[Underworld] Circle of Hell

[Salem Renfield]

The black French doors slid open slowly, as in film slow motion. The sheer curtains that hung from the ceiling to the floor billowed mystically in the wind. They came to a stop before hitting the wall and, as it normally did, a white fog crept into the room from the patio outside. It hovered over the wooden floors, carpeting it in seconds, lazily floating towards her bed. She scanned the room, as she had always done at this point, seeing the full moon lighting up her room in the dark grey tint throwing objects into rough and frightening shadows. They were obscure and caused her over active imagination to make them move. Her eyes kept finding new things to fear.

A gust of wind filled the room, her curtains moving wildly and an unfamiliar scent to fill her senses. She strayed to find something in the shadows, parts of her room purposely being in shadow, black nothing allowing her mind to fill in the void with whatever she wanted. Her heart beat within her chest was pounding in her ears, she could see her white tank top moving from the blood that was being pushed throughout her hot body. Although she saw nothing, she could feel something, hear something, sense it. Her ears strained to find a noise, all it seeming to hear were faint whispers of nothing. She frowned and focused on the corners that were pitch black, empty, disturbing. She swore she could feel something crawling over her skin, all over her, but she was unsure of what it was. But it was something.

Salem looked right, left, behind her, anywhere she possibly could she study, put some sort of answer with. But it was nothing. Always nothing. She saw something move in the corner of her eye and she jerked her head to the left, gasping at the sight of herself in the mirror attached to her vanity. She sitting on the bed, her conforter at her waist, her hair flying everywhere from her disturbed sleep pattern, she glanced at the blackness in her mirror and saw what she had always seen, nothing. She heard her name being stated lowly and she quickly looked right and came face to face with the monster who gave her these night terrors. Piercing, pale skin, fangs that were sharp and ready to pierce the flesh he was seconds from. A grin of perversion, a look of sheer evil, it all seemed to tie together with what had been unfolding in her room. Hissing was low in her ears, causign the hairs on her neck to stand on end, giving her a shiver up and down her spine. She stared into its eyes seeing nothing but blackness, as she had in the corners of her room. Her mouth quivered with fright as the monster crawled towards her on hands and knees, licking his lips seductively as if she were to be the most tender piece of meat he'd eaten. As always, in reaction to his actions, she leaned back as if she could get away, but there was something holding her there. She breathed in deeply and was ready to scream, but she was unable to make the sound, unable to even try to make a sound. She watched him inch further and further till he was right there on top of her, like a cat ready to feed on its prey he leaned back and looked at her beginning to lowly growl. Unable to move Salem watched him with fear, heart beating so fast it would fly out of her chest. But suddenly she found her voice, found that she could scream and she did so quickly. But just as fast as she screamed, the man lurched forward even faster.

Screaming at the pain that was to come, Salem Renfield flew up in her bed, quickly grabbing her neck where she had felt the puncture of the fangs, the pain that was indescribable. She glanced at her body, praying that she had no markings on her anywhere. She looked up at the doors that led out onto her patio to find them closed. No fog, no hissing, no words, no darkness. The moon allowed her to see everything in the room. She looked to the left to see herself in the mirror and she realized that this had been another dream, another dream in which that thing was there pouncing her and killing her.

[Dai Yosada]

His lips curled up in a smile that would wake the dead. Eyes deep and endless and black. Skin white like the moon beaming down at him cheerily. How he hated cheer. Fangs, white and glittering, shimmered out from under the black hood of his long cloak. It was all perfect. Her screams, her desperation to be rid of him. Everything was going perfectly as planned.

"Angel," he purred, his black eyes shifting to the tall form leaned against the black Benz parked outside the apartment building. The man, slender, with white skin and whiter hair blinked his blue eyes from under the black fedora. He uncrossed his arms and fixed the black leather gloves back on his hands.

Dai Yosada turned from his spot and strode towards the car, pushing back his hood to reveal his dark hair, thick and choppy, with braids at random from his neck, white and black. His thick boots made a heavy clunking sound as he made his way to the car. His companion, giving him a fanged smirk, opened the door for him, allowing him to slide into the lush leather of the passenger's seat. The door slammed shut with an expensively muffled sound. Dai's eyes followed Angel as he moved around the car to get into the driver's seat.

Dai ignored him and looked out the window at the tall apartment buildings. The engine started and he listened as the wheels crunched on gravel in the alleyway. The apartment slowly moved from his view as Angel drove them out onto the road, empty and desolate.

"And?" came the smooth voice from the driver's seat. Dai licked his lips, hissing slightly at the interruption of his silence. He looked over at the white man, so young. He considered him for a moment before answering.

"Soon, my Angel," he muttered, looking back out of the window. "I'll have her soon."

[Salem Renfield]

She was tired, dead on her feet so to speak, but she wasn't really quite fond of thinking that to herself considering her dreams were becoming more violent, closer to a true ending. Most dreams she had ended when she was about to fall and hit the ground, or whene someone was going ot stab her, but these...these felt so real that she swore at any given time, she'd come to that point when it was stime to wake up, before those fangs entered her neck, that she would feel the pain. Salem knew that soon she'd probably never wake up. She jerked from the cold and felt her arm hit a crystal paperweaight. She gasped and literally flew over her desk to grab it before it crashed to the ground.

"Damn." She said to herself, biting her lower lip as she put it back onto her desk, mad that she had even said such a word, never being one for swear words. She sat down in her chair and leaned back, she was jupy today, far more than normal. She hadn't gotten much sleep for fear of having another dream, she was stressing over several tasks at the museum, her car was wrecked and in the shop, she had new items needing to be signed, and she was behind on her catalogging. Today was a long day, she knew, which was why she had already made a second helpiong of coffee.

Salem was needing to talk to someone about these nightmares, she had rid herself of them once she started college, but now she was starting to have them again, far more violent. She had been having nightmarse for almost a month and all of them starred one man, if she was so tempted to call him that. His eyes, his voice, the noises he made, the way he looked, and moved. It was all terror to her even if she knew it was a dream. She wasn't very gullible, but since she was having those dreams she was wondering if perhaps that person was real for she had seen him several times before.

The phone rang and she jumped high out of her seat, almost into the floor. She sighed out and reached over and grabbed the phone.

"Renfield." Her boss was informing her of either the lateness on her catalogs or a new shipment. The latter being correct. "Already? Yeah, I'll go down and sign." Salem hung up, wondering why she was suddenly getting so many pictures from some unidentified person. It was donations, more than likely, but she was unsure whether or not to open them considering they were addressed to her. It was the eighth delivery this week.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai slept during the day. Or at least, he usually did. But today he was reviewing a few photocopies of files one of his lackeys had retrieved from the museum in town. They were records. Records of a one Renfield, Salem. He had been learning about her the entire week, tormenting her for months. Her break would come soon, he just did not know when.

He sat at the table, the lap top screen glowing at him as the papers were proppe on his crossed legs. He had read these pages eight times already and was beginning to become exasperated by the fact that nothing new was coming out of them. He glanced up as he heard Angel turn restlessly in his coffin not five feet away. The younger vampire never slept well if his maker was not sleeping. Dai smiled lovingly at the casket before looking back down at the papers, then over at the computer screen.

He tossed the papers on the desk and began to type in the codes to hack into the museum's personnel files. It would take some doing, but he wasn't totally dumb to these sorts of things. He had been trying to get into the system for a week, but it had taken a special concentration for him to locate the codes and commit them to memory. He licked his lips as his black eyes scanned the page in front of his and he clicked the one for Salem.

And everything spread out before him. Birthdate, mother, father, blood type--oh, that intrigued him--address, phone number, office number, medical records, previous diseases, disorders--only night terrors, which made Dai smile--anything and everything he would need to know about her was right here.

He wanted to brush up on his knowledge of her before he actually confronted her to devour her.

Angel turned restlessly and sighed. Dai's eyes shifted to look at the coffin. He smiled.

[Salem Renfield]

"I-I'm sorry?" Salem would have normally been holding the clipboard in her arms like a precious and fragile child, but the moment when the news came as to what she was receiving she was clinging to it for dear life. She blinked over a million times, her mouth dropped open in bewilderment, the man with the large truck staring at her like she were psychotic. Most people would have normally accepted what he had with open arms, especially musuems, but this woman was not. She shook her head and glanced down at the sheets of paper with documentation and summaries of what was being carried. Salem shook her head again and again, her eyes scanning the pages one by one, shocked to see they were always signed with a decorative, elaborate, script M. It made no sense! She was getting all these things from this person and she was beginning to wonder if perhaps she should take some time to see what the objects were. Especially after this.

"I-I'm sorry." She stated again, letting three pages she held in between her fingers fall onto the straight board in her right hand. "This is...um...interesting." She scratched her brow and glanced around the back of the musuem where large shipments were brought in. Cameras, security, fencing, such measures that had been taken.

"Don't you have exhibits dedicated to mummies? From the Egyptian era?" Salem turned her head back to the delivery man. She cocked an eyebrow, her mouth probably still dragging the floor.

"No!" She said glancing down at teh clipboard trying to understand all of this. "We just particularly meet with people before receiving shipments on grand scales. But...this...isn't really in the Egyptian category." The man looked at the truck that held the contents inside. She could tell he was beginning to wonder if perhaps security didn't check the objects very well if this woman was not aware of the shipment. Salem was concerned with that as well, but this had been the eighth, now ninth, time this week she had received packaged goods from this so called 'M'.

"Especially a....Gothic...elaborate...gold ridden....velvet interior...coffin!"

[Dai Yosada]

Angel would be fine without him for awhile, Dai had decided finally. The younger vampire was still getting used the whole undead thing, and clung to Dai like a lover, but he would be sleeping till sunset anyway, and Dai would most likely be back before then.

Dai pulled on the black leather gloves as he moved towards the stairwell door that would lead him to the daylight outside. He donned his black fedora and buttoned the trench coat. He pushed out into the street.

Sunlight hurt, it was true, but with the shadow of the hat and the clothing over every inch of his form, it hurt very little. He had the ability to walk in the sun for short periods of time without consequence, and with this attire it would elongate his time he could spend. Luckily, the sun was not out today. It was hidden behind large grey clouds that threatened rain. All the lovely weather of London.

Dai opened the door of the black Mercedes Benz on the curb and slid into the driver's seat. He closed the door and started the engine. It purred obediently as he pulled off the curb and began down the road, only one place he needed to go to.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem sat in her office, biting her thumb nail, pensive on this whole situation. So she had been receiving gifts, if she could go so far as to calling it that. She had many packages, although tiny, but heavy sitting in the corner of her office. She had neglected them of attention due to the fact that she had other things that were needing to be taken care of, not precarious gifts that were blatantly labeled for her and not to eh museum. Being caught looking at such things would be on work time and she had always mindlessly left them there all by themselves when she headed home for she was having to take the tube home for her car had been gone for quite some time and she was sure a stranger didn’t want to sit on a crowded subway seat with boxes everywhere.

She sighed out and stood up, tugging on the tail of her white button up shirt, preparing herself for what was in those boxes. What if it were body parts? The person was needing her to assemble them and put them into a coffin? The horror that ran through her mind made her sit back down and try to figure out something else to do. She bit her lower lip. She was afraid of a few boxes! What was the matter with her? Salem laughed lightly, uncomfortably, as she glared over at the brown paper wrapped objects tied with brown decorative string. Whoever this person was they sure were bring out all the stops in decorating touches. Calligraphy lettering, beautiful wrappings, and strings. It was highly surprising.

Salem knew she needed to stop being a baby and go over and look at them for it was a gift. But who in God’s name would send her a coffin? She glanced at her desk at the object she was receiving. Photographs showing her the object. She sighed and stood up once more and walked out from behind her desk and over to the objects.

“It’s just a box. A gift.” Salem knew this was doing nothing for her fear. What was there to be afraid of! She had seen dead bodies, carcasses for her work. This would be a breeze, yet she was still scared of opening them. The mind always getting the best of her.

Kneeling in front of one box she picked it up and surveyed it, looking at its sides, its underside, the top, the wrapping, the string, it was all so perfect. She bit her lower lip and untied the string and began to rip open the package, surprised to find a metal box with decorative jewels. She frowned and let out a confused mutter. That was different. Most people would put something that precious in a large box filled with packaging foam. She glanced at the tiny handle on the front. It was some kind of emblem. She touched it and quickly heard a little tick. She saw the lid pop open slightly.

Salem looked around her office as if she were waiting for someone to pop out from behind her and scare her. She realized how stupid this was and shook the thought out of her head and looked down at the box and lifted the lid, hearing it slightly creak from age. She saw a few old photographs, very old, curved edges, creases in the paper. Faded as well.

“Interesting.” She said to herself as she picked the small bundle up in her hand and pulled off the string that held them together. She saw nothing but darkness, gray-scaled photo’s that were rough, deteriorating, aged. She moved one picture to another, laying them into the box as she kept trying to find something, but all she saw was darkness. Until the last photograph. Her heart stopped, her stomach sank, her head spun.

“You.” She said to herself almost afraid of her own voice, afraid that the picture would come alive! Suddenly a knock at the door broke her concentration and she fell onto her butt, letting out a scream of fear and surprise. The door flew open and a man stepped into view.

”You okay? The man asked. A co-worker. Salem did nothing but breathe heavily, holding a hand to her chest, the picture being tossed…somewhere. The man nodded oddly and thumbed over his shoulder. ”Your tour group. It’s here.” Salem’s eyes grew wide and she glanced at her wrist watch. She was fifteen minutes late to start the tour. She muttered a curse, followed by a growl. She stood up and brushed past the man at her door and quickly jogged down the hall. Whatever was going on, she swore it would be the death of her.

[Dai Yosada]

"Oh, are you here for the two thirty tour, sir?" said the cheery young woman at the desk, her eyebrows raised expectantly at Dai who was leaned against the counter. He gave a curt nod and produced the money from his jacket. The woman excepted it with a smile and handed him three booklets with the information. She pointed down the hall. "It was to start down that hall there, but it began fifteen minutes ago, so I'm afraid they will have moved on."

"I can find them, thank you, miss," Dai said icily, reaching up to tilt his hat forward a little more as he walked through the decorative doors and glanced around. He spotted the group of chattering tourists waiting for thier tour guide and he moved in with them, blending in with them. Any of them that looked at him would never remember him. He looked like everyone and no one, he was now just a face in the crowd.

And the face he awaited was moving closer through the door on his left.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem heard the crowd and she almost slipped and fell from her heeled boots. She had regained her ground and turned the corner, smiling happily as the people looked aggravated that she was late. She apologized quickly for the inconvenience and told them there was a technical difficulty, although she was sure nobody would believe her for she was such a horrid liar.

“My name is Salem Renfield, I am the museum’s historian. Today we will be paying close attention to a section on my expertise. Gothic art in Europe. Now if you will all follow me down the corridor we will see our first exhibit, architecture.” She smiled and clapped her hands together and proceeded to direct the group down the hall. She closed her eyes and triedto regain her breath, for she had lost it many times this morning, especially after quite a fright and then having to run down into the lobby.

The people chattered amongst themselves and when they reached their designated area she was quick to explain the archways, castle pieces, the history behind all those that were on exhibit. She was allowing them a grace period to glance around before moving on, wanting to give them extra time for what she caused them to lose, and also to get a feel for the dreary works that people had put into the items.

This was her favorite room, by far. The exhibits were dark and morbid, dreary and bleak. It was quick a frightful thing to see at night when she was closing down, but having known it for so long she was no longer afraid of the shadows and ornamented silhouettes she had become accustomed to. There were large marble pillars holding up the second floor, but in a way that fit in perfectly with the themed section. The lighting was even dark, dreary, and scary. She heard a few people commenting on how nice it all was and she smiled, answering a question or two about a few pieces.

This was also a good time to survey her crowd. She saw a few familiar faces who happened to frequent the museum a lot, but others she were mainly new. She bit her lower lip, again answering questions and warning them they were moving on and that they’d be able to come back after the tour was over. She scanned the crowd and frowned and almost faded in her words when a person of dark stature stood bulked up, looking down, hat covering the face. That was something she didn’t see everyday.

“All right, if you will, we’ll move on to the next room.”

[Dai Yosada]

She had seen him. And he had given the exact effect he wanted. Fear.

It was Dai's favorite emotion these days. Because fear gave him control, and control was something he liked to have over situations. The tour group began off in a different direction and Dai looked up his eyes fixated on the woman's back.

"How often to you look at these displays yourself?" he echoed in her head. No one else around them would be able to hear it, but she would hear it as clearly as if someone were standing right next to her...or behind her. He melted behind a younger couple, his form melding perfectly with thier shadows. And no one noticed that one of thier group seemingly disappeared, because he was totally unmemorable. No one but Salem would ever know he was there amongst them, a breath away from eating them all.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem paused in walking and turned around with a soft frown.

"I'm sorry?" She asked, glancing around at the group, seeing a few of them not even paying attention to her and glaring at flyers and pamphlets. "Did someone ask a question?" A few people glanced around at others and they all came to the decision that nobody had said something. Salem found the lone figure all the way in the back, still glaring down at the floor. Why wasn't he looking at her or other things? Why was he continunously staring at the floor? She shivered and smiled.

"My mistake." She turned and walked into the other room, explaining the gothic designs in furniture, seating, dining rooms, all were on display, roped off. The room felt cold, this was her second favorite room for it put the people in a certain setting. They were glad to look around and chatter about it and, again, she stood close by, watching those who were there.

Salem wasn't truly watching, of course, her mind trying to wrap around the familiarity of that voice, those words, the feeling she got. It made her cross her arms. Even though she was wearring dark grey pleated pants and a long sleeve shirt, it still felt cold in the room. Normally this was the warmest room for the false windows that were to mimick real live windows in houses and castles.

Salem knew that voice, but from where? She frowned and looked at the backs of people, finding everyone except the darkened person. She suddenly caught the scent of a man and her mind was brought back to the real situation. She looked beside her and saw a few older women talking and pointing at certain displayed artificats. That smell, where was that smell coming from? More like who was it coming from.

Suddenly she realized she was going in circles, trying to spot that scent. She followed a few people, noticing that they either had a different scent or none at all. She'd be caught and ask if they were needing to know anything, nothing out of the ordinary really. She just knew that there was something she was missing.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai was behind her now. She couldn't really see him, only smell him, sense him, know he was there, but never know why, or how, or where. He ran his tongue over his lips and lifted a hand. He ran a finger up her spine.

"Salem...don't you think you should come with me?" he breathed, his voice like fog, or smoke. There, but not truly there. You could see it, smell it, taste it, but never touch it, never know where it came from. He brushed back a peice of her hair before melting back into another shadow.

"Don't you think you want out of this stuffiness, hm?" he purred from the form of a pillar. "I'm your doorway to ecstacy..."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem stood watching the crowd, but before she knew it something was there, something was touching her, talking to her, covering her. She felt her spine tingle as if someone were running their hands up and down her back, she straightened up and quickly gasped and looked around behind her.

The words made no sense, not truly, but it gave her the feeling that she should probably be fearful of whatever kept taunting her. She glanced around, her eyes scanning one face after another, seeing nothing but people laughing, talking, moving...but she then realized...

Salem jerked her head around after she swore she saw the man in the black outfit stare at her. By the time she realized she had been stared at by the mysterious tourist, he was gone. Again she was confused. What was going on? Salem lifted her hand and proceeded to tell poeple to had out of the room to another. Artwork. It was her least favorite. The paintings were bland, faces that had been contorted with torture, sadness, agony, all the feelings of depression and the plague being painted with dull lifeless colors and all being displayed in a darkened room to convey the feeling.

She heard the man talk to her and she was looking right and left, all around her, spinning in circles. She'd see the length of the coat disappear behind a pillar, laughter filling her head, teases, taunts, hisses, chills, all pointing to her. She'd puase to talk to people, asking if anyone was talking. They'd look at her like she were crazy. She then would see him looking up, only to no longer be there when someone passed by.

"Impossible." She said to herself as she watched what was happening. It was like she was standing outside of herself and everyone was oblivious to her and to the person she saw. THERE! Her mind screamed at her when she caught sights of him walking behind a wall.

"Hey!" She said loudly to the man. People stopped looking at pictures to find their focuse on her. She looked at them and smiled. "Sorry. You all look around. If you have any questions, be free to ask. Excuse me." She smiled and walked fast paced to the wall where she swore she saw him leave. The wall was a corner that had a door that blended in with the dark maroon walls. It wasn't an exit for fires, it was a door that only employees could pass trhough. Much like a secret path to other parts of the building. It was mainly used nowadays for security reasons.

She pushed on the door and it popped open. She alked into the dark hallway that smelled of the man. There were small lights in the cieling, but very dim. Some had even blown out causing her vision to be impared greatly.

The door latched behind her and suddenly she felt claustrophobic. She looked in front of her seeing nothing but a few orbs of light on the dark cement ground.

"Hey! You cannot be in here!" She screamed out loudly, hearing herself echo down the hall. "If you don't show yourself I am going to call security!"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai was a shadow now, but at her call he melted from them a flash of skin in her vision before he was out of that hallway, moving away from her, and away from the crowd.

A satisfied smile curled around his dark features. He moved past the front desk, dropping the untouched pamphlets in the garbage bin and leaving. It had begun to drizzle outside, and the water seeped through his jacket until he got into the black Benz with a content sigh.

He pulled off the fedora, brushing back his hair, and fixing his gaze on the museum. He cocked his head a little, wondering how crazy she thought she was now. He smiled, then started slightly as he felt a buzzing at his hip. He reached into his pocket, bringing out his phone and opening it.

"Hello?"

"After the girl?" came a smooth, just-woke-up voice. It was Angel. Dai smiled as he propped the phone against his shoulder and started the car, pulling out into traffic and turning around.

"Yes, my dear," he said, soothingly. "She's almost broken. You must remember, my Angel," he said, a hint of sadistic playfulness in his voice. "Humans are just like cattle. Hit them enough, torture them enough, and they do exactly what you want."

Dai pulled out in front of a pair of young teenagers. The swore at him out the window and then began to follow him. He grinned into his rearview mirror.

"Are you hungry my love?" he purred. "Dinner is following me home."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem locked the door to her office and let out a sigh, running her hands down her face, trying to understand what the hell was going on. She had not just imagined this man? This person who strikingly resembled someone she had seen before. She just could not put her finger on it just yet. But it was within reach, she knew.

She glanced down at the box that had been untouched since she last left the room in quite a hurry. She bent down and grabbed the paper and searcehd for an snwer that had been written, but it showed nothing, nothing but the M. She tossed the paper from her and sighed out, angered that this was the most confusing day of her life. She stood up and walked over to the desk and dialed storage. it rang several times beofre a man picked up, his Cockney accent very heavy.

"I need to check out my box delivered to me today. Is it down there yet?" The man paused breifly and was quick to reply with the answer she wanted to hear. She hung up and ran to the door and then out of the office and down the hall.

She knew something was amuck, either she was being stalked or she was going insane. Did that person who had disappeared and reappeared have anything to do with the packages she had been receiving? She was unsure but she had to get to the bottom of this somehow. Salem made her way into the cellar of the musuem where the men let her into the room where her coffin was.

"What the hell am I going to do with you?" She asked the mahogonay coffin that was sitting on anelevated table, White tape securing the doors from being opened. She was quick to pull it off slowly as to not damage the coffin. It had pure gold handles, it was heavy and real mahogany, etched drawings around the sides, letting her know it was a time piece.

She bit her lower lip after running her hands over the slick, glossed box. She touched the cold handles and them grabbed the side and pushed up on the coffin, grunting at the heaviness. She felt it pop open, the whole seven foot lid, and show her true red velvet lining, even a pillow. She frowned and smelled the scent of the man again.

Salem was baffled. Why the hell did she get this? She stepped closer and saw a tiny little piece of paper with that letter she was getting all too familiar with. She picked it up and quickly unfolded it and saw romantic handwriting, script and fancy cursive. She looked around when she felt a cold chill, the room being dead quiet and still. She sighed out and tried to read the paper. She looked over at the wall and grabbed the telephone and pushed a few buttons. She bit her lower lip and waited for a response.

"Doctor McCallum, hi this is Salem Renfield at the museum. I am needing your help on translating some writing on a piece of paper."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai waited impatiently by the door for Angel who was still back in the back room. Dai listened as his offspring rustled around and then a moment later reappeared, pulling on his own black trench coat, and pressing his fedora to his head.

"Ready, my love?" Dai asked, annoyed. Angel didn't say anything but moved past him and out the door. Dai shook his head. His friend could be so difficult sometimes. Dai followed the taller vampire out of the door and into the dark streets of London. The moon wasn't out, it was a new moon, so the only light was provided by the city.

Dai began resolutely down the street towards the lot he had parked thier car in earlier that day. They were going to keep thier nightly post by Salem's apartment, Dai already prepping to delve into her mind again.

As much as it helped him with keeping people in check underneath him, Dai did not like going into other's minds. He had yet to figure out his own, and wandering about in someone else's was intimidating. And if he didn't do it right, he could get lost in there. That was where Angel came in. If the younger vampire notcied sign of him struggling to get out, Angel was responsible for bringing him out.

Dai breathed in a long breath and sighed it out. It wouldn't be long now before he could finally retrieve the goal he'd been so long seeking.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem sat on her freshly made bed, staring at the piece of paper that was now concealed in a plastic baggy, labeled by a number, and a handwritten translation right next to it. She had on her reading glasses and was sitting there hunched over, her elbows on her thighs, wondering if this was a threat or something else. She had been pondering on its meaning ever since the translation came about.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out, glancing up at the windows in front of her and the patio to the rgith. She quickly looked around the sand colored room, the only light being on was that on her side table to her right. The black iron art piece was small, but the lighting it gave off was huge and calming. She stood up and walked over to the window and grabbed the curtains with her hands and pulled them together. They were sheer and white, but it offered some sort of safety blanket for her considering she wasn't one who wanted to live in the dark.

She slowly walked over to the patio door and glanced out the many window panes. The only thing she hated about her two French patio doors was the fact that it was all windows, no coverage. Anyone could easily break into her house, luckily she was on the second floor. She opened the doors and stepped outside and glanced at the busy city far off. She wondered why she was having such nightmares and why it involved this unfamiliar person. Either way it made her chill. She turned around and went back inside, closing and locking the doors tightly followed by closing the curtains.

She made her way back to the bed and flopped down and grabbed the translation.

"Enjoy the new bed." She glanced down at the original and saw the M. "What the hell." She said to herself. Salem wasn't down on jokes, but if this was one...there would be hell to pay.She sat the two items on the bedside table and reached under the lamp and turned the light off. She took her reading glasses off and sat them in the protective case and put it into her table and was quick to get under the white comforter and snuggle into comfort.

[Dai Yosada]

Angel pulled them into the gravelly drive next to the apartment buildings. There was almost marks in the ground where they sat in the same place every night. The white haired vampired turned off the car and leaned back in his seat with the rubbing sound of expensive leather on expensive leather.

Dai watched him for a moment before pressing his fedora on his head and getting out, stretching his back. He shut the door with the thudding sound and hear Angel get out as well. Dai leaned against the car as his companion moved around next to him. Dai smelled cigarette smoke and glanced over to see Angel smoking luxioriously. He sneered and turned his attention back to the french doors on the second floor.

Salem thought she was safe up there. Thought that no one would ever break in and steal from her, or hurt her. But what she didn't know was that Dai Yosada did not need a ladder, or a gun to get into her home and frighten her. He did not need rope and tape to tie her down and rape her. He simply used his mind. The mind was such a powerful tool. Mortals simply did not know the extent and oly used a quarter of thier own. Vampires, however. They tapped into powers that mortals could only write fiction books about.

"She's not asleep yet..." Dai muttered, and Angel looked over at him. "We wait."

[Salem Renfield]

She tossed here and there in her bed, grunting as she slowl slipped into the sleep that she was welcoming for she hadn't been able to get a good nights rest in a long time. She was thinking good thoughts, thinking of something that made her happy, something that she could practically dream about. She thought of a hot actor, a hot singer, a movie she wanted to see, a boyfriend she was needing, a kitten, lavender fields. Anything that would ease her mind and allow her to sleep into a land of nothing but good dreams.

She felt sleep consume her and before she knew it her mind was hard at work, allowing her to dream of those lavender fields. But almost as soon as the image progressed, the sky that had been blue and crystal clear was quickly clouding. She shifted in her bed, sleep heavily veiling her. She moaned and flinched when the storm clouds rolled quickly, dangerously so. It seemed as if she were flying through the fields. Normally fear would have set in normally, but it was still a calming feeling, however it was becoming harder and harder to stay calm, especially when the scent of lavender was being replaced with that unfamiliar mans and her house was well in view.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai was waiting for her.

He stood in the window, watching as she inched nearer and nearer, the lavender fields surrounding the house, nothing else for miles. Storm clouds rolled angrily around, and Dai stood in the middle of her bedroom, waiting for her to come to him.

Even though she was frightened of what she saw in the dreams he gave her, deep inside she waited for them. Hoping that myabe that night would be the night she would recognize him, or know his smell, or understand it all. He saw her drifting nearer and he purred, slithering across the room, snakes, made of black smoke sliding from under the bed, writhing around on the floor, joined shortly by spiders of the same material, as Salem was in her room again, but in a distorted version of it.

The mirror on her vanity--it warped everything. The snakes slithered angrily around thier feet, the spiders surged and crawled over thier ankles and legs. Dai was concealing his features with a clown mask, his head tilted awkwardly to the side as he watched the woman.

"I'm your door to ecstacy," he whispered, the clown mask grinning wickedly at her. "Let me have your essence. Your blood."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem realized what was going on the moment she saw her own house. She was suddenly wanting to get away, straining to move, straining to scream, straiging to just realize that this was a dream, but her body and her mind wouldn't pull out of it. Struggling was doing her no justice, wearing her out physically, mentally as well. She felt her legs being touched by the decorative plants outside on the patio and then it was like she had been directed into the room. The doors opened for her, the floor right below her. She was stopped and sat on the ground, yet she was still unable to be in control.

