Avalon hopped out of the back of the Jeep Liberty as Malcolm finished climbing out from behind the wheel. The blonde-haired Mezdor turned towards where Elizabeth and Marcus were parked across the aisle of the parking lot. He then glanced to be sure Contessa had climbed down without falling in her tight dress and heels. He watched her gracefully slide to her feet and shut her door before he shut his as well. The following click from Malcolm pressing the lock button caught his ears, but he was too busy watching Elizabeth.

The woman climbed out from the passenger seat of the black Mustang. She moved in one liquid motion to her feet and stood up to her full height. He noticed her dark purple dress slip across her skin from the high slit that began at her thigh. His eyes danced up from her heels to her bare legs and then her leather jacket.

Elizabeth pushed her black, loose curls over her shoulder and happened to lift her hand just in time for Marcus to toss the keyring to her. She caught the collection and slipped them into the small pocket of her leather jacket with a well-practiced motion. She gave him a smile, but it wasn't as full or happy as Avalon had seen before.

He glanced at Marcus out of the corner of his eye, realizing the tension all over their bodies. They'd been arguing.

"Ready?" Contessa asked from beside him, her voice overly upbeat as if she could elevate the mood with her pitch. "I need some serious dancing."

Avalon smiled down at her, knowing her sweet-and-innocent routine was deceptive of her expert fighting skills she hid below the surface. It seemed all American women were masters of disguise when it came to their potential. One could never fully grasp just how good they were at over-exceeding expectations.

"Yes, more than," Elizabeth responded before Marcus could speak first. She walked forward to break gait with her Second to meet Contessa's. The girls hooked arms and headed before them, leading the way towards the underground night club. They didn't talk loud enough for the three men to hear, keeping their voices hushed as they headed for the door.

Avalon fell into last place behind Marcus and Malcolm. Malcolm continuously spoke about some other subject, also attempting to lighten the mood. But Avalon didn't pay him any attention as he and Marcus exchanged in conversation. He inhaled slowly, catching glances in between the two men to see her. She moved adeptly in heels with the same, beautiful grace he had seen on her when she fought.

They paused to nod their heads to the bouncer, and he held the door wide for the group. He noticed Elizabeth hand him a wad of cash, but nothing was said. Avalon realized the four must have been regulars for the human to not stop and ask for identification or names. Or, this place was mainly a supernatural clientele in which none of the human rules applied.

"So, American money gets you in just about anywhere," he chuckled, making Malcolm also laugh and nod over his shoulder.

The group got down to the basement level and exited the stairs. Marcus stepped up to touch Elizabeth on the shoulder but she moved ahead faster than he could brush her skin. "I need a drink," she said and headed towards the strobe lights and sound of thumping bass speakers of music.

"Me, too," Contessa and Malcolm added and the two followed. Avalon also trailed behind, not giving Marc a glance. He pushed his hands into his pockets as he looked up at the lights and crowd that filled the open space. He watched as the girls went towards the back of the room among the masses where a long bar stretched across the space.

"Avalon," Malcolm called over the music. Once the man turned his head, the redhead grinned. "Let's get drunk, man."

"Deal," Avalon answered, patting him on the back hard.

An hour and a half later, the group had wandered about the club, enjoying the full potential of their vampiric senses. Elizabeth ran her hands through her thick, dark hair, pushing it off her face as she swayed to the beat on the dance floor. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back into the bright light that shone down on them in thin beams of blue amidst the darkness on the dance floor. Her brain released the need for control as she allowed her body to thrum to the rhythm of the bass speakers and the melody of a hundred beating hearts around her. It was a predatory high that was rarely ever accepted amongst their vampire coven. And she had every intention of enjoying it while it lasted.

She felt hands settle on her hips from behind, gentle yet commanding. It was just enough to make her pause in her state of euphoria, fueled by alcohol and bloodlust. She smiled as she smelled the familiar aftershave and recognized the feeling of his fingers. "You're lucky I didn't punch you for thinking you're some creep," she said, her voice soft enough that only he would hear it with his supernatural senses.

"Think you could do that three times in a row?" Avalon asked, his breath rushing past her ear as it trailed down the side of her neck.

She smirked. "I could try," she answered. She sighed heavily when he slipped his fingers up over the exposed edge of her thigh when she swayed with the music. The feeling of his hands on her felt so foreign and familiar all at once, like a memory of some trip she had enjoyed taking. Elizabeth arched one hand back over her shoulder to find his blonde hair with her fingers. She leaned into him playfully.

"Right here?" he teased, spinning her around to face him. He lifted one hand up to stroke a lock of her dark hair back. His other hand dipped back down, just low enough to touch between the kick of her dress's slit at her thigh. "Someone might see us."

She opened her eyes, letting her vision sharpen and refocus as she locked gazes with him. "I'm sure we can find somewhere else," she answered suggestively. Her smile softened from its mischievous grin to something more feminine. She slipped a hand down his wrist and gripped his fingers in hers. Without turning around and breaking their staring contest, she walked backwards, bringing him with her. Once she reached the edge of the blue lights and disappeared into the darkness of the club, she spun around to lead the way off of the busy dance floor.

