In the Heart of the Storm

It was now Harley's turn again to ask a question. She knew exactly what she wanted to ask this time. It was something that had been on her mind since Mason had saved her life that night.

"Why did you save me? I mean, I could have killed you straight after and what I don't get is how you knew I wouldn't."

Another question that Mason had known was coming, he wasn't quite sure if he should share the truthful answer with her just yet. He was afraid that she wouldn't speak to him ever again afterwards. Though he wasn't sure if he could come up with a plausible excuse.

"Oh, come on! That's too easy. I saved you because…" He began, trying to think. "Because I'm Spider-man!" He announced jokingly.

"Really? No, I don't think so, buddy. You're not spidey. Oh, and you're not funny. Now, come on, give it! The truth." She demanded, withholding a laugh at his stupid answer.

He knew that she would be expecting a real answer following his joking moment, but it wasn't the right time to say it. Vampires lived for an eternity and once their heart wanted something, there was no way of changing that. Mason already knew what his heart wanted. He wanted her; not for a snack, a string of one night stands or just to play around with either. He wanted her in his eternity. But just because it was what he wanted, it didn't mean that it was what she wanted too. No matter how he felt, he couldn't be selfish with her. He had to do what was best for her.

"Harley, listen… I'm not going to lie, I have my reasons for saving your life that night, but to prevent any confusion or inner conflict, I am not going to share them with you tonight. I'm sorry."

At first she frowned, frustrated by how secretive he was, but after thinking it through, her expression softened. It wasn't something she needed to be worrying about right now, not after the horrible day she'd had with her family. Instead, she settled for another question.

"It's okay, I understand. Maybe another night." She agreed. "The other question that I wanted to ask… Are there other vampires like you? I mean, surely not all of them are heartless monsters, right?"

He was relieved that this question was not focused around him, or his story. He would hate to have to tell her that the vampire he had sworn blind allegiance to, the one that had saved his life, was also the same vampire responsible for killing her mother. It was not something he wanted to get into just yet. He would tell her, but only when the time was right.

"Hmm… Let me put it like this, it's pretty much the same grouping as humans. You get both good and evil, and sometimes those who are caught in between. You see, being a vampire doesn't turn you into a monster. It only enhances what's already there. If a murderer got turned, they'd most likely be beyond evil and if it were someone good, say part of a dog rescue team or something, their pure spirit and good energy would be turned up." He explained.

Becoming even more intrigued, Harley knew that she could not share these answers with anyone and certainly not her father. Unlike her, he was a close minded person and his views never changed no matter how convincing the evidence was. There was so much more to Mason than she ever thought possible with a vampire, and the more time she spent with him, the more she found herself wanting to know everything.

"That makes sense, though I'm sure my dad would love to argue." She half joked. "Don't worry, I would never tell-" She reassured him, but before she could finish her sentence a loud rumble of thunder shook the whole house, followed by a strike of purple lightning that illuminated the entire room.

Once again, his thirst rose to the surface causing him to zone out on every sound except the beating of her heart. Unable to trust himself, he turned away from her so that he was facing the wall.

"Uh…"

"I'm sorry, you should go."

"What? But… It's pouring outside."

"Catching a cold is better than having your throat ripped out, trust me."

Fed up with everyone behaving so erratically towards her, she stood up and walked over to a nearby window, watching the storm rage outside. She'd never related to the weather so much in her life. Between her father's constant disapproval, Mason's secrecy and everything else, it was all becoming too much for her to take.

"I'm sorry, Harley."

"Yeah you keep saying that yet somehow nothing is changing." She stated. He opened his mouth to speak but she continued before he could. "I'm sorry. Those words mean nothing when the person saying them keeps screwing up. You know what? Don't worry about it. I should have expected as much. Disappointment and empty words are the story of my life really." She sighed.

Along with her frustration, her heartbeat also increased. For him, it felt like someone had given him a stethoscope as the sound grew louder in his ears. He stared at her with eyes more intimidating than a lion stalking its prey, and just as the thought of what her blood tasted like began to intrude on his thoughts, another lightning strike violently crashed through the sky. Just like the weather outside, he lost all control.

Ba-boom. Ba-boom. He could hear her heart beating and now it was at a volume he couldn't escape. Rushing over to where she was standing by the window, he caught her off guard as she turned around and jerked back.

"Mason?... What are you…?" She began to question, but trailed off and swallowed hard as she noticed his eyes set upon her throat.

He said nothing, only stepped closer to her. She bit her lip, trying to hide her fear. Being a hunter didn't mean that she never got scared, it only meant that she hid it well. Not this time though.

"You're afraid of me. You should be." He half whispered, smirking at her insane unsettling way.

"I'm not afraid of you. I know you, you're not going to hurt me."

His mind was almost able to settle when another lightning strike along with a clap of thunder shook the city. Succumbing to his urges, he gripped her tightly by the shoulders and moved in towards her neck. He could feel her body stiffen under his lock, and then the tremors that rattled her body, making her pulse leap.

"Mason… Stop! You don't want to do this…"

The only response she got was a low growl as he located the right area of her neck and pulled his lips back. Within a second, the pointed tips of his fangs were digging into her skin, preparing to sink in deeper.

