Cassie waited impatiently for the microwave to beep. The plate her frozen pizza was on bumped every once in a while against the sides of the machine. Her mouth watered as the scent of the bubbling cheese filled the air. Turning away, before she drove herself crazy with hunger, Cassie looked around the small room they had discovered behind the row of candy bars.

Inside were a coffee pot, small mini fridge, and microwave. There was also a little TV and radio. Devon was fiddling with the old TV, trying to find a channel, but receiving nothing. He slammed his hands off the side of it; a loud curse escaped him as he switched it off.

"Beating on it won't make the cable come back on."

Cassie glanced over her shoulder as Julian appeared in the doorway and smiled in wry amusement. His platinum hair was still damp and disheveled from washing it in the same sink Cassie had used to clean herself up. He had slipped on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt that looked completely out of place on him. Yet, he still somehow managed to look gorgeous and at ease. She shook her head at him as Devon scowled ferociously.

"Thanks for the info. Have any more little tidbits of advice for me?" Devon sneered.

"Now, now, no reason to be snippy," Julian replied flippantly.

Devon's scowl deepened as he rose to his feet. Cassie glanced rapidly between the two of them. Julian still appeared casual, but beneath his calm exterior she sensed a rising tension inside of him. "Stop it," Cassie said and stepped between the two of them.

Devon was the first one to back down when the microwave beeped. Cassie's mouth watered as he pulled the plate out and eyed Julian as he handed it to her. Cassie eagerly seized hold of the plate as she chose to ignore them for the time being. "We found a storage area," Julian informed them. "In the cellar."

Cassie blew on her steaming pizza. She was very tempted to start eating it now, and to hell with the burnt mouth, but Julian's words enticed her almost as much as the pizza did. "There's a cellar?" she inquired.

"Yes, come on."

Cassie glanced at Devon before following Julian from the room and toward the back of the store. A large mat had been pulled back to reveal the wooden planks of the floor. In the middle of the planks was an open trap door with a single metal ring at the end of it. Everyone had gathered around the trapdoor to peer into the darkness below.

Cassie forgot about her pizza as she stepped next to Chris. The harsh scent of mildew wafted up, but nothing stirred within the dark recesses of the empty room. "I don't sense anything down there," Chris told them.

"I don't smell any humans," Liam added. "There are rats though."

Cassie's nose wrinkled at the thought, her stomach rolled and dropped. She didn't mind most animals, but rats not in a cage bothered her. "Let's go down."

Julian pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on to illuminate a set of steep wooden stairs. Turning, Cassie placed her pizza on a shelf, more curious about what was beneath than her food. She used the thin wooden rail to guide herself, and prayed the stairs would hold their weight as she followed Chris down.

The basement floor was hard packed dirt, and the scent of mildew was stronger down here. Cassie covered her nose against the harsh smell as her stomach turned over. Julian played the flashlight around the room. The beam bounced off the old rock walls, a beaten down oil heater, and pallets loaded with more feed. Sitting on top of the bags of feed were half a dozen rats, they paused only briefly in their eating to stare at them. Their noses twitched as their tails thumped against the bags of grain. They squeaked their displeasure and a few of them disappeared into the dark, but the braver ones refused to give up their meal.

Cassie took an involuntary step back from them. "Guess that's dinner," Julian said as he turned the beam away from them. Cassie groaned and her stomach twisted even more at the thought. Julian's eyes were vivid in the glow of the beam. "Sorry Princess, but it's true."

Cassie shot him a look; he merely grinned annoying back at her. Devon took hold of her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as he pulled her a step closer to him. "There's nothing we can use down here," Chris said.

"And it's creeping me out," Melissa muttered.

Melissa hurried back up the steps and nearly bolted through the open door. Cassie was just as eager to follow her. She stepped back into the store and eagerly inhaled the fresh air. Luther glanced over from his position by the window, his glasses sparkled when they caught the small bit of sunlight filtering through the drawn curtains.

"Anything?" he inquired.

Cassie shook her head as she snagged her pizza. The rats had grossed her out, but they hadn't diminished her appetite. The others eventually filed back out and filtered throughout the store. Though she sensed their exhaustion, she knew their curiosity about what had been done to them was far stronger. She licked the pizza sauce from her fingers as she tried to stall for more time. She wasn't ready to get into the details of the nightmare she and Julian had endured. It was inevitable though, they deserved answers, and she would rather get it done sooner rather than later. Turning to face them, she braced herself for the onslaught of their questions.