Avalon grinned, glancing over his shoulder to be sure no one in their group had seen them. He turned back and rushed after her as she picked up speed on her heels. She pulled off to the left and he barely missed hitting his shoulder on a dark wall that led into a dimly lit hallway. He let his eyes readjust again to the weak, blue lights. When she looked over her shoulder at him with a smile, he returned the expression.

Elizabeth headed around a corner at the back of a maze of halls and closets before she spun around to face him again. She let go of his hand, instead gripping the sides of his shirt. "Dare to try me again, Mezdor?" she whispered, despite the vibrating bass that still filtered its way to them in their hiding place from prying eyes.

"Definitely," he answered. Without waiting, he leaned his mouth down the short distance to her, his lips locking over hers. He ran his hands up her arms before bracing against the wall behind her. She let her body comply with his as she leaned back into the bricks. When he tried to withhold some of his weight from her, she pulled on his shirt again, eager to feel his body heat once more. Avalon made a sound between their mouths when she tugged, finding her intoxicating. Her perfume, her hands, the way she seemed to release her control when he touched her, her willingness to let him see her true self.

Elizabeth sighed softly, moving her legs so he could balance better. She used her left foot to stroke the back of his calf with her ankle. When he reached down to run his hand up her bare thigh, she shuddered. As if by willpower she didn't know she had, she pressed her hips into him, desperate to keep him close. She could feel the damp heat build between them against her abdomen, causing her resolve to let go.

He grinned between their mouths and released her to begin kissing her chin, then her jawline before finding her neck. She dipped her head back against the stones to give him more space, making him smile.

Something about them clicked; and Avalon didn't know how he had been so sure of it from the start, like instinctive knowledge.

"Oh, god," she whispered, shivering when his lips played with the sensitive hollow of her collarbone. She held back the need to tremor again as his fingers stroked down her sides to her legs. She felt his hands slide behind her thighs and pull gently, lifting her just enough she could feel her feet leave the ground, and she used her knees for balance before settling her weight against him. Her torso was small enough that their mouths were close together, and she kissed him on the lips again.

Avalon took his turn to make a favorable noise, running his hands up and down the sides of her torso once he leaned her into the wall. He could taste her lip balm and it made him remember every moment he had inhaled it while they wrestled around on the gymnasium floor. He smiled when she gripped him with her knees, arching her body more fully into his.

"Tease," he taunted between their lips. He took his turn to return the favor and pressed back.

"Take me home tonight and maybe you won't say I'm a tease," she whispered when she pulled her mouth from his. She opened her lavender eyes, her gaze locking on his the moment he looked at her. "Please?" she asked, her voice soft and affectionate with a sincerity he had yet to fully witness before.

Avalon sobered from the buzz that had built between his ears and in the clutch of his throat. He stared at her, reading her facial expression. The truth in her face was obvious. "As long as you'll have me," he told her honestly, smiling.

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip and she nodded quickly, her chin bobbing up and down in tight motions. She slowly slid out of his arms, excited and nervous in the same breath. She gripped his hand again, pulling him down for one more kiss. "I have the Mustang's keys," she confessed after she leaned back.

"What about the others?" he asked.

"I'll text them to take the Jeep back," she replied, smirking playfully. "C'mon..."

Avalon nodded, again following her down the maze of corridors. She found her way to a back exit into a shipping and receiving entrance. He let her lead him around the alley towards the parking lot. "You okay to drive?" he asked.

"Perfectly," she answered. She half-skipped towards the black Ford Mustang, continuously looking over her shoulder at him as he hurried to keep up. She grinned again. Contessa and Marcus were going to be absolutely pissed with her; but she didn't care, not right now...

Forty-five minutes later, Avalon watched as Elizabeth drove on the back-country highway roads for the coven house. He glanced at the stereo as it continued to play a song he had never heard before. She had been silent for most of the drive, her eyes focusing out the windshield. Her jaw remained clenched when she wasn't half-singing along with the radio. Finally, Avalon leaned back in his seat. "Is he going to be mad at you for doing this?" he asked.

"They'll get over it. It's not like I stranded them in the city with no way to get home," she answered, her lavender eyes never leaving the road.

"I wasn't talking about Malcolm and Tess," he said slowly, looking over at her again. He had been hesitant to broach the topic with her since their first sparring match in the gym; but the tension between her and Marcus had been obvious, and he didn't want to cause more problems for her.

She sighed heavily, her eyes closing and then reopening in a long blink. "He'll get over it," she repeated softly. "He needs to learn I'm no one's to be controlled."

"Is that how he makes you feel?" Avalon asked, his tone gentle.

Elizabeth chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "I don't know," she replied. "It's just...expected...of us. And I hate doing the expected. I don't like to be told what my future will be when I haven't chosen it for myself."

Avalon frowned, confused. Was their relationship more serious than he had first thought?

"We're not engaged or anything," she went on, as if knowing where his thoughts had gone. "It's just something people anticipate from us. We've been partners our entire lives and our parents are close friends. Marcius is quiet and reserved, but his wife is very adept at politics in the Capitol. And Marcus is the continuation of that presence at court. The Augustus and Bartholomeu names are well-established with the Grand Tribunal. We would continue that tradition..."

