Reuben checked in quickly and requested two rooms across the hall from each other.

As they walked up to their rooms, Cara asked, “Don’t the hotels ever come after you for trashing the rooms?”

“I use different names. But to make things right, I let them charge the damages to my credit card. Years of mercenary work have made my bank accounts quite sizable.”

“If you have plenty of money, why do you keep taking on dangerous jobs?”

“Honestly?”

“No, please lie to me,” said Cara, sarcastically.

Reuben laughed, “I guess I just get bored. I come from the most powerful pack of werewolves, and I’m in line to become the pack leader when my father dies. The whole system is just like human government—full of a bunch of kiss-asses. It started driving me nuts. I never knew if they were actually my friends or just trying to get on my good side. Not to mention, being pack leader comes with a lot of responsibilities. So I left.”

“Why don’t they help you with the vampire thing? I mean, if they’re powerful, it seems like…I don’t know. Just doesn’t make sense to me.”

He forced a smile.

“Well, my dad’s pretty upset with me for leaving. We’ve talked a couple times since I left. He told me to ‘clean up my own shit.’”

“That’s awful!”

“No, it’s how we work. We stick together, but it was my fault for leaving.”

“Do you regret it?” asked Cara.

“Every day.”

Cara was silent. They reached their rooms.

“I thought you were able to control your transformation now, but we have two separate rooms,” she protested as they stood in the hallway. “I thought…maybe…you’d want to share a room.”

“What if you were wrong and I do transform?”

He had a point as much as she didn’t want to admit it. If she had screwed up and failed to break the spell, her life could still be in danger. He could overpower her as a human, but when he changed into a werewolf, she didn’t stand a chance—especially if she was lying in bed with him, exposed and vulnerable.

“Fine,” she said, getting closer to him. Her heart was thumping in her chest. “But we have a little time for fun, don’t we?”

He caught her drift.

“You’re a brave little thing, aren’t you?”

Reuben flung Cara over his shoulder and entered the hotel room. He threw her on the bed, being careful not to hurt her.

He climbed onto the bed, straddling Cara, and reached down and slowly lifted her shirt over her head. Effortlessly, he removed her bra and ran his fingers across her stomach, eliciting chills that undulated throughout her body. Reuben leaned down and gently kissed her bellybutton, and slowly kissed lower and lower, until his mouth reached the button of her pants.

He raised his eyes to meet hers with a sly smirk before ripping open her pants with his bare teeth. Cara couldn’t stifle her squeals of pleasure. His index finger played lightly with the hem of her panties, building up Cara’s anticipation of what would happen next. Slowly, he reached down between her legs and gently stroked until Cara couldn’t contain her ecstasy. A violent pleasure pulsated through her body as she called out Reuben’s name. Breathless, Cara looked at Reuben and smiled.

“Oh, we’re not done,” he said devilishly as he slid off her pants, and then pulled down her panties with his teeth.

Cara sat up and slowly unbuttoned Reuben’s shirt, kissing his chest as she removed his shirt completely. Forcefully, she pushed him down on the bed. It was her turn. Reuben looked up at Cara, turned on by her boldness.

Cara continued to kiss his chest, moving down his stomach. She unzipped his pants, which revealed his erection. He shifted, making it easy for her to remove his pants and boxers.

She massaged his manhood, surprised by its immense size. She took him into her mouth, teasing him by encircling the tip with her tongue before settling her mouth completely over the length of him. Using her hands to caress him, Cara applied pressure with her tongue to stimulate every nerve. Reuben moaned, begging Cara not to stop.

Before he descended into bliss, Cara moved and anchored herself on top of him, slowly easing herself into position because of his size. Reuben placed his hands on her hips, guiding her movement. Leaning forward, Cara placed both of her hands on Reuben’s chest as she continued to move in rhythmic motions, completely lost in a pleasure-filled daze as they both climaxed. They sat for several minutes in silence, relishing in the sensations that still coursed through their bodies.

Just as Reuben pulled on his pants, the door flew open and a swarm of thugs charged in. Cara screamed, as Reuben moved quickly to stop anybody from getting near her.

The men were on top of him in a moment. They looked like the others – the ones that had attacked them back at her apartment – but instead of a measly three, they had close to a dozen. And this time, instead of crowbars, they were holding silvery bats. They started to beat Reuben and he fought back as best as he could, but there were simply too many of them. They smashed him to his knees, where they kept him in submission.

