A/N: Once again life has been more busy than I would like it to be and well I've really been lacking motivation to do anything anyways but NaNoWriMo got me in the writing spirit again so here's the long awaited next chapter. This will give you more of a look into Caleb and Kaya's relationship. Anyway hope you enjoy :D

Chapter Nine

Oh the the shoot was so much fun. Note the extreme amount of sarcasm being used. I wouldn't do that again if you paid me a million dollars. Move like this Kaya. No more like this. It isn't angry enough. You need to be more angry. What are you doing with your arms they look like noodles? It went on and on and on. I thought I was going to kill myself and end up in Hell for real this time.

Now it is Sunday my Mom should be forcing me to go to purge my sins at church and everything since I am evil and all. My brother would be dragging his feet and holding his favorite doll action figure thing. I couldn't call it the wrong name or I would be yelled at by him. I hated and missed those morning.

Instead I had been working in my art studio since midnight on the picture of the girl who died in an alley from overdose, Becky. It seemed so long ago now, but the nightmare that woke me up at midnight quickly reminded me of all the gory details.

I let out a huff. "Finished finally." I had drawn her short brown hair tied back just like when she played soccer. Every freckle that she had was perfectly in place. She was smiling brightly showing a chipped tooth that was barely visible. She was holding up a soccer ball her brown eyes showing how pleased she was. Behind her you could see the field and two teammates making their way off of it.

It was a memory a couple weeks before her death. She had been playing soccer and scored the the winning goal. She had been smiling at her parents. The players behind her were her two friends that had left her in the alley. Teamwork was all apart of the game right?

"That's a pretty good picture," said someone behind me.

I whipped around in a surprise. I saw Caleb there watching me. "Thanks," I muttered distractedly. "How long have you been there?"

"An hour."

"Oh, I didn't hear you."

"I didn't want you to. I didn't have to with all the not having to make a sound and being able to hold my breathe indefinitely. It was fun to try it out."

"Must take a little getting use to," I said smiling nervously as I began to walk over to the sink and wash the paint off my hands.

He looked away from me. "I guess. Who is that a painting of?" he said obviously changing the subject.

I debated how to answer that question unsure of his reaction. I went over my options for a second before deciding to Hell with it. "It is of a girl name Becky," I said slowly.

"One of your friends?" he asked just as slowly back. Obviously thinking I was acting strangely. Well more strangely then usual.

I laughed. "Yeah... No. You have met all my friends but one and she is a ghost named Ever. Not human at all."

"So Becky is?"

I looked at the picture then back at him nervously. "She is a girl I met shortly before you..." I paused as I wondered how to phrase this. It wasn't in my nature to be a sensitive person. I couldn't just start being sensitive one day. "Yeah... So... She's dead."

His face became seemingly paler. Which I still thought to be impossible. "Dead?" he asked shocked and staring at the girls bright and smiling face. "How can she be dead? I mean y-you." He cut off awkwardly. He looked at that pictures lining the walls. "Are they all dead?"

I looked at the pictures as well. "Yeah... They are all dead."

"Oh." I expected the words to come.

I remember right after my first reaping had occurred I had told one of my friends who had been badgering about my little secret. I was eight and had been hiding it for a year. I told her. I tried to explain to her that I wasn't killing people. I tried to describe to her the beauty of a soul. I tried to tell her what I did wasn't evil. She had acted like it was normal and I had wondered what all the fuss my mom was making over it.

The next day at school I had walked in. All the students, everyone was chanting stupid rhymes. Calling me names. Freak. Witch. Monster. Demon. I had run out of the school without looking back. Less than a week later my mother had me enrolled me at a another school.

I looked at him expecting the same words of hatred to come out. "That must hurt."

"I know you must think of me as a..." I looked up at him with wide eyes. "Sorry?"

He looked flustered suddenly. "Well it must be hard to... Well kill. No not kill. Sorry they are already dead and everything. Reap. Yeah Reap people."

My eyes still had that wide shocked expression. "Hard?"

