ACROSS TIME

The rays of sunlight beamed in through the windows, stirring the retired thief from his slumber. Grumbling gibberish in his half aware state, he stirred a bit on cotton sheets as the sunlight kept forcing him to acknowledge the new day. As it always did, the day won out and Irving Stone sat up in bed, smacking his lips loudly.

As the fog in his brain wore off, he noticed his beloved rose Fay laying next to him, sleeping on her stomach, completely removed of any clothing. He grinned devilshy as thoughts of the night before came flooding back, as he embraced the ex-harlot, their bodies interlocked and intertwined in a passion. Slowly, he drug a finger down her neck, tracing the curves and contours of her spine, stopping right where the small of her back met her backside.

"Morning, love." he said softly.

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"I fail to see where you are coming from on this." Dominic said, sipping a glass of his favorite 'wine.' "You act as if I don't care, but this is untrue. I'm merely stating that mourning will not bring the child back! It is senseless to shed worthless tears, when it will do nothing but increase your sorrow. The sun will still rise, the moon will still glow, life moves on. Why don't you?"

She groaned slightly but kept her eyes closed, "Why do you always wake me up as soon as you wake up?" Fay asked as she pulled the blaknets over both of their heads. She was going to try and go back to sleep, even though she knew it wouldn't work, it never worked.

~~~

Elle had been released from the hospital only a few hours before. This was the first time they really "talked" since she was attacked. She had healed up pretty fast but it wasn't the physical injuries that were causing the most pain. She placed a shakey pale hand on her stomach. She had been six months into her pregnancy when a demon stabbed her in the stomach killing her and and Dominic's baby almost instantly.

A tear ran down her cheek, "Why don't I... Just... Just move on? You don't understand," She whispered. Her grip tightened on the glass of water that was in her hands. It was the first thing she had to drink all day. She tucked a peice of blond hair behind her ear. She had dyed it to keep anyone from finding her, it didn't work so well, "I-I can't move on," Her eyes were dull and she just staired blankly at a spot on the floor, "You don't know what it's like... To feel life inside you, to be looking forward so much to bringing that life into the world, then losing it...," She told him, "I have a right to shed tears, and if you gave a damn about me, about us, or even our future, you would too..." She told him.

"Well, for one thing we can't sleep in all day." Irving said, stretching his lank limbs. "And secondly, we've got a big day today, remember? We're heading down to the market for a little food shopping. Lucy is gonna be watching the kids."

With one more yawn, the ex-thief climbed up out of bed and clumsily fumbled through the closet for a comfortable pair of pants.

"Is it just me or does it seem random that I'M the one who's first up?" he said with a smirk. "C'mon, babe. Sooner we get this over with, sooner can come back home and take a nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dominic threw his glass of 'wine' across the room, splashing and shattering across the wall paper, staining it for sure.

"You act as if I do not care!" he shouted, his voice tinging with anger and irritation. "But nothing could be further from the truth! I risked it all for you! I took the risk of willing to forsake my clan, to turn my back on my people for you. I gave up my fortune, my wealth, my prestige, to be with you and you act as if I do not understand?"

He signed again and plopped back down on the recliner, covering his eyes with his face. His voice had returned to it's normal tone, though he was no less irritated.

"All I am saying is that it is pointless to grieve for the child, because it has found itself in a better place in the afterlife. It does not need to worry about pointless squabbles between our races, nor deal with violence or hate. So why do you cry? Why do you shed tears? REJOICE, WOMAN. Breathe in the fact the child is living a life far better than anything we could have ever hoped to have provided."

Fay sighed and sat up, she laughed a little and got out of bed, "Thanks for getting out my pants," She told him, taking the pants from his hands and putting them on she then took out a shirt and put that on.

~~~

She jumped when she heard the glass shattering, without her knowing she had gripped her glass far too hard and it shattered. Shards of glass cut deeply into her flesh but she still didn't notice, her body felt numb. She looked down at her hand and pulled out a peice of glass from her hand and threw it at Dominic, it was covered in her blood. She stood up, her legs trembeling, she walked around the couch she was sitting on.

She opened the door to their room with her bloody hand, turning the door knob a dark red, she slamed the door beind her and walked into the closet she stuffed clothes in a bag and pulled out an outfit that she could wear for now, jeans, a white tank top, and a leather jacket.

"These are yours?" Irving said with a frown. "And here I thought I was just in that good of shape."

After locating his pants, they were quickly slid on and fastened on with his black belt. For a brief moment, he contemplated on bringing his daggers or not, but decided it would be best to bring them. Just in case.