She saw the scene before her, her room in such a dark shade that nothing looked the same, her mirror...the items..the bed...nothing was the same. She frowned when she heard hisses and felt something on her. She looked at the ground and saw snakes and spiders rolling over one another. She moved to jump, but it was to no avail, they were everywhere. She screamed with the feeling of having things over her, then the voice, the smell, everything came together. She heard the voice of seduction, the voice of reasoning, the voice of her nightmare. She glanced up and gasped in horror, her eyes watering with fright, her body heat beginning to rise. She tried to move but it was like she was stuckin in a glass box, limited range of movement.

A mask of sheer terror stared at her, with the body and sound of the other monster that she had gotten acquainted with. She looked away in fear, but some force drove her to look. Before she knew it she was being dragged across the floor, his hands well at work, he was pulling her towards him. She tried to look away, but nothing could be done unless the man in control wanted it to. Salem's eyes were stuck on the mask, stuck on the object, stuck on the horror she faced.

"Sweet jesus." She managed to say lowly, unable to say a curse word which at this point she would have highly wanted to express herself. "What are you?" She questioned, unsure if she was even wanting to know the answer. "Go away." She stated in a voice that was nothing but laced with fear, terror, and the dire need to get away.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai purred as he dragged one hand up and grasped the mask, pulling it off his face and tossing it against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces all of them exploding forward. But as they flew around they all slowed and finally stopped, floating around he and Salem as if waiting to dive in and stab into their bodies.

Dai smiled at her as she was finally mere inches from her face. His eyes explored hers, saw the sheer terror. He rubbed his face agaisnt hers like a cat and gently tilted her head to the side to give himself a clear shot. Once he paralyzed her mind, her body would be at his mercy in reality. He ran his tongue over her pulse point and leaned back again, his eyes slowly draining of color as he readied to bite her.

"I?" he laughed. "I am your worst nightmare...see?"

[Salem Renfield]

In a way her body was reacting to it in such a manner that made her hate herself, her knees were weak, her body vulnerable, her needs needing to be fulfilled, and having bottled up sexual urges, having a man licking her neck was not a very good thing to have happen at that exact moment in time. She fought her sudden liking, fought it like there were no tomorrow. She looked at him with severe hesitance, she wasn't even wanting to breathe because of their closeness. She swallowed and tried to pace herself, but it wasn't working, her heart was beating too fast, the fear could probably even be smelled.

"My nightmare." She repeated seeing his eyes drain of all color. It was a shocking thing to see, shocking to realize and comprehend that this might be the end of her dreams, her life, her existence. "Why are you following me?" She questioned after trying her best to breathe normally, but it still came out choppy and in panicked breaths.

"Why are you stalking me?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai paused a moment, then laughed, leaning back slightly. She wasn't going anywhere, and he figured he owed a dying woman and explanation. He stepped back a pace or two and leaned against the wall.

He tossed his head and all the snakes, and spiders, were sucked back up underneath her bed, leaving the room in absolute silence, except for the woman's heavy breathing. He smiled at her again.

"Have you any clue as to your ancestry, Salem Renfield?" he asked, his voice lowered now to it normal deep pitch. "Do even know what you are worth to me?" he shook his head. "Of course you don't because you think you know yourself, but you don't. You think you have knowledge, a life, friends, but you have nothing. And you won't ever have those things," he muttered. "Because mortals don't have the mental capacity to achieve the ultimate higher thinking.

"I need you, Salem. To complete my abilities. Without you, I can't achieve my highest level of thought, or abilities, you see. And if I choose to, I can give you a form that will take your body and your mind to a level of perfection you've never known," he paused a moment. "Any other questions?"

[Salem Renfield]

"Yeah," She stated to him. "Why won't you go to hell?" She leaned back as best she could, trying to rid herself of it all. Trying to get rid of the nightmare in her life, in front of her.

"You always think of yourself and what others can do for you?" She raised an eyebrow and wondered how she could wake herself, but she didn't know how. Nothing in her room was really there, it was all a dream. She wondered what she could touch that would cause pain, what could let her realize that it was time to wake up, time to turn on the lights, time to get some help for her night tremors. But the longer she stayed there the more she realized that perhaps this wasn't going to have a good ending after all.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed in his throat.

"My dear sweet woman, I am in hell!" he licked his lips and moved forward again. He leaned close to her observing her blue eyes. "And yes. I do always think about myself. I have no one else to worry about..." he paused. "Now."

He reached up and moved her hair out of the way. He needed to make her mind shut down so that he could get into the actual apartment and truly bite her. He wrapped on arm around her small waist and pulled her to him, running his lips down her jaw to her pulse point where he could almost feel the blood running through her veins. He couldn't wait until he actually drank her blood in reality.

"Now, my dear..." he muttered. "This might sting."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem inched closer to him and not by her willingness either. She looekd around trying to figure out what to do, how to get out of this mess that she was very unfamiliar of. Who else got put into this position every time they shut their eyes to sleep? She saw her light, her savior --no pun intended-- night tremors caused her great pain, bad memories and the only thing that brought her comfort at college was her religion, although she had abandoned it for quite some time, perhaps after this incident she'd get back into it. Her night tremors caused violent movement, so violent in fact it had knocked her crucifix off the wall and onto her bed. She felt the power struggle between them and his warning as to the sting. She grabbed her bed clothes and pulled them towards her, the crucifix within reach.

"Hopefully not as bad as this?" She felt her fingers touch the wooden cross, then wrap around the legs of the iron Jesus that was impailed on her ornament. She somehow managed to find some strength to move away from his lips and she was quick to put Jesus and the cross between the two, pushing it against his stomach. If old rules applied in this day an age, he'd be moving away from her. She just prayed to God that those books and stories were right.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai screamed.

He flew back attaching himself to the wall crawling upwards as his black feathery wings burst from his shoulder blades. His hold on her mind trembled and began to crumble. He hissed violently his fangs bared like a frightened tiger, as his eyes went black. The crucifix was causing him pain that he could not bare.

He leapt off the wall, his wings flapping wildly about the room that was too small for thier span. Dai was panicking. He didn't know which way was out, he was getting lost in his desperation to get away from the cross. He lashed out once at the woman before spreading his wings and flying out of the still open balcony doors.

"Dai!"

The voice was sharp and so was the pain in his neck. Dai sat bolt upright from where his body had crumpled on the ground. Angel was crouched over his legs, a small drop of blood visible on his lip. Dai touched his throat and felt the two puncture holes--Angel's first option when bringing him back from being lost. It had worked. The puncture holes healed quickly enough and Dai roared his anger. He didn't care who heard him, if God Himself did, all the better, let the Big Man come down and fight Dai himself.

Dai grabbed Angel's shoulder and shoved him away roughly, standing up, his hair fluttering around his face as he glared with pure hatred toward that second floor apartment. He snatched his fedora off of the ground and straightened his trench coat and gloves, snarling a string of oaths.

"Get in the car, Angel," he barked over his shoulder, still watching those french doors. "We're leaving."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem shot straight up out of bed, gasping for air, trying to get air into her lungs, trying to realize that she was awake from her dream. She lunged to the table and turned the light one. She flinched once, but quickly adjusted to the light. She looked around seeing that nothing had changed. The doors were still shut. She stood up and suddenly screamed, jumping back onto her bed and remembering that just a few minutes ago what was slithering out from underneath it. She leaned on her stomach and bent her head over to see that nothing was under there, just the wooden flooring.

Salem sighed out with relief and leaned back up, glaring around the room, over to the mirror that had its original shape back, seeing her rear end right in the middle of it all. She sighed out and looked at the patio door. She got up and jogged over to it, peering out of the windows to see a black car speeding off in the distance, nothing really unusual. Until she looked back over at her bed.

Salem frowned and leaned off the doors and hesitantly walked over to her bedside table. She glared at her bed, her eyes finding something underneath the covers. She reached out and felt the warmth from where she had been laying and scooted her right hand under the sheets until she felt an object. She pulled it out and almost dropped it.

"What the?" She stared up at her wall and saw a tiny nail sticking out then she looked to her hand. Her crucifix. She felt a shiver run down her spine. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something and she quickly turned, holding the crucifix out in front of her like it were a gun, but she was quick to drop her arms and allow her eyes to follow the small feather that floated down onto the ground. Once it landed she walked over to it and squatted, reaching out her left hand to touch it and to pick it up.

"Oh my god." She stated to herself. "It wasn't a dream."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai ripped off his shirt and threw his hat away from him, nursing the lingering cross pain as he moved into the coffin room and threw open his black coffin, peering down into his purple silk lining and pillow. He glanced over his shoulder as Angel followed quietly.

It wasa little early for them to be going to bed, but Dai was exhausted after all of that and he wanted to make up for the lost sleep the day before. He leaned up and laud down in his casket, slamming the door shut above him. He was plunged into total darkness and he liked it.

With a deep breath he shook his head, sighing it out as he stared at nothing above him. He heard Angel toss his shoes away from him and slide into his coffin. The other vampire closed the lid gently and then was still. Dai listened for another moment before turning over slightly and closing his eyes, cursing the headache he had.

This only heightened his want to have her blood. He needed it and wanted it. And he always got what he wanted.

[Salem Renfield]

"You think I'm crazy don't you? I am sure Vampires, crucifix's, coffins, nightmares...all of this is insane sounding." Salem sighed out and leaned her head into her hands and tried to make sense of it all, which was why she was sitting in a comfortable, bright, therapist's room where her friend sat across from her, staring at her blankly.

"But I promise, I'm not." Salem looked over at her and sighed. "I woke up and it was all there. I am getting coffins sent to me, I'm getting pictures of this guy! I am dreaming of him.." Her friend nodded and was quick to tell her the only thing she needed was good sleep. Salem had left the office with a feeling of disgust in the pit of her stomach. This was a lost cause. She was fighting a battle against, not only a vampire, but everyone els for they didn't believe her.

She had made her way to her office where she had a voice mail from a man she had given the photographs to test the age of the paper. To her surprise they were one of the first kind of photograps to ever be taken. This, of course, confused her.

Salem had decided she waited long enough and ended up opeing more of the presents to see that she had more jeweled boxes with pictures. She didn't understand for each one looked the same, she flipped through one, then another, and another...so on and so forth until she suddenly realized that this was much like a picture book. She had gathered up all the photos that had been delivered to her and put them in order by the small marks on the back of the paper, tallies. She wasn't evne sure if this was even what the purpose for them were, but it was worth a shot. She held the thick pages in her left hand and saw the first photo, nothing, gray. She bit her lowerlip and grabbed the right side of the pictures and put her four fingers on the back and arched it, pushing her thumb down, causing the photographs to be turned into a flip-book. She frowned when her guess was correct.

At first it was grey, then she saw a small noised picture of the man in her dreams, inching closer and closer towards her until all the sheets ran out. But the last one she payed attention to. In the background, peering out behind what looked like a pillar, was a woman, at least she figured it was. She frowned and put the photgraph closely to her face and strained, but it was too old, too blurred.

The phone rang and she jumped and looked over at her shoulder and frowned, wondering who'd be calling her office on the weekend. She grabbed the phone and answered, hearing an unfamiliar voice on the other line.

"Be careful with your new toy. He is quite a rough one. He doesn't play nice very well." Salem heard the man laugh and she glanced over at the objects on the floor.

"Is this M?" The man laughed lightly and she could hear him breathing in deeply.

"Marius." The line went dead before she could say anything else to the man. She slammed the phone down in aggravation. Sure she had always wanted some kind of excitement in her boring life, but she had always figured it'd be the man of her dreams sweeping her off her feet, or winning the lottery. Not having a man invade her dreams.

[Dai Yosada]

Angel was still asleep when Dai left.

It was early, around nine thirty on a Saturday. Few people were awake and about, or at least the streets were mostly empty and Dai didn't really see people beginning to come out. Probably because it was another cold, dreary London day.

He stuffed his hands deeper in his pockets as he tried to ignore the rumbling in his stomach. He was hungry and on a search for food. He had hoped someone would be out at this time, but the farther he walked the bleaker it got. He saw no one, and the ones he did see were either too old, with blood worn out, or too young, with sickening sweet blood. Dai was looking for a teenager, a twenty-something, even in thier thirties...but none seemed to be out and about to day.

He sighed finally as he turned down a street, deciding he might as well go look through the museum to see if he could dig anything else up about the woman. Now that she knew what hurt him, it was unlikely she would be without it.

[Salem Renfield]

Marius....England.....Transylvania....France....Gr eece. Salem typed anything and everything into her search engine specifically designed to find anything on those who had lived in those main countries pre-18th century. She knew it was silly, but she somehow had this inclination to search wherever she could at any available date. This Marius, although he did not have a last name that she knew of at that moment, it was still worth searching, still worth looking for.

"Bingo!" She screamed loudly, almost jumping out of her seat. She bit her lower lip, embarassing herself. She sat down quiickly, her hands shaking with joy, eyes scanning all the available files on the man. She was quick to click links, connect dots, write information down...but everything she had so far seemed mythical, gossip turned to rumors.

Apparently, what Salem figured to be truth, he had been a very ingenius artist who had disappeared at the turn of the 19th century in London, England. Having been an eccentric man who loved money and art he bought a castle just outside of Salisbury where he could be alone and be with all his riches and art, but his loneliness apparently drove him mad. Salem read more and suddenly was very interested.

So the lonely man ended up wandering into a nearby town late at night and snatch up young prodigies, men and women alike. They all disappeared and soon the town banned the man and even went to trash him home only to find he had created an army of immortals. Companions he apparently needed. Salem, of course, laughed at this information and moved on to others, but it seemed that every story had another spin on his loneliness. One name, in particular, stood out. A young vibrant man who had gone missing in a small Japanese village. Her mind went rabid with thoughts.

She searched high and low for some kind of photograph, but found nothing, no evidence on the boy. But something clicked in her mind. Marius went hiatus in England...perhaps he found her stalker in Japan? She couldn't help but feel a shiver for her mind kept going back to his words. Apparently, he knew the man who was invading her dreams and had for quite some time. Salem looked over at the boxes and shook her head.

"Trying to warn me?" She asked aloud. How would he have known? Salem quickly looked over her shoulder to look out of her grand window from the front of the museum. Was Marius here? Was he watching everything? She shivered and stood up, walking over to the window to peer out at the bright grey sky, jumping slightly when a drop of rain hit the window. It was another fine day in the foggy London town.

[Dai Yosada]

The museum wasn't open to the public today. Only to the workers who wanted to be in this early on a Saturday, which it appeared no one did. Except for one young woman he saw looking through some things in through a large window. Dai smiled genuinely as he looked through the window at her.

Dai had never been an unpleasant person. Not before he was turned. In fact, he had been quite a normal boy in a small fishing village in Japan, years and years before. He'd had a normal life, a normal family, normal friends. He had been a little strange, always, but never like he was now. Dai could still remember vividly sitting on the shore with his father and his best friend and fishing, talking and laughing together. He could still remember well being eighteen years old and meeting that man for the first time.

He wasn't Japanese, no very far from it. And though Dai had not been able to speak English, the man somehow communicated with him. Somehow. He had given his name as Marius. Dai had taken to calling him M. Because he could pronounce it better. He had been older, and charming, and immediately swept Dai's feet out from under him.

Everyone in the village warned him. Told him that M was not a good man, that he was planning things no one wanted. But Dai wouldn't listen. He never listened. So one night, when M came to his home asking that they leave together, Dai had no second thoughts. He simply packed what Marius told him to pack and they made thier way away from the village to a small boat awaiting thier arrival.

After that it was mostly a blur to Dai now. He remembered wondering where they could take the boat to, remembered wondering if he would ever see his family again.

Within twenty-four hours, Dai was dead.

Yet he remembered waking up mext to Marius on a large bed in a large manor that he did not recognize. His body was still and he felt cold. He could remember looking in the mirror. His skin was more pale than it had been before, his eyes darker than before. He couldn't speak Japanese anymore, not really. It had frightened him.

Dai looked away from the museum as his mind wandered to places he didn't want to recall. He suddenly didn't want to go in after the woman. He didn't want to bother her today. It was an odd sensation, having a day lain out before him without having the urge to torment her. It had been his purpose for so many months he had forgotten what he had done before knowing about her.

Flicking out a cigarette, he leaned against the cool wall of the museum and lit it, sucking in the toxins and sighing it out through his nose. It began to drizzle as he stood there. He titled his fedora a little lower to keep the sun and water off of him and smoke his cigarette in silence, as if he were waiting for something. But Dai knew if he began waiting for something, he would wait forever.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem leaned on her desk, her left hand behind her neck while the other played with the mouse, wondering what else to look for on this Marius character, but she couldn't think of anything. She leaned back in her chair sighing out as she closed the computer program trying to think of where else to go. She let out a moan nad rubbed her face, trying to imagine what it must've been like to be snatched from a family, like a monster from a fairy tale. She sniffed slightly when she smelled cigarette smoke, followed by the lingering scent of the man she had been dying to get rid of.

Salem stood up slowly, unsure as to where it was coming from for there was no smoking in the facility, also the building was locked and only certain personnel could enter the museum. She bit her lower lip and put her hands into her pockets and slowly lingered over to the window in her office, stopping just inches away and glancing outside, to the left then to the right. She saw smoke billowing around the panes and suddenly she knew he was out there, if that was even possible.

Salem wasn't afraid, surprisingly, she had her crucifix with her for protection against him, but at that moment she felt like she didn't need it for he wasn't really there. It could have been anyone stopping to have a smoke, in the rain, but she somehow could sense it was him. She bit her lower lip and leaned against teh window and looked out towards where the smoke was moving from. Now that she had learned some information she was more than willing to ask questions...at a safe distance of course.

Salem had never beleived in mythical monsters such as Vampires and Werewolves, but it was kind of hard to deny that there was a vamp ready and willing to suck her dry, and invade her dreams when she was most vulnerable.Som nay things ran through her mind at once, one right on top of the other, the most recent thought being when those pictures were taken of him and who the female was in the distance. But would she ever be able to find out without risking her life? She wasn't sure, but she was beginning to not like the thoughts she was having. She moved away from the window and back to her seat, sitting down and figuring it was better a time than never to get her catalogging done, after all she had all day.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai got a phone call from Angel a few moments after he had leaned against the wall to smoke. The younger vampire couldn't sleep, and woke to find him gone, and wondered where he was. Dai calmly reassured his companion before hanging up and flicking the cigarette butt into a puddle on the steps not far from where he stood.

Cars were beginning to pick up and Dai noticed more civilians walking around than he had when he had come here. Ever since the evening previous, he had been reevaluating his goals. Certainly, he still wanted the power that that woman's blood could provide for him. And he wanted to gain more knowledge that she could provide for him. But he had wondered, breifly, if he were going about it all the wrong way.

Ever since he had been abandoned by his Maker, Dai had been bitter. Bitter and angry and desperate for revenge. On someone. It didn't even necessarily have to be Marius himself. If it was just someone who would feel the same pain he felt, understand the horrors he understood, if he could just show someone, it would be like getting revenge on the Vampire who might as well have ruined him.

Dai had always been called vindictive. He held grudges like most men didn't. He was selfish, or had become so. He had never used to be like this. Never before would he have considered himself above someone else. As a human, he was one of the most caring people. But now...he was someone even he himself didn't know. And in a way, he didn't want to know. He was frightened of himself, the little shreds of humanity he still clung to deep inside, feared what was to become of him.

Dai didn't usually bother himself with thoughts like this. They had no place in a Vampire's world. Yet, over the months that he had tormented this woman, he had begun to draw startling parallels between he and his own maker. He was seeing traits in himself that he had hated so much in Marius. He hated it, hated being like him, hated knowing he was that man's creation, and yet he was turning into him. Blatently ordering about his own offspring, constantly forcing him into doing things he may not have otherwise down. Angel had a loyalty to Dai that was unrivaled and Dai didn't plan on losing him, but he was realizing that towards Angel and towards everyone else--suddenly including this woman--Dai was becoming more and more like Marius.

Dai leaned off the wall as he stuffed his cell phone back into his trench coat and tilted his fedora up a little. He moved in front of the window, peering in at the woman. She had a full view of him now if she decided to look up. He was intrigued by her now, more than just what she could do for him. Her courage the evening previous had given him a side of mortals he hadn't yet encountered.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem sighed and looked at her computer screen. What was her purpose of being there? Why had she even decided to come in today? her answer was oblivious to her now as she stared at the screen, her mind wandering back to the pictures and the man who had phoned her. How had he found her? How did he know her? How did he even know that she was having dreams of that vampire? Salem rubbed her aching eyes and looked up at the window. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped with horror and jumped out of her chair and backed away from the desk as if he were actually in the room.

He stared at her, rain pouring heavily now outside, staring at her with a look she hadn't seen before. He almost looked normal, human. Although she really didn't have any inclination as to what normal would be like for him since she had never seen him in such a way. She bit her lower lip and stared back at him. She wasn't feeling funy, she wasn't hearing things, she wasn't inclined to run or grab her crucifix, and she had all the free will she needed. Salem looked away for good measure, surveying the area around her desk taking note that there was nothing of importance there. She looked back up to find the person still standing there, looking in at her as if she were on display.

"You here to try and kill me again?" She asked, not even sure it he could hear her, but she was almost positive he knew she was frightened and taken highly off guard.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai cocked his head at her as she asked him the question. He leaned back a little, squinting a little and shaking his head.

"Not today," he told her through thier mind connection, as kindly as he could manage, which was some feat for him. He continued to watch her for a long moment before his mind caught onto a strange thought in her mind. A golden casket. Dai couldn't exactly read minds. He could influence minds, and catch snippets of thought if he tried, but every now and again, he would catch a thought here or there. He furrowed his brow slightly and pushed the envelope stepping towards the door.

"A casket?" he asked, this time using actual words as he laid one small hand on the door handle. It unlocked at his beckoning and he slipped inside out of the rain. "Why a golden casket?"

[Salem Renfield]

Her heart skipped beats whene he responded. She wasn't sure whether or not to believe him, so she kept her guard up, staring at him through the window as the rain cascaded around him. Was he completley oblivious to his surroundings. Suddenly she felt like she needed to run away especially when he entered the room, but she figured that if she needed to send him away that her crucifix was right at hand. Salem kept her distance, a good distance from him, but figured to at least ask him the questions that had been revealed to her. But it turned out, the man had questions as well.

"I dunno." She said looking at him almost in disbelief that the man who was stalking her in her dreams was real and was standing in front of her. A vampire at that. A vampire that might have been a missing boy in a Japanese village many centuries ago. She shivered at the thoght for she was unsure of his age and how long he had been like...this.

"Perhaps you could answer that. A man has been sending me little gifts here and there all week. Yesterday was a casket. The day before photograhs." She bit her lower lip and stood looking at him up and down, admiring him in a less fearful manner for he actually looked dress for a friendly visit, although she was unsure if he had actually planned this meeting.

"Why are you scaring me?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai reached up and took off his fedora to be more respectful and also because it was itching his head. He held it in one hand, the other plunged deep into his trench coat pocket. He wet his lips.

"I told you," he said, moving boldly forward. He passed her and went to her desk, leaning over it, looking at the papers and pictures that were strewn over it. He considered all of it for a moment before turning back and looking at the woman, being able to really examine her. She was average height, black hair, pale skin, and icy blue eyes. She looked more like a vampire than some vampires did. Dai looked around a moment before finding her with his eyes again. "Your blood. It's important to me." He paused.

"This man. Did he give a name to you?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem watched him and stepped back a few inches when he approached her desk. He had shown her his powers before in her dreams and she was not underestimating him in real form. She saw his eyes scan over t he pictures, then her, then the pictures, then back up to her. She wasn't sure whether or not if this meeting was in peace or in other reasoning, either way her standing there being scared was complicating answers to questions she was burning to ask him, even about his past history. At least if she were to die she could at least die knowing about the life on a man who could never die. Right?

She realized he had asked a question and she glanced at his hand and then up to his face, contorted with confusion as he himself questioned her.

"Yes, but what is it to you? Why are you concerned with a golden casket?" She wasn't willing to give up the information this easily without searching for reasoning. Eventually she'd tell him,

[Dai Yosada]

Dai blinked his eyes a few times, then gave her a nonchalant shrug. He leaned off of the desk and chewed his lip a moment.

"It's nothing to me," he said slowly. "I'll find out eventually." He rested his fedora on her desk and then tucked his other cold hand into the pocket on that side of his jacket. "But I imagine that it would be more likely I could give you answers that would mean much more than any answers you could give me."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem actually smiled at him. His response just brought a smile to her face for it was the truth. She was neneding more information perhaps out of her own curiosity than anything else. She sighed out, the butterflies escaping her for a brief moment in time as they shared a silence, whether or not it was uncomfortable she'd have to get back to that later. She was too concerned with getting answers and getting to understand this enigmatic vampire who was needing her in a way seh was unable to understand at that moment. Perhaps at a later date they could make some sort of deal that would let her keep her life! She sighed out and pointed at a chair nearby.

"Sit?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to grab her own. She needed to sit, she needed to relax, needed to understand that her crucifix was in reach in case this was a stunt to gain trust then attack. She slid into the rolling chair and brought it closer to her desk and peered over at the man in front of her.

"His name is Marius," She stated mindlessly. "He signs this old paper with a fancy M. No name. He finally contacted me a little while ago and told me his name." She looked up at the man and shrugged.

"Do you..can I know your name? I mean, you and I should at least be on a first name basis if you are going to ruin my dreams again." She tried to be humourous but she was always bad at it, always failed at being cool or suave. She bit her lower lip and clenched her jaw, she still not being completely comfortable with his being there.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's eyes flashed. Marius. He thought so. He suspected it. He felt his master moving around again, becoming active again. For what purposes, Dai didn't know yet. He shook his head to the chair and dropped his gaze for a moment before looking up at her and nodding.

"Dai Yosada," he tossed carelessly. His name meant little anymore. Sure, if someone was looking, they would find his name in a long, long list of people who disappeared in Japan so long ago. But no one would need to do that. Otherwise, Dai was as good as dead. He had to smile at that. Then he shook back some of his hair. "Marius, hm?" Dai snorted bitterly. He snatched up his fedora to roll it in his hands as a displacement activity. "Sounds like something M would do..." he shook his head. Then he waved his hand vaguely at the woman.

"Get rid of whatever he sends you. It means nothing, and will only serve to clutter you and your living space."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him grab his hat and wave a hand, was he leaving on that note? Hopefully not! She was about to contest the subjct, but felt it might have been unnecessary to stop him from going his own way, after all she didn't want to give him any ideas! She certainly wanted to sleep again at some point in her life. She grabbed a pen and jotted his name down and looked up at him, shaking her head slightly to rid her right eye of a peice of hair.

"How do you know Marius?" She asked freely. Even better, these two did in fact know each other and his answer would help her immensely on trying to figure out who he was, for she was sure he had forgotten long ago. At least that is what she read in those novels about vampires, the gothic, lonely, romanticised characters that lived in a veil of darkness, loathing every passing minute.

"His items are causing quite a stir around here, getting rid of them isn't really a choice I am willing to make, especially when this advice is coming from a man trying to kill me."

[Dai Yosada]

"He turned me," he tossed out, again nonchalantly. No one would believe her if she told them, so he didn't care to tell her whatever she asked. He licked his lips and then decided to sit down as she had offered earlier. He crossed his legs and perched his hat on his knee, straightening his trench coat. He looked up at her, discreetly sniffing the air. He could smell her blood from here.

"He..." Dai rolled his hand as if he had lost the word. "Bit me...and all of that, of course I am sure you know." He paused another moment. "Yes, I imagine they would. M always preferred to make a grand entrance. Wasn't complete without someone noticing him and crediting him for something. Had to surround himself with underlings who would do so on a daily basis." Dai leaned his mouth on his knuckles and gazed out of the window at the rain. There were people outside, oblivious to the fact that there was an undead not forty feet from them. They would always be oblivious. That is of course, until Dai decided to consume them.

"Marius is more often bad news than he is good, Miss Renfield," he muttered against his hand. "I wouldn't take his gifts any longer. They only give him leverage for showing up here."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem sat up in her seat at his words.

"Show...show up here? You mean...he'd do that?" She was definitely no longer going to accept them if this was the case. Knowing one vampire wanted to kill her was enough, but having two...that was just too hard for her to handle. She sighed out almost in shock that this was happening. She was really beginning to ponder her mental stability after this one. Who on Earth would believe that she was sitting in her office talking with a man who was dead, a vampire, a creature of the night who fed on helpless victims? It was absolutely proposturous! Ridiculous as well!

"Why am I so important? This is really stupid. Can't you go find someone else? I mean..why me? I am just doing what I love best, I didn't ever do anything to provoke this!" Suddenly it sounded like a plea for her life for she wasn't sure whether or not she was still going to have it after tonight. It had been bottled inside of her for quite some time that now was a better time than never to just express her concerns for her life! After all, didn't he do the same before he was...turned?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai nodded at her.

"He'd do that," he confirmed. Then he paused. For a long moment, he said nothing, just considered her thoughtfully. She looked familar to him suddenly. Like he had a breif conversation with her in the bookstore, or said 'excuse me' to her while getting out of a taxi. Maybe she just had one of those faces, but Dai's memory was fairly good. He couldn't imagine forgetting her if she had been important. He turned away from her again to look out at the dreary London weather.

"I asked you if you knew your ancestry. Obviously you do not," he said quietly before sighing heavily out of his nose. "Just suffice it to say--since I am far too old to be explaining these things again--that you have pure blood that can provide to me knowledge and power that is ultimate. And it is what I have been looking for," he explained, looking back at her after a moment. "You see?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem suddenly felt sad, not only for her new predicament, but for the man that sat right in front of her. Not sad that he was old and had been wandering the earth for ages, centuries, but sad that he actually was going to kill her for his own greed. It made her sad, very sad indeed.

"My ancestry?" She laughed lightly almost finding the words humorous. She had no ancestry just a bunch of dead old guys who were buried from here to eternity. No pun intended. She rolled her eyes finding this amusing. She sat back in her chair and looked at him studying him for a bit longer than she should have. She contorted her mouth, biting the inside of her cheek and her lip trying to put something together for the puzzle was far too constrewed to piece together just yet.