He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well I assumed seeing people die every day would be hard. I mean you must have seen all sorts of things that normal children can't see." He gave one of the saddest looks in the world. "Shouldn't see," he added.

I just kept staring at him. It was honestly the first time someone had said something like this. Had thought about a reaping from my point of view. "It is... Hard," I whispered begging for him to understand. For someone to understand.

"I mean it's not your fault that your father is what he is. It is like sometimes you just don't have a choice with things and people deal with it in different ways," he was on a rant now. He kept looking at me expectantly, for confirmation. "Maybe that's why you act like that all the time."

I gave him a look. "At like what?" I said snippily. I know he wasn't going to start insulting me now.

"Sarcastic. I don't know. Rambley?" He threw up his hands with a confused look on his face. "At first it seemed like you didn't take anything seriously that you just joked about everything. That you just went with everything around you. That nothing hurt you." He looked up at me now with those blue-green angelic eyes. "But that's not true is it?"

I laughed at him "What are you my therapist?"

He got even closer to me. Something that currently wasn't appreciated. I was starting to get a little pissed. "This is what I'm talking about."

Yep. I was now pissed. "Hello Caleb you and I aren't friends. I sired you or whatever you call it. That's it. No friendship or any other connections. You don't know me so do me a favor and don't pretend like you do."

"Fine push everyone away except your demon friends because they are the only people that could possibly be worse then you."

I know he didn't go there. I know he so didn't go there. "My friends are all supernatural not just to make myself feel better you jackass." I glared at him and quickly blinked back the tears in my eyes. "I had human friends. In fact I had tons of them, but after changing schools four the fourth fucking time I decided that part of my life was over.

"It wasn't fair of me to be that selfish. I was endangering other people just so that I wasn't lonely. Just to make myself feel normal. I can't afford to hurt other people like that. I was almost arrested because my friend found a scythe in my locker and reported it. Thank God Damon foresaw that coming and removed it before anyone else saw it."

"I didn't choose not to have any human friends. I can't afford to have any. I endanger myself and everyone around me. Besides I'm not pushing a human away I'm pushing a vampire. A blood sucking demon."

He looked at me surprised before he became furious. "Do you think I don't know what I am now! It's all your God damn fault. I wouldn't have been like this if you would have just reaped me where I was killed, where I was suppose to die!" he screamed at me.

"I wasn't going to just reap you as I watched them screw up your body beyond recognition!" I screamed right back.

I began to pace slightly. "I'll admit it. I am a selfish person and couldn't stand the idea of watching that happen. Even if you were dead it wasn't fair to you. So yes I took you home even though I wasn't suppose to and I killed a man that wasn't suppose to die when I was there. Killed him. Not reaped them, but killed them. I'm a murderer all because I couldn't stand to look at some thugs cut up a boys face."

Tears were now streaming down my face. The real reason why I was so upset. Not because of I had created a vampire. Not because Damon was using me. Not because I was going to see my father much too soon. It was because I had killed someone. Yes, he might have been a bad person, but it wasn't my job to kill the living and I had done it. I had his blood on my hands for the rest of eternity.

Caleb's face changed to one of understanding and concern. "I'm sorry," he whispered. I was surprised when he took another step forward and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm so sorry Kaya."

I was surprised by being held by another person. He was a vampire. You could definitely tell by the cool feel of his skin and how it didn't give away in the same way a humans does. He didn't breathe. I couldn't feel his heart beat as my head was pressed against his chest. He was for all logical reasons dead. Despite all these things I had never felt anymore comfortable standing here in this persons arms.

And that was concerning. Concerning enough that after a few moments I took a few steps back. After a few minutes because I like it too much to move away. Because I was selfish. "Thanks I think I needed that," I said with a slight smile. A fake smile nonetheless.

He gave me a smile in return. "I think I needed that too." His smile turned sheepish. "I didn't mean to get angry when I came in,sorry about that too. I understand what I am now and there isn't anything I can do about it so what's the point of getting angry?"