His favorite blue shirt was added, buttoning it up to his neck as he smiled at his Fay, admiring how radiant she looked in the early morning glow.

"So since the kids are at Lucy's, we should probably head out to market soon. I hate going there and finding all the good stuff has already been sold."

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"You are wounded..." he said softly, following her into their bedroom. He could smell every drop of her blood, the intoxicating bouquet smelling so fresh and pure. He had kept his word and had never drank from her blood, instead choosing to stick with his 'wine' or, in worse case scenarios, various pests he would find roaming the streets. The taste was horrible, but he did it for her.

"With your blood flowing so freely, you will be sure to attract the attention of some of my more...rough around the edges kin. Please...let me dress your wounds and stay. We can...we can talk this through."

Fay sat down on the bed and put her boots on and tied them, "You and your complaining... It never ends," She told him as she ran a comb through her hair, "Can you get me my quiver and bow, baby?" She asked. She always brought it, they usually found trouble.

~~~

Elle just continued packing, she didn't look at him, she let her blood fall to the floor, she finally set her bag down on the bed, "We can't talk through this, we just can't. I'm telling you why I am upset, and you're telling me that it's wrong, that it's pointless. Then you're telling me all the "sacrifices" you've made for me? What about me? I dropped out of High School, I left my family, I pretty much gave up on my dreams, all for you," She cried throwing the nearest object she could grab at him, which happened to be her hair dryer, "Don't touch me, don't go near me," She told him, "I'll come back for the rest of my stuff when I can stand to look at you again," She told him, "I love you, but you don't give a damn enough about me, or our baby to even show remorse about us loosing him or her..." She told him.

Irving handed his wife her bow and quiver, smiling to himself at how lucky he was to have her back. The day seemed almost too perfect for words, honestly. Spend the day with his wife, then come home and maybe spend a little romance with her, pick up the kids from Lucy and have a nice dinner. What could possibly go wrong?

"You ready, hun? I wanna hit up the blacksmith shop first. I hope he's got some new daggers on sale."

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Forgetting the extent of his vampiric strength, Dominic punched the wall in fury, leaving behind large crater in it's wake.

"FINE!" he shouted, his voice now back to it's loud, pissed off self. "You do whatever the hell you want. My hands are washed of this situation. I have given you everything you have ever wanted, my life, my heart, my soul and you wish to turn around and spit on it by walking out? Then don't hesitate to leave."

Fay froze up, "Why do you have to see the blacksmith while I'm there?" She whined tightening the straps on her quiver, she then put the bow over her shoulder, "I'm ready," She told him as she pulled her long red hair back behind her shoulders.

~~~

Elle walked up to him looked him right in the eyes and slapped him with her bloody palm leaving a dark red mark on his face, she let her sharp nails dig into his flesh causing small cuts all over his cheek, she let her hand drop a little, dragging her nails through his skin. She backed away, picked up her bag. She looked down at her hand, there was a small white gold diamond ring he gave her, as a promice that he would always be there. She took it off her thin finger, she remembered what he said about his money, he made it sound so important.

"Your money seems so important to you," she whispered, "This is what I have to say about you and your god damn money," She shouted throwing it out an open window in their room.

That was the last she said to him before walking out of their, well, now his room, and the appartment. She slammed the door and walked down the hallway. She exited their building and saw something shining on the ground, it was the ring she threw out the window. She just walked over it and continued down the seemingly empty street.

"Well, we don't have to go to the blacksmith." he said. "But my daggers ain't getting any younger, just like me, and I need to see if he's got some new ones I can buy."

He opened the door to their bedroom and stepped out in the hallway, admiring the layout of their simple, but humble home. Life was good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The slap hurt way more than anything Dominic has ever experienced. He was still confused just as she was over the whole ordeal, but he was honestly trying to help. Why couldn't she see that? HE WAS TRYING TO HELP HER.

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As Elle walked down the empty streets, the demoness was unaware she was being watched by three vampires. By themselves, they were nothing, but together they ran a prostitution ring in town and Elle seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

"Hey, so where ya going pretty lady?" the taller one asked, stepped out of the shadows to walk backwards a few feet in front of her.

