"Rayne, kiss me."

I looked at him fully now, face to face. "What?"

"Kiss me," he repeated. "Now, while there is nothing making you. You aren't under some vampire spell. It's just us, sitting here. Kiss me."

I set both books down on the table and looked toward the closed door leading to the room where Elliot, my Companion, was laying in bed, while I was trying to make sense out of what Sophie told me, and my on mental bout with homosexuality… sorta.

Yes, I already know that I'm a woman now. The turning didn't affect my mind, however. While I wasn't checking out every girl that crossed my path for possible sex, I wasn't checking out the guys either. I was lost somewhere in between. I just wanted to do my job and live whatever life I had left. Is that so wrong?

Why did my body betray me?

I closed my eyes and rubbed the heels of my hands as deep as they would go in my sockets. I nearly jumped at the vision that came to me. I saw a flash of the bedroom and Elliot pulling up on his jeans.

"Rayne." Elliot's voice eased through my body tweaking at all the sensitive parts.

Jerking my hands away, I blinked rapidly. "Fuck!"

A handful of seconds later he was at the door holding his jacket. His t-shirt stretched tight over his chest, and the memories of that same chest were burned into my mind, except it was bare and I was running my tongue across its broad width.

"Dammit!" I was to my feet and almost to the door that led to the velvet donut room.

"Rayne, wait."

I stopped, my hand on the knob. "There's nothing to say, El."

"Quit being stupid."

I spun on him. "Me? I'm stupid? I'm your partner, Elliot, and you just fucked me! Do you not see anything wrong with this scenario?"

He laid his coat across one of the chairs and took his time walking across the room. "Don't you mean that you used to be a guy and I fucked you?"

My lips pursed in frustration. "Yeah, well, same thing."

"Not even close."

"Fuck you, Elliot."

His mouth turned up. "I'm up for it if you are."

The glare I returned wiped it right back off.

"Rayne, you were my best friend, you still are. Except, well, you're a girl now. It kinda puts things in a certain perspective."

I shoved my hands in my jacket pocket. I wanted to pace, but the only place to go would lead me right to guy I just got through riding at a gallop.

"Do you think you'll ever change back?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I get the impression this is for good."

"Well then…"

"What?" I snapped. "Okay, Wayne's a girl now, time for a pornothon? I don't work that way, El."

"Why not?"

"Dude, two weeks ago I had a dick!"

"And now you don't and probably never will again."

I wanted to take my 500 out and shoot him. Okay, not really, but he was frustrating the hell out of me. "Sorry, I'm not ready to play Susie-homemaker just yet."

He chuckled. "And I'd hate it if you did."

I looked down at my boots, not wanting to see his eyes for the answer to my next question. "What are we gonna do?" I almost whispered.

I saw him close in and I braced myself. He took me by the shoulders and pulled me into his chest. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and just let him hold me. I didn't move to do the same to him. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But here, for now, it was enough.

~O~

"Uh oh."

We were pulling into the Precinct 2 parking lot so Elliot could turn in his badge. It was a already a foregone conclusion. We were joined already in some freaked out metaphysical way, and we had been and still were partners, regardless of where we worked. On the plus side, Elliot was psyched about being about to carry around a much bigger gun.

"What?" I returned.

"We didn't… I mean, I didn't use a condom."

I pulled into a parking space and turned in my seat to give him my best stone face. "You're changing the diapers."

I don't think I've ever seen him looked as spooked as he did right then.

"I… I…"

"I'm kidding. I don't have the right plumbing, El. You're safe."

He went boneless into the headrest with a relieved sigh. I rolled my eyes and pulled the keys. "Come on, Doctor Phil, I'll help you carry your shit out."

We made our way through the Pit to his cubicle and he told me he'd be back after he talked to the Lieutenant. I looked around for a second before I was able to find an empty cardboard box and started loading Elliot's four years of accumulated crap inside.

"Hey."

I cocked my head around and saw Sullivan, the office gossip, standing there.

"What?"

"So, you and Jameson, huh?"

I stopped what I was doing and turned around to lean my butt on the desk. "What are you talking about, Sullivan?"

He seemed rather pleased I knew his name. "You and Jameson. Word is his turning in his badge for the easy life."