"So you want my blood? Am I getting this right? If so why are you taking so long? Why can't you find someone else with 'pure blood'? Why can't I give you a drop and let this all be over with?" Suddenly her questions were cascading out of her mouth, fear setting in once again when her brain actually comprehended that she was going to die at the hands of the person sitting in her office, sitting in front of her, talking with her.

"Sorry." She said suddenly, leaning forward and puttnig her head intp her hands. For a woman who was grasping the thought of murder by the visitor she wasn't doing much to stop it from happening. She was continuing the conversation, she wasn't calling the cops, she wasn't doing much of anything except slowly accepting it. This caused massive panic within and she wa feeling the effects now as she tried to think of a way to save herself ahead of time.

"Great." She said shaking her head. "My luck." She looked up at the man and suddenly was struck by a feeling of familiarity, especially by the look on his face. But she shrugged it off. This man was familiar because of all the times she dreamed of him, or he invaded her dreams whichever was correct.

"So...this is like cancer then? I'm destined to die? And don't give me cryptic answers like 'we all are going to die' because I am very aware of that!" She was trying not to become hysterical but for Godsakes! Who talked about being killed with the man who will, more than likely, be responsible for it?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai cocked his head at her being so distraught.

"Calm down, my dear," he said, a little bothered. "Does it look like I am about to fly out of this chair and kill you now?" he paused a moment. "As for your ancestry, there were very powerful men in them, and only you have that bloodline. It is why I cannot simply find someone else. No one's blood is quite like yours. And the reason I cannot take a drop, is because without it all, it the point would be moot. I would gain nothing and you would have a pinprick that would sting for a few days. It is all or nothing," he said matter-of-factly. Then he shrugged. "But, I'll have you know, you have severly thrown my plans into a whirlwind. If I wasn't having second thoughts, you would have been dead twenty minutes ago when I showed up on your doorstep."

Dai sighed out of his nose in annoyance. Why was this so different? Why was she so different from all the other nameless humans he consumed? He didn't give them a second thought, just fed and left. Yet she had thrown everything out of joint and he didn't like it one bit. He liked being in control of everything. And suddenly he wasn't.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him, almost surprised to find him comforting her in a way that madfe her feel safe...slmoat. It was very bittersweet for her ,. the clmaness she felt was coming from the man who inflicted the panic. She bit her lower lip feeling drunk and dazed by this whole mess and turn of events, very awkward turn of events she might add along.

His words rolled in her mind and before she was even able to think over what she was wanting to ask, she did it anyway.

"Then why haven't you, hmm?" She knew that making him bitter wasn't a good thing, so she stopped on that final note. She needed to think, needed to find a way to not die, to keep her blood in her body, and to make this guy go somewhere else...nut then again she was slightly unnerved by the fact that she didn't really want him to disappear just yet. This was a once in a lifetime chance for her....this was a vampire speaking to her. A bloodsucker, undead, monsterous, creature thing. And he was all hers at that moment, sitting in her office as if they were old friends.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai sighed again. He moved forward and then stood, patting his fedora back onto his head and clenching his jaw once.

"You just digest that. Someone is waiting for me at home, and apparently cannot sleep without me," Dai said, looking down at her while the eyeshine in his eyes sparkled. He tipped his hat. "You'll be getting a good night's rest tonight. Use it well, I am already regretting my decision to understand Marius's role in all this before I kill you," he said, rolling his eyes at himself. "I imagine your days will be getting much longer after this day, Miss Renfield."

Dai strode resolutely towards the door, pushing out and glancing around. He glanced back at the woman, and tipped his hat again. He moved out into the rain, pressing himself into his coat a little farther. He glanced left and right before beginning back down the sidewalk so he could get to Angel before the other vampire imploded in on himself.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him, her back straight and stiff. She found his words highly unsettling, found his entire being and prescense unsettling to be quite honest. She was wanting to burst out into thousands of questions about his past, his family, his age, where did he live now? So many things that she just felt couldn't wait, but he was moving out of the room too quickly for her to even blink. One second he was there and it seemed at another he was gone.

Salem realized she had needed to take some sleeping medication tonight or else she'll be pondering on her life's ending far too much, its bloody ending that would be highly painful she was sure. She leaned back in her chair and felt her stoamch turn and her heart break into a million pieces. Why her? Why did he have to be so greedy?

Salem was suddenly trying to find a plan to stop this madness, but all it equaled out to was more pain for her probably. She shivered and then sunk down in the chair and leaned her head on the seat. This was madness, she was going crazy, she had to have been. Vampires didn't exist, just like mermaids, dragons, werewolves...all figments of the imagination! She had always been that way and this was just a sign that she needed to go see a doctor.

But her mind quickly went back to her original thought, getting away. She could run, of course, but she wouldn't doubt he could track her down and find her, after all Marius had and she didn't even know him at all. What the hell was wrong with her?

[Dai Yosada]

By the time Dai returned home, he was tired and hungry and generally grouchy. Being nice soured his mood, so when he wandered inside and saw Angel playing solitaire he didn't want to exchange pleasantries with him and just told him to go back to bed.

Dai knew he had begun a very bad thing by not killing that woman when he had the chance. He should have, but his lingering conscious had gotten ahold of him and he had had too much time to think about his actions. Otherwise, it would have been another clean feast. But not now. Now, he was involved, and so was M apparently. Which was never good news. If Marius was involved, you could guarentee something would go wrong.

Dai crawled into his casket and pulled the lid shut with a heavy thud, listening as Angel followed him in and also laid down. When everything silenced, Dai got comfortable so that he could adequately feel sorry for himself. Which he would most likely be doing all day.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem had paced the office for hours, contemplating her inevitable fate, wallowing in misery and trying to find some ways to postpone her untimely death, which felt like it was literally at hand, whether or not this was true.

She was home now, sitting in her small study that was filled with books and papers and prints of art work and what not, it being messy yet clean, if that was even possible. She was trying to get tired. but it was not happening anytime soon for her, not at all. She was almost waiting for Dai to come into her mind considering she had been so used to it.

"Dai." She said out loud. She finally had a name to put with a face, one that had scared her before, but now haunted her memory as if it were fading. Something was still unsettling, of course hearing you were going to die becaues of greed and lust for power could have prompted that, something about his face or his name or his voice. There was something vaguely familiar and it was bothering her to not receive an answer.

"Dai, Dai, Dai..." She said to herself over and over again after she made her way to her bedroom to lay down and stare at the ceiling, knowing that tonight would probably be the only night she'd be able to sleep. Somehow she knew that even if she closed her eyes he would somehow still be there.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai had settled for taking Angel's blood. It was thick and sweet and Dai was reminded why he had chosen Angel in the first place. The young vampire had been a willing subject, as he always was to whatever Dai wanted to do with him.

Yet as Dai watched his younger counterpart sleep on the couch, knocked out by the blood taken from him, Dai's mind was plagued with thoughts of Salem Renfield, what was up with her, why she looked so familiar, why it bothered him so suddenly to think of killing her.

And Marius! Why did he have any right to come in and butt on Dai's own personal party? He always had, ever since he had first come to that fishing village. At the time it had been an aspect Dai had found charming. Now, it was just enfuriating. Dai wanted the other vampire to get stuck through the heart with a crucifix right after falling in a vat of holy water. He wanted the entire array of things that could happen to Marius, to happen to Marius.

Dai sighed out of his nose as he glanced to the windows he had opened after the sun had gone down. The city shimmered cheerily at him, oblivious to his problems and the problems surrounding those who associated with him.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem jerked in her dream, moaning out in sleep as she moved all around in her bed, dreaming of a time that was unfamiliar to her. It seemed to be a small village with many strange faces, yet seemingly familiar places. She didn't know what the dream was about but just that she was wandering aimlessly in a fish market trying to find something to scower and take home to the family, whatever family that happened to be.

Nothing semlled the same, looked the same, sounded the same, but it all had an underlying sense of familiarity. The people were speaking in a different language and she was confused and unable to translate or make out a single word or tone, it was just yelling, loud noises, carts, chickens, people, kids, anything and everything was going amuck. It was pouring the rain in the tiny little area, the streets were mud filled, no pavement or gravel or straw or anything just the naked ground that was being sloshed and kicked by the bustling feet. Somehow it was in the mid day and Salem knew this. She was holding a large fish in her left hand, running for dear life in a white peasent skirt and top, hair in two braids on the side of her head, and she was not the age she was now, she was younger, very young. Seven or eight?

SHe wasn't sure why she was running, perhaps to go home and out of the rain that had soaked her to the bone, running from a man who she had stolen the fish from, or just running to run. But somehow she felt a bit of fear in her stomach. She tossed and turned in the bed and then she groaned as she almost ran into a horse and cart, a tall Asian man looking at her from under his hat, screaming something at her that she did not understand.

She ran fast and looked behind her and suddenly fell forward, the fish flying out of her hand and into the mud, her skirt, legs, knees, arms, muddy from the fall. She gasped and reached out for the fish only to be tackled quickly, picked up from her kneeling position. She grunted when she was tossed somewhere else, into deeper thicker, dryer mud. A large car and horse rushed by her, the fish being cut in hal by the large wheels. She let out a small whimper as she looked at it longingly, her stomach growling for the satisfaction she was hoping to receive.

"No." She said lowly tears filling her ice blue eyes. She looked down at the ground seeing a spot in the mud being displaced by her tears and drops of rain. She looked up to see a boy sitting on the ground directly across the street from her, on his hands and knees as well. His face being cut into at times by large wheels from carts. Who was that boy?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai couldn't remember falling asleep. He had gotten plenty of it. Yet he had at some point, or must have, because he was dreaming. Dreaming...something he hadn't done in...

"Go on now, Dai! You--oh, look what you've done! Shoo! Go on into town, now, and leave Granny be!" said an old woman to Dai, who was sitting on his butt on a wooden floor, laughing about something. He didn't sound the same. He was young, nine or ten maybe? He looked around him at the small house, the older woman bustling around what appeared to be a kitchen. There was a door open on the side and there was rain pouring down. He looked back to the old woman.

"But granny," he whined. "It's raining out there!"

"Yes, it is, and your father is out catching fish for your little mouth to eat! Now get out there and leave me to cook for your brothers and you!"

With another whine of protest, Dai pulled himself from the floor and stepped into his thong wooden sandals on a step to some dry dirt. He reached down, grabbing the hem of his blue yukata and tied it up between his legs to keep it dry. Then he plunged out into the muddiness and hurtled himself down the streets.

He was an expert at these streets. Or at least he thought he was. Because he was darting in and out of carts, dodging people and animals, never sinking too far into the mud once. Until...

"Ouch!" he cried as his foot lodged into mud and he went into it, his knees landing on rocks. He sobbed once as he winced from the pain. He turned, looking at his foot as the water streamed down his face and hair, blurring his vision slightly. He tugged on his shoe, but couldn't get it free. He glanced up, hearing a commotion down the street but ignoring it as he tried to pull his shoe out before it got run over by a cart. Yet as he did so, a man with several pigs around him stormed by. And just because he could he put a boot into Dai's chest to kick him off the road.


"Move!!" he cried angrily as Dai fell back into the mud again, a few tears escaping his eyes as he examined his rather banged up knee. He heard the commotion get louder and heard someone fall in the street in front of him. He looked up to see a little girl--not Japanese--thrown out of the way as her fish got ran over by a speeding cart.

[Salem Renfield]

She watched the boy for a long time crouching down looking at her from the otherside, staring, his dark eyes penatrating her all the way from the distance. He was muddy, just as she, and was somehow sharing this intense moment of recognition. She didn't know why or how this had happened, but she had been thrown out of the way, she figured a man had rushed by and saved her, but yet failed to ask her if she was all right. The people here were not unfriendly, but they didn't speak any english and it was a struggle just to get food.

She looked at the raw fish that was in halves. She shivered and licked her lips, their dinner gone for the night all because of her clumsiness. She felt her stomach growl and she looked back up to see the boy in clear vision, all carts and people not having passed. She stared at him his face dripping wet from the rain and small splotches of mud on his chin and nose. Super cute was all that she could remember thinking. Without another moment an object hit her in the butt and a woman was toweing over her with a large broom, screaming at her in a language she couldn't speak.

She looked back at the boy and quickly stood up, embarassed, and quickly ran away from the mess that had been caused.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai startled awake when a cart clattered over his shoe. He sat up from where he had apparently crashed on the sofa next to Angel. The young vampire was curled next to him on the huge couch, still blissfully unaware of everything. Dai watched him a moment, then looked around his apartment, trying to make sure that his dream had actually been just a dream.

When he saw everything around him that he was used to, he let out a sigh and scooted to a more favorable position around Angel, who stirred slightly but did not wake. Dai let out another long sigh and stretched his arm out, twisting his fingers gently through the other vampire's long white hair as his mind replayed the dream. How strange that he would dream about that. One incident in his life that he didn't even remember until he dreamt it coming up so suddenly as he slept next to his own offspring hundreds of years afterwards.

He shook his head, looking down to watch Angel for a little longer. It unsettled Dai a little to dream about that situation. What was so special about it?

[Salem Renfield]

"What does that mean?" Salem slammed her foot on the ground, the only way to vent anger at that exact moment in her office, the small cramped room becoming a place she was spending way too much time in. She had been scanning over everything, trying to figure out what was going on what everything meant. She sighed out when she was getting nowhere when searching for Marius again, but somehow she was tip toing around Dai. She didn't want to search for him only to find he was that young boy that disappeared, which she already knew. She figured it was part of the process and she needed to at least look at some kind of information since he wasn't there to tell her, which in a way she liked that he wasn't for it gave her more time to not think of death.

She typed in his name and tapped on the mouse eagerly, waiting, the bars on the screen showing how slow the page of results were going. But suddenly, just as soon as she was about to scream with frustration one link popped up. She was eager to click it and she couldn't have done it fast enough. She heard her computer make small noises and then the page loaded, showing her that she could have the page translated in english. She cilicked hte link and waited a bit more, impatience taking over her. She bit her lower lip in anticipation and when the site loaded and scrolled finding that this was an old historic site on a small village.

"Takada Village." Salem repeated after reading a line on a small fishing village outside of Kyoto. Its history was rich with history and the old photgraphs from the mid 19th century showed many Japanese people holding carts, tending to rice feilds, selling, buying, living. Her mind went wild with the thoughts of it all coming to life, but she scrolled down, searching for Dai's name. She was then faced, at the bottom of the page, with a little paragraph dubbed
'Takada Village Mystery'
This immediately perked her interest, but it was the hand drawn picture of a young man around the age of eighteen or nineteen. She glanced at the writing underneath the picture and saw that it was a rendition of Dai at that age, it being a flyer for villagers to be on the lookout for him. She quickly summed up the paragraph and was updated on his disappearance, how he befriended a traveller and disappeared without a word, which apparently was hihgly unlike him.

Salem scrolled up to the photo when she was done and stared, studied the face. The black hair, the eyes, the lips, it was almost uncanny, but not near as perfect as actually seeing him. This suddenly had her emersed, his history, his life, all was in one paragraph and it just left her aching for more. She scrolled around on the page seeing pictures, stories, history, people of interests. She was fascinated, but a certain photo struck a chord deep within. She frowned and looked closely at an aerial photgraph taken over a market, a fish market.

"Hmm." She said to herself. She moved the cursor to the top of the bar and quickly printed the page, perhaps Dai would be able to explain what her dream was about.

[Dai Yosada]

When Dai had been sufficiently confused and bothered, he showered and dressed. He had found that his hours had been severely knocked off by this woman. He had slept almost all night and now, at eleven o'clock in the morning, he was heading out again to see Salem.

Dai donned his black jeans and black turtle neck, pulling his trench coat over it all. He stuffed his feet into his boots and then placed sunglasses over his eyes and his black fedora on his head. With a look back at Angel, still soundly asleep, Dai made his way outside, this time grabbing the keys from Angel's jacket pocket and going to thier black Benz parked on the curb.

Dai started the engine and shut the door. He navigated the narrow streets and the other cars and pedestrians. He was going to go to the museum, considering that was where he had found her most times. He pulled into the lot outside, parking next to the entrance. Dai got out, closing the door and pressing the lock on his keys, the car making a beeping noise to indicate the alarm was on. Dai pocketed the keys and hopped up the stairs.

The door was unlocked this time, so he moved in, glancing around as he did so for any sight of the woman.

[Salem Renfield]

"I knew you'd come." She didn't know how she knew, she just did. Her voice echoed within the large hallways and emptiness of the front lobby where she saw him lingering around, trying to find her. She was waiting on him, she had been for almost most of the morning. She wasn't exactly sure if this was now a good or bad thing afterall that had happened in the past few months. This morning she didn't even want to think about him being nearby, but now she was beside herself with joy to know that he was there.

"I left it unlocked for you." Salem waked towards him, trying to seem cool and collected, howecer on the inside she being torn apart in many different ways. "I did some research." She stated to him once she made her way into the office, closing the door behind her as if she were cornering him into a seat.

"You met Marius and he took you away from your home, didn't he?" She was recappin what she read, what old legend had savaged without having stupid twists and turns, just good old historical facts.

Salem didn't understand the feeling she felt inside, it was almost like she felt hurt. But not hurt for Da or Marius. Or anyone for that matter. She just had this sudden feeling that her heart had been broken into, like she were feeling someone elses heartache.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's cool expression faultered suddenly. But only for a second. He swallowed, taking off his hat and sunglasses and laying them in the chair next to him. He ran his tongue over the lip ring he had decided to don this morning. Dai considered her words carefully before he looked away from her and to the wall hanging behind her.

"I met Marius, yes," he admitted. "But he took me nowhere. Nothing that happened was anything that I did not want..." he said. It was a lie, of course, because he could not tell her that he had been frightened by Marius into saying alright. That he had known instinctively that he was going to die, that he would never see his family again. He couldn't tell her about the fear that had clenched his stomach when Marius finally took his blood in the throes of ecstacy when Dai had least expected anything like it.

No. Dai could never tell her. She could always find the facts--computers, technology was a wonderful thing these days--but she would never be able to understand the true feelings of all involved. Because she hadn't been there, hadn't lived it, felt it, seen it. She could rely on her historical facts all she wanted, but history lost the emotion of everything.

Dai looked at her with a shimmer of his eyeshine.

"I cared a great deal for Marius then," he said matter-of-factly, as if teaching her a history lesson. "It decayed over time...for both parties."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was intrigued, always had been since the moment he invaded her dreams. But now this was like a mystery being unraveled one piece at a time, one agonizing day at a time. She nodded in his response, his voice very convincing, but she truly wondered who actually had their heart set on dying and becoming a vampire. She wasn't sure what else to ask, but there was a little tugging deep inside that made her want to bring up the village market. She drew in a deep breath and reached over to her desk and pulled a sheet of paper out from a small pile that had the picture of the village's fish market. She walked over to him, not daring to get too close for she still had fear towards him.

"Does this look familiar?" She questioned like an officer badgering a suspect. She wanted to know a little about that place for she was now beginning to dream of incidents there. She wasn't sure if it was just because of the day she had prior, learning of Dai's name and where Marius was last seen, but if he had something to tell her that would let her understand.

Salem suddenly wondered what it was all for, no matter what she did to try and convince the man near her to not kill her, she was almost positive that he would. She wasn't fighting it, she wasn't letting it happen either. She was still stuck on what to do and what to offer instead of her life.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's eyes shifted down her arm to the piece of paper she held. He reached out and took it, holding it closer, studying it for a moment, though he really didn't need to. He knew what it was. After a moment he looked back up at her.

"My village," he said with a nod. "Takada. Fishing village in the Eighteenth District...uh, just outside Kyoto, these days. Born there, and raised," he said with a nod. Then he shook his head. "Bad picture. It was much nicer than that allows. Small, everyone knew one another. Everyone was family..." he said, his eyes looking at the picture, his mind lost in his memories of that village he had loved so deeply. Then he snorted. "Everyone except the westerners who came in to civilize us. They turned everyone against one another," he said, looking back up at her and shaking his head.

"I am glad Marius took me when he did. Otherwise I would have been caught up in the things that happened thereafter," he nodded to the picture. "It got destroyed two years after I left. Make room for a port town--better business and all of that..." he paused a moment. His brow furrowed. "Why do you care?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem clenched her jaw as he took the paper after his address and studied it for herself, whether she was wanting to tell him she dreamt of it last night was something she wasn't still quite sure of doing, but perhaps it wouldn't do much damage?

"It looked familiar to me." She said with a sigh, turning around and putting it onto her desk. "I thought I dream about it." She glanced over at him and wondered if the bitterness he held towards his village was that of missing or longing or if he truly was glad to be rid of that place. She was unsure for it had never been her thing to read people and their emotions, even vampires. She shrugged and took a seat on the edge of her desk, looking over at Dai and taking him in for the day. His appearance always seeming to change, his clothes mainly. He was very interesting and had they met on different circumstances she would have probably wanted to get to know him better, be friends for t here was something that was pulling her towards him. At that moment she was keeping this to herself until she figured her final breath could be meaningful and worthy of remembering.

"I liked the way it looked." She said mindlessly when she felt her mind wander back to the village. "Wish I could have seen it."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai considered her answer for a moment.

"A dream?" he asked, intrigued suddenly. "One you had evening previous to now?" he asked, trying to sound like he was just making conversation, when he was really fishing to see if they had had similar dreams.

Dai knew that he had probably messed up the delicate internal balance of the woman's brain by going in uninvited every night. He was certain something must now backfire in there that shouldn't have before. It was possible that she was dreaming things from his past because he accidentally thought about it while he was in her mind. He had always had to clear his mind before hand, so none of his thoughts or memories were imprinted on the subject. He knew it was possible that this was what happened, if she was dreaming about his village.

"Perhaps you heard about it in a study you did on something different," he offered, curiously. "Or saw a picture."

[Salem Renfield]

She looked at him and considered the options he threw out at her, but she shook her head in response and sighed out frowning softly as the dream came to her in vivid pictures.

"No. Not possible. I am not in Asian studies. That is another department." She looked over her shoulder at the information she had been collecting for the past two days, none of them had mentioned the name of the village or showed pictures. Even those on Marius were still up in the air as to where he had gone. She glanced over at Dai and smiled, how weird. She just realized she was having a conversation with a man who had lived centuries ago, lived in a time that she coudl have only imagined what it could have been like. If people actually believed he was an immortal vampire who would live forever, Historians would be after evertything he had to tell.

"I dreamed last night," She started standing up from her siting position and walking oer to him, expressing herself best when she moved and thought. "I was little girl running from something, someone perhaps." She looked at him and paused briefly gathering her thoughts before moving again. Funny, she thought amongst it all, she was walking dangerously close to this man she swore she was even feeling a resonating coldness coming from him.

"I had a fish in my hand and I tripped. I was trying to take it to my family. We were very hugnry, I knew that we were. Being the clumsy girl that I am," she laughed and looked at him stopping again in her pacing. "the fish flew out of my hands. It was raining so hard and I was wearing a white dress my mother had made for me. I fell into the mud and was reaching out for the food and I was pushed out of the way.

"I don't know by whom, I just was relocated out of the way because a cart and horse went ripping by my head." She sighed out and shook her head, the feeling of dread and sadness, hunger as well, so real that she was almost curious as to whether or not it was. Salem looked over at Dai and shrugged a shoulder.

"I looked up to see this young boy across the market. It looked as if he, too, had fallen. He was soaked and he had a little bit of mud on his face. He was so adorable." She frowned as she strained to think. "I was so embarassed because we stared at each other for so long. I got up and...I ran home." Salem stopped talking and heard the silence of the room. She looked over at Dai and saw a soft frown on his face.

"Until last night I didn't know that this village existed. I found it in my dreams."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai listened intently to her recap of her dream. It was chillingly similar to his own, except that his had been from his own point of view and it had all actually happened. He wondered if she knew. He moved a little closer to her, intrigued now, interested in her and what she had dreamt.

"And the boy...did you happen to notice if he was minus one shoe?" he asked curiously, his wheels turning--a little squeakily--in his head. He thought for a long time before shaking his head. "It's interesting Miss Renfield because the girl you dreamt about...she was a real little girl. And that boy...that boy was me."

"I also had a dream when I slept. And I saw your little girl," he said with a nod. "That was an actual occurance. I was ten..." he paused another moment, then let out a sigh. "I think I may have accidentally projected myself onto some of your brain cells when I connected with your mind. It would explain why it seems so real."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was thinking quickly, making sense of it all as she tried to think of his explanation, but somehow she knew that it wasn't just that their minds got crossed. If that was even possible!

Salem felt connected to the little girl like she was that child who had fallen. Everything was so real including the coldness and the misery from the rain and mud and the feeling of losing the dinner. There was something very familiar with the whole scene like she had actually experienced it before. It was impossible, she knew because she wasn't immortal and wasn't going to live forever and had never any memories of leaving the States or England. Japan was untouched territory for her, but it still was compelling to think that she had somehow been there before.

"Perhaps." She said after a moment. Salem wanted to know if he knew the girl in some way because of this immense connection she felt with the boy, with Dai when he was a child, but refrained, it might come to her at a later date right now she was mainly focused on Dai and who he was, or who he had been, and this Marius character.

"I didn't get a package yesterday." She stated to him. "That is quite odd. I normally get something everyday. You don't think he is going to pop up here is he?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai gave her an uniterested shrug as he straightened his trench coat and wandered around her desk to look at the artifacts she had hanging on her wall. He would have liked to see the Asian history department. That would have appeased him greatly.

"Maybe," he answered, then shrugged again. "Maybe not. He loves to make a grand entrance, so it is more likely than not that he will show up sometime to rub something in your face..." he paused, leaning in close to look at a painting that was hanging behind her desk. He was trying to identify the time period. He gave it up after a moment or two. He turned back around to look at her and leaned on the wall. He watched her for a long time, blinking sleepily, wondering about his companion he had left at the apartment. Salem should meet Angel. They would like each other.

"Anyway, if he does show up on your doorstep, I live four blocks down and nine houses down on the right. Just run there and if he follows, I'll have the pleasure of taking care of him for you," he snorted bitterly.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem bit her lower lip and wondered what she would actually do if she saw him standing on her doorstep, it sure beat invading her dreams unlike some people she knew. She figured she could cross that bridge when she got to it considering she was almost positive if he was there she'd end up passing out and probably a feast for all saints.

She drew in a deep breath, stuffing her hands into her pockets, looking over at Dai and shrugging, unsure of what to do or say now. She was still trying to doigest all that was going on, even the offer to run to his house. An appealing idea, but having done so it would make her more vulnerable for death than she already was.

"Grand enterance," She said to him. "I'd say sneding me love letters and caskets very grand in deed. So, should I be fearing this man?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai scoffed and walked back around the desk, grabbing up his fedora and giving her a third shrug.

"Well, probably. He will make you love him and then take you away from everything you love. He'll suck you dry, slowly, so you have to feel it, and then make sure he turns you so that you can keep him company forever," Dai said, letting his mouth shoot off without thinking of what he was saying. He shook his head, chewing his lip for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, go ahead and be afraid of him. It might award you some pity on his part, although, well...he is a vampire..." Dai sighed out of his nose, and blinked a few times as he donned his fedora.

He peered outside at hgrey day and shook his head. His stomach rumbled a little and he remembered that he needed to retrieve some food. He hadn't had a decent meal in a few days. He turned to bid the woman goodbye when his cell phone rang. He grabbed it out of his pocket and opened it, answering it. It was Angel, as he had suspected. The younger vampire was inquiring after his well being as he usually did.

"Yes. I'm alright. Go back to sleep, my love, I still have a few errands to run before I come back...bye," Dai flipped the cell phone shut and looked back at Salem. He shook the appliance a little. "I have duties. We'll talk again, yes?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him and bit her lower lip wondering what it all meant, especially his warning to fear him. She didn't know what to do with everything for it wasn't being digested and her dreams and their reality...all was so weird.

Salem hung around the office for the rest of the day doing research on Dai, Marius, the village, anything and everything she could do to make sense of it all but it was to no avail. After eating a small dinner and heading to bed she didn't feel any better than she had before. This day was so long and so tiring and with everything that had suddenly snowballed around her it was no wonder she couldn't sleep, even if she was being tormented at night. She just prayed tonight that she'd get the sleep she needed and the sleep she desperately wanted.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai ate well that night, the young blood of a teenager who had been wandering too closely behind him. But he didn't sleep well. He laid down and tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable and his mind was a blur of thoughts and torments. He kept waking up and eventually decided it was because he was supposed to be awake right now instead of asleep. After tonight, he decided, he would go back to his normal sleeping schedule. He had to, or he would never get any rest.

He finally got to sleep sometime around two a.m. and it was for the better. If he wasn't going to kill this woman, he would need all the sleep he could get.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem yawned as she looked over at the silver clock on her night stand seeing it was nearing 1:50 in the morning. She was wondering what Dai was doing, if he was asleep or awake. Apparently he was able to walk around outside in daylight, but the past few times had been rainy and groggy days, nothing with blaring sunlight. She sighed out, aggravated that when he wasn't in her mind, she wasn't sleeping at all.

"But I think of him." She rolled over onto her side and stared at the wall wondering if he had eaten, which was weird considering his dinner would have been a person more than likely, she was just glad it isn't hers. She tossed and turned again and again trying to find a place to get comfortable, but her mind was wide awake although her body was slumping into tire and exhaustion. She closed her eyes and moaned trying to think of something, but all she thought of was Dai Yosada and his past. Who was Marius? She wasn't really wanting to dream of him at all, but she wasn't wanting to dream of Dai either, but her mind wasn't wanting to part with either one of them. Even when she closed her eyes she saw them, one face familiar, the other not. If she were to dream tonight, she was sure it would involve one of them, if not both.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai was dreaming again. He knew it because he was eighteen again. Young, and vibrant and ready to take on life.