Fay smiled and walked out of the door, "You can go and see him, but I don't have many, well, any good memories of him," She told him walking down the stairs. She laughed a little, "You wish to get there early and yet you are slowing me down," She told him.

~~~

Elle just spread her wings, "Anywhere you're not," She told him, it had been a few weeks since she had flown last but she flew across the street, and continued walking. This guy creeped her out. She wiped some of the tears out of her eyes and held onto her bag and jacket tightly, she was cold and just wished that she could just go home and climb in bed with Dominic once more, she then felt a firey rage in her stomach and balled up her still bleeding fist.

"Really?" Irving said as he followed his beauty out the front door. The path would briefly take them through the woods and then right into town. "You and the blacksmith?" he added. "Is it...uh...true what they say about him? You know what I mean..."

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"Did you hear that, Vinny?" one of the vampires hollered to the other, all three of them now stepping out of the shadows. Elle had one of them in front of her, and one to the left and one to the right. "She says she's too good for us. Can you believe that?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...looks like Lil' Miss Sassy Britches needs to be taught a lesson."

Fay smiled, she had a feeling that she knew what he meant, but wanted to get him to say it, so she decided to play dumb, "No, I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean," She told him as they walked. She put he hands behind her back.

~~~

Elle didn't show it on her face but she was terrified, normally she would either fly away, fight or call for help, which was usually Dominic now. She didn't know if they could smell her fear, well, until one of the men who were surrounding her smiled.

God damnit... She thought, if they were humans she had a chance in her current weak state. She hadn't eaten in a few days, she had just lost her appetite.

She smiled and laughed a little, though inside she was cursing her self, she was still in plain sight of the apartment. Either Dominic really didn't care about her safety, he knew it was dangerous for her to be wandering the streets alone, especially bleeding and alone.

Oh God, I don't want to be a vampire... She cried in her head.

"What do you think you can do to me?" She asked in a rude voice, crossing her arms, she was really taking a switch blade in her sleeve out, "Because it can't be any worse then what I've already gone through."

For someone who considered himself rather suave and debonair, talking about another man's endowment left him flustered. He glanced down at his boots and could feel his cheeks getting hot, cursing himself for getting embarrassed like a little child.

"You know what I mean, Fay..." he stammered slightly, wrapping his free arm around her slender waist. "Like...is...ya know hung? Is his hammer big and I ain't talking about what he uses to flatten metal..."

Irving had never really been bothered by Fay's sordid past, though he still felt responsible for her falling into that lifestyle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some classical opera played loudly in the booming stereo system in the apartment. Dominic hadn't bothered to clean up any of the mess, instead the vampire just stared into the blazing fire of the fireplace and for a brief moment, envied those who had scorched themselves in the morning light. His face stone and unmoving, a single bloody tear ran down his left cheek.

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"Now is that anyway to treat a guest?" the one on her left said, keeping in step with her. "And go on, cut us. Apparently you seem to forget that we vampires heal up pretty quick."

"You betcha." said the one in front. "And I don't want you thinking we're gonna be biting the pretty little neck of yours. No, no, no. Actually...we've got other plans for you. See, we know some people, who know some people, who know some people who'd love to get in your pants. And they'd pay a hefty fee too."

And then, from the shadows, a fourth member sprung up and wrapping his arms around Elle, shoved a rag over her face, forcing her into inhale the ether fumes.

Fay blushed, "It... It is true, and it always hurt, and I never got used to it, he came almost every night..." She looked down at her hands and began twisting the ring on her finger, "I used to make up all kinds of excuses for why he couldn't come in the house, but he didn't listen, he would just force himself inside and leave without paying," She told him.

~~~

Elle struggled against the man holding her, she started clawing at his arms. She kicked and screamed, since she wasn't human the ether took much longer for her to pass out. She became light headed and her legs began to shake. Her vision blurred and her struggling ceased. She was silent for a second then went limp. During the struggle she must have opened up her blade because it fell out of her sleeve, covered in blood. A thin dark trail of her blood ran down her fingers and dropped to the ground.

"That sunvabitch!" Irving sneered. "Maybe I should pick up some new daggers on a five fingered discount...serves the bastard right. Asshole."

His arm around Fay clutched tighter, in a defensive matter. He never once considered Fay to be "damaged goods" or anything similar. No, but he still didn't like the idea of random men forcing themselves on her. The very concept filled his blood with rage and if he had list of all of them, he'd go door to door to knock their lights out.

Sighing a bit to himself, he kissed her gently on her soft cheek, smiling slightly to himself.

"I think it's best if we skip the blacksmith. I don't want to get arrested for snapping his neck like a twig..."

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A van pulled up in the alley where Elle had been walking, a man climbing out and opening the back doors.

"So how much you think she'll fetch?" the larger of the group asked, hoisting Elle on his shoulder.

"Dunno. She obviously ain't a virgin, but she's still pretty young. Maybe $10,000...$15,000 tops."

Elle's unconscious body was stuffed in the back, with all men loading in. Not wasting any time, the van sped off, leaving two of the men in the back to guard Elle.

"Mm...I wish I had the money, man, I'd bit on her right now. You think boss would get mad if I, uh...test the merchandise."

A quick slap across the face, sent the smaller of the two men scurrying.

"Unless you wanna get staked, sure, go for it. Look, but don't touch."

Grumbling to himself, he sulked back in the corner of the fan till it arrived at a run down building. Pulling into the back, Elle was shuffled in through a back door, and unceremoniously plopped in a mattress, the door to the room locked from the outside.

One of the ladies in there, seeing the unconscious Elle, sighed to herself.

"Another poor soul..." she said quietly.

Fay smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, "If you need new daggers you can go and get them, we'll just have to watch your temper," She laughed a little.

