A tap on her shoulder drew her eyes to the left, and Rush was standing there with her wallet in his hand. Seeing his flat emerald eyes shouldn't have made her smile, but it did, and she accepted the pink and brown rectangle. It was heavier than she was used to, and when she opened it, there was a lot more money than she remembered ever having.

"Rush..."

"I found it like that." He lied easily with a straight face. "I also found it with a credit card in the rightmost pocket if you ever need for anything else."

"That's a convenient way to find a wallet," Mer said with a sigh, but she was smiling.

"Mer," Paul said, sliding her drink across the counter. "That guy is pretty cute. You keeping him?" Paul leaned on his hand with a smirk, and the black tips of his ponytail tickled the counter. The rest of it was dyed forest green and paired well with the black ink climbing either arm. Paul was half-hipster half-gangster, and way off base on the situation here.

"Mer thinks my chest is unattractive, I'm afraid," Rush said with obviously faked sadness.

He did not just say that.

"Don't say weird things, Rush!" Mer shoved him lightly, forgetting he was a vampire, but instead of remaining a brick wall, he gave under her hands and stumbled back like a normal person would have.

Paul laughed at them, and she turned beet red.

"Don't get too disheartened, Rush, is it? Mer is like that with all men. I was pretty sure she was going to join a nunnery before I saw you with her. Good luck, man. Mer's tough."

Rush smiled. God Rush smiled.

"I hate you, Paul," Mer growled, and he just laughed. "Come on, Rush." She led him to a booth in the corner that was not yet assaulted by sun and sat down. There, she sat and she stared at a cinnamon roll she didn't recall ordering. This coffee shop didn't even sell cinnamon rolls.

"I picked it up from the bakery while you were running," Rush said as he took the seat across from her. "When you smelled it, you seemed hungry. I know it is not the healthiest of sustenance, but I will have a real meal made for you when we return home."

Home. Was that what the castle was now?

"Rush..." It was hard to speak to him, but at least they were out in public. Around a corner wall, Paul couldn't hear them unless she yelled. Rush certainly wasn't going to raise his voice. Anything but his cool, calm timbre might actually tire him.

"Yes, Meredith?" Rush replied patiently but he still used her full name.

"Mer." When she insisted, a small smile crept up his face, and she was struck by it.

Why did this vampire seem to enjoy her presence when she was just waiting for it to jump her and slide its fangs into her? Was she somehow amusing to him, like a rat wandering a maze, or was there something else he enjoyed about her?

"Are you... normally this kind?" Mer tried, not exactly sure how to phrase things to the vampire that owned her.

"No." There was still that small smile on his face that she'd expected to have fallen by now.

"Then why..." Mer felt a stab in her heart when he'd answered, as if this were temporary and he planned to be much more violent and straightforward with what he desired from her.

"You are not the only one surprised you are not dead." It was a cold sentence.

Her lips shook and she set her coffee down, unable to drink it. The vampire had intended to kill her already. So what was this? Boredom or some curiosity before he got back to what he intended for her?

"From the way you communicate with me, you have likely never seen a mage in the same room as a vampire." As he spoke again, she tried to rub the tears away from her eyes.

"I don't understand."

What did he mean by that? Certainly, she hadn't. Before this, she'd never seen anything supernatural save tiny displays of magic from her aunt when she was a toddler.

"You were given to me instead of the vampire who demanded compensation because you were deemed too dangerous. It was expected of me to bathe my dwelling in your blood." The smile had fallen from his face, and she choked back what would have been a sob. "It's not like I intended to torture and rip you apart. We expected a trap and for you to attempt to kill me."

"I don't know how to fight... let alone with a vampire," Mer barely managed under her tears and shaking breath.

"I know that now. I did not realize when I fetched you. I expected you to spit in my face and curse my existence or attempt to destroy me with some spell or other. When you thanked me for carrying you, I was very confused."

"Do people not thank you?" Who wouldn't thank someone for carrying them instead of dragging them through the dirt?

