The fish were swimming in the deep part of the stream, Olive stood in the cold water with her dress hitched into her underwear to not get the skirt wet. The water was cold as she waited patiently for the fish to become used to her and the net that was floating around her legs. They would swim around her like they knew, darting past her fast so she could not catch them. Olive frowned at them, she had to get a fish for her father's dinner or he would become angry. He was always angry because of the alcohol but if Olive didn't do things right, he was worse. And if she came home wet, all hell would break loose. She had contemplated taking the dress off and wading in her underwear but she was far too shy to do that. Another fish darted past her and Olive could hear someone laughing. Someone male. She turned to the young man leaning on the tree, a big grin slapped across his face as he watched her with mirth. Olive gaped at the stunning creature before her. He was like no other man she had ever seen, his jeans were tight to his body, the shirt showed off far too many muscles. His chocolate brown hair was a little shaggy, sitting a little too long at the back. He was gorgeous.

'You look like you need help.' he said smugly.

'Offering are we, smart arse?'

'Now if I were to come in and help you, I would get my pants wet. I suppose I could take them off.'

Olive ignored him, turning back to the stream. A fish waded past her, she scooped it up with her net.

'Thank the stars.' she muttered.

Now she wasn't going to get yelled at or beaten. Carefully she trudged out of the water and onto the slippery grass, the fish in the net was wriggling, determined to break free. The handsome young man wandered over to her and held out his hand to help her over the wet grass. Olive paused for a moment as she looked upon the offering, wondering why he was being so generous. She took the hand and stepped through the long grass. When she was on suitably dry land she let go of the warm hand and the soft skin, already missing the tender touch.

'Thanks.' she murmured.

Olive collected her shoes and set out for the path, following the grassed edge that was softer on her feet than the stony dirt path. 

'Is that your dinner, fair maiden?'

Olive squinted at the man that had started to follow her, wondering what century he was from.

'No, it's for my father.'

'And what of your dinner?' he frowned slightly.

Olive shrugged. 'If he doesn't eat it all, I can have his leftovers.'

'Why not catch two fish?'

He looked at her as she gazed to the ground sadly.

'He would eat both of them, wouldn't he?'

Olive nodded, quietly turning back to the dirt path. He watched the young woman dejectedly wander down the path.

After he had done with his meal, Olive's father left the little shack that was their house and set out for the local tavern. There he would spend the rest of the night drinking away what little money they had. He had left very little flesh on the fish for her, she sat at the table picking at the scraps. It was a tiny shack of a place, one large open area that contained the kitchen, dining table and a tired lounge. Her bed was a mattress on a rickety mezzanine floor that she had to climb a ladder to get to. Her father of course had the luxury of the only bedroom in the place. But that was where the luxuries stopped, he had a mattress on the floor too. Olive did her best to keep everything clean but it was hard when she didn't have any soaps or detergents to clean with. She sat at the tiny table looking at the fish head, she hated how her father insisted his meals were cooked. Olive preferred to fillet the fish rather than looking at the murky eye of a dead fish.

A tap at the window frightened the life out of her, when she looked up she saw the man from the stream. With a big cheesy grin he held up a fish, asking her to open the door. She was hesitant to let him in, she didn't know him. There was no one here to protect her if something bad happened. Not that her father would be of any help, he'd probably laugh his drunk arse off if he hadn't passed out already.

'I promise I won't hurt you.' he called from the other side of the dirty glass 'I brought other things, I can make you something better than fish bones.'

Olive looked down at the carcass on the tired metal plate. Anything that had been of value had been sold, gone was the pretty plates that her mother had bought and in was the bits and pieces that her father had found at the dump. Everything in their house was mismatched, broken, dirty and had cost nothing. He had sold everything, found free things and then used the sale money to get drunk. Olive looked at the plate dejectedly as she toyed with its edge, she thought her life couldn't get any worse. Then her stomach growled, she was hungry. With one very big defeated sigh, she got up from the table and opened the door.

'You aren't going to hurt me or rob me?'

'No.' he grinned.

'Good, because we don't have anything valuable. He's sold it already for booze money.'

She let him pass, his arms full of vegetables. The smell of dirt lingered as he passed her, he must have pinched them from the farm at the end of the road.

'I'm Olive.'

Her fingers glided over the end of the bench as she watched him wash the vegetables.

'Phabel.' he grinned at her.

She could have swooned, it was that perfect. His eyes were like nothing she had ever seen before, and odd blue with a darker ring around the exterior of the iris. Olive thought they were the prettiest eyes she had ever seen. 

'Why are you doing this?'

He shrugged and started to chop the potatoes.

Phabel had suggested that they share the very large fish meal under the stars. It was a glorious night, the weather was warm, the stars were out and there wasn't a single bug biting. Olive had dragged down her old bed cover to lie on, throwing it over the tiny grass patch in the back yard. To Olive, this was a perfect meal. He had prepared the fish into nice edible pieces, cooked them with a few fresh ingredients. There were no murky eyes staring up at her, no bones to be wary of, just one perfect piece of fish. The lemon tingled in her mouth as she poured more over her plate, it's tartness was exhilarating. Barely there flesh and lemon had never really done it for Olive, but Phabel's creating of a chunky piece of fish was amazing. She felt like gorging on it, ensuring that she might not have to eat for several days. 

