Vampire Killers Inc.

Hate to love you, love to hate you.

The light exploded out of her fingertips as the first vampire reached for the door of the cupboard. The wooden panelling disintegrated around her, exploding outwards into the room and catching her attacker fully in the chest. He roared in agonised pain as his comrade darted swiftly aside, saving himself while his friend died. Hissing, the survivor turned upon Liz, who sat in a pile of rubble coughing violently.

"YOU." He stalked forward and grabbed her, choking the incantation that had begun to form on her lips.

She screamed, well, gurgled, kicking and raking her nails down his arms and his face. His tongue licked along his lips as her fingers scratched down his face and without warning he snapped at her fingers, nicking her slightly. It drew only a tiny amount of blood, but his eyes brightened perceptively at the smell.

"You know, you killed my friend. When a friend like that dies, someone you've known for centuries, you tend to want to comfort eat." He grinned, dragging his eyes over her body.

"You'll make a nice, warm bit of comfort food" He sniffed her hair, freshly washed that morning with her favourite fruity scented shampoo. Chuckling, he wrenched her head to face him.

"You smell like orange and pineapple" A tongue darted out to taste her cheek as she recoiled in disgust.

"I like pineapple-aaargh"

He crumpled on the floor in a surprised heap as James drove the knife into him again. Liz gulped in mouthfulls of air, savouring the sweet sensation of oxygen pouring into her aching lungs. Her chest complained again as James brought her into a crushingly pleasant hug before drawing away quickly to examine her for injuries. She leant against the wall as he examined her for cuts with his eyes and fleeting touches from his fingers. Finally he was satisfied.

"Liz, come on, lets get you sat down." She slid, leaning further onto the wall as she finally started to shake. James moved next to her, catching her as she slide further and gently lowering her to the floor to sit in his lap. She allowed him to do it, so relieved to be alive that she didn't follow her usual instincts of pushing away the scary sorceror. His right hand ran through her hair soothingly, his left tossed the knife down next to them and wrapped around her midriff.

"I didn't quite mean sit here," his voice rumbled through her from where his face rested above her head, "but this works."

The laugh tore out from her dry lips. It wasn't funny, but she laughed until she coughed, then she coughed until her throat was raw and rasped quietly. Thank god for people like James.

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James' point of view

I couldn't believe my luck. Well, thats horrible to think like that, but i still couldn't help but feel like this was a good thing. After all, Liz was fine, in shock, but fine. I was worried about her, of course i was. I mean, she must be really shocked if she's letting me this close to her. Letting me hold her. I sighed. Who the hell was i trying to kid? She was in shock and as soon as she snapped out of it, or when Luc got here, i was going to go straight back to being ignored by her. Only talked to by her when she needed something. Never thanked for it. Never expecting thanks. She drove me crazy, this woman i was totally in love with, because i could never say no. I could kill vampires using only a knife, bend demons from the pits of hell to my will, but when it came to the short, fiery blonde woman crying into my neck, i was completely undone. But i knew that i'd still take it, this small blessing of her noticing me for once. Despite knowing that soon she'd just reject me again, i couldn't harden myself to that knowledge, couldn't help myself from being insanely happy at just holding her like this as she showed all of her weaknesses. I am an absolute idiot.