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London, England 1882

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Roseanna stood among the headstones, her shoulders shaking slightly as she sobbed quietly into the cold night air. The fog was just beginning to roll into from the coast, fading everything into hazy blurs but she could still see the last of her family's headstones clearly.

A large headstone with a statue of an angel with its arms outspread, welcoming all in its embrace, sat on top as the names of the whole family Haldir was embedded into the stone. Chiseled and so final and yet there was one more space. One that would remind empty until a time it was to be filled.

Roseanna Jenna Haldir.

At seventeen, the prime of her life and she was alone to celebrate. A living tragedy.

Roseanna wiped at her tears as they blurred her vision, wondering why God was punishing her this way. First the mansion that had been in her family for decades burned down to ash, forcing her family to move to China for her father's business and then that sickness that took everyone she loved. She thought she would have died alone in the land that was her second home until she received a letter, biding her to come back to England.

What she thought would be misery turned out to be very different indeed.

For two years, she lived with her distant relatives Lady Anne and her son, William Harcourt. It was a time of healing and joy and for the first time in months, she felt absolutely at peace, believing that she was under God's good graces again. Lady Anne was a kind and loving soul, who never looked down at her and offered her lessons in how to be a true lady. Cousin William treated her kindly and allowed her to study under him as he had built up quite a collection of books and poems. He taught her languages and taught her to read and write though he stammered over her use of physical activity. But in China, she had a teacher and she never wanted to be lax.

It seemed like it could go on forever---

But now, standing over the graves of the last of her blood, she wished that she never been born if this was what life had for her.

Lady Anne Harcourt. Loving wife and mother. A fire had broken out that the townhouse she lived at during the season. All assumed she died in the blaze that destroyed the home. Some thought it was better that way since she had been sick a very long time.

Take another step to the side and there was another headstone.

Lord William Harcourt. Beloved son. He was a mystery. Everyone assumed that he had died in the same blaze that took his mother's life. That he ran into the fire in an effort to save her. But there were the sightings. From before and after the fire. None could be verified and Roseanna didn't want to live in question. She laid him to rest along side his loving mother and father.

"Now lass, don't be wastin' tears on those folks."

Roseanna turned around with a gasp, pulling her shawl tighter around her as a man stepped out of the fog. She shivered from the cold and unknown presence that stood before her.

"Cuz' a pretty face like yours, should be filled with joy an' a smile." the man said. He stopped a few feet away from her, his large thick form towering over her slight figure. "An' passion."

"Who are you sir?" Roseanna asked, lifting her chin up to show that she wasn't afraid when she was.

"Oh, I'm just a man out for a nice midnight stroll." he said, his voice smooth and heavy, seductive. But to Roseanna, it sounded fake and dangerous.

"In a graveyard?" Roseanna said. "With fog rolling out from the coast?"

The man smiled his teeth too white and his smile too wide.

"The same could be said about you lass. What's a pretty little thing like yourself doing wandering around---alone?"

Roseanna's eyes turned sad as she crushed the silk of her shawl in her fists. "I'm saying goodbye to everything I was. Everything is dead and ash and---" she looked down as the tears fell from her eyes. "I am a curse. Everyone around me dies and I don't know why."

"Aw lass." the man sighed dramatically. "Don't be talkin' like that."

"Its true sir!" Roseanna cried, looking at the man who was now much closer. It surprised her; she didn't hear him move at all. "If you value your life, you would leave me be and go on your way. Bad things will happen."

And to her dismay, he laughed. A huge, belly shaking laugh that rose to the sky, it was so loud and deep. Roseanna stepped closer, in awe in how he laughed. How she wished she could laugh like that again!

"Lass, I've seen horrors in which you haven't imagined. Now, don't fret for little ol' me. I assure you, I can take care of myself." he said, as he ran a finger down her cheek. She frowned slightly but it was gone in an instant. "I'm Angelus."

"Roseanna Haldir." she said with a nod of her head. "I apologize for my rude comments earlier. Grief has overwhelmed me and--" she looked down again, her heart thumping in her chest. She's never been alone with an unknown man before and it frightened her very much. Her cousin William was always sure to be at her side when a man came to woo her. Mostly by his prodding of course. She gave a sad sigh and turned back to the headstones, sending a prayer to the heavens.