He was hanging around a small wooden structure, looking around, as if waiting for something, or someone. His hair was back away from his face in the traditional bun, hus blue yukata silky on his skin. He was shifting left and right impatiently. Where was he? He said he would be here! He still had to go meet another of his friends. Dai clasped his hands behind his head.

It was dark, the only light coming from the full moon overhead. He was searching the darkness for M. He was supposed to be here already, but he didn't see the man. Ariel was going to be there soon and Dai didn't want to two meetings to overlap. After all, since he had come, Ariel had not approved of Marius and had strongly suggested that Dai stop seeing the man. For one, she thought he was dangerous. And for second, she knew as well as Dai did, how he could get in trouble for seeing not only a foreign person, but a foreign man.

He was getting impatient now, and he feared the two would have to come face to face with each other. Something Dai did not want.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem felt familiarity all over again as she was swept into another land, realizing that she was now older and was sneaking around at night, her heart racing, her stomach churning, and her breath was chippy and nervous. She had gotten used to sneaking out of her house after many times getting caught when she was little trying to see a Japanese peasant boy who had always wanted to take her riding on horses, playing in the rice fields, make prayers in temples, steal food, just be kids.

A smile crossed her lips as she turned a corner, trying to hide herself in case her parents had sent out a guard to make sure it had stopped, but it never had. They had been doing it for almost over eleven years and they had become the best of friends, but now she was wondering if perhaps it was on the rocks do to a certain person who had gotten in between them. She couldn't help but feel that her best friend was slowly slipping away from her and for some reason she felt that tonight would be the last time she'd ever see him.

Salem jogged down the street, dodging a few carts and beggars and saw the temple where they had agreed to meet. She was early, but then again she was always the one to surprise Dai. She grinned when she saw him looking around for her. She turned her jog into a full sprint.

"Ai!" She said to him in a loud whisper, gaining nobody elses attention except that of his. For all the years they had known each other, they taught each other so much, Japanese words and phrases especially. As well as something else he had never really known, how to love.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai sucked a breath in through his teeth as the girl came up to him. He leaned down and sneaked over to her as if doing so would keep people from noticing them.

"Ariel... I told you...oh nevermind," he muttered, grabbing her wrist and pulling her around the side of the building. He glanced around it again, still looking for M, but not seeing him yet. He pressed his back against the side of the temple and looked at the girl. "There is something I want to tell you..." he said. His English was not the best, it never had been, but they had learned to get thier point across and Ariel had taught him words, phrases that he could use, and he had picked things up from her, her family, and M. He glanced around the corner of the temple again, he didn't see his other friend. He turned back to Ariel.

"M is suppose to met me here, at night," he said, pointing to the ground, indicating he meant now, tonight. He shook his head. "But he is not here..." he paused and thought a moment, fishing for the words. "He told me that we can go together...he and I, to his home. Somewhere far away from Takada," he said. He was getting excited, he had been dying to tell her all day, but he had had etiquette lessons from early that morning until past lunch time and he had not been able to get away.

"Was told me 'come early', but he has not come yet," Dai explained choppily. "But I want to tell you..." he said with a nod. Ariel was his best friend. He could tell her anything. Everything that happened to him, he wanted to tell her. He trusted her more than anyone, and if he and M made plans about something, Dai knew Ariel wouldn't tell anyone.

[Salem Renfield]

She stood there excited for him, excited that he was excited, but in all seriousness the news was heartwrenching. She looked at him without a smile, without a grin, without any indication as to whether or not this news was good or bad. But she knew that she had to be happy for him, if not for anyone else.

"I am happy for you." She said to him, her eyes wide and her true sadness being veiled by the bland look that was nothing short of emotionless. "You are coming back, hai?" She frowned now, biting her lower lip, praying in her mind that he'd say yes for she had always known he was not really happy there and had always wanted to go explore. Something she had loved about him was his need for adventure and excitement, something else he had taught her.

"I mean...you have to, hai?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed and nodded, bowing almost.

"Oh, hai, hai!" he said through his laugh. "He can not keep me forever! I will come back...and we can go to...your home together," Dai said with another nod struggling past his grammar. He grinned at her and then turned to look around the corner and down the street. He caught sight of a billowing figure. Tall and menacing, cloak fluttering around it, coming towards thier spot. He recognized the walk--it was M. He turned back to press his back against the wall again, his eyes open wide as he looked at Ariel, his English failing him suddenly. He jabbed a thumb towards where the man was walking from.

"He is late," he said, disgruntled. Then he shook his head. "Please, wait here. I can...ask him what he want to say, and tell you in a minute, ne?"

[Salem Renfield]

Ariel had nodded at him and bit her lower lip watching him leave her in the shadow of the corner all by herself. She heard his Geta's clunk on the temples foundation as he ran away from her and towards the man he had been needing to meet. The man who was tearing them apart. She leaned off the pillar, curiosity getting the best of her, as it always had since she met the boy.

Even after falling in the mud everytime they were in the market together she'd sneak around and go to the same stand and pretend to be looking at things when in actuality she'd looked over at the boy. This had gone on for a long time, nothing ever changing except stealing glances at him. It brought a smile to her face when she thought about how silly she was and how obvious it had been that she wa interested in him. She always giving him smiles and always following him and always trying her best to bump into him and somehow get to talking. Eventually they had and they had never been apart since.

She leaned off a pillar and over to the corner he had disappeared around. She pushed her body against it and slowly leaned to the left to peer out on down the way to wher she was out of hearing distance. A few gas lights lit up half of her face, turning her pale English skin a low hue of orange, her ice blue eye almost glowing in the dark as she saw their silhouettes, faces being shrouded with secrecy. She wanted to know what words they were exchanging, jealousy coursing through her as she watched the two embrace, not letting go.

Ariel wanteed to look away, but couldn't and she was almost happy that she hadn't. The boy's arms went flying and it soon became a struggle for power, voices were carried to her and suddenly she realized that something more was going on that Dai was hurt.

[Dai Yosada]

It hurt. Alot.

M had told him it wouldn't and Dai had trusted him, but it did hurt. The man's arms were strong around his waist as Dai struggled against the pain, fear coursing through him. His throat surged with pain as he thought he felt blood leaving his body, but he couldn't be sure. He felt M's grip on him tighten a little, not exactly to hurt him, but to still him. Dai obeyed because he had always obeyed the older man since he had come to the village and they had met for the first time.

Dai's strength was slowly receeding. His knees shivered a little and he held onto M for dear life, wondering what exactly was happening to him. When the man finally leaned away, his lips leaving Dai's throat, the boy was quivering, cold, tired, dying to go to sleep. M let Dai collapse in his arms and he hoisted him up off of the street. Dai was barely conscious, but he felt the man drape the edge of his cloak over him.

For a moment, M stood still, looking around them and brushing hair from Dai's face. Dai groaned a little, and M cooed that he needed to be quiet and that all would be well soon. But Dai did not feel like everything was going to be well. His head drooped slightly as he groaned the only name that he trusted completely.

"Ariel..."

M must have known, instinctively that she was there. Because the way he hunched possessively over Dai and hissed animalistically in the direction of the temple gave Dai the distinct impression that M would only harm Ariel if she came anywhere near them. The man darted off towards the darkness with Dai using the last bit of his strength to clutch for his best friend.

"Ariel!"

[Salem Renfield]

She watched Dai and saw him fall and suddenly she was on the verge of falling also. She looked over at the man and suddenly he lifted his head, eyes black as the darkness that surrounded them the low lighting from the flame lit up his face, giving him a little bit of humanity, only too se his white flesh shimmering as well as his blood soaked teeth. She stood straight and suddenly she let out a tiny gasp of shock and fear. She wanted to rush to his aid, but couldn't move for fear held her there.

"Ai..." She said lowly in a whimper, wanting so much to call out for him. The man hisses and looked over at the temple and suddenly her heart was thrown out of her chest. She stood up and backed way, fearful that the man had seen her, but he was quick to turn and dash in the opposite direction. She heard her name and suddenly she came out from behind the temple.

"Yosada-San!" She screamed loudly running after him although her mind told her to run in the other way. "Yosada-San!" She screamed again, reaching out her hand for him, seeing that he was doing the same. Tears fiilled her eyes as they disappeared out of her view within seconds, she halted in her running to look around. Where had they gone? What had happened? People around her paid no mind to the yelling for it was an everyday occurence, but not like this, not having a monster snatch her best friend in the middle of the night! She ran towards an object in the road and stopped to fall to her knees and immediately cover the object as if it had been a part of her. She wept for Dai and picked up the wooden piece and brought it to her chest, his Geta, the shoe that was still warm from Dai's foot.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's entire body jolted and he tried to sit upright. It was thwarted immediately by the solid wood of his coffin lid. The sound of his skull cracking against it was so loud it sounded like he had take off his entire head.

"Ittai ne!" he cried out laying back down on his pillow with one hand on his forehead. His heart was pounding eighty miles a mintute, and he couldn't catch his breath. He was sweating, something he never did, and he felt so frightened.

He felt so claustrophobic. He pushed up on the casket lid, and it fell open with a loud thud allowing Dai to sit straight up and suck in deep breaths of the cooler air outside of his coffin. His head throbbed now with pain as he sat there catching his breath, his images so vivid it was as if they had just happened.

Dai looked at the clocked four-thiry a.m. He caught his breath and lowered his hand, wiping sweat off of his brow. Slowly, he crawled out of his coffin and glanced at Angel's. The other vampire had apparently gone to bed early, and didn't seem to have been disturbed.

Dai moved out of thier room and closed the door behind him, crossing the living room in so many strides to sit down at his computer, digging his cell phone out of the pocket of his trench coat hanging off the back of the computer chair. He flipped it open, his vivid memory recalling Salem's home phone number in a snap. He dialed it and held the phone to his ear, cradling his forehead into his palm.

He heard the phone ring, and didn't care if he woke her up. He was certain that she ahd the same dream. Somehow he felt it.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem's eyes flew open and she was immediately aware of her surroundings, not even tired or feeling like her mind had just been drug out of a dream, but somehow she knew she had been. She was breathing heavily and her eyes stung with tears. She had night tremors and had always been woken by crying, but this was a different kind of crying. She wasn't scared like normal, but heartbroken. She moved when she heard her phone ringing out in the hallway, always being against having phones in her room for the purpose of being able to sleep. But it never worked. Another ring followed behind the original closely, it was the cordless in the drawer of her nightstand.

Quickly she rolled onto her right side and grabbed the cold knobs of the drawer and pulled it open, grabbed the sleek black phone rocking on its curved back from the jolt. She frowned and picked it up and glanced at the number, unfamiliar with it. She pushed 'talk' and brought the phone eagerly to her ear.

"Renfield." She stated in a confused tone. She frowned and sighed out, mad that she just woke up and already she was acting like she were at work. "Hi, hello?" She said in quick response to the formalaty of her answer. Her eyes found the clock and suddenly she was struck dumb who else could call her after such a dream, a dream that suspiciously ended a few moments before she opened her eyes.

"Dai?" She asked wondering if this was perhaps him. She sat up and waited with anticipation her heart beating wildly.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai heard the tire in her voice, but didn't notice it. He let out a frustrated sigh and nodded as if she could see him.

"Yeah," he answered, looking at the lap top in front of him. He pressed in the G key and watched as the letter scrolled across the page, hundreds upon hundreds as he held it down. For a moment, he just watched it, then he turned his attention back to the conversation at hand. "You dreamt it too," he said, more of a demand that she had than an inquiry as to whether she had. He knew she had, there was no way that she couldn't have. He felt her, knew she was there, instinctively, even though he was in another body at another time, he had still known that she was there with him, in the dream.

It was frightening for Dai, reliving that moment in his life again, after so many years of blocking it out. After so long of trying to forget how all of this had happened, seeing it again, refeeling the pain, all of the emotions...Dai didn't get scared. But this had shaken him.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem had been in a trance like state as she sat in her office all day after having cleaned it around 6 that morning. She and Dai had not spoken long, she had asked him how he had retrieved her number to which he responded he knew more than she figured. She wasn't sure if that had been his exact wording but at this point in time she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

They had expressed how real the dream felt, Salem not truly asking many questions although she yearned to, for the sake of Dai's feelings and privacy. She knew that that had been Marius in the dream without even having to voice it, the feeling she got when she had seen him, although technically it not being her, she still knew. Instictively almost. She didn't go back to bed and it was now nearing 5 PM.

She had worked all morning, having come into her office around 5:30 beating rush hour traffic and opening up areas inside for it was her week to do so. Nothing much had truly happened that day, she gave a few tours, talked to a few other museums and set up a few meetings for travelling displays and other managerial tasks that she had been left in charge of for the week. She wasn't tired, matter of fact she was beyond tire. So tired that she was wide awake. Her mind had been in a fog, the only true thing that was clear to her being that dream, the raw emotions that had occured, and the fact that she was somehow portraying someone else in Dai's past.

But that had been wrong she figured after making a telephone call to her Mother in town. She was straining for clarity, straining for some information to shine a light on what was going on. Her Mother hadn't really been too much of a help considering she felt it was silly to be following a dream that made no sense. But somehow it made perfect sense to Salem, even more to Dai. Of course Salem left out those details of having shared dreams with a vampire, but somehow her Mother knew exaclty what she was talking about.

Rubbish, dear. Her mother had stated as she sipped on her tea like a true Englishwoman who lived in the country on a large farm. It is just rumors grown old. Stories that our family told to keep the children from blending with the wrong kind of people. Stupid stories.. Salem was still trying to think if it was just the same answer everyone had gotten when asking about it. It had been her families History, she had found out. Part of the long bloodline aging back centuries to two people named 'Harker' Her mother, although disapproving of her need to continue her silly hunch, directed her in the way of her Great-Great-Grandmother's home just outside of London. It was a vacation house that her parents used now for their fancy duck hunting parties. Salem had been there many times and had hated it, but today she figured she was to bite the bullet and search in the attic.

Which was where she was now driving her Mother's car down a long and curvy road, the windsheild wipers moving back and forth slowly, wiping away the small speckles of rain that had dereased the farther she got out. The afternoon was rainy, as usual, the feilds were bright green, and the temperature was rather chilly. The large white farm house could be seen a mile away from the road and it gave Salem chills when she turned up the gravel driveway, her mind going back to the times when she was afraid of the house that was too large for just two people. It held a live history and it was beautiful place, but it had always been dreadfully boring and scary to a little girl.

Salem was still afraid of that house it seemed, for it was one of the most active places for her night terrors, dreams that made no sense. Perhaps it had somehow been tied to the dreams she had now. Salem sighed out as she stepped out of the car, seeing her breath condense into the air, the feeling of fall coming on. She glanced around the hood of the car seeing the landscape was still as breathtaking as usual, the gardeners still keeping up with the place. She neared the house, hearing a few dried leaves crunch under her foot as she jingled the keys in her hand to go to the large arched doros and unlocked them. She turned the iron handle and pushed inward, the familiar smell of her Grandmother lingering under the sheet covered furniture. She locked the door behind her and took a moment to look around and remember, but it gave her chills.

Salem didn't want to be there long, she had other things to attend to. She ran up the carpeted steps that lead her to the large second floor, where she then walked down the end of the long hall to another door that led to the third floor that used to be a vast master bedroom but now was a wasteland for family treasures. The stairs creaked underneath her and it gave her chills for the house was so empty and silent. She was actually wishing she had company, wishing for Dai. Salem wasn't sure why having him there would have helped her, she tried to brush it off as it being familiar to her for it had been a long time since she slept without him.

Salem sat on the wooden floor in front of a trunk, flipping through an old photo album of unfamiliar faces. She sighed out as she sat it aside. She was having no luck all except a skeleton key that fit no locks on all the trunks up there. She was about to give up and go home for it was trying to get dark and the house had no electricity for it wasn't time for their annual duck hunt. Salem was placing everything back into a trunk when she caught a glimpse of a large circular maroon box in the farthest corner near a window. She had glanced at the key laying idle by her foot and she figured it was worth a shot. If it didn't fit she was going to set the place ablaze for not giving her any answers. She stood up and brushed off the seat of her pants and managed to make her way over to the box, pushing a few heavy antique chairs and objects out of her way. She peered at the box, looking all around it till she found a little black hole that was to be accessed by a key. A skeleton key as well. Salem smiled and quickly fell on her butt and pulled the heavy box around to face her. She prayed this was what she had been looking for, prayed it would give her answers.

She pushed the key inside the lock and turned it, hearing a low click of the lock inside. She let out a giggle of excitement and clapped her hands and drew in a deep breath and pushed open the lid, glancing inside to see two aged journals, so old that they looked like they'd disintigrate at the slightest touch. She picked them up and saw the binding was falling apart and that the original coloring had faded. She sat them aside not wanting to harm them as she continued to search. There were photo books that she didn't open yet, pieces of old clothes that were made of marvelous materials, things that were worht millions of dollars. Her excitedment was billowing as she searched, wondering if perhaps she could donate this to the museum, but knew her Mother would have killed. She bit her lower lip almot a bit displeased at her findings. Nothing jumping out at her. She sighed out began to put things back, grabbing a silk dress or shirt to put back in between a few precious objects. Salem frowned when she felt something inside of the dress. Hardm square, odd.

She bit her lower lip as she glanced at the material, unfolding it many times to find that it had been wrapped around an old stained cloth. She got a cold chill and she looked around the room as if she were sneaking around and trying to allude getting caught. Salem was beginning to freak herself out in the old house especially now when she was close to finding soemthing. She looked back down at the cloth and held it up and slowly unwrapped it, her left hand holding the item that was fairly heavy, pushing away the cloth with her right.

"What...is..." Salem said to herself, annoyed that it had been so precautiously wrapped. By the time she made it to the last layer, she suddenly realized why. She sat it down on the ground and put a hand over her mouth in shock. Her eyes watered slightly from either excitement or sadness, at this moment unsure for the shock was causing her to tremble. It was a very old, precious, slightly stained, Geta. The wooden shoe fitted for the Japanese to wear with their Yukata's and on formal occassions. The ancient fashion statement.

Salem quickly rewrapped it and put it into the box. She locked it and pocketed the key and bent down to grab the heavy box. She knew that she had to do more searching, especially those journals. It was quite a hunch to assume who's Geta it was, but without a doubt she knew exactly who it belonged to.

[Dai Yosada]

Neither Dai nor Salem said much in thier conversation. But Dai had been driven to leave the apartment, walk, perform displacement activities, anything and everything that would take his mind off the sudden problems that had arisen in his life. It was dizzying how quickly things had gone from so-so to awful in the past few days.

First of all, he had developed a conscious. Second of all, his past was coming to haunt him, and third of all--horror of horrors--he was beginning to look at Salem as his...friend.

In Dai's past he had had only a handful of true friends. Angel was his current one, and Angel was very loyal and cared for Dai as much as Dai cared for him. But in his past, Dai could only think of one person he cared for deeper than even himself. He had dreamt about her, twice now. Ariel. The Girl With the Funny Name, or at least that was what everyone else called her. And Dai had too when she first came to Takada. She was foreign and couldn't speak thier language and they couldn't speak hers and she was made a general mockery of in the local schools. Dai had never really taken part in making fun of other people, ever since he was small, since he himself had been made fun of all his life, by someone.

So, when Ariel came, as a little girl, not much younger than Dai himself, he hadn't really taken and interest in her or in the troublemakers that made fun of her. She was just sort of the one person no one really talked to or cared much for. Dai had his own Japanese friends at the time and hadn't really thought anything about talking to her.

Until one day when he bumped into her on accident at the market. She dropped the apples she was carrying. Dai had felt so bad for causing the accident. So he bought her more and gave them to her, and during the encounter they got to talking. Or at least, they tried.

Dai hadn't known much English at the time and she hadn't known much Japanese, yet somehow they had had an interesting conversation about where she was from, what her parents did, whether she had any brothers or sisters. And she had taught Dai some English phrases, and he had taught her some Japanese. It was a meeting with anther person that Dai wouldn't ever forget. Because even as they grew older, they only grew closer. There was nothing that happened in Dai's life that he didn't tell Ariel. Nothing was said or done between he and another person that was not conveyed to Ariel at a later time. He had trusted her with everything he had. He trusted her with the most general things, and even with the most secret of things. He had always been able to tell her anything and know that she wouldn't ever tell a soul.

Dai supposed it was she that he missed most about being mortal. He knew, with horror, that she had grown up, married probably, had children, gotten old, and died. She had a funeral in which her friends and family mourned her, she had been buried, and people visited her gravesite. Dai shuddered with the thought, trying to imagine his lovely Ariel becoming old and grey and worn. And he knew that even as she lay on her death bed, unable to speak much, and seeing things that no one else could because of dementia, he had been young, alive--in a sense--and he would never know sickness again, would never have to worry about injury or death. Even as Ariel took her last breath, Dai was still taking in his first.

It made him angry. And sad. He was glad that he had not been able to see her age. He might have killed himself because he could not grow old with her, he could not be her friend in old age as they had been in youth. He could not look at her with aged eyes, see her thin wispy grey hair, and still see the vibrant blue eyed teenager he had once known.

Dai's life had ended and begun the night Marius turned him. He had left behind everything he knew, everything he loved and everything he stood for, and he had become the contridiction to that which he had always been taught. The dead could not walk the earth. And yet here he stood with a shrivled heart, dead, and he was walking. But he had entered into a world of pleasure and wonder. He had begun a life full of seeing things he never would have seen. He had seen the world advance and change. He had lived through war upon war, seen televisions and computers and internet come into being. He had seen people change themselves and change the world. He had seen things he wouldn't trade for anything except one thing:

Seeing Ariel's face one more time.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was sniffing wildly as she searched in every drawer in her home's study, desperately searching for a tissue, but it being in vain. She stood up, aggravated that she was being interrupted by a runny nose and tears that kept falling and falling and falling. Salem heard the chair roll on the hardwood floors as she stood up and ran into the bathroom down the hall to get some toilet paper to wipe her eyes and then blow her nose, her head trying to hurt from the stuffiness.

She had gone back to her apartment, the sun having gone down hours ago, rain pecking annoyingly at the tall, thin, arched windows on the first floor. The house was dead quiet, the only thing making noise was the storm brewing outside and the classical music she was listening to in the study. Salem had been averting reading the two journals she had found inside the box, their age causing concern for her. Luckily she had somehow convinced herself to go ahead and pry on the personal life of someone else, carefully reading the faded cursive handwriting on the old stained paper. She had goen through the first book within a few hours, struggling to recongnize certain words for the age was making it hard. But by the time she reached the final journal she had realized that there had to have bene more for the dates did not match. Salem had read the diary of Ariel Harker, the daughter of Mina and Jonathan. She spoke of her brothers and her parents often, but she mainly spoke about happenings in her life, always revolving around a boy she called 'Ai'. Had she not had that dream she would never have known the identity. Salem had read intimate details on thoughts and dreams she had about Dai, what they did on certain days...things that a girl would have written about. Salem was quick to learn how her parents hated Dai Yosada, thinking he was nothing but trouble for their little girl. Numerous times they had been caught stealing or sneaking off together. The Harker family had not been fond of the Yosada's, always considering them below their class and apparently the Yosada's didn't like the Harker's in return. However, bitter rivalry, much like Romeo and Juliet, they kept seeing each other and remained friends.

At first that is what it seemed like, until Salem began to read the final journal that spanned for three years. She had skipped a few pages and certain places that meant nothing to what she was looking for, but it became apparent that Ariel had fallen in love with the little Japanese boy whom she had seen at the market that fateful day she lost dinner. She talked of how marvelous he was, how she always had these little hopes and wishes for a kiss, even so far as to saying she was in love with the boy. Towards the end of the journal she spoke of the disappearance often and how she never had been the same. Ariel had gone to the local police and had told them about how he was taken by the foreigner nobody liked. But they laughed telling her that Dai had always wanted to get away and that he finally had succeeded in doing so. They had always shrugged her off, but it never left her mind.

Salem was crying because of what she had found in the back of the book. It was a family tree that had not been continued since the 1960's. Ariel never married, never had any children, and had died at the age of 67. There was a letter stuck in the back of the book from Salem's Great grandmother. It was a letter addressing Ariel's past and the journals. A man had found similar journals from his own grandmother. It became confusing after that, but it somehow linked Ariel's last days together and gave Salem the information on what had happened.

The letter talked about who had been by her side when she died, it being her brother's, her nieces and nephews, her cousins and friends. Nobody was sure how she died, although age was a factor, but her brother's had insisted it was a broken heart. One brother had told someone that her last few breaths were how much she had always loved someone by the name Ai and that she had failed him.

Salem knew that she had an emotional attachment to love stories and even more so when it was involving her family, but it was the feeling of understanding she received that caused her so much grief. Those dreams...it seemingly let her know that she was living what her Aunt, despite centuries apart, had felt. She understood the heartache in her heart after waking up the night before, however she was not understanding why she was having these dreams and why she was suddenly intrigued with Dai. She got to see, through Ariel's writings, the raw emotions she felt deep inside. Salem was wanting to tell Dai everything, for the closeness Ariel spoke of made her almost certain he'd want to know, but she wasn't sure if she could.

Salem tossed the tissue in the trash bin letting out a sigh of sadness and out of relief that there was nothing left to read. She was tired and it was nearing 12:30 in the morning. She was toying with the idea to call Dai up and tell him everything she had read and give him a hug that would have satisfied her aunt. The longing she had felt to see him again was written on every page with powerful words that only touched Salem. She had never known what it was like to lose someone so close and to lose them to a monster without ever being able to say goodbye...it was heart wrenching. But the fact that Ariel died without ever seeing his face, without ever telling him how much she loved him...it gave Salem the sense of duty that perhaps she could tell him for her.

Without recognizing what she was truly doing she had been playing with her phone, scanning the ID trying to find the call that had taken place last night. She saw the unfamiliar number and turned the phone on and dialed the number, wanting to hear Dai's voice as if she herself were Ariel wanting so much to talk to him. Salem knew that she was way over her head, especailly if she was beginning to try and stifle those burning feelings her aunt had felt.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai heard his phone ring at about 12:35 and he knew the only person who would call him this late would be the only person who knew he'd be awake. Dai didn't move off his couch for three rings, because he didn't want Salem to hear the emotion in his voice.

When he had come home, he had gone into the storage room in his apartment, pulled out old things he had when he was mortal. If Dai was anything, he was a pack rat, and never wanted to give things up, even if they didn't mean anything anymore. He had looked at trinkets his mother had given him, things his brother had drawn for him, old and falling apart now. Dai had stumbled upon a yukata, never worn, red, with sakura on it. Ariel had given it to him, on his seventeenth birthday. She had had to sneak it to him because his parents would not let her into the house.

Dai hated going back to these memoires, but he had felt the overwhelming urge to see all of this, and now that the phone was ringing, he had already shed tears that had been locked up inside of him for centuries.

He grabbed the phone from his computer table, taking a deep breath and putting it to his ear, looking down at his feet while he answered.

"Mn, Hello?" he asked, even though he didn't really need to. "That's you, Salem, yes?"

[Salem Renfield]

A smile crossed her lips the second she heard his voice, but it also brought her tears. She was beginning to cry again. She bit her lower lip and raised a hand to her mouth as if this were going to stop it from quivering, although it didn't help it made her feel as if Dai couldn't hear it or sense it on the other line. Salem raised her eyebrows, tears falling from her eyes when they couldn't be held back anymore.

"Hi!" She said in an upbeat tone even though she felt their was nothing to truly be upbeat about. "Yeah it's me." She said in mindless response. She didn't know why she was wanting to talk to Dai, but she felt this enormous need and yearn to.

"Not asleep were you?" She asked with a smile, as she wandered down the hall and into the dark living room where she fell into the cushioning, staring up at the ceiling as if this were some casual chit chat that was exchanged between a couple, the little giggles, the smiles, the jokes, if only Ariel would have been able to live as long as Dai they would have never had the problem of not being able to see each other.

Had Ariel lived to see this day and age she would be able to call on the phone one another, exchange e-mails, get on web cam, instant messengers...so many ways to be connected without seeing one another. It would have stifled that desperation she had felt. Ugh, the possibilities that would have been laid before her. It made Salem almost sick to be alive, survivals guilt...survivals guilt that spanned for centuries. Suddenly Salem felt weird. She was feeling satisfaction in knowing Dai was on the phone, in reach, in her dreams, yet she was also feeling the same thing that Ariel could have felt. It confused her. She knew now what needed to be done. She now needed to find a photograph of Ariel, drawing, painting, anything that would allow her to see her Aunt's face. It was a stupid hunch that she had she was sure, but it was worth a gander.

"Tell me about your life, Dai." Salem sighed out, draping her right arm across her stomach holding the phone against her left ear. She glanced at her socked feet seeing the panes on the window being shadowed on her legs from the victorian street lamps outside. "I'd like to know about you." She knew more than he probably thought now that she read those journals. Salem had seen him as a monster, now she wanted to see him as the angel Ariel, as well as Salem, knew he was.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai furrowed his brow and glanced towards the bedroom where he thought he heard Angel stirring about. But it was only the other vampire shifting a little in sleep. Dai looked back at his computer screen and sighed.

"My life?" he asked, a little darkly. Then he sighed. "My life...I don't really wanna..." he paused. She was getting more information about him through these dreams than anyone had in centuries and Dai wasn't comfortable with it. He didn't like having a perfect stranger--no less a woman he had wanted to kill--seeing into his brain and knowing his most intimate memories. If things kept on like they were, she would soon know exactly what happened between he and M, what the man told him, what they did. And Dai didn't want her to know. He shook his head, and fiddled with a string on his pants, taking his mind off the situation.

"How much...don't you know?" he inquired. "What do you want to know?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem felt sad that he had refused to know about him, it made her stomach sink and it almost hurt her feelings, but somehow she held a satisfaction of already knowing a lot about him.

"I found something." She said to him glancing up from playing with a string on the tail of her shirt, thinking mindlessly that she needed to cut it off or burn it. "Some journals in my Great Grandmother's house." She drew in a deep breath and sighed out away from the phone, feeling a bit guilty now that she had read them, the most intimate details of her aunts life. "They were Ariel's."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's hand jumped from his ear and he dropped the phone, his eyes so wide he hadn't ever thought he could be more surprised in his life. His heart was thudding harder and harder as he reached down to retrieved the phone and pressed it back to his ear. He stood up, clearing his throat and going to the window to look out over bright night London.

