Cassie clung to Devon's hand, unwilling to release him. His hand was strong, calloused, and slightly cool against hers. She couldn't stop herself from reveling in the splendor of his striking face. His strong jaw clenched; the nostrils of his sculpted nose flared as he faced the people surrounding him.

Sensing her attention, his vivid emerald eyes warmed as they met her fascinated gaze. His full lips curved into a small smile. His black hair hung around the edges of his chiseled face and curled boyishly at the corner of his right eye.

He was anything but boyish though with his svelte body and immortal status. No, Devon was most certainly not a boy; he wasn't even a man. He was the one thing she'd hated since she'd learned her parents, and Chris's father, hadn't been killed in a car accident together, but had been murdered during The Slaughter. If it wasn't for Chris's mother Mary, Cassie and Chris would have been slaughtered in the strike also.

Devon seemed to sense the dark turn her thoughts had taken. His smile faded as he took a step closer to her. The feel of his body suddenly heated her chilled skin, her heart thudded, her toes curled as she fought the desperate urge to pull him into her embrace. Unfortunately there was still too much to deal with before she could allow herself to be lost in the comfort he offered.

Cassie's attention was brought back to Luther as he shifted his stance. His head was quirked as his gray eyes studied Devon over the top of his John Lennon style glasses. His graying brown hair was uncharacteristically disheveled as he anxiously ran his fingers through it. "How old are you?"

Cassie wasn't sure she cared to know the answer to that question. She'd dated an older boy for about a week, but he'd only been a year and a half older than her. Being the girl with the boyfriend who could possibly be a couple hundred years older was something entirely different, and more than a little frightening.

Devon's fingers entwined with hers. "I’ve been a vampire for seven hundred and fifty-two years. In total, I'm seven hundred and seventy-one."

Cassie's breath exploded from her. Her eyes spun toward him as her hand clenched on his. "Crap," Chris breathed.

Cassie felt that was the understatement of the year. He was nearly a millennium older than her! Seven hundred and fifty-four years to be exact! It was far more of an age difference than she ever would have imagined, no wonder he seemed so much older than all of the students around him. She didn't want to think about the number of women he'd known over the years. She knew how the girls at school flocked to him, practically throwing themselves at his feet.

She found herself barely able to breathe through the knot of jealousy and disbelief stuck in her throat. His emerald eyes were filled with unease and a desperate need for her to understand as they pierced her own. It was that look that finally allowed air to filter back into her brutalized lungs.

No matter how frightened, lost, and envious she was, she couldn't turn against him. She had to live in the present; she had to stay grounded here. She would go crazy if she didn't. No matter how many women he'd known in his past, she knew she was his everything now. Biting nervously on her bottom lip, Cassie managed a small nod for him, and his shoulders relaxed visibly.

"You must be very powerful," Melissa said softly.

Devon nodded. "Yes."

"What can you do?" Melissa prodded when Devon didn't say anymore.

Melissa's exotically slanted, onyx eyes, were fixed upon Devon. Her hair, free from its customary French braid, fell around her shoulders in thick black waves that ended just beneath her shoulder blades. Her slender body was seemingly at ease as she leaned against the fireplace, but tension hummed just beneath her outwardly calm surface.

Devon shrugged absently. "I am stronger and faster than a human."

"So is every other vampire. So are we," Chris retorted.

Devon lifted an eyebrow at Chris. "But I'm stronger than most, far more. My senses are keener than theirs and I'm faster. Most wouldn't survive a fight with me."

Hostility hummed through Chris's large, football players build. Despite his size, Chris moved with a grace and agility that was both surprising and impressive. It was one of the reasons he was the star on the football team. His sandy blond hair was a mess from tugging on it as he restlessly paced back and forth, only pausing once in a while to pierce Devon with an accusatory glare.

"Except for the one you ran into last night," Chris grumbled.

"I can defeat Julian," Devon snarled.

Chris took an angry step forward. "Then why didn't you?"