Angelus approached her and very gently, put his hands on her shoulders. "Come now lass. I'll show you a new reason to never cry in sadness again."

"Thank you sir." Roseanna replied. "I would like that very much."

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Los Angeles, 2003

Spike smoked in the open window, the sun hanging low on the horizon and creating long shadows over the city. A pile of butts lay scatted on the floor and mostly likely outside as well. He's been smoking alot since his claiming of Rose. She slept on the large bed, under neatly folded covers, unmoving and silent. To the entire world she was dead dead. But Spike knew that she was alive, in a sense, because he could sense her stirring through the bond he had with her now.

The bond between a Sire and a Childe.

Angelus was rightly pissed, but for different reasons than he spouted out. He was upset that Spike was taking an unsouled vampire under his protection. Angry that Spike was defending a known killer. Unspoken rage that Spike, once again, took something that was, by right, his. Angelus may not care a whit about his Childe anymore than he did back then, but she was HIS Childe. And Spike stole her right from under his nose.

He stormed out of the hotel after a bloody fight. If it weren't for Illyria pulling them apart and then pummeling them until they couldn't move, he was sure that they would have killed each off. He gave Spike a warning that if she ever killed anyone, that he would hold Spike personally responsible and hunt him and her down.

Spike didn't care about Angel's threats. He could beat that ponce. He did once before and he could do it again. It was Rose he was concerned about. She was his Childe now. She needed him to teach her the new rules that as her Sire, he was making for her.

A gasp from the bed broke into his thoughts and he threw the rest of his cigarette out the window before he walked over to the bed. It was dark in the room, the only light being from the outside. So when he sat down on the bed, he heard her whimper and he made an effort to keep the growl from rising in his chest. It was a defensive react, he knew, having Sired one or two vampires before.

"W-who are you?" she demanded as she scooted away from him. She held her hands up in fists. "I-I'll fight you for my honor sir! Stay away from me I warn you!"

"Rose, Rose, calm down, it's me." Spike said, holding his hands up in surrender. He saw her flinch from his voice and he wondered why.

She shook her head. "It can't be you. Y-You're dead."

"Well, it is me. I can prove it." Spike said. "Ahhh---the day you came to live with us, you wore a form fitting silk dress that had a dragon on it. I found it appalling but you loved it."

"Many people thought it appalling on my way into town." she said. "Proves nothing sir."

"Ahh-" he stopped to think of something when she started singing. "Early one morning---"

The song the First used as a trigger to unleash the beast and keep him in the dark about his killing back in Sunnydale. But before, it was the song his mother used to sing to him as a child and well into adulthood. "Stop."

Rose did. "You're not my William. William loved that song."

"Early one morning. A ditty my Mum used to sing to me all the time. I know." Spike said as he approached the bed. "It was long time ago but it does nothing for me anymore."

"I hardy call two years, a long time not William."

"Try two hundred luv."

"I'm not your luv. And since when did you start talking so vulgar?" Rose asked.

"So you believe me when I say that I'm your cousin William?" Spike quirked an eyebrow in surprise. That was fast.

"No." Rose said with a shake of her head as she climbed off the bed. "But you've shown that you don't wish me harm. So I shall trust you---for now."

She stood up, wobbling slightly but regained her footing. She looked around the room, frowning as she crossed her arms. "What is this place? And why are there no candles? It is dark in here."

"We're in L.A. And we don't need candles." he said as he walked over to the light switch. "I've kept it dark so you can rest."

He flipped on the lights. Rose yelped, closing her eyes at the brightness. She held her hands up to cover her eyes when she saw her arms. "What is this?" she cried out, looking at the tattoos that crawled up from the back of her hands, up her arms and stopping at her shoulders. Her black underwear showed that she always had tattoos on other places on her body. She gasped in shock when she saw that she was---"Where are my clothes?!"

She looked up at Spike and screamed, running back to the bed and jumping under the covers. She pulled them tight around her, leaving only her face exposed. It was bright pink with embarrassment. "You vulgar lout! You've seen my body and now I'm unclean. No respectable man would marry me now." She smiled at him. "I thank you."