~~~

Elle groaned and held on to the mattress, she opened her eyes and was taken aback by the stench. She sat up and looked around at her surroundings and held her head, she had gotten up too fast and her head was spinning, "Where am I?" She asked, she felt odd, but what wasw worse was the lack of movement in her stomach, "Where's Dominic? What's wrong with our..." She tought for a second, "Oh... Right..." She whispered, looking at the other women in the room, "Who are all of you?"

Irving grumbled something incoherently, but figured it would be best to avoid the blacksmith. If he needed new daggers, he'd just venture to the next town over, where prostitution is illegal and buy new daggers there. He kissed the crown of her head as they made their way into town.

Since Fay had retired from prostitution, most of the men (and women) in town had forgotten about her past and instead just knew her as Mrs. Stone. With a bit of a relieved sigh, they were in town towards the market place, the whole area buzzing as it was starting to get busy.

There were the normal fruits and vegetables and clothes. Irving saw the blacksmith and decided it'd be best to avoid him right out.

"So, what do we need first?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The redhead, who looked to be in her 40's, lit up a cigarette and sit down on a leather recliner. For being an old warehouse, the inside was decorated rather nicely with leather furniture, palm trees and even a metal tub full of ice and bottles of wine.

"You must be new here." she said, waving her match out. "You're part of The Trade now. Underground thing, run by a bunch of perverted vampires. They take you in and sell you out to the highest bitter. Do a whole bunch of kinky shit to you."

She sighed and took a long drag off her cigarette.

"My name is Marge. What's yours?"

Fay just smiled and felt the fabric of a dress she knew she couldn't afford, "I don't know..." She started, "Food maybe?" She asked. She put the dress down, it wasn't her color anyway, it was a light blue, she wore pretty much only green

~~~

"Elle, Elle Warren," She told Marge, "Give me one of those," She asked, looking at the cigarette. She was handed one and lit it.

She put it up to her lips and inhaled deeply. She blew the smoke out of her lungs, "Ya know, I quit smoking when my boyfriend got me pregnant. We knew each other for only a few hours, I get drunk and wake up pregnant," She knew if she wasn't so bitter towards Dominic right now she would never say that, "Then just last week I got stabbed in the stomach by someone... Someone I was relaited to, apparently my family didn't like me sleeping with a vampire, well, they got what they wanted," She took another long drag of her cigarette, "I was upset about losing the baby and he told me I was wrong for doing so," She told them.

She wouldn't normally vent towards strangers, but she needed to talk and they were the only other people around.

Something caught Irving's eye, something he had never seen before. The stand which usually contained the smoked meats was now gone, and instead a rotting old wooden cart was in it's place. A small table was set up in front of it, full of various candles and books. Something about this caught his attention, so the thief casually released his wife from his grip and walked towards the table.

"Welcome stranger." said the dried out old woman running. "How can I help ya?"

"...this is some interesting stuff." he said, casually flipping through a book bound in what he hoped was leather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's a shame, doll face." Marge said, taking another drag off her own cigarette. "Sounds like you're a bit under appreciated."

She took one more drag, before letting the cigarette rest in between her fingers, staring off into space.

"I'm 43 now. I was 19 when I first got into this industry. Just moved into town, wanted to be an actress. Met some guys, said they could put me in a huge Hollywood blockbuster. Just had to show up for my audition..."

She chuckled softly and bitterly to herself.

"And now here I am. Wonderful life, huh?"

Fay followed her husband, as soon as they approached the cart she got a chill up her spine, she grasped his hand firmly, "Irving come on, the kids are waiting, lets get our shopping done, I want to see my babies," She told him, pulling slightly, "It's bad enough we kept Lucy from working last night..."

~~~

Elle was sitting on her knees, the cigarette was hanging from her lips and her hands were bunching the fabric on her jeans, she haden't eaten in almost a week, a feat that would have either killed a human or left him or her unable to stand, the jeans were loose now, she brought her fingers up and took the cigarette from her rose colored lips, "I... I'm only seventeen... my birthday... Is in a few days..."