Meanwhile, Cara tried to remember where she’d put the gun. It was still in her jacket, which she’d thrown off while being carried into the room. It was lying on the floor, about halfway between the intruders and herself. She could see the chrome handle of the gun sticking out of her pocket.

Completely naked, she made a charge for the gun. The intruders saw her coming and tried to reach the gun before she did, but somehow she’d managed to get there first. She had enough time to fire off one shot. One of the vampires vanished in dust, but before she could do anything else, they’d overpowered her.

One of the thugs picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She tried to fight against him, but she was nowhere near as strong as he was. Before she could blink, the others were holding her down, with the first one standing beside the bed, looming over her. He roughly grabbed her wrist with his glove, looking back at Reuben.

“Thought we wouldn’t find you? Thought we’d forget?”

The vampire holding Cara’s wrist clenched his hand, making her shriek in pain. Reuben fought with a burst of intense strength. He flung one of the vampires into the TV and sent another reeling, but four more were there to hold him down.

“Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!” he bellowed.

“Nothing?” The one grabbing her wrist, evidently the leader, leaned close to her with his head close to her throat. He bared his fangs, threatening to puncture the skin on Cara’s neck.

The vampire never broke his gaze from Reuben. “You stole my family. You stole those who meant everything to me.”

He gestured to the other vampires, who slid the shades closed, blocking out any sunlight. A bedside lamp was the only light source in the room, making it safe for the vampires to expose their skin. The leader pulled off his hood and sunglasses to show his sickly white skin and intensely pale blue eyes. His canines were long and sharp and slick with saliva. He pressed them against her tender throat.

“Wait!” Reuben yelled. “Ezekiel, please! You know it wasn’t me. I would never have done that!”

He pulled his fangs away from Cara’s throat and swung the silver bat at Reuben. His companions were forced to duck to avoid getting hit, but the bat slammed into Reuben’s jaw. For a second, Cara thought he’d knocked him out before Reuben sluggishly leaned back up.

“Do not address me by name! You know nothing of me, fucking dog!”

Reuben was still struggling, but he knew he couldn’t overpower all of the vampires.

“Let her go. Kill me if you wish, but she has no place in our disagreement.”

“No?” Ezekiel put a slender hand to his chest in mock surprise. “I think she does have a place. From what was obviously happening in this bed, I now have the chance to take away something that matters to you.”

Cara struggled to break free, but one vampire held one arm and another vampire held the other. Then, a third vampire held her feet down. She wanted to move, or fight, or do something, but she couldn’t. Both her and Reuben were stuck.

Ezekiel turned his seductive gaze upon her, but then motioned for one of his thugs to cover her with a blanket so she wasn’t as exposed.

“Would you like to know something about your little boyfriend?”

“Let me go, you sadistic fuck!”

His smile dimmed for a second and he slapped her. Hard.

“Consider that a warning. What did he tell you about himself? Why did he say we were hunting him?”

“He said someone put a spell on him and made him kill against his will.”

He laughed and looked at Reuben’s kneeling form. “Is that what you told her?”

Suddenly, he was back in Cara’s face.

“I can tell you the truth. The dog knew someone had put the spell on him before the party. He simply didn’t do anything to keep himself away from my family. All because my sister rejected him for another. Oh, sure, my sister’s ex-boyfriend cast the spell on Reuben for revenge for sleeping with her, but did you really think he couldn’t feel it? He wanted my sister dead too – for rejecting him. He should not have come to that dinner that night because he knew he would kill everybody.”

“You’re lying!” Cara screamed.

He grinned broadly, exposing his razor-sharp fangs.

“Oh, am I? Why don’t you ask dear little Reuben?” He directed his attention to the werewolf. “How about it? Have I told her a lie?”

Reuben looked Cara in the eyes, “Don’t believe him, Cara. I could feel someone put a spell on me, but I had no idea what it would do. I never would have murdered his family intentionally.” He turned his gaze back to Ezekiel. “I never loved your sister. She was in love with me, and I broke it off after a couple weeks of fun. She repulsed me with her white, cold skin and dead eyes. But… I never would have killed her intentionally. I didn’t hate her; I just didn’t love her. I had no idea I would transform that night.”

Reuben’s face revealed that he was telling the truth.

“Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie!” Ezekiel screamed.

“Police! Put down your weapons,” yelled a new voice.

A rather unlucky policeman was standing in the doorway with his gun drawn, pointing it towards the vampires with bats.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Put down your weapons!”

