Once Mrs. Tolstoy leaves, Frederik continues kissing me as he did last night, this time deeper and more full of... of passion, of triumph over something, though what it is, I cannot tell. When he presses my slender body up against the wall, I break away and ask 'Usually, you aren't this frisky, my love... is there something wrong?' He looks at me, and I at him, until he eventually says 'No, not at all, my sweet; but... you must promise me one thing... No matter what happens, no matter what I do or say... promise me you will not leave me, Rebekka... please...' I can see tears welling up in his eyes; my darling Frederik is crying. There is something strange about this, since he never cries unless we watch a sad movie.

He rests his head on my right shoulder and begins to purr, like a cat; it takes years to practice and know how to do this properly. In response, I stroke his hair and try my best to calm him down. All of a sudden, Nikita walks in and asks 'Bekkie; why is Fweddie cwying?'

'It's nothing, sweet-pea; Freddie's hormones are just acting up.' I know it's a lie, but it's hard to explain deep depression to a child vampire. When she doubles in age, Nikita will come to understand it better. 'What's a 'hormones'; is it like what Serina does all night?' I cannot help but laugh at this; but it is only a brief chuckle, because my attention is drawn back to Frederik, who is now lying down on our bed, on his stomach with his head facing Nikita, who brushes his golden locks out to the way of his face. He nudges her hand, which she interprets as 'Please leave, Nikita...' and exits the room.

A moment later, he lies on his back and starts to talk again. 'So; will you never leave me? Will you fulfil that simple request for me, my darling Rebekka?' I nod and whisper 'Of course, my love... of course I will...' I kiss his forehead gently and lie next to him, resting my head on his chest. 'I know we wanted to go to town today, Rebekka, but I just don't feel up to it right now...' I can feel the pain in his voice; I do hope that Frederik is not ill...

'If I need to get a doctor for you, Frederik, I will, at any and all costs.'

'I'm fine, Rebekka... just let me rest, my sweet...'

'Alright, my love; rest until you feel well again...' As I leave, he grabs me by the wrist and mutters 'Remember what you promised... you promised not to leave me, and now... now you're leaving me...'

'Frederik...'

'You promised me Rebekka!' His voice is now a shriek. 'You promised me you wouldn't leave me; you gave me your solemn word; you-' He calms down when Mrs. Sokolov, his mother, comes in, only to see her son, a grown man, whimpering like a baby. 'Shhhhh... hush son... hush, my dear child...' Out of what I'm guessing is just general male curiosity, Frederik's brothers peek their heads in to see what's up. Aleksandr is the first to show his face in the door way; he was born in the back of a buggy sometime in the late 1700s.

Next is Dexter; not a very Russian-sounding name, but he isn't affected by it in the least. With his gorgeous ginger locks tumbling this way and that, it's a wonder he can see at all.

Then there's Vladimir; yes, many vampires over the ages have borne this name, but again, it does not affect him at all. He is 90 years old, but still has yet to 'earn his fangs' which is a fancy way to say that he needs to kill something to truly be considered a vampire and member of the Sokolov coven.

Boris is next to show his face. He is the same as Frederik, in the sense that he is over 150 years old, but he is still considered one of the youngest in the coven, besides myself and Nikita. He has golden blond tresses and piercing blue eyes that are to die for.

After Boris comes Danil, who is 50 years old and by far the youngest in the coven; well, he would be, if it weren't for Alyx, the final child to peek his head into the doorway. The only one missing is Kameron, who is only 110 years in age. Dimitriy must be in the parlor reading to Nikita. She likes learning, and it's the perfect way for him to make up for his little stint last night.

Alyx knocks three times and comes into the room. 'Proceed with caution, Alyx. You needn't be injured because of me...' Frederik sounds worse than earlier; no wonder he attracted the attention of his brothers. Alyx seems intrigued by his brother's emotionless, expressionless face and voice. His mother brushes a dainty hand in his hair and asks 'You would injure you own brother? And why; because you're obsessively attached to your girlfriend?'

'I am not obsessively attached! I just happen to love her a lot!'

'That's obsession, Frederik.' Alyx has really gotten himself into a pickle now...

'You think you know what obsession is, Alyx?'

'Actually, I do; he's my brother.' This makes Frederik angry; I don't think that Alyx will be getting second helpings for the next little while.