmly, looking at Iona through his pointless glasses. "You could have had the best of the world and lived in comfort. All I wanted was for you to be the mother that these Boys needed and be the mate that I've longed for for centuries..."

"You're sick!" Faith spat from behind Iona, but her voice was cracking into the Southern Belle's. "Really, really sick!"

"Max, get out of here," Dwayne ordered, flexing his fingers. "You aren't getting anything from any of the girls here. Look for some real motherly woman to date. But stay out of our lives."

Max took his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt. "I did tell you Boys that you were not supposed to turn anyone else into vampires by your own blood."

"Too damn bad, you mother fucker," Paul muttered from where he laid.

"He wishes he had a mother to fuck," Marko muttered back.

A small chuckle echoed around the cave, but wasn't shared by Max or the two standing against him. Max sighed and put his glasses back in place. "You lot have put me in a very precarious position with the other local master vampires. With all the people that you're changing on your own and the toeing on the lines of hunting grounds, it's a surprise that they haven't tried to take me down. You had better shape up and behave better or there will be serious consequences for every single one of us. Do you understand?"

A bunch of raised middle fingers was his answer. Max turned and headed towards the mouth of the cave-hotel. "Welcome to the family, Iona."

Everyone held their breath until it was obvious that Max was long gone. The Boys began to pick themselves off the ground and Dwayne turned to look at Iona. He was going to ask her if she was okay,but she was looking at Faith and Laddie.

"Are you two okay?" she asked, putting a hand on Laddie's shoulder and looking up at Faith. "Did he get to you before I did?"

Faith shook her head. "I'm fine. Just fine." She looked past Iona and frowned. "David!"

Iona moved aside and let the redhead fly past her. She patted Laddie on the head as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Her dark eyes turned towards Dwayne.

"I'm okay too," she whispered. Her lips twitched at the corner. "I told you that I wasn't going to let him get to me."

"Hey Gypsy!" Paul called out, draping his arm over her shoulder. "You gonna be the motherly one of our sisters? 'cause you see, Faith over there isn't much of a caretaker and that little parasite on your stomach seems to need mothering..."

"And you don't?" Iona shot back, shrugging him off.

Paul shrugged with a smile, putting his tongue in his cheek. Iona gently pried Laddie off her and he moved off on his own, paying no attention to anyone now that the excitement had passed. Iona held her hand up.

"I am not going to be a mother to you guys," she announced to the group at large. "Maybe a big sister, but not a mother. I can't give Max that kind of satisfaction. I won't give him that satisfaction. Do any of you have a problem with that?"

Dwayne shook his head as did Paul and Marko. Faith shook her head from where she stood with David and the leader of the Lost Boys stood there for a moment, watching her. Iona held her breath and Dwayne held her hand, offering strength.

"Welcome to the family, Sister," David said finally, nodding his head as he fit a cigarette between his lips.

Iona smiled and turned to Dwayne, wrapping her arms around him. The dark vampire lifted her in the air and pressed his lips against hers as the others echoed David.

Thank you, Grandmother Ruby, Iona thought as she smiled up at Dwayne. Thank you for everything.

OOOOOOOOO

Faith caught Paul standing in the mouth of the cave-hotel as dawn approached, taking a pull on his last joint for the night. "You okay, Paul?" she asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Yeah. I'm perfect," Paul said, showing her his famous smile. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason really." The redhead looked out at the lightening sky. "You do realize that you're next in line, don't you?"

"Next in line for what?"

"Finding the love of your life."

Paul laughed. "Sis, you're funny. Me? With one girl only? Ha! You know me better than that!"

His smile faltered when he saw the look in Faith's eyes. The blond shook his head and took another pull on his joint.

"I just don't think it's gonna happen, Faith," he muttered. "Not for me. There's just so much of me to give to all these hot chicks that – " He faltered under her look. "I just don't think it's going to happen. Okay?"

"Okay." Faith turned back towards the cave-hotel. "See you tonight, Paul. Try to get some sleep."

Paul watched Faith disappear inside before looking back at the sky. Shaking his head, he dropped the remains of his joint on the ground and smashed it with his boot.

"It just won't happen," he muttered, heading inside. "Not to me."

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: Well? What did you think? Did you like what I'm hopefully leading up to? Leave a comment or two in the little box. Thanks! -Scarlet