A/U: I do not own Dark Legend, all rights go to Christine Feehan.

There were bars on the windows and the door, something that was no barrier for the two powerful Carpathians. The little apartment was was a wreck of smashed liquor bottles and filthy dishes. There was no food in the refrigerator, only beer. The cupboards held a box of crackers and two cans of soup. Francesca touched one of the cracked mugs sitting in the sink.
She turned to look at Gabriel with tears in her eyes. She could feel the violence locked up in the tiny apartment. A child's terror. The brutality a man could impose. She saw flashes of Skyler's life, the father, a huge man, swinging a belt at her in the bathroom. Skyler huddled in a corner while a man approached her with an evil smile.

"Hey." Priya jumped in surprise and looked at the white-haired man before her. Despite the color of his hair, he looked very young, around 22 or 23.
"What are you doing here?" The man asked, he seemed kind of miffed.
"J-Just reading," Priya said quietly and tried to return to her book.
"Outside my shop? Every night?" The man said.
"It's not like I have anywhere to go, and the sign above your shop gives me enough light to read," Priya said and stopped reading, but she didn't dare to look up and stare at the man.
"You don't got anywhere to go?" The man asked, the young girl nodded and said "My mom kicked me out, my deadbeat dad wants nothing to do with me, and my sister hates me, I can't afford an apartment and no one wants to hire me. Please, just let me be, I'm not gonna bother you, I just want to read."

After a bit of silence and the man not going anywhere, Priya thought he wouldn't leave until she left. So she stood up and picked up her bag, starting to walk away but the man quickly said: "Where are you going?" Priya sighed and ran a hand through her tangled auburn hair and said: "I don't know." She started walking away but the man said: "Get back here." She turned around and saw him gesture her inside the shop. Priya froze, not sure if she should go in or not. She realized it was freezing out and she has been outside for a week straight aside from going into the library or other shops real quickly to use the bathroom. It could be warm in there and there could be a soft couch for her to sit on instead of hard concrete. If she was lucky she could sleep on it instead of in an alley.

"Thank you," Priya said and walked inside, the man following and closing the door behind him. Wow, it was really warm in here. The man walked over and sat in a chair behind a desk. When she just stood in the same spot, the man pointed at the red leather couches that were under some stairs.
I wonder where those lead. Priya thought as she sat down. Ooh, the couch was nice and soft, a lot softer than concrete. She opened her book and continued where she left off. The book was amazing, Francesca was so sweet, so pure, not a single evil bone in her body. Gabriel, her lifemate, strong, powerful, not evil but a master of darkness. He cared so much for Francesca, he would do anything for her. Francesca wouldn't feed, she couldn't, she was too sweet, so Gabriel would take the blood he needs plus more and give it to Francesca. 

Priya sighed lightly as she read, wanting a relationship like in these books. It was always perfect, there were downfalls but it would always get better.
"What's wrong?" Priya shot her head up, confused.
"Huh?"
"I said what's wrong." The man said. Priya blushed, she didn't mean to attract his attention.
"Oh, nothing, just the book. Very unrealistic relationships." Priya said and tried to continue reading.
"Yeah, it's such a shame you can't be with a vampire or whatever bullshit like that."
"No, it's not that, it's that the guys in these books actually care about their lover and will do anything for them. The Carpathians have lifemates, the men will do anything to ensure the safety and happiness of his lifemate. Most men don't give a single damn about how their girlfriend feels, they expect them to do anything and everything for them." Priya said and started reading again.

The man was about to say something but suddenly the phone rang, he sighed and picked it up. After a few minutes, he hung up and said: "I'll be back, do whatever, I don't care." As he was heading out the door, that is when Priya noticed he had two guns in holsters and a giant sword on his back. She thought he was crazy, but if he was then he would have done something to hurt her or just plain kill her. She looked around the shop and noticed how dirty it is. There were empty pizza boxes and beer bottles, wait, no, some was beer, the rest was soda bottles.
How can he keep his shop like this?  Priya thought as she grabbed an empty pizza box, picking up as many as she can and taking them outside, throwing them away in the big dumpster in the alley. She went back inside and took care of all the boxes and then the bottles.

"Oh gross!" Priya exclaimed as she picked up one bottle that had something in it and it got on her hand. She took the bottles outside and threw them hard in the dumpster, listening to the glass shatter. she went back inside and looked at the rest of the bottles but wasn't concerned with them, some of the bottles had left stains on the floor. With a sigh, the young girl searched for a mop and bucket, sighing again except in relief when she found it. She quickly filled the bucket and started mopping the floor.

After what felt like an hour the floor was nice, clean, and even shining. Priya grabbed the rest of the bottles and walked outside to throw them in the dumpster. A soon as they were discarded of, she was about to go back inside but a guy quickly stepped in front of her and said: "Hey there, you're a pretty little thing." Priya backed away, feeling really uncomfortable, she could smell the alcohol on his breath and she could tell it was cheap. As she backed away the man walked closer.
"Hey, come on now, don't walk away, I just want to talk to you." The man said and grabbed her arm,
"Hey, let go, you're hurting me!" Priya said and tried to yank her arm free but the man pushed her into the alley and pinned her against the brick wall of the white-haired man's shop.