I turned to the sink and continued to wash my art supplies. "It's okay to get angry. I have been doing that for the past eight years and you saw how I snapped yesterday." I paid special attention to get all the paint out of the brushes I had used. "Besides if you lost it like I had yesterday you could end up sucking my throat out which wouldn't be beneficial."

He looked at me oddly. "I don't think I could." He paused for a moment. "Hurt you I mean."

I picked up the things from then sink and began putting them where they belonged. "What do you mean," I said wondering what the odd tone of his voice was about. I couldn't hear him behind me but I knew he was following me around the room.

"You mean you don't feel it?" he asked in a whispered tone as if he were about to tell me the greatest secret.

I turned after setting the things down in their proper places. I headed towards the doors that led to my room. "Feel what?" I whispered back having this strange feeling that these things should be said in low tones and should only be spoken of in the dead of night. This is what lack of sleep does to you. I knew I should have tried to go to sleep after I woke up last night. Too late to change the past though.

He followed me into the room. I sat on the bed and instead of sitting in the many chairs and couches couches provided he sat right next to me. I gave him a look that said I have a personal space bubble which he chose to ignore. So he has no concept of personal space fantastic. I found that I didn't mind too much though.

"I like this room better than your old one."

I rolled my eyes as I watched his eyes roam about the room. "Glad you approve," I muttered sarcastically.

"It's a lot less gloomy," he continued his awkward stance mirroring the tone of his words. It was strange that I found his nosiness, no sense of personal spacial boundaries, and all together awkwardness kind of cute. It was like he had been kept underground for millions of years and didn't understand how society worked anymore... Except he made it look cool. In a completely messed up way. God my head hurt.

"Yeah I like it better too. The old room was one of my mom's weird way's of punishing me."

"Like the collar around you neck?"

I glanced up at him sharply. He had gotten up from the bed and was now inspecting the video games I had received. He didn't seem to realize that wasn't the best question to ask. "No... She got me this to chain me to humanity."

He looked up at me sharply. "Chain you to humanity?" He shook his head and now moved to my brand new manga collection. "That doesn't even make sense. What is this anyway? A picture book," he said holding up one of the books and began trying to reading scrunching up his face in a adorable way when things didn't make complete sense.

I sighed. "It's manga." At his clueless look I continued. I tried to explain to him in a way he would understand. "It's like a japanese comic book. Your read it backwards by the way."

He muttered something about it being stupid and impossible to understand which I laughed at. He came back over to the bed. "So. The collar," he prodded.

"It does make sense if you were as crazy as her when she bought it. It was directly after my first reaping which she was partly present for. Also the day I learned that I wasn't completely human. She wanted me to remember my humanity. A week later she told me to forget about it and take it off, but I didn't want to because there was always that possibility... Forgetting myself and I didn't want that, I don't ever want that."

"Your not a demon at all Kaya. I don't think someone like you could ever forget themselves. I have met humans so much worse than you. In comparison your an angel." He shuddered and his eyes got a glazed over look.

Which reminded me of the conditioned I had found him in. Dead. Not just dead but murdered. "Why did you get killed?" I asked softly.

He shuddered again. "I didn't pay," he whispered.

I looked at the terrified look in his eyes. "You didn't pay what? For drugs?"

At least that snapped him out of looking completely terrified, but it did turn into horrified. "No I would never waste any of my money I had on drugs."

He didn't offer anymore then that. "Then what?" I said softly.

"I got some money from a loan shark..." He paused uncomfortably. "I kept putting off giving him the money back because I wasn't making nearly enough to pay back all of the debt in the time frame that he had gave me." He swallowed uneasily and began to nervously play with his hands. "I missed the deadline too many times and well he got sick of me and thought it would be better to just..." He look up at me.

"Where did you get those scars from," I whispered. Remembering those scars that had been across his chest.

He eyes moved around restlessly. I think he would have been sweating bullets if he was human. "Those were the warnings I had gotten from the first few deadlines I had missed," he whispered.

Life really wasn't fair sometimes. "Oh," I whispered not being able to think of anything else to say about that.

