At the usual café Bernie's the blonde man introduces himself as Joseph Halfyard. Ruby had sensed he is not mortal and asks him bluntly what he is. Joseph doesn't really know how to respond on this unexpected question, then smiles. He explains he is a mage, part of The Cult Of Ecstasy, one of the nine traditions. Ruby has never heard of mages before and Joseph explains it to her, full of patience. He uses the film "The Matrix" as an example and Ruby understands.
The young man laughs, then asks her how she knew that he wasn't "normal". Ruby smiles and tells him to lay his hands in hers. Joseph hesitates, but extends his hands and she cups them with her own, closing her eyes and feeling the sensation run through her fingertips again, making its way all through her arms, to her shoulders and back. Yet this time it isn't an unpleasant tingle. It feels warm and safe. She knows that there is something different about this man.
Joseph looks in her eyes, his smile has fade, as Ruby meets his gaze she feels she is blushing. She tells him she has the ability to sense "unnormal" people by touch, yet lately her gift has developed and she is able to sense their presense when they are nearby. Joseph nods and lets go of her hands. The young redhaired woman thinks she should change the subject and asks him where he comes from and how long he will stay in New York. Joseph explains he is a traveller and doesn't know how long he will stay in the city. He smiles to her and asks if she knows a hotel. Ruby says she knows the Hyatt, but that if he wants to, he can stay at her new apartment for about a week. She tells him she still lives in the apartment of her ex and that she is planning to move to the new one in 7 days. Joseph agrees and points to the little black cat that has been following him for a while. "I would love to, but do they allow pets?" Ruby laughs and says she thinks no one would mind.
They leave the café for her new apartment at Spring Gardens. When Ruby shows Joseph around he lets the cat find its way and follows the beautiful redhead. She shows him the guest- and bedroom and when she turns to speak she sees the gaze of the handsome, blonde man has turned even more intense.
Before she can even say what she wants to, the young man pulls her close and kisses her passionately. Ruby blinks, but relaxes soon and loses herself in his warm embrace.
She doesn't leave the apartment that night...
The next morning Ruby doesn't know exactly how she should feel... this man confuses her, so she leaves the apartment to pack her things at her exlover's place. Needing to just to get her mind off things. There she meets Trevor again and things have clearly changed (SEE BACKGROUND STORY and RUBY & TREVOR FOR MORE DETAILS).
When she returns to her apartment she notices Joseph hadn't left. Usually the men leave after a one-night-stand, but Joseph seems to have other plans. Ruby is confused and falls back to her usual cold and heartless manner. Joseph, however, isn't easily scared off and Ruby is surprised by this.
Just when Ruby is about to tell Joe about what happened at Trevor's apartment, her brother Justin comes in. She motions both the men to sit down and tells them that Trevor had pushed her on the bed and that she was scared she was about to be raped. Joseph becomes furious and wishes he could go to teach "it", as he calls Trevor, a lesson. Ruby reacts rather angrily to Joseph and the blonde mage decides it is best that he doesn't stay around with her. When he tells her this, Ruby suddenly feels a sting of pain through her chest and slightly panics.
Joseph dissapears and at that point his cat hops on the bed and comforts the sad woman. Joe would never leave completely without his cat, so Ruby knows he will return.
A few nights later Ruby enters the café Bernie's again and has a verbal fight with Sabra (SEE BACKGROUND STORY FOR MORE DETAILS). She feels she is watched and a familiar sensation runs through her body. When she looks up, she meets the gaze of Joseph. Ruby leaves Sabra sitting at the table and asks Joe if they can talk. Joseph agrees, but his attitude towards her is quite cold. The two walk back to her apartment and she holds him still at the door, kissing him passionately. Joseph is quite surprised by this unexpected affection and doesn't really know how to respond. The young redhead tells him she doesn't know why, but that she feels the need for him to stay. Joseph is stunned for a moment, but feels happy as well.
They enter the apartment and talk for hours. When Joseph kisses her again, Ruby blurts out she is falling head over heels in love with him. Joe just mumbles the feelings are mutual and from there the two seem inseperatable.
Joe uses his magic to show Ruby that there is a bond between them, in the form of a silver thick cord that goes from his heart to hers. Though Ruby is slightly frightened of her strong feelings, she can't get enough of it.
When Joseph asks her if she still feels the desire to become one of the undead, Ruby tells him that she wants to be alive to be able to feel his warmth and let her heart beat for him. This time she knows she speaks the truth.
Joseph is still curious about the woman in the café, the one Ruby had a fight with. Ruby explains the woman is Sabra and she also tells him how Sabra said that she wouldn't let anyone stop her from siring Ruby if she had her mind set on it.
Joseph feels Ruby's fear and tells her more about the mages, he says she can be awakened and then when she trains, she will be able to defend herself. Joseph adds that if she becomes a mage, this could be good for their relatcionship as well. Ruby is a bit hesitant at first and her blonde lover tells her to think about it carefully. Once she will be awakened, she can't go back to her previous life.
