He'd finally done it. It'd been just one comment too many.

She had to dash out of the room to keep herself from yelling at him. He didn't try to follow her, or even say a word against it. She just ran down the hallway and out the large double-doors, back out into those gardens. She didn't stop running until she found that fountain again, the angel still smiling faintly from her place in the center. In the full sunlight, she looked a little faker. A little more like the marble she was made of. Sayuka sat down next to it, bringing her knees up to her chest, back against the cold stone.

It was quiet there. She mulled her situation over. She finally started crying, tears streaming down her face, and even though she pinched her eyes closed and shook her head and told herself to cut it out, she just couldn't stop. Her hands were shaking and she had a terrible splitting headache. She wished she were back in her tiny little apartment, under the covers of her bed, instead of stuck out here, hiding behind a fountain.

No wonder some of the others never came back. Two weeks here, and Sayuka was beginning to wonder if they hadn't just killed themselves to get out of it.

She heard footsteps approaching. For a moment she thought it might have been Zelman, but they were much too loud, and there was more than one of them. She stood up, moving so that she would be behind the fountain, before four men in black coats appeared through one of the paths. Two of them were thin, and the other two were very well-built, the tallest of them leading. The tall one stopped halfway across the clearing upon noticing her. A smirk crossed his face, nothing short of sadistic, and the others turned to see what he was looking at.

"Well, well, if it isn't a little lost lamb," he sneered, his voice deep and raspy, "Where's the rest of your flock, little girl?"

She took a step back as he approached her, unsure of what to do. She recognized them as Coven members from their coats, and knew that they were all Black Bloods with morals on par with Zelman's. The tall one didn't even hesitate when he was close enough to reach out to her. He grabbed her chin harshly and pulled her closer, looking her over. She snarled and pushed him back in response, sending them both stumbling away from each other.

"Oh, aren't you a feisty one," he only seemed entertained by Sayuka's willingness to fight back, and stepped closer again. She heard the others snickering behind him. She knew very well what happened to pretty girls who were found by the Coven, and she didn't want to be one of them. She took another step back, then another, but couldn't run. Something in her told her to stay—maybe that stupid faith that her silly marble angel would protect her like it did before. But it wouldn't work. She'd be dead in an hour, or worse.

"Come on now, why don't you just hold still like a good little lamb, and we'll show you—"

His words were forced back down his throat and his face contorted in pain. There was someone behind him with their hand on the back of his neck, crushing it from behind. She knew without seeing him that it was Zelman, even though he hadn't been there a moment ago. The tall man was lifted an inch off the ground, and she heard Zelman's voice, quiet but commanding, filled with a rage she'd never heard from him before.

"You won't touch her again."

The tall man couldn't respond before he was suddenly engulfed in flames. They reached up towards the sky, and Sayuka shielded her face with her hands against the sudden heat. She heard the burning vampire let out an agonized scream before his body turned to ash in Zelman's hand. The flames died down and she looked just in time to see the red glow from his eyes fade away. His fangs were bared and he looked absolutely disgusted at the pile of ashes at his feet.

The other Coven vampires were shocked, eyes wide and mouths hanging open in plain fear. Zelman gingerly smashed the remains of a skull in with his shoe, and Sayuka heard the bone crack as if it were made of fragile glass.

"Go tell the others, this one is mine. If I catch any of you sniffing around my things again, you'll wish your death had been as quick as his."

Without a second to lose, they scrambled off back the way they'd come, obviously frightened for their lives. Sayuka stood there, terrified, feeling Zelman's murderous aura washing everything in a silent anger. She felt angry too; angry at herself for running off, angry for getting into this mess, angry that Zelman had to come and save her because she was so weak she wouldn't have been able to defend herself against Black Bloods. What kind of an assistant was she, the little Red Blood who couldn't do anything right?

Zelman finally sighed, the aura disappearing quietly back to wherever he hid that dangerous intent of his. He turned and fixed his eyes on her, forcing eye contact.

"Are you alright?" he asked, face emotionless again.

It took a while for her to work up an answer. Was she alright?

"Y-Yes… I'll be… I'll…" her voice got caught in her throat. She would be fine. She wanted to tell him that she would be fine. Damn it, why couldn't she do it?

"Were you crying?"

She blinked, the sudden question catching her off guard. He looked curious, as if he didn't understand. She realized that her face and makeup were probably a mess, and in a fluster, tried to wipe off her cheeks and her eyes with her sleeve. She took her glasses off to get at the water building up in her eyes again. A pathetic sniffle escaped her when she did. She looked down at the floor, completely mortified with her behavior. She was practically having a breakdown in front of her boss. She'd never acted so far from professional in her entire life.

Zelman stepped towards her, and she was surprised to feel a warm hand on her cheek. Her face was tilted up towards his, and she saw him smiling at her.

"Oh, come now," he said, perhaps teasing her, "You're not going to be very useful if you just cry at everything."