Devon's emerald eyes darkened to a deep shade of jade as he glanced down at Cassie. It was because of her that Devon had abandoned the fight. Because of her he hadn't hunted Julian down and destroyed the monster plaguing their area. If she hadn't been so distracted, and horrified to realize her suspicions about Devon being a vampire were true, Julian never would have had the opportunity to nearly kill her.

Cassie shuddered at the reminder of her near death experience. She'd come close to losing everything, and everyone, she loved. Closing her eyes, she tried to suppress the disgust and fear the memory aroused. "What else are you capable of?" Chris inquired, apparently deciding to let the fight go.

Devon frowned as his attention was once again pulled away from her. "I have the ability for mind control, and…"

"Excuse me," Cassie interrupted stridently. "Mind control?"

"Yes. Though I can't read them, I am able to sort through people's minds and pick out a certain one amongst the crowd. Or I can pick out a few minds, a crowd's too, if it's necessary. When I latch onto it, I can bend it to my will, inserting memories or altering time." Cassie gaped at him as nausea curdled through her belly. He could control her mind? "I would never do that to you Cassie, any of you, I swear."

"That's how you were able to get into the school," Luther guessed. "I'm assuming you don't have transcripts."

Devon's eyes twinkled with amusement. "No, I don't."

Cassie couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head in disbelief. This was her life, as strange and odd and fantastic as it was. It was far more overwhelming than she'd thought it would be when she was thirteen, but she wouldn't trade it for anything. Just a few weeks ago there had been many things she would have changed, but then Devon had walked into her world and turned it upside down. She wouldn't even change the Hunter heritage she'd resented for the past four years. To alter one thing might mean she never would have met Devon.

"I think they would be a little expired anyway," Melissa said with a laugh.

"That's why you're always so bored," Cassie murmured. Devon flashed a beautiful, heart stopping grin, it melted the last of her disquiet over his startling ability to control people's minds. "What were you saying before I interrupted you? What else can you do?"

His grin faded as his eyes became distant once more. "I have an inherent ability to lure people to me. It's especially strong with women."

Cassie's eyebrows drew together. The more he spoke of his abilities, the less she liked them. His looks were more than enough to draw any woman, and she was sure some men, never mind adding this to it. "Like a Venus flytrap," muttered Luther.

"Yes, very much so."

"Does anyone escape?" Chris asked harshly.

"I haven't tasted human blood in a hundred and thirty-seven years," Devon retorted. Then his eyes fell to the scratches still marring her neck. Cassie felt her face redden as horror curdled through her. He'd gone so long without tasting blood, until her foolishness had forced him to use the healing agent in his saliva to close her cuts. "Until tonight," he mumbled.

Hunger heated his eyes and turned them a darker shade of green as he met her startled gaze. Need poured from him in waves that left her breathless and frozen. She could feel the turbulent battle he waged with himself as he fought to control his desire for blood, her blood. She should be petrified by his obvious longing to drain her, she was amazed to discover she was also oddly tantalized by it. Excitement tore through her at the thought, her toes curled as yearning hotly blazed 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 on him.

Luther cleared his throat and coughed loudly then pulled off his glasses and began cleaning them with his shirt. Chris and Melissa were studying the far wall, obviously trying to ignore the scene before them. Face burning, Cassie couldn't 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.

Devon shrugged. "Things change."

Cassie frowned as her eyes hesitantly flitted back to him, but it appeared he wasn't going to elaborate any further. "And before this change, were you a killer?" Chris demanded.

"Yes." The simple word, spoken with such a clear and dry tone, hung heavily in the air. Cassie's heart thumped loudly, she bit on her bottom lip, as she tried not to judge him too harshly. "I cannot change the past but I have spent over a hundred years trying to atone for my sins."

"And have you?"

"No." Devon's jaw was clenched, a muscle jumped in his cheek as he stared at Chris. Cassie rubbed her thumb over his cool skin, as she tried 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. "That took years. As my powers grew, I began to gradually expose myself to the sun’s deadly rays. Eventually I could stand more and more of them as I built up a sort of immunity to it."

"How long did that take?" Luther inquired.