"No, they do not. I don't think I've ever seen a mage thank a vampire. It took me a moment to understand that you were sincere. I almost threw you back on the ground." There was silence from him again.

She took the time to poke her cinnamon roll. It was hard to stomach anything, though she had managed to stop her tears from pouring out of her eyes. One moment it was a whole bun, and the next, there was a piece missing. She jumped her gaze up to find Rush holding a piece of it out to her.

"I'll force feed you," he threatened, cold and emotionless as ever.

She snapped it out of his hand and stuck the end of it into her mouth. As she begrudgingly chewed, he stared at the table with a small smile on his lips again. She swallowed and tried to figure him out.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked with genuine curiosity, taking a sip of her coffee.

"The feel of your breasts against my chest."

Mer spat her coffee all over her cup. As she frantically cleaned it up with a napkin, red from ear to ear, Rush laughed lightly. Rush laughed... She paused to watch as it faded back to a small smile.

"I was joking," he said.

Mer reddened further, embarrassed.

"Did you really want to know?" Rush asked, his smile widening and making his entire form appear less imposing.

She narrowed her eyes and turned away. Not anymore.

"I did," Mer said with a heavy sigh. About to take a sip of her drink, she decided better of it and set it down as Rush moved to speak.

"You are interesting." Damn vampire didn't elaborate.

"How?" Mer humored him, and he shrugged lightly, his smile twitching on his face.

"Well, usually threatening to force feed a mage would have them sputtering curses while fading away in terror. They'd also never take anything from me with the... energy... you snatched that cinnamon roll with. You're... something else."

Those were the words he could come up with? Something else? What did that even mean? Something else like, this would be amusing until he tired of her and killed her, or what?

"You have the adequate amount of fear for my kind, but you don't treat me the same as I'm used to. When you slid your hands into my hair last night, it took me a moment to understand that you were not trying to melt my brain."

Oh... that had not occurred to her.

"You have to understand, I am a battleground general. I'm used to killing your kind, effortlessly, and with little thought about it. Those I fight are trying to kill me, and I've known them to use every ploy in the book. I do not hesitate to kill what I think is threatening me." Rush paused. "I have hesitated in killing you thrice now."

Mer dropped her coffee, but Rush's hand was across the table catching it before she could breathe out, and he set it on the table lightly. With him returned to his normal calm, she couldn't look away from his hardened dark eyes as they beamed the forest into her own.

Three times? This vampire had resisted the urge to kill her three times and had held himself back? For what reason? At any second, he could feel the urge and not resist it. Everything she did was viewed as dangerous to him, but what she did felt normal to her. How could she live her life knowing that every time she touched him, it might be the last she breathed?

"The sun is starting to rise beyond what is comfortable for me," Rush said abruptly, and she looked out the window. People were starting to move about and several had come into the coffee shop and left in the time she'd been sitting with him. "I did not sleep much last night. I am not used to sleeping at night. I spent much of it acquiring your things and the other half trying to figure out why it felt so good to touch you." Despite her reddening, it seemed as if he were genuinely perturbed. "You must understand. Sure, you're a woman, but without shackles, it's like petting a cobra."

That seemed unfair. He was the one who was known for biting.

"I also acquired this for you," Rush slid a book off of his lap and onto the table, and she eyed it nervously. "Hopefully it can adequately entertain you while I sleep. You may remain here if you desire." Rush waited, as if she might say, "Please take me back to your lair".

"What if I run away?" Meredith asked, testing the waters.

"Then I will find you. Less happy than when I left you, but I will all the same." A short pause. "Will you be comfortable if I leave you here?" Mer nodded, touching the book in front of her. It was old and leather bound, but there was no title on the front.

"Is there any way you could take me to my room?" Mer tried and almost dropped her cinnamon roll as she realized she was standing in it. Well, that was faster than she'd anticipated.

"I will return for you at dusk." Rush was about as fast leaving her as he was touching and dropping her off somewhere. His name was starting to sound very apt the more and more she learned about him, and she knew little, except that he had frequent compulsions to kill her and liked the feel of her skin on his.

Neither of those were particularly reassuring.

~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 1839