Marcy turned five shades of red, a bashful smile spread across her lips as she ducked her head. Chris’s grin grew even wider; he folded his arms over his chest and rocked back slightly on his heels. Melissa rolled her eyes, shoving at him as she pushed him forward a step. “You can flirt some other time,” she muttered, soft enough so that Marcy couldn’t hear.

“Tomorrow,” Marcy said quickly before hurrying away.

Cassie glanced briefly back at the man, not surprised to find his gaze still focused intently upon her. She thought that she should be unnerved, or even a little frightened by his intense scrutiny of her, she wasn’t. In fact, she was still thoroughly excited and entranced by it. She found herself unable, and unwilling to move for a moment, but Chris tugged her sharply forward, his displeasure with her still apparent. The man quirked a dark eyebrow at her, but other than that he remained completely still.

She allowed herself to be pulled away, not because she wanted to leave, or flee from this stranger anymore. No, she allowed herself to be pulled forward simply because she didn’t know what else to do. And no matter how much she wanted to, she could not stand there gaping at the stranger like a complete idiot. Which is exactly what she looked like.

Cassie shook her head, tearing her gaze away from the man. The odd sense of loss encompassed her once more, but it was not as suffocating this time. She chanced a quick glance back at him, not surprised to find that he had turned to watch them leave. There was a hungry gleam in his emerald eyes that sent a shiver of fear and desire down her spine. He looked like he wanted to devour her, and she found that she didn’t mind that thought at all. In fact, she thought she might like being devoured by him.

That fact just confused and flustered her even more. She shouldn’t want this, but she did.

***

Cassie slid the window open and leaned on the sill as she met Chris’s twinkling gaze. “Why don’t you just use the door?”

He shrugged as he heaved himself through the window. As big and muscular as he was, he was surprisingly agile and graceful. It was why he was the star of the football team. Well that, and his enhanced speed and strength gave him an advantage. “The window’s more fun.”

Cassie shook her head as she closed the window again, leaving it slightly cracked to allow the cool September air to flow through. Chris moved swiftly around the room, he plopped down on her bed and crossed his long legs before him. Resting his elbow on his knee, he snatched the remote up and turned on the TV. Though he flipped idly through the channels, his easy demeanor was belied by the fierce tension she sensed running through him.

Sighing softly, she walked over to sit beside him. She didn’t have to ask what was wrong she knew it was his mother again. If he wished to talk about it, he would. If not, they would sit silently until he was ready to go to sleep on the air mattress tucked under the bed for him.

“Is your grandma home?” he inquired softly.

His gaze was focused on the TV, but most of his attention was on her. “No, she went to the church social tonight. There’s left over lasagna in the fridge for you if you want some.”

He shrugged, setting the remote down as he found the Red Sox game. “Someone did take my fries,” he muttered.

Cassie couldn’t help but grin as she shoved lightly on his arm. “There were only a few left.”

“The last ones are always the best.”

Laughing softly, she pushed him again. “Do you want me to heat some for you?” she inquired though she knew that was exactly what he was trying to guilt her into doing.

He turned to her, smiling softly as he nodded. “Think you owe me.”

Cassie climbed to her feet, shaking her head at him. “You’re lucky I love you.”

He flashed his bright grin with the easy charm that most girls couldn’t resist. “You’d better!”

Cassie was still shaking her head as she made her way downstairs. She may have been born an only child, but she still had an annoying, two week older brother. Finding her way easily through the darkened halls she entered the kitchen. She didn’t bother with the lights, she could see almost as well with the lights off as she could with them on. She pulled the door of the fridge open and removed the hefty piece of lasagna her grandmother had set aside for Chris. Un-wrapping it, she tossed it into the microwave and hit the buttons.

Leaning against the sink, she stared out at the dark night, her mind not on the street before her, but on the strange man from earlier. She had done nothing but think about him since arriving home. He preoccupied her every thought, her every moment. She could not get him out of her head, could not rid her skin of the strange electricity he had created in her.

Her body hummed with a fierce need to see him again, to touch him, and to finally ease the tension knotted through her. Instinctively she knew that if she could just see him again, just touch him, than things would be better. She could not shake the feeling of rightness that had filled her from the moment she laid eyes upon him. It was as if she knew him, as if her very soul knew his.

The thought filled her with excitement, but also with a level of fear that she couldn’t shake. She shouldn’t feel this way about someone she didn’t know. It made no sense to feel this intense of a connection with a complete stranger. Though she tried to remain logical, she could not shake the certainty that what she felt was right and good.

She hated it when Chris came to her house lost and angry, however she was grateful for the distraction he now offered from her strange thoughts and emotions. But now that she was alone again, the stranger was back on her mind, back in her system. She was truly afraid that she would never feel normal again until she touched him, and knew exactly how he felt. Though she already knew he would feel exquisite.

If she saw him again. The thought of never seeing him again sent her heart racing in fear.

Cassie shook her head fiercely, desperately trying to rid herself of her strange, irrational thoughts. She was acting crazy, she was feeling crazy. Maybe everything that had happened to her over the past four years had finally caused her to lose her mind. ‘How many people could actually know of the existence of vampire’s, and fight them, and not go a little crazy?’ she wondered absently.

Not many.

Something moved amongst the shadows, drawing her gaze sharply back to the street. The shadows shifted again, moving slightly before settling down once more. Cassie focused intently upon them, but they didn’t move again, and nothing emerged from the copse of trees at the edge of the yard.

