Devon stood by feeling completely helpless. He wished he could do something for her, but this was something she had to do on her own. Something she had to come to terms with in her own way. Unfortunately, her way seemed to be the most difficult way possible, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Cassie's hands shook as she pushed aside her grandmother's hair, her pain and suffering beat against him in rolling waves that made it difficult for him to think. Chris was deathly pale; his lips were white as he watched Cassie. Though Devon could sense Cassie's torment, Chris seemed to be swamped by it, unable to escape from the emotions she emitted. Her mourning was so intense Chris couldn't turn his telepathic ability off to it.

Chris briefly met Devon's gaze, his sapphire eyes shimmered with unshed tears. He'd also lost the woman who had helped to raise him, a woman who had loved him when his own mother couldn't, or wouldn't. Devon slowly turned back to Cassie. Her eyes remained locked on the condemning marks on her grandmother's neck.

Devon's skin prickled as tingling waves of fury and hatred blasted from her. Chris took an involuntary step back, and his head bowed beneath the force of the emotions battering against him. "Cassie," Devon breathed.

This was Cassie, his Cassie, sweet, innocent, and so achingly lovely and loving. She didn't know how to hate. Or at least she hadn't before now. But he could feel her hate blazing against him, suffusing her, and leaving her shaken and shattered. Her head bent, her golden hair cascaded forward as her slender back heaved with the force of her breaths.

Though she didn't want his comfort right now, he no longer cared. She was going to get it. He couldn't leave her to face this alone. Striding purposely forward, he rested his hands on her shoulders, as he tried to help ease her pain and anger.

She remained immobile for a moment. Then, she turned suddenly, and pulled free of him as she spun away. "Don't touch me!" she snarled. Her hands fisted at her sides as she glared at him with antipathy. Her reaction stunned him, but it was what he'd seen in her eyes that left him immobile and terrified. "Don't you ever touch me again! This… this is your fault!"

Dismay tore through him as he instinctively took a step toward her again. He ached to console her, to make this a small bit better if he could. He also had to protect her from what he was beginning to fear may lurk inside of her. Something he'd been trying to deny about her, but now realized it was likely true.

"Stay away from me." Her voice broke, her body shuddered. "You helped create that monster. He's here because of you! Not us, but you! He killed her, and it's your fault!"

Devon felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. She'd forgiven him for so many things, loved him through them all, but this…

Well this had been the final straw. She'd been broken; there was no more forgiveness in her. Her beautiful azure, amethyst eyes darkened, her small hands fisted at her sides as her shoulders shook.

Though it didn't beat, he could feel his heart shattering, could feel the darkness swamping up within him as it tried to consume him. Without her, his life meant nothing. He could feel the monster inside of him turning, twisting to break free, trying to use this as its opportunity to take control once more and return to its killing, wanton ways. Return to slaughtering innocents in its quest to satisfy its unending thirst.

Devon shuddered, his eyes closed as he strived to maintain control of his own body. No matter what Cassie felt for him now, he could not return to the thing he'd once been. If she didn't love him anymore there was nothing he could do about it. But she did need him. He had to protect her, and keep her safe. Julian and Isla were still out there, and they would use any opportunity they could to get at her, to destroy her and her friends. If he lost control, she would be vulnerable to them. No matter what happened, he knew he couldn't exist in a world where Cassie didn't.

He focused on the body in the middle of the room. He should have seen this coming. He'd been so wrapped up in trying to keep Cassie, Chris, and Melissa safe he hadn't thought about Lily. But she'd been a prime target also. Despite her age, she was also a Hunter, and she was Cassie's grandmother.

Julian would try to break Cassie. He would toy with and torment her before killing her, and Lily was the perfect way to do so. Julian had touched Cassie, he would know about Lily, and how much Cassie cared for her. How had he not seen this coming? Self loathing washed over him as his hands fisted.

Cassie spun away from him, her still damp hair whipped out behind her. "Take me home."

Chris gaped at her. "Cassie, don't do this." The words were choked out of him; his voice was hoarse with pleading and sorrow as his eyes focused on Devon.

Cassie was fairly spitting with vehemence. "Take me home!"

"Cassie…"

She stormed out the door, leaving them both gaping after her. Devon was the first to recover. "Go," he said gruffly.

"Devon…"

"Go." It killed him to send another man with her, even if it was Chris, but he couldn't go with her, and she needed protection. If he insisted on trying to get closer to her again, he may very well push her over the edge. He ached to be the one comforting her, but it wasn't to be. Agony twisted through him, but he remained immobile as his gaze clashed with Chris's grief-stricken one. "Go."

Chris shook his head. "She'll come around, she's just…" He broke off as he ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Well, I don't know what she is right now. That's not Cassie."

No, it wasn't Cassie, Devon knew that. What he didn't know was whether Cassie would come back to them, or if her heartache and rage would consume her. "You have to go Chris. She needs someone right now."

Chris's gaze flitted to him and then back to the doorway. Not only was Chris dealing with his own pain, but Devon's and Cassie's were beating against him, tearing down his walls, and pulverizing his soul. Finally, he settled on Devon again. "I'll talk to her."

"It won't help, not now." Chris opened his mouth and then closed it again. "Go."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Ducking his head, Chris moved out the door with his broad shoulders slumped in defeat.

Devon wanted more than anything to follow after him, to follow after her. He turned back to the body, to Lily. Her face was still uncovered, her lips pale, and her skin the color of death. Yet she somehow she still looked refined, elegant.

Moving over to her, he clasped hold of her cold, rigid arm. There had been so much life and love inside of her. She had been so accepting of him. She'd never turned against him, even when the others, including Cassie, had been distrustful of what he was. He'd seen many dead bodies in his life, but this was the first one that truly upset him. Not only because it had caused Cassie so much pain, but also because he had truly liked the woman too.

