Chapter 34

Jon glanced at Mic and shrugged. "Lets go see if they killed each other. It got too quiet." He grabbed her hand and started towards the living room only to stop. "Good grief."

Mic just watched on at Gis'a fascination with the vampire in front of her. "Well least they aren't dead"

Richie felt her fingers slide across them lightly. "I have no idea darlin, that's a mystery to me why they don't hurt."

"So you don’t think about how to make it feel good for the girl? You just go hello neck and Bite?" Gia shook her head, "there's gotta be more too it."

"Well I mean I try not to hurt the person, and concentrate on what I feel and what I need, and the sensation that comes from it, I guess a little like controlling thier mind maybe" he pondered.

She glanced up at Mic and Jon, "So if you wanted it to hurt it would hurt?"

Richie nodded "I guess I could do that, I haven’t really ever tried, I mean in anger I can let my fangs down, so I can only assume that I can bit in anger as well"

"Not talking about if you're angry baby." She tilted her head, her hand moving up to brush her hair away. "Don't think about it feeling good. Time to see what those teeth can do."

Richie raised his eyebrow "What? I am not to going to make it hurt on you, no way"

"You'd rather try this on Jon or Mic then?" She smiled reassuringly. "Best its on someone who understands, so BITE me, and don’t concentrate on pleasing yourself or the person."

"I am not trying it on anyone I care about darlin, no way, you're not getting hurt from me" he said stubbornly

She pushed off the floor and stood, her eyes sweeping over him as they began to glitter. "Ahh right, only YOU know what’s best. Well you don't wanna find out what you can do outside of a bed. i get it. Good thing you'll last longer than me right? " She reached behind her and quickly turned the doorknob. "Let's see how long I hold out this time." Throwing the door open she turned and ran like hell down the street."

"Oh for fucks sake," he rolled his eyes and followed her outside and ran after her at lightning pace. "Come back here right now," he was on her before he finished talking, his long fingers wrapping around her wrist. "Don't be ridiculous" he snapped his eyes blazing.

Jon glanced at Mic and shook his head. "She's fucking nuts."

Gia twisted and fought against his hold. "Either you trust me or ya don’t. You have shit to figure out and its either with me or well with whatever you choose. But I REFUSE to be a fucking burden!"

Richie gripped her wrist harder "You want me to trust you, well fuckin fine" he lifted her wrist to his mouth and punctured the vein there, all the energy and fire of the argument behind the bite that she had so loudly requested.

Pain jerked through her nerve endings and flowed like fire into her system. Razor blades, it felt like razor blades scraping over each inch of her bone structure, digging in and twisting as it ran from wrist to brain. Reaching out with one hand she braced herself against his chest, as her face screwed up into a grimace. She'd asked for this, she'd take it until he pulled away, but holy fucking Jesus it hurt, it hurt like hell.

She took it, as her face paled to alabaster, a soft whimper finally escaping her after what seemed like hours, her body slowly starting to crumble as her knees weakened.

He finally pulled away and held her close to his body. "See why I didn’t want to do it, it hurt didn’t it?" he asked softly.

She gathered her scattered wits to her and glanced up with a half grin, "Well now we know one thing, if you ain’t thinking about making it good it hurts like hell."

"Well least I know if I ever have to use it, I guess, sorry it hurt so much darlin" he soothed her close to his body.

"Hurt? fuck Richie that felt like razor blades. Remind me to not piss you off again anytime soon?" she cradled her wrist to her chest and shivered. "PLEASE think nice thoughts when you’re mad at me ok?"

He chuckled "I promise, I would never do that to you, I wouldn’t want to, I will use it to protect you if I have to, I swear I will" his arm tightened around her waist as he lifted her wrist to his lips and kissed it and licked the wound.

She laid her head on his chest as he began to walk back towards her house. "I just didn't want you feeling trapped, hell you're so young, and you don't know me at all. It's alot to take in, alot to deal with, first you learn you're born into something you never knew about, then your tossed a friend, woman, mate..."
She closed her eyes as the thought occurred, did having a *mate* mean he couldn't marry? What if he wanted to get married? "I mean I know you'll wanna get married or hell have a relationship you choose one day."

"I wouldn’t worry too much about that darlin, its still so soon, and we can cross that bridge when I get there" his mind drifted off into a place wondering what would happen in the future, even in the years ahead. "Things have changed for sure, but its ok, you just gotta learn to get through them anyway you can, its not all bad, I coulda ended up with a worse mate" he winked.

"I wonder how its chosen though, what makes a mate a mate for someone like you or Jon." She winced slightly as her wrist throbbed. She needed her head checked for sure. WHY did she try that?

As they entered the house she glanced at Mic and Jon and waved. "Look he caught me."

Mic laughed "Well I never doubted that he wouldn’t"

Jon shook his head. "Thank god I have the sane one."

"I dunno about sane" she winked.

Jon's eyes rolled. "Trust me, your sane, I haven't seen YOU trying to piss off a man that could eat you."

"Well you can't eat me, so I am pretty safe there" she said as she watched Richie and Gia walk inside.

Jon shook his head, "Damn King, Now you're having to chase them down, what’s next?" Jon winked and wandered over to the couch and flopped down. "I thought women liked what you had to offer my man."

"Seems I have a feisty one this time, and like they say, there is always the thrill of the hunt," he grinned looking at Gia.

Gia huffed out a breath and frowned, "Why do i think that hunt wouldn’t be fair? You see better, scent better and run faster. Who'd have a chance to get away?"

"Well this is true darlin, but always fun getting caught too though isn’t it" he wiggled his eyebrows.

Chapter 33

Richie stood back as her accusations flew at him. "Um excuse me honey, YOU were the one that told me to go and get laid and experiment and shit, so don't use that as a damn excuse for this, what the fuck was I expected to do?" he yelled as his fist went careering through the wall beside him.

She shook her head, " I didn’t have to tell you anything Richie, I have no rights to tell you to not go out and screw who you want. It was a one night stand, HOW the hell was I Supposed to know what it all meant. Its not like I've known many Upier before." She turned and slipped past him, intending to leave.

Jon opened the door and stepped through his blue eyes intent on the door leading to the kitchen. "Wonder what their fighting about?"

Gia sighed, "Besides, YOU have no right to tell me I can't do to MY body what i wanna do. I didn’t expect anything of you, I didn’t ask for this and NEITHER did you. YOU would have survived just fine." She took a step into the hall and nodded at Jon. "YOU deal with him I'm so outta here."

Mic sighed "I don’t know babe but it doesn’t sound too good" she said taking Jon's hand and leading him into the fire.

Richie whipped to the door in a light second blocking her way out. "I never DID tell you to do anything with your body, but a bit of common sense may of prevailed ya know, how did it benefit you starving yourself and grinding yourself into the ground? How do you know I woulda survived DO you know this for sure? I felt things too you know but I chose to ignore it, but I never knew that you would be like you are?" Richie turned to see Mic and Jon walk in and rolled his eyes.

A soft snort left her lips. "IF YOU could fucking ignore it then that’s ok... but if I ignore things its not?? GIMME a break here. YOU can't say what’s good for you isn’t good for me. That's insane! and LEMME go, I’m a grown woman if I wanna leave I'll dammit leave."

His anger boiling deep inside of him, he grabbed her by the neck and held her firmly against the wall. "I wasn't dying WAS I? I dunno why, but you were DYING Gia, and whether you think you were protecting me, it was the wrong damn thing to fuckin do" his voice snarled and his fangs bore as a growl let rip from his throat just inches from her face.

Mic watched in horror, from where she was standing Richie was going to hurt her, she ran and tried to grab his arm but he pushed her away with a force she flew across the room.

Jon frowned. "HEY keep your mad off Mic!" He strode up to Richie and with one simple swipe of his finger concentrated all the calming flow Mic had given him into Richie. Pulling away he moved quickly to his girl. "You ok baby?"

Gia reached up and flicked Richie’s nose, "My my grandpa what big TEETH you have. Now lemme go. I chose what I chose, DEAL with it."

Richie stared into blue eyes "Fuck off Kidd, this is between me and her" he growled. "What part of this aren’t you fuckin getting you could of died, and what about me? Are YOU sure I wouldn’t of?" he stared back into furious green eyes.

She wrapped her hands around his wrist and hung there her eyes sparking emerald flame. "What part of me dying wouldn’t hurt you aren’t you getting?? IF it would have hurt you Mic would have told me. Dammit I chose what i thought was best. YOU need your freedom!! you don't need to be saddled with me."

Mic stood this time concealed behind Jon a little. "Um, well Gia honey, I didn’t get a chance to tell you. Today, I found some more research about at this, and both life mates would die after prolonged separation..." she quickly said before hiding firmly behind Jon's back.

"He looked fine to me when he showed up last night Mic. Your info is wrong." Turning her gaze back to Richie she nearly growled, "Let me down dammit."

Richie looked back at the petite blond and back at Gia. "Well seems that’s a little incorrect isn’t it?" he snarled, he released his grip from her and let out a loud growl and punched in the wall beside her.

Mic shook her head "They can last alot longer than us Gia, alot longer..."

"He would have lasted forever Mic. There's no proof they can't have more than one life mate. He's too young got too much to deal with to have to deal with me. TELL Me you found proof he would only have ONE life mate. I DARE YA!"

Clinging further to Jon's waist she stood and faced them "They only have one, that's it. I have the proof, you wanna read it go ahead, you wanna be ignorant instead? Then do that as well"

Gia's eyes widened, "YOU KNEW THIS???" She turned to Richie, her eyes tormented, "YOU Were ok. YOU WERE, I wouldn't have let you get hurt. YOU don’t need this, with all you have to deal with, you don’t NEED this so young." She whirled and ran for the door like the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels. "You could ignore it, it was OK!"

Richie bolted after her and grabbed her with a firm hand."Don't run from me, there is no point, we are what we are Gia, and nothing will change it, I wasn’t ok as I said before, I felt it, it niggled at me, always in the back of my chest, always in my brain but I pushed it aside, until it became harder to push aside and ignore, don’t you see if I had left it any longer...." his brown eyes tried to plead with her.

"I didn't know, I didn't know those dreams would lead you into a trap. I'm so sorry." she took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. "I can only imagine how badly you hate all this."

He steadied his gaze on her. "Gia it wasn’t a trap, it isn’t so bad, ONCE I know the rules, that's the hardest thing about all this, we don’t know it all, whatever you were taught is wrong, I mean are there other people like us? Its all just fucked" he exclaimed as he walked away from her back into the living room.