The young woman takes a few days time to catch up on reading. Her brother has some old documents about mages, stolen when he still worked as a thief. Ruby shows the documents to Joseph and he asks her if she has made her decision. She tells him she wants to take his offer. Though Joe is happy about this, he seems worried as well. Only few can stand the awakening and he is slightly frightened something would happen to his beautiful girl. Joseph hesitates, but then decides he shall perform the ritual on Ruby.
The moment the last drop flows through her throat, she feels all the pain, hurt, failures and triumphs of her previous lives as well as her current life. Joseph makes sure he is there to help his lover through the most pain, but cannot make it go away, for this is what makes her the woman she is...
Ruby has several visions, one of them is her father's death. She and her brother were never informed about this. Joseph appears in her mind and helps her through the worst pain. Ruby's visions and memories go on to the moment she drank the last drop of quintessence.
She opens her eyes and the world has suddenly changed. When she looks at Joseph she knows for sure that she truly loves him.
All seems to go well, untill the newborn Mage feels Joe doesn't teach her enough. Ruby gets impatient and wants to learn everything as soon as possible. Joseph, however, tells her to take things slowly.
When Ruby meets one of Joseph's female friends called Sac, she gets jealous, assuming the beautiful woman has a history with him.
She invites Sac over for dinner, but Joseph senses his girlfriend's frustrations. In the kitchen the two have a fight and Sac leaves quietly, not wanting to make things worse.
Ruby blames Joseph for never letting her in on anything of his past. She is angry that she knows nothing of him, while he knows everything of her. She accuses him of keeping her untaught, so she can't look inside his mind.
Joseph becomes furious and grabs her firmly, laying a hand on her forehead, so he can show her his whole past. All the 200 years of his life; his poor childhood, his job as a pickpocket and his awakening, caused by a near-death experience. Ruby feels all the pain and hurt he felt during those moments, then when he finally lets her go she hits him in the face. He just stares at her, then silently makes his way to the door. Ruby feels immediately sorry for what she has done and begs him to stay.
Joe turns and takes her in his arms, holding her in a tight embrace. He asks her to tell him why she is so hurt.
Ruby explains how frustrating it is that she feels all that energy inside her, but that she doesn't know how to use it. She feels unsatisfied. Besides that, she is scared she will lose him.
The blonde mystic smiles and tells her he never was involved with Sac. Though Sac is an adult, she stays a child in many ways. Joseph wants a woman and he has found her in Ruby. Ruby tells him she feels like a helpless child, not able to do anything, but knowing she is capable of so much.
Joseph understands and gives her the first lesson of being a mage. He helps her to see the patterns of all objects. Ruby succeeds at her second try and feels much better...
A few days later Ruby and Joe go for a bite to eat at Bernie's. Joseph asks her if she wants to go to San Diego with him, only for a few hours, it needn't be that long. Ruby suggests they could go for a few days, this would allow them time and peace, so she can learn some more things. She also mentions she heard Sac ask him when he was going to propose to Ruby. Joseph calmly says they needn't rush into anything. Ruby can't help but feel slightly dissapointed. Then she suddenly feels the presense of Trevor and sees him sitting at another table. Trevor clearly dares Joseph to fight with him by making rude gestures and insulting his girlfriend. (SEE BACKGROUND STORY and RUBY & TREVOR FOR MORE DETAILS) After Trevor made a comment about Ruby's sexual behaviour, loud enough for the whole café to hear, Ruby slaps him and Joseph makes sure they can speed their way out of the café.
Once again Ruby is filled with guilt and pain and isn't able to let go of the past...
After a romantic evening of the two lovers, Ruby suddenly bursts into tears, telling Joseph how much she fears losing him. She is frightened that she would have to pay for her sins by losing the one she truly loves. Once again Joseph tells her to look at his pattern and her own. She sees the thick silver cord again that binds their hearts together. He assures her that he won't leave her and that their love is strong. Then he asks her seriously to let go of her past. He wants to be with his lover and doesn't want any spectators from years gone by tormenting her.
His words make Ruby think and she promises him she will try.
Though she has a hard time letting go of all that happened before she met Joseph, she finally realises she has never loved a man before she met him. In order to keep him she would have to fight against the haunting images of her past...
Ruby realises this is hard to do, but helping a young boy named Ben keeps her mind of things as well. She has motherly feelings for the kid and Joseph likes Ben as well, though he warns his beloved for letting too much information slip...
When Ruby meets a man called Raven on the streets, she realises she hasn't got rid of one of her old "habits", which is to flirt with men. Raven had kissed her the moment they met, which left Ruby surprised, but hostile as well. The angelic man broke through her walls and convinced her to keep him company. Charmed by his admiring gazes, she kisses him. In the meanwhile Joseph is being attacked by a Garou, having a nasty fight in which he gets hurt.