Priya whimpered when he started to grope her chest. She closed her eyes and just waited for it all to be over. The man leaned in close and said: "Come on, sweetie, how about a little kiss." He started to kiss her neck but then he stopped abruptly. Priya opened her tear filled eyes and saw the white-haired man pointing a gun right at the disgusting man's head.
"Let her go." He said harshly. The man immediately let go of Priya's arm and chest and tried to run away but the white-haired man used his gun to smack him in the back of the head. He then fell to the floor and stopped moving. Priya couldn't tell if he was unconscious or dead. Hopefully the latter.

"Are you okay?" Priya jerked her head up, looking at the white-haired man. She couldn't tell what his expression was, she couldn't think to place it but right now she didn't care, she wanted to be away from here, far away from here and far away from the city. When Priya didn't respond, the white-haired man holstered his gun and slowly walked over so he wouldn't startle her. He gently picked her up bridal style and carried her into the shop, surprised to find it clean. He knew Priya did this but he didn't know why she did it.

He was gonna set her down on the couch but then realized how tightly she was clinging to him, like she wasn't gonna let go. He didn't want to keep holding her, he had to get back to manning his shop. He decided to just sit with her until she had fallen asleep. He sat down on the couch and settled Priya so she was nice and comfy in his lap. Realizing he never told her his name he said: "I'm Dante."
"Priya," was the quiet response from the young girl. She started to calm down, she felt safe, which is odd because she has never felt safe in this city, but she felt safe in Dante's arms. He saved her from that strange man who would have done awful things to her. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, hoping he would still be there when she woke up.

Dante sat on the couch for a good 5 minutes till he was sure Priya had fallen asleep. He looked down at the girl, she looks so young, 19, maybe 20. She was dirty. She did say that her mother kicked her out and she had nowhere to go, she has probably been sleeping in some alley or on a park bench. Her hair was knotted and just as messy, her clothes were dirty too but not as bad. The demon hunter looked at her book that was laying open on the couch. What could be so good about those damn books? It's all a bunch of sappy bullshit. Without really thinking, he grabbed the book and started reading at a random mark.

As he read he didn't find anything interesting, but he could kind of understand why Priya likes it. Gabriel loves Francesca, really, truly loves her and every girl wants a guy like that. Maybe reading this kind of junk can feed Priya's imagination and let her be happy like that.
Rubbish. Dante thought as he put the book down, too sweet and sappy for him. But, Priya liked this stuff, the way she sighed and said how no guys are like the ones in her book, it was obvious to tell she wished it wasn't true, but there was also something else, it was laced in her voice and clear as day in her eyes. Hurt. Pain. She must have had a bad experience with someone to cause her how she feels. She wants someone like in her books to make her happy and take her pain away.

Dante looked down at Priya again, looking carefully this time. She was very pretty and she looked calm and relaxed but the hurt she feels is etched onto her face, a horrible mark that won't seem to go away.
"I could take your pain away," Dante said quietly, quickly shaking his head, realizing what he said. He was about to set Priya on the couch but for some reason, it felt wrong to him. She has slept in awful places, cold and hard. He didn't want to just let her sleep on the couch so he carried her upstairs into the small apartment above his shop. There was a bathroom, kitchen that also acted as the dining room, and two bedrooms. One was Dante's room, the other was just an empty room.

The cambion hunter gently set Priya on his bed and covered her with the blanket, the young girl letting out a little noise. It was a cross between happiness and contentment. She curled into the fetal position and slept like that.
There, she should be fine like that. Dante thought and left the apartment, going back downstairs to man his shop. As soon as the door closed, Priya opened her eyes, she looked around and saw she was in a messy bedroom, and from the way it looked, she could tell it was a guy's room. She got out of bed and started to clean up, though as she cleaned the bed called for her, it was warm and soft and so inviting, so much better than the alley floors. She shook the thought out of her head and went back to cleaning.

She started with the clothes scattered everywhere first. The ones that were clean she folded and placed in the bureau, the ones that were dirty she put in a hamper. She saw something under the bed, magazines. She sighed and reached for the magazines, not wanting to touch the foul things but she wanted to clean and organize the room. She looked at them and was expecting something like PlayBoy but was surprised to find just ordinary magazines. Sighing in relief, she picked all of them up and neatly placed them on the nightstand, that is when she noticed another one on the floor next to it. She looked around and saw a few more around the room.

Within 5 minutes, she had cleaned up the room, it looked much better. Happy with her work, Priya got back in bed and covered up with the soft blanket.

~

Dante looked up at the ceiling, he was hearing noises like someone was walking around upstairs, it lasted for a bit but now it just stopped. Curious, the demon hunter stood up and walked back up the stairs to his apartment. He walked through the small hall to get to his room and saw that his room was now clean. He looked at the nightstand and saw all his magazines, some he even thought he lost. He saw that his clothes were no longer everywhere. He liked that his room was clean but didn't like that Priya cleaned it. She didn't have to do it, she wasn't forced to do it but still, she did it, like she wanted to. Dante smiled lightly and looked at the young girl sleeping, deciding to just leave her and let her sleep peacefully, he turned around and walked out of the room, heading back downstairs to man his shop.