"Fucked doesn't even begin to cover it." She leaned back against the front door and slid to the floor. "ID hate me if i were you."

He turned and bent down to her level. "How could I hate ya darlin, none of this is your fault, it was always going to happen it seems" he brushed her cheek with his hand.

"You're too special to be hurt, I woulda never hurt you." She sighed softly, "Unique, there's not so many of you around, there's millions of girls like me. If I had of died, it wasn't such a big deal, as long as you survived."

"I beg to differ there" he said softly

She looked up into his now gentle eyes. "We need to know more about what we are, but I have no idea where to find out." She shook her head, her humor surfacing briefly, "But damn I never knew they were so big. Do you have to do everything so big?"

He laughed "Well you know everything about me is big"

She tilted her head slightly, "You've learned to make them come out when you want them too?"

He laughed "Yeah it appears so... when I wanna bite, when I am angry, it's getting better but I still have the odd slip" he admitted.

"I wanna see." She watched him quietly, wondering if he'd actually do it.

He raised his eyebrow and on demand his fangs grew slowly once again, his grin lighting his face as he did it by pure thought.

She reached up and ran a finger over his lips and over his teeth pricking her finger lightly on the razor sharp teeth. "Makes you wonder why it don't hurt when you use them."

Chapter 32

She grasped onto his simple explanation as if it were a life line. "Yeah just missed you is all."

Richie thought quietly to himself for a minute "And what would have happened if I hadn’t returned?" he asked

She turned towards the cabinet and pulled the plates out as her eyes closed and a wince crossed her face. She prayed the magic had ended, new magic sometimes was a bit faulty. Opening her mouth she framed a totally innocent reply, *oh nothing I woulda just hurt*, and cringed inwardly when the actual words came out, "I would have died."

Richie looked down at the floor his veins starting to pulse in a dull rage.
"You would of what? you would of just let yourself die over something stupid as this? Gia!!" he shouted as he swept the glass off the counter that sent it hurtling across the room and smashed into a thousand pieces.

The sudden crashing of glass startled her as she took in his quickly rising rage. "If it meant you'd be free to do as you needed." Emerald eyes sought brown as she tried to smile. "I mean, hell its not like we KNEW each other. We met once, we had sex, how could I expect you to want...."

"What do you think I am? some sort of man that would let someone die on my behalf? is that what you really think of me. all the times we've.... god!" he let loose and let the frying pan skittle across the counter and fly into the sink with a crash.

She reeled back as his words slapped at her conscious. "NO Dammit," she moved up to face him, chest to chest her eyes on his. "We were strangers, hell you learned something drastically life altering. Dammit, I had very little knowledge of any of it really. I Made the best fucking choice I COULD for YOU and your life. So quit throwing my fucking pots and dishes or you're replacing the broke shit."

Richie didn’t know why his anger was boiling so deep but it was, and threatened to rise to the surface. He eyed her back just as serious. "I will throw anything I want, until you understand that YOU SHOULD OF TOLD ME, don’t you think I felt things too, did you ever think of that? I felt weak, I felt ill too ya know" he spat.

Her hands crossed her chest as she wrapped them around herself, her own anger starting to blaze. Handing him a plate she grinned. "Throw this big boy. and FUCK yeah.. Like I coulda contacted the rock star?? WHO DIDNT give me a way to contact him? GOD what do you think I am psychic?"

Richie snatched the plate from her, she was right in the instance that he never gave her the number, yes he was at fault there. He could of followed his instincts but he didn’t either, fuck it all he was just as at fault as her. With a loud primal roar he threw the plate hurtling across the room, his voice echoed on the walls.

"yeah you so wanted to come find me right? Night after night as I began to die a little each day, the pain growing to the point I couldn't see, well what were YOU doing sport? Off learning how to be what your meant to be, sucking and fucking whichever groupie spread the legs right?" She whirled to leave the room. "So roar at me honey.Roar loud."

Mic sat on the bed and sipped her coffee as she started to hear the smashes from the kitchen and the shouts and Richie's growl, she couldn’t just leave them out there to kill each other, she shook Jon hard. "You gotta wake up babe we need to get out there" she urgently whispered. There was no way she was going out there alone.

He rolled over his eyes cracking open to the sound of one pissed off friend. "Shit." he slid from the bed and quickly pulled on his jeans. "Let's go."

Chapter 31

Richie sighed, he knew he wouldn’t win or get her to really tell him, so he'd have to ask Mic at some stage for some hints on what happened to a life mate of his if left alone for a long time. "Well I appreciate your understanding, I do darlin and I couldn’t have asked for a more understanding life mate, and I don’t wanna argue, I don’t" he said as he ran a finger down her cheek.

Her tongue flashed along his finger before she bit down gently. "Good. Now lets go find us some breakfast. Something easy." She knew if she ate too hardy, or anything more than a scrambled egg she'd probably lose it, it had been awhile she'd eat that much as well, but she had to keep her strength up. "Unless you know how to cook."

"I do know how to cook actually" his eyebrows wiggled. He watched her battle the queasy thoughts in her mind. As they walked into the kitchen Richie asked her "So how long is it since you have eaten properly?"

She busied herself in the fridge pulling out milk, eggs and breakfast fixing. "hmmm, ate something yesterday i think. Why? Lord Richie I'm a big girl, I know how to eat." She flashed him a grin, "Sausage or bacon?"

"Both darlin, we're gonna have a fry up to end all fry ups" he grinned wickedly.

She pulled both from the fridge and handed both too him. "well get to cooking then." She moved over to set the table and get away from the smell of the meat. " So you bowl and cook. what else is Richie good at?" She kept her smile in place and tried keeping the topic general.

"Alot of things, but I still wanna know what's going on Gia, you're still not being honest with me" he said. They didn’t get anytime to go any further as the bedroom door crept open. Richie looked up at the disheveled blond woman that was creeping out the door, Richie snorted as her hair was almost on end.

"Good morning" Mic said as she padded to the kitchen half asleep, her mind still heavily sated.

Gia flicked a glance at Mic and started to laugh. "Stuck your fingers in a light socket girl?" She winked and turned back to ok at Richie. "I've told ya everything Richie, and if I haven't its not important enough to know." She reached over for a cup and poured Mic a cup of coffee. "I think ya need this sugar."

Mic laughed "More like I was the socket" she chuckled taking the coffee.

Gia shook her head, "I so do not wanna know." She poured a second cup of coffee and slid it to Richie. "You take yours black right?"

"Yea I do, Mic so does Jon, if he's still alive, thank darlin" he said taking it from Gia.

"Well he's dead to the world, I sapped him dry maybe" she looked at the monstrous breakfast Richie was cooking.

"Shit about time Gia you gonna eat finally?" she asked

Richie's eyes widened "Oh and do tell this little pearl"

Gia glanced up at Mic, a totally innocent look on her face. "Duh of course I'm gonna eat Mic. Humans need food to survive ya know." She poured herself a cup of coffee and added a liberal amount of cream and sugar and prayed the caffeine would stay down. "I mean you'd have to be an idiot to starve yourself."

"Well you certainly haven’t been eating over the last few weeks especially that’s why I asked." Mic looked at the coffee. "Yeah I will take one for Superman I think," she said pouring another coffee.
Richie raised a questionable eyebrow "And what else Mic? Gia wont tell me anything about the time apart, claiming she was fine"

Gia straightened, "I WAS Fine Richie." She glanced at Mic daring her to say different. "I told you, there’s nothing for you to worry about."

Mic rolled her eyes and picked up the two cups of coffee."I wish you'd tell Richie the damn truth" Mic said without realizing the implications of what she said.

Gia frowned at the words falling from Mic's mouth. "you wish what?" Her eyes closed and she started to pray, oh god not wish magic, please god in heaven do not have let her gotten wish magic."

Mic winced "I didn’t mean to do that, shit sorry, I think I may have wish magic, and sometimes it just comes out"

Gia closed her eyes. Fuck damn and she'd wished her to tell the truth. "Well isn't that great Mic? I told ya, you'd get your talent one day." She smiled, and tried to keep it from looking sick as she started edging towards the door. "I better call and see if I’m needed at work."

Richie flew to the door quicker than she could get there "Uh now we need to have a talk, you are going to tell me the truth aren’t you" his stern voice rising. Mic quickly skittered back to the bedroom not wanting to be around one potentially pissed vampire.

She bit her lip hard and looked up into his eyes. "Truth about?"

"About what you were like when I wasn't here, you have to tell me now it seems" Silently thanking Mic.

"I went to work and came home. I went to sleep. I got up and went to work again." Her mind raced ahead of each word, trying to be truthful yet not reveal anything potentially worrying. "It wasn't easy but I managed."

"Did you eat much?" he asked

Her mind skipped over possible answers. "Umm, no, but then I never really did."

"Uh huh, and were you in pain?" Richie asked

She glanced at the wall, the floor the door and weighed her options. "Well sorta, but it wasn't that bad, nothing to write home about or anything.

He raised his eyebrow "And in the last three weeks, what would you rate the pain from one to ten, ten being the highest?"

She winced and curled her fingers into fists. She didn't want to answer, dammit she didn’t want to tell him a thing, but the words came out unbidden, spurred by a simple sentence crafted in wish magic. "oh about an eleven."

He shook his head "And what effects did this have on you physically?"

She stood there fighting the magic, trying to not talk and groaning as her mouth opened and began ticking off the answer. "Chest pain, constant, couldn’t breathe, damn near couldn't see, everything i ate came back up, Vision was fucked, but really just the no energy no .. just sat still when I wasn't at work, well stayed in bed, moving was too much of an effort. Hurt to brush my hair, hurt to blink. It just hurt ok?"

Richie slammed his hand down on the counter "Well why didn’t you tell me?" he demanded, his eyes growing darker with rage. Why had she been so stubborn to not tell him, she went through all this and didn't think to tell him so he could have done something to make it better.


"You were busy, You have your own life, You can't take time to solve my problems." She backed up a step and tried to make it sound better. "Maybe it was the flu, or some virus. maybe.." She winced as a slight shaft of pain hit, Ok you couldn't buck wish magic. "I didn't want you to worry."

"It wasn’t though was it, your body and being was in serious mourning from not being with me wasn’t it?" he asked as he studied her.