"And that's not what you want?"

She sighed again. "No," she said at last, taking the exit on their right. "I want more. He will always be my brother-in-arms and one of my closest friends, but that's all." She propped her elbow against the driver's side window, resting her temple against her fist as she watched the road. She took the right-hand turn at the top of the ramp in one smooth motion of spinning the wheel. "But he doesn't want to let go yet. He gets jealous, and I'm tired of dealing with it."

She looked over at him with a smile at last. "I want something more, with someone who isn't afraid to let me be who I am and give me a challenge. I want more than just running this coven house and following orders. I'm not interested in the familiar. I want something more on the outside of traditional."

He chuckled, grinning at her even after she put her eyes back on the road. "Like someone who's willing to wrestle around and get dirty rather than stand on the sidelines in a suit?"

Elizabeth smirked again. "Something like that... Marc is a wonderful man, but he's not who I want." She followed the road down another few minutes before turning onto a gravel lane. The American coven leader sighed a third time as she leaned forward and turned the radio down. When they reached the gate house, she nodded to the guard on duty. He saluted her in return and pushed the button to open the gate. She hit the gas again and drove through, following the driveway down towards the property.

Avalon waited as she parked the Mustang on the backside of the barn with a few other vehicles so they wouldn't be noticed arriving so late before sunrise. He waited for her as she retrieved her purse from behind the seat and locked the doors. He then followed the instructions she had told him earlier on their drive back to the coven house. They were to sneak in by way of the rose gardens and up through the kitchen's entrance. He watched as she moved with ease over the broken cobblestones so to better mask the sounds of her heels before she made her way into the back door. No guards sat at the kitchen table that was often used for chopping vegetables and preparing plates while the coven was serving dinner.

Elizabeth grinned. The first shift of the daylight hours would not have started duty for the first morning waves of silence. She headed towards the kitchen doors and paused to slip her heels off. She looked over her shoulder at him again and nodded. She led the way out of the door and down to the left where the old servants' staircase still rested from its use back in the early 1900s. She hopped up the steps carefully so as not to rip or trip on her dress's restrictive skirt. Her feet moved with precision over each wooden board with minimal squeaking.

Avalon mirrored her steps, finding his way up to the top of the third floor's East wing. He followed her down the hall and past the few apartments of coven members that waited. When they crossed through the balcony to the West wing, he gripped her fingers. They would have to be careful so as not to wake any of the elders that were sleeping on the second and third floors.

She glanced behind her. As if knowing his concern, she nodded in reassurance. She led him down the hall and he realized they weren't going to his borrowed room on the second floor. She paused as they drew close to Seren's suite, but no sounds of his presence filled the room. She inhaled a shaky breath, hoping that meant he was still in the basement for his work with ancient documents. Everything else was silent on their floor.

No one to disturb them.

Avalon paused outside the room that would be just above his own chambers on the second floor. He looked up at her as she used a key from her coat pocket to unlock the door. When she opened it and led him inside, he quickly glanced around, seeing its architecture was the twin to his, but the walls had been painted in shades of dark grey and were accented by bright white trim. A large bed with deep teal and lavender bedding took up one side. The curtains that framed the three windows matched a grey couch that sat in front of a fireplace. He recognized that this was the primary apartment on the third floor, reserved only for the coven commander. He paused to turn and close her door, careful to do so quietly. He then flipped the latch to lock it.

She smiled when he turned to look at her again. She didn't retreat when he advanced on her. His hands were in her hair, stroking it back away from her face as his mouth lowered to hers. She closed her eyes, dropping her heels and purse to the carpet. When his fingers ran down her arms, she let him strip her black leather jacket from her torso. She heard it drop to the ground and felt the cool draft stirred by it hit the backs of her ankles. She gripped his shoulders with her hands, pressing up onto her tiptoes to reach his kiss better.

He exhaled hard through his nose as he lost himself in her again. This wasn't a new experience to him, the feeling of being attracted to a beautiful woman; and yet, it felt brand-new because of the tension that had built up between them. He remained respectful and didn't let his hands sit on her backside for long, preferring to stroke down to her thighs before returning to her hips and lower back.

Elizabeth echoed him, inhaling quickly after. She pressed into his torso, her left hand running up into the hair at the nape of his neck. He smelled exhilarating to her hormones and she couldn't ever remember wanting to give in to someone so badly before. She reached back down with her left hand and grasped his wrist to hold his fingers on her thigh. She slipped her knee up onto his hip and he gripped it tightly. With a similar dip to what he had done at the night club, she found him holding her fully off the floor as his other hand wrapped around her opposite leg. The slit of her dress went higher up to find her hip as the clothing fought to be as flexible as its owner. She made another little sound of surprised pleasure and she quickly wrapped both arms around his shoulders.

He broke away from their kiss to find her neck and collarbone again as he carried her over towards the bed. He leaned back and sat at the foot of the mattress, giving her enough room to rest her knees on the soft surface. He let his hands slide up her back, tangling in the ends of her long, raven hair.