Hey guys! Quick thing before you read – I apparently have a huge problem with verb tenses, which I fully recognize and am currently trying to work out with my writing style. But for now, please bear with it and ignore that the tenses change at times. Thank you, and enjoy the fourth chapter! ^^

…..

I'm sitting on the window-sill, watching the sun hide beneath the mountains. I'm folding my hands delicately onto my lap. I'm blinking slowly, adjusting to the new-found darkness each moment that passes. I'm wanting to sigh, deeply and annoyingly, but I don't because I'm afraid it might draw unwanted attention.

I've been ignoring him since after he served my dinner. It was extremely awkward, for one, because all he did was stare at me while I ate.

I asked him why. He just smiled and told me he was jealous.

"Can't you eat food?" I had asked.

His grin grew to a smirk. "Of course. But it's…let's just say, it's not as filling as other things can be."

I choked on my food and he'd only laughed and refilled my water glass.

For the second reason, with whatever the hell happened before the food came, I am very nervous to be near him. He had been staring at me so intently, and those eyes…

I stiffened my back and rested my head against the window frame. Just forget about it, Rosanne. Just let it go. You're not going to understand what happened because you have yet to understand him.

I've never dealt with people like this. I grew up with people, of course, but never the same smiles and never the same names. The two constant people in my life are Mary and my father. If my mother were here, maybe she could have taught me basics of actually getting to know someone.

If my mother were here…

Oh.

My steady gaze faltered for just a moment. The darkening sky turned into the grass below as my brows furrowed and my fingers squeezed each other.

If. If only. Huh. I haven't had a thought like that in a very long time. I guess it was just wishful thinking that I had finally gotten over it.

But now I can't stop it. The words begin to flood my mind and my eyes begin to glaze.

If my mother were here, then everything would be easier. If only my mother were here, then I wouldn't have to try so hard. Maybe father wouldn't be angry and maybe I wouldn't be lonely.

"Rosanne."

Don't cry, don't cry. But if she were here I wouldn't have to cry. If, and maybe, and all my doubts would be gone and they wouldn't be grated into my mind.

"Rosanne, look at me."

If my mother were here, Mary wouldn't have had to-

"Rosanne, look at me."

His fingers grab my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. I can feel my nails digging into my palm and I slowly relax them as he observes my face.

He doesn't say anything as his other hand starts wiping at my face with his sleeve.

"W-what are you doing?" I swat his hand away. His face stays stoic and he keeps coming at me with his sleeve, practically barricading me against the window.

"Stop! What are you doing?" I swat once more and he gives me a look of annoyance.

"You're crying," he whispers.

I stop swatting and look at him. Then I look away and fiercely rub my eyes with my palm, indeed feeling slight moisture against my skin.

I groan and look up at him. "So? So what, I'm crying, people do it sometimes, you know? Do you ever cry? You probably don't. I've heard rumors that you're soulless creatures that can't feel emotions. Although, spending this time with you I should probably realize by now that you can feel, especially as angry as you can get sometimes."

I laugh too loudly and dig my palm into my eyes again, feeling uncomfortable. "It doesn't matter that I'm crying. How did you notice, anyway? Are you super sensitive to feelings or something?" This thought actually made me laugh. "That's just…That's ridiculous…"

"Stop digging at your eyes like that. You'll gouge your eyes out." He takes my hand from my eyes and rubes his thumb lightly against it.

"I will not! I won't. That's impossible, Idiot."

He smiles and hugs me.

What?

His wraps his arms around me, my arms dangling freely. My eyes are wide and I can't move my body to react. He sets his cheek against mine and keeps it there, for just a moment, before letting go entirely and turning around to walk away.

That's…What? What?

My eyes are fixed against his retreating back and the only coherent thought I can think is:

Don't go away!

Then I start sobbing and I hide my face in my hands. I feel like an idiot, such an idiot because I know I'm too old to be acting like this and crying over my mom even though I know she's gone and there's nothing I can do and I just feel so stupid.

He comes to me and I'm sobbing, practically punching his gut, yet he's still trying to wipe my tears and hold me against him. I push him away, because I don't need his sympathy and I don't need him. That's when I really hate him – because I'm suddenly realizing that he's kind of a good guy. I push him away.

And then I'm scared shitless because apparently I pushed too hard and now I'm falling out the window.

"Rosanne!" he yells, and reaches out for my hand. I go with the flow as he grabs it and forces my body against his. My eyes are transfixed to the sky and my last stupid thought is 'That's so beautiful' instead of 'Ohmygawd we could die'.

But we're alive. Of course we are, I think, because it's Lidium who saved me, not anyone else. No one else would have been able to land on his feet so delicately after falling from a tower window, while also holding a girl in his arms.

When we land he loses his footing and we both slip onto the wet grass. I'm winded for just a second and I take several deep breaths to calm down. Beside me, Lidium also takes a deep breath but leaves it at that. His arm is under my shoulders and we lay side by side underneath the dark sky. It's the most calming and relaxing moment I've had in a long time.

Then, like an idiot, I begin to giggle.

It starts small, and as it begins to grow, I cover my mouth. Then my entire body starts shaking and I just give up and bust out in laughter.

I could feel his curious stare as I continued to laugh. I turned into him to hide my face in his shoulder to try to catch my breath.

Then I felt him shaking, and I realized he was also trying to keep in his laughter.

We both started laughing, loudly, and I could feel the tears on my cheeks as I tried to get myself together. Every time I looked at him though, I just wanted to laugh more!

"We- we could have died!" I laughed. "Holy shit, Lidium!" I laughed some more.

"No way in hell," he laughed. "A-as long as you decide to fall out of a window when I'm there, you won't die, I promise," he laughed some more.

