OMG! The next part of the Vampair series is finally out(and around Halloween too, one of the most wonderful times of the year!), and now I can finally get on with the next chapter beasties!(On another note, you all are fabulous! 7.7k reads? Where did the time go?) Anyway, here's the new chapter, hope you enjoy!! And sorry if it's a little short due to the length of the aforementioned video, but I hope you beasties love it anyway!

(Bonus note: I re-wrote a lot of this chapter, mainly because I felt like I could have done this a whole lot better than I did before, and I feel I could have handled your's and Duke's first moments together better.... anyway, hope you guys still enjoy!)

You and Duke sat there for a moment in shock before you opened your mouth still in partial disbelief of what had just happened. "Oh my god, my best friend just fucking kicked me out." She had done it, just like that, throwing you through doors, taunting you the whole way, and worst of all....

There wasn't any remorse or any sort of human emotion while she did it, showing no sign of the girl you had grown up with, gone to see Phantom of the Opera with in 8th grade, the girl who had promised that the two of you would be friends forever. That girl was completely gone now, nothing more than rose-tinted memories, a handful of mementos, and more than a share of empty promises. Your friendship was also part of the past now, nothing more than a final reminder of your mortal life that had been so unceremoniously snatched away from you....so why the hell didn't you seem to know how to feel about all of this?

As for the girl who remained..... She was nothing more than a traitorous, self -serving, pitiless....... A evil....Whether it was                       Really, you were still attempting to                  She couldn't have              right? This was just a dream,                 you were going to wake up any minute now       Any minute now, 

No wait, you knew what Missi was, she was nothing but.....

 An utter fucking bitch! God! HOW COULD SHE? Some friend she was....... Well, you were defiantly not going to consider HER a friend anymore. Best friend? Ha! More like former friend, because from now on you 

You felt Duke's eyes on you as he stood up, dusting off his torn clothes. 

"So, dollface, great job back there! I can tell you really showed her what for.... " The sarcasm practically oozed out of every syllable. "Tell me doll, was getting us humiliated through song and dance part of the plan? Because if so, you're doing amazing."

What. The. Fuck.

Anger flared in your chest, and you gritted your teeth. The stubborn, difficult girl you had been in your mortal life was back, and she was raring to go. After all of the bullshit you'd just gone through, the bastard had the nerve to insult you like that....... Guess his stint in the Underworld had done nothing to improve his horrible personality, that was for certain.

And you certainly weren't going to take any of his shit lying down, or rather, sitting down, in your case.

 You climbed to your feet, and faced Duke. "Well excuse me if I didn't know! And you didn't have to be such a dick to me when I resurrected you. A simple thank-you would have sufficed."

Duke looked shocked, and he muttered to himself, sounding not pleased at all. "She wants me to thank her? That's a laugh. Crazy bitch...." Okay, insults? Seriously? Did he really think that you wouldn't be able to hear him demeaning you with your supernaturally enhanced hearing?

Honesly, it was one of your favorite perks of being a vampire, and since this guy had turned you into a member of the undead in the first place, he should have remembered that little tidbit of information.

What a dumbass. 

 With your sweetest, most simpering smile, and your most innocent tones, you replied: "What was that you said?" Go on, let him say it to your face. You were practically daring him at this point to utter those words aloud, to grace you with his oh-so clever witticisms about your sanity....

Taken aback, Duke looked genuinely surprised for a moment, before hatred darkened his features once more....

He narrowed his red eyes at you and the two of you glared at each other for what seemed like an eon, just daring one another to look away, to break this little double glare of hate that you had going on, before Duke sighed and broke his gaze, looking elsewhere for the present moment.

"What's the use, this isn't going to get me back into my castle." He looked a bit down for a moment, and that made you begin to feel something inside. It was a feeling so troubling, so unlike yourself,

Then the thought came over you. Almost instantly, you mentally stifled a primal scream once you realized just what exactly it was you were feeling. No way, no way, it couldn't be, it just couldn't be......

Was this..... sympathy? Why in the hell would you be feeling something like that about..... him?

GOD!