His eyes held no contempt, and his features were softened. He was entrancingly beautiful, and the angel paled in comparison. There it was again, that porcelain skin and that small smile. She recognized this as the man she'd met in the garden and who she'd talked to in the café. Maybe it was a lie, and maybe he was only doing it to make her feel better, but... She felt, for the first time in weeks, like he was a friend. For the briefest of moments, she felt like she'd done something right.

She choked back a sob and rather unceremoniously buried her face in his shirt, clutching onto the fabric with her free hand. She felt him freeze up, surprised by the sudden outburst, but after a few moments he relaxed again. She felt a strong arm slip around her waist, and a hand brushed against the top of her head. He shushed her quietly, and they stood by the fountain for a while, her crying, him holding her there. Eventually she managed to calm down, and slowly detached from him. He did the same to her, taking a step back. She'd never noticed how warm he was before, and felt a little regretful that she'd let go.

"Better now?" he smirked a little, "Or are we going to stand out here in the sun for another hour?"

Sayuka gasped when she realized that Zelman was out of the house in broad daylight.

"Zelman-sama, what are you doing out here? If it hurts, go back inside!"

She was shocked. Vampires didn't like sunlight, and that was a fact. Those Coven members were of the bloodline that could stand sunlight, but what about Zelman? She knew he hated sunlight, and yet he'd come out of the house into it just to make sure she was okay.

"It's not that bad… Just a headache." He shrugged, "Though I wouldn't mind being in the shade, all things considered…"

Sayuka let out a sigh of relief, and oddly enough, found herself laughing a little. She told herself afterwards that she was just giddy from the adrenaline rush and dehydration at the time. She nodded to herself and started to walk back up the stairs to the mansion, Zelman close behind her.

* * * * *

Over the next week, Zelman talked to her. He told her about how everything in the Special Zone worked, as well as how the Black Blood social world operated. She was surprised to hear that it was quite a bit different from the human world, and began to understand why he became angry with her for speaking out of line. She felt it was safe to ask questions, and he answered them to the best of his ability. There were a few concepts he said didn't translate over well, but he tried anyway. He recounted to her his past adventures and where he stood politically, and then explained where he wanted to go from there. Sayuka listened to everything, carefully logging the information into the back of her head so that she could act appropriately on it in the future.

They slowly sank back into their usual routines. Zelman would slack off all the time, and Sayuka would be stuck following him on whatever silly ideas he came up with, but he was much more patient with her. In return, she tried very hard to be as patient with him. Sometimes he would actually think about her suggestions before declining them, which was a small victory in itself, considering she'd thought she might never get his attention for more than five minutes at a time the week before.

Sometimes, if she did very well, he'd thank her and tell her what a good job she was doing. She strived towards those moments, wanting to see him smile at her again. Sometimes he'd call her aside from her work for a little while, just to chat with her, or once or twice, ask her for her opinion on something.

One morning, she woke up and realized she was actually looking forward to seeing him that day.

It was as if he had, with a few simple moves, taken a failure of a board and turned it into a winning arrangement.

He'd won her over.

* * * * *

She was stuck there overnight, but she didn't mind. The mansion was quiet at night. It was quiet during the day too, but then there were attendants running around, or people from the Coven stalking about, or summons to various places across town. At night there was just Zelman, and he was outside somewhere. He'd been near that fountain of his, looking up at the moon, but that was a few hours ago.

She sometimes wondered if he really liked it in the mansion, with everything so quiet all the time. She wondered if he ever got lonely. But then again, after eight-hundred years of avoiding people, she supposed being lonely wasn't much of a concern to him.

She finally finished the last stack of paperwork. It would have been easier if Zelman was working on them as well, but he'd been doing his own share, stuck in meetings with the other leaders all day. She figured she could at least give him a break and let him enjoy his garden for a while. When she was on her way out, she was surprised to look out the window and see that he was still out there, in the exact same place, still gazing up at the moon. She left the mansion and walked down the stairs, her approach not moving him in the slightest. His hands were in his pockets, as usual, and his face was blank again.

"Zelman-sama?" she spoke up from behind him, "Have you been out here all night?"

He finally stirred, eyes narrowing slightly. He changed his footing, but didn't move to look at her.

"Yeah."

"Are you…" She took another step towards him, meaning to ask if he was alright, but he suddenly shrugged his shoulders and turned about, animated for the first time in hours.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking." He smirked a little. She took that to mean she didn't get to know what he was thinking about. She looked up at the moon herself, a little. It was full, and looked larger than usual. It must have been closer to the earth than it was the last time she'd bothered to really notice it.

Things were quiet, save for the gentle splashing of water. Sayuka voiced a stray question that came to mind.

"May I ask why you have that fountain?" she asked, no longer afraid to look him in the eyes when she asked it, "I noticed there was another one outside the Coven's mansion as well. Is there something special about them?"