Jesus, it's been what five minutes? Gotta hand it to him, Sullivan's good. So, just to play along, ya know, for the fun of it… "Yeah, it's true. I'm knocked up. Daddy's pissed. Now, Elliot's gotta join the family business so Daddy can keep an eye on him."

Sullivan's mouth could have hit the floor. I could see him biting at the bit for more info. "Family business?"

I nodded and looked at my nails, try to give my best vapid impression. "Tampons. Daddy's the Tampon king of the Gulf Coast."

Sullivan's face started turning red. I couldn't tell if it was embarrassment for himself, Elliot, or just the plain old-fashion giggles. I determined it was the giggles when Elliot returned with a great big smile on his face and Sullivan saw him. He couldn't hold it any longer and busted a gut as he stumbled away.

He eyed Sullivan wearily and then turned back to me. "What did you do?" Huh, he sounded kind of serious now.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't look at me."

His eyes thinned. I turned my back on him and pulled open the final drawer in the desk. After a quick inner snicker I pulled out the current month's copy of Penthouse and waved it at him. "Keeping this?"

He snatched it out of my hand and whipped it behind his back. "Uh, it's not what it looks like."

I crooked an eyebrow at him. "It looked like a stroke mag."

"Uh."

Wells another detective in the Pit stopped by. "Hey, congratulations you two!"

"Elliot," I warned.

He looked to Wells and held out the magazine. "Uh, Harry. I can't hold this for you anymore. Movin' on up and all that."

Wells smiled wide at the gift and then at me. "Right, um, thanks for holding on to this for me."

My eyes shifted back and forth between them. Then Wells rolled the magazine up. "You're tons better looking than any girl in here anyway." He pounded Elliot in the shoulder. "Lucky bastard." After a second's worth of shuffling around Wells turned and patted Elliot on the back. "Good luck with those tampons, man."

"I'll be in the car," I said rather quickly and made a hasty exit.

~O~

I punched the necklace radio and waited for someone to answer.

"Harris."

"Yo, Doc!"

"Yes, Rayne, what do you have to report?"

"Elliot Jameson's coming on board. Work some of your mojo and hook him up with ID. We'll be there in a little bit."

I could have sworn I heard Harris sigh, but it could have been static, maybe. "Take him to Suzanne to have him outfitted. I have some things to show you when you arrive. I'll be in operations."

"And that would be, where?" What? Nobody's told me the names of the stupid rooms yet.

"It's the room with all the pretty TV's and big conference table," he said with a touch of sarcasm.

"Ah, gotcha. Operations. Cool." I didn't think I liked his tone. "Hey, Doc?"

"Yes, Rayne?"

"I've been thinking about how I'm gonna punish you. Do you think if I just tore the skin off of your legs that would be enough?"

The necklace went dead. Huh… guess it would.

Full dark hit before Elliot made his way out, carrying two boxes. I reached back and opened the rear door for him. He slid the boxes in and made sure they were secure.

"Oh, by the way, you suck," he said in passing.

I didn't let it bother me. "That's what you get for fucking me on first date."

He shut the door and walked around to the other side. I smirked at him, but doubted he could actually see me through the tinting.

~O~

He was like a kid walking into an amusement park for the first time. I actually thought he was going to get whiplash from all the looking around he did at the OTO.

"This is my room." I opened the door to let him have quick look inside.

"Bed's kinda small."

I smacked him in the arm. "We're not sleeping together."

"Hello, Rayne," came from behind. Oh, surprise. It's my tailor.

"Suzanne, Elliot. Elliot Suzanne."

They shook hands while she smiled warmly at him. "Pleasure to meet you. Doctor Harris alerted me that you'd need to be suited up."

I waggled my eyebrows at that. "Yeah, give him the works. Maybe green tights and a codpiece, big yellow cape or something."

She rolled her eyes at me and took Elliot's arm to lead him away. He's so screwed. At least I get a good belly laugh for a while. Ah, life is almost good.

I took off down a different hallway to Operations. Harris was behind the conference table fiddling on an illusionary keyboard.

"Hey Doc. You ready for that leg skinning? Or maybe later."

He was so engrossed with whatever he was doing he didn't hear me enter. Remember, I'm sneaky. He jerked and the pretty holo-image disappeared from over the table. Awww.