Chapter 30

Eyes opened and a smile flickered onto kiss bruised lips. Taking a deep breath Gia glanced over to the sleeping man next too her. Her man, her Upier, her very life source and he was here finally here. Slipping up she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her knees, content to watch him sleep.

All her life she imagined meeting the right guy and taking him home to meet the clan, and now? Well she wouldn't be doing that any time soon. The first inkling they had of what he was would see him imprisoned and her on trial. Imagine that consorting with the devil and enjoying it. A soft laugh escaped her as she reached out to trail a finger along the strong arm that lay pillowed on his chest.

He was so hot to the touch, too hot almost. It was then she remembered Mic reading to her how they enjoyed things cooler. Slipping from the bed she walked over to her room's air conditioner and jacked the thermostat to high cool. Angling the vents to blow towards the bed she turned and stepped into her bathroom. Might as well shower while he napped.

Richie's eyes fluttered open as cool air trickled down on him, he was lying on his back alone in the bed he looked over at the small crease in the sheets where she was moments ago. His hand reached out and touched the space where she was, and his senses picked up she was near as the shower trickle tickled his ears.
He moved off the bed and stood and stretched, he hadn’t felt this complete and strong in so long and it was because of her.

Richie knew that the months ahead would be interesting at the very least but he was just going to concentrate on right now they had two weeks, and he was sure Jon would want to stay right here, if the energy he inadvertently felt last night on his body was anything to go by.

He crept into the shower, she was standing with her back to him under the spray, god damn she was beautiful, admiring the curves right down to her ass, he sneakily slipped in and grabbed her from behind.

A startled scream whipped from her as she turned. "Well good morning. Thought you'd sleep a bit longer."
"How can I when you're not in the bed" he teased as he adjusted the shower dial without realizing what he was doing.

A shiver raced over her skin as the water went from near scalding to a cooler spray. Glancing up she snorted and decided it was time to quickly vacate the shower as goose pimples began to race over her skin.

"Oh shit sorry darlin, I didn’t think, it seems I have grown accustomed to cold showers" he chuckled as he quickly washed himself before stepping out.
"There ya go" he said as he stood watching her.

Her arms wrapped around her chest as a brow lifted, her body standing still under the still chilly spray. Emerald eyes sparkled as a mischievous grin raced over her lips. "And this is how you keep a woman warm. hmmm I'll remember that."

"Mmm well I do have other ways darlin" he teased as he kissed down her neck teasing the skin as he went. His hands slid slowly down to her hips. Before a lopsided grin slipped out on his lips and his hands teased her sides tickling them as she had done to him.

Her breathing hitched as a giggle erupted from her lips, the heat of his touch warring with the chill of the water. Reaching forward she turned the water off and stepped from the shower and leaned against his chest. "So what would you like to do this morning?"

"I can think of many things darlin, but I think we need to rejuvenate ourselves a little, as I plan to ravish you all night long again" his voice low and sultry.
"What do you girls usually do when you hang out?"

She wrapped a towel around her body and handed him one as a blush crept into her cheeks. "Mic researches, she reads she studies she.. well. She’s on this quest to learn things." She stepped around him to the sink and quickly brushed her teeth and hair and stopped. "Umm unless your squeamish you can use my toothbrush, unless ya actually thought to bring one of your own?"

"Well I am sure young Micheala wont be researching anything today unless its to do with furry chested vampires" he chuckled "Yeah some of our gear is in Jon's trunk so I can grab some things from there, but yeah I don’t mind using this" he grinned as he squirted some paste onto her brush. Half in his mouth he began to brush. "Soo what did you wanna do, we could see if Kidd and Mic wanna bowl or something later on? he suggested.

"You bowl." She shook her head, "Ok that shouldn't surprise me, but you bowl." She started laughing as she imagined his gangly form chasing a bowling ball. "That I have to see."

Twisting around he pressed a kiss to his back then slipped from the bathroom to dress. "I guess we start with food, then we'll see what happens with the day." Moving to her closet she muttered softly to herself, "at least I feel like actually moving today."

Richie pretended to look offended "Heyy I'm pretty good actually, I’ll prove it to ya" he watched as she went back into the bathroom and the undeniable whisper that he heard.

"Gia?" he asked.

She turned as she buttoned the top she'd put on. "Yeah?"

"How long did you feel that bad without me, and don’t lie to me, I’ll know if ya lie" he questioned her, his serious gaze on her.

She glanced up and thought over how he could tell how she lied. Naaah anyone could if you were nervous about the lie, but she wouldn’t be lying, she didn’t want him hurting over the facts. "It wasn't that bad, til the end. Why do ya ask?"

"It was most of the time wasn’t it? I can read you Gia, so there no point lying to me, why didn’t you tell me, or get in contact with me, I coulda done something, that’s not way to live when I was the one that did this to you" his voice full of concern.

She shook her head. "First off Richie, you didn't do anything to me. From what Mic's learned well, we were just born this way. You were born to be what you are, I was born to be what I am. Its all just what we are. So stop feeling guilty. Life has its own magic ya know? The thought of what if we hadn’t met doesn't play, Fate has its ways. The Rom are great believers in that. So stop with the coulda woulda shoulda stuff ok?"

Richie nodded "I understand that but stop playing the martyr with me over this, I know you see yourself as a burden to me and you aren’t ok, so stop acting like one please" he begged.

She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Not a martyr Richie, just slightly more aware of what you're life is compared to most girls. Your touring schedule is horrendous; you barely have time to sleep. You do Not have time to be worried about some girl back home. So I don’t want you to. Go be the rock star you are. Feed, have sex, play your music and know I'll be ok." She reached for her brush to run it through her hair. "Rom are tough. I'll be ok." She closed her eyes and prayed he believed her cuz she damn sure wasn't about to tell him what it did to her. Not today, not ever.

Chapter 29

She shivered again as the sensation ripped through her, this time it was different not just the need was there, there was desire, she could feel it.Again they were interrupted by a loud groaning noise echoing from the bedroom.

He pulled her to his chest, his hand reaching up to brush her hair from her neck, his lips sliding carefully over the line of muscle at her shoulder. "Nope, not letting ya run Mic."

She closed her eyes as his lips met her skin, reeling her sense "Oh dear god, you're going to kill me" she muttered as she began enjoying the sensation of his touch and warmth radiating onto her body.

He knelt and scooped her into his arms and turned to walk to the bedroom not occupied by moans and groans. "You ain’t seen nothing yet baby."

"God I wish we couldn’t hear them" she whined as her room was right next door. As the words left her lips her bedroom fell silent. She grinned. "Well there ya go" she chuckled as Jon carried her in.

Jon snorted, "I've heard worse on tour baby, I just ignore it. but if your better with the volume down, then so be it." He hadn't thought twice about how the noise had stopped. Somewhere deep inside he knew she'd done it somehow and he simply didn't care anymore.

His hands slid over her carefully, quickly removing everything that offended him, skirt, top, panties and started to smile as the filmy lace of her bra finally hit the floor. It was time to show her just what he'd learned the last month or two.

She shuddered in raw anticipation as he stood above her and the mischievous spark in his blue eyes made her shiver.

With slow precision his lips slid from her shoulder along her spine, as calloused finger tips gracefully tapped along her sides. With the barest brush of his tongue he traced a line along her back down to her hips as his fingers moved in to brush over her inner thighs and down along her calves. "You smell like the moon and stars and all things heavenly."

As he moved upwards he slowly stood and turned her to face him, his lips ever moving towards the hollow of her throat and down along her chest before one graceful finger flicked over the rosy nub of a nipple. Each movement, each brush imbued with just a small snippet of the energy he felt coursing within him.

As she stood nailed to the floor his lips and fingers brushed over every part of her, it sent shock waves cascading down her body pushing her into pleasurable realms she hadn’t experienced before just by his touch, just by his touch! "Goddddd Jonnnnnnnnnnnnn" she moaned

He picked her up and walked to the bed, then laid her out carefully. Reaching up he pulled her tee-shirt off then quickly toed off his boots before sliding his jeans down. Crawling up onto the bed he picked up one leg, his fingers brushing over the calf muscle followed quickly by his lips and teeth on his way to that nirvana located at the apex of her thighs.

Her hands buried themselves in his generous mane of hair, as he continued to work his way up her legs. Her body was trembling with need violently, as his energy sexual and physical passed into her. Just the anticipation of him at her entrance, combined with the touch and sensual energy rocketed her into blinding orgasm. "Jonnnnn," she cried as her body convulsed around her. White flashes ripped through her soul.

His lips slid fluidly over her moist center, sipping each drop of her precious fluid before his tongue flicked out against her tiny nub. Huffing a soft breath against her heat he slid a finger inside of her, his mind concentrating on that one finger as tiny sparks began to glow.

Mic's heart was pounding in her chest like a drum as his tongue slide across her, and his finger shot into her, sending small sparks across her body as the hair stood up on her arms.
She smacked her hand across her mouth as she threatened to scream the house down, this was unbelievable, so much better than last time.

His lips began the trek up her body, swirling around her navel then up the mid of her chest as his hands pressed, slid and feathered over each petite muscle. As his lips touched hers he flexed his hips once and seated himself fully inside of her.

Hovering over her his lips brushed against hers as his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, as his hips slowly began to move and rock against her. "Sing for me pretty baby, lemme hear your love song."

The sexual anguish rose from her throat letting herself go she cried out to the room."Oh fucccccccccck" she cried as his shaft began to move inside, sliding deeper into her she gripped his shoulders, her fingers dancing down her arms brushing around the coarse hair that lay there and sliding up his chest through the warm furry confines. She wanted to touch him, every part of him, as her hands hungered for more, rising into his hair pulling his lips to crash down on hers, her need evident in the moans and whimpers that kept coming. "Jon, don't ever stop, please fuck me forever" she gasped.

His grunts fell gently into the room as he pushed and rolled harder against her, his fingers dancing over her skin as his eyes closed and he let all that was inside flow from his finger tips. "I'll do my best baby."

"Jon, pleaaase oh my godddd" she whimpered as she clung to him, never in her life had such a being had any effect on her, he was driving her soul and he knew it. Her hips bucked to reach each thrust of his as she rose to meet him in a place that bodies didn’t exist just their souls that intertwined tightly together letting off the greatest energy one could imagine. "JONNNNNNNNNN!" she screamed as she finally let him win and his spell took over her body as it rocked violently under him.

