after finishing with the cows, teren showed me the ranch hand's house that had been empty the last time i'd been here. it was roughly the size of teren's place in the city, but it seemed tiny in comparison to the family home on the hill. it reminded me of a large, log cabin, straight out of little house on the prairie. i could easily picture halina standing on the front steps in a long, old-fashioned dress, watching the sun fade with her husband. as i walked through the doors, i wondered how long the adams had owned this property.

there was a stone fireplace, dormant in the still warm air of summer, in the center of the large living room. two long couches sat along either side of a long coffee table, stacked high with "guy-type" magazines: sports illustrated, time, sport fishing, farm and ranch...no good housekeeping anywhere.

teren indicated a hallway to our right, which led to a kitchen and dining area for the crew, and a hallway on our left, which led to bedrooms. stairs on either side of the living room led up to more guest rooms, which looked out over the vaulted living room. those rooms had a close up view of the heavy timber beams that made up the backbone of the house. i counted the upstairs bedroom doors that i could see over the balcony railing. there were four on either side of the living room. add those to however many were downstairs, and the cabin had a decent amount of rooms. i briefly wondered why they used a separate home for guests, when the main house had two extra buildings, jam-packed full of empty rooms. but then i looked over at teren, remembered our near fanging this afternoon, and decided the vampires just liked their privacy.

thinking about my neck wound, i carefully adjusted my hair over my shoulder as the burly workmen shuffled into their house. no need to tip them off. teren went over to a tall blond and a shorter, graying man. i was about to follow him over there, when i noticed a man around my age with green eyes and a messy head of brown hair winking at me. it caught me off guard. it wasn't that men never flirted with me, i just wasn't expecting it from people who worked for teren's dad.

i walked over to teren and laced my hand with his. he introduced me to the two men he was speaking to, and the green-eyed man immediately turned and left for the hallway to the kitchen. apparently he hadn't realized who i was, and flirting with the boss's son's girlfriend, was a no-no. i smiled to myself as i shook jackson's and christopher's hands.

i was just finishing meeting the rest of the men, and wondering how long green-eyes was going to avoid meeting me, when halina suddenly appeared in the living room. it must have fully darkened while we'd been talking. i was pretty surprised to see her out here, mingling with the humans. i was even more surprised that the humans didn't seem to notice how un-human she was. the men didn't seem to catch the oddness of her skin or the wisdom in her eyes. i was pretty sure they weren't getting past the fabulousness of her body, stuffed into a tight, black skirt, with a blouse that clung to every curve and almost, but not quite, covered all of her toned stomach.

she casually walked up to teren and me. her eyes flicked over my neck, like she could see the wounds through my hair. "enjoy your evening last night?" her lips curled into a crooked smile that made me flush everywhere. i knew she wouldn't resist mentioning it.

i put on my big girl panties and dealt with it. "yes, halina...we did. thank you."

she chuckled at my response and then proceeded to sling her arms around the green-eyed man, who had come out of hiding at hearing her voice. i guess flirting with the boss's sister-in-law, which is how halina's youth was explained to the outside world, was all right.

teren averted his eyes from the sight of his great-grandmother licking the man's neck. "that's our cue." grimacing, he nodded at the door. we waved goodbye to the crowd that didn't care about us at all anymore, and made our way back to the main house.

as we were bouncing along in the jeep, i remembered my earlier thought about his pup. "why don't you bring spike here? wouldn't he love barking at cows?"

teren chuckled. "yeah...he would." he threw a look back over his shoulder at the guest house. "great-gran...she kind of..."

i filled in the blanks that he was being so tentative with. "she eats dogs, doesn't she?"

he shrugged. "she's really not too picky. i don't think she'd hurt my dog...but no need to tempt her."

right.

irritation flashed through me. "why does your family condone her behavior?"

he looked over at me, and i could tell from the set of his jaw that he knew i wasn't talking about dogs anymore. "emma..."