Hey, I'm allowed to have a little fun. Today's been really weird.

With a mild curse, Harris brought up the image again and tried to distract me from the flailing I had planned. "Your report yesterday bore fruit." Before I could make a joke he cut me off. Bastard! "I was able to track down Clarence Spangler, or at least the name. It was quite well hidden in transactions layered though several holding companies."

Okay, he did good. I'll let him slide for the time being. "What do you have, specifically?"

"Look here," he said while pointing out a tree of companies branching out off of Clarence the Ripper's name. There were dozens of addresses. Apparently he was pretty well off.

"Now, we might not have much luck with the companies themselves, but they do hold a few houses across the U.S. and in Europe."

"Anything local?" I asked, trying in vain to get him to get on with it.

"Three specifically. The small apartment that you were at yesterday is one. There is a Condominium in the Ten Towers building and a house in Breckenridge."

Breckenridge wasn't that far away from OTO, but Ten Towers was only fifteen minutes further. "Can you pull up utilities for both places?"

"One moment."

Okay, I was getting a little antsy until separate images pulled up beside each residence. A third grader could see which one was currently active. "Bingo."

"I'll alert Gamma team to act as back up."

I was about to say something bold and lone-wolf, but fuck it. I'll take a platoon if it gets this guy dead.

"I'll grab Elliot. He should be in the Armory by now."

I couldn't wait to see him in his own skimpy outfit… and not for the reasons that you might think. I just about had enough of being the only one walking around like an extra in a biker movie. It's time someone else got to feel the pain.

I swiped my keycard at the door and it clicked open. Yep Suzanne and Elliot were inside. I could scent them. And there he was.

"Awww, that is so NOT fair. How come he gets the X-Men costume?"

Suzanne was quick off the mark. "It most certainly is not an X-Men costume. And Elliot is a regular human being. He needs more protection."

It was a full on leather looking outfit. The same type of material as mine, but the only skin showing were the tips of his fingers and his head. Okay, Suzanne's next on the 'to be flailed' list. Dammit, it wasn't even tight like mine. What the hell!

A jolt of excitement ran through my body and believe me, I wasn't excited about anything at the moment, so it had to be from Elliot. I watched as he moved in to the heavy guns portion of the Armory. He gingerly picked up a large machine gun looking weapon and then said, "I didn't think these were available yet."

I made my approach and looked at the barrel of the weapon. "Is that a shotgun?"

"It's an AA-12 Combat Shotgun." I heard the reverence in his voice. "300 rounds a minute, Rayne. Drum fed 12-gauge shells. Oh my god…" He looked over to Suzanne. "Do you have the Frag-12's?"

She shook her head. "Not yet."

Elliot pouted briefly and then looked at the wall. He pulled down the largest drum he found and set it on a nearby table.

"What's a Frag-12?"

Suzanne pointed at a case of shells for Elliot and explained. "In short, it’s a fragmentation grenade that was developed for this weapon."

In other words, big booms, short time span. Elliot was about to orgasm as he was feeding the shells into the drum. I noticed that he already chose a Glock similar to what he had on the force as well as a combat knife.

"Well load up, El. We have a house to raid."

He looked up at me. "You found him?"

I shrugged. "We found a house that's been used very recently. It's his, so maybe."

It didn't take too long getting down to the garage and into the Impala before we were on the street again following the GPS/Nav system to the address in question. It led to a hoity-toity neighborhood where each estate was a couple of hundred yards wide and double that in depth. The house wasn't gigantic, but I'd be hard pressed to imagine living in such a place that probably had ten bedrooms and a six car garage.

We passed it up and then u-turned to park caddie corner across the street. There was a new moon or it hadn't risen yet, so visibility was crap for regular humans. I could see just fine with the available starlight.

Elliot had his AA-12 set between his legs pointing up to the roof of the car stroking it a little. Yeah, I caught a bit of the action.

"Hey, El?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you not jack off your new toy?"

He flinched just a little bit. "I wasn't…"

"Dude, I can feel you doing it. It's giving me the creeps."

He tried for an abrupt subject change. "See anything?"

I grimaced a little. "No. No lights, no nothing."

"What are we waiting for?"

"Back up. They should be here in a couple of minutes."

We sat like that while I eyed the estate and listened to the ticking of the cooling engine.

