A/N: Hello...This Chapter is wayyyyyy past due hehe...but I had to find the chapter outline before I could write it...and that took some time lol...This chapter did have a dream in it, but I erased it...I think Im going to use it for later. Hope you enjoy! and Please Review!!

-Caya

Celine clung to her brother as if he was the last precious thing she had in the world. As time grew older, that little swirl of consciousness left for her grew harder and harder to reach.

If she finally slipped, who knew when she would finally come back again?

She was oddly aware of every tiny drip of blood that hit the forest floor, as her brother made his way through thick brushes and low tree branches, yet she was numb to the pain that her cuts and bruises were meant to bring to her.

If only she could make it until they got home, then she could feel the beautiful silk sheets cover her body and seal her away from the rest of the world, if only for a while.

That sounded beyond comfortable.

She chose to focus on a salty bead of sweat that formed on Dominic’s forehead to keep her mind off of the dizziness and slight nausea that she suddenly felt. The drop rolled slowly, until it reached his brow and dispersed among the tiny black hairs.

She swallowed, despite her mouth being dry.

She could relate to that drop. Celine was young, but how much more of this could she take? Soon she would fall, and just like that sweat, her body would be dispersed within the Earth’s soil.

Sometimes that was exactly what she wanted.

She closed her eyes.

Fighting blood thirsty demons all her life was not what she wanted, but what she wanted wasn’t really what she could have. Everything was already planned out for her, so even if she tried a different lifestyle, her family’s name was bound to seal her death eventually.

She was a wanted person, and considering the past few years, maybe more wanted than any other person in her family.

It honestly didn’t make much sense to her, but for some odd reason the vampires were intent on kidnapping her, and on a couple of occasions, like tonight, they almost succeeded.

Then again, she had really pissed Victor off. He might have forgotten their plans and killed her right then and there if her brother didn’t show up.

Her eyes fixed themselves on the cloudy sky that sealed the bright moon away like a veil. One cool raindrop landed in the center of her forehead making her blink. One by one, faster and faster they came, patting her face as if to soothe her into sleep, and it was working.

She slowly went into a daze, a faint daydream if you will, as her foggy thoughts continued to carry her away like a groom does his bride. She laid in Dominic’s arms frozen, for all she could manage was to stare wide eyed up at the droplets making their way towards her.

The closer they got, the more crystallized they seemed to become, freezing themselves in midair before slowly continuing their fall. Through Celine’s eyes, it seemed as if they teasing her with their beauty.

A few more drops, and she was out.

Dripping wet with warm rain, Dominic followed the steps up to the front door of their home. Using the key that he managed to pull out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and then pushed it open with his foot.

He practically knew the entire house by heart, so he walked through without any light, noting the sound of snoring that seemed to get louder and louder as he traveled.

Once he was in the living room, he found the source in no time. There was a small candle sitting on the table giving just enough light to show Darius’s curled up body on the couch.

Dominic tilted his head and smiled as he studied his brother.

He looked so peaceful in his sleep…

Too bad.

Dominic leaned down as far as he could with Celine in his arms. “Get up stupid!”

Startled, Darius jumped up, but lost his balanced and rolled off the side of the bed.

Dominic readjusted Celine as he laughed at the mess before him. “What happened to you?” he asked.

“I thought we agreed to meet up here.”

“We did, but did it ever occur to you that after an hour, maybe something was wrong?”

Darius slowly shook his head. “Uh, no because I fell asleep.”

Dominic stared at his brother. “You’re useless.”

“We haven’t been able to get proper rest in three days, what do expect? I thought you guys were ok.”

“Like I said…you’re useless. Luckily, I was able to get to Celine just in time. Two seconds later and she would have been drained dry. C’mon and help me get her situated upstairs. She’s hurt.”

Celine woke up to excruciating pain. She would have lashed out, but she saw that Darius was sowing her side back up.

“Victor really did some work on you,” he commented without looking at her. “You’re lucky that Dominic showed up or you would have been through.”

She gasped, closing her eyes tightly as she endured the pain, before she nodded her head in agreement.

Darius chuckled. “Sorry about that…” She watched him as he worked, wondering how he was able to get her corset off without waking her earlier. Once he finished, he stood up and gathered his items and then kissed her on the forehead. “It's late, so get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

She nodded once again and watched as her older brother made his way out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Slowly rolling over to her uninjured side, for that was really the only way she could sleep, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Celine suddenly woke up as a dark eerie feeling crept over her, but she chose to keep her eyes closed.