"Yeah you probably think I'm stupid I mean who takes money from those guys anyways. It is always bad news but I really needed the money for food and stuff. I was half starved and when the guy made the offer I didn't hesitate."

"People are put into situations that they sometimes can't help." Loan shark wouldn't have been my first option though. I looked up at him anger suddenly in my eyes. "Where were your parents anyways?"

"My mom died from lung cancer. I have no other living relatives that I know of since I don't who my father is. I didn't want to live at some random orphanage waiting everyday just hoping that somehow my father would come and get me. So I ran away after my mom died," he said it as if he was trying to convince himself of his decisions. It was obviously something he thought of a lot.

"I wish I didn't know who my father was," I muttered.

He shrugged. "Maybe I would wish that too after I met him. But I guess I will never know. And in some ways not knowing anything is worse than knowing even if the truth is horrible."

This subject was just making me depressed. I felt incredibly bad for Caleb now. He didn't deserve anything that happened to him and now I have turned him into a bloodsucking creature forever. He should hate me. He had every right to be angry with me. Right now he could be in Heaven with his mother, but for the time being I took that away from him.

This subject needed to be changed quickly before I started bawling. "You mentioned something about being able to sense," I trailed off unsure how to phrase it.

He took the change of subject gratefully. "Can you sense me when I'm around?"

"Can I sense you?" I questioned.

"Yeah like do you know that I'm there without seeing me."

I thought about that for a minute. "Not while I was painting. Which was probably because I never pay attention to anything while I'm painting, but afterwards I could tell you were following me around."

"Can you sense my location?"

"What do you mean?"

He ran his hands through his hair. "Like when I'm downstairs do you know I'm down there."

He was giving me a hopeful look. "No," I stated honestly. "I haven't. But I haven't tried doing it either."

"I don't have to try," he muttered glumly almost causing me to laugh.

I shrugged trying to say this in a way that wouldn't make him all depressed and everything. "It could be because I'm a half demon it makes some of my powers act differently. Like I didn't know I could control you like that until after I did. Now that I have I'm more aware of it and could probably do it again if I needed to."

He shrunk away from me. "Please don't"

I laughed. "Don't worry I wont Caleb."

"No seriously Kaya if you need me to do something all you need to do is ask. Just don't do that again because that really hurt my head and if I was fighting normally I wouldn't have went at him in such a dumb way. I was just asking to get beat up before."

I laughed for real now. "Don't worry I will remember that. So what other things can you sense about me."

"Well as you might have assumed I can sense wherever you are which I find kind of strange. I can also sense some of your feelings."

"My feelings?" I squeaked out.

"Don't worry it's only when your upset. Which you have been ever since you've met me..." He awkwardly put his hands through his hair this time. "Which is why I don't think I could hurt you because... I would just be hurting myself. And besides there is just an altogether wrongness about even mentioning it. I think some kind out magic would prevent me from doing so. Well at least not without a lot of almost unbearable pain."

"Wow... This just seems to be getting better and better."

He shook his head kind of violently. Well violent enough that I was afraid his head would fall off. "No it is really weird but- Well it's really strange to feel emotions other than your own constantly and to be constantly aware of someone's presence is also strange..." He trailed off as he tried to remember what point he was trying to make again. "But! It isn't all bad though."

"It isn't?" I said doubtfully. I prided myself in pretending to be normal I couldn't pretend to be normal if someone who was constantly beside me always knew I was completely miserable.

"Without it I wouldn't have known that... What's the crazy blondes name again?"

"Ashley," I said coldly. I think she had purposefully ripped my hair out yesterday. Plus every minute she could she mentioned Damon and his oh so fucking hotness. I hated her and Damon for being with such a dip shit. Damon... For whatever reason I felt guilty thinking of him right now.

"Ashley..." he seemed scared when he mentioned her name.

"Well it's good to know that a perfect body isn't all it takes," I muttered.

He turned towards me suddenly. "Your just as she pretty is," he blurted before blushing profusely. "I mean..."

