^*Nothing*^

[Sky]

Seth didn't reply. He just watched the dancing flames.  "Look at us. Our attitudes are off. We haven't gotten along like we used to." Seth was angry, but not at Alice. He was so angry at himself.

[potter_fan122]

Alice`s eyes flickered to their hands, unable to see his eyes. How was she supposed to reply to that?

"Well, you`re not exactly supposed to like me. You`re supposed to be repulsed by me and afraid at my touch, and here we are, snuggled up against each other and holding hands. I`m suprised I havent scared you off yet. And part of it`s probably because you smell so good; its not fair." She pretended to pout.

[Sky]

Seth squeezed her hand again. "You're beautiful, I love your touch, and to scare me off would just be...impossible."

[potter_fan122]

She had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, I know. I tried that before, and looked where we ended up." She waved her free hand over them, indicating the way their bodies were pressed against each other. "And I`m beautiful because I was made to be that way, as I`ve told you before. Somehow that manages to sink in, too." Her tone was teasing, but the words had a little edge in her mind.

[Sky]

Seth chuckled as she waved her hand over them. She had a point.

"I told you like a thousand times that being a vampire has nothing to do with your beauty." Seth said a little too seriously.

[potter_fan122]

Alice sighed and rested her hand over their hands that were already entwined.

"I know," She replied, "I just want to make sure..." She couldn`t finish, and she didn`t know how to finish. "I love you. I really do, I just wish I could be sure..." Again, she couldn`t finish. Who would have thought that someone with two-hundred years of vocabulary would be at a loss for words.

[Sky]

Seth's eyes found hers. His dark green searching her brilliant blue eyes for something to stop the confusion that just hit him.

"Make sure of...what?" He asked slowly.

[potter_fan122]

Alice slowly looked up, her mind racing to find a way to finish.

"To make sure that you`re right. To make sure that you`re ready for this. To make sure that you`re not going to change your mind when this is all over." She said softly and slowly, letting ehr words sink in.

[Sky]

"Well, there's no going back once its done. Its irreversible." Seth's voice was just as soft. "I'm ready."

[potter_fan122]

"No, you`re not." Alice replied firmly. "You said so yourself the other night. If you were a vampire, you would be giving up your life. You would be giving up warmth and sunlight. You would be giving up your wolf." She knew that that was a weak spot of his; he had given in under that thought last night.

[Sky]

"Well, I've thought really hard over it. I really have." Seth furrowed his brows as he turned to face her. "Those things...they really don't matter. What matters is you. I'm willing to become a vampire." Seth took her hand and spoke every next syllable slowly. "I'm ready to become a vampire."

[potter_fan122]

Alice looked Seth in the eye, her own not as light as they should be for just feeding earlier that day. She slowly lifted her cold hand and rested it on his cheek. Then she carefully ran her thumb along his bottom lip.

"You`re telling me that right now, at this very instant, you`re ready to change." She didn`t beilieve him, she really didn`t. There was just... something inside her that told her that this wasn`t right. It could have been that part of her that longed to rip open his neck with her teeth and drink from him, but she couldn`t be sure, and she just ignored the feeling.

[Sky]

Seth's eyes followed her hand as she went to touch his face, and then traveled back to her eyes, not as bright as before.

"Yes." He said, enunciating the word.

[potter_fan122]

Alice looked down and adjusted herself so that she was sitting on her knees. When her eyes met his again, they were a slight shade darker. The smell of him so close... and she could feel his pulse under her fingertips. He didn`t seem afraid, though, and he seemed like he wanted this. Her mind worked quickly to think of something to say...

She leaned forward onto her knees until she was close to him, the heat from his mortal body seeming to roll off of him in waves. Her lips brushed his lightly, then pressed a little harder. Her hand was still on his cheek, but she lowered it to the side of his neck. His skin seemed so hot there, like he had a high fever.

"Hold still." Alice murmured, letting her lips drift down to his neck. She hesitated, her mind still turning over different possibilities and situations. But then her lips were there, against his neck, parting. She realized with a shock that two of her teeth had grown into fangs-- fangs with deadly sharp points. They hadn`t sharpened since the last she almost attacked a human.

For their blood.

Alice moaned softly, the memory of the taste of human blood so clear in her mind. Funny how the thing she had tried to push down came back just like that. Another disadvantage at being immortal-- you never forget anything. The smell of Seth`s blood so close to her. The scent overwhelmed her, made her want to forget that she didn`t want to be a monster.

And just like that, she was one the other side of the room, crouching down with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her eyes were wide and black now, and her side was pressed against the wall. She wasn`t breathing, either. No, breathing would bring that scent back to her. The smell of his blood. The smell of that poison that every being needed to live.

"I can`t do it." She choaked, careful not to inhale when she spoke. Little did he know that she had done just what she had hoped she would. She wasn`t going to turn him here, obviously, and one of her only conditions was to marry him first. How could he have forgotten that so easily? He didn`t even have a ring to give her; the one he had tried to gove her before was tucked up in her trunk int he dormitory. But he wouldn`t see that. He would see a vampire, with fangs out, that had almost lost herself just with the smell of a little blood. She hadn`t even smelled his blood directly, but that would be too much. She thirtsed for his blood enough, she didn`t need it to be waved in front of her for her to go crazy. A small part of her couldn`t believe that she had gotten that close. She knew that she wasn`t going to change him here, and definatly not now. But it had been a close call, even if he didn`t know it.

[Sky]

Seth sat still, but relaxed. Alice's voice was so soothing. He felt her lips of ice make contact with his fire. The effect was bliss. He was going to kiss her back but her lips had fallen to his neck. Her cold breath making him shiver.

He tensed as she said "hold still", preparing himself for what would be coming next. He closed his eyes, inhaled, but when he exhaled she was on the other side of the room.

Seth looked down, sighing. She was so close to doing it.