By the time they had finished, Olive felt like she was going to burst. She had never eat that much food in a very long time. Thinking too hard about it, she realised it was just before her mother died. That was several years ago. Phabel reclined back onto the cover, pulling Olive with him. She didn't know why but she nestled against him, her head resting on his chest as they looked up at the stars. Phabel recited every single constellation in the sky, Olive thought they were stars and had never thought that they were anything more. It was sad, she was pulled out of school the day her mother died, her father telling her that she was now responsible for maintaining the house and ensuring his meals were prepared on time. There was no time in the day for schooling.

Crickets chirped, frogs croaked their sweet sounds filling the air with their melodious callings. Olive thought that she could spend the entire night like this, wishing that it would never end. One perfect night at the hands of a man she barely knew. Was he a man? He looked far too young to be anything past his mid twenties, she quietly prayed that he was closer to her age. Maybe he was eighteen, that would be almost perfect. She sat up and looked at him, curiosity was getting the better of her.

'How old are you?'

Phabel sat up, leaning back on his arms.

'Too old for you, aui leabu.'

'What?' she crinkled her nose.

'My angel.'

'Oh.' she moved closer 'Seriously Phabel, how old are you?'

'Thirty.' he lied.

Olive nodded sadly, noting he looked incredibly young. He leaned closer, his fingers trailing the soft skin along her jaw on one side, on the other he leaned to her ear.

'Does age really mean so much to you?'

As he looked into her eyes, she gently shook her head. The world slowed as they sat there, delving deep into each others gaze. Slowly he kissed her, gently taking time to ease her into what was a perfect kiss. Their lips pressed together, teasing and tempting each other with the movement. Phabel pulled her onto his lap, lifting her arms around his shoulders. Her fingers wrapped themselves into the hair on the back of his head, urging him deeper into their kiss. Olive relaxed into his embrace, feeling the warmth of his body beneath the thin shirt. His hands were on her back as he pressed her hard against his chest, wishing this would never end. But it had to otherwise she would pass out from a lack of oxygen. As he slowly broke their connection, her head tipped back slightly. He trailed kisses over the perfect pink skin of her neck.

'I have something for you.' he whispered as he quietly detected the smell of the blood pumping through her veins.

His kind did not need human blood to survive but that wasn't to say that he would say no if it were offered. Shifters had kept their blood lust to a minimum knowing that in their new realm there would be no humans. Unlike Phabel who chose to remain in this realm, therefore he did not need to wean himself off their blood. Olive was a delicate creature, one wrong move and he could tear one very large gash in her skin. No, he wouldn't taste her, he didn't want to hurt her. When Olive lifted her head she saw uncertainty lingering on Phabel's face, he looked to her with a soft smile and lifted a necklace into the air in front of her. Olive stared with wonder at the tiny glowing stone. It was a brilliant gold circle that shimmered in the moons light.

'It's beautiful but I can't accept it, if my father sees it he will take it from me and sell it.'

Phabel undid the clasp and wrapped it around her neck, his fingers trailing through her soft hair after he did the clasp up.

'He will not see this pretty trinket aui leabu.'

A tear slipped from Olive's eye as she wandered to her next class, remembering the day she had met Phabel and the night she had fallen in love with him. She wondered if she were to wear the necklace would it jog his memory of her? It pained her to even think about it. The memories of that night and the morning after had to be swept away otherwise she would become a blubbering mess. Olive wiped the tear and merged into the crowd of students that were slowly returning to the building. She walked through the corridor as she passed the junction that led to offices, her arm was tugged down the darkened path. It was a blur as she was pulled into an empty office, the door closing before she even knew where she was. Danika stood before her, she wasn't the usual cheery self, she was more concerned if anything.

'You saw.' she whispered warily.

Olive nodded.

'I promise I won't say anything, I saw the men and worried they were going to attack you, that's the only reason I followed.'

'I know Olive.'

'Professor Deltrith saw as well.' she frowned 'Is he a vampire too?'

Danika grinned as she leaned on the nearby desk.

'No he is not a vampire. You still seem very uneasy Olive, why?'

'I thought you had dragged me in here to kill me.'

'Vampires do not hunt any more, you know this. We use the bagged blood.'

She wordlessly nodded as her feet shuffled over the linoleum.

'So you're um, queen, right?'

'I am.'

'Cuz you don't dress like one.'

'Why change who I am? Lucian fell in love with this me, not some pompous clothes horse.'

Danika casually glanced at her watch and then gasped.

'Jeepers, we're late.'

She grabbed Olive's hand and dragged her through the door and the corridors, now rather void of people. Danika flung the door open as dozens of eyes swung around to them. She dreaded the thought that this particular professor would catch them being late. He was a dragon if her memory served her correctly. Her eyes darted to the front of the room, there was no one there. Danika breathed a sigh of relief as she began to close the door after Olive entered.

'Miss Smith, Miss Matheson are we late for a reason?'

Danika spun around and stared at Phabel wondering why he was in Professor Ronson's law class.

'Got lost.' she murmured.

'I find that hard to believe.' he said softly. 'My office after class, both of you.'

He walked down the centre aisle, Danika frowned as she thought, he was teaching this class, why? The two women quickly found their seats and sorted their books.

'I'll deal with him, this is my fault.'

Olive nodded, quietly freaking out at the thought of being in Phabel's office. She wanted to run away, she wanted to get as far away from him as she could. But she couldn't. It had cost her a lot of money to get here, she owed it to herself to continue. Her goal for a better life was within sight and all she had to do was get past her emotions and forget that she loved him.