His lips found her neck as his tongue flickering along the hollows there, his body pushing inside one final time as a growled scream whispered from his lips. Holding her too him he felt the flash of brilliance as the room began to again glow as he released deep inside of her, his hands gently pulling away all excess energy created.

She panted as she felt him balance and centre them both once again. Her brow was thick with sweat. "Ok, that's it, you're never going away from me longer than two months again, you'll fuckin kill me" she giggled as she swept his own sweaty mop away to reveal eyes bluer than the sea shining back at her.

His forehead rested on hers as he met her blue gaze to blue. "ya have a fucking deal there babe." He slowly slumped beside her and pulled her into her arms. "Although dying like this I can handle."

"Amen to that, god where did you learn that?" she asked leaning in breathing in his musky scent.

He flashed an exhausted smile, "You said learn and experiment so I did. "

She chuckled burying herself deeper into his chest wrapping her leg around his."Thank you for coming back, thank you" she breathed.

He held her tight and smiled. Thank God for Richie wanting to come back or he would have never have thought too. "Might wanna thank King for that baby. He just knew, quicker than I."


She sleepily lay "Thank god for the King, thank god for the King" she mumbled as her arm laced across his tummy and she fell into contented sleep with a wide grin plastered across her face.

He chuckled as she fell asleep and the magic surrounding the room faded. Thank god it was quiet in the next room. His eyes closed as he dropped off into the first peaceful sleep he’d had in months.

Chapter 28

His eyes opened slowly, his body stretching to remove the kinks he felt in his back. Groaning softly his head turned as he wondered exactly where he was and what weird sex he'd gotten up to the night before. As his head turned his eyes widened, Mic, it was Mic next to him, and he was fully clothed.

It was then the happenings of the night before flooded his brain, a nearly frantic Richie, a crazily happy Mic, and a glow that he saw through his fucking eyelids. They had glowed like a freaking lamp. Shaking his head as he processed the info he wondered why she of all people could cause that.

Sitting up he reached over, a calloused finger tracing her cheek lightly, the now familiar flash and sizzle rising to make his hair stand on end. He almost moaned at how exquisite it felt like. Touching her was unlike any other person he had tried to touch in months.

"Mic baby, wake up."

Mic stretched and yawned as the much eluded sleep finally left her body. Opening her eyes she felt a huge warm sensation across her cheek and wondered where she was for a minute, as her dreams had been filled with light brighter than the sun. She looked up and her eyes connected with another set of bright blue sedated eyes. She felt so complete again and balanced, not like she'd just drunk twenty cups of coffee. "Mmmm, what is it?" she asked sleepily.

"It's time to wake up baby. Sleeping on a couch is definitely not in my ideas of comfort." He chuckled before glancing at the bedroom door. "And admittedly I'd like to know who survived the night."

She sat up and stretched looking towards the door "Shit, what if he was too late?" she started to worry as the state Gia had been in when Richie had arrived was bad.

Jon's gaze flicked back to the door before focusing on Mic again. "If something happened to Gia, what would happen to Richie?"

Mic looked down "He'd eventually die, ...starved of what he couldn't find without her" she said sadly hoping that this wasn’t the case.

"Jesus," his breath whistled from him, "Would that happen to me too?"

Mic looked at him, wanting to be able to tell him no it wouldn’t, and he'd be ok, but he deserved to know the truth.
She nodded "I'm sorry, you'd just eventually tire and the energy that your life mate provided you is a unique one that cant be sourced anywhere else. You'd tire and try and feed and feed, till you couldn’t even pull energy from people anymore... and your life mate would, explode without you, well in a sense that too much positive energy would overload her," she gulped suddenly realizing the reality.

"Christ!" He stood and moved to the bedroom door, his hand shaking as he reached for the knob. "god do not let me find a dead anything in there. He closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath. It was too much, Richie could die without Gia, that was bad enough but he could die without a life mate, and he hadn't found her yet. Thank God Mic had been able to help him, Thank god she'd been able to.. SHE'D been able too. He turned a moment and looked her way as memories of a glow brighter than the sun wrapped around them. Could she be? Shaking his head he turned back to the door.

He chanted softly to himself, "Please don’t let her be dead, don’t let him be dead, please oh please don’t let them be dead.."

Mic watched him, she needed to tell him but how, it was like telling someone they had an arranged marriage planned for them almost. "Jon, just open it, I need to know" she said closing her eyes

Jon slowly cracked the door open while holding his breath. With eyes closed he whispered back to Mic. "Are they dead?"

Richie's mind filled with a raspy whisper from the door as he turned his gaze to the door, hearing a Are they Dead? "No we're fuckin not, and we'd like some privacy if that’s too much to ask," he chuckled as he saw Jon standing there with his eyes firmly shut.

One blue eye cracked open and got a sight more than he bargained for. "Fuck you too King. See if I care if you're dead next time." The door was slammed as Jon huffed his way back to the couch. "They definitely ain't dead."

Mic giggled as he came back to the couch "They're doing it aren’t they?"

"Well he wasn't dancing the fandango that’s for fucking sure. "

"Awww, well that's sweet ain’t it?" she teased watching him push his long sandy hair back from his face. "Jon, I think there's something I need to tell you honey" she said nervously.

He flopped back onto the couch and groaned, "As long as it don't involve King Ass, or long legs wrapped around.. I can handle it."

Mic sighed "Well maybe you are gonna wish that it was after this" she said nervously eyeing him.

He turned his head to watch her, a gentle finger reaching up to trace her jaw line. "Well why dontcha try me baby."

"Well what we were talking about with Gia and Richie, is you and me essentially" she swallowed "I'm your life mate, I'm so sorry if I had known I wouldn’t have slept with you that night" she shook her head.

He sat back and processed what she told him. Well ok that made sense didn't it? She was different from all the other women he'd been with. She calmed him like nothing else. She was pretty, she was bright, and HEY she'd keep him alive. Most men didn’t get a fraction of that. "Okkk and this is supposed to be bad right? Cuz to look at you baby you'd think you got saddled with a true beast."

Mic laughed "Well, now that you mention it, all that hair and all.." she teased before continuing "That's not how I feel at all, I think despite how we hit it off, you're sweet and kind, a little rough around the edges, but you don't need this with all you have in life to look forward to"

She watched him take it all in, truth be known he wasn’t all that bad at all, his rugged good looks and his cocky attitude kinda was sexy.

Jon shook his head, "Yeah I gotta admit, I didn’t exactly plan my life around being a energy loving vampire, but Richie didn’t either. Life throws ya a ball you either play with it or your outta the game. I kinda like being in the game baby."

Mic smiled "Well, I do too, I fancy on living, but I dunno, just then when we were sleeping was kinda odd wasn’t it? Every time you touch me, I just about..." she blushed, muffled echoes from the next room floated into the room at the same time.

His glance flickered to the door, "Ya know if he couldn’t kill me I’d pound on the wall."

Mic laughed "Yeah not such a good idea" her thoughts started to run away with her.

He turned back to her and grinned, his smile silky and devious. Reaching out he trailed an index finger along her arm. "So this is something ya like then."

She shivered as his electricity shot through her heart. "I am thinking I should of never told you that" she stood up and moved nonchalantly to closer to her bedroom pretending to admire the magazine on the table.

He stood and walked over to her, his grin widening as he reached out with both hands and slid them along her arms. "Don't think you're gonna escape that easy."

Chapter 27

Richie chuckled "Because darlin, you're it. Your blood tastes the sweetest, your loving feels the best, and your touch drives me insane" he kissed her forehead.

A gentle smile escaped her as a shiver raced over her skin before a small wince flared in her eyes. "You're so young and vital, and have so many women to taste and be with, and I KNOW you'll need that, but I won't let you go again without knowing your coming back. I don't think Id survive it."

"I promise I will, I always will" he whispered as he closed his eyes and concentrated on her. She still wasn’t relaxed and her heart was beat was too labored, something still wasn’t right. It was almost as if her blood was having trouble flowing in her veins, it was thick or congested somehow. Instinct rose as his head dipped to her neck, his lips caressing that spot that he’d bitten no other woman on. Only Gia rated the pleasure of that one pulse point. His hands caressed her body gently as he kissed along her shoulder, sending shockwaves down his own body at the anticipation on what was about to come, what he had craved for so long.

By demand his fangs inched slowly from his mouth as they brushed against her silky surface teasing her before biting down and pinching the skin, her warm blood flowing into his mouth, and the taste of sweet honey once again tantalizing his taste buds. Her blood didn’t come as free this time, and was remarkably thicker than the last time he'd drank from her.

She gasped as she felt the pinch that spun her into pleasure, her hands tightening around him as her body arched against him. She felt him enter her in a way only he could as she felt the familiar give and take of his lips suckling at her neck. Pleasure began to roll through her system as her eyes fluttered closed.

He'd learned to give pleasure in amounts she'd never felt before, she'd not even felt the fangs enter. Groaning softly she moved in closer, her body unable to be still as he continued to sip.

He continued to drink from her fountain of desire quenching a formidable thirst of longing from the past months. A soft groan escaped his lips as he felt her body close around him offering herself freely.


Quiet moans slipped from her lips as the tightness in her chest lessened and her ability to breath unencumbered returned. Relief screamed through her system all courtesy of his lips and fangs. A slender leg moved up to wrap around his waist as silvery tears began to trace her cheeks. "Oh god, sweet Jesus, Richie..."

He let himself go as he felt his passion and desire flow into her through his gentle act of feeding. Feeling the tightness of her chest seep from her and her soul finally ease he pulled away both contented and relieved. Kissing her gently on the lips he lost himself in her feel as he started the slow descent down her body, shedding her clothes as they became useless to his purpose. His hands slipped under her back and lifted her up towards him as he captured one of her nipples in his mouth, teasing and licking the bud as it grew hard. His hands slid down her naked back drawing every ounce of desire from her.

Her hands twisted into his hair as her lips pressed into his chest softly, her body beginning to feel more alive than it had in weeks. A quick shiver raced over skin that was no longer cold, but blazingly hot. "I have missed you."


His head reached up to meet hers, the blaze evident in his eyes. "I've missed you too darlin, more than you know" his lips searched her flesh again trailing white hot kisses down the nape of her slender neck, his power over her had her arching into him, he could feel her body begin to beg. Warm sultry lips once again found the silky soft flesh of her breasts as he lost himself sucking on her petite nipples, hungrily.

