"Take off your coat, it'll just be cumbersome." David directed, pulling his trench coat around his frame tighter and buttoning it. Ruby looked at him, but he gave no hint of noticing. He was eying the sky, the streetlamps that gave the parking lot artificial light. Ruby shrugged her coat off and draped it over the back end of the bike.

"David, what are we doing out here?"

David smirked. "Flying lessons. I think over here it's just dark enough. But it can't hurt to have some light." Ruby blanched paler then she already was.

"You're joking!"

"No I'm not."

"Why here!"

David tried to hide his exasperation, let his face settle into a mask of calm. He had to expect this; he was just as new to this childer bit as Ruby was to being a vampire. Remembering to be patient was key. "The sand is uneven and the noise of the water will distract you. The lamp posts will give you something to hold onto if needed."

Ruby worried at her lip with her teeth. "I'm going to fly?"

"You've seen me fly. You know you can fly. It just takes a bit of practice, some rudimentary lessons, and you'll be in the air, Rube." David took her hand and pulled her closer, just beyond the florescent circle of the parking lot light. Ruby felt him try to reassure her through their blood bond and let that calm the bats in her stomach.

"All right, if you say so."

David grinned and put her arms at her sides, tipped her chin up so it was parallel to the ground. "All there is to remember is you wanna go up think above your head. Going down, think below your feet. Left and right are obvious. You're in control of where you want to go always. Now, close your eyes."

Ruby's eyes widened. "What!"

David gave her a look. "Trust me. Close your eyes." He paused. "Childer." Ruby felt him tug on their bond; he always did that to make his point lately.

Sighing softly, Ruby closed her eyes. She wished she had her jacket so she could jam her hands in the pockets. There was no way this was going to work. She wasn't going to fly.

"Now, you hear the hum of the lights?"

Ruby concentrated a bit. The hum was low and steady but there. "Yes."

"Focus on it and go towards it."

Ruby cracked an eye and got a grumpy glare from David. "Fine, fine. Focusing." She moved her attention to the hum, blocking out the distant roar of the ocean rolling up onto the sand, the farther away noise of the cars still out this early in the morning. The hum of the electricity grew louder in her ears, growing until it was all she really heard. But she felt no closer, no nearer to the actual source.

"David, you've got to be on drugs. I'm not going to fly." Ruby opened her eyes and saw nothing but sky in front of her. The top of the street lamp was just to the left of her head; any closer and she would have cracked her skull on it. The ground was at least twelve feet below her feet. Yelping loudly in surprise, she grabbed the thick curved neck of the light and held on for dear life.

David crouched just a bit and leapt into the air, coming up fast beside her and hovering beside. "Ruby, relax, you did it! I told you; I fly, so can you!" Ruby whimpered and held tighter to the metal pole, legs dangling in the air. She heard David sigh softly, and come closer, his trench coat rippling in a breeze that did not exist. He took her hands and with a bit of gentle force, pried them off the lamp's neck.

Ruby scrabbled to try and regain her anchor, but David pulled her off and away, into the empty open air above the parking lot. "Childer." His voice was low, demanding of her attention. Ruby stopped fighting but refused to open her eyes. "Childer…" David spoke the word even lower this time, only so she could hear.

Opening one eye slowly, then the other, Ruby found herself in mid-air, hovering with ease. David held her hands, his arms stretched out just like hers, steadying her. Flying felt like being held in the air by an invisible hand. It really was that simple.

"I told you." David smirked, reading her thoughts. "Now, test it out. Remember, controls are just like the video games in the arcade." With that, he released his grip on her hands and pushed off, leaving her. Ruby hovered there alone; blinking at first, then timidly leaned to the right. Her body moved right, drifting a bit along. She leaned left and went left. Tipping her chin up she rose higher into the air, high enough to look down on the parking lot and the tops of the streetlamps.

"Whoa…" From up here she could see the waves rolling in onto the beach in front of the Boardwalk. Cars traveling down the main drag. Houses, dogs in yards, lights on in windows.

"Neat, isn't it." David was suddenly up behind her, his voice breathed into her ear. Ruby shuddered.

"I can fly."

"Indeed." David drifted easily to stop in front of her, blocking the view of the ocean. "Come on." He took her hand in his gloved one and took off into the air, pulling Ruby along. She found her body fighting at first, unused to the tug of gravity, but soon she eased and relaxed, flying along with David.

They headed directly to the highest part of the Big Dipper's track, where the state of California's flag flew right alongside the American flag. They still fluttered in a gentle breeze that was blowing in a storm off the ocean, snapping as the unseen wind that came along with the two vampires caught them up as well. David landed first, balancing with each boot on a board of the track and pulling Ruby down beside him.

"You've been up here before." Ruby watched him, her hair whipping around in the breeze. David tried to pull up his shields, but let it go. Ruby had already read the memories.

"Yeah, it's a nice view up here. Some place to get away and think sometimes." He let her go and sat down on the boards between the metal rails the coaster's cars rode on. Ruby sat beside him slowly, still watching him. David was gazing out to sea. They were quiet for a long time. David continued to gaze away as Ruby studied him in the darkness.

"Marko broke up with me." Her voice broke their silence, not very loud against the wind. David still did not look at her. Ruby turned her face and looked out in the distance. The waves continued to roll in and somewhere in the distance thunder rolled. Before the gift Ruby would have needed her coat. But now she didn't feel the cold.

"Will you have me, Ruby?" his words didn't drift off into the night on the wind but stayed there, lingering in her ear. "For whatever that means, where ever it takes us, whatever we become to each other."

Ruby touched her bond to David; it was singing as loudly, as hotly, as sweetly as it had when they had kissed the night of her first kill. He was as sincere as he would ever, could ever be. David had not stolen her from Marko, and had not forced the issue like he could have, being that he was her Sire now. Marko had given her up of his own volition. Ruby was free to make her own choice.

She reached over and tilted his chin up with her fingertips, making him look at her. There was hope and fear in David's blue eyes, and desperate naked desire as well. Ruby couldn't deny she felt the same about him. Gently, Ruby slid her fingertips up along his jaw, down the side of his throat then pulled him to her by the back of his neck.

David's mouth against hers was hot, his fangs down and sharp against her lips and tongue. Ruby kissed back as hungrily and possessively as David, which sent trills of enjoyment into her via their bond. After a long moment, David pulled away and pulled her close against him, arms wrapped tightly around her. She buried her face against his chest, breathing him in. David pressed his face into her hair and nuzzled, arms holding her tight to him. Ruby nipped his chest through his t-shirt sharply and he let his arms loosen a bit.

Ruby settled in against him, looking out at the Pacific over his arm while David stroked her hair.

"You're sure?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I'm sure, Sire."