Cassie blinked against the light filtering around the old blanket Devon had hung over the window. Shadows filled the attic, but a small amount of illumination played over the boxes stored there. Devon's arm was wrapped securely around her, his bare chest pressed to her back. A thrill of excitement shot through her as memories of the night came rushing back to her. She hadn't known anything could be so amazing, and she wished they could just stay in this room for the rest of their lives.

But, unfortunately, their lives would allow no such thing to happen.

His hand caressed her arm. "Are you ok?"

Suddenly she felt shy, they had shared something so intimate and special last night, but now she wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to act, or react. Her voice caught in her throat; she couldn't get words out. He rolled her over as he tenderly brushed the hair back from her face. His emerald eyes were troubled as they searched her face.

"Did I hurt you?" he demanded.

Cassie forgot her shyness in the face of his obvious distress. "No, of course not."

"I tried not to cause you too much pain, but I know I lost some control. I'm sorry Cassie…"

He broke off when she rested her hand against his cheek. "I'm fine Devon, really," she assured him. "It only hurt for a moment, and then it was over."

He frowned at her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." His fingers stroked over her cheeks as he kissed her nose. "It was amazing Devon." She was barely able to hear her own words over the increased beat of her heart.

He smiled as he kissed her again. "It was more than amazing."

"Yes," she breathed. She lost herself to him as his delicious kisses deepened and all of the many problems existing outside of here drifted away. In here, with him, there were no problems. There was only love and utter bliss as she lost herself to his body and the passion only he could make her feel.

It was a while later before she roused again. The room was more illuminated, and it appeared to be mid morning. Below her, she could hear people moving about as whispers of conversations were exchanged. Her hand and head rested upon Devon's chest; he didn't make a sound, but she knew he was awake.

"We should go down," she muttered.

Devon's hand rubbed over her back and ran up to her shoulders before entangling in her hair. She lifted her head to look at him and propped her chin on her hands as she studied him. He was magnificent, amazing, and completely hers. She didn't feel shy now, she felt loved, and so unbelievably secure in this small room.

"Not yet." She frowned at him as he brushed back her hair; his fingers brushed against the marks on her neck. A thrill shot down her spine; she couldn't stop her toes from curling against his solid legs. His eyes sparked with amusement as a smile curved the edges of his full mouth. He touched her lips with his fingers; he traced them briefly before reluctantly withdrawing from her and biting into his wrist. "You must have blood, and strength."

"I'm fine," she assured him. She longed to share the experience with him again, but she didn't like him thinking he’d hurt her.

"I took a lot from you Cassie, and there are shadows under your eyes."

Her eyes latched onto the glistening drops of blood pooling on his wrist. For a disconcerting moment hunger tore through her. The prospect of his blood didn't repulse her as it should. Instead, it excited and enticed her in a way it never had before. She suddenly wanted it for more than just a stronger bond with Devon, but because she craved it like a man in the desert craved water.

Confusion whirled through Devon's eyes, but before he could question her, she grasped his arm and bent her mouth to him. She knew once the bond was sealed, all doubts and questions would fade away as their minds mingled together. His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he held her close.

Cassie closed her eyes, a low moan of ecstasy escaped before she could stop it. His blood was delicious and filling in a way it never had been before. She could feel his turmoil over her reaction to it, but he didn't pull away. Instead he held her closer as her own dread began to build. This wasn't normal, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

She fell into him, allowing his thoughts and love to entwine her in a warm cocoon of security and adoration. His mind opened to hers, she had experienced a similar sensation the last time they’d exchanged blood, but this was far different. She tried to revolt before she was ensnared completely in the whirlwind of his mind.

"It's ok," Devon whispered. "It's ok, don't fight it. You must see."

Cassie didn't know what she needed to see, but as he pulled her closer she knew he needed this from her. Pushing her doubts aside, Cassie allowed herself to drift and mingle with his mind more intensely than she ever had before. Suddenly she was in his life, feeling what he wanted her to feel, living what he wanted her to live.

She stood with him as a young child with black hair and big green eyes. He was skinny and gangly, but amazingly adorable with his dimples and two missing teeth. He was so full of hope, mischief, and exuberance. Until his father's drinking started to get out of control, and his father's wrath turned on him. Until his mother was beaten while trying to protect her youngest son, and his brother turned his back on Devon's frightened cries. Until all of his hope and mischief were destroyed beneath his father's heavy fist, and resentment was all that festered within him.

