Cassie emerged from one of the ruined stalls, her stained purse clutched tightly in her trembling hands. Her gaze darted around the room, her breath came more rapidly. She looked so lost, so childlike and wounded that it broke his heart. His anger evaporated as he took in the room once more. All he could do was be thankful that she was still alive, that she had somehow managed to survive Julian’s attack when no one else would have. At least no human would have, and probably no other Hunter.

She may not have the special abilities that Melissa and Chris possessed, but Devon was beginning to suspect that there was far more to her than any of them had even begun to imagine.

He removed his arm from Chris’s shoulder, a fresh well of strength infusing him. She needed him even more than he needed blood right now. Opening his arms to her, she hesitated for a moment as fear and worry flashed across her beautiful face. When he made no move to pull away from her, no move to turn her away, she ran forward. Throwing her arms around his waist, she buried her face in his chest. He held her tight as her shoulders began to shake and heart wrenching sobs escaped her.

Burying his face in her hair, he tried to focus on the sweet scent of fruit and spices she emitted, and not the luring scent of her powerful blood. Her fear, and her need for him, was a great motivator for this. Careful of the wounds along her side, he lifted her gently. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her tear stained face into his neck.

They used the back doors as they made their way outside while Chris retrieved the coats. Devon adjusted Cassie, flinging open the passenger side door as Melissa scurried inside. He placed her gently into the passenger seat, kneeling beside her to stroke her hair back from her face. Turning her hands over, he noted the jagged gashes on her delicate palms. Anger flared through him as he pulled a piece of glass free and tossed it aside.

“Are you going to be ok?” he asked softly.

She managed a small nod, closing her eyes briefly. Picking her arm up, he surveyed the gashes on her side, fighting back the hunger that crashed through him in rising waves. She winced, jerking away from him slightly. “Sorry love,” he whispered, his eyebrows drawing tightly together as he realized that the wounds were already beginning to heal.

The blood had stopped flowing; the gashes were already becoming smaller. The rate in which she was mending was stunning. He recalled the hospital when she said she healed fast, but this fast? She was not healing at his rate, for he could already feel the muscle reattaching itself to his bone; feel his skin rejoining once more. No, she did not heal at his rate, but it was at a rate that far exceeded anything she should be capable of. Even as a Hunter.

Doubts blazed forth in his mind, little pieces of a puzzle suddenly scattered across a table before him. They were pieces that he didn’t understand, and couldn’t quite put together, but they worried him nonetheless. He could not make sense of what he was looking at, could not understand the mystery that was her, and he realized that it would take far more than him to make sense of this. He just didn’t know who to turn to for help with this puzzle.

“Don’t worry about it, I heal fast remember,” she said softly.

“I can see that,” he muttered, unable to tear his attention away from the now shallow wounds.

Her finger was gentle under his chin as she lifted his face. “You need to feed.”

His frown intensified in confusion. Then, ever so gently, her thumb brushed over his extended fangs, sending desire and want blasting through him. He trembled at her touch, fighting the urge for so much more. He hadn’t even known that his fangs had extended, he had been too caught up in his amazement of her to realize that his intense need was so very obvious. At her touch, hunger sprang forth in a burning wave that seared his veins.

Recoiling from her touch, he moved out of her reach, knowing that he could not tempt himself anymore. He was rapidly spiraling out of control. Her hand fell away, but there was no hurt in her gaze, only deep worry. Chris jogged up to the car, their coats draped over his arm. “Go,” Cassie urged softly. “I’ll be fine, I’ve suffered through worse.”

Her gentle reassurances, and the growing anguish in his body, made up his mind for him. He could not stay with her; if he did, he ran the risk of hurting her. She would be in good hands, and once she was home, she would be safe. Digging into his pocket, Devon pulled out his keys and tossed them to Chris. Fumbling with the coats, Chris managed to keep hold of them as he caught the keys.

“Drive slow, I’ll follow you home.”

Chris gaped at him, his mouth dropping as he looked at the keys, and then the car. “You ok?” he stammered.

“Yes, just make sure that you take care of her.” They both knew that he was not talking about the car. He turned his attention back to Cassie. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

She managed a nod, but he saw the fear and anxiety in her gaze. Feeling like the worst kind of ass he gently shut the door, he didn’t trust himself to get close to her again. “I’m sorry about almost attacking you earlier.”

Chris managed a wan smile. “I understand where you’re coming from, just don’t let it happen again.”

Chris was trying to sound light but his voice was tight. Devon nodded, closing his eyes as another tremor of hunger ripped through him. Shaking, desperately thirsty, he took a step back. He watched as Chris pulled out of the parking lot with the only person that could completely satisfy the arid torture blazing through his veins.

Turning, he fled into the woods, keeping pace with the car as it made its way down the side streets.

CHAPTER 17

“What happened?”

Cassie dropped her coat tiredly on the banister. Dani had come barreling down the stairs; freezing three steps from the foyer as her mouth dropped and her eyes damn near bulged out of her head. “Where’s my grandma?” Cassie asked quietly.

Dani blinked in surprise, her gaze darting rapidly between Cassie and the ruined dress she wore. “Her friend Martha called, they went to Bingo. She thought she would be home before you, but…” Dani’s eyes darted to the grandfather clock in the living room. “You’re far earlier than expected.”

“Party kinda got crashed,” Chris mumbled.

“I can see that,” Dani said softly, one eyebrow cocked questioningly.