"Mason!" She yelled, trying to get through to him.

Throwing his head back, he suddenly lurched forward again, this time stabbing his fangs in her neck, causing her to cry out in both shock and pain. Her throat burned as she felt the blood being drained from her body and soon her head began to ache. Without her weapons, she stood no chance at forcing him off of her. With no warning, he withdrew his fangs and for a split second she thought he'd finally snapped back to reality until he moved in again. This time, he didn't bother to hold back and bit into her with a force that almost caused her to faint.

"Ahh… Mason, stop it! You're hurting me!" She cried, becoming frantic as each second passed.

Finally, her words seemed to get through to him as he lifted his head and looked her in the eyes before throwing himself across the room, as far away from her as possible. Catching her breath, she relaxed a little. Bringing her hand to her neck, she felt the thick and sticky substance around two small puncture wounds. Taking her hand away, she stared at her crimson dyed fingers in shock.

"Oh my… Harley, no! What have I done?" Mason, clearly upset by his actions, scolded himself..

"You were right! I should have left. Goodbye, Mason." She whispered, her voice breaking in the process.

"No! Wait…" He began to protest, but before he could finish his sentence she was already out the door.

Still in shock over what he'd just done, he stood for a moment trying to process what had just happened. He wiped the spilled blood away from his mouth, igniting a deep hatred for himself in the process. Scaring Harley away was not something he'd wanted to do tonight and he'd always thought that he was stronger than his craving for blood. Without any regard for himself, he fled the house and followed her out into the torrential rain. She was unarmed and human out there, it was not safe to be out unprotected during a storm.

"Harley!" He yelled through the storm, running at a human speed to catch her up just in case there were any prying eyes.

Unsurprisingly, she ignored his call and continued walking away. He wouldn't force her to stay, but he couldn't bear the thought of her hating him. He had to at least try to make things right. Checking to make sure that no one could see, he moved forward at an inhuman speed and finally caught her up. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around and push him away with both hands. He staggered back, glancing at her as he lifted his eyes from the ground when she didn't move.

"Do not touch me!"

"You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But it's pouring out here, you're already soaked again and I don't want you to get sick." He yelled above the storm.

"Well, it's just like you said… Catching a cold is better than having your throat ripped out."

A pang of guilt shot through his heart and for the first time in his five hundred years, he felt his eyes begin to burn. In the time since he'd been a vampire, no tears had even threatened to fall; until now. He found himself unable to move and only able to watch as she stalked away. Hanging his head in shame, he turned around to walk back to the house and took one last look at her over his shoulder before she disappeared out of sight.

_ _ _ _

Harley wrapped her arms around herself to keep from shivering as she continued to walk away. Each step she took caused the empty feeling inside her to grow bigger. She wiped constantly at her eyes, annoyed with herself for being upset over a night gone horribly wrong after she trusted a vampire. There was no one else that she could blame but herself. All her life, her father had taught her that the creatures of the night couldn't be trusted at all, yet because of her desperation to talk to someone outside of the hunting life she had stupidly ignored it.

As she neared the same old apartment block, she swept all of her hair to one side to cover the puncture wounds that had been left by Mason's fangs. She hated to think what would happen if her father saw them. The strange thing though, was that it didn't even hurt anymore. She had been expecting to burn, ache or throb but nada. Not even a tingle. It didn't, however, mean that there was no pain at all. Rather than the bite mark, it was her heart that was hurting. It made no sense, Mason was a vampire and she was a hunter, they were destined to be enemies. So, why did the thought of killing him repulse her?

With that question lodged in her mind, she headed up the stairs and into the apartment. Part of her wanted to turn around and go back to Mason, but she had to stand her ground. If she was going to let him live, he couldn't be using her as a walking blood bag.

"Harley?" Zander questioned, watching her slam the door shut.

Ignoring him completely, she walked down the narrow hall and into her room, slamming the door once again, not wanting to be disturbed. Throwing herself face down on the bed, she closed her eyes to drown out the world around her. Although she was tired, sleep still wouldn't come, making it the third night in a row that would be sleepless. The darkness in her mind was soon replaced with Mason's image; his innocent looking face, deathly pale skin highlighting his ocean blue eyes, his overgrown dirty blonde hair falling into his face… A face that she couldn't forget, even if she wanted to. It was inked into her mind like a tattoo on skin.

"Why did you have to screw up like this?" She spoke into thin air, wishing that she could ask him the question.

Opening her eyes again, she got off the bed and went over to her closet, pulling out a change of clothes; a baggy white t-shirt, a pair of black leggings and a light gray jumper. If anything at all, the only good thing that came out of leaving Mason was getting out of that awful dress he'd had her change into only a few hours prior. Throwing on the fresh, dry clothes, she returned to her position on the bed and listened to the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the window. She knew that Zander would not be happy with her early return home, but unfortunately due to the storm, visiting her mother was not an option.

A knock at her bedroom door interrupted her thoughts and she sat up, not really wanting to interact with anyone, but forcing herself to anyway.

"Come in."