When Devon escaped the cruelty of his home, he never looked back and never expected to step foot on the property again. Eager to be free, he explored the world, and lived the life of drudgery he swiftly adopted instead of going to the university. When Elizabeth changed him, he'd never been happier. He now had an outlet for all of the rage and hurt festering inside of him, now had a way to bury his despair in the joy and thrill of the hunt and kill.

Though he'd vowed never to return home, and thoroughly enjoyed his new life and all of the power it gave him, he found himself inexplicably drawn back to his family's massive country manor a few years later. His father's mind was rotten from his many years of heavy drinking. His brother however was young, healthy, and thoroughly enjoying his life as Lord of the Manor.

Devon watched him from the shadows of the early night as Robert moved about ordering this servant here, and that servant there. He was aware how alike they looked, but he was keenly reminded their personalities had always been opposites. He’d never enjoyed ordering people about. In the eyes of his father and his brother, he'd never been anything more than a servant amongst those walls anyway. Never been anything more than the disposable offspring, and they had reminded him of that on a daily basis.

He didn't know what had drawn him back to this hated place after all these years, but he found himself oddly fascinated by it. He'd been unable to get inside to see his father, but he found himself peering into the windows at the weak and feeble man who had once terrified and brutalized him. The man had beaten him to within an inch of life more than a few times, but Devon could now kill him with a flick of his wrist. His father had ruined his childhood, but in his old age he was paying for his excessive alcoholism and brutality. Devon had never put much stock in God, but he felt the cosmic hand of fate at work here, and he was satisfied with it.

Devon withdrew from the window and moved through the night to the front of the manor. The windows were lit with candles; inside he could hear the melodious music of a violin. His brother was having a small gathering, coaches and horses were gathered out front. Liveried footmen stood silently by them.

He was hungry, but he wouldn't hunt or feed here. He’d never come here again, and he would leave it the way he'd found it. He wouldn't sink to his father or Robert's level with spiteful acts of vengeance, they weren't worth it. He slipped through the gardens, so lost in his own thoughts he didn't notice the couple stealing time amongst the shadows until he was on top of them.

The woman gasped and jerked away from the embrace of her lover. "Devon!" she blurted.

Devon nodded to her. "Jane."

His eyes scanned over his brother. Robert had always been bigger than him, thicker through the shoulders, and broader in the chest. But either because of what he’d become, or just the normal process of adulthood and genetics, Devon was now a little taller and broader in the back and shoulders. Robert looked anything but happy to see him as he studied him with open disdain and his arms folded firmly over his chest.

"Devon, is that really you?" Jane whispered. Her hand covered her mouth now; her surprise had turned to keen interest. They’d once had a fling, but apparently she'd moved onto his brother when Devon had left.

"We thought you dead," Robert remarked.

Devon's mouth curved into a harsh smile. "Not even death could keep me down."

Robert shook his head as his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

Devon shrugged and held his hands out before him. "I was simply hoping to see my loving family once more."

Jane took a step back as her survival instincts finally rose up to bury her astonishment over seeing Devon again. Her head turned back and forth between them as she sensed the growing animosity between them. "Will you be staying?" Robert inquired, ever the gentleman.

"No."

"Will you see father?"

"No."

Robert frowned in confusion. He expected Devon to be here for something, money, vengeance, shelter, anything. That he’d come for nothing was something Robert couldn't grasp. "Where have you been?" Jane asked.

He shrugged as he slid his hands into his pockets and his mouth curved in a cruel smile. "To hell and back, but I greatly enjoyed the trip." Jane took another step back from him. "I must be going now," Devon told them.

"Will we see you again?" Jane asked eagerly.

Devon shook his head. "No, I will not be returning here. Have a good life."

"Wait! Devon wait!" He turned back at Jane's hurried cry. "Where will you be going?"

Devon couldn't stop the large grin that flashed over his face. "That's the beauty of it. I'll go wherever the world, and time, can take me."

They both looked completely baffled, but he expected them to be. Unlike him, they didn't have eternity to travel the world and experience the wonder of life, and especially the joy of death. Devon slipped away, unaware Elizabeth had followed him to the manor where she had spied upon him, and been witness to the dislike amongst the brothers.

He didn't know she would approach Robert that night, and as vengeance for Devon leaving her, she would also change Robert and set him lose upon the world, and Devon.

Cassie clutched him as his fingers twined through her hair. His memories poured rapidly into her; it was as if he was trying to purge himself of everything as rapidly as he could.