"Ariel's..." he said, his voice sounding cold, calculating, like it had always used to before he had gotten into all of this. He took a deep steadying breath and chewed his lip moment. He was weighing the merits of asking about them, or just letting Salem volunteer what information she was willing to reveal about what she had read. But Dai didn't feel right, reading or hearing about what was in Ariel's journals. They were hers, her own personal thoughts, things she wouldn't have ever shared with Dai. Even though she was long dead, he felt a certain loyalty to her still. Yet, it had been so long...Dai switched ears and pressed his hand to his hip as he stared out at the buildings, lit up cheerily in the nighttime haze.

"What...what did you find? In the journals, I mean...?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was so glad to hear that he was wanting to know what she found for the amounts were literally endless. She bit her lower lip and sat up, throwing her lesgs over the side of the couch and wandering back into the study where she saw the two items closed, finished for the rest of eternity.

"Things." She stated, her mind quickly recapping everything. Then a smile formed as she let out a tiny laugh, looking down at her feet. "For instance the two of you, when her parents left town for an event, she could you an English meal and you learned how to use a spoon and a fork. You had a hard time eating and dropped your food a few times." Salem had fun remembering that, how he had struggled.

She frowned, realizing that she had remembered it, so much so that she could literally tell him what he wore, how he smelled, what they talked about....she bit her lower lip her heart beating quickly and her stomach dropped. Salem swallowed and let out a soft sigh.

"I think...I think you should read them. I want you to."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai couldn't help but laugh, the memory coming to him so vividly, as if it happened yesterday. He could remember how disgusting he had thought some of those foods had been. He could remember trying so hard to hold the utensils like she was holding them and not being able to. He could remember sitting at her Wasternized table and feeling awkward because he wasn't sitting on his knees on the floor.

He sighed a little shaking his head and looking down at his feet. He couldn't believe she had recorded that in a journal. It was such a tiny insignificant thing that had happened between them. He licked his lips and leaned a shoulder against the window.

"She...she wrote about that?" he asked, an affection in his voice he had saved only for Ariel. She was the only one for whom he had felt such a deep attachment. So deep it spanned centuries. "What else did she write about?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled softly and looked at the ground to her feet again, pushing back a piece of her hair glancing up at the window a few feet away across the study. She leaned off the door frame and walked over to the window and leaned against the wall, staring outside to see a few trees moving wildly and the sky being lit up brightly by a streak of lightening. She normally would have been horrified to see it, but not at that moment it was like she was just comforted by having Dai on the phone, like his prescense was just comforting to her.

"She mentioned little things like how you gave her a few sakura blossoms, how she gave you a yukata, how you two would walk around together...there are so many things to tell you how I--" Salem bit her lip and frowned, apparently tire was getting to her know she was trying to act like Ariel. That was highly awkward. "There are so many things she felt for you. I think it'd be better if you read them yourself, Dai."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai licked his lips and shook his head.

"No...I..." he paused. "I can't. That's...not right. Those thoughts are hers. They are things she didn't, or couldn't tell me. I can't betray our friendship...even if..." he closed his eyes. "Even if she isn't here to defend her secrets..." he said. He leaned off the window as he heard Angel move about again in his sleep. He leaned into the bedroom. The other vampire was napping after he had eaten, and he didn't seem to be sleeping so peacefully. Dai closed the door again and leaned on it. He looked up at the cieling.

"Ariel...she was the only person who ever...understood me," he said quietly, as if he feared someone else might hear him besides Salem. He shook his head. "Her parents...they hated me with everything they had in thier bodies. I think...I think her mother could have died happy if she had seen me lynched and my body burned...and my parents weren't any better..." he paused again. "I wanted...I wanted to take her out of there, Salem. But...so many things got between us first..."

Dai hadn't talked to anyone like this in years. No one but Ariel. It was odd how easy it was for Dai to simply... tell Salem everything. He didn't know why, but somehow, it was like...no, that was simple ignorance.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem frowned and saw the lights flicker on and off. She glanced around the room, seeing her Tiffany lamp nearby in the corner, the stained glass lamp shape going black and then flickering on again. This occurred a few more times before it finally settled. She looked back outside and saw rain falling heavily, the sound of silence in her house echoing that of what was outside.

"I know." She said in a sigh. Did she know? It certainly felt like it! Salem wasn't sure as to why she was feeling so connected with her dead aunt that lived hundreds of years before her, but it was possible, she was sure. She knew that she and Ariel would have gotten along and would have definitely been close, especially after reading her journal.

"There is nothing in there, Dai, that you wouldn't have already known...I am almost certain. I think you need to at least ready a few pages." She licked her lips and realized that she perhaps shouldn't push the matter any further, she didn't want him to do anything he didn't want to.

"I just think it would have done her justice to let you know some things." She looked around as the lights flickered, yet again. This was odd. Her lights went on and off, yet the outside lamps were staying on as well as the house nextdoor, even though her neighbors were out of town for the week.

"I believe, with all my heart, that she would have wanted you to have read them" She was begging him inside of her mind to take at least the last journal, the one that she spoke of many things, discussions, happenings, gifts, dreams, thoughts, and even how she missed him after he was taken. It would allow him to see how tortured she was up until her last breath.

"The last journal," Salem stated looking around the study for good measure. "it's unfinished. She got sick and was complaining about it." A smile crossed her lips. "She was 24. She wrote how she wished you were there to make her some green tea and some Japanese soup." Salem was feeling like she was going to cry again, cry for Dai, cry for Ariel, and cry because she wanted to experience that everlasting love. Oh the jealousy that coursed through her, the bittersweet emotions she was feeling.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai squeezed his eyes shut. She had been sick and he wasn't there to take care of her. He shook his head and rubbed a hand over his forehead. Then he licked his lips.

"Salem...would you mind if I ran up there for a minute? Just to get the journals, I know you need to sleep..." he said. He wanted them now, wanted to read them, feel connected to his friend, remember her, remember the things they had shared, remember thier friendship. He tucked some hair behind his ears. "I won't be long, I promise."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled as she leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes as if this relived her of some immense pressure she had been feeling. She nodded and opened her eyes, glancing over her shoulder at the objects.

"Yes." She said with a soft smile, unable to stop giving him empathetic smiles through the phone even though he couldn't see them. "I also found something you might want to have. Ill be here." She looked out the window again and sighed out.

"See you soon."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai had taken the Benz, dressing all in black, his black trench coat, gloves, boots and fedora all in place as he sped down the more or less empty roads towards her neat apartment building. He was driving the speed limit, his mind trying to wrap around everything that he and Salem had talked about. He was reeling with memories from his life, reeling with things he had tried to block out for so long he had almost convinced himself that he had forgotten it totally.

But now, these journals, and that yukata he had been looking at. All of it was combining to remind him of the life had had so long ago. It was scary to think of all the things he had forgotten. He wondered, suddenly, what had ever happened to the journals he had kept. Ariel had convinced him it was fun when they were very young, and he had kept one up until the night he was taken. He wondered if they had been destroyed with the village when it had been razed to the ground.

Dai sighed as he pulled into the gravel of the lot beside the apartment building and pushed the car door open. He stepped out, his boots crunching on the gravel, and looked up at the building. He closed the car door with and expensive thud and looked up at the balcony of the woman's home. He sighed out and quickly scaled the wall and stood on her balcony. The curtains were closed so he raised a hand and tapped lightly three times.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem heard a roll of thunder and then a tapping. She jumped almost out of her skin when she realized he had decided against using the front door. She smiled and jogged up the staircase and down the hall to her bedroom where she saw the figure outside of her door. It gave her a slight shock to realize that this was the fits time she would be letting him into her bedroom willingly. She moved that thought aside and walked over to the door and unlocked it and smied, almost too happy to see him standing there in his black attire that looked very nice on him, as it always did.

"Hi." She said in an exasperated sigh as if she had just taken on the world. She moved aside allow him to enter, as well as his scent that was always very heavenly to her. "I guess I should refrain from asking if you made it here without any troubles." She joked, closing the bedroom door and locking it tightly.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai tossed a smile over his shoulder as he politely removed his hat and held it in one gloved hand. He turned to her and bowed slightly.

"Hi," he answered, blinking at her a moment, seeing clearly the tire on her face. She didn't look like she had had a decent sleep for months. Which, she hadn't, he remembered grimly, because he had kept her from it. He glanced down at his jacket and hat. "Is there anywhere that I can lay these out of the way, Miss Renfield?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem glanced around and pointed at her vanity. "You can lay them on there. It's okay." She licked her lips feeling her heart race as if she were going to get caught doing something wrong, how silly. She looked around and sighed out, trying to rid herself of the butterflies but it was all to no avail. Since they began sharing dreams everything had simply changed, her feelings towards him most definitely.

"Oh," She said remembering that she had put the one main object seh wanted to give him in her closet so she wouldn't lose it anywhere or let anything happen to it. It was too precious to the entire situation, more so than the journals.

Salem moved beside of Dai and over to her closet and pushed the door open on its tracks, hearing it echo in her room from the loud heavy doors. Shebent down and reached into the darkness, pushing her way through a mound of shoes till she felt that cloth covered object with the geta inside. She put it on her lap and she closed the door and grabbed it before standing up. She glanced at it and drew in a sigh, this was something most valuable and it meatn the most to Salem because she somehow felt like she had literally pulled it out of the dream from the previous night.

She turned and walked over to her bed and put it down and looked up at Dai. She bit her lower lip almost not knowing what to do or so, or even where to start!

"This..." How could she explain what it was doing in a box? How could she explain the attachment that Ariel had to Dai? How could she even express what Ariel had felt? She knew she couldn't and figured the best way to talk was jsut to let the evidence do it for her. She shook her head and pushed it towards Dai.

"Open it."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai wrinkled his brow as he moved to her vanity, stripping off his jacket and laying it over the vanity. He set his hat down on top of it. He turned and made his way over to the bed, sitting down lightly and crossing his legs. He picked up the delicate object. It was old, so very old, just like him.

He glanced up at Salem for a moment before setting the thing in his lap and beginning to gently lay back the slightly stained edges of cloth. His heart was pounding as he got to the last layer and untucked it, pulling it aside to reveal...

"Oh my God..." he said quietly as the small shoe shifted slightly in his lap as he pushed away the last of the cloth. It was as if he had gone somewhere yesterday and left his geta behind. And Ariel was returning it to him. He shook his head, running his fingers lightly over the wood.

Dai had thought that the night he had lost his mortality, was the night his heart had died too. That he would never really be able to feel again. Yet as he looked at that old shoe, at what happened to cause him to lose it, at the fact that Ariel had kept it...it made him feel more than he had thought in hundreds of years. Dai put a hand on his forehead, rubbing it, massaging it as his mind tried to wrap around it. He looked up at Salem, his brow stullf furrowed deeply.

"Where...did you find this?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem closed her eyes that stung with tears, she rubbed her forehead trying to hide the fact that she felt more emotional now than she did during her monthlies, and that was saying an awful lot.

"Umm.." She said frowning, trying to rid herself of the tears. When she felt she had done an a good job of pushing them away she dropped her hand and looked over at him, opening her eyes that still burned. "In a box along with some of Ariel's things. They are all so old that I didn't want to touch them, but I ended up going through it all anyhow." She felt guilty, but it was family heirlooms and had she not found it she was sure it would have remained their until the houses demise, or until someone tossed it out.

She took a seat on the bed and looked down at the geta in his tiny lap and up to his face, so surprised to find it full of something she hadn't seen before, emotion. For a moment she basked in it afraid she might not see it again anytime soon before moving on to other matters that were more important.

"I wanted to show it to you because of the dream we had. I don't know if you saw what happened...you were gone and I saw your geta and I flew onto it and held it for dear life like it were a part of me." She sniffed, trying to keep those tears away for it really shouldn't be effecting her this much! But...it was!

"It is the most prestine object in the box."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai looked from Salem to the small shoe and shook his head again as if he couldn't believe it was sitting here. Which he couldn't really. He brushed his fingers over it, remembering then that he noted it falling off when M had been carrying him. Just as he had been knocked out. He couldn't believe Ariel had picked it up. It was just a shoe.

Dai leaned his elbows on his knees and then his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes, unable to fully comprhend all of this yet. He wet his lips and then took in a deep breath. With some effort, he wrapped the geta back up and gingerly placed it back on the bed. He tried to make his face impassive and looked back over at Salem.

"What else was there?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at the shoe that was covered for a long time, almost amazed that these things had literally transcended time and were now sitting in her room. She couldn't even believe that the person who was on her bed now was still living, still here after all these years.

"Her journals, a few pieces of clothing." She frowned trying to remember. She stood up and walked out of the bedroom and into the extra room that was supposed to be used for guests and was well equipped however nobody stayed so it made for a great storage room!

She came back in holding the silk box and laid it next to Dai, her knee bumping into his own. "Sorry." She was quick to say, feeling the slightly pain from his sharp kneecap rushing up and down her leg.

She flipped the lid open slowly, hearing the material creak with age. She began to shift through it, pulling out some items. "Here is a necklace...a ring..." She was sure that the most important items were the journals and the geta, but she figured Dai could look for something of great importance. "Hairbrush." She said in a sigh, looking at it from where she stood.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai watched her pull the items out and listened as she named them out to him, even though he could see them. He saw the necklace, ring, and hairbrush as she pulled them out and he didn't really recognize them as things that Ariel wore on a regular basis. Maybe something her mother had given her. He reached in himself, gingerly shifting through some of the things that were inside.

He moved aisde papers and old books, finding one in Japanese, one he must have given her, or she had collected from the vendor. He Opened it to peer inside. His Japanese had been mostly lost, but when he had begun to remember things about his past, it had come right back to him. He could once again speak it fluently updating himself on the language, but as he looked over the faded characters in the book, the speech was so old and the characters so outdated that he had to tap back into the old language to read it right.

He set the book aside and then found the journals Salem was talking about. They were so old, crumbling away almost, thier covers faded and thier pages yellowed. He tipped the cover of one back to look at the stained first page, the handwriting faded, the loopy letters almost unreadable.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem titled her head slightly, pretending to be looking inside the box but staring at Dai's face. Had she not known any better she would have said he was very young, barely a man in retrospect, but she could see in his eyes that he had seen things that nobody in their wildest dreams could have imagined. She wanted to just tap into it all and learn and see everything, but it was impossible.

"It gets easier to read near the twentieth page or so." She looked back into the box and saw a few more objects she had overlooked, but paid no mind to them really her focus was on Dai and what he thought and what he was reading. "She really cared a lot about you." Salem kept talking and she didn't know why, he would find it all out once he read, but she just wanted to tell him now! Didn't want him to have to wait longer than he already had! Then again she began to realize the real reason she wanted to tell him. Salem knew that she'd never be able to tell someone such real true feelings without having to wait for centuries herself.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai did as he was instructed, turning to page twenty-seven and scanning the page. It was about her parents. About how Ariel hated how they didn't like Dai. And then it was about Dai, about what he had said that day, about what Japanese word he had taught her. And oh, that word means this, and Dai said that, and he and I went here, and I think maybe I should tell him, but I don't know yet, he doesn't seem to get it, I think I'll wait for a little longer.

The amount of words was dizzying. All of it was Ariel's day-to-day life as she saw it. But Dai didn't know what she wanted so badly to convey to him. He looked for a long moment, but didn't see anything immediately. He flipped by a couple pages, skipping over some that appeared as if something had spilled on them and stained the pages worse than they already were stained. He caught sight of a page that was fairly legible and read through it.

At first, Dai didn't take her saying she loved him seriously. But as he kept reading, he realized that she had meant it. Meant truly. She had been in love with him.

Dai's eyes widened as he read through her thoughts, intimate and descriptive. He couldn't read it anymore, he simply...couldn't. Dai gently closed the book and looked away from it shaking his head and running a hand down his forehead, covering his eyes. His heart was pounding so hard he was sure Salem could hear it. He shook his head and then looked up at the woman.

"She...she said...she said she loved me..." he said stupidly. "I mean...romantically..."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem didn't think he'd discover it this early on his reading, but she had forgotten how many times Ariel would just randomly write whatever came into her mind. It was very interesting and it made Salem realize how alike they were and it was pretty scary. She leaned over to see the words, her mind remmebering when she read it a little earlier that evening. It had been one of millions of little 'I love Dai' splurges and mind fillers when nothing else was left to write about.

"Mmm." She said to him, looking at the side of his face, feeling a little woozy for being so close. She moved away and sighed out, putting a few objects back into the box and closing the lid, before pushing it aside and falling onto the comfort of her bed.

"She died when she was 64." Salem knew he'd read it later, but it was just too big of a thing for Salem to keep secret, she was desperate to tell him and to see how he was to react. She wanted to see if Ariel's love had been unrequieted.

"Her last breath was how much she loved you and how she failed you." She looked to the floor for a moment then glancing back over to Dai's face. "She never married. Her brother's said her death was caused because of a broken heart...if you believe such a thing." Salem did. She was suffering from it now because of reading those damn journals and being with that person her aunt had loved so dearly. The man who still looked just as beautiful as he did centuries prior.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai shook his head. At first he was angry. Why hadn't she ever told him? Why had she kept it a secret from him? Then he was sad. She died in her old age with her friends and family. And then, he felt guilty. It was his fault she was dead. It had always been his fault when she suffered. Always.

He stood up from the bed and moved to his jacket and hat. He pulled the jacket on and then pushed the hat on his head. He was now, angry, guilty, and sad all at once and he didn't know how to feel all of those emotions at one time. He hadn't ever felt them before.

"I don't think that I do..." he said, answering her question. He was angry with himself, bitter than Ariel had kept something like that from him, and now, even a little annoyed that Salem knew all of their intimate details without the permission of either Dai or Ariel. He looked back over and shook his head.

"If she thought she failed me, then she was a fool," he said harshly, the bite and coldness, learned from centuries of being so hardened, coming back to him as he tried to cope with the mound of information he had just been handed. "If she gave up because of me, she was a fool. I was never worth what she spent on me. And in the end, she paid for me in death," he spat. He shook his head, looking down at his feet. And now, he felt ashamed for speaking so cruelly. "Ariel wasted page after page, moment after moment on a boy who did not love her like she wished he did..." he said, his voice dropping again, the sadness now so overwhelming, he thought he might explode. "She kept that secret from him until it was too late...and if she had only said something...that boy...he would have..." Dai shook his head and looked back at Salem.

"I ought to leave."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem watched emotions wash over his face before he scoffed and turned to grab his coat, hat and what other objects he had laid down, sharply responding to her in a tone that was almost bitter and full of anger....full of something she knew. She stopped leaning on her palms and sat upright looking at him turn and tug on his coat collar roughly, he was definitely mad at something.

Salem could understand that she supposed, but then he continued to speak on and on about how she was a fool and then it hit her. She tilted her head and looked at him in a manner that was almost meant for confusion, which Salem was. Why was he suddenly angered? Was it at her? Ariel? Himself? Who was he mad at and why? Then came the part that killed Salem, that literally caused her heart to break into a million and one pieces. He had just called Ariel a fool. It was heart wrenching. Salem was so confused as to why she herself was taking all of this to heart, literally, because not only was he insulting her dead aunt, his best friend, he was insulting her.

Her eyes welled with tears as she began to stew on his words, almost drowing out the parts about how he did not love her in return and that killed her even more. She felt stupid for having the tears to shed, but yet she didn't.

Salem looked away for a moment, blinking away the pain and the tears. Those had been such harsh words and such low blows to Ariel adn the only person who could convey those feelings was Salem and she was doing a terrific job. Why was she having such a problem hearing this? Why the hell had she even had some attachment to a woman she had no idea about until a few days ago?

"Fine." She finally responded. Salem stood up, so hurt by his words feeling only what Ariel could have felt and defended herself. Her aunt. "Perhaps I have wasted my time even telling you about it all. I thought you, of all people, would have at least wanted to know what happened to your best friend." She looked up at Dai and frowned.

"Perhaps she was wrong to have even been that much to you if you feel absolutely nothing for her."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai hissed, baring his teeth like the animal he was, jumping towards her, his eyes shimmering with anger, hatred, fury. Not for Salem, not for Ariel, but in general. The hatred a vampire was awarded when he was turned. Every one had it. He made a move as if he were going to attack her, but he did not.

"Don't pretend like you know anything about it Salem Renfield," he snarled. He shook his head. "You don't understand any of it." He pointed at the journals fiercely. "I loved her more than I have ever loved anyone else in my mortal, or my immortal life! But she wasted her feelings on a boy who couldn't understand that, on a boy blinded by his own selfishness. A boy who is still tormented by the things he said and the things he did. A boy who won't ever be able to rest from the guilt of betraying and failing her! At least she had death, a respite to feeling. I won't ever be able to tell her how sorry I am. Ever. I'll have to live with knowing I killed her forever. Into eternity, Salem. When you are dust, and your children are dead, I will stand at your grave and hers and regret everything I have done."

He stopped, straightening away from her, sheathing his fangs with his lips, closing his mouth and watching her a moment. He shook his head.

"It is so easy for you to say I don't feel. It's simple to look at these fangs, and this immortality and say I can't feel anymore. But she made me feel. She made me understand how deeply one can care for someone else. But I understood too late how to reciprocate feelings..." Dai turned away from Salem and to the balcony, pushing the doors open. He stretched his shoulder blades and his wide black feathered wings spread from them, pushing through the makeshift flaps he had put in his trench coat. He looked over his shoulder at Salem.

"Vandalize my car if I have hurt you bad enough. I cannot bear to sit in that thing anymore."

Crawling on the railing, he crouched and spread his wings, taking off into the cold, numbing darkness of the night. He was after one person. The root of everything. The father of his problems, the object of his affections. Dai was thirsty for revenge.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem stood in her room, a lingering eerieness aswell as the smell of the man who had interrupted her life in more ways than he could have ever imagined. She looked at the balcony seeing no trace of the man. She still felt odd, like she couldn't have rebuked his statements in any way because she wasn't able to say anything in her defense, but he wasn't giving her any credit for knowing anything about what had happened.

Salem closed the doors when the time was appropriate and when she had finally forced herself to move from that same spot she had been standing when they quarrelled if she could go so far as to titlting what just happened such a thing. She sighed out and locked the doors, hearing another roll of thunder in the distance. It made her shake and she realized how scared she was to be alone in her own house. The one thing that kept her company having fled her room, literally.

She rubbed her forehead and sighed out, wondering what to do with all of this. She tossed the thigns into the box, lingering a moment when she had gotten to the geta. She looked at it the feeling being so real when she had landed on it. She had even recognized a bruise on her stomach from where the squared bottom had hit her. It was all so real that it was quite frightening. Memories that hadn't even been spoken of in those journals were still fresh in her mind, not from dreams either.

Salem felt so awkward like she had tapped into some weird science fiction wavelength that somehow crossed the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. It made no sense, which was why she was trying to use every possible theory to explain her feelings for Dai and how she knew everything. Her last stop before just shrugging it off as insanity, was the reason why it was now her purpose to find some picture of her aunt.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai flew most of the rest of the night. He met Angel at an all night cafe and they had talked until the wee hours of the morning when Angel had to go back to the apartment. They had walked back to their apartment together, Angel silently comforting Dai with his gentle touches and calm words.

Dai hadn't meant to be so cruel. But cruel was his defense mechanism and when he didn't understand something, he brushed it off by being cold. As he and Angel walked in silence, hand-in-hand, back to the apartment, the streets silent, the sky just the lightest shade of navy, Dai wanted nothing more than someone to sneak up behind him and put a stake through his heart. He wanted to die. He wanted to be with Ariel. Although he was sure that she had gone to heaven, was on God's right hand, and if he ever was killed, he would certainly be the devil's playmate.

Thier apartment was cold and empty when they returned. Dai pulled all the shades while Angel showered in one bathroom and then he showered in the other. The two met in the living room just as the sun was turning the sky a gentle greyish-blue color. But the apartment was perfect night. Angel laid down on the couch and Dai curled perfectly around him, sleep quickly tugging at his eyelids. He was so emotionally drained, he could barely see straight.

Dai promised himself, before he went to sleep, that when he woke up, Marius was his.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem wasn't sleeping, it was too noisy for her to sleep. It was raining terribly where she was and it was storming twice as bad as it had later that evening before Dai had come over. She'd fall asleep only to wake up again, she would toss and turn and be frightened by thunder and even more so by the lightening.

It was nearing some time in the morning she figured considering the power was out and she had no battery operated clocks in the distance of her bedroom. She was needing to go to the bathroom, her bladder far from full considering she had consumed about 80 pints of water after Dai had left due to all the crying she had done both before and after. She sighed as she made her way down the hall wearing her nightly get up of underwear and tank top, the lightening guiding her way for she had no lights. She was tired and restless and scared to death and her bladder was making things worse for she was always afraid of getting shocked by using the toilet or touching anything metal around it.

She jumped when the lights in the house flickered on, the bathroom light shining nothing but pure white into the hall. She squinted and stopped walking, almost as if the light were to burn her skin as it would have any other vampire. But before her eyes adjusted the lights flicked off again.

"Damn storm." She muttered as she walked into the bathroom to quickly find the toilet seat and release the pain she so vividly felt inside. She reached forward and grabbed the toilet paper hanging and watched the lights flick on and off several times, blinding her for the most part. The house was making noises that only she would be able to recognize, but it still allowed her mind to go wild. She sighed out, the lights continuing to flicker as she flushed the commode and found the cold metal faucet and knobs. She heard it turn on and she stuck her hands underneath it to wet them, finding the soap dispenser to the right. She gave the head a few pumps before rubbing her hands together. THe lights flickered and she saw her hands were soaped up and she was happy to see again after being in the dark for so long, but before all was over the lights flicked off.

"Damn it all to hell!" She said angered. "Can't people fix the electric anymore?" She sighed and turned the sink off and shook her hands wildly. She looked up at the mirror and sighed, the lights coming on yet again. She saw herself and she groaned at the sight. She knew this was the best time to find the towel rack and dy her hands, she turned and walked over to the rack and was quick to wipe, the lights going out the second her hands found it. She smiled with satisfaction as she dried them, but somehow an eerie feeling came over her.

Salem shivered when she felt a cold draft pass her, but seemingly warming up the longer she stood there grasping the towel for dear life. She held her breath, knowing she was hearing things and that it was nothing. She shivered again when she felt something breathing down her neck. She sighed out and dropped the towel and turned, the lights coming on. Salem stopped dead in her tracks to stare up at a massive man with eyes so light green that it was in a class of color all on its own. He was wearing a large maroon colored coat that stopped at his ankles, an outfit that was only to be worn in the 18th century, and fangs as pure as her bathroom walls.

"Good evening!" The man said to her. She glanced over his shoulder to see the mirror...nothing there. Her heart stopped. The man lunged at her just as the lights flicked out. But it was all for the better.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai jumped awake in a cold sweat, not a half hour after he had laid down to sleep. He jumped sp violently that he fell straight off the couch and landed with an "Oof!" on his tailbone. He scrambled to his feet and got his bearings. He looked around for his clock but when he found it, he saw that the power was out. He listened and heard the heavy rain outside. He walked to his laptop and flipped it open. The battery was still mostly full. He checked the time--3:55 a.m.

Dai shook his head, running a hand through his hair. Why had he jumped awake like that? He never did that unless he was awaking from a nightmare. But he had sensed something, he knew he had. He had a niggling deep inside that told him to call Salem. He looked around, chewing his lip, weighing the merits of calling her or just laying down and going back to sleep.

Sighing heavily, he pulled on a grey t-shirt that appeared to be Angel's and dug in his trenchcoat, getting his cell phone out and looking out of the window at the torrent of rain pouring down from God Himself. Dai dialed Salem's number and listened as it rang. He hoped she picked up, that she was okay so that they could both get back to bed. They needed the sleep.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was unable to really move, although she was free as a bird she just didn't want to make any sudden movements as the man in front of her paced back and forth, one arm crossed the other laying on top propping it up so he could hold his finger to his lips, contemplating her fate.

The man would stop, smile, then frown, only to continue pacing. What was this mans problem? Why wouldn't he just do away with her right then and there? He apparently had some greater plan.

"I could..." He said, bringing himself to a pause as he looked over at her sitting on the bed, back pressed against the metal headboard as he paced at the end. "I could suck you to the brink of death!" Salem frowned and pushed herself against the bed's headboard even more the thought scaring her more than the man himself. He laughed and flmabyoantly gestured, like most French men did.

"It would be painful, ma cherie, but only for a little while. Hewould fix it I am sure!" Salem swallowed as she watched the man ponder yet again, fingertip to the lips, this time just staring at her from the foot of the bed.

"H-h-he?" Salem managed to say after being quiet for some time. "Who?" The man laughed and waved a hand at her.

"Silly girl!" He stated shaking his head almost in disappointment. "Do you honestly think he'd let you die? Hmm? Of course not! He's been bearing Ariel on his shoulders for centuries, I don't think he'd want another one on his back for a few more." Salem then realized who he was talking about, which she should have known. She jumped when the phone rang. The two of them both looked at the phone. Salem knew it was him and she was desperate to answer and tell him to get over there pronto, but Marius was quicker than she was.

"Let's see what he thinks!" Marius grabbed the phone by her bed and she glanced at his hand and his long prestine nails and feminine hands. How deceiving they were. They might've looked beautiful, as a woman's, but they were stronger than anything she had ever felt. Her neck was definitely red from his death grip. He turned the phone on and brought it to his ear. Glancing at Salem and indicating she'd better be quiet. In no way was she going to disobey.

"It seems you get to come to the party after all, my pet." Marius sat down on the bed, looking at Salem and running his hand up and down her leg as if he were bored. He ran his hand up her stomach and then up to her face, reaching her hair and twirling it around his fingertip.

"Your little girl is right here waiting to be saved. I suggest, if I may, you come over here and finish this last drop before her heart dies. I would turn her myself, but I feel that you should be the one to do it. Au revoir, Amour." With that he turned the phone off and sighed.