Devon's shoulder brushed against hers as he stood rigidly by her side. Chris had taken up position on the other side of the door. Though he stared out at the street, Cassie knew his attention was focused on her. Liam arms were wrapped around Annabelle's waist as he held her against his chest. Melissa and Luther watched her questioningly; Melissa's onyx eyes were sad and caring. Dani was sitting with her back against the counter, her head bent, and her red streaked hair falling forward. She looked even more uncomfortable than Cassie felt.

"Are you ready to tell us what happened?" Devon inquired.

They all stared at her inquisitively, except for Julian, who was scowling at the floor with his arms folded over his chest. Julian lifted his head and met her gaze briefly before giving her a small nod of encouragement. Taking strength in his steady, calming presence she decided to just plunge in. She quickly filled them in on her capture and imprisonment. She didn't talk about the torture she’d experienced and kept everything simple and short. Her eyes remained focused on the ground until she finished. She hated the anticipatory hush filling the room when she was done.

"What did they do to you in there Cassie?" Chris's gaze was keen and inquisitive as he studied her.

She shook her head, she couldn’t look at Chris again for fear she would start crying and never stop. She didn't want him, or anyone else to know of her suffering. She planned to keep them sheltered and protected from it.

She ignored Chris's question as she focused on Dani. "Why did you turn on us?" she asked, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. She had brought Dani into her home, thought of her like a sister, and in return she had betrayed them all.

Dani's gold flecked eyes were red and swollen from lack of sleep. The hostility within the room notched up a level as everyone focused their attention on her. "I didn't plan to, but…" her voice trailed off as a sob broke from her.

"My brother went to The Commission after he left town, he told them about you, all of you." Her gaze lingered briefly on Devon before turning toward Julian. Julian glowered back at her as his hands fisted. Dani turned quickly away from the malevolence in Julian's gaze. "He was my brother; I had to help him when The Commission sent him back."

They all stared at her expectantly, but she didn't continue. "There's more to that story!" Julian spat.

Dani winced as she bit on her bottom lip. "Easy Julian," Devon cautioned.

Julian glared at him before turning his attention back to Dani. "Either tell the truth, or I will get it from you. All I have to do is touch you, sort through the memories, and pick out the ones I want. For the most part it can be painless, and the person doesn't even have to know I was there. But what I will do to you, will be anything but painless."

Dani gaped at him as her eyes flew around the room. Cassie had not pity for her, she couldn't summon the strength for forgiveness and mercy, not for Dani. "I'll destroy you if I get into your mind," Julian promised. "I'll make what they did to us in that place look like it was a day in the park!"

"Julian." Annabelle grabbed his arm in an attempt to calm him.

Julian shook her off and took another step toward Dani. "This bitch put us in there, and one way or another she is going to tell us why!"

"Julian," Cassie said. He had shaken Annabelle off, but he didn't shrug off her grasp as she seized hold of his arm. His reddened eyes turned back to their electrifying blue as his gaze met hers. "It's ok."

He stepped back, but his body still hummed with annoyance. Devon's eyes were questioning as he studied her. He would like to know what had been done to them, and just how close her bond with Julian was. She just wasn't ready to give them to him right now.

"Why did The Commission send your brother, and you, after us?" Cassie inquired.

The tips of Dani's lashes were wet with unshed tears. Cassie was frightened Dani wouldn't speak, and they would require Julian to drag the answers from her, but she finally did. "Because of you."

Cassie blinked at Dani's words. Her gaze flew toward Devon as a low growl emanated from deep within his chest. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as the resentment in the room notched up to a whole new level. Cassie glanced between him and Julian, whose eyes were a brilliant red again. Between the two of them she may not be able to keep Dani alive.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Dani glanced warily at the hostile group surrounding her. Using the counter, she rose to her feet. She looked braced for an attack. Cassie's heart trip hammered with the knowledge she wouldn’t like what Dani had to say. "Before our Guardian was killed in The Slaughter, he told Joey about this town, and to come here if something ever happened to him. The Commission took us in, kept us with them after The Slaughter, and helped us to survive until we were ready to go out on our own. They also taught us about our heritage."

A growing feeling of unease moved through Cassie's body. Dani had lied to them from the beginning; she and Joey had led them all to believe they’d been completely on their own after The Slaughter as they struggled to survive on the streets. Cassie didn't know why Dani had kept this a secret, but she was certain she wasn't going to like the reasons behind it.