"no, don't emma me. your mom said i should ask you about her, and you promised to not keep me in the dark anymore, so spill it."

he sighed. "well, for starters...have you ever tried to stop a full vampire from doing something they want to do?"

no...i could barely get my partial vampire to do what i wanted him to do. we drove up to the garage type building and he shut the jeep off. he hopped out, jumped over his door, and walked around to my side to open mine; always the gentleman. i let him, and he continued his train of thought while we walked up to the house.

"i've talked with great-gran about it before...but she enjoys it. she's a predator, a hunter. she loves the thrill of the chase, and the excitement of that first bite." i clenched my stomach with my hand and tried very hard to stop the images that were flooding into my brain. teren grabbed my hand and stroked it with his thumb. "i may have let you believe the worst about what she does." i looked up at him, confused, and maybe a touch hopeful.

"she's not a killer?"

he frowned. "no, she kills." i frowned, too. ignoring my expression, he finished his thought. "but not always. most of the time, she only takes a small draw, and then she makes them forget it ever even happened. most of the time, the people live."

well, that didn't sound so bad. i started to feel a little better about her...until he continued. "occasionally though, she'll run into a person that she believes has served their purpose." we reached the poolside and teren stopped and looked out over the water; it was now moonlight sparkling in the tiny waves. "the first man she purposely killed...after accidentally taking her husband's life, was molesting a little girl at the time. she spared the girl and drained the man dry. every life she takes...offends her in some way. it's usually because they've hurt a child."

he looked back at me with eyes that were softly glowing in the darkness. i swallowed. "she's what...some vampire vigilante?"

he frowned. "except she's not handing them over to the police...she's executing them."

i nodded and we both silently watched each other. shades of gray indeed. i wasn't sure how to feel about this. another thing to reflect on later, i guess. as we walked into the house, i at least began to finally feel like halina wasn't going to eat me or my family any more. one small positive, i suppose.

halina rejoined us while we were finishing up dessert. she swept into the room and poured herself a glass of still steaming blood from the carafe. no one asked her where she'd been. no one gave her much more than a cursory glance. she'd been licking her lips when she'd entered the room. i was dying to ask her if green-eyes was still alive, but after teren's comments by the pool, i felt pretty good about his chances of survival. and if she had killed him...well, he'd probably deserved it. i still wasn't sure what to feel about that-except grateful that i'd never be on her hit list.

halina sat next to imogen and calmly sipped her glass of blood. she noticed me trying to discreetly watch her and she grinned. "do you need us to go for another walk tonight, emma?"

i forced myself to not react to her clear goading. alanna and imogen respectfully looked away from me and jack...just looked confused. teren shot her a nasty look, but said nothing. i guess i was on my own. i swallowed and mentally replaced halina with my boss. i could talk to my boss.

in my most respectful tone-she was my elder after all-i answered, "no, halina...teren and i are going to watch a movie with the family and then go to sleep. we won't be trying for a baby tonight."

i couldn't believe i'd just said that...out loud...to his family. halina looked equally shocked that i'd admit such a personal detail to the room. she stared at me, her bloody fangs visible in her open mouth, then she started laughing. shifting her pale eyes to teren, who was also staring at me and looking a little shocked, she said, "i like her, teren."

teren turned to her and started laughing. eventually the other vampires started chuckling, and even jack laughed once and shook his head. i forced down the blush and laughed with them. teren grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. i felt a layer of tension and unease lifting from the room as laughter filled it, and i began to feel as comfortable with this family as i was with my own.

we finished our meal with pleasant, and appropriate, conversations, and then we retired to the living room to watch a movie together. teren and i snuggled on one end of the massive couch while jack pulled a large projector screen down from the wall. he pressed a button on a remote and from behind us, a machine built into the wall started projecting legends of the fall-classic brad pitt ranch movie.

as halina crossed in front of where teren and i were entwined on the couch, my legs over his lap, his arms over my legs, she leaned down to whisper in my ear, "you really should try tonight. you are running out of time." she gave me a pointed look as she pulled away and i could only lamely nod at those intense eyes.

