Declan: Declan jerked awake. His head pounded, and his throat burned with thirst. Worse was the fact that he had a piss like an ox, and his bladder throbbed painfully. Groaning, he got up and went to the bathroom. He had forgotten how good it felt to pee – vampires only had normal bodily functions when they ingested human food and drink, and last night he ingested a lot of it.He washed his hands and stared at his reflection in the mirror … even though it was night time, he was pale and had deep, dark circles under his eyes. "Ugh--" he belched, tasting nothing but cheap brandy,"--never again."He shuffled back to his bed where Aster still slept. Just like the night before she probably wouldn’t wake for another hour. He leaned over her, inspecting her closely. He waited to feel something, anything, but there was nothing. He was completely numb. Where his heart should have been was nothing but a big, empty void.Frowning

Declan: The charging vampire was older and stronger than Declan, but his fatal mistake was relying on brute strength. He waited until the vampire was on top of him, before dropping to one knee, spinning around and cutting through both his Achilles tendons, nearly severing his feet. The vampire roared and fell forward. Before he could heal, Declan drove his sword into the other man’s back, and twisted, hearing his opponent’s spine crack and break. He freed the blade, and brought it down, severing the vampire’s head. Just in time, he turned to see another one coming right at him. Stepping back so he could brace himself for the attack, his foot caught on something and he fell backwards, dropping his sword in the process. He saw the flash of the blade and brought his arm up just before she could cut into his neck, the steel sinking into his flesh, cutting through tissue and muscle, finally lodging in the bone, nearly breaking the radius. Declan bellowed

Aster – Part Two: Aster could have stayed like that all night – pinned to the wall, the warm water running down their bodies, soothing her frayed nerves, while his thumbs caressed her hip bones, his firm body moving against hers as he slowly thrust inside her, his pace measured, deliberately taking her to the edge, and keeping her there. Yes, she could have happily done that all night, entangled in him until the sun rose and forced them apart, but there was another part of her, not so deep down, that wanted to take control. That wanted to take back some of the power he stole when he turned his back on her. Leaning forward, she nuzzled his neck, relishing in the soft moan that escaped his throat, then stared mesmerised at the goosebumps her fluttered kisses left behind. Feeling a little more emboldened, she strangled her fingers in his hair, and pulled his head back. He chuckled softly, but she ignored him. She explored his neck, lingering on

Declan – part 2: Aster yawned loudly, quickly putting her hand in front of her mouth. “Do you want to sleep?” Declan glanced at the window, then the clock on his mantel. It was a good two hours until sunrise, but she still fell asleep much earlier than he did. She shook her head, while still hiding her yawn. “No. I get tired faster after a busy night, but I try to stay awake.” “Why? If you’re tired, sleep.” “Uh-uh. Rowan said I have to try to stay awake as long as I can…so I can build up my stamina. Tell your story; it will help me to stay awake.” “I woke up the next morning just completely drained. Obviously, as a human, I tired faster than I do now, but it never took me more than a good night’s sleep to recover…”   Feeling something wet run down his skin, Declan touched the side of his neck and felt two bumps. His heart lurched. What if he had the dreaded plague? But the lumps were painless and when he l

Aster – Part 2:She knew what to expect, so when Rowan took her hands and the tube sucked her in, she didn’t have such a strong reaction as the first time. They landed in her garden. It was morning, and the sun was just peeking its head out over the horizon. “We may have to pin this down a bit more,” Rowan said next to her. “But you can’t give me a month or time or anything like that, can you?”“No,” she said, and was struck by how much she hated being here. “I guess we need to go up to the house, and see what we can see. Maybe I can narrow it down.”They walked up the path to the mansion. Aster kept looking around her – trying to remember something, anything, from her childhood that was nightmarish. Apart from Brody’s death, an event she could barely remember, there was nothing. She was four when he died, and he was just a few months shy of his second birthday. Maybe