Author's Note:

This story contains an original character. If you don't like original characters, then I suggest that you turn back now. I would appreciate friendly reviews and if there is something about this story that you don't enjoy or you think needs to be fixed, I ask that you say so in a respectful manner.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Vampire Kisses. I am only writing this story for fun.

Chapter 2

"JAGGER! OPEN THIS DOOR!"

She slammed her fist hard against his office door. Jagger stared at the metal door bracing for the moment when Juliet would bash her way inside. At first, he thought he was seeing things that she had been merely a trick of the light. He figured he had finally lost his mind completely. She was supposed to be in Romania, not here, not now, not ever; yet there she was, on the dance floor of his club dancing with Sebastian, of all people. Seeing her with another man was enough to send him into a jealous rage still. It was like she had forgotten all about him and had moved on so easily. How could he have been foolish enough to even fathom she could still love him? How was he still so stupid to think she would love him after all that had happened, after everything he had said to her?

He needed to know why she was here and most importantly when she was leaving. All he had to do was open that door. She may or may not rip his head off, but it was worth finding out, right?

He walked to the door over and over, each time his fingers grazed the knob he chickened out and went back to his desk. He was kicking himself for being such a coward, Maxwells were no cowards after all. This was what he had wanted; hadn't he just wished to see her face one last time? But he knew one last time would never be enough, not to mention she must hate him. He couldn't help but believe that as she continued her assault on the door. She was even calling him by his name. It was always, "Jag" or "Maxwell" but never just "Jagger". He was lost in his silent war when the banging stopped and the hallway grew eerily quiet.

He heard a sigh of defeat from the other side, a sound he wasn't accustomed to hearing from the unstoppable force that was Juliet Sterling. "You can't run from me forever, you know?" She sounded quiet, tired. "Jagger, please just open the door, let me in. Why did you leave? Tell me anything, I don't even care what it is. Please?"

He noted that voice wasn't just tired from the many miles it took for her to get here. She was tired of this game they were playing, she was tired of chasing him. She was defeated, perhaps even broken. All he wanted to do was rip open the door, the one thing standing in his way, and take her into his arms. He wanted to pull her back into his world and never leave her side again. She was so close. Would he ever get this chance again?

"It's true then, isn't it? That's really how you feel?! I thought it was just your way of being dramatic that would give you an excuse to run, but I was wrong, wasn't I? You can't blame me for what happened between Alex and Luna! He didn't love her and knew he never could. You even said they weren't right for one another. He gave her a chance to find true love, Jag. I thought you understood that. I just…Jagger, seriously," her voice started to break. "Jagger, please just open the door."

He heard her suck in a breath and stifle a sob. She was standing just behind the door, his hand found the knob once more. She was crying in the basement of a club that she should have been enjoying because of him. She was in pain because of him. He couldn't face her, not after all he had done. His fingers itched to turn the knob. He stood there listening to the sound of her breathing and the tapping of her shoe. At one point he heard the murmur of another voice; no doubt it belonged to Alexander. He heard Juliet murmur something back and begin to cry. It was quickly muffled. "Okay Jagger Maxwell, you win. I give up. I'm done trying to figure you out. I hope the Maxwell twins someday find out was it means to be happy and learn to see things from someone else's perspective," she sounded angry. "Give Luna my regards." He heard the duo's footsteps retreat back up to the club.

It felt like ages before he finally opened the door. He had made up his mind, he needed to see her. He needed to fling himself at her feet and plead for mercy. He needed to tell her that he didn't want to spend eternity without her. He needed to tell her everything. He needed to tell her the truth. He flew back up the stairs, frantically searching every nook and cranny. He had waited too long, Juliet was gone.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

. After Juliet had dashed after Jagger, Alexander and Sebastian were at a loss of what to do. With Juliet gone, Raven hopped off her stool at the bar and made her way to Alexander.

"What do we do? Nothing good can come from…that," Sebastian said gesturing to the fleeing pair.