The sudden beep of the microwave caused her to jump in surprise, spinning her toward the machine. She shook her head, aggravated with herself for allowing someone to affect her this much. And a stranger no less. She didn’t know him, what she felt for him could not be real, and he should not be affecting her this way. Hell, she didn’t even know his name.

Grabbing the lasagna from the microwave, she cast another glance out the window. Nothing moved amongst the shadows, but Chris’s mom had come onto her porch. She held a beer bottle in one hand, a cigarette in the other, as she stared into space. A man emerged behind her; he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist. Cassie had never seen him before, but then, she rarely saw any of Mary’s men twice in a row.

The man explained why Chris was here tonight.

Shaking her head, she hurried back upstairs, eager to get the food to Chris. She was also eager to help ease some of the hurt that clung to him, eager to try and bury some of her own swirling emotions. She swung into her room, not at all surprised to find the air mattress already set up. “Thanks,” he muttered as he took the plate from her.

Cassie nodded and plopped herself onto the bed beside him. This was going to be one of the nights that Chris didn’t want to speak; one of the nights when he had no words to convey his unhappiness. That was just fine by her, she wasn’t much in the mood for talking either, but there was one thing that she had to know.

“Chris?”

“Hmm,” he murmured around a mouthful of lasagna.

Swallowing nervously, Cassie’s hands knotted in her lap. “Do you remember that man from earlier?” When he shot her a confused look, she elaborated. “The one standing next to B’s and S’s?”

He nodded as he took another large bite of lasagna. “What about him?” he inquired when he swallowed.

“Did you um, well did you feel anything from him?” she hedged.

Chris’s eyes narrowed on her. She never asked him these questions, never wanted to know anything about what he or Melissa knew. But she could not stop herself from asking. She had to know why she could not get the stranger out of her thoughts, and Chris might be able to help her with that. “No, not really,” he answered slowly. “Why?”

She turned her attention back to the game, hoping that Chris wouldn’t notice or pick up on the anxiety, excitement, and fear wracking through her. “Just wondering, haven’t seen him around before.”

It was not a lie, she tried to reassure herself. But she didn’t think Chris bought it. Fortunately, he knew her well enough to know not to push her anymore. Sitting silently, she gained some sense of comfort from his steady, reassuring presence. Without Chris in her life, she had no idea what would have become of her. He kept her sane in a world of madness and confusion.

Sighing softly, she dropped her head to his shoulder. For the first time all night, she finally began to feel normal again.

CHAPTER 3

Cassie slid her sunglasses onto the top of her head; she surveyed the crowded school parking lot as she stepped away from Chris’s beat up Mustang. Though the car looked like junk now, Chris planned to restore it to its former nineteen sixty four prestige. Cassie had no doubt that he could do it, the only thing she doubted was that he would ever get the time he needed to devote to it. Just as he hadn’t had time for his job once school had started again. Not with hunting vampires, thrown in with some school work and football practice.

Melissa slid out of the car beside her; her black hair was pulled into a sleek French braid that hung almost to her waist. “Freaking death trap,” she muttered.

“I heard that!” Chris shouted from inside as he fiddled with the only thing he had updated in the car, the stereo. Disturbed blasted loudly from the large speakers stuffed in the trunk moments before Chris popped his head above the roof. “I’ll have you know that this car is a classic.”

“More like an antique,” Melissa retorted.

He shrugged, dropping his hands on the roof as he leaned forward. “And one day it’s going to be awesome.”

“Well, until that day, it is a death trap,” Melissa retorted sharply.

Chris made a face at her before ducking away again and turning the music up more. Cassie rolled her eyes; she heaved a large sigh as she grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Cars were lined up and down the senior parking lot, music blared from most of them as students tried to outdo the stereos surrounding them. Puffs of smoke floated from some cars, drifting into the air in slow tendrils that marked the vehicles.

Students milled everywhere, calling greetings to their friends as they moved swiftly through the cramped spaces. Some juniors had wandered over from the lot below, but most stayed by their own cars, trying hard to make their systems heard over the rising cacophony. Cassie usually enjoyed the noise and confusion of the mornings, it helped to wake her up. But today she found herself wishing that everyone would keep their music at a normal level, and their voices pitched below screaming. She had gotten very little sleep, and the dull throbbing in her temples was a constant reminder of that fact.

“I’m going in,” she muttered to Melissa.

Melissa frowned at her. “Are you ok?”

Cassie frowned as she nodded and pulled her glasses back over her tired, aching eyes. “I didn’t sleep well, and that sun is awfully bright.”

“Yeah, it tends to be.”

Cassie didn’t have the energy to come up with a witty retort as she tightened her grip on the straps of her bag and made her way into the crowd. People called out loud greetings to her that she returned with a forced smile, and a cheery demeanor she didn’t feel. Her skin was still oddly electrified to the point that she wanted to rip it off, her mind still focused upon one clinging thought. Him. Being bright, cheery, and happy was not in her today, but she did a good job of faking it.

Swiftly climbing the steps, she was grateful when she reached the cool interior of the dimly lit foyer. The shade felt much nicer against her skin and eyes than the hot, bright sun. On days when she was run down, the sun was oddly draining, and painful to her. It stung her eyes more, and made her skin feel tight and itchy. She had never understood it, but that was the way it was. It was easier to avoid sunlight when she was overtired. And she was most certainly tired today.