teren sighed underneath me. "thanks for the advice."

halina smiled and rumpled his hair, before walking over to sit next to imogen. she snuggled with her daughter, and suddenly she looked more like a teenage girl at a slumber party than a vampire vixen. finished with prepping the movie, jack went over to sit with his youthful wife, who slung her legs over his lap in a similar fashion to mine. she kissed his neck and let out a happy sigh as he laced his arms around her. jack didn't seem to care in the slightest that her body was cold and her chest was silent. they were definitely my vampire/human relationship role models.

i only partially watched the movie-during the scene where brad pitt's character bends his hat in greeting and water droplets jump off of it, i wondered again if teren had a cowboy hat somewhere. i partially watched the content vampires in the room-halina and imogen were whispering and giggling over something on the screen, and i got the impression halina was eyeing the horses more than brad. i partially scanned the impressive room-my eyes frequently drifted back to the flame-encrusted fireplace. such an amazing piece of work. what i mainly did though, was feel the life and vitality of the man beneath me.

his hands stroked my thigh as he watched the movie, and my hand rubbed his stomach. i laid my head on his shoulder and occasionally pressed my lips to his neck, feeling the heat of life beneath my skin. i didn't want to think about him changing. i didn't want to think about the day he was destined to die. i didn't want to think about the responsibility of getting him to the ranch safely, so when he awakened to his new life, he wouldn't do something we both regretted. i didn't want to think any of those thoughts right now as i snuggled with him. and of course, since i didn't want to think about them, they were forefront in my mind.

i blinked at the screen when credits were rolling across it. somehow during my brooding, i must have fallen asleep. teren was holding me close, one hand on my hip and the other gently stroking my hair. i looked around with my eyes, but we appeared to be alone in the room.

i infinitesimally stretched and he kissed my head. "you missed half the movie," he said.

fully stretching, i looked up at him. "sorry...i guess ranch life wears me out."

he grinned and ran a hand down my cheek. the room went pitch black as the movie flickered out and his eyes glowed bright in the darkness. i let the feeling of peace and serenity wash over me. i'd do anything he asked anyway, but the serenity his eyes gave me swept away my fears for our future.

"teren?"

"yes," he whispered, his hypnotic eyes never leaving mine.

"take me somewhere...anywhere."

in the pale glow he was casting, i could see his lips turn up into a smile. "how about i show you my favorite place here?"

i returned his smile. "i'd love that."

he stood, and even though he was lifting my weight as well as his own, the move was effortless. gripping me gently, but firmly, he walked us outside to the back patio. then a breeze was blowing through my hair as he ran us away from the house. i didn't care where we were going. i didn't care how fast we were moving; we would just be a blurring streak to the casual observer. i laid my head on his shoulder and enjoyed the sensation of moving fast without feeling like i was moving at all.

we stopped at the edge of a deep, slow moving creek. i really was only aware of stopping because the wind was no longer brushing past my face; it was that smooth. i marveled at the moonlit water before me as teren set me down. it was idyllic. long, tufted grasses lined the banks and the occasional ripple broke the tension of the lazy water, as some creature below it popped up to kiss the sky. toads and owls filled the air with a quiet symphony, and i could easily picture a young vampire lying in the grass, listening to the sounds of nature around him.

i smiled as i looked over at teren. my grin grew wider when i saw that he was shirtless and working on his jeans. "what are you doing?"

"i thought i'd go for a swim, want to join me?" he asked. i laughed and was about to answer, when he focused those glowing eyes deep into mine. "i could always make you..."

i pushed him away from me and tore off my shirt. "i am immune to your hypnotic ways...but i will join you." he laughed and we both finished removing our clothes.

i watched his flawless form enter the water and then dive under the deep surface. i crept up to the edge and dunked in a toe-it was freezing. teren's head popped up near the middle of the easy flowing stream, and he casually held himself in place with a light back and forth motion of his hands.