"I know," was Alexander's only reply. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to come up with a plan.

"That Maxwell, I swear. If he hurts her again…I swear man. I'll kill him this time." Sebastian was fuming. Raven had never seen Alexander's best friend get so worked up.

Just then the trio noticed what looked like a pixie waltz into the club. It was Luna, Jagger's twin sister. She scanned the crowd, either looking for her brother or her next meal. Not finding what she was searching for, she headed toward the basement. Alexander groaned, "Juliet and Jagger are a volatile situation, but Juliet and Luna are even worse. Sebastian?"

"I'm on it." Sebastian painted on his brightest smile and sauntered over to the female Maxwell. Raven watched him turn on the charm and lead Luna away from the basement door.

"That's one problem solved," Alexander sighed. Raven watched the struggle in her boyfriend's eyes.

"I'll save my questions about what's going on for later, but what are we going to do about Juliet?" Raven asked.

"You are going to wait by the entrance and keep an eye on Sebastian while I deal with what's going on down below," he said leaning down to give her a sweet kiss. Raven watched as Alexander dashed to the basement to retrieve his cousin. He was gone for about fifteen minutes before he emerged with Juliet.

As the pair came closer, Raven noticed Juliet's eyes were puffy and tinged with red, the vampire she had met earlier with the shining eyes and million dollar smile was gone. In her place stood a woman who looked like she was holding it together by sheer force of will. "I think it's time I head back to the mansion and get settled in," Juliet announced. "Raven, it was truly lovely to meet you. We should chat more soon, okay? Say tomorrow evening?"

Raven nodded her head eagerly in agreement. "Absolutely! I can't wait!" She wanted to get to the bottom of this Jagger business and couldn't wait to hear more about Alexander from someone who grew up with him.

A small smile crept its way onto Juliet's face. "Fangtastic! It's a date then. Sorry Alex, it looks like your girlfriend is all mine tomorrow." She gave her cousin a pat on the cheek. "Tell Bash that we'll catch up later, please? I'd love to hear about all of his romantic escapades."

"Wait," Raven cut in. "Are you not riding back to the mansion with us?"

"I need to stretch my wings a little," Juliet joked before she made her way to the exit of the club.

The ride to Raven's house was a quiet one. Both Alexander and Raven had been lost in thought and neither of them really said much. When they arrived at her front door, Alexander looked sad as he said, "I'm sorry things didn't go as planned tonight."

Raven wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't worry about it. I met another Sterling and got to spend time with you, that's all I could ever ask for."

He smiled and kissed her before he vanished into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I thought I would find you here," Alexander called out as he made his way to his grandmother's monument. When he arrived back at the mansion Juliet was nowhere in sight and Jameson said he hadn't seen her.

"Because the most obvious place for a vampire is a cemetery, right?" Juliet half-heartedly joked.

He grinned. He was happy to see his cousin's humor finding its way back to the surface. He knew her moods almost better than anyone and knew at its worst it could take days before Juliet was even close to normal again. "It is the first thing they teach us," he joked back.

His cousin smirked. "I couldn't end the night without paying my respects to grandmother." She looked up at the monument, "It's so peaceful here, but I guess you already knew that, judging from all the paint stains on the grass."

"It's not a bad painting spot, besides I feel like she's watching over my shoulder, like the old days," he said staring up at the monument as well.

Juliet looked over at her cousin, "I'm really sorry for crashing your date…and not taking the hint at the mansion…and for kind of losing it at the club."

"I should be the one apologizing."

"You've done that quite a few times and for the life of me, Alexander, I can't fathom why. You didn't ruin anything. I'm fine. Clearly, that is debatable at the moment, but truly I am. I'm finally free and on my own. I can do whatever I want!"

Alexander didn't look convinced.

She decided the best course of action was to change the subject. "Raven seems lovely. I think you've picked a real winner," she said poking at his side.

Her cousin's face lit up at the mention of his girlfriend. "So you like her?"