Were you actually feeling bad for Duke? No, you couldn't be, you tried to convince yourself, he's the whole reason you and Missi were now stuck as you were, you shouldn't be feeling bad for him! He ruined your life, turned you into a vampire, chased you through his castle for hours, tried to force himself upon your former friend........ Really, the list went on! He was such a low-down, overly smarmy, scum of the earth, perverted bastard of a man, the type of person who deserved no positive feelings from you whatsoever, 

And sure, you were in a similar position, having gone through almost all of the torments Missi had put you through, battered and bruised, humiliated, and so unceremoniously thrown out of the castle like so much refuse...... But feel bad? For HIM? Why the hell would you   

There must be something seriously wrong with you for you to be actually feeling some degree of.... sympathy for this bastard. Ugh. Honestly, 

Well, you assured yourself, this would be the first and only time you'd ever feel something other than utter revision towards the vampire. 

Never the less, you opened your mouth to say something, but then Duke lifted his hand to push you, looking back towards the castle. Seriously? What was wrong with this man? You were trying to loathe him here, so he should at least have a molecule of common courtesy to acknowledge you when you when you were despising him...........

Your eyes widened in anger, and you were about to unleash a barrage of curse words, words that were known to make people's toes curl in their boots at the utter obscenity of them,  when you noticed what Duke was staring at.

Oh.  Well, that was certainty..... interesting. To say the least.

Duke didn't seem to believe it either. "Are you serious?" Missi was sitting in a large, black and red chair, reading a book in front of a roaring fire, with her cat sleeping at her side. There was a huge grin on her face as she turned the pages. Duke turned and stalked  towards the window, and you couldn't help but feel the rage was over you like a cold wave. This, even though you'd been battered an bruised, humiliated, utterly subjugated to your former friend, isolated, and turned into a vampire against your will, really put the bitterness cherry on top of the hatred sundae. How could she just be..... enjoying herself like that, like she hadn't completely and utterly disgraced you, locked you outside with this bastard....

Really, if this was any other night, you'd have had to laugh. Honestly, this whole situation was too ridiculous, too uncanny for your liking.

Missi was just.... just..... reading, in front of a roaring fire, curling up in a comfortable chair, acting as if this was just another cozy fall night, as if she hadn't just unleashed all of the supernatural forces at her disposal upon you, as if everything was all fine and dandy, just smiling to herself as she flipped through the pages of her novel.....

And god, how that boiled your blood.

Well, what did you expect? For her to be dressed in sackcloth and ashes? This is new Missi we're talking about here....

Your friend seemed to be clearly pleased with herself, and she was enjoying a warm fire, and a good book right now, while you were bruised and battered, thrown out of the place you had inhabited for the past several years, and now you were probably stuck with the very vampire who had turned you into one of his kind, you thought miserably as you glanced down at your town and tattered dark blue dress and tried to smooth back your messed up f/c hair. Quite simply put: you looked like you had been through hell and back, 

Sheesh, the rain certainty hadn't aided in making you less bedraggled. Your hair was almost  completely broken free of its series of loops and braids, looking more witchy than anything, the hem of your gown was practically torn clean off, 

And yowch, you probably had at least a few king-sized splinters lodged inside your knuckles from all of those doors that folded like paper under your weight, to compliment the array of bruises that'd be blooming along your pale skin probably by the same time tomorrow night.....

Duke on the other hand, glared at Missi, a look of utter concept spreading across his face. "Stupid bitch, enjoying my castle, sitting in front of my fire....." His crimson eyes glowed an         Sure, 

The anger, the utter hatred for your former friend was so obvious, so clearly written upon his features,                        

You bitch

You hurt me

Whirling around, 

 You sighed, and then followed, because you figured it might be better than just standing there in the cold night air all alone. You'd had enough of being lonely for....well, a lifetime really, after six months of           Sure,             It'd be better than standing around like an idiot 

And besides, you were 

And now I can never forgive you

He leaned against the window, pressing his hands against it, as he glowered at Missi. Missi took a sip of her blood wine, and then acknowledging Duke, gave him a little wave and a little evil smile,

You bitch

You eventually caught up to Duke, and after narrowly bumping into him, you backed off and something caught you eye in the other window.                            With a              Sure,

How long exactly had she been spying on you? It couldn't have been since you'd started helping her with the resurrection process, it had to be longer, long before she even picked up that tome of dark magic..... After you'd been turned into a vampire yourself? When you first noticed that Missi was holding lengthy conversations with herself? 