In a matter of half a second, the door opened and Zander walked in, perching on the edge of her bed. He didn't look happy in the slightest and she already knew exactly how this conversation was going to go.

"Do I not even get a simple hello?"

"Considering what you've done and how you've treated me recently, then I'd say a hello is way too polite for you. Would you settle for a go to hell instead?"

"Harley, watch your tone! It's been off with me lately and I won't tolerate much more of it."

"Yeah right, what are you going to do? Ground me? I'm a little too old for that kind of crap now."

"No! Now, tell me why you're back so early. I seem to recall telling you to stay out until sunrise."

"Are you blind or just plain stupid?" She questioned sarcastically. "There's a crazy storm out there, I hardly think it's fair for me to stay out there all night."

"Life is unfair, Harley but don't think that it means you can dodge your responsibilities."

"My responsibilities? Don't you mean your responsibilities? The ones that you dump on me just because you want to forget the reason why you forced me into hunting in the first place. Because you want to erase all traces of mom from your life."

Reaching out, he grabbed the collar of her jumper and pulled her closer. Her eyes widened as she saw the stone cold look in his eyes. Putting his lips to her ear, he swallowed hard before speaking.

"Don't you dare speak of such things again, if you do I will make your life hell!" He threatened, then released her collar, shoving her away.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that dad, you've already done a fine job making my life hell." She whispered, visibly upset by his actions.

Waiting until Zander got up and left the room, she brought her knees up to her chest and buried her head in the space between. She felt like she could just die of frustration and heartache right there on the spot. There wasn't a time since her mother had died that she recalled feeling as low as she did now. Hearing a tap on the window, she lifted her head and wiped her eyes for the second time that night, though it proved useless as fresh tears just replaced the old ones. Getting up, she walked over to the window and opened it up, looking out.

"Down here!"

Looking down towards the fire exit, she saw Mason standing on the metal platform and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. It really wasn't a good time.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice hiccuping.

"I just want to apologize, please let me up so I can say what I need to."

"How do I know that you're not going to hurt me?"

"I won't. I swear."

"That's not enough."

"I give you permission to stake me if I so much as even touch you."

Thinking it through for a moment, she made her decision and opened the window wide enough for him to climb through. She was in no mood to argue, and she wanted at least one thing to go right for once. Waiting until he'd climbed through and shook himself dry the way a dog would, she unexpectedly struck him in the face. He staggered back, rubbing his cheek before shaking the feeling off and returning his focus to her.

"I deserve that."

"Yeah, you do. Now really isn't a good time so make your case and leave, because I can't take anymore tonight."

"Of course, whatever you want… Wait a minute, have you been crying?" He asked, noticing her red rimmed eyes.

"No. I don't cry, I'm not a little girl."

"Contrary to popular belief, big girls cry too."

"It's nothing. Forget it. Just get to the point, why are you here?" She prompted, not wanting to get into details as she was still upset with him as well as her father.

"As you wish." He said, more than willing to comply with her wishes. "Earlier tonight I told you about how storms and certain weather conditions affect us vampires…"

"Yeah, so? If you think that's an excuse, it's not. I mean you really hurt me Mason, and it goes beyond what I've had to physically hide from my father."

He cringed at her words, knowing he'd screwed up badly. It wouldn't have happened if he'd been able to control himself, and he'd learned something important through it all; no matter how much he thinks he has it under control, he can never be too careful.

"Trust me, I know. And I regret it more deeply than you think. I thought that I had it under control and-" He tried to explain, but she was quick to cut in.

"You thought you did, but you didn't and look what happened. If I am going to let you live, I need to be able to trust that you're not going to hurt anyone. Not just me, but the hundreds of thousands of innocent people in this city."

"It's in my nature to hunt and kill, but for five hundred years I have never failed to control the urge, until tonight. You have had some rather strange effects on me, and I know why but I can't tell you. Especially not after what I've done. I hurt you, Harley and that's unacceptable. Look, I'm not here to beg for your forgiveness, Lord knows I don't deserve it… But I'm here to promise that I will do better by you."

Harley closed her burning eyes for a brief second, not up to making a decision after the events of the night. Part of her wanted him to beg for forgiveness, wanted him to know how it felt to be disappointed after hoping for much more, but she knew that there had to have been a point in his immortal years where he'd felt it. Feeling weaker than she ever had before, she fell forward, resting her head against his shoulder without making any further contact with him. She cried out in both frustration and hurt as she'd finally reached her breaking point.

"Did I say something wrong?" He wondered aloud, not knowing what to do. Placing his hands on her forearms, he hoped that it would bring at least a tiny shred of comfort to her.

Breathing in the smell of rain and city air that had stuck to him during his travels, she found the scent oddly calming. Her heart along with her head hurt like hell, but there was something about his presence that seemed to numb the pain leaving her with a dull ache. Slowly lifting her head, her eyes locked with his for a brief moment and she felt everything else drift away from her mind. He stared back at her, watching as she looked him up and down until her eyes settled upon his lips. She leaned in closer to him, stopping only when their faces were inches apart. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, but stopped moving and opened them again only half a second later.

"I can't." He whispered softly.