Gentle fingers slid along rock hard muscles as she relearned each inch of his skin on her way to his hips. Kneading them slowly she angled her arm until she was feathering gentle swipes along his rock hard shaft until she grasped him in her hand, and began to move. The tip of her finger brushed over the tip before slowly moving along the length again as her lips sought the rock hardness of his nipple.

Her touch, lighter than a feather but deadlier than a viper rose over him, he let out a hiss as her hand found his shaft and felt her slowly pumping her. "God, Gia baby, feels... so.. good" he managed as his own awareness in her started to drown in a sea of rising pleasure. His own hands slid further across the dip in her belly and down to her awaiting womanhood that was ready to be brandished with his touch, his fingers slid easily into her, slick and warm her walls wrapped around his fingers as he began to pump her.

Her hips moved against his fingers the softest whimper escaping her lips as they moved over his chest. Her head tilted slightly as dazed eyes took in his face, the need and heat burning brightly in his eyes. "Please Baby, its been soooo long."

He let out a low growl as he withdrew his fingers and lay her down against the pillows slightly raised. Rising above her he slid easily into her. "Fuck... so longgg" he confirmed as his cock slipped past her walls screaming for his release.
His lips settled again on hers teasing her bottom one in between his teeth gently as he began to roll deep within her.

Nails slipped up his back, dipping into each dip in his spine as she flexed and writhed beneath him. As her blood heated into liquid fire her hips arched, and she tilted her head teasing him with the racing of her pulse. Roaming hands slid into his hair as her lips parted, her tongue flickering out to wet her lips. Soft screams heated into unrestrained cries as each plunge took him deeper and deeper.

His hand leered down and his thumb searched out her clit as he began to tease it in time with his thrusts, his own pleasure rocketing him closer to the abyss as her nails raked his back. His mouth dropped to her neck where the sound of her pulse called to him like a ship in the night, his tongue licked down the prominent vain she had flexed.

She twisted her head lightly, her hands pulling his head down as hips met in a dance as old as time. "God please..."

"Giaaa" husky vocals called as he felt his own release come into her, her walls milking him, begging his release. His mind started to flutter with his imminent release, his fangs drew from the comfort of his mouth and sank into the satin folds of skin on her neck.

She screamed her release into the room, her body stiffening as she felt fang and shaft combine into a white hot moment that blinded her to anything outside of his arms. "Richie!"

A guttural moan slipped from his lips as his body exploded with the pleasure of his orgasm and the taste of her sweet honied blood once again, drawing what he needed from her, he pulled away and slowly drove her through her own moment.
"Gia," his breathing ragged as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

She held tight to him as their sweat mingled, their breath mixed and their souls collided. Closing her eyes she could see the ribbons that were dull glowing brightly as they wrapped tighter around them. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as a soft whimper raced over her lips and a smile began to glow in her eyes. "Welcome back.."

A soft chuckle vibrated on her neck."Its so good to be back and the best thing about all this is, we're here for a couple of weeks, if Jon wants to leave, I ain’t fuckin going with him."

Her arms tightened around him as she grew still and quiet. "You don't have to stay ya know. You can leave if you want. Things will be ok for a month or two. I don't want..." Her voice trailed off, she did want, wanted badly for him to be there, but she also knew he had more to learn, and a very public life to lead. "I want you to feel you can leave and not worry.. "

"Darlin, I ain’t going anywhere, I need a rest, I need to be in one place and I wanna be here if you'll have me" he softly said as he pulled her in close.

Her arms dropped as she slipped up to recline on the pillows, her deep emerald eyes studying him. "You still need what you need Richie."

"And right now that’s you, for two weeks, so no buts, end of story" he chuckled placing a kiss on her forehead.

She huffed lightly and reached up to brush his hair from his face. "That doesn't answer what I said. You have needs."

"I know I do, and I will deal with those, and right now you give me what I need, unless you don’t want to" he suddenly unaware he may of just assumed that.

Her palm brushed his cheek before flicking against his nose. "I'd be a fool to turn down your special brand of passion lover, but we both know you can't do that daily., well part of it you could.." she blushed from toes to nose. "But there are things you need you can't .." She sighed softly, even now she hated thinking of how he had to be with others.

Richie sighed "I know what you are saying, but don’t worry about it, I will deal with it, and in the meantime I am staying here with you, I wanna just be normal for a few days and you are what makes me that"

A bright smile flooded her eyes as she scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "You're more than welcome to stay. I have to work, but you're welcome to hang here. I don't think you wanna hang out where I work, you could, but trust me you WOULDN"T wanna."

Richie chuckled "We'll see, I wanna just hang, I don’t care where, no more traveling just time to be lazy," he smiled.

She started to laugh for the first time in weeks. "Lover I work in a Record Store."

Richie snorted "Yeah ok, you win, I don’t wanna come to work with you."

She punched his arm lightly, "I coulda gotten a bonus, Jovi to sign albums? I'd sell more in a day than they have all month. See how mean you are?" She winked and rolled on top of him, determined to see if he was a ticklish man.

Chapter 26

Richie sat nervously in the car as Jon drove, he could smell her, he could sense her and it was driving him mad. His hands gripped firmly to the seat as he barked directions at Jon. He had to get there, and see her, and hold her and nurse her back to life, before it was too late.

Jon kept one hand on the wheel and one hand on his friend's shoulder. He wasn't sure, but somehow he just knew that in pulling small amounts of energy off of Richie was keeping him from flying totally out of control. As he drove he remembered Mic's words of how a Upier always seemed to travel with one of his kind. Maybe this was why. Not that he had wanted this to happen to figure that out.

At the tersely barked order to turn left Jon turned and within minutes was pulling into a driveway.

Richie bolted out of the car even before it stopped moving and ran for the door pounding on it hard with all his might.

Mic looked up as the deafly beats on the door startled her. She looked at Gia and then the door, her head became clear and pain free all of a sudden. Nooooo. She raced towards the door and ripped it open to see who it was and almost couldn’t believe her eyes at who stood there.

"Richie!" she exclaimed happily as she threw her hands around his neck.

"Hey darlin, where is she?" Richie’s panic was evident, from the shaking of his hands to the wildness of his eyes.

"In her bedroom, Richie you're going to have to feed her and fast," Mic instructed as a surge shot through her. Looking behind Richie, who had now vanished into the bedroom at the speed of light, she saw Jon walking up to the door. He looked so different, so in command or something. "Hello stranger," she smiled.

He flashed a grin her way before yanking her into a hug. "Hello there yourself."

Mic closed her eyes savoring the small spark that left her body and into his. "You need to come inside. Thank you for coming," she whispered as she felt the transformation.

He slipped into the house, his arm still firmly around her. "Well it was find you or watch him go totally out of control."

"I know, he's right on time, damn, I am so glad you are here too, I've missed you" she said as she led him inside.

He brushed a feather soft kiss across her cheek. "Gia's that bad?"

She nodded "She's very weak, on the verge of losing consciousness," she pulled him down on the couch just content to lie with him while they waited. "Just stay here a sec I need you," as she honed on the small sparks of energy she so desperately needed to release to him.

He lay his head back on the couch and groaned as he felt himself leveling out suddenly. "God damn, what the hell?"

Mic chuckled "Its ok, you're supposed to feel as good as I do right now, I can explain later, I just need this first," she mumbled as she slipped her hand up his shirt to get closer to the warmth. She knew it would take awhile to release two months worth of energy but this was a good start.

He groaned as he felt the excess energy leave only to be replaced with a calming flow of newer energy. "Damn babe, that feels great." His eyes closed as he soaked in all she had to offer, his hand moving up lazily to brush over her cheek, giving to her in turn.

Richie found Gia in the bed, he knelt down beside her and gently placed a kiss on her forehead, all that spark and passion he remembered was missing from her face, she radiated nothing but fear and pain to him and that hit him hard in the chest. "Giaaa darlin, I'm here," he whispered over her pale lips.


A slight frown marred her face as a whisper called to her from the darkness. It wasn’t possible, he wouldn't be calling her. She shivered slightly as a soft mumble escaped her.

Richie inched closer to her earlobe. "Gia my love you got to wake, please wake for me baby" he whispered.

Eyelids fluttered and opened slowly at the request, while dazed emerald eyes looked up without seeing. "Too tired. hurts, lemme sleep ok?"

Richie shook his head, he knew he couldn’t let her sleep and he knew what had to be done. "Darlin, I know what I need to do and there will be no arguments," he turned his head and this time bit slowly down on his tongue once again, wincing at the small prick he felt, he leant into her and lavishly kissed her hard on the lips letting his tongue thrust through to tease her tongue.

This dream was better than the rest, maybe shed finally died and found some heaven that held her memories. A whispering gasp escaped her as heat began to work its way into her body, gentle hands rubbing her throat, that raspy tongue dancing with hers, precious strength seeming to build. She lifted her arms to slide around a neck that felt all to real as the kiss continued.

He continued to let the life she so desperately needed flow into her body as he slowly felt life return to her body. His hands ran down her body as he lay beside her now and pulled her in tightly never lifting his mouth from hers.

Her eyes opened slowly and began to focus. There were lips on hers, there was a man holding her, and not just any man. Richie. She inched closer to his body as a soft murmur left her. Pulling away from the kiss she smiled. "You came."
He smiled "Of course I did, I’ll always come when you need me, always" he promised. As he gently stroked her forehead relief began to shine in his eyes as the color slowly etching into her face again.

Her hand slipped to her chest, "Wanted you to have the freedom you needed. How'd you know? Did Mic call you?" she curled into his body, his heat sliding through her like a summer’s day. ""You're sooo warm."

"I can have freedom too, we can balance this, I can make it work, and no she didn’t call, when you fell, I saw it, I felt it Gia, I had never seen you like that before," he admitted. His body savored her touch against his skin, it was like coming home. Damn she felt so soft, so right against him.

She looked into his eyes and read the concern so deeply set within his brown gaze. "You did it twice, you fed me twice. The bond.. its.. Permanent now, I'm sorry." She winced as her heart thundered in her chest. "I'll try to not bother you that much." Even as she said the words her body curled tighter to his, his warmth his voice soothing away most of the aches and hurts. As her eyes closed she saw the ribbons of life that were him and her, wound together tightly and was unable to tell whose started where or whose ended where. It was if it were one single ribbon now. "Why's it still hurt?"