"I've been working on it for about three hundred years now. I still burn easily if I'm exposed for a prolonged amount of time, and it still depletes my powers a little faster than I would like, but at least I'm able to be in it for longer periods of time without bursting into flames."

"Why would you take such a risk in the first place?" Cassie demanded as she realized he could have been killed.

His smile slipped a little as he glanced down at her. "In the beginning, simply to see if I could. I knew of one other vampire who had succeeded in being able to walk about in daylight, and I wasn't about to be second best to anyone. After a while I began to remember what it felt like to be in the sun, to feel the heat of it." He shrugged as his gaze returned to the far wall. "I missed it."

"And it allowed for more hunting time," Chris snorted.

Devon's face was impassive as he turned toward him, but his body had gone rigid. Cassie hated the conflict between them, but there was nothing she could do about it right now. Eventually they would come to realize they had to get along, because she wasn't going to part with either one of them.

She only hoped 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 years ago. But Devon was her heart and soul. Swallowing heavily, she shoved away her trepidation and unease. It had only been a few hours, she was sure with time Chris would come to see that Devon wasn't a monster.

"Yes," Devon answered.

Cassie fought a shudder as she tried to block out the awful image of Devon killing innocent, unsuspecting people. That wasn't the Devon standing next to her now; she had to remember that. She didn't know what had made him stop killing, but she did know the man beside her now was kind, compassionate, and loving. He was not a killer anymore.

Still, she couldn't shake the uneasiness she felt. "Can Julian go out in the sun?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I doubt it," he answered thoughtfully. "Julian has always relished the darkness, the deprivation, and pain of our existence. He would not appreciate the warmth of the sun's rays."

"But it would expand his hunting time," Chris pointed out.

Devon simply nodded. Cassie pulled the blanket off of her lap. Devon took a step forward in an attempt to stop her if she tried to rise. Cassie frowned at him as she shook her head. She had no intention of going anywhere, not yet anyway, the blanket was just hot and confining. Besides, she didn't need him hovering over her like a mother hen. Cassie waved him off as she swung her legs to the floor. She knew it wasn't the weight of the blanket making her uncomfortable, but rather 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 potential for Julian to control minds.

Devon shook his head but his eyes were troubled and dark. "He doesn't have mind control, but he does have Psychometry."

"Psycho what?" Cassie asked, not at all liking the sound of it.

"Psychometry, it's the ability to learn about a person by touching them, or by touching an object they’ve touched. He gets impressions from these things, he can tell what has happened in the past, and he can learn about you."

"That's not so bad, at least it's not mind control," Chris said with a pointed look at Devon.

Devon shook his head as he ignored 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, and your families. It's fun for him to drive a person crazy with his knowledge of them, before killing them. It's not mind control, but the way Julian uses it, it's 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. "Just great," Melissa moaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Psycho, just psycho, that's all I have to know about that ability," Chris mumbled.

The heartbeat in Cassie's chest began to increase; the palms of her hands became sweaty. "He touched me," she managed to croak out.

"He won't ever touch you again," Devon vowed. "And he will never get close enough to use his knowledge against you."

"But he does have knowledge of me?"

She could tell he’d like to sugarcoat it, that he didn't want to be brutally honest with her, but in the end, he was. "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 and nudged her chin up.

"He won't get near you again," he vowed.

Though she managed a nod, she didn't feel relieved. She'd seen that thing, she'd felt it's evil. There was no stopping it, not until it was dead.

Devon stroked her face before turning back to the others. "And what powers do you possess?" he inquired.

Chris and Melissa exchanged a panicked look, and then a quiet voice bravely declared, "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'd decided to give her trust wholeheartedly. Cassie's heart warmed, she knew how difficult this must be for her grandmother. She'd 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 flowing 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 but at this point, she just hoped to survive to see her thirties, then she would worry about how she might look in her fifties.

"A whisperer," Devon said.

Her grandmother's mouth quirked in a slight grin as she nodded. "Apparently you know a lot about our kind."

"Seven hundred years is a lot of time to learn things."

Her grandmother chuckled. "I suppose so. It puts us at a disadvantage though."