"What did you mean? Heart dies? Last drop?" The man laughed yet again, amused by her ignorance. He let her hair go and he patted her face.

"Cherie, when we bite our prey we can do one of three things. Drink them dry, drink them on the brink of death and let them die, or we can drink them to the brink of death and allow them to drink after us..which would cause a change. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Salem said in halted breaths. So he was going to either let Dai turn her, let Dai let her die, or let Marius drink what was in her. Nothing at this moment looked very promising.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai didn't think he'd moved that fast in his life. He woke Angel, updated him, and his offspring was up and ready to die for his master. Dai and Angel took off out of the apartment, Dai wrapping his arms around his friend and flying them to the woman's apartment. It was so much quicker.

Dai landed on the balcony and burst through the doors. He and Angel were soaked from the rain and Dai was furious. He spread his wings the length of the room as he and Angel pushed through the open balcony doors. Dai's glowing eyes took in the scene at once. Salem was on the bed, unharmed as of yet. M was next to her, sitting proudly, his beautiful face turned upwards cockily, his long legs crossed serenely. Dai heard Angel snarl. His offspring did not need a dictionary to know that this was M. Marius.

Dai folded his wings, but did not retract them. He put a hand on Angel's shoulder and the white haired boy sobered immediately, standing down, standing close to Dai who was only staring at Marius. The vampire who had ruined and begun his life. Dai owed him everything and yet nothing. He was sitting there, as beautiful as the day he had shown up in Takada and seduced Dai into going with him. Dai couldn't help but feel a need to be with Marius. He was Dai's creator, and Dai would always feel the pull to want to be with him always, give him what he wanted. It was simply engrained in Dai's psyche.

He shook some of the water from his hair and advanced forward slightly. Salem was safe for the moment, and Dai's quarrel was not with her. It was with his creator.

"You have quite an ounce of spine to come sauntering back in and calling me your pet," Dai chuckled, folding his wings a little more so that he didn't hit anyone, or knock anything over. He smiled at Marius. "You're looking gorgeous, M. Just like back then when I was just another boy on your list to rape. Glad to see you've been keeping up on your beauty rest."

Dai heard Angel advancing behind him, purring his disapproval of this situation. Dai didn't like it either. He glanced back at the younger vampire and cooed him before looking back at Marius.

"Meet your grandson," Dai threw with a laugh, motioning vaguely to his companion. "His name is Angel..." Dai paused a moment. Then he swallowed. "What do you need here, M? Come to have the last laugh?"

[Salem Renfield]

"Oh now now, no need to get touchy. However, I do, every now and again, love to be the one with the first and last laugh. Also, I don't dare want to call that creature my grandson. How onl earth did you ever find such a specimen? Grey hair? I thought I taught you better than that!" Marius breathed in and glanced at Salem who sat hip to hip with the man feeling his warmth and his hold. Although it was not physical, the mental powers he had shown her were far more advanced than she would have ever known.

"Don't you find it a bit odd," Marius touched Salem's face yet again and glanced over at the two men standing as if they broke out of hell. He grabbed Salem's hand into his own and began playing with it, touching her fingers, bringing it to his face to rub it gently across his cheek. Before she knew it her hand was his feast. His teeth literally crunched into her skin and she immediately tried to recoil, but was unable to move for she felt paralysed.

Salem was more than happy to scream out obscenities and try to pull her hand away, but it was all to no avail. She could feel the blood from her wounds being pulled out by the strong lips and force of sucking he was doing on her hand. He glanced up at Dai and was quick to retract his fangs, blood lining his lips and the insides of his mouth.

"Mmm...tasty." He licked his lips and gave her her hand back, bleeding from the fresh wounds. The man lamely tossed her a handkerchief and she was quick to place it over her hand that hurt. "Right!" Marius said raising his eyebrows finding his first thought.

"Don't you find it a bit odd, my dear child, that she looks unremarkably familiar?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai threw her a passing look but did not look at her long. He shook his head, slowly retracting his wings, the sound of them growing back into skin rather sickening to anyone unused to it.

"You always did like mind games, M," Dai sighed, slicking back his sopping hair. He blinked a few times and shook his head. "I don't care if she looks, walks, talks like Ariel. She isn't," Dai told him bluntly. He thought he knew where M might be taking this conversation and he didn't really want to go there. He wanted to fight with Marius. Because right now, Marius was Dai's interest. Getting revenge was Dai objective. Unless, by some act of God or Devil, the man had become something much more than he was when Dai knew him.

"Isn't that why you sent her all of those lovely tid bits of our past together?" Dai asked, quirking an eyebrow. He smiled. "You should have sent her that lovely painting you did of me, I am sure they would have had a feild day dating that," he said with a smile at Salem. He was taking in her injury. It wasn't too bad, she would certainly survive. Unless M decided to get a little more adventurous. "As it is, M, no on likes riddles. Why don't you just tell us all what you need here?"

[Salem Renfield]

The man smirked at Dai and ran a hand up Salem's arm, she knowing what could happen if he got a hold of her neck. He could snap it into two halves without so much as blinking, he could overpower her and bite her neck....of the possibilities that were before her. She knew that after this sleep would never come easy. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the man still smiling, looking at the two men in front of them.

Her hand was killing her and it was bleeding badly, she could only imagine the pain that would come with a bite on the neck.

"Riddles? Now the only conundrum in this room is, cherie." Salem hated French, the language made her sick to her stomach and it was easy to see that after this ordeal she'd end up hating the entire country. She wasn't fond of the man beside her and she was definitely not fond of being called cherie.

"I could have sent her many things about us, but I didn't think it would pique her interest. However I did happen to make a nice little creation, flip book mainly, with Ariel in the background. That was the only thing I've done since I found you.

"I've always known where you are, I know what you think, what you feel, and who stalk most importantly. When I realized who you were after and the reasoning behind it I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to have a reunion. Also when I saw her I knew that this was going to be even better than planned. Look how far we have come already. She knows a lot, my pet. More than you can imagine! Now..I wonder why that is?" Salem glanced at Dai, then the beautiful man behind him, then to Marius. Her hand was making her sick, the pain was greater than she could have ever imagined. Then again she didn't have a very good pain tolerance.

"Can you just kill me and get it over with?" She said in fear. Of course she didn't want to die, but having to wait while expecting it to happen was far worse than any pain. Marius' hand was behind her neck, massaging like he actually wanted to. He smiled, fangs white and sharp.

"In time, my love, in time. Don't be so impatient!" Marius looked back to Dai and shrugged. "I am only looking after your well being. You always wanted to be reunited with Ariel, well I found her! So...are you going to do it or am I going to have to?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai watched Marius touch Salem and he was shocked by the intense wave of jealous possessiveness that swept through him. Angel felt it strongly, and purred in response. Dai was sure Marius had felt it too, but he didn't care. The vampire was massaging her neck gently, like a lover, smiling at Dai with all the mock sincerity in the world.

Dai had the urge to both kiss the man, and rip his face off at once. It wasn't a good feeling, and mingled with the protectiveness he felt for Salem, and the conflicting emotions he felt from Marius and Angel, Dai was overloaded with emotions, and thoughts. He stood there for a long moment, his mind weighing the possibilities. Of course, if he could help it, he wouldn't bite Salem. He wouldn't have ever thought about doing it to Ariel, and he wouldn't do it to this girl either. Yet they were at am impasse. If Dai didn't do it, Marius certainly would, and if anyone were going to be forced to do it, Dai wanted to be the one. Because Marius didn't have the ability to be gentle, the word wasn't in his snobby French vocabulary. He would certainly hurt her very badly. But Dai's views had changed so rapidly towards the woman, all he wanted was to keep her away from pain. And that was all Marius could inflict.

"She isn't Ariel, my dearest one," Dai said placatingly, tilting his head towards Marius, hoping to stall for more time. "And since we've opened this wound, since when have you ever felt the obligation to look after my well being?" he asked, moving closer to Marius curiously.

[Salem Renfield]

Marius smiled, his teeth white, sparkling, perfection always fitting him best. He glanced over at Salem and raised his eyebrows, his bottom lip slightly pouty as he leaned forward slightly, his hand still on the back of her neck.

"Cold, my love?" Salem felt her bones jump out of her skin at his voice, she was preparing for the pain and the death and anything else that would relate to vampiric behaviors, but he was being kind and loving and she knew deep in the back of her mind that she hated this man, but in the front of her mind she was loving him. She was out of control and Marius was cooing her gently with touches and affections that she had never felt by simply looking and talking to her. She swallowed and nodded, knowing that she wasn't cold, but the man was causing her to do things she otherwise would stray away from. Chills mysteriously formed on her arms and she glanced down at them feeling like she was in a dream. Marius smiled and moved his hand from the base of the back of her neck and slid it down her left shoulder and under her breast. Before she knew it she was sitting in front of Marius, his left arm wrapped around her protectively. Salem was wanting to move out of his reach, out of the lounging position, but Marius was too good to let that happen.

She felt him breathing and his right hand pushing her hair away from her neck, his nails tickling her skin as he lovingly touched the blue vein in her neck.

"I am a very caring person, I loved all my creations. There always being a different attachment to each one. Yours, my dear, happened to be a little bit different. You kept me company, you appeased me in all the ways possible, I loved you best." Marius looked at the side of Salem's face, her eyes fixated on Dai. "However, I think, She might take your place." He looked back over at Dai and grinned.

Salem knew inside of herself that the real reason Marius was there was because of his loneliness. He was needing a companion to live through centuries with as he had before. She just wasn't sure if Dai was seeing this. She felt Marius scrape his nails a bit harder on her skin and she clenched her jaw. It was a warning, she knew, to stop having such vivid thoughts of what Marius wanted. He had even said so in her mind.

"Dai you underestimate what the human soul can do. Having been without it I am sure you have forgotten." He laughed evilly, his touches to Salem turning back to pure love. "You above all people should be able to see the soul of the one you love so dear. Why else do you think you two are together now? Do you actually think her blood will make you human? Stronger? Powerful? Anything? Lies. All lies. I had this happen for a reason. That reason being so I could see my little prodigal son again and to see if I couldn't create that one...big...happy family I always wanted."

Salem looked over her shoulder to see the man smiling with a sense of satisfaction. Each time he petted her neck she got a feeling of closeness to the man, she know knew why so many people in those horror stories were so willing to be bitten. There was certain sexual power to the man, of course, but he was also very good a altering what people thought. She was experiencing it first hand.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai tossed his head and laughed. He waved at Marius.

"Fine then," he said. "Bite her if you will, you're making me impatient." Dai watched Marius. He hated the man, yes, but Dai couldn't have ever tricked himself into thinking that if Marius came back he wouldn't want to do everything he could to make him happy.

"Have her, make her your favorite, take her in every way, it's only what you're good at. You'll tire of her in a century or two, and then what Marius? Whose next? Another reincarnation, this time of a long, lost love of your own? Or will you keep feeding off of other's lives simply because you have never been able to forge your own."

Dai ran his finger's down Angel's arm and moved the younger vampire in front of him. He watched Marius a moment before smiling.

"I have my own companion, now, Marius, my own life. You're welcome to Salem, or Ariel, or whatever you like to call her. Look at her eyes, she wants it. Only because you would never be able to make anyone fall in love with you without utilizing your vampiric lure. You're perfectly evil and beautiful, I suppose it's why I always loved you. This boy," Dai said, kissing Angel's shoulder. "I didn't want him. He came to me, not because I made him love me, but because he was a free feeling mortal. It's the aspect of my life that will always bother you, Marius. It always did and always will."

Dai threw up a hand and turned towards the balcony doors, sauntering towards them and waving for Angel to follow.

"Have fun, my dears," he said, waving at them. "I'm certain you'll enjoy him Salem. He is quite fun the first time, and then he slowly goes downhill, but don't let it stop you."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem felt her grasp on reality literally failing her, but she saw Dai leaving and suddenly she was almost ready to fly after him, but she couldn't due to fear. She looked over at Marius who was literally grimacing at the scene, his eyes turning black and his teeth shimmering as he growled. His grip was tight around her neck and she realized her position. She was wanting to move, but couldn't, his arm around her, the other slowly coming to ah old around her throat. Salem suddenly felt the air go away .She frowned at first almost confused that he was chocking her. Defensively she grabed his hand with her own and tried to force it off, but his strength was far more powerful than any mere human.

"You're choking me...Marius!" He continued to growl. He was very displeased at his young boy that was ignoring the calling of his needs and his desires. His powers were apparently unable to reach the man who had grown much stronger since their last meeting. He figured the only way to prepare himself for rejection was to use Salem as bait and it was not working.

Salem felt her world literally trying to go black, but she still struggled. The man stood up, still holding her, jerking her up on the bed. He saw Dai was gone and this infuriated him. WIthout a care, he tossed Salem backwards, watching her bounce on the bed and literally back flip onto the floor. He heard her body hit the wooden floor hard and the sound appeased him, inflicting pain always making him happy. He growled and heard Salem coughing on the otherside of the bed.

"This is not over." Marius said matter of factly and headed out onto the balcony and out of her sight. Salem grabbed her comforter on her bed and pulled herself off the floor as the other was around her neck that hurt from the force and the nails....so much for being her savior, then again she knew she couldn't count on him for such a thing considering he had no attachment or any ties to her other than Ariel.

Salem still coughed as she stood up and jogged over to her balcony doors and slammed them shut, locking them with shaking hands, her body and mind realizing that she had been out of control of herself and Marius making certain decisions for her. She shivered in fear and coughed, glaring out the window wanting to know what the hell Marius was talking about. She was in no way a reincarnation. She sighed out and pulled the curtains over the many pains and leaned against it, trying to catch her breath and trying to relax. How was she going to allude these people?

Salem looked over her shoulder and jogged to the side table and pulled out the drawer, it almost being pulled to far. She gasped and reacted to it and quickly pushed it back in and grabbed the large crucifx. She held it against her chest, her heart beating so fast. She sat down on the bed and stared around the room as if they were still there. Why was she having to deal with vampire drama?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai sent me back to the house to make sure Marius took the bait. I watched him leave the house and I figured that he probably had. Especially when I saw the blacony doors slam shut bitterly. I smiled, poor girl, she'd been through enough already.

I made my way up the side of the building, considering I didn't fly, and I clambered onto her balcony, trying to peer into the window, but not being able to see past the curtains she had pulled. For a moment, I didn't know if I should barge in there, especially if she was recovering from a Marius encounter. But what for it? If she had been bitten, Dai had wanted me to go ahead and drink the rest of her blood, make sure she didn't become a vampire.

I leaned down and prodded a finger into the lock, unlocking it after a moment of struggle. I was not as talented as my lover and could not just wave my hand and have a door unlock. When it finally did, I gently pressed the door open and peered inside.

"Salem?" I asked, trying to be as calm and nonthreatening as was absolutely possible. "Dai sent me back to see if you're alright."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem gasped in fear when she saw a shadow being cast on the floor of her bedroom, she held her breath almost paralyzed at the sense of someone outside of her bedroom door. She bit her lower lip and clutched the crucifix, afraid to let it go, afraid that her body would again be taken over by the powerful vampiric lust and control. She swallowed, the initial fear finally hitting her now that she was alone and knew that three vampires had her name and address. Salem breathed in after a moment, almost in a gasp, she felt beads of sweat form on her forehead and her heart pound against Jesus on the corss. She glanced down at it and then jumped at the sound of a man's voice, saying her name from the outside of the house.

It was unfamiliar and she was almost afraid of who it could be, but then he let his connections be known. It must've been the enigmatic man who was spawned from Dai. She breahted out in shallow breaths and slowly stood up and walked over towards the door and peered out from the crack in the curtain. She unlocked the dooor with a shaking hand and opened it.

"No." She said lowly. "I'm not all right! I'm not all right!" She bit her lower lip as she raised her voice, dropping the crucifix and putting her hands over her face. This was the first time she had cried in a long time, really cried out of fear and confusion. She was so scared of everything since Dai had entered her dreams that it was taking its toll on her. She was fragile from no sleep, from overworking herself, and now being the pawn of some stupid game between bitter vampires.

"I'm not." She said again a little calmer, trying to stop being so dramatic, but she figured she could at least give herself this kind of luxury.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel blinked a few times at her as she burst into tears, yelling that she wasn't in fact okay. He furrowed his brow and crept into the room, closing the door behind him. He walked over to her, being careful to keep a safe distance from the crucifix. He reached out a hand and squeezed her arm reassuringly.

"I understand, Salem," he said quietly. But he didn't know what else to say. He was usually pretty good at comforting people, but he couldn't exactly understand what it would be like to be surrounded by three vampires, two of which had a serious history, one of which wanted to murder her, and not knowing which way was up or down.

Angel opted to just wait until she was calmer before saying anything else. Finally, she seemed to calm down a little and Angel smiled at her. He moved around the crucifix and took her elbow, coaxing her towards the bed, knowing she needed to sit down, lay down even, and rest.

"Come over here," he said quietly, soothingly, leading her over and sitting her down, sitting down next to her. He smiled down at her. "I apologize for the conduct of my friend and Marius, it's childish, thier banter. It's more like a match to see who is stronger than that they really care about anything they're talking about," he said quietly. "Do you need anything, my friend?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem followed without a single objection, there was something in his voice that made her calmer and made her want to straighten herself out. She sighed out and sniffed and wiped the trail of tears away and took a seat on the bed, bouncing slightly when he himself took a seat next to her. She leaned on her knees with her elbows and put her head in her hands, looking at the floor as she heard the man talk. She glanced over at him, her eyes red from the tears. She looked at him smile and suddenly she wanted to smile too. Salem grinned and shook her head, leaning up trying to calm down. Although her mind was aware of who he was and what he was, she wasn't fearful of him as she would have been had the man talking to her was Dai or Marius.

"No." She said lowly. "Thank you." She sighed out and ran her left hand over her forehead and arched her back trying to get relaxed from everything that was seemingly snowball on top of her. She tired to comprehend everything and she glanced over at the man who had called her friend. She let out a slight chuckle and let her hand drop onto her knee.

"Yes, actually." She closed her eyes and tried to get the burning t ogo away. "A drink, a smoke, a muscle relaxer...sleep!" She let out a groan and shook her head, glancing away for a moment. "Possibilities are endless." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to tell him or talk to him without worrying about her well being, but at this point she wouldn't care. Things weren't going her way anyhow, being bitten on the neck... it would have been the only thing that was routine.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel smiled at her and glanced around him. He saw none of those things in the immediate vicinity. He thought for a moment, then looked back over at her.

"Well...I'm afraid I don't smoke, so we're out in that area. I don't see any alcohol in here, and really, you don't need it. Muscle relaxers actually can make sleeping in the future harder," he said with a smile. Then he nodded. "But sleep we can do. If you trust me," he said, suddenly. "I certainly won't relax you if you feel uncomfortable, considering it wouldn't work," he chuckled.

"I'd just ease your mind, make it easier to sleep. Stick around if you want me to."

[Salem Renfield]

She looked at him, eased beyond belief. Not but five minutes ago she was scared out of her mind, but the company she was having...it was very nice and very comforting. She smiled and laughed lightly at his observations.

"Do you always have the answers?" She let out another groan for good measure, letting out the butterflies from the previous events. She frowned slightly when she felt her neck hurt. Marius had had a death grip on her and she was feeling the effects now. It ached and she was tired and stressed out and confused. Couldn't they just leave her alone? Salem rubbed her neck and looked over at the man and smiled.

"Angel, is that right? Your name?" She figured if he was going to be the only one to help her in this mess she figured she'd have to gain some trust with him. Learning his name for sure was a good start.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel smiled at her and nodded, bowing and holding out a hand to shake hers.

"Angel Erickson," he introduced himself. He liked Salem, and he had never thought it right for Dai to have done what he did to her, she wasn't trying to harm anyone and Angel had known that. Of course, he couldn't have just said that to his creator, when Dai got an idea in his head, it was extremely hard to knock it out. Luckily, he had seemed to come to his senses one his own, without too much hastle. But then Marius had to stick his big nose into this and mess everything up.

"You're Salem Renfield, yes? Dai told me all about you."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, what's left of me anyway." She wiped under her eyes the last bit of wetness from the crying fit she had a few moments prior. She shook her head trying to think of what to say after all of this for she felt like every piece of privacy and interpersonal things in her life...all of it had been invaded by these men. Anything she knew they probably already heard it or sensed it.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel smiled. For a long moment, they sat there in silence, both thinking, Salem probably trying to absorb everything. And Angel couldn't blame her for crying. After everything that had happened, anyone would have been crying.

He glanced up at her and then smiled. He raised a hand and gently touched her face, using his vampiric lure instead for good, allowing his calm to move into her.

"This will help you relax, Miss Renfield. Don't worry, I'm not going to bite you," he said with a smile. He gently massaged his fingers over her temple, his still young skills pulling softly at her mind, easing her, soothing the chaos that he felt in her mind. He let his own calm go into her. It would allow her to sleep when she wanted to, without being bothered by a restless mind. It was better than a sleeping pill because it was natural, and she would be sleeping a natural sleep.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem, at first was a bit hesitant to have him touch her for Vampire's, as she had found out personally, were liars...but she figured that this man seemed soft and kind enough to actually be telling the truth. Even if he wasn't she wouldn't have been able to tell for the moment his skin touched her own she was already leaning into him and feeling like she were floating on air. She frowned softly, feeling everything clear away from her. She felt a soft voice inside of her head telling her to be calm, breathe, relax...things that she had heard in yoga classes that never worked. She had never felt so serene and comforted in all her life and it was shocking to feel the tire weighing heavily on her shoulders as he continued to touch her.

"Angel," She said lowly in a voice that was half laced with tire and with euphoria. "Could you stay with me until I go to sleep?" She didn't know why but so far having him close to her was making things better, having him stay until she fell asleep could only ensure her that she was going to get that sleep she desperately needed.

Salem was always a trusting person, naive in some ways, and a bit too innocent for her own good. But at that moment she was glad to have those flaws because it was making this much easier. At least if he were to bite her and kill her she'd go in peace.

"Please." She said feeling her body feel weightless and her eyes become heavy. Any moment now, she was sure she'd fall into his lap.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel smiled softly at her words as she seemed to respond well to him. He gently withdrew his hand and stood, hooking an arm around her shoulders and lifting her slightly up so that he could pull the blankets down.

Angel gently picked her up and slid her under the blankets, allowing her head to rest on the pillows, sinking down slightly. He began to pull the blankets over her shoulders.

"Of course I will," he whispered to her as he pulled the blankets over her and gently folded them under her shoulders. He brushed back some of her hair and then turned the lights off that had been turned on in the chaos of the hours previous. He went to the window and pulled the curtains open so that he could see his way better to the bed. Angel sank down into the mattress next to her, crossing his legs and gently stroking her face to continue to relax her.

"You can sleep peacefully, now."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem groaned lightly as she felt her body literally ease into the curve of the mattress. It had never felt so soft and so comforting before, ever. Nor had she ever felt cool and warm at the same time. It was almost like she were literally sleeping on a cloud for it was all so perfect and she didn't even need to move from the position she had been put in by the man. She laid there with her eyes closing on her, although she was trying to fight it out of good measure for she was almost certain that she would never sleep this good in all her life.

The man had gone over to the window, she remembered that clearly, she watched him in all his elegance, almost surprised that he was a walking contradiction. His named was Angel, he sounded like one, looked like one, had wonders like one...however he was no such thing. He was a creature of darkness, a murderer, a person with powers to deceit and empower others. Somehow, even in knowing this, Salem still had no objections to who he was at that moment. She honestly didn't want to think about it.

He moved again from the window, wondering as to why he had opened the curtains. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. Although she knew he had done it, she didn't feel the movement. It was like he were weightless, then again she was so tired she probably didn't recognize that the transfer of motion could have been felt. Her body felt heavy and she was slipping into sleep, happily as well.

She looked up at him and grinned soflty, frowning after a moment when her eyes tried to close on her again. She wanted to keep talking to him! She wasn't sure why, she just did. She also wanted to keep looking at him. He looked so harmless as well. He was too gentle to be what Dai and Marius were. His words then rang in her ears like angels singing, or what she figured would have been for the sound soothed her ears and caused her even more problems staying awake. Again she moaned.

She felt him touch her face and that was when she literally lost time. She remembered groaning at the tingle she felt against her skin and how she snuggled over towards him and felt his cold body next to her. Although he was sitting upright, it still felt nice just to feel him there. Then it was over. Her mind shut down.

[Angel Erickson]

Angel stayed there all night.

He watched her sleep and he watched the moon outside, and he listened to his stomach grumble. He was hungry yes, and even though he had only promised her to stay until she had gone to sleep, he couldn't bear the thought of letting her sleep alone after all that had happened to her. He felt so deeply sorry for all that Dai had done to her, and he wished he could make it up to her somehow. He thought about it all night.

Angel watched her for the hours that he sat there, and even though he knew that time was passing, he couldn't tell it. He couldn't feel it. Ever since he had met Dai, time didn't pass anymore. It was like an entity that mortals swore by and vampires just waved at as it rushed by them. Angel could scarcely remember being bound by time.

Angel was eighty-nine, nothing compared to Dai, and certainly nothing in light of Marius. But considering he looked his turning age, twenty, eighty-nine was fairly old. Angel had been turned almost exactly on his twentieth birthday. He had met Dai some weeks before, and they had forged a friendship. But Dai was such a free spirit, Angel hadn't ever really meant to get into what he did with the other man.

Finding out Dai was a vampire was a shock, but a welcome one. Angel had asked to be turned. Dai hadn't wanted to. But Angel had insisted. It was the reason he could sit here and helpd Salem sleep now. Angel had not decided yet if he regretted his decision or not.

By the time Angel saw the pale glow of the sun coming up, Salem had been sleeping perfectly peacefully for several hours. Angel stood off of the bed with a stretch and moved to the balcony doors, pulling the curtains back and going outside, glancing back once to make sure he hadn't woken her. Angel backed out onto the balcony, taking a few breaths of the cool, very early morning air. He pulled the balcony doors closed with a click that was louder than he had wished it had been. He turned and leaned on the railing, looking over London in the navy-grey light of a foggy morning. He would have to get home soon, or else he would burn to death.

But he thought that he could at least watch the stars disappear before taking off.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem had been so used to dreaming things that were random, outlandish, horrific...anything and everything was never off limits when it came to her subconscious taking over in her mind. But last night..she dreamt of nothing. It was almost a confusing thought for her,but she was embracing it with open arms and actually wanting to go back to bed, but surprisingly she was wide awake.

She stared up at the ceiling, seeing the sun had actually come up this morning and was causing a funny pattern to form on her ceiling from the windows and the water spots from the rainy night before. She was biting her lower lip, warm and snug, smelling a new scent that continued to calm her for the assosciation the night before.

Angel. His name was even better to think in her mind and he was nothing far from it. He was a vampire and yet at the same time he had been the most impressionable one yet. Salem heard a sound coming from the hall and she looked over, only to realize it was just the windy morning hitting against her windows. She smiled soflty for this was the first morning she was unafraid to open her eyes and take the day head on. It was like every care she ever had was drained away. It was so remarkable that she was laughing about it.

"Whoa." She said after a long moment of staring at the ceiling. she glanced at the clock and let out another laugh. It was 7 in the morning. Normally she would be frantic at this point, tired, wanting to go to bed, wishing she could get a few more minutes of sleep...but today she was just...there. She let out a laugh and sat up slowly, pulling the covers off of her and stepping onto the floor, glancing around the bright room seeing the door had been locked. The control vampires had was fascinating. Angel had managed to lock the doors before he went home. What time had he left? She was sure it was two minutes after she closed her eyes for she was gone quicker than anything.

Salem yawned and stood up, stretching and breathing in deep. Today, for the first time in a long time, she was ready to take on the world.

[Dai Yosada]

"Don't talk to me, Angel, I am not in the mood."

Dai's night had been long. He had spent most of it playing tag with Marius, the times they weren't chasing each other spent tossing insults, calling faults, lashing out, they had even managed to get a kiss or two in the fray somewhere. Dai was now blindly enraged by the fact that Angel had stayed with Salem all night, when he should have checked on her and gone home.

"She needed someone there with here. You didn't exactly volunteer, Dai," Angel said as he made sure that the curtains were pulled in front of the windows. Dai snarled as he paced across the living room. He was exhausted, but he didn't want to sleep, and didn't feel like sleeping.

"You do realize that if Marius had taken a mind to, he could have come back and ripped you to shreds and killed Salem? Did that even cross your mind?" Dai asked, pausing in his pacing a moment to look at the boy standing at the window, his brow furrowed. Even Angel looked a little harrassed.

"No, Dai, it didn't. I'm sorry, I thought--"

"No you didn't, Angel, you didn't think at all. I was ill wondering what had happened to you. When Marius finally left, I thought maybe it was to go after you, and come to find out, you were--just, go to bed, okay? And be here when I get back, okay?" Dai asked, shaking his head. Angel nodded.

Dai gathered up his trench coat and hat and headed out of the apartment. He was going to go check on Salem himself, even though it seemed that Angel had done a fantastic job on his own.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem put her make-up back back into the drawer of the vanity, chuckling that she didn't even have to spend that much time this morning because she had nothing to really hide, that is dark circles under her eyes. She smiled after she brushed her hair and pulled it back into a few chopsticks and stood up, walking over to the closet to grab her white button up shirt. She pulled it on her body and looked down at the buttons, pausing a moment when she saw the box of Ariel's things. Her mind went back to the night before, Marius saying she had been a reincarnation of Ariel. She was almost shocked to have someone say that for it was humanly impossible. She shook her head not giving her brain that much time to dwell on it, she was too happy this morning to even care what had gone on the night before...that is until Angel came to her. A grin graced her face and she felt a little burn on her cheeks. He had been so nice.

She looked up at the closet and closed the doors and walked back over to the bed and grabbed her black blazer and grabbed her bag and walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to the steps. She had her coffee waiting by the table next to the door and she was almost glad that she had gotten up early and was heading to work with the best attitude she had had in a long time. She bit her lower lip and opened the front door and heard a shuffling behind her as she walked out towards the curb where she was to walk a block or so then get on the subway and head to work.

