Mark brings the truck to a stop and shuts it off. "Its really good to be with yah again Dirge," Mark got out of the Truck and walked around to opened the door for Dirge. "Hang on Ah will open the bed for Cerberus tah get out." Dirge hears the truck bed open, "Go ahead and call for Cerberus. He doesn't listen to me." Mark says with a smile in his voice.

"It is good to be together again," Dirge began as she hopped out of the truck. She smiled at Marks statement about Cerberus. "He can get rather selective and protective of me."

"Here Cerberus. Come on boy," Dirge said cheerfully while pulling her cane out of the truck. Then she felt Cerberus brush her leg and Dirge reached down and grabbed the harness. After she was ready she started to make her way to the Union at a slow enough pace for Mark to follow.

Mark followed the two in, Opening the door for her and the Dog, "The Girls are out on errands so we have the place to ourselves." Mark took Dirge by the hand and walked her over to the bar. He sat on a stool and took a cigar out of a box on the bartop. "Dirge Ah have some good news and some bad news, Ah needed someone to talk too. Ah was hoping you would be willing tah listen."

Mark snips the end of the Cigar off, "Do you mind if I smoke a cigar?" Mark asked "I only smoke when I am stressed."

Dirge shakes her head no signifying that she didn't mind and waited for him to continue.

Dirge hears a stick match being lit and Mark continues, "Ah had ah meeting with mah Priscus last night. She was ... helpful. They are not letting me open tha bar."

She was unable to see the fire but the sound of the match striking and the feeling of fire was strange. It was strange to feel the direction of fire by one's fear of it, but it was something that dirge had gotten used to. She fought back her beast's fear of the flame and then she heard the words from Mark. "Oh Mark I'm so sorry. Did they let you try to earn back their good favor? Or is this a permanent thing?"

"Sorry bout tha Match." Mark says as he lights the cigar and puts out the match. "Obsidian got me started on these..." Mark takes a deep breath. "They gave me anotha chance. Ah need tah change tha business. Tha Prince said if Ah wanted tah open ah business it needed tah be ah bowling alley. Well the Prince, through Twist..."

"Don't worry about it. It isn't a big deal. It is just a little weird being around fire or other vampires. I can't see them but I can tell you exactly were they are just by feeling the beasts reaction to it." Dirge thought over Marks words and then replied, "That's not so bad, it lets you open a business. I know it wasn't what you wanted but you can still have a full bar at a bowling alley."

"Thats tha Plan," Mark said. "Tha Union is just ah part of ah bigger building, Ah'm just gonna add on to this, Keep the bar but add on the Lanes. Now on to the good news. Ah've 2 surprises." Mark stood and took her by the hand. He walked her over to a small stage in the corner. "One Step Up." Mark said and led her to something that felt familiar, a piano, "Do yah like it?"

She let him lead her over to the corner of the bar and she reached the platform she stepped up. He placed her hands on the wood of the piano and she ran her hands across its surface. When she was sure what it was she turned to him confused. Was he hiring entertainment for me?

"It's nice," Dirge began uncertainly. "You're hiring an entertainer for the bar?"

"Dirge, Its for you. I bought it for you." Mark explained with Earnest, "Its old and needs a tuning but it still plays."

Dirge stood there not sure what to make of this new gift. She wasn't sure what about her had given Mark the impression she enjoyed the piano. Does he expect me to play for his bar? She thought while anger boiled within her. Calm down Dirge...the man's an idiot, he's trying to be sweet, she told herself while taking a couple calming breaths.

Her outward demeanor never showed any hint of her diminishing anger. She gave him a big smile and and affectionate touch on the arm, "Thank you Mark. That was really sweet of you." She turned back to the piano and sat down. Then she played a short piano concerto listening to the sound. "You're right it is a little off key, but it is nothing a little tuning couldn't fix."

"You sang so well, Ah just figured yah had training. With training comes piano playing. Ah really do hope yah like it, But that is only ah part of mah gift." Mark took her again by the hand and led her toward his steps going up.

