Honestly, I’d just go right on over and kill Alexander if it were that simple, but he’s incredibly strong, and he’s never alone. Plus, it would trigger a full-scale war with his Cell. My own people would suffer.

He doesn’t even like being on this island. He stays here to torment me, or at least, that’s what he’ll have us believe. The real reason is that he’s too scared to let me out of his sight, in case he never finds me again. I hold all the cards in that regard. I’m the only one that can activate the Legacy, which would grant us both more power than any other vampires in existence, save the other Elwoods, and a few ancient ones.

Unfortunately for him, I have no intention of doing so. Between him and the Bael, the pressure to carry out the bonding ritual is forever around my neck like an albatross. Of course I’d like the power, but it would rip away everything that I’ve worked so hard for. I would walk in the light without any pain, and yet I’d be lost to the darkness, dragged down to a blacker place than ever before.

I quit running from the Bael once I realised they couldn’t do anything to make me conform. And hell, they tried damned hard. They tortured me, tortured Alexander, tortured those I care about, including Eva. They killed some that I cared about. Still, I wouldn’t waver. Now they let me be, biding their time, waiting in the shadows like eager vultures. They’ll pounce at the first opportunity.

I’ve shamed them and they want me in the fold, where I belong, bowing and nodding to their commands; their lethal toy to enforce their laws. They let me live for that reason – I’m valuable to them. But the truth was, they could take me out any time they wanted.

Now Jess was here. I’m not ashamed to admit to being terrified. And infuriated, because of the feeling of being powerless to her pull. Needing her. I don’t want to need someone. I can’t afford that. It’s too dangerous. It gives me a weakness, one that they’ll try to use against me.

Now should be the time to walk away. Either make her leave the island, or leave myself. Because, what if I can’t protect her? And what if the one she needs protecting from isn’t Alexander, or the Bael, what if it’s me? What if I fall backwards?

She smells like honey-laced ecstasy, like an intoxicating dream. Her aura blinds me with its glittering shine. I want to devour her. But one little taste and I’d need to have more. I would use her, just like I did with Selena.

She’d be the same, giving to me willingly in her foolish belief that it was OK because its love, but I would take more and more. Eventually, she’d end up a shell, a mere husk, her soul drained away and her blood too diluted, sapping her strength and vibrancy.

Exactly. Right where she belongs. At your feet, begging for mercy.

Maybe after this, she would leave. Perhaps I wouldn’t need to do anything else. She was so angry at me, for so many things. So many fears and doubts. She might leave. Then again, this was Jess, and I’d delved into her thoughts enough to know that she craved danger. Thrived off it.

As soon as her footsteps were far enough away I let the mask drop and indulged myself in a rage-induced feed. It went some way to calming me, but not nearly enough as I’d hoped.

“He’ll love this,” I growled, kicking at bits of wood that had splintered off a door when I’d torn through the house.

“They’ll just snoop around for a few days, get bored and move on,” Leon replied.

“No. He’s been silent since she arrived. Too quiet. Now that I’ve been seen so protective of her, his mood has shifted. I’m going to have to speak to him.”

Leon gave me a sceptical look, but I was already casting my mind out to Alexander. I knocked for him at the edge of his conscience.

“You’re asking permission to come in? How domesticated,” he thought.

“You’ve heard what happened today?” I locked down as much of my head as I could, only giving him the basics.

“Of course.”

“And?”

“And it’s interesting. What is she?”

“She’s mine. And I have a problem. She’s staying on your side.” I clenched my fists. My knuckles stung as splinters of wood worked their way out and the grazes healed over.

“That must be very troubling for you.”

I could feel him grinning.

“She won’t move.”

“Don’t tell me you are so weak that you can’t influence a human?” The disdain floating around his conscience was palpable. His pathetic brother was letting a girl, a human girl, do what she wanted.

“She has her own mind and I’d like to keep messing with it to a minimum,” I said.

“How odd,” he replied.

“There’s something else. Someone is toying with me. They’ve been leaving her notes, I think they know what we are. It’s not a vampire, there’s a human scent on them, but it’s off. I can’t place it. It might be linked to the recent attacks on my men.”

“Things really aren’t going too well for you at the moment, brother.”

“The scent is coming from someone on your side. I need you to track them for me, or let me in.” There was no way he’d agree to the latter.

“You care enough for this girl that you’re prepared to ask me for help?”

Glee. Definite glee in his mood now.

“Yes.”

“Notes are so impersonal, don’t you think? When I want to mess with her head you can bet I’ll be making some live appearances.”

The lockdown around my other thoughts slipped as I snarled at him, and his smug whistling made it slide further.

“You know what will happen if you go anywhere near her,” I hissed out loud.

I will rip out your eyes and feed them to you. I will tear your head from your body and use it as a footstool. I will drain you to the point of no return…

“Yes! I love it when you let the Beast slip out to play! More, more!” The sound of his clapping hands reverberated through my skull.

I didn’t indulge him with any reply, waiting for his happiness to subside.

“Fine. I guess I’ll see him again soon, anyway. The way your jumbled head feels right now, you don’t have long left. So, the question is, what makes you think that I would have any interest in helping you? This is far too good. Unless, of course, you’re ready to help me?” he asked.

“Keep dreaming.”

“Well then, this conversation is over.”

“Who set fire to your bar, Alexander?” I asked quickly, before he left. “You let someone get that close without sensing them? Are you losing your touch?”

He paused, I could feel him trying to lock down the rage that I’d evoked. The fact was, if someone could get that close without him sensing it, then he’d be worried, and I knew it. He wasn’t that immune to emotion.

“You’re going to help me because it serves your own interest. If this person knows who I am, then they know who you are. And they’re in your territory.”

He didn’t speak again, but I did hear him growl inwardly.

“I’ll have someone meet you on Port Isabel with the scent. Oh, and Alexander, if you ever pull another stunt like the bungee jump again, I guarantee I’ll set the Beast loose, and you won’t live to see through it.”