Chapter two:

"Well, hello Austin."

-xxXxx-

Rome lazily opened his eyes, and looked around. It wasn't his apartment, and this bed was entirely too hard for his taste. He looked around, and saw a slim pale form beside him. A smile crossed his lips, as he leaned over, and kissed the swell of the figure's shoulder.

"Hey Tasha," he whispered, and kissed her shoulder again. The body rolled over, and a pair of pink eyes looked at him.

"Who's Tasha?" she asked, looking angry, and slightly hurt. Rome's eyes widened looking at the cosmopolitan colored eyes, and pale blond hair fanned out underneath her. Kitten.

"Uh, I have to go." Rome stood up, wrapping the sheet around his lower-half, looking for his boxers, and jeans. Kitten sat up in bed, holding the comforter tight around her naked body.

"Why are you leaving?" Her voice was seriously angry, but Rome didn't give a shit. He just kept looking for his clothes.

He found them in a corner of the room, along with his boots, and his tight black t-shirt. He pulled everything on, and smiled fondly at Kitten.

"The sex," he said, "was decidedly mediocre." Kitten's eyes flared with hate. She picked up a lamp, and threw it at Rome, barely missing his head as it collided with the wall.

"Get out!" she screamed, grabbing another object to throw. Rome's eyes widened. He quickly tossed himself into the shadows, wondering where he was going to end up.

When he opened his eyes, he nearly choked.

-xxXxx-

Tasha sighed, sitting at a bus stop, lightly skimming through Petrius's book. A little laugh echoed above her. Tiredly she looked up, and saw who the voice belonged to. He was average size, about five foot nine, with orangey-blond hair, and sea green eyes. His skin was pale, and a dash of freckles was dotted across his nose.

He was nothing like Rome. He looked loveable, like the boy next door, but he also looked like he had gone through hell.

"What's so funny?" she asked, regarding him blankly. His smile only widened, showing pretty white teeth.

"Nothing, I've read that book. I like it, it's really good." Tasha smiled slightly.

"My brother wrote it, I didn't find out until a day ago he did, so now I'm reading it." The guy smiled, and offered his hand.

"I'm Austin." Tasha smiled.

"Well, hello Austin. I'm Tasha. What are you?"

"Huh?"

"You're supernatural, but I can't tell what." Austin sighed.

"Werewolf." Tasha nodded her head, still smiling welcomingly, and patted the seat next to her.

"I'm a vampire."

"Oh, who's your sire? I might now them." Tasha took a heavy sigh.

"I don't want to talk about it." Austin nodded, then rubbed the nape of his neck.

"Hey, do you want to go out and get something to eat, or whatever?" Tasha opened her mouth, but he interrupted. "As long as it's not humans- I have a weak stomach." Tasha laughed.

"No, I wasn't going to say humans. I was going to say 'yes'. Why do you have a weak stomach? You're a werewolf, don't you, like, rip people limb from limb, then feast on their innards?" She laughed, and made motions like she was eating somebody's arm.

"Nah," said Austin. "Most of the time I just wake up naked in the bushes covered in blood. I have no idea what goes on between the time I pass out, and the time I wake up. I prefer it to be that way." He sighed heavily, and shook his head. Tasha put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, you can't control yourself, you don't mean it." Austin smiled.

"Thanks."

"No problem!" Austin looked around again, and yawned. "Am I that boring?" Tasha asked, mock hurt. Austin shook his head.

"I'm sleepy, is all." Austin stood up, and stretched like a cat. The shirt he wore gently lifted up, revealing a tight, tight stomach, and a few scars. The scars Tasha remembered on Rome flashed through her eyes, superimposing onto Austin's stomach. She grit her teeth, and bit the inside of her cheek to ignore it.

They both got on the bus, and got off at a generic restaurant. The food was run of the mill, but the company was the best Tasha had in several years.

-xxXxx-

The hospital.

Tall, dark, and looming. In ten years it had fallen into disrepair, and graffiti had been spray painted on the walls, and the windows, and doors were boarded up.

Rome felt all the memories, every single one of them, flood into his mind. The knife searing into his flesh, the needles pricking his skin. The tests, all the horrendous tests to see how his body held up.

He took staggering steps towards the doors, and rested his hands on the molded wood. Silaria laughing, Camille sneering, and kicking him like a worthless dog when he was too sick, too weak, and too new to his vampiric life to do anything.

He picked the boards off the doors as if he were picking a shirt up off the floor. He dropped them, with a loud thunk, on the ground, and pushed the door open. The inside was all covered in sheets, and dust. Up in the high, cathedral ceilings were many cobwebs.

As he walked along, his big combat boots left shoe prints in the dust behind him. The building would've been gorgeous in it's heyday, but it was all in shambles now. Tall pillars held up beautiful moldings that covered the railings to the second floor. A beautiful bronze statue of a woman, with long hair, starred out into space, wearing a hopeful look on her features. Like everything was going to be okay.

Rome looked away from her, and continued on, now hugging himself. It wasn't all that cold, but the memories, they made every little detail seep into his skin, making him terrified, and curious at the same time.

He came to a door that's plaque said Employees only. He pushed it open, shoving his shoulder against it. The rust clogged hinges gave way, and Rome came into the back of the building.

This was far less beautiful, and looked more like a warehouse.

He ventured farther back, and stopped at a door. The plaque was rusted beyond reading. It seemed too familiar. He creaked open the door, but it simply fell off its hinges, and onto the floor, creating a cloud of dust, blocking his vision.

He squinted his eyes, and peered into the room.

In the center of it was a large metal table, covered in blood.

His blood.

Rome had night terrors about this place. He saw the scalpels, the bone saws, every little thing that he had become accustomed to throughout nearly three hundred years.

In the side of the room was another door, but this one was open, and led to a small office, with stacks, and rows of filing cabinets. He crept into it, silently hoping one of the files would be about him, and silently dreading it all the while.

He pulled open a drawer. All files on other creatures he'd never heard of before. He pulled open another, and found a file under the name of "WATKINS, CAMILLE".

He picked it up. It was a painfully thick file, with its own tabs in it. He flicked through them, until he came to a tab titled "ARGENTO, ROMEO".

He yanked it out, and let all the other papers fall on the floor.

He went to the blood stained table, and spread the contents of the folder out. He nearly screamed at what he saw.

Author's note: I expect many a review, please? Oh, I have this new thing. No update until I get three reveiws.