"Why did you lie to us about your childhood?" Melissa asked.

Dani shifted nervously as her gaze settled on the door. "When The Commission eventually sent us out in search of other Hunters and Guardians they told us not to let them know about this town until they knew if we could trust them. There was no way of knowing how The Slaughter had affected people, and how they now felt about The Commission. They never suspected anything like what we discovered with you and Devon; no one ever thought a Hunter and a vampire would fall in love. It was unthinkable. Unheard of.

"I never thought it was wrong," Dani breathed. "I thought your relationship was special, different; good."

Her eyes flitted over the two of them, before turning briefly to Julian. His lip curled, his eyes darkened as he glowered at her. Cassie was irritated by the confusion and doubt she sensed from Dani, but then again Dani had witnessed Julian kissing her. "It is," Cassie told her.

Dani shot her a questioning look. Cassie met her gaze head on, refusing to be judged by the girl who had nearly gotten her killed, and had gotten her tortured. "The Commission also wanted us to make sure that any of The Hunters we met were not The Hunters who have nothing," Dani continued.

Cassie was mystified by her strange words. "The ones who have nothing?" Luther inquired with a sharp edge to his voice.

Dani nodded as she swallowed heavily. "The evil ones amongst us. The Hunters who turn."

Cassie took an involuntary step back as Dani's gaze settled on her. Devon stopped her backward momentum by resting his hand in the hollow of her back. Cassie turned into him as she sought his comfort. His arms wrapped around her as she rested her head against his chest and took solace in his solid presence.

Luther released the curtain he had been holding aside. "The evil ones? Are you mad?"

Dani shook her head ardently. "There are evil ones amongst us, and Cassie is one of them! Or that's what I believed anyway. It's what I was told from the time I was a child! They said the ones with no power would eventually turn into mindless monsters that sought to destroy everything in their path! When I first met Cassie, I didn't believe what they’d said; I thought they’d lied to me, or they’d been wrong. I thought there was no way she could turn against someone, no way she'd hurt someone, and then…"

"And then you saw me kill Isla," Cassie filled in when Dani trailed off. Her mind flashed back to that night, and the overwhelming hatred that had consumed her. She'd been a monster, and if it hadn't been for Devon she could have been lost to the rage trying to overtake her. "And you were scared."

Dani's lower lip began to tremble, and despite her best intentions not to have it happen, Cassie felt her heart softening toward the girl. "Yes, and I thought they’d been right. I was so frightened that one day you would hurt one of us."

"And you called your brother?" Luther inquired.

"Yes. When Joey left me behind, he came back here to the people who raised us."

Horror curdled through Cassie as the true depth of Dani's betrayal set in. "He didn't leave you behind because you actually wanted to stay. He left you behind to spy on us."

Her mouth opened and closed as her eyes rolled in her head. She looked like a crazed horse that had been trapped and cornered. The only difference was Cassie would have sympathy for the horse; she had none for this girl.

"Well?" Chris's shout caused Dani to jump.

"Yes," she admitted in a strangled voice.

Chris sneered as his eyes raked her. Melissa remained unmoving, but Luther cursed loudly as he slammed his fist into the windowsill. "We trusted you!" he exploded.

Cassie was more rattled by Luther's lack of composure than Dani's admission. "Luther," Melissa admonished.

Luther scowled at her as he turned on his heel and began to pace in frustration. "What happened when you called your brother?" Cassie was surprised by how composed her voice still was.

She was surrounded by people who hated her, but Dani had regained her composure. "The Commission has grown stronger over the years; some lost members have even been relocated. They have been working here for years doing new research."

Dani's hands were turning red from twisting them back and forth. "They were trying to create more Hunter's!" Chris deduced.

Cassie buried her face in Devon's chest as she tried to retain her unraveling composure. "Yes," Dani confirmed. "Our race has to be rebuilt before it is completely extinguished. Otherwise there will be no protection for the human race against the vampires."

"We aren't all monster's you know," Liam grated.

Dani's hands were turning red as she continued to twist them. "I know that, but for the most part, you are."

Liam glared at Dani as he pulled Annabelle closer to him. "In order to create new Hunters you must have vampires. That's why I was captured," Julian deduced.

Cassie lifted her head as Julian began to restlessly pace back and forth like a caged tiger ready to pounce. As much as she had grown to despise Dani, she couldn't allow Julian to kill her while in a fit of temper. Cassie truly believed he was trying to better himself, and killing Dani was not the way to do that.