"Don't be sorry lovely, please, its ok, I owe you so much for letting me know who I am and what to do, so don't ever worry about that," he whispered as he felt so at ease and sedated with her now.

"I don't know why it still hurts darlin" he stood up for a second to see if Mic knew why it would still hurt, he walked into the living area only to see Jon asleep on the couch with Mic curled on top of him into his chest, soundly asleep but the oddest glow surrounded them both, brighter than a football stadium. He shook his head and walked back into the bedroom and kicked off his shoes and lay down beside her. "I just saw the oddest thing" his arms snaked back around her.

She snuggled closer again. "Oh?"

"Jon and Mic are asleep on the couch both zoned out but content, but the weirdest brightest glow is humming around them."

A smile crept onto her lips. "Well energy vamp and his storage unit.. gaawd what a way to say mate.. makes sense. They're probably leveling out. He's been a bear right?"

Richie nodded "Hell yea when he wasn’t on stage he was, and always complaining about headaches, and now wait a minute, you're telling me she's his mate? Well I'll be damned"

She nodded slowly, "Looks like it considering what you saw." She closed her eyes a moment and winced. "Sorta makes sense, she was all over the place since he left." She tilted her head, her emerald gaze centering on his. "How did you fair? I mean, learn much?" The thought of him with a lot of girls, of learning of feeding intensified the ache, but she needed to know if he had been successful.

Richie secretly wondered how Jon would take that news, but dismissed it for now.
"I did, I perfected my prey, I guess, but learnt a lot in the process, that some blood tastes so different, some bitter, some sweet, some sour, its odd really," he trailed off remembering, he sensed why she had asked the question. "I slept with a lot of woman looking to fill my void, but I could never find it, and I know now I won't ever find it in other women for sure"

"Why is that Richie?" Her hand slid down along his arm to his chest, her slender fingers undoing the couple of fastened buttons before moving in to brush over his cute patches of fur. "Why wont you find what fills the void?"

Chapter 25

Richie slipped from the bed in the early hours of the morning, quickly pulling on his jeans he glanced back at the girl lying limply in the bed. Another one down, another girl in another town who gave in to his thrall. He licked his lips slowly, cringing at the taste of this one. This feeding hadn’t gone as well as he’d planned and the girl had been a little scared, so the blood had tasted sour. Richie had learned that emotions effected the blood, countless feeds and countless woman now told him that fear was a more like vinegar taste and emotions such as desire, lust and passion brought out blood that tasted like dark chocolate and honey. But none was in comparison to the blood he drank in San Diego, none, hers held precedence to all he had devoured over the last few weeks, like sweet honey hers tastes in contrast to all the others, and it was that he craved, even the sweetest blood he had tasted still left him longing for more, he was never fully satisfied and contented like with Gia.

It had taken some time to perfect, this whole lifestyle, but luckily Richie was in a position where there was no shortage of woman throwing themselves at him every night, disguising it in sex often was the way it worked, his band mates apart from Jon were none the wiser that he was sleeping around, even more so that David had nicknamed him the King of Swing, sometimes even taking in more than one girl at night, as he searched for that right mix that right taste that always eluded his lips. He’d perfected the act of sex with a bit in the climax always choosing his places to bite, and always avoiding that one place on the bottom of the neck that he fed from Gia, he could never bring himself to bite anyone else in the same place.

The nights he didn’t feed were filled of dreams and ethereal visions of a girl with fog that had somehow managed to stay firmly etched in his soul, dreams filled of erotic acts of pleasure from love makings to feeding, he could always feel her and smell her and sense her near in his dreams, Richie always woke with the void firmly in his chest the next morning. In his dreams he longed for her, he needed her and he completed her.

As the days grew longer, the nights more frantic for feeds and fucks, Richie felt himself becoming less complete and losing his desire to feed for pleasure, some nights he bit the girl and didn’t sleep with her as his heart just wasn’t in it for some reason. He missed Gia, he knew he did, but some times as a new groupie caught his eye off stage that niggling feeling was dismissed. Now that the tour was breaking he had no idea how he would fill in the days, a sharp pain ripped through his chest and a loud scream sent his soul reeling as he gripped onto the couch stumbling, his chest grew tighter and then as never before a vision flashed through his mind of a gangly woman weak lying on the floor, motionless Gia!
“Noooooooooo” he screamed in a pain that ripped his heart out.


~~~~

Jon winced at the unearthly yell. Rolling from the bed he stumbled to the living room while pushing a pair of shades on his eyes. AS he reached the room he saw Richie on his knees. Fuck that wasn't good, nothing took the man down these days. He moved to his friend and knelt. "What the fuck is going on? Bro? you ok?"

Richie gasped "It's Gia, some thing’s wrong, something’s fuckin wrong Kidd, I can feel it," he panicked as he winced as the pain still shot through him.
"Man you haven’t even mentioned the gypsy girl in weeks. What's so different now?" He watched as Richie grabbed his chest. "Tell me man, What now?"

"She's weak, she's lying on the floor, I can see her, feel her, I have never been able to shake her, I just haven’t mentioned her, she haunts my dreams and she's all I god damn can think about" Richie stood back up as he shook himself and tried to clear the raging panic that was taking him over.

Jon winced as some of Richie's pained energy filtered through to him. "So what you gonna do man?"

"We gotta go there, you gotta help me find her, I need to see if she's ok, maybe she needs me, Mic said ages ago that we could be bound by something, maybe this is part of all that, there has to be something" he winced again "Jesus fuckin Christ!"

Jon nodded and moved to the table and grabbed his keys. "Well let’s get moving. San Diego or bust right man?" He managed a smile as he walked to the door. He'd never seen his friend lose his cool and he didn't wanna start now, no telling how a vamp like him would handle that loss. "Come on man."

Richie stumbled out and followed Jon to the car. He only hoped they weren’t too late, and that he could help somehow, but Mic would know she knew everything.

~~~

Mic arrived home, it was one of those days, the headache seemed worse tonight, as she fumbled with her keys she stumbled inside and flicked on the light, the sight that she saw her nearly broke her heart. "Gia!!!" she exclaimed dropping everything and rushing to her side. She shook her and there was no response barely a whisper.

"Shit don’t do this to me, I don’t know how to fix this" she panicked as she picked her up with a little difficulty and carried her to her bedroom and put her in bed.
"Gia? can you hear me?" she asked stroking her forehead. Shit, this was not good.

Dull emerald eyes fluttered open and tried to register the face. It had to be Mic, only one it could be. She tried to smile and failed. Her soft voice whispered, "just sleepy." as her eyes fluttered closed. God yes I just wanna sleep and dream.

Mic stroked her head again "I am going to try and get help somehow" God knows how she thought as the only way she knew was not even close.

She shook her head barely, "nothing to do. Just lemme sleep ok?"
"No please don’t, just fight it babe, please just till I figure out something," she took her hand.

"Too tired Mic, I.. I..m sorry."

Mic's heart filled with panic "Please don’t, hang on for me, hang on for Richie, you gotta" she whispered.

A sweet smile whispered onto her lips. "He’s ok.. didn't need us again, he's learned what he needs." She took a deep breath as her hand fisted on her chest. "Just gonna sleep a lil while."

"What about what we need? In case you hadn’t noticed both of us are royally fucked without them here? Have you noticed that?!" Mic vented finally letting out.

Gia's eyes fluttered open slowly and tried to focus. "Find Jon, you'll be ok.." Her voice faded out and in as her breaths turned ragged "he needed his youth, didn't need a girl to slow him down."

"Don’t skip around what you know is true Gia, we're it, we're their damn life mates, deny it all you want but you know as well as I do," Mic squinted as a blinding force ripped through her head "Shit, its worse for some reason"

Her eyes closed as she faded closer to sleep. "Never denied it, just chose to let him go. He can survive without me."

"Yes but you cant without him Gia, shit, this is my fault I never should of told him to give you his blood, never"

"NOT your fault. The...bond.. isn’t cemented yet." she sighed slightly and shivered. "not your fault."

Mic didn’t reply lost in thought she started to think how she could get hold of Richie and get him here as soon as possible but she had no idea what their schedule entailed or where to start.

Chapter 24

His nerves jangled as he moved from song to song, his mind wandering yet again over months of intense concentration as he learned which triggers worked. A certain wink, a certain smile and he could have girls nearly cumming while standing watching, and god help him if he shook his ass he’d damn near overload from the pure emotion flowing from the women in the crowd. It was a high better than any thing he’d ever felt, except for that one night in San Diego. That night haunted him, the flash and sizzle of two people exchanging all they were. He missed that feeling and searched for it nightly in each girl he had.

He was good at it now, a simple brush over the skin could send a girl into a close orgasm as he pulled the little he wanted from her. None of it satisfied him but it kept him moving as they went from town to town, concert to concert, venue to venue. Shaking his head he glanced at Richie and gave him a wink. Time to get this party started.

He reached for the crowd, his hand spread as he poured his heart into the song. It was so easy now. The months had slowly through trial and error shown him how to give and get what he so desperately needed from the audience. If he reached out and gave to them what they needed their screams would fill his soul. He could run faster, twirl quicker and scream any note higher, which in turn had them screaming and clapping, so he went to work, winking, shaking, shimmying and fairly screaming his songs to make it through yet one more night.

As the concert ended and the screams faded away his body nearly folded into itself as he drug to the showers. The headaches always returned at the end of night, damn near blinding him with their intenseness. Sometimes a girl helped sometimes they didn’t, and he could tell this night that nothing would help. NOTHING was going to help. They had two weeks off, no concert on schedule for weeks, and he KNEW he was going to be miserable. He’d have to fuck like crazy just to keep his sanity, unless he could find a better way.