“Glad she’s not home.” The last thing Cassie wanted was for her grandma to see her like this. The retelling was going to be bad enough, but to actually see it would have made matters much worse.

“What the hell happened?”

“You got it, hell happened.” Chris shut and locked the door behind him.

Dani’s gaze darted wildly over them, fear radiated from her. Cassie rolled her eyes at Chris, shaking her head slightly. There was no need to frighten Dani even more. Chris tried a sheepish, apologetic smile, but it failed miserably as his face did not seem to want to cooperate with his intentions.

“Where’s Melissa?” she demanded sharply, her voice tight with panic.

“Dropped her off already,” Cassie answered. Dani slumped, her relief palpable. “I need some ice cream, but first I need out of this dress. Chris, why don’t you make us some sundaes?”

“Are you ok?” Dani demanded her focus locked on Cassie’s blood stained side.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured her gently.

Cassie padded slowly up the stairs, very aware of every ache and bruise as each movement intensified the pain. Though she was not looking forward to retelling the horrifying events of the night, she was grateful for the distraction that Dani offered. Otherwise, she would be consumed with her worry for Devon, and her fear of everything that had been revealed tonight.

How many women were in his past? How many of them had he loved? And who was Annabelle?

Cassie shuddered; her hands trembled as she pulled the zipper on her dress down. She didn’t want to think about those questions, it would only rattle her already shaken confidence more. Tossing her destroyed dress on top of her bed, she took a shower, washing the blood from her as she tried to scrub herself clean of the memories choking her. No matter how hard she scrubbed though, she could not clean away the events of the night.

Tears burned the back of her throat once more, but she refused to shed them again. She hated the weakness she had allowed to slip through earlier with Devon. She was a big girl; she had been in life threatening situations before. She should be able to handle her reaction to them far better than she had today.

Although, she’d never had an experience as bad as the one tonight. She really had thought her life was over, truly felt that she was experiencing the last few horrifying moments. And she had never been confronted with a beautiful, psychotic girlfriend from centuries past before. Cassie shuddered, scrubbing at her skin with renewed vigor.

Though she tried not to think of Isla, it was all she could think about. How long had they been together? Had he loved her? She didn’t want to contemplate the things they had done together, but she couldn’t stop the images that flashed through her mind, the jealousy and fear that consumed her. She was nothing like Isla. That woman had experience; she knew what a man liked, what a man wanted. She knew what Devon liked. She had satisfied him with her body, and Cassie was certain, with her blood. She had satisfied him in ways that Cassie had not, and maybe never could. Revulsion swarmed through her, nearly threatening to drown her in its thick waves.

Her certainty that she wanted to join Devon had been shaken, if not destroyed. His was a world that she didn’t understand, it was a world of cruelty and death and misery. One that she wasn’t certain she could belong to and she knew she could never truly fit into it. It was a world that very well might destroy her.

Despite the hot water, Cassie was shivering and numb when she climbed out of the shower. She dressed slowly, feeling hollow and devastated. The night had started out with so much promise, it was all gone now. Like a log that had been burnt out, all of her hope had been turned to a pile of ash that was choking her from the inside out. And no matter how much she wanted to hope that things would be ok, that Devon would explain everything, she wasn’t sure that it would ever be right again. She wasn’t sure that they could ever be the same again.

Ever so carefully, she cleaned and bandaged her wounds with the ample medical supplies she kept under the sink. She was not at all surprised to find that though the gashes were still deep, the blood had stopped, and the healing process was well under way. She had always healed fast, ever since she was a little girl, and she had never been sick.

She used to wonder about it until Luther walked into her life, now she just chocked it up to her Hunter capabilities. Even if Chris and Melissa did not heal quite as fast as her, they had never had a cold either. Once her wounds were bandaged, she fingered her cracked rib lightly, wincing as a sharp pain tore through her. Though she could not use disinfectant and bandages on it, it would heal just as swiftly as the gashes on her side.

Slipping her favorite baggy sweatshirt on, Cassie wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way to the kitchen. Chris and Dani were already sitting at the counter, their spoons clicking against their bowls. Chris pushed a strawberry sundae with no whip cream and extra cherries toward her. Though she had asked for the sundae, she shook her head, her appetite gone. Her body was already a block of ice, she didn’t want to add more coldness to it.

Making her way to the window, Cassie stared out at the dark night. She recalled when she had first met Devon, when she had sensed his presence out there, watching over her. That was before he had started coming to her room. That was when things had been simple and easy, when she had thought him human and had wanted to keep him protected. How foolish she had been. She could no more protect him then she could stop a charging elephant. Her protection was unnecessary, her strength nothing compared to his.

Now as she searched the night, she felt nothing out there, no good or evil. It was simply an empty void that did nothing to ease the void inside of her. Even Chris’s house was silent; his mother apparently having passed out already, or retreated to bed with whatever man she had brought home tonight.

Cassie turned swiftly away, focusing on Chris and Dani. “Did you tell her anything yet?”

“No.” Chris pushed his bowl aside, but instead of reaching for hers as he normally would have, he leaned back in his chair. Apparently the events of the night had affected his appetite too. Folding his long legs before him, his eyes were sad and distant as he surveyed her. “I thought that you should be here.”

Cassie nodded, leaning against the sink as she began to fill Dani in on the details of the night. When she could not continue on, Chris picked it up for her. Dani sat silently, her eyes growing wider, her half eaten sundae forgotten. When Chris finished, Cassie turned back to the window, once again searching the empty night.