Ruby sees him on the streets and helps him home, while Joseph explains to her what happened.
She hesitates for a while, but decides to tell Joe that she has kissed another man, though it meant nothing to her...
Joseph stares at her a moment, his eyes painful to look at...he just turns and gets his satchel, then dissapears using his magic...
Ruby is upset and sinks to the ground crying after a vain attempt to keep him with her...
With only the comfort of the little cat, she hopes her true love will return...
Fortunately it doesn't take too long for Joseph to miss Ruby and he indeed returns in her life...though things have changed. Joseph seems more distant than usual and Ruby blames her foolish behaviour for it. Yet Joe tells her that that isn't the reason. The young blonde mage still wonders why the two Garou attacked him and he seems determined to find out.
One night Ruby returns home from a stroll and finds Sac in her living room, telling her she is hiding from a creature with garou powers who attacked her after she followed Joe...Joe was semi-attacked by 2 Garou...the same garou of the earlier attack. Ruby feels a mixture of things...scared that she will lose him again and also scared for Sac, Ben and herself...thinking the Garou might track them down...
When Joseph comes home, Ruby tells him she knows what happened. Though she starts the conversation quite easy, she gets more aggrivated when Joseph seems too determined to find out more about the Garou. She thinks he's practically committing suicide and tells him if he really wants to die he should have the guts to do it himself. Joseph gets mad and shuts her out, leaving her in the bedroom as he takes a shower. She immediately feels guilty and hurt and is scared to lose her lover again. She tells him she's sorry and he accepts her apology. He promises her he won't go looking for the Garou, if they won't go looking for him and Ruby is happy with that, though something within his eyes seem to fade away...not knowing if that is a good or bad thing... Joe stays cold and emotionless to her and Ruby feels nervous.
Is she suffocating Joseph with her love for him and will he eventually leave her? Worries fill her head, her new goal is finding out what goes on in the mind of the man she loves.
His silence is deafening to her...
Fortunately this doesn't take long...the two make up quite easily and realise their bond is unbreakable
So much unbreakable even that Ruby asks him to marry her pretty soon. Joseph is very surprised but he does accept the proposal and the two get married in Paris. The marriage is quite odd at first, since the first preaches seems drunk and the second one is a Spiral Dancer who doesn't really know why she's doing that either... They get married one way or another, promising each other eternal faithfulness, not even death parting them...
Though the first problem seems to hit when they return home and have an intimate moment together. As soon as Joseph gets carried away in the passion his dark side takes over. He leaves Ruby breathless and so spent it hurts. As soon as Joseph lets her go he's practically freaking and when Ruby tries to calm him down he keeps whispering for his coat. When Ruby gives him his coat he looks up to her and starts to apologise, telling her a shocking story. He explains there was once a bad seed in his chest. He tried to remove it, but unfortunately there seems to be a tendril left in there, now coming to the surface. His coat prevents it from taking over. Ruby understands and promises him they'll find a way to get rid of the tendril.
Ruby and Joseph do get in a fight when she tells him that Adam knows an angelic who could cleanse Joe. Joe seems so sceptic that it pisses Ruby off and she shouts out she needs him to be a normal father to his son. Joseph seems stunned for a moment, dropping the plate he held. Then he grabs Ruby's shoulders and asks her if she's pregnant. Ruby seems confused for a while, not knowing why she even said that herself. But as soon Joseph lays his hand on her belly he senses the life of a boy developing in there. Ruby seems as surprised as Joseph is, but Joe is as happy as can be. Ruby however wonders if they could give the child an honest future...
When Ruby needs to flee from New York City for she's in danger, she gets locked up on one certain floor in an unknown building to her. Only the knowledge of her lover and their foster-son Ben soon coming to join her, brought to her by Adam, keeps her head up high...
After all, a 4 months pregnant woman is extremely emotional...
Her husband does visit Ruby once and not very long after that, Ruby gets a message from Azazel that she can return to her home. Of course she speeds her way to her apartment in New York, but Joseph seems to have his bussiness elsewhere. To Ruby this will always remain a mystery. Now and then her lover does return home, only to fight with his wife. The taint seems to flow through him more and more and slowly taking over.
After a month of being gone and returning home, Ruby is too happy to see him, that she cannot be angry. Until their friend Sac asks for help, for her lover has dissapeared as well. Joseph offers his help and this makes Ruby angry, knowing that he would probably be gone for a long time again.
The two fight yet again, but this time Joseph promises his wife that he won't go away.
He cannot keep this promise, since there are many friends in need of his help and the gentle and kind man inside of him has to hear their pleas. However, this leaves Ruby alone and upset. She isolates herself yet again, until through circumstances her son is born too early. Now she wonders if she is forced to make a choice, should Joseph not keep his promise...next time