As he slumped on the couch a thought occurred to him, one that seemed relatively easy. He’d just go to San Diego. He’d find Mic and ask her how he could get out of this dump of energy he was in, IF he could drag himself from the damned couch to get there.

~~~~

Day after day passed in some grey foggy state of existence. Get up, go to work, come home and watch Mic struggle to make it till eight o'clock at night. She made it through the days just to get to the nights. It was the nights when she could feel a bit of freedom from the constant ache that lived inside her chest now. At night she could sleep and when she slept she began to dream. As the days had shifted to weeks then slowly into months her dreams had become more vivid than her reality. She could close her eyes and he was there, touching her, loving her, needing her. Unfortunately each dream was always followed by a morning, a morning that led to yet another day of grey grey life.

Dragging herself from her bed she took a deep breath and rubbed her chest. She was doing that more and more she knew, but it hurt to even move now. Shambling to the bathroom she glanced longingly at the mirror, wishing for just a glimpse of what she’d seen there so many months before only to see her own haggard pale face staring back at her. Showering quickly she moved into the bedroom and slipped into a pair of sweats and a thick cable knit sweater. Even in the heat of the California days she was cold. Nothing seemed to keep her warm now, no matter how thick the cloth.

Grabbing her purse she stumbled into the kitchen and said a quick prayer of thanks that Mic hadn’t made it into the kitchen yet. Grabbing her keys she shuffled out the door and into her car. Another day, another dollar, she had bills to pay. Entering the store she set up for the day and flipped MTV on, plastered a fake smile on her face and prepared to deal with the customers of the day.

She watched the clock as hour six at work slowly moved into hour seven. Just one more hour and she could go home and fall back into bed. Just one more hour and she could hear Mic bitch about how she needed to eat. Mic didn’t get it though, she didn’t feel like eating, hell she didn’t feel like breathing these days either, or much of anything at all. She wanted to lie in bed and let the days wash past without color or form.

It was all grey anyways. The days started being grey the day she’d walked from that hotel. It had been months and neither man had contacted them so they obviously were fairing well, at least she’d heard no news of either of them being arrested. As hour eight finally came to and end she sighed in relief and closed up the store. As she walked to the car she blinked away the fog as her heart began to beat in triple time.

Shaking her head to remove the fog she slipped behind the wheel and slowly drove home. Stepping from the car she struggled to her front door as the world began to slip and sway erratically. Redoubling her efforts she focused on the door and finally made it inside. As she stepped into the living room her heart twisted and the room began to dim. She slipped to her knees as her soul began to scream and Gia knew no more.

Mic sat at her desk in the study tapping her pen frantically on the oak surface, thinking over the last few months, she’d been so busy keeping herself occupied studying trying to find out more information about the boys types of Upier since all the Romany documentation wasn’t quite correct as they had discovered. Her life had just been turned upside down since she left Jon that day, the first week was ok but gradually over time she had become drained of all energy and the damn headaches that returned at night sometimes blinding, sometimes light, but they always niggled away at her brain.

She’d read that Jon’s life mate would be like this if they couldn’t have their energy fed off by him, it was all about positive and negative energy, she provided him with the positive energy that he needed and he provided her with the negative energy she needed. And without that they would be completely off balance, and she was. She had to wonder if he had any effects to this and how he was coping with his new way of life. She had wanted to sleep for weeks, she just had needed to, so drained and lost, she’d tried everything but nothing seemed to work.

Her thoughts turned to Gia, who was growing so weak and lethargic without Richie, days spent in depressive slumps had dragged past. Mic had tried everything she knew from elixirs to potions she knew where to purchase but to no avail. She had done more research and found that that this exactly was the behavior of an intended life mate of Richie’s would be on withdrawal. She had tried to avoid the subject with Gia as she didn’t want to talk about it but seeing her in pain, seeing her constantly rubbing her chest was ripping Mic apart.

Her undeniable pull to Jon was what dogged her the most. Every day she’d spent apart from him she couldn’t stop thinking of him. she knew she was being ridiculous as by now he would have devoured handfuls of groupies and maybe forgotten anything about her outside of her revealing to him his new way of life.

What intrigued her most was her I wish magic that had appeared, she hadn’t really had a chance to use it since, well the times she had it didn’t work. It seemed to only work in certain times, with Jon silencing and the scrolls and proving to him that she was in fact right about them being Vampires. She’d once again consulted ancient scripts that had revealed that “I wish “magic often came in many forms for a purpose, one was love, but the user had to be in love, and she wasn’t in love with Jon, bond or no bond, her affection had certainly grown for him on her departure from him, but love was a huge stretch. She sighed softly as the sun began its descent in the evening sky. Another night to come, another long lonely night as once again sleep wasn’t on the cards but a date with a blinding headache.

Chapter 23

Richie felt a slow pull at his chest, it had always occurred to him that he would have to drink other people's but the thought of it, gave him a dull ache in his chest. "Ah well none yet but I just know yours will be sweetest," he grinned.

Mic just raised her eyebrow at Gia.

Gia shivered then glanced at Mic with a huh look. "Well Richie, you'll have plenty of time to test the sweetness theory. You all go to Costa Mesa tomorrow right?"

Richie nodded, he didn’t want to leave them. "Yeah we do, I, dunno if I can leave you both," he admitted. He was a little scared to face this alone without someone that understood exactly what they were.

She pulled the sheet around her and slid from the bed, giving everyone a flash of thigh. "Use your wit, your humor, your looks and your charm. You can make it feel good for them, that much you already know. You'll do fine, you'll survive without us." She knew she meant he'd survive without her and that rattled her heart more than she'd admit.

She hurried to the bathroom scooping her clothes up as she went. She had to break things now or he'd never learn to stand on his own, and he needed too. In order to survive and be able to seem normal he HAD to do this alone, for as long as it took for him to learn.

Richie watched her leave the room his eyes filled with intense longing. He looked up at Jon trying to read him, and saw he felt just as confused as he did, unsure of what the future would bring them.

Gia slipped from the bathroom fully clothed and stepped to the bed. Leaning over she pressed a gentle kiss to Richie’s forehead. "You'll see, you'll be ok." She turned and moved to the door and slipped out quickly, her hand moving to her chest as she walked away. He'd be fine. She only hoped she would be.

Richie sighed as she left, knowing that she was right, hell he was too young to be worried about being tied down, but he had a strange connection to her, maybe he always would as she had helped him understand who he was. Eyeing Mic and Jon, he thought he'd give them a few minutes privacy as they needed to get some sleep since tomorrow the tour continued. Richie couldn’t help feel like he'd be leaving a piece of him behind. He stood up. "I'm gonna go and grab us some burgers bro, I'll be right back" he smiled.


Jon nodded a quizzical look in his eyes. "You still eat food?"

"Yeah I do bro, thank the fuckin’ Lord." He shook his head and walked from the room contemplating just exactly how his life would be changing.
"Well ok, double pickles on mine dude." His gaze moved back to Mic. "So, what else do I need to know ?”

She looked into his blue eyes that were still full of questions. "That’s the basics Jon, you just need to know if you are tired you will need to feed, and you can do that but concentrating and choosing carefully, not the weak ones" she teased.
"If you or Richie do need help, anything, don’t hesitate to ring me ya know" she scrawled their number down on a piece of paper.

Mic didn’t really want to tell him but she did, an odd feeling nearly stopped her "Sex is a good way of doing that discretely as well, I am sure you will have that opportunity or three."

Jon rolled his eyes. "Life of a rock n roll musician baby." He leaned back against the wall his eyes steady on hers. "So you think we'll be ok?"

She nodded "You just need to be careful, both of you, there are people out there that don’t take kind to your way of life, I am studying more about this though, so when I know more I will find you somehow"

"Well I'll be careful. I'm sure Richie will, he sorta loves life."

Mic smiled she got up and dusted herself off. "I better go Jon and make sure Gia is ok"

Jon nodded. "Ok babe. " He flashed a mega watt smile her way. "Keep us in your prayers I think we're gonna need it."

"I will, you will be fine" she went to turn to leave and cursed herself silently before turning back to him, she reached over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "And by the way, I admit it, you didn’t force me, and yes I enjoyed it," she winked before she slipped out the door.

A grin settled on his lips as he watched the door close. "Damned straight ya did babe. So did I.. "

Chapter 22

"Holy shit." Jon took a step towards the bed then stopped. His eyes swept over Richie and the girl beneath him, before turning to Mic. "This isn't possible."

Mic put her arm on Jon "It is, its nothing to be scared about though, its not like the movies or anything" she said quietly.

He stepped to his bed and sat, his blue eyes on Richie. "How?"

Richie wiped his mouth and pulled the covers up around Gia."I just found out bro, its been a shock for me too," he admitted "The girls figured it all out, everything" he explained.

Gia glanced at Jon her eyes shining with dazed passion. "You are such a in the moment kind of man. Work hard play hard but never in the middle. Anything outside your little circle is hard to grasp huh?" She sighed softly and pushed upwards to sit against the headboard. "You think we're crazy, your seeing things, but before you write it all off, do me one favor Jon."

Jon looked across to Gia and shrugged, "What's that?"

Gia smiled. "Touch your friend's shoulder."

Jon shook his head and snorted. How would touching his rather naked friend help matter's any? Oh well not like it would hurt. He reached over quickly and put a hand on Richie's shoulder, his eyes going round as streams of unadulterated energy flowed through his fingers straight into his head. "FUCK!" Jon pulled back shaking his hand.

Richie winced and let out a loud growl as he felt Jon zap his energy from him. He felt his friend's frustration, his force and uncertainty of what to do with it; even worse he realized exactly what Gia had felt when Jon had brushed against her. He couldn’t hold off anymore that one touch had his need raging nearly out of control, he had to feed especially now that he'd just been sucked of energy. "Sorry" was all he said before burying his fangs back into her neck slowly desperate for the blood, as he began to pump her vein slowly with his tongue.

Jon watched as Gia's hand slipped around Richie's neck seeming to anchor him too her. She was whimpering like she was in the middle of some damn good sex, but Richie was behind her with no action to be had other than his lips on her neck. "Holy fucking god." He had a freaking honest to god living breathing vampire in Bon Jovi? No fucking wonder he played so fucking fast. He didn't want to believe, shit it was impossible to believe, but the evidence was right there in front of him.

Turning to Mic he growled, "and you called me a what? and WHY did you call me that?"

Mic stared at him almost shaking at how angry he was. She tried to hone in on him and use her own energy to calm him down. "You're a vampire Jon, but you don't need blood to survive, you need energy." she tried t explain. "Remember earlier at the bar? You were bouncing and Gia was collapsing, you were feeding from her and didn’t even know you were."