I heard felt him shift in the seat before I scented Elliot moving closer to me. I didn't bother facing him. "What are you doing?"

"Um, getting comfortable."

"And that includes invading my space?"

"Hey," he whispered.

I cocked my head slightly in his direction. He was really close. I was of two minds about it. One: It really helped me to relax, having him near me like that. I have no idea why. Two: We just fucked a little more than an hour ago and I'm really weirded out by that.

"What?"

I sort of froze up a little when he fingered the hair out of my face and bared my neck. It wasn't a second later that I felt his warm breath at the nape.

"Elliot," I whispered. "No."

His tongue followed right after sending little jolts of electricity along my spine. My body immediately responded to him, the tightness of my nipples, the heat building between my legs.

I reached my hand up and ran my fingers through his hair. It just spurred him on. He nipped lightly on the sensitive skin right below and in back of my ear, and I almost moaned, but at the last second I pulled on his hair, tugging him away.

"No, not now. We're about to…"

"Rayne, kiss me."

I looked at him fully now, face to face. "What?"

"Kiss me," he repeated. "Now, while there is nothing making you. You aren't under some vampire spell. It's just us, sitting here. Kiss me."

I released my grip and pulled away. "We aren't going to do this right now."

"Why not? I know you want me just as much as I want you. I can feel it through our connection."

I cringed. I swear I was going to kill this Ripper guy slowly for putting me through this crap. "Move over to your side of the car, now."

He heard the edge to my voice and backed off.

"Sorry." He sounded like a whipped puppy.

I breathed out and gave myself an internal eye roll.

I noted Gamma team was parked further down the street in a SWAT van with OTO insignia on the outside. Elliot and I made our way to the back of the van and was allowed access after they saw who we were.

A couple of the guys looked a little fidgety when I got near them. I guess they remembered the slaughter in the Gym pretty well from the other day. It was a seven man team, decked out in X-Men uniforms much like Elliot's. Four of them were checking out their weapons while one guy was behind a surveillance unit sweeping the area with what I guessed was infrared equipment.

It would help tell us what exactly was in the house. According to Harris, vampires, or at least me, had a lower body temperature than the average human. I was floating around eighty-five degrees except when I fed, then it would move up to around ninety. Don't ask why, I don't have a clue. Suffice it to say that there is a discernable difference between me and you.

"What do you got?" I asked the only guy standing, who was probably the team leader.

"Nada." He replied. "Looks empty."

"Any security I need to worry about?"

He shook his head in the negative. "The only thing he has listed is standard door, window, and motion detectors which we already took off line through the security company."

I nodded once. "Okay, Elliot and I are going in. Hold back here unless you see some activity. I can smell this guy coming a mile off, you can't, and you've already seen what he can do."

"I'd like to set up a perimeter around the house. We need to be able to get to you guys if he shows up," the team leader stressed.

I didn't like it, but he made sense. "Fine, teams of two. I don't want anyone by themselves. If he shows let me know immediately. Head shots or heart shots. Anything else is just libel to piss him off."

Unlike the majority of the houses in the neighborhood, Clarence — Anthony, whatever, didn't have his whole estate lit up like he was expecting to be robbed at a moment's notice. I figured anyone stupid enough to rob a vampire's house deserved what they got, which was probably eaten.

Elliot and I hopped over a low fence in a darker portion of the estate and made our way to the rear of the house. I listened at the door and didn't hear anything. So, I placed my hand right at the latch and gave it a pretty good shove. The wood splintered and I made sure there wasn't a loud piercing alarm sounding before I stepped inside.

Anthony's scent hit me right off. This was his place alright, and the scent wasn't strong enough for him to have passed this room anytime within the last hour. It was the kitchen. If I didn't know any better I'd swear it was right out of some home improvement show. He had all manner of cooking paraphernalia hanging around like he used it everyday or something. I checked the refrigerator and it was fairly well stocked. Dammit, this meant that humans were around. Maybe a Companion or some type of servant. The thing was that I didn't scent anyone else.

I pulled one of the 500's and made my way to a pair of swinging doors that led deeper into the house when I heard Elliot close the back door.

"It's still clear," he whispered low enough for even me to barely hear.