Wow... When I thought he couldn't get more awkward he blurted random stuff like this out. Not that it wasn't flattering. Which it wasn't since I was pretty sure he was just saying that because he felt sorry for me.

"Stop feeling self pity and doubting yourself," he muttered drawing my attention. "Because I want to make this clear I can feel it too whether I want to or not. I meant what I said anyways you have to be one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen."

Now I was the one blushing like crazy staring into honest blue-green eyes. It wasn't that I was ugly. I guess I could consider myself as being pretty. But with all the strange and completely different features I had it was hard to imagine myself as being seen as beautiful through other people's eyes.

Add on to the fact that I'm around Damon and Avril all the time. My self esteem took constant hits. Avril was smoking hot and always pointed out why I wasn't...Jokingly... Maybe. Damon always made various comments about my personality. Which if he doesn't like it so much then why the hell doesn't he leave me alone?! Just drop the subject Kaya.

"Thanks I guess,," I muttered. On the inside I actually felt kind of... Happy.

He suddenly seemed extremely eager and excited. Maybe he could sense my ill feelings going away. "Really Kaya," he said once again invading on my personal space. "You have the most beautiful eyes in all the different planes, realms, whatever you call them."

My "most beautiful eyes" widened before I covered them with my hands. "Will you stop it," I mumbled. But I really didn't want him to stop complimenting me. No actually I think it did. Guilt... I felt guilty like I was doing something incredibly wrong.

"No," he whispered seeming even closer then very. He pulled my hands away from eyes. "Not until you believe every word I say and are truly happy." I looked into

blue-green eyes with brown specks and thought that they were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.

For a half a second. I thought I was going kiss him. Kiss a boy that I had known for only a day or so. Um no... But it didn't really feel like that because by siring him we did have a connection. The connection made me feel like I had known him much longer than that. Those thoughts were the ones that almost let me kiss a complete stranger.

Even so that almost isn't the same thing as doing. It went against every bit of my personality to kiss someone because of a magical connection. So I backed away putting a little space between us. I ignored the hurt I saw in his eyes as I did so.

I cleared my throat. "You were talking about Ashley?"

"Yeah..." He looked away from me. "I could sense your panic and knew something was wrong. That's why we were up here so fast. You would have probably killed her otherwise." The childish enthusiasm that had previously been in his voice was gone leaving a unemotional tone that I didn't like at all. I knew it was all my fault but did he really expect me to do something like that? Just kiss him?

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable," he muttered.

If? If he knew my negative emotions so well then he already knew he had. "It's fine Caleb I don't mind that much."

We just sat there awkwardly not sure as to what to say.

"So-"

"Well-"

"Wow aren't you two quite the pair," said Avril. I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't know how to deal with boys let alone undead ones.

"Shut up Avril," I said but not really meaning it at all.

She walked up and grabbed my arm and began to drag me out of the room not even saying anything at all.

"Hey! Where are you taking me? I really wish you would stop doing this!" I yelled at her. I do not like being dragged.

"To my room so that we can have some girl talk."

I was automatically quiet as all color drained from my face. This was worse than any reaping I would ever have to face. The demons stuck in Hell should feel sorry for me now

I would like to thank *drum roll* Colvers'n Hearts, TheEmoChick, Camereon. , Luna Priestess, jordanjamison12, evilein, Crescent3Sorrow, and .Faye for following and adding this story to your favorites.

Now for my favorite part of the hour, reviews!

TheEmoChick: Reactions like yours reminds me why I love writing ^_^ Sorry I didn't update as soon as I would have liked but I hope you have enjoyed this chapter.

Lazy-Teenage Syndrome: Oh no _ she is definitely not twelve years old that was a flashback to about four or three years ago. That's also why the dynamic of their relationship is different in the last chapter than what it usually is. She is actually in her late teens as is said in the first few chapters. Thanks for the review!

FangFreakingBleah: Yes sorry for so much time between updates! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always thanks for the review.

Starlight Crystal 9: Hello again, sorry for the long wait. I always love suggestions and will take them to consideration! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and thanks for the review.