As our laughter fades, our smiles don't, which I'm grateful for. I sit up and hover my face above his, smiling.

"Thank you," I whisper. His smile didn't falters when I lean forward and kiss his forehead lightly, letting my lips linger longer than necessary.

I get up and stretch my arms above my head. I close my eyes and just revel in this happy moment, for just one more second, before turning around and getting down to business.

Lidium is still against the grass and I lightly kick his side. "Lidium." His gaze meets mine. "We need to get back up to the room. Do you any ideas?" I raise my brow and cross my arms.

"Ugh." is his reply and he drags his palms down his face before swiftly standing and walking to the tower wall. "I can jump. But…"

"But?"

"But, are you sure you're up for it?"

His eyes challenge mine and I lift my chin. "Of course I am. I can do anything."

He smiles. "Good. You need that attitude to be my wife."

I blush and take a step back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Absolutely nothing!" he replies immediately. "Unless of course, you want it to mean something. Then it can mean anything you want it to." He waggled his brows at me then walked up to me. "Take off your dress."

"Excuse me?"

He rolls his eyes and talks to me as if I'm a child. "I need speed to jump up this tower Rosanne. We need to lose anything that could weigh us down. And that dress-" He points to my layered skirt and corset. "-definitely weighs more than it needs to."

I hug my middle and glare at him. "And how in the world are we going to explain why my dress was thrown out the window?"

"That's easy. You ripped you clothes off in a fit of rage from being in a room with me and threw them out the window, of course."

I look at him like he's an idiot. "You really think they'll believe that?"

"Yes. –Ouch! No, okay, no they won't. Don't hit me! I'll just jump back out the window when you're safe and pick it up, okay?" He lightly pushes me away and turns around. "Now take it off."

"You're going to see me anyway; I don't know why you turned around."

"Oh!" he said as he turned, "So you want me to watch you?"

"No! No. Turn back." I saw his smirk as he turned back and I seethed quietly. Most of the time I just want to hit him.

After fumbling for a few seconds, I grew angry and began to tear off the layers. I kept on the corset because I knew it wouldn't weigh us down. It better not, anyway. There is no way I am taking it off.

I threw them against the wall and faced Lidium. "Okay."

He purposefully kept his eyes on my face and nodded, opening his arms out to me.

I blush and walked into his open arms. The stars are finally all shining, and the moonlight was our only light.

The stories I heard when I was young, I remember them saying that the night was the natural time for the Vampires to live. They thrive in it. And watching Lidium now, I can see that those stories, at least this specific notion, are completely true. He seemed to shine in the moonlight, his smooth skin looking more so, even with the shadows contrasting with the fair complexion. His eyes definitely gleamed; I guess being able to use his strength while with us made him happy. Being able to show that he can do this…

"Lidium, do you miss your home? Being able to do things like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like…Vampire stuff. I guess. Jumping to high places, using your strength. Do you miss being able to do it openly?"

He glanced at me and then he backed up a little further, holding me tighter against him as he crouched down. "Of course I do. But also…because I'm not doing it as much as I used to, in moments that I can…" His left foot dragged back the dirt behind him and he bent his right knee. I could literally see the excitement shining in his eyes. "…the wait makes it so much more exhilarating."

Then he flew off and we were suddenly running up the tower wall, everything blurring beside us until we reached the window and he threw me in.

I landed on my butt and cursed him for just tossing me inside. By the time it took me to stand, Lidium was already back inside the room, setting his foot down as he climbed through the window, throwing my dress at me. "There you go. You may dress, if you like. Though I don't see the point, because it's time for bed."

I fumbled with the dress. "Bed?"

He looked up at me and smiled. "Don't worry, Rosanne."

"Why would I worry?" I replied, turning toward the bed. "Just stay on the other side. No touching."

He didn't reply and I turned to make sure he understood.

"You're an odd one," he said. I took offense and asked him why he thinks that.

"You're worried about me touching you, when I can do much worse. I know you know I'm a vampire. Has it not hit you yet?" He tapped my forehead with his index finger and smiled when I slapped it away. His teeth decided for that moment to shine in my eyes.

I looked at him sideways and thought. He stared steadily back, and waited.

"No." I turned.

"No, what?"

"No, I'm not worried."

"You have no sense of danger."

I whipped around and jabbed my finger in his chest. "I have every sense I need to know that you can kill me. I know it! You don't have to keep saying it because I know it already."

"Well obviously I do, because you don't fear me enough!" he grabbed my finger and pulled me to him.

"Fear you? Of course I fear you! Only an idiot wouldn't and I'm not an idiot." He raised his brow at me and I lightly slapped him. "I'm not."

"Why are you so fine with me? My father warned me that you would be terrified for the first couple weeks. But all you've been is aggravating, independent, and down-right stupid!"

I slapped him hard and he rolled his eyes. "Okay I deserved that."

"You don't talk to a lady that way."

"You're anything but a lady, just a woman who's dense enough to not be afraid of her own death."

"You won't be my death Lidium."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because you could have let me fall, but instead you held me close."

His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

"You held me close, and you fell with me."

He looked baffled. "That's it? That's all you need to believe that your life is safe with a killer?"

"Shut up Lidium, I may not know you well, but I know you well enough to see that you're not a

murderer."

"That's how your people know my race."

"You're not your race, Lidium. You're only one small portion of it. That's why I don't believe it."

He seemed dumbstruck and I patted his cheek.

"You saved me, Lidium." I said. He glared and I shrugged and turned away.

"If you think you're a killer, than fine. But you're not mine."

…

Voila!

Thank you to me beta JustBella for being so totally awesome. She is. Like, so totally :]
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please R&R! I'd really very appreciate it 3

Love ya alls!
`Micsel