"I'll take care of her," he promised her.

Lifting the sheet, he placed it smoothly back over her. There was a knot in his chest, an aching loss he wasn't sure he could survive. He'd lost the only thing that mattered to him, the only person he'd ever truly loved.

Yet, he couldn't acknowledge the loss, not now. There was too much he had to deal with. The first of which was what he'd seen in Cassie's eyes just moments ago. There had been something about her he'd been trying to puzzle out for the past few weeks. Something about her abilities, or lack thereof, that had been nagging at him. There were so many things that didn't make sense; he just hadn't known who to turn to in order to help him figure it out.

Now, he did.

Turning from the morgue, Devon made his way outside. The sun's rays did little to warm him as he made his way toward his car. Hitting the alarm button, he threw the driver's side door open and slid inside. He drove unhurriedly through the winding back streets as he tried to puzzle out everything that had just happened. The flash of red he'd seen in Cassie's eyes haunted him as he made his way toward Luther's house.

* * *

The hazy fog of anger enshrouding Cassie was a welcome relief to the agony threatening to rise up and consume her. She couldn't escape the image of her grandmother's face, so cold and almost unrecognizable. Where was her smile, the light in her eyes? Where was the welcoming, loving hug she gave so easily?

Gone. Forever.

Neither could she forget the haunted, tortured look in Devon's eyes when she'd turned against him. She briefly wavered in her determination, and then the rage snapped back into place. There was no room for regret in this new world of hers, no room for wavering. There was only room for revenge, and she wanted that more than anything else right now.

Including Devon.

"Cassie…"

"I'm not going to talk about it." She abruptly cut Chris off. She didn't require any sympathy or reason right now. She didn't want love anymore. It only left her vulnerable, open to loss and pain. It was something she’d known before Devon arrived, something she’d lived by. But he had made her forget about it, for a little while anyway. Today she had been forcefully reminded. Today she had been slapped in the face with it.

Devon had made her love, and hope, and dream again. Those were things she knew were perilous, but she'd been unable to stop herself from doing them in his presence. He had opened her up, left her exposed, and she hated him for that. She hated him for making her forget about the pain and death encompassing her life. If he hadn't arrived, then none of this would have happened. Julian wouldn't be here without Devon, and Cassie would have been better prepared for the loss of her loved ones. The loss of her grandmother still would have crippled her, but it wouldn't have devastated her to this degree. It wouldn't have shattered her in this way.

But Devon had come and now she was an empty shell of the person he'd made her. There was no room for hope and love in her anymore. Not when revenge was consuming her. Fisting her hands, Cassie stared unseeingly out the window. She would find Julian and she would destroy him or at the very least, she would die trying.

She just had to make sure she took that monster with her when she went. Chris turned into her driveway and parked beside Luther's car. Cassie stared silently at the small cape style house. It had always seemed so welcoming and homey before. Now it was foreign, alien; cold. How could it be a home when the person who had made it such was gone? It couldn't.

It wasn't her home anymore, but that didn't matter as she didn't plan on living here for much longer. Chris turned toward her, his eyes weary and troubled. She didn't meet his gaze, she simply couldn't. He'd always been more like a brother than just her friend, and she didn't want to love him anymore. If something happened to him too…

Cassie shut the thought down. If something happened to him, she would deal with it. She would survive it. It would not destroy her.

Although, it would. No matter how much she told herself it wouldn't, Chris's death would level her. Cassie shuddered as her tears nearly choked her. What had she done? What was she becoming?

Her head bowed as her shoulders heaved. Chris tried to touch her but she jerked away from him. His touch would unravel her completely. She couldn't fall apart, not here, not now. There was something that had to die first.

Chris's hand hung briefly in the air before falling back to his side. Forcing her walls up once more, Cassie shoved the door to his beat up Mustang open. Climbing from the car, she marched up the walkway, climbed the stairs, and pushed the door open. The house was just as wintry inside as it had appeared outside. Melissa, Dani, and Luther were gathered in the living room. Their heads shot up as she stormed into the foyer. Chris dejectedly trudged in behind her.

Dani and Melissa were huddled on the couch; they hastily wiped the tears away from their reddened cheeks when they saw her. Luther was in his customary spot by the fireplace mantel with his arm resting on top of it. Though he wasn't currently crying his eyes were bloodshot and swollen as well. Melissa hurried toward her, strands of hair clung to her face as she held out her arms. Melissa reached for her, but Cassie took a hasty step back.

"Don't," she ordered briskly.

Melissa's hands fell to her sides, as confusion marred her pretty features. Luther and Dani had also started to come forward, but they both stopped only feet behind Melissa. "Cassie…"

"Did you see this coming?" Cassie demanded her voice strained and almost unrecognizable.

Melissa's mouth dropped. She glanced briefly at Chris, who still hung back, looking more like a kicked puppy than the man Cassie knew so well. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head that caused the fire inside of Cassie to flame higher. "Did you?" Cassie fairly barked.

"No!" Melissa cried. "No Cassie of course not, if I had I would have stopped it…"

"You couldn't have stopped it, we couldn't have stopped it. There was no stopping it. There is no stopping any of it."

The four of them stared at her in disbelief. "We could have helped, somehow," Melissa whispered.

"There is no help."

Cassie rested her hand on the banister as she made her way upstairs. She had to take inventory of her weapons, make sure she was well supplied and everything was in condition for a fight. She would need them when she went hunting later.

"Cassie, where is Devon?"

She turned back at Luther's question. "No longer welcome in this house."

The only thing that broke the profound silence was the chiming of her grandmother's cherished grandfather clock. Cassie shuddered as she climbed the stairs, she ignored the eyes she could feel boring into her back as she made her way to her room.