Zelman hummed an inquisitive note and looked over at the fountain, almost as if he hadn't noticed it was there. He looked thoughtful for a moment before voicing his own thoughts.

"This one is the original. Venice, Italy, 1856. No real reason, I just thought it was pretty."

"I see…" She had to smile. She wasn't sure why she'd been expecting some deep and meaningful reason for it to be there. That wouldn't have seemed very much like Zelman at all. She was almost glad to hear that the angel in his garden was only there on a whim.

"The sun will be up soon, Zelman-sama… Perhaps you should call it a night?"

She gestured past herself back towards the mansion and he looked amused at her gesture.

"I suppose you're right. Are you offering to escort me back up the stairs?"

"I… If you would like," she replied, feeling like she was missing a joke. He didn't need to be escorted anywhere. Maybe he was just kidding with her. But he just looked like his usual mischievous self. It was hard to tell when he was joking and when he was entirely serious.

She walked with him back up the stairs and through the door. Out of nowhere, he took her hand, and pulled her further into the hallway.

"Where are we going..?" she tagged along with little resistance, the contact making her blush. He was so detached from other people most of the time that his sudden intimate actions never ceased to catch her off guard. She was led into one of the guest rooms and Zelman suddenly pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. She was flustered, unsure of what to say or do, completely shocked by his sudden display of affection.

"Z-Zelman-sama," she stammered, "W-What are you—"

Her words were cut short when she felt his lips against her neck. She tensed up, heartbeat quickening. The touch made her shudder, but she couldn't find it within herself to try to push him away this time.

He kissed her skin, very lightly, and she felt like melting. She tried to say something else, but words were practically lost to her. She thought about what he would do, and it scared her… But she'd been told what it was supposed to feel like, and a small part of her, that illogical part of her that told her to move a chess piece forward and not to run when she'd encountered the Coven… It told her to stay. It told her she would be alright. Her trust in Zelman assured her that he wouldn't let anything terrible happen to her.

He moved, bringing his face up to hers. He gazed at her for a long time, peering into her eyes as if searching for something. She looked into his eyes as well, seeing the colors clearly despite the darkness. His eyes really were beautiful, haunting. Full of both life and death, and a sort of energy that couldn't be tamed. She came to understand, through those eyes, what a vampire truly was.

"Will you let me bite you?" he said softly, as if there was something in the moment that shouldn't have been disturbed. She didn't know what to say. She was lost in those beautiful eyes of his, and in the warmth of his body, and words weren't something she felt she could find at the moment.

She heard him whisper her name and saw him lean forward to trace small kisses down her jaw line. She moved her head instinctively to allow him whatever he liked. If he would enjoy it, she would too. That was all she had to know.

"Yes…" came her very small voice, barely a sound, "Please."

He took the words immediately and she felt his lips on her neck again. Her hand gripped his shirt and she closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn't hurt. She felt teeth brush past her skin and let out a gasp of pain when they sank into her neck, a sharp electric sensation shooting up and down her spine.

She found it hard to not make any noise as that strange feeling turned to pleasure, spreading from her neck to the rest of her body. It was warmth, like fire, seeping through every inch of her. Even the thundering of her heart was hard to notice, as the only thing she could register was the euphoric bliss and the presence of Zelman around her, within her. This was his power, his warmth, his being. She felt him hold her closer and the touch was entirely too much for her; she arched back and a ragged sound escaped from her throat and she thought she felt his grip tighten on her shoulder but couldn't be sure. He was all around her and she never wanted to feel any differently.

All too suddenly, the presence evaporated and she felt Zelman move away from her neck. His grip loosened and she leaned limply against him, unable to stand. She was shaking violently and her heart was racing, and there wasn't enough air between them. She felt dizzy, the last of the effects still taking effect on her. She felt herself being lifted up and watched through a haze as the room flipped sideways. She was dropped on something soft and comfortable, and felt Zelman's weight next to her.

Her mind was flooded with a mirage of images. She felt like there wasn't anything left of Sayuka, there was only Zelman and his thoughts. She could still taste the blood in her mouth, and felt him brush her bangs away from her face and regard her with a sort of charmed curiosity. He thought that she did well, but she didn't know why she knew he'd thought that. His voice came to her clearly amid the mess of thoughts in old languages she found herself able to comprehend.

"You can stay here until morning," something was moved away from her face and her vision blurred, "Have a good night, Sayuka."

He left the room, but his presence was still there, in her mind. She left with him, in a sense, felt him move about and wander. She listened to his thoughts as they mulled about, a sort of understanding beginning to reach her about what kind of a person he was. They were like a lullaby, drifting about and making beautiful sounds.

She too, began to drift, her own mind lost amidst his. Her eyes closed, and she fell asleep.

* * * * *

The next day, Zelman told her that no one had ever actually lasted a whole month before.

He said he was impressed.

From then on, she always laughed whenever the blond girl or the girl with green streaks would say they were surprised to see her still alive.