Salem glanced over her shoulder to see a small man knocking on her bedroom doors. She frowned and felt her stomach literally turn over.

"Dai?" She said to him, confused as to what he was doing there at this early in the day. Plus in this good weather.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai looked down at her and then climbed down to stand in front of her. My, she was chipper this morning. Dai tilted his fedora down over his eyes a little to shield the sun. He looked her up and down, paying particular attention to her neck. She appeared fine, no cuts or bruises, or at least none where he could see them.

"I came to make sure you were okay," he said. "Angel told me you were, but I thought I should make sure. Marius immediately followed me, yes? He didn't try to bite you?" he asked, glancing her up and down. "And neither did Angel, yes?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem felt a little stiff and she watched his eyes trace over her neck and she immediately reached up to touch it. It was still a little sour from the hard whiplash she experienced at the hand of Marius, but nothing a few advil couldn't fix. She smiled at Dai and laughed lightly.

"No. Angel was..well...an angel!" She bit her lower lip and looked around at her surroundings. "He didn't try anything. He just made sure I got to sleep and I am thankful." She came to a stand still in conversation. She was unsure what to say to him. She still had many questions concerning her aunt, why marius wanted to come to her, why he wanted to cause trouble, and why he had kept saying she was a reincarnation of Ariel.

Never one to get sucked into such beliefs, she did give a few moments to wonder. She did know certain things and she was wanting to share them with Dai, but she didn't want to get things stirred up again. At least not while Marius was still around. Suddenly she felt fear. If Dai could walk about in sunlight, what about Marius? She shivered and felt that perhaps she should be extra precautious today for he was wanting to bite her last night without hesitation, but she felt that for the moment she was fine considering Marius' quick exit after last night.

"Did you happen to see him? Talk to him? Anything at all?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai snorted and nodded.

"Yes, I talked to him. He came in barely before sunrise this morning," Dai said, shaking his head. "Not that I don't appreciate what he was trying to do, but Angel will die if he gets in the sunlight, and I was terrified when he wasn't in by six. He came in around six-thirty this morning. He'd been here, with you, all night," Dai explained. Thinking about it now, Dai realized what a kind this Angel had been doing. And Dai probably would have done the same thing. But Dai wasn't as effected by the sunlight as Angel was. And losing Angel would be like losing half of his own soul.

"I am glad that he made sure you got to sleep," Dai said, dipping his head. "He told me all was well when he left, that he pulled the shades and locked the door when he left this morning. We didn't talk much this morning, I was upset with him."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem raised her eyebrows, she hadn't expected the man to have stayed all night, suddenly she felt a bit guilty for even acting like a helpless victim last night. She felt embarassed more than anything. She nodded and looked down at her boots then up to Dai.

"Why were you upset?" She figured she hadn't a right to butt into their personal matters, but it was kind of interesting her. She didn't have anyone close to her that could die by sunlight so she figured he had a right to worry, but be upset? It was a complicated matter.

"Tell him I appreciate it." Suddenly Salem remembered the night before how Dai had could have cared less if she had been bitten, or at least he had acted in such a way. It hurt her feelings in a way. Having Angel there to stay all night filled that little hurt that had been inflicted. She couldn't help but want to smile again. That was so nice of him. He had literally put his life on the line for her own protection. If only she knew of a way to thank him she would, but she wasn't very up to date on Vampires.

"Thank you, as well Dai, for sending him to check on me. I know you had more important matters to attend to."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai dipped his head again.

"I apologize for making such an impression as that you meant nothing last night," Dai said, glancing down at his feet. "If I had shown Marius that it mattered to me, he would have certainly bitten you. You would be a vampire now. Angel means nothing to Marius as far as that goes, I was sure he could get here and back home without drawing too much attention to himself," Dai explained. He smiled a little. "I am glad that you are alright."

For a moment he paused, then he nodded.

"As for me, I was upset because I did not know what had happend to him. If he had been bitten by Marius and lying somewhere, he would have no way from the sun," Dai said. Then he laughed. "Call it a father's instinct."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled feeling a little bit better as they continued to talk. She liked Dai, she had liked him since he came to the museum. She was unsure of the future between them now, in the sense of whether or not he was going to kill her like he had been planning. The dreams she had been having made her feel bad and tired and stressed, was that going to continute after Marius left? Was he ever going to leave?

"What is in store for Marius? You are going to get rid of him somehow yes?" Salem didn't think she wanted to have anything more to do with this dysfunction, but how was she to stop something she never saw coming? If Dai could invade dreams and allow her to bring things out of them it was only untelling what powers Marius possessed. Perhaps much worse. She couldn't help but feel the similarity to a horror film. She sighed out and looked around and then back to Dai. He was an adorable little man. She liked him still, perhaps had their conditions been different they could have been good friends.

"I am glad I am not one of you." She bit her lower lip and frowned, remorseful for having said that. "I mean..not in that way! I didn't mean for that to sound bad! Really. I meant I am glad I wasn't bitten." She sighed and looked down at her hand. It was black, purple, and pink. Two puncture wounds still fresh and still painful.

"I don't want to really imagine what it feels like, you know? If this hurt...I just shudder to think." She looked up at him and sighed out.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai looked at the hand and a pang of sadness went through his chest. No one wanted to be a vampire. Even though Angel had asked for it, claimed to like it because he could forever be with Dai, even he regretted it. Dai shook his head, nodding at Salem.

"It hurts," he said, his eyes lost in the wound on her hand, his mind lost in the memory of being bitten and turned. "The first time, it hurts a lot. But then...once you're turned, and you and your creator are constantly feeding off of each other..." he shook his head and looked up at her. "You just don't feel it anymore. Because we are no longer living, our skin is so much less sensitive." Dai laughed a little grimly. "Try not to imagine what it is like, Salem. It would be better if you simply never had to know."

Dai straightened a little, and tossed some hair from his face.

"Well, I'm wary about Marius trying something today. If you'd like, I can discreetly loiter to make sure nothing strange happens."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled at his request. How cute! She didn't know why this made her unremarkably happy, but it did. It was nice to have someone willing to hang around and make sure nothing went down today. She nodded and looekd away frowning at the sun that was seemingly getting higher in the sky.

"I have to walk to the tube and head to work. You can hang around the museum or in my office. Where you please. Don't you think you should let your....spawn know?" She grinned as she started to move towards to the street indicating that she really needed to get to the subway station or else she'd be late and her day was going too well for that to happen.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai nodded, following her, figuring even though he could easily take a taxi or just walk that he hadn't really been on the subway and thought this as good a time as any to try it out. He sighed out and shook his head.

"Angel is sleeping, or ought to be. I'll call him midday and see what he's up to," Dai said, giving Salem a sidelong glance. He smiled askance and then looked back ahead of him. "I've heard of Angel referred to as many things, but never spawn," he said with a laugh as he looked around them.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem shifted slightly, pulling her heavy work bag on her shoulder and smiled looking over at Dai and actually realizing how different he looked in the daytime. It was surprising considering a week ago she'd never expect to be walking with her nightmare's star and finding him adorable and cute. She looked back ahead of her and shrugged her shoulder.

"I am not really sure what to call you all. I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that you are not living and breathing. You are the walking dead." She looked over at him and traced over his face with her eyes, making sure to find any new flaw or imperfection for all she saw anymore was perfect creatures of the night who were romanticized and very alluring. She smiled and felt herself blush when she realized that she was coming quite fond of the species, with the exception of Marius whom, with time, has changed completely.

"It's a funny thing," She stated in a sigh. "I thought that you were the one to be feared and Marius was the one to be trusted. Yet...here you are. Role reversal at its best, no?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed, stuffing his hands down into the pockets of his trench coat. He shook his head and then nodded.

"I suppose you could say that," said with a shrug. Then he sighed. "It isn't that Marius in inherently bad..." Dai said, twisting his mouth slightly. Then chewed his lip. "And is isn't that I am inherently good either. He has just been conditioned, like a lot of us, to expect abandonedment. He just happened to take it worse than most. It was why he gathered so many other people around him. But when none of them loved him like he hoped they would, he would abandon them, and when he realized what he was doing, it made him fear abandonedment that much more. Marius was an endless cycle and...I suppose he thought I would break in and now he thinks you will."

Dai let out a laugh.

"We're a messed up species, huh?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed and shook her head. "That is an understatement of the year, hun." She looked over at him with a smile. "Then again we are all messed up in some way or another, yeah?" She winked at him, mindlessly at that. Salem was a bit freaked out that Marius decided to prey on her for the time being, she just hoped it wouldn't come to the conclusion that Dai had been faced with. That fate, she hoped, was far off. Death never sitting comfortably with her.

"I dunno." She said in a sigh looking around. "This has been the most interesting week of my life I am beginning to wonder who is the messed up species, you could be, afterall, a figment on my imagination." She smiled at Dai and laughed.

"People could be looking at me right now, seeing that I am talking to myself when I think I am talking to a vampire."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed out loud.

"Well, the one way to cure that is to see what all these people do when I pull out the wings on them. I'd love to see the chaos in the streets," Dai said with a grin, as he looked around at the other people on the subway with them. He noticed that the comment had, in fact, gotten a couple looks from people in close proximity to them. He tipped his hat to a man near to them who was discreetly moving away.

"Anyway, I am sure that twenty years from now, when all three of us are just a memory, this week will stick out in your mind as the most eventful, anyway."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed lightly at the looks he was receiving. He was too cute. Her good nights sleep had put her in probably one of the best moods she had been in in quite some time and it was taking its effect on her for everything Dai was doing seemed to convey the feeling of being adorable or cute. She smiled and took a seat on the tube and watched Dai follow. She leaned over to him, still laughing at the looks people were giving him already judging him on his words.

"Who said you had to just be a memory? Don't want to be friends?" She teased him and smiled. It was a true statement, he had all the time in the world so why couldn't he stick around for a while and be friends after all this was over? She figured that perhaps after it all was concluded he'd move on with his life. Whichever direction he was intending to go in after such drama was over with.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's smile faded at the words. Of course, he would love to be friends. He would love to be able to bother her at work, and ride the subway with her, and go out for drinks sometime. But Dai knew that he couldn't do that. He knew that his own fear of abandonedment would keep him from doing that.

Because if he was friends with her, he would watch her get old. He would watch her die, assuming they stayed friends for that long. And Dai didn't know if he would be able to become close friends with someone who was guarenteed to leave him eventually. It was selfish, he knew, but it frightened him more than anything else. But after a moment, he smiled again and looked over at her.

"Well, of course. That is if you can handle having a friend who sucks blood and likes bats," Dai said, nudging her a little.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled at him as the subway began to move in a jerk. She was thrown to the side, not really expecting the movement, she leaned against Dai and laughed lightly a little embarassed at being pushed into his chest and mere inches from his mouth. She put a hand on his chest and pushed herself off lightly.

"Sorry." She said lowly, looking around to see a few people looking at the morning news, listening to their portable media players, Ipods, others talking to friends. She smiled at them suddenly realizing that this was the first time that she had ever been able to have her own subway companion. To the outside onlookers seeing Salem and Dai together was like seeing two friends riding the subway together on their way to work, chatting about whatever. Friends. It made her happy to think about.

Salem had never bene very extroverted or very chatty with others, always meek and polite. She had been very friendly and was good at making friends, but she never really had a social life like others her age. She stayed at home a lot and rarely went anywhere except work, store, or museums. She was naive to others and too kind and not as adventurous which caused some strife with those people outside of work. She had no idea how to be normal and go out to parties or drinks..she had never been friends with someone who wanted to do that. It was the perfect reason to throw a pity party for herself, but it wasn't the right time and place. She was very eager to be friends with someone like that, but she was just unsure as to whether or not Dai wanted to take on such a feat, for she was very turned around in her social behaviors.

"I can handle the bats." She stated pretending that she had not been embarassed. "The blood sucking...try and keep that to yourself, unless you absolutely have to share it with me." She laughed lightly and gave him a playful nudge. Today had started off so well and she was almost positive it was due to Dai's surprise visit, if not Angel's as well. Or perhaps she was just still loopy from getting such great sleep? She was willing to accept all of those excuses, and she was going to.

"Thanks for coming by. It made me happy."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled at her comment and snuggled back into his jacket a little. Dai hadn't been this open with anyone in a long time. Well, not counting Angel, who saw him at his best and worst times. Dai hadn't really had friends since before he had become a vampire. After he had been turned...well, a lot of things had changed.

Dai wondered suddenly, what Salem and Angel had talked about. Had Angel talked about Dai? Told her about him, anything about him? Dai didn't know, but he wasn't going to ask, he didn't care. Salem had probably investigated him to death and knew everything there was to know about him anyway.

"Look, Salem," he said, pushing his fedora back a little to see her better. He reached into his pocket, grabbing a sheet of paper he found there, and pulling it out. "If you need anything, call my cell, it's always on." He pressed a finger against the paper and his number slowly drew itself onto the sheet.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him almost a bit dumbfounded that he was being so open to her and she glanced down at the paper he had pulled out and watched him touch it. His number began to appear and she gasped, looking up at him with shock. She looked around and saw that people were completely oblivious to him mentally writing down the number on a piece of paper without a single object that allowed one to write it down. It was amazing.

She laughed lightly, almost amused like he were some magician, and in many ways he kinda was. He had done things that no human could have done, which technically he wasn't, he was a vampire. How weird it still was to consider him as such, even though it was real, far more than she had ever imagined. She took the paper and looked at it with wonderment before looking back at Dai. For her to not believe in vampires and such....she was not even questioning the fact that he was real, without being real. He was dead and yet he was alive. It was an enigmatic thing and suddenly her mind was plagued with questions on the myths and the facts.

"Thank you." She said with a laugh as she folded it and put it away in her bag. Although this was an exchange to further their friendship she couldn't help but feel a false sense of hope for something more. She bit her lower lip and decided to just keep things as they were without anything crossing her mind.

"Perhaps..." She looked over at him with a serious face. "We could...go out sometime?" SHe wasn't wanting ot be forward or hitting on him, but wanted to become friends..real friends. Hopefully she wouldn't be rejected for she had never been able to take it well.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled at her amusement and watched her as she looked at the paper. Dai hadn't had any mortal friends that weren't usued to his kinds of talents, most of his friends, the few he had, were also vampires with the same talents who wouldn't have found what he had done just then so out of place. But he remembered that she probably hadn't dealt much with vampires and so it made him chuckle when she did.

When she asked him if he wanted to go out sometime, it threw him for a loop at first. He looked at her, cocking his head, as if he hadn't heard her right. But he knew he wasn't going deaf. He must have heard her right. For a long moment he thought about it. Then he smiled.

"Sure," he said. Then he laughed. "Sure, I'd like that. I'm afraid I don't eat much, so I'm not a very good dinner companion, but, drinks perhaps? If you drink, that is."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem's heart skipped a beat, just a few moments ago she was thinking of how she had n friends who ever wanted to do such a thing so this, of course, was making her very happy.

"Yeah?" She said with a smile almost shocked that he wasn't joking around with her. She laughed lightly and shook her head, her face growing warm. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean for that to sound so desperate or anything. I don't normally ask people to go out with me. I am kinda a homebody." She looked over at him and smiled. How she wished she were a partier now that she had met Dai, perhaps she would have been stronger and not like a chicken.

"I would like that more than anything. I just....you know what? Nevermind!" She laughed lightly. She was going to continue telling him about how sideways she was and how she never drank a bit of alcohol in her life, but figured what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. A drink was a drink, she needed to experience it sometime in her life.

"Drink sounds great!"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed at her enthusiasm and nodded at her in agreement.

"Believe me, I understand being a homebody," he said, glancing out of the window. Then he looked back to her and smiled. "Alright then, we'll just have to go have drinks some evening. Whenever you're free, just give me a call. I'va always got time."

Dai pushed some of his hair away from his face and sat back in the subway seat. He looked around a moment reflecting on how he hadn't ever been on a subway before and how odd one was. Just as he was about to make a comment about it, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He reached in and fished it out, looking at the display. Then he smiled.

"Huh. I told you he'd call," Dai said, flashing the phone at Salem, showing her that Angel's name was on the display. Dai flipped open the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello, love. Yes. Mm...not that I know of, why? Are you sure? Well, alright. You should get some sleep, doll...hey, Angel? Yeah. Sorry about this morning. Mm. Alright. Go to bed, love. Alright, bye." Dai flipped the phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Angel says 'hi'," he said, smiling over at Salem.

[Salem Renfield]

"An eternities worth." This was said under her breath as he picked up his phone. She sighed out looking around seeing that they might almost be at the platform this ride seemingly shorter than all those other times before. She knew that it went by so quickly because of Dai having gone with her. They had been talking the entire time and it was so nice to not have to sit in silence and stare at others, wishing she had someone to talk to. She heard Dai speaking to Angel and for a moment her mind strayed to the man who had literally taken care of her all night. She'd have to thank him somehow she was just unsure of how to thank a vampire.

"Yeah?" She responded quickly, happy to have even been spoken of between the two. She looked around and laughed lightly. "Hi." She said in return to Angel not knowing what to say considering he had hung up. She laughed again at her silliness and felt the subway coming to a halt. She stood up and sighed out, looking down at him.

"Not such a bad trip, yeah?"

[Dai Yosada]

"Oh, I've been on worse," he said with a smile as he stood up and stretched. There was somewhat controlled chaos as everyone who needed to get off here stood and shuffled around, grabbing thier things, and bidding farewell to others. Dai watched them all, all of them in thier practiced routine.

Dai wondered what it was like to have a routine. To get up in the morning, get ready, eat breakfast, go to work, work all day, go home eat dinner, go to bed, get up and do it all again the next day. Dai couldn't really remember if he had had exactly a routine when he had been alive, but ever since he had been turned he had simply floated around, doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to. Seeing all these people with thier daily lives, thier familes, thier friends. It was strange.

Dai followed Salem off of the subway and pressed his fedora down over his eyes a little, the sun a little more bright than before.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem was getting confused for she had never really had to worry about a friend getting lost in the massive crowd of Briton's and Londoner's who were on their way to their jobs and their lives. She bit her lower lip when she felt the usual people bump and push her. Salem found her way to his side after a moment of being parted and, out of good measure and perhaps concern, she grabbed his hand with her uninjured and was almost shocked to feel the ice cold skin. She wasn't wanting to pay any mind to it and held it any how, jolting her head to the side, pointing with her head.

"This way." She said with a soft smile wanting to keep together and make their way out of the popular and crowded subway station. She turned and pulled the man behind her for a while until they made their way to the escalators that lead up to the level floor to be greeted by millions of people and a large and vast circular subway station with marble flooring and a very beautiful victorian painting inlaid in the flooring. She grabbed his hand again once they exited the escalator and continued to pull him in the direction of the doors to lead them out into the cool morning air. She saw him tug on his fedora again and shield himself.

"This gets very tiring. Every single morning being greeted by busy people who care nothing about themselves, bumping into me and not apologizing. Rude!" She smiled at him and dropped his hand when she realized she had been holding onto it for quite some time. "Sorry." She said to him when she felt it fall. "Didn't mean to...you know."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed, looking up and down the platform and then beginning towards the steps. He thought he might wander across the street from the museum and visit the bookstore to get out of the sun for awhile. He glanced back at Salem.

"So," he began as they began up the stairs towards the street. "How long have you worked at that museum?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem walked next to him comfortably almost unaware for a moment that he literally was a vampire. She sighed out and thought, trying to actualy remember. She had volunteered there for many years before she actually got hired on. She figured her answer was a good guesstimate.

"About four years or so." She looked over at him, the sun blinding her and suddenly she found herself wishing it would rain like normal. FOr one who was so used to it and lived with it everyday she would begin to miss it in an hour. Cold and rainy was her kind of weather and it also seemed to fit the man walking beside her as well.

"I volunteered here before I started so I've been working here for a long time, however nothing was as fun here until I began getting paid." She smiled and looked ahead of her. She wondered....had Dai ever worked? Did he have any passions or loves? Did he ever want to do something with his life other than be a vampire? She felt the urge, but was afraid to sour his mood for dwelling on the past had gotten her in trouble before.

"This is me." Salem paused outside of the large museum and looked at him, feeling weird as if she had jsut been dropped off at her house after a date. It was an odd parting for her. "You gonna come bug me here in a while?" She smiled hoping he would. She wasn't in the mood for doing catalogging today and she was trying to figure out what to do with that coffin.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai looked at the old gothic looking museum. It was huge, and rightfully so, considering all the history it contained. He thought for a long moment before nodding.

"Yeah, sure. I need to get out of this sun for awhile," he said, smiling at her as he continued to look at the building. Besides he could poke around the archives and see what he remembered, how good his memory was. And he was interested in history anyway, he always had been. He laughed. "Bet I'd be a hell of a tour guide, eh? I could tell stories you never get out of a history," he said, hopping up the stairs, in a good mood now and anxious to see inside better. Considering the other times he had been here he had been distracted by other things.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed as he began to ascend the steps in a chipper manner, she pulled the bag on her shoulder and shrugged.

"I can see about giving you a job here!" She laughed lightly as he jogged up the steps with an upbeat feel. She wondered what he was interested in and wondered if there was any way she could just give him a tour. Make up some story that would allow her to spend more time with him and even give him a tour of whatever he wanted for free.

"We have a lot of stuff you can fool around with. I can let you lose in the museum, free of charge of course." She wondered what it had been like to have lived through everything. Wars, inventions, anything and everything he had witnessed. It was amazing.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed as they entered the museum. He glanced around, but saw nothing of interest. He would very much like to see what they had on Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea. He wanted to see what all he had seen and remembered about it all. He glanced back at her.

"What about Asia? Do they have an area here for that?" he asked, approaching the back wall where there were stairs heading off to other places in the museum. Dai hadn't actually ever been in a museum before he had begun associating himself with Salem. A lot of things had changed since he had associated himself with the woman. Not that any of it was bad, just that it had changed. He paused a moment and took off his fedora, shaking his hair free.

"And England, too."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked over at him with a smile.

"Ah so we do have some common interest!" She laughed lightly and pointed at him to follow her. "We have a whole section dedicated to Asian studies. We've got artifacts, history, paintings, books...anything you need we have." She looked over at him and smiled softly.

"Unfortunately we have the best judge of all, you. Promise not to be too hard on us?" She cocked and eyebrow and contined to smile. "I used to be in charge of that area until recently. I am fragile." She joked and sighed out, walking through many sections until she stopped in the large lobby that allowed people to eat and find their way around.

"If you want go up the elevator or escalator. Take a right. You'll see a huge sign saying 'Asia'. Hopefully you'll like it." She wanted him to. She had spent many months and time and tears and sweat, even a few drops of blood on trying to repair that entire area. Having been hired there and working her way up the ladder she had always had plans to make that one of the best sections. Since it opened a year ago it had been one of the most popular ones, especially with the anniversary of Hiroshima.

"We have small sections playing videos, you can stop and take a gander. I think those suck, so it'd be great to know if you agree." She laughed lightly and sighed out. "If anyone asks you for a pass or anything tell them to come see me..or...do a little mind control." She winked and pointed over her shoulder. "You nkow where my office is. Come by anytime. Okay, I gotta run. See you later, Dai." She waited for a moment, as if expecting something, but she turned and walked on down the lobby towards her office.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai obeyed her instructions, taking the elevator and then taking a right. He did indeed see the huge sign saying 'Asia'. He smiled and wandered towards it looking up and around at the other things around him on the walls.

He pushed through the doors into the long hall and huge entry room. His eyes were met by a mix of colors and sensations as suddenly he was transported backwards in time. The room he had entered was a near perfect replica of an old Japanese village street. Complete with stands, shops and other things. There were lights shining down from the cieling, soft, for ambience. He noted the televisions she had told him about, but he ignorned them for the moment. He glanced up at the wall beside him, finding a painting of one of the Japanese emporers. Dai felt an odd familiarity towards him as Dai had been alive around his time.

For a long moment, Dai neither advanced nor retreated, unsure if he would like what he saw or if it would be too close to home for him. Finally, however, he continued down the 'street' intent on seeing what all they had. He noticed that China was down the hall to the left, and Korea was on the right.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem entered her room and let out a sigh as she sat her bag down and moved over to her desk. She was so happy that everything had been cleared out of the room on her request, seeing nothing relating her back to Marius and the night before. She was feeling so satisfied that she had gotten sleep and even more so when she realized she had planned a date with Dai, although that date had yet to have a, well, date! She smiled as she thought about what they could do. Food not really being an option for he couldn't eat. There were other things to do she was sure, at this moment she was wanting to relish in the fact that she had even gotten a date at all. She moved to her desk and took a seat and glanced at her phone seeing it beeping red. She had voice mail! She smiled and grabbed the phone and dialed her access number and heard it was sent a few moments ago. She leaned back in her chair and sighed out, hearing the recording and then the message. Her heart skipped and suddenly her happy feeling was gone.

"Marius." She stated before slamming the phone down on the receiver. He was teasing her, telling her to keep the coffin where it was for she would be needing it soon. She shivered and tried to ignore him. Dai was there, Dai would protect her, right? However she wa sbeginning to feel doubt. He had left her last night, but he had apologized for it. Hadn't he? Suddenly she could't remember much of anything except that he had left her in the most horrid position. She could have been a vampire by now wanting revenge on those who ha dbeen in her room the night before.

Salem shook it off and went to her email and figured she could do some handy work. Unfortunately her inbox was full with emails from Marius, all stating the same thing, that her end was coming soon.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai was curiously investigating a plaque that was talking about his village, Takada, and how it had eventually been razed for a docking port. Dai was also interested in the story about the strange disappearances that occured and that had included Takada. There was little on the Japanese aspect of it, but he noticed in the corner of the plaque a fairly recent plaque had been put up, discussing the boy who had been kidnapped.

Dai Yosada, the eighteen year old village boy abducted in Takada village, was the son of a fisherman, and his wife, a city girl. Little is known about Dai Yosada and his family, but speculations say that he was friends with a young European girl by the name of Ariel, who was said to have witnessed Yosada's abduction, claiming that the man was some sort of vampire. The crimes were never solved.

Dai felt strange, reading about himself on a plaque that was telling current people about things that happened so long ago. Most people would read the plaque and not think a thing of the Japanese boy who had been abducted, nor would they think anything of the other children, all over the world who were abducted around the same time, all not being solved. To most people all of those disapperances were unrelated. But Dai would know otherwise.

Slowly, he continued through the display.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem hadn't been the same since she scanned the emails and allowed her mind to get the best of her. She glanced at the clock and saw she had already been there an hour or more. She was wondering if Dai was getting around well. She wondered if he was enjoying it or hating it or finding its flaws. He had witnessed so much and she would have loved to just get a single glimpse into his past life. She had through dreams, but she wanted to see other things, his family, his life, anything significant that would give her some sort of feeling he had felt when major events happened.

It must've been a lonely life, she had figured, watching your friends grow old and die while he stayed the same. It was depressing for her and she didn't evne live that life. To have experienced it must've have been ultimately depressing. So how did he feel about his life? Was he happy? Crass? Accpetive? Would he do it all over agian if he could? Those questions she figured she could ask much later if they were to become better friends for she didn't want to make him upset or sad, if she could do such a thing. Did vampires have feelings? She figured one who had lived so long had changed so drastically and had become numb to everything surrounding them.

She was sure the vampires life was a sad and lonely one.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai finished the Japanese section in roughly and hour, and headed into the Chinese section. But he got distracted by a hall that showed Taiwan's history, and how it came to be, and what it did to try and separate itself from China.

Eventually, Dai got through it, and he decided he would go back downstairs and harrass the pretty lady who had brought him here. Dai left the hall and it took him a while to try and relocate the lifts. However, once he found them, he was good to go. Boarding it, he pressed in the number of the floor Salem was on. He waited as he listened to the gears letting him down. Finally, the lift stopped and the door slid open.

Dai slowly made his way out and then went down the hall towards Salem's office. When he found the one labeled Salem Renfield, he poked his head in, hoping that he wasn't disturbing her.

"Fairly impressive," he said with a smile. "I liked the progression of Japanese technology. Quite accurate."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem glanced up from the paperwork she was doing and saw the face peering out from behind the door, smiling back at her. She didn't know why, but hearing him and seeing him at her door made her feel happy and calm. She couldn't help but smile in return for everything about him was quite addictive, even his smiles. She sat the pen down and leaned back and waved for him to come in and shut the door.

"Really? I am so pleased." She said with relief as she let out an exaggerated sigh. "I think I spent most of my morning worrying how bad it was to you. Afterall, if anyone here knows history, babe, you're the one!" She laughed lightly and leaned foward on the desk again and put her elbows on the table and watched him walk in. She gave him a once over, not being able to have such a good view from far away. He was several feet away and she was able to sum him up all in one blow. His style was very different, then again he was very different. She somehow loved his style, it was dark, myseterious, something the teen's would call gothic although her view of gothic was something along the lines of a black slacks and maroon tails made out of velvet. Gold and lace...dark and heavy colors, elaborate clothing from France that dated back to the 17th century. Something Marius would have worn.

"So did you enjoy it?" She questioned very interested in his thoughts and his opinions, always wanting to better the museum. "I like going there at night, its very nice to see when shutting everything down." She didn't know why this was so important, but she figured she could toss it out there. She bit her lower lip and glanced at the computer screen and saw she actually had the Tokyo wallpaper on her background. She couldn't help but chuckle before glancing back over to Dai.

"So, I heard from our friend, Marius. He is adamant on telling me that I am going to need that coffin." She frowned with a smile. "You know I think I am getting used to this kinda thing, doesn't bother me as much anymore." Salem didn't know if it was just repitition and it was growing old or she was actually beginning to accept that she just might be bitten yet.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai scoffed as he thumped down into one of the chairs sitting in front of her desk. He watched her for a long moment before answering.