After his change, Robert had slaughtered all of the servants at the manor, and their father. He’d burnt the home to the ground and effectively severed all of his ties with a life that had been kind to him, but he’d despised it all the same. Devon hadn’t known of Robert's change, or the slaughter, until fifty years later when they’d run across each other again in Venice.

Devon had been beyond stunned to see his brother alive, and untouched by age, but Robert had been prepared for the meeting. He’d been searching for Devon for years. Robert had been the favored child of their father, and he had inherited his father's malicious streak and ingrained hatred for Devon. Even at his cruelest, Devon didn't have the depth of psychosis inside of him Robert possessed, and always would. Robert may not have been beaten throughout his childhood, but he had longed to be the one doing the beating.

When he had come across Devon though, Robert had expected to come across the weaker brother Devon had once been. Robert had thought he would come across a man he could torture and brutalize to his endless pleasure, before finally destroying him.

He'd been sadly mistaken. Devon only had eight years on Robert as a vampire, but he was inherently stronger, faster, and far more vicious than Robert had ever fathomed. Robert had tracked Devon down in order to abuse him; he hadn't expected to be the one getting beaten. He hadn't expected to find his weak younger brother stronger than he was.

His hatred for Devon grew even more after the encounter, and when Julian entered the picture Robert became even more infuriated and volatile. There had been no stopping Julian and Devon together; there had been no way Robert could get to Devon, until now.

Now Robert knew the one way to destroy his brother was to destroy Cassie, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that was done.

Cassie pulled away from Devon and wheezed in a breath as the memories pounding against her ceased. Tears burned her eyes, her heart broke for the innocent boy he’d once been, and for the man that boy had been turned into, for the monster the man had become, and for the man who lay beneath her now, terrified he was going to lose her.

"Devon."

He brushed the tears from her cheeks and wiped his blood from her mouth. "I won't let him hurt you."

"I know," she whispered. "But why does he hate you so much? He's your brother, he should have protected you. He should have helped to defend you. You were a helpless child."

Devon's eyes were dark and distant. "Robert was always twisted, like my father. I didn't see it as a child because I couldn't see anything past my father, but Robert was always cruel too. It was a while before I thought back on those days with a different eye and suddenly realized the things I had missed. The servants were frightened of Robert. At the time I thought it was because he was going to be the future master, but he brutalized them. He beat them as he saw fit, took the women whenever he chose, as my father did. But I never saw the joy, the absolute ecstasy he took in it, not until after.

"My mother was also afraid of him. She tried to protect me, to shelter me from them, but I recall times when she would tremble in their presence. Tremble in the presence of her own child. She wanted nothing more than to get me out of that house and as far from them as possible. Unfortunately, once I was free I ran wild with it. I should have taken more time for her, should have opened my eyes sooner to what was going on in that house, but I could see nothing past my own torment. When I finally did it was too late for my mother. She withered away once I was gone."

Cassie choked back a sob as she shook her head. "That's not your fault. You couldn't have stopped it; you couldn't have stayed there. If you had…"

"They would have killed me," he said when she couldn't finish. Cassie recoiled from his words; no child should have to go through what he had. No wonder he had kept the truth about his brother hidden from her and had tried to keep her shut out of his past.

"I'm glad you did, but you didn't have to show me," she managed to choke out.

He played idly with a strand of her hair as he twirled it around his finger. "Yes, I did. You must know Cassie, no matter what they say, we cannot trust them. Especially Robert."

Her fingers absently caressed his bare chest. "I know."

"If they had truly come in peace, and for the reasons they say, they wouldn't have brought Robert with them."

The thought of Devon's brother was enough to make her blood boil. If she got the chance, she knew she would kill Robert. Just as Robert would do the same to her. "The change, what is it like?"

Devon's hand stilled on her hair. "Cassie…"

"It has to be done Devon, whether they force it or we choose it, it must be done. I think I should be prepared for it."

"The pain is very intense, but hopefully I will be able to take some of yours onto myself by keeping hold of a piece of your mind." Cassie shook her head in protest. "Yes, Cassie, that is going to happen no matter what you say. It doesn't last long; the longest I've seen is an hour. Mine was only twenty minutes."

Cassie could handle the pain, no matter what she wouldn't allow Devon to take it on for her. "That's not bad."

She managed a wan smile for him. Though she was looking forward to joining him completely, to being with him forever, she didn't relish the thought of dying. "I will make it as easy as possible for you."

"I'll be fine," she replied.

She knew he wasn't giving into her wishes, but she allowed herself to be lost to him when he kissed her.