"Stay out. Your in my head, your in my heart. And you're not getting in either."

"Odd. You say I'm in both but I'm not getting in either?" A laugh of mirth comes from the masked man. "You must be infatuated with someone!"

"Oh, and speaking of likes and dislikes, if you don't like my people, why do you take a liking to Pale Rose so much eh? How could you stand to live with her if you loathe vampires?"

"It's better than being an orphan." Erina said quietley.

"Just leave me alone. I want someone who cares. Not someone who wants free blood."

"Eh, suit yourself. I grew up fine. Until I became a vampire. Then I was just fine all the time, never changing."

"And you think I don't care? Now that truly hurts. If I didn't care about you deeply, you'd be dead. Or, undead. But you're still here, graced with my lovely prescence and conversation. I care deeply about you Angel. I even gave you a nickname for me to call you."

"You are just too closed. Open up... yes, open yourself to me."

"Fine then: Open up to me. Take it off."

Erina knew he wouldn't so she wouldn't have to worry.

"Erina, as it goes with the normality of my life, I am a hero. When I'm not desperate for lov- I mean, blood, I often search for the lowest of crime dealers - prostitutes, thieves, murderers... I hunt them down, and take the bottom feeders out from society. I have taken my mask off multiple times."

Pulling his hood up over his head, completely obscuring his face, he takes his mask off as shows it to Erina. "See this red? Around where the mouth would be? That's blood. Dried. A bit of it's fresh from that bar slut I drank dry. Every person who sees my face, undergoes a process. If they're women, I'm not going to lie, I usually have sex first. Make their last moments nice. After this, or if they're men, I kill them. No questions asked. No chance of escape."

Putting his mask back on his face, he pulls down his hood again. Do you really want to die so soon, that you would seek something so simple?"

"It's not a complicated answer. Y-E-S." Erina just stayed still, eyes half closed.

"I'm already as pathetic as possible. Maybe death would be a good escape."

"Are all of the fallen like this? So negative. You know what, death seems like to good for you right now."

Standing up, stretching out, D'Artigo turns to Erina. "My name is Rand. Never call me by that name. But be happy."

With that, he walks off to find Miv.

'Be happy.' Rand's words echoed through her mind and she smiled alittle.

'How many times has it been? How many times has someone told me that?' She closed her eyes.

Miv was leaning against a tree, eyes half closed.

She turned her face halfway. "You followed." She said, knowing D'Artigo was near.

"Aye, I did. After a little... friendly chat with Erina over there."

"So what's burning you up?"

"Nothing."

Truth was, it had finally sunk in: She was alone. Her family was dead and Erina had changed. Miv slid down to the ground and didn't bother to get back up.

"Be real Pale Rose. I can tell when something's burning someone. What's up?"

"I don't want to talk." Miv said flatly.

She laid down and just stared off into space.

"Sure you don't. Lemme know when you do."

With that, D'Artigo sits down next to her, giving her some space. And he watches he, gazing down upon the lovely Pale Rose in front of him.