"Well, he would know all about needing a coffin," he said with a shrug. Then he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He watched her again for a moment, his mind working over the possible solutions to this Marius issue. Dai couldn't help his loyalty to the older vampire. It was bred into Dai like his almond shaped eyes, or black hair. When Marius had taken everything he had, his blood, his body, his soul, he had fused them together for eternity. Even if Dai wanted nothing more than to hate him totally, he never would be able to fully hate him. He was physically incapable of doing so.

"Yes, vampires take a little learning and scouting out. Believe me, we lose our mystery and fright very quickly," he said with a shrug. "That is if you have to deal with us on a daily basis, which, unfortunately, you have."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed and shook her head, rubbing her eyes feeling tire finally hitting her because she hadn't eaten a good breakfast. She shrugged and leaned back in her chair.

"Well, who said that was a bad thing, hmm?" She smiled at Dai and let out a sigh. "I never realized I was this popular, kinda nice." She joked. Salem wasn't sure waht seh was to do, should she toss the coffin, send it back to whereve it came, donate it to a funeral parlor...she just knew that she didn't want to keep it near her to keep her mind struck on death. She had come close to it too many times so far and she didn't want the stress of having a useless coffin in the back of her mind.

"Any idea what his next plan might be?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai shrugged.

"He could do anything. He'll probably pout for a little while, leave us be tonight. He'll be back though, tomorrow maybe. If he's already bothering you on the phone or e-mail, then he might have recovered more quickly. He could be back tonight. And I imagine...he'll try something a little more sinister," Dai said, scratching his head. He didn't know what could be more sinister than what he had already done to them. It wasn't like he could use Salem as leverage. He had tried that already and Marius never did something twice. If he didn't get it right the first time, he would try something new the next time. Which was why Dai hated trying to guess at what he would do.

"I imagine...he might try leverage against you this time. Take something precious to you...or someone..." suddenly Dai had himself worried. "I can't guess at him. It's bothersome."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem nodded in response to his idea, it wasn't coforting to have Dai not know, but it made things a lot harder because she didn't either. She shivered at the thought of him trying to take someone away, but her ties with her family were not as strong as they used to be ever since they moved out into the country and dedicated their time to parties and the life odf riches. She sighed, none the less it would still cause soem severe problems if he did take aim at family.

"That is great." She stated lowly, glacning at the clock to see it was almost time for lunch. She looked over at Dai and was about to ask if he'd join her, but she forgot...the man's lunch never came on the menu, but more along the lines of those who prepared it.

"I am going to lunch here in a while. I know you and I don't share the same kind of interest in food, but perhaps you wouldn;t mind tagging along? I have to say, I do get lonely without you around. You live with it for so long, gets kinda hard." She laughed lightly. It wasn't flirting or anything of the like, it was just a need to have company for she lived alone and did most things as such. Dai was just the new friend she needed.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled at her and nodded.

"Sure, that would be nice," he said with another nod. It was true, he couldn't eat with her--though he did need food sometimes soon--but he could still get a drink, pretend like he was normal. Dai's blood instinct warbled slightly at the mention of food in general and he sighed. He ought to eat something now so he wouldn't have to bother with it later. He cocked his mouth a little and shifted a little in his seat.

"I'm gonna...go get some sustinance of my own. Can I meet you back here in...ten minutes?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem drew in a deep breath and suddenly realized if he was going to go get something to eat...it meant...

"Oh," She said realizing that he was going to go kill somsone, drink their blood, take a life, end someone's future, destroy a family. She couldn't help but feel remorse for the man who was going to be chosen. It wasn't something she could actually learn to live with or ever accept. She bit her lower lip and gave him a smile trying to not show her feelings for his appetite.

"Sure. I'll be here." She said looking away. She would have to turn a blind eye even though deep within her she wasn't wanting to.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai didn't need an expression on her face to know that she disapproved. He could tell in her tone of voice, her body language, even in what she said. But he couldn't help it. If he did not eat, he would starve. Just like her.

He grabbed his hat, pushing it onto his head. He tipped it to her before leaving her office and finding his way back to the lobby. He saw a few people milling about, perhaps a tour ready to get underway. The thought struck him to simply pick someone from the group. But most of the people were surrounded by family members, and Dai moved past the group to go outside instead.

He moved down the street with a learned grace heading towards an alleyway that he had found a meal at many times before. He spotted a group of youths loitering at the mouth of the alley, talking quietly, smoking, plotting something foul it appeared.

Dai easily strode through them, his vampiric lure causing the one he wanted to follow him into the darkness of the alleyway. His friends did not follow him. They knew that the boy who had followed was in for a fate they could not bear to take themselves.

Dai was waiting at the entrance of the museum within ten minutes.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem grabbed a jacket knowing the sun had now fled and the temperature dropped drastically. How unfortunate she thought as she exited her office, turning off the lights and leaving a note on her door stating she was out for her lunch break. Something she could complain about all day was how the weather was unpredictable, just like the raods and valleys of England.

She walked out of the hallways and office areas to find herself immersed with the rush of people and families in the museum. She was curious to know who Dai had for lunch, if it was a poor unsuspecting woman, a mother, a sister...or was it a man? Husband? Brother? Uncle? She hated to think of it but she knew that was the morphed Wheel of Life. Human's were at the top of the food chain, but vampires had somehow topped it all for they were the ones to be feared of.

Salem coughed lightly, clreaing her thaot after being overwhlemed by a stench of perfume. She walked out into the bright light, wondering if perhaps she should wait out there for him, fortunately he was already there leaning against a large supportive and decorative pillar to the museum, people watching, looking devilishly sexy. Salem felt her face grow warm. Where had that thought come from? She smiled at her own thoughts and walked over to him.

"Enjoy your lunch?" It wasn't meant to be a rude question, but she did actually have an inkling to know if he had satisfied his hunger. She pushed aside the fact of how he came about getting it. She shivered at the cold breeze and stuck her hands into her pockets, watching her breath condesne into the air. The thing about it England...it was always winter.

"I do have a yearning to know what it is like, you know." Salem said to Dai as she descended the steps, hearing Dai follow. She glanced around at the busy street. "It isn't everyday you have someone eat a meal in such a manner. How do you do it?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai furrowed his brow as he thought about it. He never really had before. He had just...known how to do it and had just done it. He couldn't even remember not knowing how to catch and eat someone. He fell into step with her and shook his head.

"Well..." Dai began. He looked around, trying to see if he could find an example. But on streets as bustling as these, there were few people he would choose from. Then he sighed. "I hate to be cold, but...it's like going to the market, and...trying to find an apple that is just right..." he paused. That sounded horrid, but it was true. "I tend towards a younger crowd, generally of the kind I locate at a club, or in an alleyway. Comparitively speaking, thier...blood is better than an adult." Dai paused again. Then he sighed.

"As for method..." he shook his head. "They just sort of...follow me..." he looked over at her. "You're welcome to accompany me sometime if that is something you want to see. Although, I can't see why anyone would want to know. It even unsettles me sometimes."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed at his hypothetical statement of going to the market. It made her feel as if she were walking around amongst apples, oranges, melons...fruits that needed to be felt up and measured for their ripeness. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad once she got to think about how peculiar she was when it came to finding food and choosing what she wanted to eat. She glanced at a few people and wonderd what they tasted like...seeing some that had no meat on their bones at all...others who were too big. SHe figured it was just like picking out meat, too much fat or too much bone. She wondered if it were the same when it came to different types of blood. Did they taste different? Were some better than the others? Were some more desirable?

She looked over at him as he continued to speak her body shivered when he had asked her to acompany him.

"I dunno." She stated truly unsure as to whether or not she could witness Dai taking ap erson's life just yet. She didn't hate the human race that bad at the moment. However there were a few people she wouldn't mind seeing getting bitten! She grinned.

"I do have somewhat of a morbid curiosity. Perhaps some day I'll find out." She smiled as she looked at him wondering if Vampire blood tasted different than human blood. Again her curiosity was making her wonder too far into things, then again there had always been this hidden feeling she had towards vampires. Perhaps she was just needing to get out more.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled. He couldn't imagine being interested in watching a creature like himself drink the life from a human being. Ever since Dai had first been turned it had unsettled him a little. He tried not to think about it and was successful most of the time. But now that he had befriended a human, he was thinking about it more often.

"It is morbid, if you think about it," he said, sighing a little. He looked up and around the street. His mind was working over how ultimately disgusting and clumsy it looked when a vampire found someone and fed. Well, generally speaking. Dai could think of someone who was gorgeous in everything he did.

"If you were to watch anyone...it ought to be my Angel," Dai said, looking over at her. He nodded a little. "He is perfect. Of course, he's that way in everything, but in that especially. I have never met a more caring vampire..." Dai said. Then he laughed. "It can be quite disgusting."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled as she looked at him, her right hand holding onto the strap of her shoulder bag. She glanced ahead of her and wondered on his words. That was true she had figured. Vampires were morbd creatures, doomed to one life for an eternity, never to die...so of course bitter hatred and resentment would be well at hand, however it didn't strike her that Angel could have been one of those pople.

He was beautiful, that was absoultely undeniable, he was kind, and he was a comforting prescense. Dai was that way too, believe it or not, but she didn't seem it would be fitting to tell him. Salem wanted to, for she was unsure of how he perceived himself. If he thought he was an evil person she would want to rebuke that statement quickly, but at the moment he was still an enigma and she was still unsure about what he thought of his race of beings.

"Perhaps not! Perhaps it is a good thing to have someone so caring when others can be quite cruel." She wasn't pointing a finger at Dai, certainly not, she was however judging Marius to be the cruelest of them all despite the reversal of rolls in the beginning. "Who knows," She stated. "Could be a blessing."

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled and nodded.

"Perhaps."

Now Dai's mind was on his friend, his offspring. Angel was his favorite person in the whole world. Dai didn't show it very well, but it was true. Even before he had turned the other man, there had been no one Dai ever wanted to be around. And to Dai it had always been strange how comforting Angel was to his victims. Dai was always entranced when he watched Angel eat. Even Marius couldn't be that graceful when he did so. Dai thought that Salem and Angel were a lot alike.

Angel had a passive, kind personality. Salem was kind, not quite as passive, but they shared that same kindess. Both sought after intelligence. Salem loved history, loved knowing about things, liked to ask questions. Angel did nothing but read to learn. The more he learned the better. Of course, Dai shared some qualities, but he was hardly as mellow as either of them. He got worked up about such little things that Angel would laugh at and Salem would probably have rolled her eyes.

Dai was so glad, suddenly, that these two people were in his life. As long and daunting as his life was, he was happy that Angel would be there with him, and that he had the chance to meet and be friends with Salem Renfield. Dai was glad that he had been able to know her, even if breifly. Because when she had grown old...died...breifly would be the time they spent together. A thousand years from now, thier time will have only been a moment in Dai's past. A moment he would always remember.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem drew in a deep sigh unsure as to how this was going to pan out. It was beginning to weigh on her mind again and she knew that last night's wonderful rest was just that, last night. Tonight, shed be back to tossing and turning, moaning and groaning, and thinking of everything that had gone on. She hated being one to dwell on things, but she couldn't help it! It was her life that was in some sort of danger. As long as Marius was around she couldn't help but feel that she had to worry about the next day, how she was to escape him, and what a better time to do it than at night?

Salem liked Dai, she liked him a lot. She thought he was very comforting, nice, interesting in deed, and someone who she could get along with very well, and they seemed to be doing so now even though he had tortured her in the past. She didn't hold grudges and she certainly wasn't going to hold one to him. She wasn't sure if it was because she was so lonely anymore as she grew older, or if it was because he was a vampire. Either way she liked being around him. Angel, too, even though they hadn't done it much. Last night was something she would never forget and would always be grateful for. She wondered if he would do it again sometime? She grinned at that thought. How bad would that sound if said aloud?

"My favorite place to eat is right around the corner." Salem looked up and pointed at the street nearby. "Thanks for coming." She stated mindlessly ahead of time. "It's been a while since I've been to lunch with anyone."

[Dai Yosada]

"Of course," Dai said pleasantly, following her towards the place. He thought a moment, deciding whether to approach the subject. Honestly, he thought it the safest way to play things considering Salem was now a wanted woman. At least on Marius's list.

"Salem, I have been thinking..." he said. "Since there are two of us, and two heads are better than one, what do you think about this," Dai paused again. "I can go outside in the daylight. Angel can't. But I can't function properly in the daylight without sleep. If it would make you feel safer, I could bother you in the daytime and Angel could look after your house at night. Of course, we can make ourselves very scarce, you'll barely know we're here if you don't want to. At least until Marius is taken care of," he explained. He paused. "Unless you would feel stalked. In which case, we can take care of things another way," Dai said, smiling. He couldn't imagine that she didn't already feel stalked, so she would probably not like the idea of he and Angel following her all the rest of the time anyway.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him wondering if perhaps he had just asked her that question. She smiled, flattered by the sudden feeling of being a damsel in distress. It was very flattering to have two men, if she could go ahead and call them that despite their race, standing by her side to protect her life and her neck from a very trouble vampire who lavished himself on the finer things. She thought about it and wondered what harm it would do. She could stay focused knowing that Marius wasn't looming around somewhere waiting t pounce her, for whatever reason that may be, and be able to sleep knowing that Marius would be stopped. Then again anyone would sleep well knowing that Angel was nearby.

"Uh," Salem frowned not wanting to sound too desperate for the need to be taken care of, although she had been begging for it last night. "Yeah." She stated a moment later after being silent for too long. "That would be very nice, Dai. I would like that." She smiled at him, pausing in her steps as she grabbed the door handle to her restaurant of choice and pulling the door open, wanting him to go ahead and walk in first.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. It would make me feel safe, that is for certain." She smiled at him unable to stop. Her luck semed to be changing. However she didn't want to count her chickens before they hatched.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai took the door and waved her in ahead of him. He followed her and smiled to himself at her words.

"I would not have asked you if I did not want to," Dai said, falling in step with her as they moved towards the front of the restaurant. Then he smiled sideways at her. "And Angel spoke only highly of you. I am sure he will not mind."

Dai looked around them as they moved in. He hoped that they would be able to get over this Marius speed bump quickly. It wasn't exactly a part of Dai's history he was proud of and wanted to visit. And he certainly didn't want Marius haunting his Angel, or Salem. Considering neither deserved the pains that Marius was providing them with. It made Dai angry that Marius wanted to come back and stir up trouble just because he wasn't secure on his own.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled as she took a seat, wondering what she was going to do with herself after all this was over. She could barely remember what she had done before she had met Dai Yosada, in dreams that was. Everything prior to it all had been a fog and that was highly unsettling. The stress she had felt had literally taken over every part of her brain and to think of what to do after Marius was gone and Dai and his Angel had moved on...it onbly made her nervous. She wasn't dependent on these three people, certainly not, however it did give her a life, something she had always been lacking in.

Salem was quick to order, Dai, surprisingly, getting something to drink. She was so interested in his ways, his past, and who he was, or had been. Salem had been shot down once before and she wasn't wanting to have to endure the embarassment again, but it was that struggle she was having with trying to piece together these dreams, memories that she herself had been having since she was little, and fond happenings that were neither mentioned in dreaming or in journals. It scared her. And with Marius throwing around the fact she could be Ariel in another life...it did make her wonder. How did Dai feel about that?

Salem wasn't one to believe in such a thing, but she was the kind of person never to rule anything out until she had enough information, which she was determined to get some way or another. Starting off with brushing up on her history in the subject of reincarnation.

"You know, a few weeks ago I would have not trusted you as far as I could throw you..but here I am allowing you to shadow me and make sure I don't get harassed by Marius. Odd." Salem wasn't sure where this came from, but she was figuring it was because of how she felt like she knew him from another life, like they secretly knew everything about each other, and that she trusted him with her life.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai took off his fedora and hung it on the back of his chair. He leaned on the table and watched her for a long moment before she spoke. He smiled at her and nodded.

"Yes, I find it strange myself," he said with a shrug. "I am notorious for chaning my mind. I suppose this time is no different." He smiled a little. It was true he had been bad at changing his mind at the last second for centuries. Even when he had been a little child, growing up, he had never been able to decide on anything. It was an apsect of Dai that had driven Marius to distraction, and drove Angel the same way. He dipped his head. "I wouldn't want you to throw me, if you could at all avoid it." He smiled. He was sure what she said was a saying of some sort, modern and such, but he wasn't quite up to date on those sorts of things. And anyway, saying you were going to throw someone was utterly ridiculous. After all, Salem wouldn't be able to throw him at all, let alone very far.

It clicked after he'd gone through all of that reasoning and he finally smiled, then chuckled, then laughed.

"I certainly wouldn't have trusted me as far as I could throw myself," he repeated, still smiling. Then he sobered a little. "But I am glad that you are."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem laughed loudy, lively, from deep within herself and drawing too much attention. She hadn't seen a man work so hard to figure something out in a long time. His face went through several emotions and it was quite a surprise when he realized that it was a metaphor. She put her hand over her mouth and tried to lower her voice as she moved foward into the table trying to calm herself.

"Dai!" She said laughing. "You should have seen your face! It was so funny! You went through so many emotions all at once that when you realized I was kidding...it was adorable!" She sighed out and ran a hand under her eyes, wiping away the tears.

"Sorry I am not laughing at you! I am laughing at the situation. I'm sorry I should have said something that would have made more sense." She sighed out and shook her head, glancing around seeing she had interrupted older peopels meals by her laughter. She cleared her throat and glanced down at his hands that were small and cute then up to his face, only to find herself smiling like an idiot. She was so surprised that her nightmare had become her dream.

It made no sense. He had scared her to death for months, but today he was beyond precious and she wanted so much just to hold his little hand and give him a hug. How could he have ever been evil to her? Especially when she saw him smile. She hadn't seen him do it often, she had seen him at his worst, evil and snearing, but when he smiled...it was miraculous. It only made her more attracted to him. Salem shifted in her seat, unaware that her mind had just touched that little subject. She wasn't stupid, just because he had a cute face didn't mean he was that good on the inside. Salem just wanted to believe that he was. The way Ariel had described the love she had for him...it literally made Salem want to feel it too. Desperately feel that love. Was she jealous of her Great Aunt who lived centuries before? Was that even possible?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai blushed a little. He was unfamiliar with slang, and that was something he had never heard before. He would have to go to his house and tell Angel. The younger vampire would like that. He glanced around at the cafe they were at. She had said it was one of her favorite places to eat. He wished he ate mortal food, he would very much have liked to eat with her. But he would get a drink, and they could talk.

Dai wondered what he would have done if he had not become a vampire. He wondered whether or not he would have become a businessman like he had always wanted, or if he would have stayed in the village the rest of his life. He wondered if he would have stayed friends with Ariel. He wondered if he would have married, had children.

He never got the chance to know. Marius took that away from him, took a life away from him. Dai would always care about Marius, because he could do nothing but. He would always hate him, too, for the things he deprived Dai of experiencing.

[Salem Renfield]

There was a moment of silence between them and Salem took this time to glance around the shop and take a drink of the water they had offered as a service to all. She bit her lower lip and briefly glanced up at Dai and wondered what he was thinking, if anything at all. She was thinking a million and one things, whether or not this was going to be a good friendship, if it was going to work out at all, what she was going to do about Marius if he happened to reappear. So many things whirling through her mind at one time.

"So, how long have you been here?" She figured the best way to learn about Dai in the slow, friendly way, was to ask questions that weren't too personal. She smiled at him and leaned on the table, perhaps a bit too interested in what he had to say on this particular occassion.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled, thinking a moment. He ran a hand across his hairline to push hair out of his face.

"I came here first around nineteen eighty-two," he said. "I met Angel around nineteen eighty-nine, and we moved into our apartment about nineteen ninety-four. We moved around the world in between those times," he explained. He looked around the small cafe.

"I ought to go visit home again," he looked back over at Salem, and smiled. "You should come with me when I go."

[Salem Renfield]

Her heart jumped. Did he just ask her to go somewhere with him? She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly, but she was usually pretty good at hearing things that pertained to visiting new places! She bit her lower lip and looked at him for a long moment, taking in his appearance as she usually did when she was confused or unsure, something calming about his appearance, well at least in her opinion there was.

"Like...Japan home? Like...me go with you?" She frowned knowing that sounded stupid, then again she had never been invited anywhere if it didn't pertain to work. She let out a bit of a shy laugh and felt her face grow warm. She leaned back slightly in the chair and put a hand on her face and looked away as she thought of travelling abroad with Dai. It was a rather appealing thought!

[Dai Yosada]

Dai smiled and leaned across the table, pulling her hand away from her face.

"Yes, Japan, home. And yes, you should come with me," he said, nodding at her. He leaned back in his seat. "I can show you Shibuya, and the site of my old home. It's a historical museum now, but has some good historical sites on it that you would like, in particular..." he paused a moment. "You really should come with me."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked down at his hand and felt it slip away when he leaned back into his seat, telling her the things he could show her. She smiled like a baffling idiot so excited, well in her mind and inside she was excited, for the thoughts of roaming around a busy street in Japan with Dai Yosada, even going back to the place he once, literally, called home.

"Yeah?" She said with a goofy smile giggling at the thought and almost snorting because she laughed a little too hard. She cleared her throat after a moment too long and sighed out. "Sorry. I never expected to be invited to Japan by a vampire before." She leaned forward and laughed. "Kinda cool." She heard a woman clear her throat and Salem looked to her side to see the waitress had been standing there with a tray of food. She sat it down and Salem smiled, embarassed that the woman was within hearing range to hear she called Dai a vampire. By the woman's raised eyebrown and sour face Salem knew she thought she was nuts.

With a thank you she let out a nervous laugh and looked at Dai and then to her food. Frowning after a moment.

"Can't eat anything?" She asked with curiosity.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai looked at her food, still smiling a little and waved his hand in front of his face. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

"Had lunch already, remember?" he said, trying not to gross her out. He looked at her plate of food, thinking about how he hadn't ever tried anything normal. He never had the appetite to eat any mortal food. The last thing he had eaten was a fish roll the morning before he had been bitten. After that, it had been blood. All these years he had lived off blood, lived off other people. He felt guilty when he thought about it, but he tried not to. But being in the presence of a mortal woman whom he cared about and wanted to be friends with and he realized that for so long he had eaten woman like her, men alike, he had lived off the blood of human beings, something he had been once upon a time. He smiled a little grimly.

"Tell me if it is good."

[Salem Renfield]

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow almost surprised that he had requested such a thing. She gave him a little smile and nodded.

"It always is." She said as she grabbed a french fry and dipped it into the ketchup they provided in a small cup. She frowned and glanced at it and then at Dai. "Well...can you at least...try?" She frowned and held the ketchup doused end towards him.

"Just...swish it around in your mouth and spit it back out. You'll get the jist of it." She held her breath wondering if he would, hoping actually that he would take it and at least taste the pleasure of mortals.

"Tell me what you think?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai lifted an eyebrow at the foreign food. He was allergic to mortal food, or at least had always been told that. He had never tried it out, because he didn't want his throat to swell shut. But it smelled so good. He took the strangely shaped bit of food and smelled it.

"Well...okay..." he said hesitantly. He took a bite, holding it on his tongue, then he chewed a moment. Oh, it was so good! Oh, he wished he could eat this every day! He chewed for a moment before picking up a napkin to cover his mouth and move the food out of his mouth, wrapping it up to be polite. He nodded at her smiling. "That's so good!"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem didn't touch her food she simply sat there staring at Dai and holding her breath, waiting for something horrible to happen. She wasn't sure what, but something awful was going to happen the second that food touched his tongue. She was, she figured, was expecting his head to blow up or his body to burst into flames! Something horrendous and something she never woud have thought to have seen, but when he put it in his mouth, as if he did this every single day, nothing happened. At least...nothing she thought could have occurred. Instead the only physical signal she got was when he spit it back out and nodded poliltey and crumpled up the napkin followed by his thoughts. Sadly, as much as she wanted to jsut give him the whole plate of food for him to consume, she knew that he probably would get sick. She considered food his allergy.

"It is. That is the best part about eating it. I guess you can just say you are on a diet!" She smiled at him and took her own french fry and dipped it in ketchup and ate it, the only difference between the two was her swallowing it.

"Some American foods, however, do not taste as wonderful as fries or burgers. Spinach, I think, is horrible! Anything healthy for that matter except maybe fruits and a few select veggies." She glanced up at Dai and smiled. This was so normal! It was almost unbelieveable. They were sitting together, eating, sorta, and having a normal conversation that was going rather well! Salem was loving this.

"How about you, Dai, pre-change, what foods did you like?"

[Dai Yosada]

Dai laughed.

"Oh, plenty of things," he said, leaning his arms on the table and watching her eat. "Mostly fruits, vegetables, fish, rice. My friend brought back some things from where she was from and I liked some of the things she brought," he explained. Then he shook his head. "But, obviously, we didn't have anything remotely like this back then. Kinda wish I was a human now so I could eat it all," he laughed.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled at him as she continued to eat, inside feeling ridiculously guilty for being able to do so and right in front of Dai. She didn't actually say that she too wished he was human, but she thought the same, perhaps more than she should have. Since they parted earlier that morning she had been avoiding real work by having her time be consumed by Dai Yosada. He intrigued her, he was full of information on what it was like to experience things throughout the years, he could explain to her thing s that others could not, such as how it felt to suck someones blood. She grinned slightly at her morbid curiosity.

She glanced up at him as she ate, continuing her thoughts on how wonderful it would be to go somewhere with him. She was surprised at how the tides had turned since they had first met. She had once considered him a true danger to herself, but now she was wondering how she ever thought such a thing since it all had been because of Marius, the man she was still unsure of. Salem moved her thoughts along, the bad thing about being a person who exercised her ability to catergorize and ask questions in the privacy of her own mind.

Salem wasn't thinking about Dai normally now, well not in the sense of wondering about who he was or what he had experienced in his life. She was now thinking about perverted things that she had seriously been lacking for years. She wondered what it felt like to kiss him. She couldn't help it! She was human, unlike her counterpart, and it was only normal forher ot wonder such things! Especially when she was staring at a pair of very luscious lips that were far more enticing than any other pair she had seen in her lifetime. On instinct she bit her lower lip as she wondered many more things about his sexual activities. She knew it was none of her business as to who he slept with or had slept with, but it was too much fun to think of at this moment in time. She was a pervert inside, she knew she was, especially since she had been thinking really wild outlandish things since he began to invade her dreams. Hey! He was a very attractive...er....man...vampire...thing! Suddenly her face grew extraordinarily warm when she realized that this man could invade dreams that it was only safe to assume he could invade thoughts. So what if he was doing so right then?

Dear Lord! Salem thought. He'll think I am this huge pervert who refrains from all intimate activity on the outside but has a ball on the inside! She clenched her jaw and wanted to crawl in a hole already.

"So!" She said hoping to God nothing like that had occured so she could at least be able to make eye contact with him! "Have you ever been to America? I am sure," She answered for him suddenly feeling extremely embarassed and guilty for think pervertedly. "After all all a vampire has is time, right? Travelling must be something you do regularly." She smiled at him. She had been there a long time ago, but preferred England, it brought her more enjoyment and surprises, after all look who it had brought her so far!

[Taro Lawson]

Please EDIT

[Dai Yosada]

In fact, Dai was not reading her thoughts, although it was certainly possible for him to do so. He had many abilities he preferred not to use on a regular basis. Invading other people's minds was one of those things. He only did it if he really needed something, or suspected harm to come to him or his sweet Angel from that person. None of that did he expect from Salem.

So when he noticed a change in her body heat--he was quite sensitive to human beings and thier body heat--he didn't know why her body seemed so much warmer than it had earlier. Especially her face, which turned a pretty shade of pink. He decided not to inquire after it and listened to her worded question. He nodded.

"Yes, I have been in America. I have a very dear friend who lives there, in fact, a psychology professor at the University of New York. He is quite interested in the afterlife and the undead and all of that. Just celebrated his twenty-first birthday. You would like him, Salem, he loves history as well," he said, smiling at her. Then he nodded. "I have time to go wherever. Although, I haven't been to Egypt yet. I would like to, however. And Russia. And Italy/. Actually, I haven't really traveled all that much..." he laughed a little. "I ought to at least go somewhere, huh?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem smiled shyly as he laughed, her cheeks flushing red as they always seemed to do whenever in the prescense of the undead man. The undead man that could melt a cold heart in an instant whenever he wasn't being...well...mean. Salem drank a bit more of her drink. Why hadn't the man ever traveled? He seemed to want to go to certain areas, if she had such a chance she figured the rest of eternity would be spent searching the world over for anything and everything. The romanticized version of being one of the undead, the immortals, it was a life she would easily want to live, but then again she hadn't dared ask teh man the true downsides to never being able to die.

Salem wasn't ignorant, at least she never thought herself to be, so she could easily put two and two together. An immortal life amongst mortals. It was as simple as that. She would live forever and everyone else would live until whenever. It was a sad life she was sure. But how could one simply come out and say 'How sad of a life do you lead now that you are unable to die?' she cringed at the coldness of that question. So cold in fact it gave her a shiver, especially when she began to think of things more gothically.

The nightlife would be the only time she would wander, the dark colors of grey, black, and muted tones would be the most lively of hues, the crystal blue waters would be nothing but blackness. The whole darkness was quite depressing, yet at the same time absolutely intriguing. Salem realized it was her morbid fascination with everything. Many things she probably took for granted would suddenly be something she pined for. Salem looked up at Dai and chewed on the inside of her lip. What did he pine for? What did he want? What did he wish he could see again? She was sure after living for centuries one man must have the knowledge beyond mental capacity, yet a deep burning sensation for something he had lost a long time ago. Why was Salem depressing herself all of a sudden? The man had just said he had a lot of time but never went anywhere!?

She sat up in her chair realizing how her brain loved to overanalyze and loved to go places that she never fathomed of going before hand. She smiled at Dai and cleared her throat.

"I guess we should go now." She felt embarassed, but there really wasn't any need. She was just allowing her mind to ask the burning questions she was too chicken to vocalize. Oh but suddenly she was dying o know the answers to those few questions. What did Dai Yosada want? Yearn for? Perhaps, Salem figured, she would ask when the time was right or would find out eventually.