ACROSS TIME

With one final grunt, Dominic collapsed on the ground, a complete broken heap. He laid there for several moments, neither moving nor breathing. Finally, he stood back up and took a deep breath of air, like a newborn taking his first gasp of oxygen.

Slightly dazed, the first thing he did was run his tongue over his top teeth, smiling a bit after doing so.

"My fangs are gone..." he said quietly. "...it worked."

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Irving followed Fay, his mind worried that maybe Thorn was back or Elle's parents killed Dominic? So many worrysome ideas were crashing about his brain, w hen Fay swung open the door to the bedroom.

"Um..." Elle started, "Do you know what you are?" She asked, she was still on the ground, sitting on her legs. Her eyes were to the floor, inside, to a point, she was happy, though at the same time, she felt an undescribable sadness.

"What happened in here?" She heard Fay's voice at the same time as she heard the door slam against the wall.

It took a few moments for Dominic's brain to re-boot. He was still sore all over and in lots of pain, but it was slowly fading away.

"I think...I think I'm human..." he said quietly. "I no longer smell your blood...or anyone else's blood for that matter. I actually feel rather tired since it's night and...and I'm hungry."

Elle's eyes were glued to the carpet. She shrugged, "Iunno... I can't smell blood unless it has been spilt," She told him, she was making circles in the carpet. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't look at him right now.

She smiled when she heard that he was hungry, she also knew that they were probably going out, the only food they had was most likely spoiled.

Dominic fell to his knees again, feeling slightly weak. He kept breathing in, feeling new and strange sensations that were going through his body. He was turned at a young age and almost no memories of being a vampire, but yet, here he was, a mortal in the flesh all for his Elle.

"Elle..." he said quietly. "...I think my stomach is growling..."

Elle stood up, "That's... great," She told him, trying to sound happy, "You go find something to eat, I'm going to go for a walk," She told him, "I need to clear my head," She told them before walking out the bedroom door.

Fay tried to stop her, but Elle just ignored her. They heard the door to the appartment close, "Don't worry, she's just stressed out, she's been through a lot over the last week or so, just give her sometime," Fay told Dominic.

Dominic nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can understand. The thing is that urrrggghhfffff...."

Again, he grunted out in pain and fell to his knees once again. His face contorted as mind wracking pain hit his body. His jaw made a horrible creaking and groaning sound as his incisors slightly sharpened in nature.

His shirt ripped off his chest, the skin on his back seemingly to bubble and boil and with a mighty yell of agony, massive black, leathery wings burst out from his back, extending completely in an awe-inspiring wing-span.

Elle sighed, she was sitting on a park bench near the appartment, a ways down the main path of the park a couple was making out on the bench, if you could call it that, it looked more like they were trying to devour each other's face but it was like two snakes that have each other's tail, no one would win.

She ran her fingers through her hair, everything was calm for her for a second then she felt a twinge of pain in her heart, the feeling of dread came over, "Dominic..." She whispered. Her wings had spread and she took off.

Dominic stood up, shirtless and stretched his wings out, grunting as the pain was still a fading echo in his brain.

"So...another transformation..." he said in between wheezes. "Think I might have to get used to these things..."

"You won't change again..." Elle told him, she was sitting on the window. She pushed herself off and stood up, "Becoming a demon is the end, and it's the beginning," She told him, she ran a caring, lover's hand over his wings, knowing that they would still be tender.

"Such wing span is rare, it is... amazing," She started, "I find great limititations with my smaller wings. I can't fly very fast or very far," She sighed, "Great... Now I'm going to have to teach you to fly," She told him, crossing her arms, "Can you make them go into your back or are they stuck out?" She asked.

"I have to learn to fly?" Dominic said, wincing slightly. "Great...you might want to get the First Aid Kit ready.."

In response to her question, he focused hard on his wings, his brow furrowing, biting his bottom lip. After a bit of concentration, the wings neatly folded and disappeared into his back like a tattoo.

"Excellent." he said. "Okay, so that was easy..."

"Yeah, now keep them there, and get a shirt on," She started, "We're going out before it gets too late, I'm actually hungry," She told everyone, this was kind of a new thing for her, being hungry, as of late she had barely eaten anything.

She went over to the dresser and pulled out one of Dominic's shirts and threw it at him, "Go, some where else and get changed," She looked over at Fay, "We need to have a little girl talk," She told Irving and Dominic.

Dominic nodded silently and headed out the door with Irving, curious what the girls would be talking about.

"This...has been a very strange day." was all Dominic could say, stretching out his wings once again. "Bathing is going to prove to be difficult..."

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"What's wrong, hun?" Fay said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I figure this would make you happy..."

Elle smiled, "Oh, I'm happy, I... well... I think, but" She sighed and picked up the crystal from the ground, it was the only light source in the room, "He gave up being a vampire... to, well, get you and Irving back home," She told Fay.

"I was going to originally do it, it would turn me human, but I was considering letting Dominic bite me, though... I wasn't sure..." She told Fay.

Fay nodded, "I know what you mean, when Irving and I got married, the first time, we didn't know what to do because he was human, and I was, well, and elf, well, I still am," She sighed, "I never figured things out until a little bit before he and I seperated," She told him, "I never got arround to it because..." She sighed, "Because I was afraid of dying of old age... alone," told Elle, "We got back together because, well, the kids needed father, I loved him, I never stopped, but I still don't trust him, I doubt that I ever will," She finished.

Elle nodded, "Yeah, I guess," She walked back over to the dresser and pulled out a bra that was too large for her now, "I noticed when we were being auctioned off, that you're larger in the chest then me," She started, "It's also not socially acceptible to go out without wearing one of these, you can have it," She told Fay, "Towards the end of my pregnancy my breasts swelled, a lot, Dominic liked it, but it hurt me like hell," She threw the bra to Fay, who began immediatly examining it.