I nodded and pointed to the doors. He brought up his AA-12 to keep me covered. With the toe of my boot I pushed at the bottom of the door and edged it open. Hallway. We made our way down and Elliot kept his attention to our rear and above. I kept it to what was in front of us and to either side. Having done this dozens of times over the last few years we were a well oiled machine. I don't know what I would do without him at my side.

I shook the thought away and concentrated on sweeping the rooms we encountered along the way. Nothing. I wasn't really expecting anything, but when entering the home of a psychopathic Count Chocula it's best to expect the worst.

We had made our way up front and encountered a wide set of stairs that led up to the second floor. I seriously doubted that he'd be up there. But we gave it a sweep on the off chance. On our way back down my necklace chirped once. I punched it.

"What?"

"I saw you were on your way down, Rayne. Didn't find anything?"

It was the guy out in the van.

"No, he's been here recently, but I can't tell how recently."

"So it's the Ripper then?"

There was no doubt in my mind. "He's alive. I don't know how the hell he managed it, but he's walking around again."

Elliot tapped me on the shoulder. "Ask him if there's a basement in this mausoleum."

The voice came over the necklace before I had a chance to ask. "I heard the question. There's a wine cellar, but nothing else. It's off the main dining room on the south wall."

"Dude," I remarked. "Do I look like I have a compass with me?"

"Sorry," was his reply. "The front of the house faces north."

"Right." I disconnected with him.

Elliot already took the lead, which I wasn't happy with, considering I can take a hell of a lot more damage than he can, but I still remembered what it was like being a guy. I didn't want to insult his ego by making him take the sidekick role.

We found the main dining room and the door we overlooked the first time around, mainly because it wasn't a door. It was a tapestry, or rather it was behind the tapestry.

Hidden door. Yeah.

"El, maybe I should take the lead."

I saw the second's worth of hurt on his face, but he understood why in the end and nodded. It didn't have a doorknob so I gave it a push and it clicked open. I looked down into almost total darkness. Okay, here's the thing. A vampire's vision is kind of like a nightscope. It uses the ambient light, stars, match light, hell, glow in the dark sticks would work. But if there's nothing to work with then we are almost as bad off as humans. I could see well enough to tell that there wasn't a light switch within reach and that the stairs were the old fashioned kind that had no kick-backs to them.

You know the kind that's at your grandparent's house when your mom tells you to go down into the basement and get some canned peaches? You're only nine years old and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the monster underneath the stairs will grab your ankle and rip you through the steps and eat you? Well it's those kind of steps, and there actually 'was' a monster.

If I had a bladder I would be peeing all over the place. Thank God for small mercies, I guess.

"Um, El… you wouldn't happen to have a light on you?"

"Shit," he whispered.

'Okay,' I said to myself. 'You're a freaking vampire.'

I took hold of the barrel of his AA-12 and pointed it straight down behind me. "If something grabs my ankle, fucking blow it away."

I know he saw the fear in my eyes. He nodded and I turned around.

"Rayne," he whispered.

I turned around and didn't even get the chance to ask what he wanted before he grabbed the back of my neck and pressed his lips on mine. My mind went blank for a second, but it was long enough for his tongue to do a little happy dance with mine. He broke away just as fast and I was left there blinking. Okay, now I'm scared shitless and horny.

It kind of took the edge off… just a little.

Holding up the 500 I descended the stairs. They squeaked and creaked. The wood was old and I had my doubts about its reliability. I scented the air. It was musky, and something smelled rotten. You know those styro-packets that steaks come in? Those little meat maxi-pads that they always put on the bottom to soak up the blood from the steaks. You know how if you leave then in the trash for more than a day it reeks? Yeah… that.

This wasn't making my state of mind any less panicky. God, there was something down here. I could feel it right on the edge of my senses, but I couldn't narrow it down as to what it was.

I was halfway down now. Elliot was two steps behind me and I knew all of his attention was on the monster under the stairs. He'd make sure I wasn't eaten. He'd make sure.

That's when the steps collapsed. Well one step anyway. It cracked and my foot went through it almost throwing me forward, but Elliot's hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder at the last second. Fuck!

I pulled my boot back out and stepped to the one below. Two more and I was on solid ground. I ran my hand through the air searching for a lightswitch, hanging cord, a bit of string. That's it. I'm taking up smoking the first chance I got. What was it gonna do, kill me? My kingdom for one freaking match.