"Well, I can't make my final decision until tomorrow, but the odds are good my friend. So you think she's the one?"

He nodded excitedly.

"I must say when Aunt Cass came home all she could talk about was Raven. It broke a lot of hearts, your fan club was very upset," she laughed. "I suggest keeping your girlfriend away from Romania. Those girls will eat her alive…literally."

Alexander laughed and then turned serious. "She still keeps asking me when I'm going to turn her."

"Want me to talk to her about it?"

"I keep trying but it isn't working. She just doesn't understand what it will be like."

"Let me see what I can do. No girl ever wants to listen when her boyfriend tries talking her out of changing species, kind of like her parents telling her not to do something. It's just in our genes, Alex. Nothing some old fashioned girl talk can't cure!"

"Have I ever mentioned how fantastic you are?"

"I mean yes but I never hear it enough," Juliet laughed.

"So do you want to talk about what happened tonight?"

"Is there anything really left to say? He hates me. He really hates me. I was such an idiot. I had planned on crashing at your place for awhile as I worked out a game plan to find him. I thought I knew what I was doing. I suppose I can't be right all the time."

Alexander wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Oh! I almost forgot!" She exclaimed. "I have a gift for you to give to Raven." She slipped the pearl bracelet from her wrist and placed it into her cousin's hand. "This belonged to grandmother. I always loved hearing her tell the story of how it was passed down through her family. You should give it to Raven."

Alexander placed the bracelet back on his cousin's wrist. "I think grandmother wanted you to have these." He smirked and said, "Besides, Raven isn't really one for pearls."

Juliet faked a gasp, "She doesn't like pearls?! And here I thought she was a girl after my own heart." She laughed. "You need to give her something of grandmother's before the ball, you know. I'm sure I have something that would be just perfect! She does know about the Vampire's Ball, right?"

Alexander shook his head no.

"ALEXANDER STERLING!" His cousin yelled into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You will never believe who I saw tonight at the club," Luna said focusing all her energy on filing her nails to sharp points. Not waiting for her brother's reply, "Juliet Sterling. Can you believe she had the nerve to show her face in this club? Unthinkable. Jagger, are you listening to me? JAGGER!"

Jagger snapped back to reality, "What?"

His twin sister scoffed. "Honestly, what is wrong with you lately? You've been so weird lately."

He had retreated back to his office when he discovered Juliet was gone. Luna had barged in about an hour ago and had not stopped talking since then. "I'm just a little stressed. That's all."

Luna knew better than to question her brother. "I can't blame you. I'm already worked up about her being here. I can't believe she had the audacity to show her face in this town. She chased us from our home. What does she plan to do now? Chase us away again? Not if I have anything to say about it!" Luna hopped off the top of her baby pink coffin. "I should go chase her out of town right now."

"Luna…" Jagger warned. His sister ignored him and kept on talking about what she would do to the female Sterling when she got her hands on her. "LUNA! ENOUGH! You will leave them alone. We have a truce, remember?"

Luna was shocked that her brother would yell at her like that. She narrowed her eyes at him. "It would be a shame if father found out she was here, wouldn't it? After what he tried to do in Romania after he found out she encouraged Alexander to break off our covenant. Remember that, Jagger? When father was ever so gracious enough to spare her life in exchange for you breaking off your covenant with Juliet. I would really hate to see what he would do if he knew you were defending her. But it's such a relief that we don't have to worry about that, right?" She flashed a wicked, threatening grin at her brother. "I'm going to find a midnight snack. If I don't see you before the dawn, have sweet dreams, brother."

Jagger watched his sister skip gleefully out of the room. It felt like Luna had just driven a stake through his heart. Since she couldn't have Alexander, she was determined that he would never have Juliet and if his father had any say in the matter, no one would ever have Juliet. It was final. He would have to spend eternity without the only woman he had ever and would ever love. He had once dreamed of the life he would share with Juliet, but all that would ever be was a fantasy, a foolish fairy tale of a life he would never have.