Devon was silent as he pondered her words. "But you must know The Hunter line and vampires share the same abilities. That is why many vampires know a lot about your abilities, and likewise, why you know a lot about our abilities."

"Some of us do." Luther shot a pointed look at Chris and Cassie, who quickly looked away. Cassie was not in the mood for another one of his lectures on their lack of knowledge, and unwillingness to learn, about their ancestry and heritage.

Devon gave her a questioning look, but she didn't feel like discussing it right now. "The Slaughter," Cassie said quietly. The vampire's may not have known which Hunter's possessed which abilities, but they knew the kinds of abilities they would come up against, and they were prepared for them. However, The Hunter's hadn't 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 it occurred. I wouldn't have taken part if I had known." Cassie found she believed him. It was a strange realization considering everything that had transpired in the past twenty-four hours, but though he'd never told her what he really was, he'd never done anything to harm her.

"They will keep coming for you," Devon continued. "Not only do they aspire to have The Hunter line extinguished, but also because your blood is strong, and 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's hand 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?

She didn't know why the thought bothered her so much, she should be happy she wasn't a magnet for vampires. But for some unfathomable reason, she was not happy. She was ashamed to admit that, for once, she would like to be special too. She'd been denied the "gifts" given to those in the Hunter line; she didn't want to be denied this too. No matter how unreasonable her thoughts were, she couldn't shake them.

"Who brought Mr. Good News to the party?" Chris muttered as he folded his arms over his chest and scowled at the floor.

Devon glanced back down at her, his forehead furrowed and his eyes dark and stormy. "This is good; we have an insider's view. He can help us," Luther said.

A muscle twitched in Devon's jaw, and his fingers tightened briefly around hers. "Yes, but I think the best thing for all of you is to leave…"

"No!" Cassie cut in.

Devon continued speaking as if she'd never said a word. "I can defeat Julian, but he's brutal, and merciless. He'll keep on coming, and I can't be everywhere at once. If you leave, then I will protect the town, I will keep everyone safe…"

"I'm not leaving you here!"

"And I will meet up with you when I am done here."

Cassie opened her mouth to protest again, and then snapped it shut as she glared up at him. Luther and her grandmother were practically salivating over his suggestion. It had been a fight to get the two of them to agree to let Cassie, Chris, and Melissa stay in town in the first place. Now Devon had given them the excuse they'd been looking for to rip the three of them out of there as quickly as they could.

"We are not leaving," Cassie grated through clenched teeth.

"Cassie, you must listen to reason. Devon can protect this town better than the three of you, and we must keep you alive."

She turned her glare on Luther. "We are here to protect people…"

"Which Devon can do more effectively."

The throw pillow that had been sitting in her lap fell to the floor as Cassie launched to her feet. Devon lurched toward her, for the first time not moving as effortlessly as a panther as she caught him off guard. She shook off his hand on her elbow, but he reached for her again.

"I'm fine!" she retorted before spinning on Luther. "What good is being a Hunter if we have to run all the time?"

Luther glanced briefly at Devon, his gray eyes weary as they met Cassie's once more. "Not all of the time Cassie, only when it's prudent."

"Prudent?" she snorted. "Is that what all of our ancestors did, turn tail and run whenever things got hard?"

"Well no, of course not, but there aren't enough Hunter's left to risk your lives. We must keep you safe, the line must continue on."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Melissa threw up her hand as she took a step forward. "So what you're saying is we must be kept alive in order to continue the line? It has nothing to do with us? We're just necessary for breeding? What freaking century is this?"

Luther colored somewhat, his glasses slid down his nose as he shook his head. "No, of course not, but you must understand how important it is that the line continues. How important it is you are kept alive to kill other vampires. You can't kill them all, but you can get a lot of them. There are few as powerful as Devon and Julian."

He glanced at Devon who nodded in agreement. "And what if you can't stop him?" she demanded.

Devon quirked an eyebrow; a flicker of amusement crossed his amazing features. "I can."

She didn't appreciate his cocky, arrogant demeanor. "How do you know that for sure?"