"How do I..." Fay started, Elle didn't want to go into extreme detail so she just lifted up her shirt a little.

"Put it on under your shirt so it looks like this, just on you, then meet me us in the living room," She told Fay before walking out the door.

"Yeah, I would imagine so..." Irving said, rooting around in the fridge. Elle had introduced him to the wondrous world of soda, with the retired thief completely hooked on Valu-Fizz Cherry Soda. He drank the stuff like water, and finally found a can, gleefully popping open the tab. "But like, the way I see it, you're both demons now? So you'll quit drinking blood and you can have normal sleeping hours."

"Indeed..." Dominic said, pushing his wings back into the skin of his back. "The only thing that bothers me is that this is going to enrage the vampires even more. Marrying a demon was bad, impregnating her was bad enough, but becoming a demon? It worries me what they might do..."

"The vampires can go fuck themselves and stay out of our business," Elle said bitterly, "And if they don't, I'll shut them up," Elle told Irving and Dominic.

"And who cares what they do, if I die, I go down fighting, and I'm taking anyone I can with me," She finished.

Fay came down the hall soon after Elle, she noticed that the air was a little uneasy, "Um... Are we ready to go?" She asked.

"Hell yeah!" Irving said, crushing the empty can in his hand and throwing it in the trash can. "That's the right idea."

Dominic sighed, knowing full well she was right. No use dwelling on what can't be changed. They were going to hate him no matter what he did, so he might as well enjoy himself. And with a beautiful wife like Elle, what wasn't to enjoy?

"I love you." he said softly, lightly pecking her right cheek.

Elle kissed him lightly on the lips, "I love you too, now, lets go," She told him, "Oh, you know Irving, too many of those is really bad for your teeth, stomach, and every other part of your body, you shouldn't really be drinking many of those," She told him. Her arm was around Dominic's waist and she was resting the side of her head on his shoulder.

Fay walked up to Irving, "See baby, even here you'll find ways to try and kill yourself with the least likely objects," She joked.

"I'm afraid I've never paid much attention to the restaurants around this city, so I trust you judgment in finding an acceptable place to eat." he said. Even such a thing as eating real food was exhilarating, as he was eager to dine on his first non-vampire meal in ages.

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"Wow, it is?" Irving said surprised. "Figures. I wind up liking something and it turns out bad for me. Maybe I'll just stick with water for now. Water is still good to drink in the future, right?"

Elle nodded, "I know the perfect place," She started, "One of my old friends ownes it, I always go there when I was hungry and you were still asleep," She told everyone.

Elle ran her thin pale fingers through her hair and fixed the skirt she was wearing, it went almost down to her knees and was loose fitting which was good since, after a few nights ago, and the night they lost the baby she was always armed, she wanted to wear the Kevlar vest she owned, but that seemed like a little much.

"Hey, I've been dying to try out some of the places you've got around town." Irving said. "You said a friend owns it? Does he, uh, take credit? I've got like 5 pieces of silver on me and I'm not sure they take that here in your time."

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"Excellent, my dear." Dominic said with approval. "I look forward to his greatly."

He squeezed her fingers within his a bit harder, a firm, yet loving reminder that he wasn't going anywhere.

"This shall be a night to remember."

"They don't take that, but Dominic and I have it covered," She told Irving as she squeezed Dominic's hand back as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, and it's a she, she owns the place," Elle told him while exiting the appartment.

"See," Fay told Irving, "What did I tell you? Back where we're from men are just for show and women are really the brains behind the opperation, here, the man's just elimiated from the whole thing," She told him, holding onto his hand, she kissed his cheek.

"Hell, I won't argue." Irving said, returning Fay's kiss. "I'll be the first one to admit this world would be better off if run by women. Go figure that when I was a thief, 'bout 90% of my scores were all guys. That ain't a coincidence."

There was a sound that cut through the silence after this, something that came from Dominic. His stomach growled. Loudly.

"There's a word I'm looking for...." the new demon said. "Ah yes, starving."

Elle opened the door to a small resturaunt, it looked like someone's kitchen with tables filling up free space. The only seperation between the kitchen and the eating area was a long counter.

There was a woman sitting on a barstool who looked as if she was counting the money in a cash register, "Sorry we're-" She started before cut off by a squeel from the kitchen, another woman dissappeared from the spot where she was standing and reappeared with her arms around Elle.

"It's great to see you too Lucia," Elle told the woman hugging her back, "And nice greating too Angela," She started, "As always."

"Where's my neice?" Lucia asked, "You're not as fat as you were last time I saw you," She said.

"I lost him or her, it's a long story, don't bring it up," Elle told them as she used her thigh and side-stepped to push a table into the wall, she was making it so all six of them could sit without the clutter, "And since when did Lucia work here, don't you get enough of her at home?"

Angela smiled, "Well, she's the best chief I've ever seen, she must have learned it from your mom, too bad you don't cook as well as she does?" Angela asked.

"Because I'm not approaching my, what it it Lucia, my, 100th birthday?"

"No, but," Lucia looked at a clock, "I know who's 18th birthday it is in a few hours!" She told everyone in a sing-song voice. To be honest, Elle competely forgot about her birthday.

Elle shrugged,

"A birthday, huh?" Irving said with a grin. "Woo hoo, sounds like we're hitting the town tonight. Do, uh, demons have a higher alcohol tolerance than humans? Like, can you hold your whiskey better?"

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"Happy birthday, my beloved." Dominic said smiling. "I have this for you..." he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small necklace with a tiny locket at the end, made of gold and shaped like a heart. "Inside you will find pictures of you and I. It's my gift, to you."