But instead of going up he went down a flight of steps "Eight steps down," Mark led her down the steps. The were wooden but solid. "Ok this way," Mark opened a door and led her into a room. Dirge felt the floor change texture under her shoes, like carpet. "I thought since Obsidian left town for ah while that you would maybe need ah place tah stay. Ah've tha room upstairs but that is just fa show."

“Yah can have this if yah want it. Its all sunk in, no windows at all. There is another door that leads to the outside, Just open it and go up some concrete steps and yah out. Its a great little spot. Its also quiet." Mark hoped he wasn't being to forward or risky. He liked Dirge and wanted her to be safe and have a place to go. She was becoming more then just a passing fancy to him.

The room is mostly open but it does have a couch a desk and a queen sized bed. "Yah're tha only person besides Jayne and Mia who know about this room. Ah am gonna make it look like an extra cooler from tha outside."

"I have had training," she began conversationally as he lead her to down. "I graduated with a masters degree in music and performed for several years with the San Francisco Opera." She walked around the room feeling her way and judging the size of the room and the placement of the furniture in it. She smiled to Mark, "it's lovely. I can always use another place to live. I'll need to keep my alter somewhere else though I wouldn't want to have anything in her that couldn't be seen by mortals. Disguised as a freezer door you say? Thats pretty cool." She walked back to Mark and gave him a big hug and a short kiss, "Thanks hun."

Mark accepts the kiss with a smile "I am very happy you like it. I will stay up in the Loft so you feel comfortable. Mia and Jayne are not allowed in here. When I was in here and they needed to get a hold of me they would call the phone on the Wall." Mark leads her to a old style rotary phone that hangs on the wall. "If you dial 1 it will call the office upstairs, If you dial 2 it will call the bar, If you dial 9 it will call the loft. But that is all it will call, its not connected to an outside line."

"That's pretty handy and thoughtful. Now I can find you anywhere and not even have to leave the room." She smiled up at him playfully and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "You have no where you can hide from me now Mister Deputy." She gave him another kiss, but this one was much longer, "All alone you say?"

Mark enjoyed the kiss very much, feeling the blind haunt close to him made him feel wanted, More then any other. When they broke from the kiss he took her hands and held them to his face. "Just want yah tah know how big mah smile is." Mark said with a laugh. "There is one other thing Ah want tah talk tah yah about though..."

"Sure. Lets go get comfortable first," Dirge said pulling away and grabbing his hand. If Mark lets her, she lead him over to the bed and hopped on. She patted the mattress next to her after she laid down in a sitting position with her back up against the pillows and the head board.

Mark lets her lead him over to the bed, As she makes herself comfortable Mark watches and smiles, Mark was very pleased that Dirge was taking such a liking to this place. And that she was getting more comfortable with him. "Dirge, Ah'm not exactly sure how tah bring this up." He says as he kicks off his shoes and crawls onto the bed sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her. "Ah'm not ah member of ah Covenant, you know that right." With her assent he continues, "And right now Ah'm not interested in joining one." Mark pauses to gather his thoughts. Ah left my cigar in the ashtray on the bar, what ah waste.

Mark continues, "Ah do want tah start something though. You and Obsidian are the only two people in Sacramento Ah truly trust. And Ah wanted tah ask you two something together. With her gone that changes things ah little bit but not enough for me to stop mah plans."

He pauses again, "Ah want us to start ah family, ah ..." he thinks for a second trying to remember the word, "Coterie"

When she felt Mark sit down beside her and put his arm around her she followed suit and wrapped her arm around him and pulled him close. She was confused about what he meant by family and she remembered her coven back in San Francisco and their underground. Remembering caused her to feel sadness at her loss and her need to resolve the sewer issue as soon as possible so she can begin rebuilding. Oh, he wants a coterie.

"A coterie? That's a big step. I think that I would need some time to think about it. If that is alright. Did you have anything particular in mind for the Coterie, like a mission or something you wanted to accomplish?"

Mark didn't even have to think about the next thing he said, "Dirge, take all tha time yah need. Ah don't want to push yah into anything." Which wasn't exactly true. Mark did want to be with her but he wasn't going to push.

"As far as a mission or something like that, Ah've some Ideas but nothin set in stone. Ah more wanted tah know if yah were interested before setting anything down."

