Chapter Thirteen (First Half) - EJ's POV

Ciel and I were back in at the cliffs, but this time we'd climbed past the entrance to my cavern and up to the top. The stars twinkled on us from far above as we lay on our backs, staring up at the hundreds of sparkling dots in black backdrop. My eyes could pick out more than a human's, so to me the sky shone despite the ambient light. As the girl beside me let out a sigh, I turned my head to face her. She was clearly illuminated despite the night, and those impossibly brilliant indigo eyes bored into my own.

"EJ..." she whispered, rolling over onto her side and propping up her head with one arm. With just the barest amount of hesitation, her fingers skimmed the side of my cheek. "Ma (Trans: My) petite feuille. How could I have fallen in love so fast?"

My heart stopped, stuttered, and picked back up to beat even faster than normal. "You love me?"

"Oui. I could not stop myself no matter how hard I tried, and I tried very hard to do so. While being dwamnien made it even more difficult, getting a glimpse of your soul was what made it impossible." I opened my mouth to speak, but she pressed one finger to keep me quiet. "No, don't say anything - I'm not looking for a declaration."

I took Ciel's hand and kissed the pads of her fingers, pressing it firmly to my chest as I asked, "What does that mean?"

She knew exactly what I was speaking about, and rolled further so that her body was now pressed up against mine. Sliding one leg between my own, she draped herself across my torso so that her face was buried into my neck, mouth hovering right over the raging pulse point. Her breath ran against my skin as she murmured, "Dwamnien is a word from Mapudungun which translates to mean an intense desire."

"Mapudungun is the language of the Mapuche people, right?"

"Yes." Ciel raised her head so that she could gaze upon my face. I hooked my left arm around her waist, moving our hands so that hers lay against my face as I pulled her on top of me. Kissing me once lightly, she moved her palm into my hair as she continued her explanation. "It's a term used to describe the imprinting that happens between the dhampyre species. That's what you and I have between us."

I tested the word myself. "Dwamnien...I like it. What about that other one you used yesterday, rayen?"

"It's literal translation is flower, but it synonymous with blooming or being in bloom. Its a term used to describe the heat that dhampyre females go through as they near maturity."

"You mean like how a dog goes into heat?"

She smiled down at me, amused by my surprise. "Yes. It occurs because our body is reaching the point at which we stop aging, and therefore lose the ability to have children. Rayen is a biological mechanism that works around unrelated dhampyre males to encourage us to copulate and continue our race."

My rakish grin earned me a hard slap on the chest. "Ouch! I was just wondering why I was so...physically attracted to you."

"Don't worry," Ciel assured me as her lips traced my jawline. "I'm not planning on having kids anytime soon. And besides, while this might be my only chance to have my own biological children, there's always adoption."

Still smiling, I slipped my fingers from hers and ran both hands along the ridge of her spine. They slid into her wildly beautiful hair, and I pulled her down to trace her full lips with my tongue. She shuddered, gasping, which gave me the chance to slip into her mouth and kiss her heatedly. We rolled so that her body was under mine, chest-to-chest. Her fingers clung to my shoulders, ripping off my hoodie as our mouths continued to do battle before running down my chest.

"Mon ange, mon ange," I moaned as I buried my face into her neck, inhaling her flowery scent as I nibbled. Suddenly, my back was on the ground as Ciel straddled me. I rested my hands on her hips as she pulled off her sweater, watching with wide eyes as her ample chest heaved in the lacy violet bra she wore. It could not compare to her eyes, dark and filled with passion as she bent down to kiss the skin on my waist where my shirt rode up.

Her mouth carved a burning path upwards to my chest as she removed the garment, and my thumbs slipped into her belt loops to pull her down against me. We both groaned at the sensation, to wild with desire to think as our lips met again. Kissing her hard, I cupped her jean-clad bottom and squeezed, causing her to arch into me and pull my hair even harder as she twisted her fingers through the strands.

We rolled around, each struggling to remove the other's jeans as our mouths remained fused together. Suddenly, as my hand grasped the clasp of her bra, I felt the earth fall away beneath me. My eyes flew open to see the panic on Ciel's face as her arm tightened around my waist and we crashed into the rocks. Disoriented, I looked up to see her other hand gripping the ledge that was now above us, and realized to my chagrin that we had rolled off the cliff.

She heaved me upwards with ease, and I scrambled back onto solid ground while she swung herself up behind me. We both sat there for a moment, hearts thundering, before ours eyes met and we burst into laughter. Looking back at the articles of clothing that lay scattered around, I laughed even harder. "So much for your plan, huh?"

"It would appear I was right - what's under the hoodie is much harder to resist," she teased back, straightening her headband. Only clad in her underwear and boots, Ciel certainly looked like one of those vampiress succubi from the legends. I looked away to calm myself before the rayen took over once more. "Best get dressed petite feuille. I'm not sure how long my endurance can hold with you only wearing boxers."

Eyeing her seductive figure, I cleared my throat and turned around to quickly gather my clothes, arriving back within milliseconds to hand Ciel her pile. "You're pretty tempting yourself, mon ange."

Her grin stole my breath. "I love you."

"I know," I replied as she took the clothes from me. And I'm falling in love with you.

* * *

So, this is the first half of the chapter! The next is due April 17th. Tell me what you think of this super sweet ending! Have any doubts about Ciel? Want to see more Nessie & Jake? Wondering where the school cast is in all of this? Well, you'll see that and more in the next update as well as chapter fourteen! Vote if you enjoyed it, and feel free to drop a comment. Thanks for reading! (:)