Someone was in her room.

Slowly, she slid her hand underneath her pillow and grabbed the knife that lay hidden there. She had learn the hard way not to be unarmed at any time.

She tried to slow her heart rate so she could at least pretend to be asleep, but if a vampire was in her room, she knew that he had already picked up that she was awake.

Taking one huge deep breath she sat up as quickly as she could, only to end up staring directly into a set of light russet eyes.

He straddled her thighs with his knees and leaned forward, so close to her face that any movement would make their lips brush against each other. She glanced over his face as her heart beat quickened its pace, much to his enjoyment, noting the light brown hair that almost covered his left eye completely.

“Who are you?” she whispered. Just as she thought, as soon as she spoke she gave his lips little unintended pecks. She tried to lean back, but he matched her movement in order to keep the closeness between them.

He smirked. “Does it really matter?”

“Would I ask if it didn’t?” she asked, maintaining her seriousness.

“Jasper,” he mumbled as his eyes fell down to her lips back to her eyes again.

“Well, Jasper,” she began, trying to move her lips as little as possible, “If we’re going to do this, do you mind giving me just a little more space?”

He momentarily lifted an eyebrow and then got up and took several steps backwards. “Is this enough?”

She smiled. “Perfect,” and then without another passing second, she threw the knife. It rotated in the air and missed Jasper’s head by a centimeter, embedding itself in the wall.

Before he could make a move, she flipped off of the bed, forgetting that she had twisted her ankle. Pain shot through her body immediately, but she shunned it and made her way to the dresser as quickly as she could, grabbing the daggers that she usually trained with.

By this time, he was approaching her, so she took one and threw it at him, this time hitting him right in the middle of the chest.

She knew he would heal quickly, so as she held on to the other one she hopped her way towards the door, but Jasper was quicker than she was. He ran up behind her and grabbed her hair, pulling her down to the floor.

Desperate, she flipped herself over and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach causing him to take a step back.

It gave her the inch she needed, but suddenly dizziness overcame her and she found herself fighting through it as she crawled towards the door again.

There was no way that Dominic and Darius would know what was happening right now since their rooms were way across the house, so she had to find a way to get to them.

The vampires had never invaded their home before, so there was no need to stay so close together when they were in the large house.

“Oh no you don’t…” Jasper mumbled. He grabbed her injured ankle and yanked her back to him, her nails scratching the wooden floors in her protest, before swinging her around and around. Eventually he let her go, allowing her to violently crash into the dresser.

The sight of her lying in a heap on the floor amused him, making him want to see more. “I thought that a girl like you could handle herself a lot better than this…This is just pitiful,” he said as he approached her.

Her reply was a weak moan. She pushed herself up briefly, but her weakness caused her to fall back onto the hard floor.

Jasper snorted and kicked her in her stitched side, opening up the wound again.

Celine’s eyes watered as she momentarily went blind and let out the scream of all screams. Breathing so hard that she thought she was having an asthma attack, she tried to regroup herself, but she was suddenly yanked up by her hair. Her feet was dangled beneath her, putting more strain on her scalp, but at the moment there was nothing that she could do.

She cursed herself as she was suddenly aware of the dagger in her hand. Why didn’t she think of that earlier?

She opened her eyes and glared at the demon holding her up, before swinging the dagger and slicing his throat open. He let her go right away, but once again before she could get far, he struck again, only this time through her mind.

It started out as a simple ache in the middle of her head and then progressed until it became beyond a migraine, making her collapse onto the ground writhing in pain.

“Why are you here?” she managed to scream out.

Jasper crossed his arms as the skin on his neck connected itself again. “Oh, I just wanted to play around with you a bit before I took you to the castle with me.”

Celine stared up at him as the pain suddenly ceased, confusion written all over her face. She slowly stood up, ready for anything else Jasper wanted to throw her way. “Castle? What are you…”

Before she could finish her question, Jasper whispered “Sleep…” and she fell into a dreamless sleep. He caught her before she could hit the ground, picking her lightweight body up, cradling it to his chest. Glancing down at her as she slept peacefully in his arms, he walked over to the nearest window and jumped out, just as a pair of black wings broke through the skin of his back.