Hunger flared briefly through his eyes, heating them and turning them dark as he met her startled gaze. Need poured from him in waves that left her breathless and frozen. She could feel the fierce battle he waged with himself as he struggled to control his desire for blood. Her blood. Though she should be petrified by his obvious longing to drain her, she was amazed to discover that she was also oddly tantalized and fascinated by it. She was terrified and excited to realize that she wanted him to taste her, that she wanted to know what it would feel like to have him do so. She wanted to be the one to ease his hunger, and his desire.
Excitement tore through her at the thought, her toes curled as yearning flared hotly through her body. He was the only thing she saw; he became the only thing in the room as every cell in her being focused upon him. Eyes widening slightly, they darkened even more as he picked up on the longing tearing through her. His hand tightened around hers, his body went taut as he pinned her with his intense, loving gaze.
Luther cleared his throat loudly, coughing forcefully. Heat flared through Cassie’s face as she was torn away from Devon, and back to the room, and reality. Chris and Melissa were studying the far wall, obviously trying to ignore the scene before them. Luther had pulled his glasses off, and was cleaning them gently with his shirt. Face burning, Cassie could not bring herself to look at her grandmother, she was sure she would burst into flames if she did.
“What made you stop drinking human blood?” Luther inquired after a few more awkward seconds. He blinked at Devon as he slipped his glasses on, apparently happy to see that Devon was no longer looking at her.
Devon shrugged, shifting slightly. “Things change.”
Cassie frowned her eyes darting hesitantly back to him. She was also relieved, and slightly disappointed, to find his attention focused on Luther. Eyebrows drawing questioningly together, Cassie couldn’t help but wonder what had caused this change, and why Devon did not seem to want to elaborate upon it.
“And before this change, were you a killer?” Chris demanded, his hands fisting at his sides.
“Yes.” The simple word, and the cold tone of it, hung heavily in the air. Cassie’s heart thumped loudly as she bit on her bottom lip, trying hard not to judge him harshly. “I cannot change the past though; there is nothing that I can do about it. I have spent over a hundred years trying to atone for my sins.”
“And have you?”
“No.”
Cassie studied Devon’s hard profile. His jaw was clenched tight, a muscle jumped in his cheek as he stared hard at Chris. Though his tone was flat, his hand had tightened around hers as he sought comfort and forgiveness from her. Cassie stroked her thumb gently over his cool skin, trying hard to assure him of her unwavering love.
“The sun,” Melissa said, obviously looking to change the tense subject. “How are you able to go out in the sun?”
A small smile curved Devon’s lips, his eyes warmed with amusement. “Well, that took awhile. As my powers grew, I began to gradually expose myself to the suns deadly rays. Slowly, I was able to expose myself to more and more of it, building up a sort of immunity to it.”
“How long did that take?”
Devon shrugged, his tight grip on Cassie eased slightly. “I’ve been working on it for about three hundred years now. I still burn easily if I am exposed for too long, and it depletes my powers a little faster than I would like, but at least I’m able to be in it for periods of time without bursting into flames.”
“Why would you take such a risk in the first place?” Cassie asked softly, horror filling her at the realization that he could have been killed.
He glanced down at her, his smile slipping slightly. “In the beginning, simply to see if I could. I knew of one other vampire that had succeeded in being able to walk about in daylight, and I wasn’t about to be second best to anyone. But then I began to remember what it felt like to be in the sun, to feel the heat of it.” He shrugged again, his gaze darting to the far wall. “I missed it. I wanted it back.”
“And it allowed for more hunting time,” Chris guessed.
Devon’s face was impassive as he turned toward him, but tension hummed through his body once more. Cassie hated the conflict between them, but there was nothing that she could do about it right now. Chris would either come to accept Devon, or he wouldn’t. But eventually he would have to realize that they must get along, because Cassie wasn’t going to part with either one of them.
She only hoped that it didn’t get to the point where they couldn’t be near each other. Chris was her rock, her best friend, without him she would have been lost long ago. But Devon was her heart, her soul. She would be nothing without him. Swallowing heavily, she shoved away her fear and worry. It had only been a few hours, she was sure that with more time Chris would come to see that Devon was not a monster. Chris would come to see that Devon was good, and that he would do anything to keep her safe, and protected.
“Yes,” Devon answered.
Cassie fought a shudder as she tried to block out the awful image of Devon killing innocent, unsuspecting people. She tried desperately to block out the murder and terror that he must have reigned down upon those innocents. That was not the Devon standing next to her now, she had to remember that. She did not know what had made him change, what had made him stop killing, but she did know that the man beside her now was kind, compassionate, and loving. He was not a killer anymore.
Still, she could not shake the uneasiness that clung to her. “Can Julian go out in the sun?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know, but I doubt it,” he answered slowly. “Julian has always relished in the darkness, and in the misery and pain of our existence. He would not relish the warmth of the sun’s rays.”
“But it would expand his hunting time,” Chris said flatly.
Devon simply nodded. Cassie shifted slightly, pulling the blanket off her lap. Devon glanced sharply down at her, taking a step forward in an attempt to stop her if she tried to rise. Cassie frowned fiercely at him as she shook her head. She had no intention of going anywhere, not yet anyway, the blanket was just hot and confining now. Besides, she was perfectly fine and she didn’t need him hovering over her like a mother hen.
Cassie waved him off as she swung her legs to the floor, feeling better without the cloying blanket on her. She knew it was not the weight of the blanket that truly bothered her, but all the awful events and truths that had come out. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to throw them off.