"come on. just jump right in." he flashed me a gorgeous smile, and i suddenly wanted to be in his arms more than i cared about the cold. i gritted my teeth and ran into the water, my toes sticking a bit on the mud at the very edge. gracefully, i dove under the frigid liquid and swam until i felt his body. i popped up right in front of him, gluing my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck. his hands worked a little harder to keep us both afloat and he laughed.

"not so bad, right?"

my teeth rattled a little with the cold, but i nodded. eventually his warmth alleviated my chill and my body acclimated to the water surrounding it. i relaxed the death grip my thighs had on him and lightly treaded water with my hands. seeing me more at ease, teren grinned and leaned over to gently kiss me.

"it's beautiful here, teren," i whispered in between our kisses.

never taking his eyes off mine, he nodded. "yes, i know...beautiful." his gaze tracked down my body and i knew he wasn't talking about this perfect place he had taken me too. i felt flushed and tingly all over.

he replaced my arms around his neck, and swam us closer to the edge until his feet could touch the bottom. when he could stand, he wrapped his long arms around me and pulled me in for a searing kiss.

"teren...tell me everything is going to be okay," i said, during a brief break in our kiss.

he pulled back to look at me; his face showed none of the doubt and fear that i would have felt if i were him. "everything is going to be fine, emma." his voice was low and soothing, full of assurance. he truly sounded like he believed that, like somehow, he knew it would all work out. i wished i felt his certainty. if things went wrong...they could go really wrong.

"do you promise?" i knew the words were empty and pointless, but i sort of needed to hear them anyway.

his hand came up to cup my face. "i promise." his eyes searched mine, and the soft glow mellowed my momentary flood of panic. "i promise," he repeated, before bending down to kiss me.

our kiss picked up intensity and urgency, and just when i was sure our heat would evaporate this idyllic brook, he picked me up and walked me to a soft spot of grass along the bank. water rolled down our bodies and dripped off our hair, but i felt none of its chill as teren laid himself over me, giving me his warmth, giving me everything he had. and in return, i gave every part of myself over to this remarkable man, who completely had my heart. very quickly, his favorite place soon became my favorite place.

i awoke the next morning feeling satisfied, content, and in love with this wonderful ranch. i also woke up alone in our humungous bed-that, i didn't love. i looked around the empty suite. the fireplace was cold, the candles snuffed out, the curtains drawn tight, so that no light would touch my face to wake me up. i wondered if teren had thought of that little detail before slipping away. we'd considered sleeping out under the stars last night, in that long grass near the creek, but the slight breeze along our damp skin had us redressing and hightailing it back to our plush, warm room in no time. i would never forget that stream, though.

i stood and stretched my arms high into the air, wondering where my vampire had taken off to, and why he hadn't awoken me. a small surge of god, what else is he hiding? panic filled me, but i pushed it back. he'd said he wouldn't do that anymore. if he was going to trust me, then at some point, i would need to trust him. i'd work on that.

i shuffled off to the bathroom, hoping maybe he was in there, but that room was also empty. i examined my i-had-sex-in-the-grass-last-night hair, and sighed at the straggly mess before me. after picking out a few long strands of dry blades, that had somehow managed to stay with me for the past several hours, i brushed the rest out into some semblance of order. i examined the pale, red wounds on my neck. they were now surrounded by a light, bluish bruising. thank you for that, teren. they were better than yesterday, but were still a huge announcement of my boyfriend's newest fetish, so i left my hair loose around my shoulders. i might have to wear a fifties-looking scarf tomorrow at work. clarice would love that.

i finished primping myself in the bathroom and headed back to the bedroom to change clothes. i found my last pair of jeans and my last fitted button-up shirt. a last day of vacation feeling washed through me, and i smiled at how different this trip was from the last time. i liked it here. i liked being here. i liked watching teren be here.

thinking of teren, i decided to test his impressive hearing. i sat on the edge of the bed and looked down. in a voice so low that the fabric of the bed swallowed it, and i was sure there weren't enough sound waves left to travel to wherever he was, i whispered, "teren, i need to see you right now. please come here."