Devon's eyes wandered over the room, before he turned back to her with a steely resolve in his eyes. "I made Julian what he is, I can defeat him."

A pin dropping would have resounded through the room following his admission. Cassie was the first to recover. "What do you mean made Julian what he is?"

His eyes were hooded and distant; he had already shut himself off in preparation for her turning against him. "Julian and I were once good friends, I helped to mold him into the vampire he is today. He's nearly six hundred years old, we spent almost three hundred of those years traveling together, and wreaking havoc wherever we went. I am the one who taught him the joy of the hunt, the torture, the mental anguish." He paused for a moment, a muscle twitched in his cheek. "The pleasure found in drawing out the kill."

Cassie's legs went to rubber; limply she sat back down on the couch. Clasping her hands before her, she bent her head, uncertain how to deal with the turbulent emotions tumbling through her. What kind of a monster had Devon been? What had he done to people? She shuddered, struggling not to fall apart as her hands clenched.

"I see," Luther, the first to recover after the shocking revelation, whispered the words.

Cassie lifted her head as she tried to breathe through the constriction in her chest. "Why?" Cassie mumbled.

His eyes were shards of green ice as he met her gaze. "Because I could. What I am now is not what I was then. I cannot take it back. I cannot change my past, no matter how much I would like to." Her mind tripped over his words as she tried to assimilate everything he was telling her. Taking a deep breath she tried to retain control of her emotions.

"All right, fine, you were once great friends: you think you can defeat him…"

"I know I can."

Chris shot Devon an exasperated look over being cut off. "But we're still not leaving."

"Chris…"

"No, Luther, we made the decision to stay, and we're sticking by it. Devon himself said he couldn't be everywhere at once. He will need our help. If even one person dies because we left, then we would be responsible for that death. That is something I can't live with, and I'm sure Cassie and Melissa can't either, and I hope that you can't."

Luther gaped at him for a moment. "No, of course not!"

"You shouldn't stay here." Devon's hands fisted as he stared forcefully at Cassie. "He'll come for you the most."

Her eyebrows shot up as her mouth parted in surprise. "Why?"

Devon ran a hand through his already disheveled black hair. "He's smelled your blood; he's already been denied what he wanted. Plus, he knows you’re mine. He will try to destroy that."

Though she thought she should be offended by the "you are mine statement," she was oddly thrilled by it. If any other boy had ever said that to her, she would have laughed in their face and walked away. But with Devon, she was his, completely, utterly, and for as long as she could have him. Their bond couldn't be severed and ran deeper than the Mariana Trench. She'd never thought something like this could exist, but it did, and it was so very true and real.

"Why?" She felt like a parrot, but it seemed to be the only word she could get out.

"Because Julian aims to destroy anything good and right in the world, and he hates that I’ve turned against my nature. He would like for me to return to the way I once was."

Cassie shuddered. "Like him?" Melissa asked.

Devon hesitated briefly. "Worse."

A thick hush descended upon the room. Though the answer was blunt, Cassie sensed the regret, distress, and pain behind the word. "Why did you change?" she inquired.

"That's a long story."

Cassie wasn't so sure if it was a long story, or if he simply didn't want to talk about it. Either way, she wasn't going to push him. She already had enough information to digest without having more heaped onto her. "That's all fine and good, but we're not leaving," Cassie said firmly. A muscle twitched in Devon's jaw. "You won't change my mind, or theirs, so don't argue with us."

The muscle twitched more, she could now hear his teeth grinding. "We can't change what we are, or what has been." Her eyes narrowed pointedly as she reiterated his words. She had to accept him for what he was, and he had to do the same with her. "You just have to accept it, as we have."

Muscle twitching forcefully, he slowly turned away from her. His shoulders were thrust back, his hands fisted at his sides so tightly his knuckles had turned white. She had aggravated him, she knew that, but she felt no remorse for it. They wouldn't run from this, or any other problems that arose. They had to stay; it was their duty, hell it was in their blood. It was who they were, who they were born to be.

Luther shook his head, and rested his arm on the mantle. "Tell him what the two of you can do."