"I appreciate you understanding and giving me time. I am interested and I love spending time with you, but I'm not sure it is what I need or want. I'll have to mediate on it and appeal to the Dark Goddess for confirmation." She laid her head down on Mark's shoulder continued, "You've given me a lot to think about and all this you've done for me it is far too much. It must have cost you a fortune. I don't have any way I can repay your kindess. I'm sorry."

"Not worried about tha money. Like Ah said the piano is pretty beat up and tha Apartment down here Ah just rolled into the price of the business." Mark kissed Dirge on the top of the head, breathing her in, The smell of a freshly tilled garden.

"As far as you wanting to repay me, Thats not why Ah'm doing this. Ah care about yah Dirge. And tah be honest Ah don't even know why. Something about yah just set me off. From the moment Ah saw yah." Mark pauses for a minute and then takes his hand and tilts Dirges head up to him he moves in slowly so she can feel his breath on her lips and then moves in for a gentle but passionate kiss.

He cares about me? Why? If he ever saw...if he knew...he would hate me. He's daeva and they don't like disgusting freaks like me. She began to worry when Mark confessed to her. She lost herself in the kiss. It felt so good to have his lips pressed up against hers and her mind went blank for a moment. We're all alone is he going to...

Mark did not break from the kiss at first, when he did he ran his hand along her cheek, "Are you okay?" Mark asked

Dirge slowly nodded yes before speaking, "I am. I want to be with you in this way, but there is something you need to know first."

"Your Married?" Mark asked as a joke to lighten the mood a little.

She looked shocked at first and then giggled and gently pushed on his chest, "No, silly," his humor still lightened her mood despite the serious tone she took. "My smell and feeling of uneasiness many get around me are manifestations of my Nosferatu nature as you may guess. However, my bloodline has a hideous deformity and it hit me pretty hard. My bloodline blinds its members and I knew this when I joined it, but many just loose their vision and their eyes cloud over. I lost my eyes completely, and it is pretty ugly. I want to be completely open with you before we do this. I've never shown this to anyone here, not even Obsidian."

Dirge slowly reached up and untied her blindfold revealing two empty pits where her eyes had once been. She looked ashamed and afraid as she spoke, "I understand if you want me to leave at this point. I didn't want you to think I was hiding this from you."

Mark stared into the pits where her eyes were supposed to be and shrugged a bit. "Dirge tha Smell doesn't bother me. And as far as tha Eyes, since we are being honest, it is ah little unsettling. But so is my thick skull and inability tah take hints." Mark took her hand that her blindfold was in and kissed the top of her hand. He then moved in to kiss her on the lips.

"Yah are who yah are Dirge, and that is why Ah'm so attracted to yah. Your eyes, or lack there of, are not going to change the way Ah feel about you."

Mark's words were serious but his eyes looked away. When he looked into the spots where her eyes should be Mark did not see a deformed woman, he saw what could have been a possible future for himself. If the surgeries didn't go well. If his body rejected the transplants. Mark felt that old fear tingle through his spine.

He saw and he doesn't care?! That's not possible! She enjoyed the kiss and then tied her blindfold back on after they had finished.

She wasn't sure if Mark really meant what he said but at this point she didn't care. She wanted to believe that someone could care for her and accept her...that someone could love her. She beamed a huge excited smile at Mark, "Really?! Oh Mark."

She passionately kissed the man back this time and tugging at his clothing as she tried to help him out of it so she could let him know what she wanted.

As Dirge pulled him out of his shirt Mark fumbled with the buttons on the shirt she was wearing. Mark then rolled her onto her back and positioned himself on top but propped up on one elbow and looking down at her, "Dirge, Ah love yah..." he said as kissed her on the neck gently raking his teeth across her smooth skin. Haunt or no Haunt the woman has great skin.

She felt Mark remove her shirt. She realized that being unable to see him or what he was doing was actually quite arousing. Dirge felt her breath quicken as her excitement grew and then silently wondered when exactly she had activated her blush. Then one word caught her attention and shocked her...love?!

"I love you too Mark," she said smiling. She stretched her neck up and kissed him as her hands reached down to unfastens his pants.

---fade!__