“Does Julian have the same powers as you?” Cassie inquired, fearful of the ability for mind control in Julian’s hands.
Devon shook his head, his eyes troubled and dark. “He does not have mind control, but he does have Psychometry.”
“Psycho what?” Cassie asked, not at all liking the sound of it.
Devon stared silently down at her, displeasure radiating from him. “Psychometry, it’s the ability to learn about a person by touching them, or by touching an object that they have touched. He gets impressions from these things, he can tell what has happened in the past, and he can learn about you.”
“Well that’s not so bad, at least it’s not mind control,” Chris said with a pointed look at Devon.
Devon shook his head, ignoring Chris’s baiting. “No it’s not mind control, but Julian uses it to get inside a person’s head, to torture them, to taunt them. He can learn about you, your abilities, your families, whatever he wants to know about you. It’s fun for him to drive a person crazy with his knowledge of them, before killing them. He likes to see them break mentally first. It’s not mind control, but with the way that Julian uses it, it’s even worse.”
Cassie’s mouth dropped, Chris inhaled sharply, and Luther cleaned his glasses off again. Melissa leaned heavily against the fireplace mantle, but her grandmother remained unmoving. “Wonderful,” Melissa moaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“Psycho, just psycho, that’s all I need to know about that ability,” Chris mumbled.
The heartbeat in Cassie’s chest began to increase; the palms of her hands became sweaty. Cold terror crept through her. “He touched me,” she managed to croak out.
Devon’s eyes were fierce, his hand hard on hers. “He won’t ever touch you again,” he vowed. “And he will never get close enough to use his knowledge against you.”
“But he does have knowledge of me?”
Though she could tell that he wanted to sugarcoat it, that he did not want to be brutally honest with her, in the end, he was. “Yes, but he didn’t touch you for long so he probably only had a brief glimpse into you.”
Cassie blinked; it was the only reaction she could make. He knew about her. That monster knew about her! What did he know? What had he seen? Cassie’s fingers curled into the blanket, she was suddenly ice cold, but she knew the blanket would do little to warm her. Devon knelt beside her, gently nudging her chin up.
“He won’t get near you again,” he promised softly.
Though she managed a nod, she did not feel relieved. She had seen that thing, she had felt it’s evil. There was no stopping it, not until it was dead. And it was still very much alive. Inside she was as cold as a freezer.
Sighing softly, Devon stroked her face gently before turning back to the others. “And what powers do you possess?” he inquired.
Chris and Melissa exchanged a panicked look, apparently uncertain how much they wanted to reveal about themselves. “I speak to the dead.”
It was the first time her grandmother had spoken since Cassie had been released from the hospital. Apparently where Chris and Melissa were still hesitant, she had decided to give her trust wholeheartedly. Cassie’s heart warmed, she knew how hard it was for her grandmother. She had lost so much to vampires over the past twenty years, and yet she was willing to trust Devon with one of her most intimate secrets.
Her grandma’s sky blue eyes were clear and warm as they briefly met Cassie’s gaze. She sat casually in the recliner in the corner of the room, her small legs drawn up beneath her. Her strawberry hair had been pulled into a loose ponytail that fell to her shoulders in gentle waves. Though she was in her late fifties, she still looked as if she were in her thirties. Cassie hoped she looked that good at her grandmother’s age. Hell, she hoped she even made it to thirty, never mind her fifties.
“A whisperer,” Devon said softly.
Her grandmother’s mouth quirked in a small smile as she nodded. “Apparently you know a lot about our kind.”
“Seven hundred years is a long time to learn things.”
Her grandmother chuckled softly; her eyes twinkled as she nodded. “I suppose so. It puts us at a disadvantage though.”
Devon was silent for a moment, pondering her words. “But you must know that The Hunter line and vampires share the same abilities. That is why I know a lot about them. Why many vampires know a lot about your abilities, and why you know a lot about our abilities.”
“Some of us do,” Luther muttered, shooting a pointed look at Chris and Cassie, who looked quickly away. Cassie was not in the mood for another one of his lectures about their lack of knowledge, and unwillingness to learn more, about their ancestry and heritage.
Devon looked questioningly at her. She defiantly met his gaze, her jaw clenching tightly. She did not want to discuss it right now. “The Slaughter,” Cassie said softly, her thoughts turning to the murderous rampage that had stolen her and Melissa’s parents, and Chris’s father from them. The vampire’s may not have known which Hunter’s possessed which abilities, but they had known the kinds of abilities that they would come up against. And they had been prepared for them, where as The Hunter’s had not been prepared for the sudden, violent onslaught.
“I had no part in that, I swear. I was far removed from any of the inner circles, far out of the loop when that occurred. I wouldn’t have taken part even if I had known.” Cassie wanted to believe him. She found she did believe him. It was a strange realization considering everything that had transpired in the past twenty four hours, but though he had never told her what he really was- she’d never told him either- he’d never done anything to hurt her. He’d had many chances to kill her, to use her, to drain her, and he had never once taken that opportunity.
“They will keep coming for you,” Devon continued. “Not only do they want The Hunter line extinguished, but also because your blood is very strong, very powerful. There is no greater rush than a Hunter’s blood. There is nothing more empowering and the effect of it lasts for years. It can be irresistible.”
Cassie stared wide eyed at him, her hand slowly fluttered up to her neck. He had resisted it. He had tasted her blood and he had turned away from it. Was there something wrong with it? Cassie’s brow furrowed as the disturbing thought occurred to her. She had no special “gifts” like her family, Chris, and Melissa. Did that somehow make her blood less appealing?