"I got it." Elliot announced. Oh, thank fuck. I shifted out of the way and averted my eyes so as not to go totally blind when he clicked it on.

It was about six inches away from my face. I screamed and jumped back pulling up my 500 and just about pulled the trigger when I realized what it was. A kid, hanging upside down, tied to the ceiling by his ankles. His throat was cut from ear to ear with a visage of terror frozen on his dead face.

"Oh Christ!" I covered my mouth feeling a ghost surge of nausea and bile in my throat. Elliot pulled me away and held my head to his chest for a moment so I could pull myself together. I breathed evenly for a few second and patted his chest.

A quick scan around the cellar and I concluded we were alone. I holstered the 500 and turned back around to find Elliot kneeling down behind the body, so I took a closer look. The kid was stripped naked and his hands bound behind him. He looked like he was in his late teens. There was a bucket sitting to the side with a coating inside I deduced was blood. It had been emptied. My guess, probably a late night snack for Anthony.

"Find anything?" I asked.

"Wallet. He was Stephen Sinclair."

Elliot looked puzzled.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I know that name from somewhere."

Something hit my nose. A scent that I was familiar with. Then the squeaking of door hinges. Elliot dropped the wallet and grabbed his shotgun. I spun around to the stairs and pulled both 500's.

I know I stopped breathing in that second. My senses were at the highest I had ever known.

"You have found me, pet."

It was Anthony.

"What took you so long. I left such a trail for you."

Elliot made his way around me to the other side of the stairs.

I swallowed. No words were coming to my mouth.

"And you've brought me an offering. How nice."

I blinked and then knew he was talking about Elliot.

"Does this mean you have reconsidered your dislike of me?"

I couldn't take it anymore. "Oh shut the fuck up." I pulled both triggers and unloaded two shots each into the door. It exploded outward in flames.

Elliot hit his communicator. "Gamma team, he's in the house. Hold positions."

Laughter erupted from the top of the stairs. "Missed me."

I gave Elliot hand signs that I was going up, and to cover me. He shook me off like I was insane, but I thumped him in the chest. It wasn't hard, but he got the point. I reached up and switched off the light. If I couldn't see down here then Anthony definitely couldn't see.

I took two steps back and aimed right for the door when I jumped. It wasn't pretty, but I made it. I took a shoulder roll and came up firing. Anthony was quicker than he looked. He dove to the side behind one of the old chairs while it exploded. Two of my shots went wide. I had one shot left and I had to make it count. I holstered the empty gun and reached to my back for the falcata.

The two foot blade slid easy from its sheath.

I smelled blood and it wasn't mine. Maybe I got lucky and winged him.

"I don't hear you laughing Clarence. Cat got your… "

The entire dining room table, all eight feet of it lifted off the ground and flew at me. I fired right in the middle and it exploded in two spraying me in wooden splinters. The bulk of it missed me, but I did get hit by enough to stagger me backward and make me drop my gun. Well, fuck it, it was empty anyway.

Anthony didn't waste any time moving on me. I felt a pickup truck hit me across the chin and I went flying, slamming into the wall. Stars flashed across my eyes, and I dropped the blade. Before I even had a chance to shake my head I felt his hand at my throat lifting me against the wall. White hot pain lanced through my midsection and I screamed, then three loud explosions rent the air.

I heard Anthony hit the wall beside me and bounced to the floor. After that it sounded like a war zone with Elliot's voice screaming at the top of his lungs. Glass crashed and the thunder came to a stop.

"Oh Jesus, Rayne!"

I finally opened my eyes and the world swam.

"Baby, don't move, Christ!"

I looked down and I was hanging a foot above the floor with my own fucking blade stuck to the hilt in my stomach holding me there. Is it shock that makes you not feel anything? I couldn't remember.

"Gamma team, move in, move in! You'll be okay, Baby. You just need a little blood and everything will be cool, right."

Elliot sounded awfully panicked all of the sudden.

"I gotta get you down. Hold on to me."

I felt him swing my arm over his shoulder and wrap his arm around my back.

"On three, okay."

His face was kinda blurry. "One…"

The pain came back, worse than before. I know I screamed louder this time than last.