Jon shook his head, "Oh come on, I mean Jesus Mic, that’s just too much, I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I can't take shit off anyone, I don’t have fangs,” he looked up horror in his eyes, “.. do I?" His hand reached up to feel his teeth. "Nope, same old pearly whites I've had all my life."
Mic smiled "You don’t have fangs Jon, you're completely different, I can explain it to you, remember when we had sex? Anything different for you? Afterwards the headaches? It was all connected" Mic pointed out to him.

Gia glanced at Jon and read the confusion in his gaze. She pulled her scattered wits around her, damn thinking was so hard when Richie was doing what he was doing but she had to try. "It's hard to believe Jon, I know, but you feed on the energy of others. Think about it, when your in concert how do you feel? Like your flying right? All those people sending you love and you lap it up and spit it back at them right? You barely feel tired afterwards, takes you hours to come back to earth? That's what being you is. its not a bad thing and best I can tell you've actually used it to your advantage." Gia leaned back against Richie, suddenly a bit tired. "Just Listen to Mic, she'll help."

Jon listened to Gia and sighed. Everything she said was true, but what did this mean for his life? Turning to Mic he shrugged, "Ok tell me more."

Mic sat down beside him "My knowledge is a little sketchy but the way you are using this now is kind of right, but what you have to be careful of is taking it from people in big amounts like you did with Gia, um, you also will have a life mate, one that can take your excess energy from you, and also feed it back when you need it, kinda like a storage unit so to speak. Once you are bound with them, if you are apart from them you will still be able to feed off the crowds and people around you, but if she's not around, she might grow hyperactive without you, as her energy wont be able to be taken," she tried to explain.

"Well if all that's true then how do I control it huh? How do I keep from hurting someone?" He glanced over to Gia a moment, "I don't think I'm responsible for HER looking that pale dammit, I didn't do that."

Mic watched Gia "Well no, you didn’t cause her paleness, you took her energy dangerously low though. You have to learn to concentrate and control it. You will know and learn and sense who you can take it off, it will just take practice. Like me, I don’t seem to get sucked that dry when you touch me, I can feel it but it doesn’t seem to hurt me like it did Gia," she explained.

Jon's brow lifted. "Oh really?" He reached out and ran a finger along Mic's arm and again felt the flash and sizzle that seemed to flood through him. "I didn't hurt her though, and you don't seem to be hurting, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing."

"Oh I am not hurting, not at all, and no it doesn’t hurt, and neither does what Richie does, well unless he wants it too, you will find that a vampires bite, or touch is in fact very pleasurable to the person they are feeding from," she smirked. The familiar sizzle of his touch hitting her was making her shiver all over.

His fingers slid up to brush over her lips, his mind centering his need into the simple touch. "So just concentrating on doing it or not will help?"

"That helps, and if you need it, if you are tired you can pull it from someone, but for what ever reason, I can tell when you need it and when you don’t need it right, you're fully charged, so of course your touch will feel different than if you need energy," she smiled.

Jon nodded. "What about him?" He pointed to Richie. "How's them teeth gonna .. well.. " He shook his head, "Damn my life just took a trip to the twilight zone."

Mic chuckled "Same thing, he will learn to control them. He can make them show or not depending on his want, not just when he needs to feed. Having your support will be vital Jon, he's got a harder way of surviving than you, I know its a hella lot to take in babe, I do but I will be here if you need me to help, we both will"

Gia shook her heard. "Look at the bright side, it seems to make you both very alluring, it will help you sell tickets." She appealed to his more mercenary side casually giving him a moment to consider things completely. "Test it out at your next concert. Well except for fangs on stage that is."

Richie laughed "Oh I could see that as a neat party trick, hey Sambora show us your fangs!"

He shook his head "Its just so much to take in, how ironic that we both have these, I dunno powers but also that we met both of you, its such a coincidence" Richie pondered.

Jon snorted, "Hardly a coincidence, they were standing side by side at the concert man."

He frowned "Noo I mean that they knew all this and all this happened at the same time we found out we were, well this. You got the better deal man, although some people's blood tastes like the sweetest honey," he said winking at Gia.

Gia gave a rather unladylike snort, "And just how many other's have you tasted to decide that Richie?"

Chapter 21

Mic watched as Richie led Gia out, she breathed a sigh of relief to finally get her friend away from Jon, who didn’t know what he was doing. She knew she would have to attempt to tell him as he was going to become too dangerous otherwise without knowing. Damn it, why did she have to sleep with him and start this all, this was all her fault. She turned to Jon who still had his arms around her firmly. She looked up and forced a smile. "We need to talk Jon, somewhere private" Jon pressed a kiss to her lips, his eyes sparkling with his rising need. "Well lead the way baby and we'll talk, yeah we'll talk long slow and good." His lips tingled her senses as she pulled away, the energy in his eyes being swayed by the lust she saw rising in them. "Come on" she said taking his hand and pulling him outside. "We'll walk home, get some air," she suggested as she hooked her arm into his. Her mind feeling calm and steady at his presence, she could feel his energies leveling out slowly. His brow arched slightly, "You want us to walk two miles through San Diego to the hotel when I have a car in the parking lot?" Mic shrugged "Sorry I wasn’t thinking, I just know my cars gone, I didn’t think you'd have one," she admitted. "Lead the way," she smiled watching him and evaluating her feeling towards him, even if she did think he was attractive and had a cute boyish charm that oozed with charisma she couldn’t go down this path with him, she just couldn’t. He laced his fingers through hers and walked her to the rental car. Opening the passenger door he stood back so she could sit. "I have a feeling my hotel room is busy so why don't we take a drive along the shore first? You can do your talking." "Sounds good Jon" she strapped herself in and took a deep breath, how did you even beginto explain this to someone that had no idea, at least Richie had a slight inkling with his dreams of Gia and his fangs. Jon slid into the driver's seat and cranked the car before shifting into drive. As he pulled out of the parking lot he reached for the radio and turned it on full blast. "So something's got that pretty head of yours in a twist, what is it ? worried about your little friend off with the big bad rock star?" Mic grimaced "Yeah maybe." She pulled the window down to let some air in. "If you only knew," she muttered staring out at the bright lights that started to whiz by. He turned off onto a side road that led to the shoreline and within minutes had parked close to the beach. "So why don’t you tell me babe?" She closed her eyes and started to tremble a little knowing she was about to change his life. "Jon, you need to know that Gia and I are not just normal girls, we're gypsies, Romany gypsies," she tried to explain. "Well that just scares me silly." Jon snorted lightly, "I'm Italian, so?" Mic undid her belt and turned towards him. "It means a little more than that, we are descendants of the Romany people, we possess certain qualities that you might call magic" Jon rolled his eyes and started laughing. "Oh so your a witch.. gonna cast a spell on me lovely lady?" He shook his head. Well hell not only had he scored the snarly one but she was crazy to boot. Mic tried to remain calm, she had to figure someone like him was going to react this way. "Look, no I'm not a witch I don’t even know what my powers are, Gia has visions and she can scan people, I just haven’t developed mine, till just recently anyway...but Jon that's not the point, there's something else, I think you're..." she trailed off, he thought she was crazy she knew it. "You're an energy sucking vampire Jon" He looked at Mic his eyes wide with shock. "Lady you're crazy. There’s no such fucking things as vampires. You been watching too many horror movies." "I knew you would say that, and I don't blame ya, but they exist, Richie is one, but he's different from you, he has fangs, he's only just discovered it, and god Gia is, I think, his life mate, and I think I'm," she paused. What was the use in telling him that, he didn’t believe her. "Lady your fucking nuts." Jon reached for the ignition ready to drop her off at the first available corner. "You're a pretty girl, you don't need fantastical stories to get a guys attention." "Who said I wanted your attention that way, I just wish you'd shut up and listen to me Jon," she spat her anger flashing through her eyes. He opened his mouth to let her have it only to find his lips wouldn't work, they were effectively fused together. What the holy hell? He tried again only to fail miserably in the attempt. Blue eyes went wide with horror as he twisted in his seat, anger beginning to flare. He couldn't fucking talk. What had this gypsy girl done? Mic's eyes widened as she watched him try and talk, she'd done that, holy shit, how the hell did that happen? I wish magic? Noooo. His fingers began to tap against the steering wheel as he watched her warily. What drug? What mind control had she used? Was she someone who wanted to destroy his group and him for some reason? Why? Anger continued to build as he sat there silent wishing silently she'd open her damned mouth and SAY something. She decided to try it one more time as she watched him clearly brood over this."Jon I wish you would talk to me," she said calmly as she waited to see what happened. "You fucking hussy, what the shit are you playing at? First its not talk then its talk. your worse than a critic. I tell you what, You’re crazy, your insane and I’m taking you someplace safe, like a fucking sanatorium. What kinda drugs did you slip into my drink huh? What are you aiming for?" He paused and took a deep breath his fear and anger firing his very being. "I can't believe you'd even THINK I'd fall for this shit. You wanna believe in fairy tales go on.. but my heads firmly connected and its gonna stay that way!" Mic snapped as his fire ignited her own "Don't you dare talk to me like this, I know that it’s a lot to take in, I do, but I'm not lying, honestly I am not, I didn’t drug you, but hell I should of known your narrow minded the world is all about me attitude couldn’t take this" she snapped His voice grew dangerously soft and silky. "Naah the world isn’t all about me, It's all about ME, Richie, Teek, Dave and Alec, and baby you're fucking with me and my guys. That means your pretty little room mate is probably trying to trap Richie into something too. Well you'll see it won't happen. Not in a month of Sundays!" Mic felt his anger, and knew if he touched her she'd flip a switch. She understood that he was confused and this was alot to take. She sighed "We're not trying to fuck with you guys, we'd never do that and Gia and Richie is something deeper than you probably realize right now, I don't want to hurt you I just want to help, I wish you'd understand that" "What you wanna help me into a crazy place? Lady my life is stressful enough, I don't NEED fanciful stories." He cranked the car and pulled back onto the road. "I'll just swing by the hotel and grab your pretty little friend and you can both just go home. Thank god we're leaving San Diego in the morning." He kept sliding glances her way as he drove. Magic and vampires, energy sucking and different, he couldn’t help but wonder what type of drugs she was on. He shook his head and prayed he got to Richie in time before the other nut got pregnant or worse. Pulling into the hotel lot he quickly parked and shut the car off. Even though she was crazy his upbrining had him sliding around to open her door for her. Taking her arm he walked swiftly to his door and slipped the key in the lock. Opening the door he flipped the light switch on as his eyes went wide. What the hell? Richie had just sank his fangs into her neck and was again tasting the sweet nectar that flowed from her into his thirsting mouth when the light blinded his eyes. "What the fuck?" he pulled away and looked around to the doorway where Mic was standing with a very wide eyed Jon, whose color had drained from his face.