And that was YOUR novel the one you adored above all the rest of the books that overflowed your bedroom shelves, one of the first stories you ever felt emotionally attached to, the story where you could practically recall the tale of Feyre and Rhysand and Tamlin by heart.....and now Missi had just apparently gone and claimed it for her own, 

Missi must have know that it'd 

You felt your fists clench at your side as you seethed in anger. Missi noted your expression, merely smiled, and then continued reading. At least she was extending some common courtesy your way, which was of course, none.

Well fine! See if you cared?

There were a million actions you could have done, screamed obscenities, smashed your fist into the window, begged and pleaded, done something, anything to show that Missi that she was wrong to have thrown you out, that you weren't as pitiful as she clearly assumed you were, just anything, anything at all really.....

Instead, you merely chose to flip her an incredibly rude gesture, much like a petulant child.

Missi remained unflapped, seemingly trying to stifle a laugh at your childish antics, one pallid hand going in front of her mouth to 

Honestly, what was the point? You with all of your newly acquired magical skill, your stubbornness, your bravado ...... Missi had proved to be far superior to you, in every imaginable way. What was the point of even fighting it anymore?

All you were was nothing but a useless, friendless little nobody, a person who deserved no better than to be alone with her memories.......

You bitch

Duke turned away from the window, and began to walk off. Okay, seriously? Not everybody possessed such lanky, noodle-like limbs, so how in the hell did he expect you to even match his pace, let alone actually keep up with his strides.....

You hurt me

Just then, a gust of wind blew a piece of paper into Duke's face. A small, petty part of yourself thrilled at this, making your lips go up in the barest rictus of a smile. At this point, you were 

Good. Maybe he'd get a paper cut over his stupid smirk and die from the infection....Or better yet, maybe           Hey, a girl could dream.....And sure, you were likely only being             (and oh boy, you definitely could imagine a whole lot worse)

But something, something on the poster, apparently caught his attention, giving how intently he was gazing upon the paper, piqued your curiosity.

"Hey, what's that? It looks like a poster for something." You asked, suddenly curious. True, it might have been purely out of the fact that you    Hey, even if it was an advertisement for a freelance vampire hunter-with the kind of luck you'd been having, you wouldn't be surprised-, at least it wouldn't involve your luck turning any worse, would it?

Huh? A dance poster? How the heck had a poster for some silly dance made its way to this isolated place? Then again, it was a little windy tonight.....

The paper simply read: Playing near you, The Showdown

It was clearly a poster for something, maybe a dance competition..... Yeah, that was it. You'd seen posters like this before, usually at the rec center, or advertising some sort of big dance event....But somehow 

At least the picture took your mind off your troubles for a moment. It was a simple illustration, a couple in shadow, he in an elegant suit and tie, she in a flouncy looking gown and string  of pearls, the woman dipped back in a graceful arc, her gentleman sweeping her off her feet, their faces barely an inch away from one another; as if suggesting a potential kiss on the horizon....

Duke stroked his chin, clearly thinking deeply about something. "Hmm...." He was clearly plotting something, but what exactly?

Then, his eyes lit up, and he did a slow, evil smile, one that creeped the heck out of you. It was a stark reminder of the grin you'd seen on that fateful evening, purely malicious, purely predatory in nature.....

The grin of a true villian.

"That bitch better watch out....."

Well my beasties, I'm done another chapter! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and the new video(Daria Cohen says the next part will be coming out sooner than you think....)! And in case you beasties were wondering why there isn't any romance stuff yet?

Romance takes time. You and Duke will have to get to trust each other and all that before we can dive into the real good stuff.(One thing about me, I like slow-burning romances. So expect a lot of that in the future!)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll hopefully see you beasties soon!