"Pardon?" Now Spike was confused. She was running hot and cold. Was she always like this?

"Well, I never wanted to marry in the first place but my cousin William, who isn't you, pushed me to. He wanted the best for me, the sweet dear, but he didn't marry. So I why should I?" Rose explained. She went under the covers again and Spike watched as the covers moved with her. Soon she was sitting up with the covers still hiding her from sight as she poked her head out of an opening.

"So. You're not my William. But you look like him. So who shall I call you then?" Rose asked.

"Spike."

"Spike?" Rose tilt her head to the side.

"Spike." He gave a nod.

"Huh." She shrugged.

"Huh what?"

"Could that actually be a name?" she asked.

"Yes." Spike frowned as he crossed his arms. A growl rose from his throat. This was beginning to be a pain.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude." Rose said quickly. For some reason, she wanted to please this man. Something inside her pulled toward him but she fought against it. "I've never heard such a thing before."

"Well get used to it."

"Of course."

Spike growled again and walked out of the bedroom.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Rose yelled from the bed.

"I'm hungry and I'm sure you are too!" Spike yelled back.

Rose's stomach growled and she grabbed it as it cramped up. She bit her lower lip and waited for the pain to go away as she heard a 'Bloody Hell!' from a distance. She giggled from the curse.

When Spike entered the room again, he saw that Rose had found her stack of newly washed clothes. She tugged at the bottom of the belly shirt in an effort to make it cover her. It didn't help that the jeans she wore were low either. She yelped when she saw him and quickly donned a black coat from the floor. It covered her from shoulder to feet and she pulled it shut.

"Looks nice pet." he commented as she wore his coat, holding out a glass of blood.

"These clothes are indecent." she replied, as she took the glass from him. "Is this wine?"

"No."

Rose sniffed it, nearly drooling at the heavenly smell of it. She looked at him, vamped out and chugged the whole glass down. Spike watched in relief as she took the whole thing down without gagging. When she drank most of the blood, she stuck out her tongue, licking the inside of the glass before using her finger to get the parts her tongue couldn't reach. When she was done, she looked sheepishly at Spike, who still hadn't drunk from his glass yet.

"Sorry." she de-vamped. "This stuff was delicious. What was it?" she asked as she set the glass down on the bedside counter.

'The moment of truth.' "It was---" he put the glass to his mouth. "Blood."

Rose stared at him. "Excuse me? I must have heard you wrong, what with the glass mumbling your words but did you say that it was blood?"

He nodded. "Yes."

A pause.

"You must be lying. Only Satanist and vampires drink blood." she said. "I know because I used to sneak peeks in the forbidden books my cousin hid in his library."

"It was blood---and I knew you were doing that! I just didn't have proof!" Spike exclaimed.

"The point is--" she said meaningfully with her hands on her hips. "I don't drink blood. I'm not a vampire or Satanist."

"Rose, I would like to explain some things to you---" Spike said.

"My name is Roseanna."

"Its Rose. It's been Rose since Angelus turned you---about two hundred years ago." Spike said. "You're a vampire now."

"I? Me? A vampire?"

Spike nodded.

"No?"

Spike sighed and vamped out. Rose shrieked and fell backwards. She sat on the ground and looking up at Spike in wonder as he approached her. He kneeled in front of her. "Now, you do the same."

She shook her head. "I can't do that. I'm human."

"You're a vampire Rose. Now, concentrate and bring the beast forward." he said. Rose frowned but did as he said with little effort. "Now, reach up and touch your face."

Rose did, running her fingers over the bumps and ridges on her forehead. She moved down and ran her fingers over her fangs, nicking herself on one. The drop bloomed on her finger and she sucked it into her mouth, the taste so delicious on her tongue. She looked around and spotted the glass on the bedside table. She grabbed it and looked in on it, twisting and turning the glass in her hand, searching.

"Rose?" Spike asked, gently stopping her.

"I have no reflection." she said in a small voice, still looking at the glass before catching his eyes. Hers were bright with unshed tears. "I am a monster."

"No. You're not anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know that vampire's can have souls?" he asked helping her to stand.





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