"It's out, Rayne. You hang the fuck on!"

He picked me up. I know because everything was sideways. I must have blacked out for a second because I don't remember laying in the grass before, leaning up against Elliot.

"Drink, Baby. Drink. Come on."

I felt blood trickle into my mouth and I clamped down on the plastic bag sucking on it for all it was worth. After it was empty another was in my mouth before I could even groan.

"Harris!" Elliot yelled. "Pick up you fuck!"

"Yes, Elliot. Status."

"Rayne's down, Gamma team is dead. I need medical now!"

~O~

The sterile smell of hospital flooded my nose when I woke. I felt a hand in mine and looked to the side to see Elliot sitting there, half on the bed asleep. I almost gagged when I realized that there was another stupid tube up my nose and in my throat. With my free hand I peeled the tape away and tugged the tube out. There has got to be a better way to feed me blood other than this.

The sound of the tube hitting the floor woke Elliot. He blinked at me and then jerked fully awake. "Rayne! How do you feel?"

I took a quick inventory and for having a really big freaking blade stuck in my gut I felt pretty good. "Uh, okay, I guess."

He grabbed the call button and punched it.

"Yes?" a female voice answered.

"She's awake."

"We'll be right in."

"I'm fine Elliot. I just…"

He raised a hand to me and pointed. "You — shush," he said rather rudely.

I gave him the fish eye. "What?"

"Shush, you don't get to say anything after pulling that stupid assed super-hero bullshit."

I was about to reply when he gave me one of those, 'I mean it' looks. Whatever.

A nurse came in followed by Harris. Elliot stepped to the side but still hadn't let go of my hand. Harris looked at the gesture and then back at me.

"How are you feeling, Rayne."

I looked over at Elliot and smirked. "Fine Doc."

He pulled down the sheet covering me. Great, pink hospital smock again. After raising the smock he peeled back the tape covering my stomach.

"Oh, excellent."

I looked down and there wasn't even a scar. So I gave Elliot another satisfied smirk. He still raised a finger at me.

Harris poked around, pushing down here and there, I guess were the wound was.

"No pain?'

I shook my head.

The doc looked pleased. "Well then I guess you're discharged. If you notice anything out of the ordinary let me know."

Fucking excellent! That was the shortest hospital stay I ever had. Being a vampire rocks! After the doc and nurse left I started to get out of bed and Elliot stopped me.

"Wait. We need to clear the air about something."

Aww, hell.

"Can I at least sit up?"

He nodded and I did.

"You almost died last night, Rayne."

I shrugged my head to the side, not really wanting to hear it.

"Fine, you want to treat it like another day at the office, that's great. But you're not going to die without hearing something from me."

I took a breath and looked him in the eyes. "Fine, what?"

"I love you," he said as a matter of fact.

My jaw loosened a little.

"That's right, I love you. I have ever since we walked out of the station when you came back looking for info about the Ripper."

My mouth opened to say something. I had no idea what, but it was open anyway. I never got the chance.

"You were my partner, my best friend, and now you're amazing fucking hot, and you're still my partner and my best friend."

He put his hands on either side of me, on the bed, and leaned in. I shrunk back a inch or two.

"You see that over there?"

I looked to where he indicated and saw one of the books that Sophie had given me. It was the one about Companions.

"I've been doing a little reading on what's going on between us." He smiled a little. "That first mark you gave me. It didn't mean all that much. Kind of like test driving a new car, see if you like it or not."

This, I already knew.

"But the second mark? It wouldn't have worked unless you felt something for me, something other than friendship."

I swallowed, hard.

"So all of your bullshit bravado is over. I know." He stood up and I tracked him. "You can fight all you want and tell me that you are an All-American male inside, but you and I both know it's bullshit."

He stepped back and retrieved the book and his jacket. "I'm going to your room to take a shower now." He motioned to a closed door to the side of the room. "I left you a change of clothes and there's a shower in there."

When I looked back at him his face was set, determined, confident. "When you come to the room I'm going to make love to you. I'd really like it if you wouldn't fight this anymore. And I'd really like it if you wouldn't take too long. I didn't get much sleep and I'm beat."

With that he turned around and left.

"Well, Jesus Christ on a pogo stick," I said sarcastically to nobody in particular. "That went well."