"Yes," Dani admitted. "And they also needed your power. They tried using younger vamps, but it didn't work well. The Commission felt an Elder's blood might be the key to what they were missing to get the combination of human and vampire blood right." Julian shot her a nasty glare as his eyes briefly flickered red. "They couldn't take Devon because they couldn't be sure they would be able to keep his ability for mind control locked down. They didn't think they could keep him under control, especially with Cassie around. So they took Julian."

Devon's attention was focused on Julian, who looked about ready to rip the store apart with his bare hands. Cassie clung to Devon as she fought back the shudder threatening to shake her physically. Devon rested his cheek against her hair. "Breathe love, just breathe."

She hadn't even realized she had stopped breathing until then. Air exploded out of her before she inhaled deeply. They never would have been able to control Devon in there. He would have lost complete control, if he had seen what they had put her through. They probably would have destroyed him as a result. The thought left her hollow and barely able to breathe as she held him against her.

"But they couldn't figure it out," Dani continued in a shaky voice. "Everyone knew The Hunters had been created from vampires, but no one knew how, and no matter how hard they tried they couldn't get the combination right."

Devon's hands rubbed over her as he tried to put some heat back into her suddenly chilled body. "So they ended up creating monsters," Cassie whispered. "They created the monsters running loose in this town right now."

"Yes, but they didn't mean to. They were trying to do right; they were trying to protect people."

"How did I not know anything about this?" Luther demanded. "Why had I never heard about the other Hunter's like Cassie, but you were told about them?"

"It was only The Commission who knew about the ones with no powers, and what they could become. They kept it hidden from the other Guardians," Dani informed him.

"Why would they do that?" Melissa asked.

"To limit the liability," Luther's voice was full of revulsion at the realization. "The Commission could take out The Hunter without having to deal with a fight from their Guardian's. If The Guardians weren't informed about the threat the lack of abilities might hold, The Commission could make the death of The Hunter look accidental or they could blame it on vampires. Their Guardian's never had to know what had really happened to them."

Melissa looked like she was going to cry as her shimmering onyx eyes met Cassie's. No one spoke; Cassie didn't think any of them could find the words after Luther's observation.

"That's why some of the people in this town are simply gone, and others have been viciously murdered," Annabelle whispered. "The ones who were taken, and experimented on, have come back to hunt the innocents. And the other people in this town were members of The Commission, Guardian's, or Hunter's and they were down there with you."

Dani bit on her trembling bottom lip. "There were a few escapes before tonight," she admitted.

"And tonight all hell broke loose," Julian muttered.

"Yes."

"How many escaped?"

Dani shook her head. "I don't know how many were down there to begin with, or how many were able to break free."

"What happened there tonight?" Luther inquired.

Dani shook her head. "I don't know for sure; they had been having problems with the security. Those things weren't as easily drugged as the two of you." Devon's hands twitched on Cassie as he glanced down at her. "They were too crazed and unstable to be suppressed so easily. But I thought they were getting it under control."

"Why didn't they just destroy them? Why were they keeping them alive?" Luther demanded.

Dani's mouth opened and closed before she shook her head helplessly. "They were trying to gain control of them somehow."

Cassie shuddered as Chris swore vehemently. Luther and Melissa simply stared at Dani. Liam and Annabelle remained as still as stone as they held each other. "And you call us monsters!" Julian spat. "In all of my years I have never leveled an entire town!"

Dani was shaking as tears streamed down her face. "I didn't know what was going on there, what they were trying to do! I trusted them; they helped to raise me. They kept me safe and alive during a time when Joey and I had no one. I thought I was doing good!"

"Why was that place built in the bottom of a school?" Cassie asked.

"It's under a school?" Chris demanded.

Cassie shot him a censuring look as she shook her head. There was enough animosity in this room right now without adding to it. "Yes," Cassie informed him. "Dani?"

"It was originally a bomb shelter built in the late forties. They had decided it would be a good place to turn into a laboratory, to keep all of their records, and to hide just in case something should happen. It is where they hid during The Slaughter. After The Slaughter they began to gather as many Hunter's and members of The Commission here as they could. The school was built on top of it in the sixties because they felt it was a good cover for what was hidden beneath the foundation."

Cassie knew The Commission had come to the U.S. during World War Two, when they'd fled England. They had taken up residence in the U.S. but no one, outside of The Commission, had known the exact location of where they had escaped to. Now they had all stumbled across that location by incredible misfortune.