"And don't call me doll face, it makes me sound like some cheep whore..." She sighed, "Dominic didn't under appreciate me, hell, he treated me like a god damn princess, we just had conflicting views on some subjects..."

She switched her position so she was hugging her knees, "We have to escape..." She whispered.

"Yeah, yeah...hold on a sec." Irving said, flipping through the pages. Finally, he came across some words he could actually read, as they were in the basic language spoken by almost all.

"Klatu...Barata...Niktu..."

With a blinding flash of light, both Irving and Fay (who was holding on to him) disappeared, the book casually falling to the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sorry..." Marge said, rubbing out her cigarette on a nearby ashtray. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

She sighed again at Elle's suggestion for escape.

"Hun...we've tried. But this place is crawling with blood suckers. They can smell you from a mile away, so even if they don't see you, they can smell you. And once they find you, they drain every last drop of blood from you. You might as well kick back and relax. The auction isn't for a few more days..."

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With a loud OOMPH, Irving landed hard on on the pavement of a back alley in modern times. Not expecting the fall, his head hit the ground, knocking him out cold.

Fay landed mostly on top of Irving but hit her head on the cement under her. She groaned before she passed out she could see a simple view of her surroundings, "Where are we...?" She groaned before passing out.

~~~

Elle opened her wings, "I've got these, but..." She looked at the windows, "But they prepared for that, smart little bastards put talismans all around the windows" She groaned and put her cigarette out in the ground, leaving a dark black char mark. She took off her leather jacked and pushed open the cuts on her arms and legs so they would begin bleeding again. She was trying to make it easier for her to be found, if Dominic was even going to look for her.

She looked around for her bag, the memory then hit her, she had dropped it in the struggle against the men who took her here.

She wasn't home, which worried Dominic. He assumed she would leave to blow off some steam and come back in an attempt to smooth things over, but she was gone. Leaving via the same way she did, she immediately picked up a strong whiff of her scent. But at the same time, he also picked up the scent of several vampires. Now he was even more worried.

As he headed down the back alley, he could smell the vampire scent even stronger now, along with two new scents. Human. But they were different from other human scents...they smelled...pure. Not sexually, as he could tell neither one was a virgin, but something about the makeup made them seem less tainted than any other human he's encountered.

"Yeah, so did you see that lil' demon lady we picked up?"

Voices. Dominic dove into the darkness, noting that these vampires were too ignorant and unskilled to detect him.

"Are you kidding?" said the other. "With an ass like that, the things I would do to do her...mmm..."

"Heh, tell me about it. You see the tits on her? Fuck man...I could suck on those all night long..."

Dominic put his tongue, knowing they were talking about Elle. He could slay them easily, but it wouldn't lead him any closer to the truth.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...check this out. Looks to be human." the other said.

"Nice outfit! Think she came from some D&D convention? Hey, maybe Mr. Thorn might be interested in her too? Load her up in the van."

The men wasted no time in hoisting Fay over their shoulder, and stuffing her in the back of the van. Before it sped off, Dominic got a good look at the license plate, make and model.

And then there was the matter of the strangely dressed man at his feet...

Elle stood up and began walking around the room, her heals echoed on the walls. Her hand was brought up to her mouth and she began biting her finger nails, it was a bad habbit she had that showed up when ever she was nervous, bored, or a mix of both.

"Is there anything to do to pass the time here?" She asked. Sitting down next to Marge. She had switched her schedule so she was awake at night, which right now was a pain.

As soon as Elle had spoken those words, the door to the room opened up, with the vampire guards dragging the out cold Faye behind her. With a casualness usually used for sacks of potatoes, they hurled Faye next to Elle on the couch.

"Enjoy yer new roomie!" one of them sneered and shut the door, locking it from the outside.

Marge sighed and lit up another cigarette.

"Well, if you need something to do, we could try and wake her up. Poor girl."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Guh....wha...." Irving said as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Where am I?"

The sound of passing ambulance scared the thief, sending him up in a hurry.

"What he hell?! Where...where am I?"

"You're in a back alley." Dominic said, stepping out of the shadows. "I judge by your manner of dress you are not from this time?"

"You ain't kidding, buddy." Irving said, rubbing the back of his head."

"The lady you were with has been kidnapped. So has my dearest Elle, but the same group of people no less."

"FAY?! Who took Fay?! Where?!"

"Come. Follow me. I will fill you in on everything and introduce you to this time."