i began to count in my head. i got to five and then the door was swinging inward. his concerned eyes swept the room before focusing on me in the bed. he was wearing a pair of black jeans that nicely set off the gray button-up shirt he had loose over the top of them. it was a yummy sight to see first thing in the morning. his blue eyes sparkled with concern. "are you okay? what is it?"

i half-smiled as he closed the door and sat beside me on the bed, his face still looking worried. very seriously, i said, "i missed you. you don't get to just leave me alone in a cold bed anymore without saying goodbye first." i twisted my lips at him. "especially if there are no roses being left on my pillow."

his face was blank for a minute, then he relaxed into a laugh. running his hand through his black hair, he shook his head. "i did try and say goodbye." he laughed a little harder. "you grunted at me and told me to go away..." he shrugged his shoulders, "so i did."

i pursed my lips at him. "i did no such thing."

he smiled in a knowing way. "go ask my mom if you don't believe me. she was laughing about it when i went downstairs to see her this morning."

i clasped a hand over my mouth, embarrassed. damn those vampire ears. and just when i was feeling so comfortable, too... i straightened my shoulders. it was fine. it wasn't like i'd asked them to take a walk again.

"your family needs to work on boundaries." i blushed a little, knowing that i'd basically just said that directly to his family...but it was true.

he nodded. "i know. believe me, i know."

we spent the morning with jack and alanna, eating breakfast and having breezy conversations, like no tension had ever filled this little family. it warmed me that whatever awkwardness there had been between mother and son seemed to have faded. teren seemed to have forgiven her. she did cast concerned glances at the both of us throughout the morning, and i knew that she was desperately hoping teren would stay near, that we would both stay near, but i also knew that teren had no intention of doing so, and there was nothing i could say to make him change his mind. for some reason, he wanted to be on his own, and he wanted to stay in san francisco.

later, we went upstairs to imogen's room and i apologized profusely for the subject i had brought up yesterday, when i'd crassly mentioned halina's eating habits and chastised her for it, therefore also chastising imogen, who wasn't entirely an innocent grandmother. imogen shook her head as i said i was sorry for the hundredth time. "dear, my burdens are my own. i'm not asking you to share them with me."

"i know...i just feel really bad for even bringing it up. i'm sure it was hard for you..." i paused, not sure where i was going with that. teren grabbed my hand and squeezed it, while imogen looked over at us from a picture of a blonde-haired, smiling man, who i could only assume was her late husband.

"the act itself was actually very easy," she said softly, and teren looked up at her with surprise in his eyes. imogen didn't talk about this, and after that statement, i wasn't sure if i wanted her to. she tilted her head at me and her eyes aged as she reminisced. "it was more like letting go of a wall around me. letting go of struggling to maintain being decent and normal and...caving into the pure passion and aggression of insatiable hunger."

teren's eyes danced as he listened to her describe her level of thirst back then. i watched his face with curiosity. would it be like that for him too? imogen's eyes flicked to his and then back to mine. "it's the watching them die part that haunts me...that forever stops me from caving again." she closed her eyes and shook her head as a red tear dripped down her cheek. "i can't do it. i can't live with the guilt of it." she opened her red eyes to sadly smile at me. "i can't live with any additional guilt, i guess i should say."

standing, i crossed the room to embrace her. she returned my hug lightly at first, and then with more pressure. i felt her crying, and i rubbed her back. how odd to be comforting a vampire. how odd to be comforting someone who had lustfully killed on more than one occasion. how nice to know that, even after decades, someone can still feel so badly for taking a life that they never would again. it reaffirmed my decision that i never wanted to be a full vampire. i never wanted the temptation to take a life. i never wanted their level of guilt.

we talked with her a while longer on more pleasant subjects and discovered it was close to dusk when we were through. teren looked at me as we walked down the stairs. "we should probably leave soon...i've got an early meeting tomorrow."

i sighed as i clutched his hand. "yeah...okay." it was so wonderful here i almost hated to leave it. of course, it would be nice to get back to closed doors that actually meant something. maybe i should work on inventing vampire-strength earplugs.

teren cocked his head and look distracted for a second. i stopped on the step and watched his face. he seemed to be listening to something. i strained my inferior human ears, but heard absolutely nothing. finally, he looked over at me.