"How long have they been doing experiments down there?" Cassie managed in a choked voice.

"Since the beginning," Dani whispered. "But they became more frequent after The Slaughter."

There was a collective inhalation of breaths. "So it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart. I was always proud of what I was…" Luther broke off as he shook his head. "Now it makes me sick."

Cassie's heart ached for him, but there were no words to help him feel better. "So this town was built around The Commission and these people were mainly here for The Commissions purposes?" Devon asked.

Dani nodded. "Yes."

Cassie choked as bile rose up her throat rapidly. Devon pressed her firmly against his chest, his hands entwined in her hair as he kissed her forcefully. "Did the people know?" Melissa inquired.

"I don't think so," Dani whispered. "Very few were ever taken into the laboratory, until recently, and I'm sure The Commission went for people outside of this town too."

"I'd like to kill you myself," Chris muttered in revulsion.

Cassie didn't disagree with him. "How involved in this were you?"

Dani shook her head. "This is the town where we stayed after our parents were killed; I even went to the local middle school until eighth grade. That was when The Commission decided to send Joey out in search of other Hunters and Guardians, but I didn't know about the laboratory until recently."

Cassie was starting to have a difficult time breathing. Dani's betrayal had almost cost Cassie and Julian their lives. It had almost cost her Devon and her friends. If she allowed her anger to grow, Cassie thought she may kill Dani herself.

"Where do I come into all of this?" Cassie didn't want to hear the answer, but she had to ask the question.

"I thought you would hurt one of us," she whispered. "So I told The Commission about you. I didn't know what else to do."

"Talk to one of us. Tell us your doubts!" Devon exploded. Cassie grabbed him as he took a step toward Dani. He stopped moving, but his eyes were an inhuman shade of red. "You could have come to us. We saved your worthless life. It would have been far better if I had just let Julian rip your throat out when he'd had the chance!"

"I second that," Julian muttered.

"Devon stop. Julian, don't egg him on," Cassie warned.

"I thought I was doing a good thing!" Dani wailed. "I helped them capture Julian because he was our enemy! I was helping to rid the world of him. And they… and they told me they could help Cassie," she said brokenly. "They promised me they wouldn't hurt her, and they could make her better. They promised me she would be returned afterward. I didn't know what they were going to do to you Cassie, I really didn't. I never would have done it if I had known!"

Tears streamed down Dani's face as she looked at the hostile faces surrounding her. Devon's body was as taut as a bowstring, if he hadn’t been holding her, he would have gone after Dani, and he would have killed her.

"I am sorry," Dani whimpered.

"Ok fine," Cassie said. "Let's say you really did mean to help me, and you didn't know what they were going to do. Why didn't they just kill me?"

"Because you were somehow able to survive, you were somehow able to control the darkness inside you after you killed Isla. You were able to come back from it when that darkness tried to claim you."

"But only because Devon helped me back," Cassie told her.

"They didn't know that for sure though. They had to take a chance you might be able to come back on your own," Dani said.

Cassie closed her eyes as she fought against the frustration and confusion threatening to pull her under. "But they kept me drugged in there; they never let me lose control. They never gave me a chance to try and come back on my own."

"No, you were too valuable to them. If you lost control, you might be able to break free of the drug induced stupor like the others had. But if they could keep the human in you calm, they could try to discover the secret of what made you work. What makes you only rarely volatile? Could they make you stronger, but still allow you to control it?"

A strange new sensation began to creep through Cassie's stomach. There was an awful ringing in her ears as she recalled the vast amount of blood they had taken from her, and the stuff they had injected her with. What had they been trying to do to her?

"What did they give me in there? What were they trying to prove with those injections?" she asked aloud.

Dani glanced nervously around the room. Devon turned toward Cassie, his eyebrows furrowed as he studied her. His eyes slid over her body as they turned a fiery red. His nostrils flared; she could almost feel him inhaling her scent. Ice ran through Cassie's veins in the face of Dani's petrified expression and the strange shaking taking hold of Devon. Dani glanced at Julian before focusing her attention on Cassie and Devon once more.

"They were trying to see how much blood you could handle," Dani whispered. "How much vampire blood you could take. Julian's blood."

"That explains it," Chris breathed.

Chris stared at her with a dawning, horrified comprehension that made her heart plummet. Cassie opened her mouth to question him, but before she could say anything all hell broke loose.