Chapter 28: Another chapter already! Can't help myself. Little more action coming up which I'm excited for. Enjoy! :)

Larten yawned and stretched in bed scratching his scar, an actual smile on his face. He continued to lay there breathing evenly, his body completely relaxed. He was holding on to the best post-dream-feelings he'd had in he didn't know how long. He could feel his body still reacting to the dream. He had no idea where it came from but he was glad, at the moment, that it had. (He would berate himself later for indulging in such feelings. Dreams were nothing. "Hmmph!") But that was later and this was now and he felt marvelous. He fluffed one of the pillows behind his head and smiled as he exhaled. He decided he would lay there just a moment longer before getting up and letting the dream slide into the back of his mind. (Again, he would berate himself but keeping the dream tucked away in the back of his mind was fine, right?)

He sighed as he finally moved from the bed and into the bathroom to splash water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. He would need a cold shower to relieve the flush of heat he was still feeling. As promised, he made his typical dour facial expression, scratched his scar, followed by the familiar "hmmph!" He was at the berate-self-point as he turned the shower knob to cold. It really wasn't that cold compared to the waterfall showers back in Vampire Mountain but it would do to get the heat of his body under control.

He stepped into the shower and for a brief second wished that the unknown figure in his dream was stepping in with him.

Blip. Blip. Blip.

Erin shook her head. Brigid and she had been binge watching t.v. all day. They finished a few movies, started a new series, and basically did not do a single thing. Brigid had then disappeared upstairs to organize her new school clothes which took an abnormal amount of time.

Erin was sitting in a chair by the window where the roses were and had shifted the curtain to the side so she could look outside unhindered. The smell of the bouquet was gentle and one of her hands played with her necklace as she stared absent-mindedly. She knew Larten would be awake soon and she was happy but secretly nervous about facing him. She didn't know why a slight feeling of anxiety would creep into the back of her throat at the thought of seeing him. Nothing had been unusual last night beside her desire to kiss him with everything she had, but that didn't happen, so why did she feel nervous? When he did come down she would hide it, obviously, and thank him profusely for the wonderful night he had given her—and would leave it at that. Nothing out of the normal from the week and a half he had been with them. Unless, of course, he wanted to talk.

"Agh, stop!" She said out loud to herself. "It is what it is. Now stop it!"

"Stop what?" Came a deep voice behind her.

Erin spun around in her chair, hand grabbing the vase of flowers like a grenade.

"Ah, right, I should not sneak up on you unless I wish to get my head bashed in. I apologize. Though you were quite quick, I must say." A playful smirk was perceptible on his lips.

Erin exhaled and narrowed her eyes at him as she placed the bouquet in its proper position.

"You would have made me ruin my flowers and for that I would never forgive you." Erin said huffily as she adjusted the roses.

"They're only flowers." Came a gruff, dismissive response.

Erin's jaw tightened as she forbids herself to cry. 'They're only flowers.'

"Maybe they're only flowers to you but they aren't to me." Erin replied flatly standing up and giving them one more adjustment.

This was not how she had wanted this to go. She hadn't expected this. She wanted to punch him as hard as she could and run upstairs to cry out her frustration and disappointment.

Larten sensed the atmosphere do a full 180. He wasn't quite sure what he had done. They were only flowers but he saw how her jaw had clenched and her usual warm eyes turned cold, sad, and angry. They weren't just flowers to her. What had she meant by that?

"Erin, I-I didn't mean—" He tried to fumble out as he followed her into the laundry room.

She pulled out clothes from the dryer, some of his in the mix, and shut the door with her foot a bit more forcefully than was needed. She carried the basket straight into the living room not even acknowledging his presence. She started folding items and sorting them on the couch.

Larten stood by awkwardly. He was trying to not get angry in return. Women were such mysteries and even Alice and Arra….NO! He would not go there! The past was the past no matter how painful and full of regrets still lingered there he could only deal with what was right in front of him—and it was Erin.

Larten swallowed his want-to-be-angry-in-return as best he could while adjusting his collar and pulling at his cuffs as was his habit.

He walked to the couch and started folding clothes as well.

Thrown off her guard Erin looked up at him. He didn't return her gaze as he continued folding clothes and laying them in their respective piles.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm folding clothes." Larten replied flatly not looking at her.

"Since when do vampires fold clothes?"

"Since they were a young lad, years and years ago. Though there was not much to fold back then."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Erin's features soften and her eyes go slightly out of focus before she glanced at him, placing the stacked clothes back into the basket to be hung up later. Larten could tell she was hesitating about something. She must have seen something. Something personal. Larten braced himself. She had only known superficial things about him, (as far as he knew, Erin was not ready to delve into what she "knew" about him on a deeper, intimate level until she was sure it was right to bring those things to light), but he knew that this must have been something more.

Erin saw Larten start to fold into himself, his imposing no-nonsense strict demeanor taking over. He was hyper-aware and on the defensive for whatever was about to happen.

"I'm sorry."

Larten blinked.

Erin looked down as she hefted the laundry basket placing it on the washer.

Larten hadn't moved.

"What precisely do you mean by sorry?" He asked stiffly.

She approached his imposing figure unafraid stopping right in front of him. He could feel the quick electric shot blitz through his body when she placed her hand around his upper arm and looked up into his blue-green eyes. He could see so much whirling in the dark pools of her eyes like jumping off a cliff and forever descending deeper and deeper. Their warmth and understanding were back and they shamed him. How could she be this infuriating?! His breathing started coming faster out of frustration. How could she care so much?! About him?!

"I'm sorry about your cousin, Larten. Those were terrible times. I would have killed that monster, too. Only I wouldn't have held back like you did. You're a stronger person than I am." She gave a tender smile and squeezed his arm.

"And thank you for the flowers and the wonderful night last night. I haven't had a night like that in a long, long time. I'm glad it was with you."

Larten's face tightened. He looked down and saw the necklace against her skin then back into those all-consuming eyes. He couldn't handle the understanding in them. He couldn't handle the sincerity. He couldn't handle that she had said he was stronger than her. He couldn't handle the—the love?

"What's wrong?" Erin asked concerned as she saw his face grimace in pain. "Is your wound hurting again?"

"No." He growled. If there was ever a time he wanted to feel her arms around him it was now. He had to get out.

He finally met her quizzical eyes and hoped he was concealing the conflicting emotions in his own via his defense mode.

He bowed with a quick jerk before passing by her quickly towards the back patio.

"Pardon me. I need some fresh air."

"Wait, Larten! Where-?"

Larten heard her call after him right before hitting flitting speed.