"great-gran wants us to come down to her rooms." he indicated the windows by the massive front doors. "it won't be completely dark for another hour and she wants to say goodbye."

he must have noticed the startled look on my face, even though i had been trying very hard to keep it even. "she really won't hurt you, emma." he smiled at me reassuringly as he pulled my hand down the stairs.

"i know that," i sullenly muttered. i knew she wouldn't attack me, but i still wasn't relishing walking into her domain. teren led me through the living room and over to a door that i'd just assumed was a closet next to some built-in shelving. he opened the door and we entered into...a closet. i looked around, confused, as teren closed the door behind us. it was a walk-in closet with shelves along two of the walls. the shelves were full of women's shoes, jackets and other outerwear. a few of the shelves held mundane home essentials like lamps, matches, blankets, umbrellas, flashlights. there was also a couple of board games, and resting on the very top shelf-a rifle. i swallowed as i looked at that, but then decided that, in this house, that was probably the least harmful thing in the building.

as teren fully closed the door, darkness engulfed us. his bright eyes glowed in the dark and i had a sudden "seven minutes in heaven" flashback. amused, i threw my arms around his neck and giggled as i kissed him a few times.

"and what are we doing in here, teren?" i asked between laughs and kisses.

he returned both my lips and my humor. "visiting great-gran," he casually replied. then he reached out to the blank wall opposite the closet door and gave it a sturdy push. something clicked and the wall gave way. i gaped as it swung open to reveal steep wooden stairs.

evenly spaced lights lined the stone wall that seemed to descend into the middle of the earth. bracing myself, i took a deep, steadying breath. teren laced my fingers in his and gently pulled me down the stairs. the staircase wasn't as long as i'd feared, and at the bottom it turned a corner into a stone hallway.

now, i'd pictured halina's lair a million times in my head, and a couple times in my nightmares. i always pictured rough stone walls, with manacles holding barely conscious men, with dripping, bloody wounds. i pictured a dirt strewn stone floor with large, dark stains that no amount of cleaning would wash away. centered in the room on an obsidian dais, i pictured a massive, black coffin, lined in blood-red velvet. i pictured squeaking rats skittering around the floor, scurrying away to the darkest portions of the near-dungeon. i pictured snow white candles and wrought iron candelabras, straight out of phantom of the opera. i imagined a dank, musty odor that reeked of death. what i had never, ever pictured...was what the room actually looked like.

we walked around the corner of the hallway, and entered what i could only describe as a queen's bed chamber. the windowless stone walls were light gray and smooth to the touch. heavy, beaded tapestries hung around the room, all of them depicting glorious sunsets. the most beautiful, elaborate gold lamps hung between each of the tapestries, providing plenty of light for the room. the floor was a smooth, white marble with thick, padded, burgundy area rugs spaced evenly throughout. further ruining my dark imagination, halina slept in a regular bed. it was a beautiful four-poster canopy bed with sage and burgundy satin bedding and romantic, gauzy white curtains along the sides that were tied to the poles in an open position.

the room was well lit from the lamps, but she also had clusters of tall and short pillar candles on her mahogany dresser, vanity and the matching coffee table at the base of her bed. the burning candles made the room smell sweet and spicy, like cinnamon rolls. a couple plush chairs rested on the other side of the coffee table and three doors opposite the wall of the bed led to other rooms that she used. i was pretty sure that at least one of those rooms was a massive closet, holding her wide variety of skintight dresses.

the place was beautiful and majestic and a little heartbreaking, with the multiple reminders of daylight around the room. aside from the tapestries, there were photos of the sun on her nightstand and dresser, and spectacular canvas paintings that she had created were drying near an easel set up in one corner of the room. next to that was a tall bookcase, with just about every color of oil paint in the world inside of it.

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