His hands were shaking. Cara didn’t blame him; she doubted he had experienced many scenarios like this before.

“Put down your weapons!”

Ezekiel stepped away from Cara with a frustrated sigh.

“Really? Now? Fucking humans.”

Ezekiel’s form shifted into darkness and before anyone could move, he soared over to the cop. Cara couldn’t see what happened, but she heard several shots, and the next thing she knew, the man was slumping to the floor. Ezekiel was soon back at her side with a deep red liquid dripping from his lips.

“Excuse me,” he said with a sly smile. “Hate to snack before lunch, but he gave me no choice.”

Ezekiel looked towards Reuben, ignoring the policeman clutching the remains of his throat.

“Now here’s what’s going to happen, dog. You stole my sister from me. I’ll steal your lover from you. And here’s the best part – I won’t make it nice and gentle. Oh, no. I won’t kill her here and give you the satisfaction. I’m taking both of you back to the clan, where we’ll have more fun.” He motioned for his men to sit Cara upright. “Then, when your dried-up corpses are burned, there will be nothing being left of you. As you like to say, my stupid friend, comprendo?”

“Don’t do this!” Reuben was begging, not for his life, but for Cara’s.

He was still trying to shift, but the silver all around him seemed to be causing him physical discomfort. Ezekiel gestured to his thugs, who lifted Reuben to his feet and started walking him towards the door. The vampires handling Cara wrapped her in a sheet as a makeshift dress before leading her towards the jittering body of the unfortunate policeman by the door. Ezekiel stepped into the pool of blood, pausing to make a disappointed face at soiling his shoes.

And then Reuben made his move.

He kicked one thug away and pulled his other hand free to grab a bat. The silver burned his hand as if it were white hot, but he whacked two of them in the head before anyone could move. He ran to the window and threw open the curtains.

The vampires shrieked and retreated into the hallway, skin burning. He grabbed the gun and pointed it at the doorway, firing several rounds through the weak sheetrock walls. Cara heard yelling from the other side.

“Go out the window!” he commanded. “Get out of here!”

He fired again, and called forth an ancient curse. Cara dashed to the window and froze. People were outside, staring up in shock at the sounds coming from their room. She couldn’t let the people stop her. Cara tightened the sheet around her and attempted to open the window, but it wouldn’t budge.

She grabbed a nearby chair and smashed the window into thousands of pieces. Carefully placing a blanket in the widow frame to shield her from the broken glass, Cara clambered out. Their room was only on the second floor, so she hit the ground hard, but she wasn’t hurt badly. Her knees caught the brunt of the impact, but she got up to see the guys in the parking lot, whose surprise at hearing gunshots had been overcome with seeing a scantily clad woman fall out of a window.

“Get out of here!” she snapped. “You all need to run. Fast!”

The onlookers took a couple looks before hurrying away. A moment later, Reuben jumped out of the window. It was only a matter of time until the vampires put their cowls and sunglasses back on and followed.

“Get to the car!”

They dashed to her Honda, where she grabbed the spare key from its hiding spot and threw it to Reuben, and rushed to the passenger seat. He started the engine and slammed on the gas pedal. The wheels spun wildly for a moment before they got enough traction to shoot them off. The car swerved onto the road and merged onto the interstate, getting them as far away as they could in as little time as possible. Cara could hear the screaming vampires for a while before distance started to drown them out.

“My God!” She punched him in the shoulder. “You asshole! Why didn’t you tell me the whole story?”

He deflected her next shot. “What does it matter? Like I said, I didn’t love his sister. Why does it matter that I slept with her?”

“How can I believe you? How can I believe anything you say?”

“I never lied to you. I told you everything except that one part. I just…I wasn’t ready to tell you about that part.”

“So you killed her?”

“I already told you. It wasn’t on purpose.”

She looked back over her shoulder, expecting to see cops following them. Nobody was there.

“We need to ditch this car,” he said. “Do you have another one?”

“Seriously? No, I don’t have another one!”

Cara was having a difficult time focusing her thoughts. Her entire world had been torn apart when he told her magic was real. Then he made love to her, only to be followed up by a daring escape from a clan of bloodthirsty vampires, who had told her that Reuben murdered his last girlfriend.

“Take me to the spell guy now! I want nothing more to do with you.”

He got into the center lane. They weren’t getting off anytime soon.

“It’s not that easy anymore. They know who you are. They’re looking for you. They want to kill you because of me. You’re no longer a meal; you’re a threat.”

Cara was terrified.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meeting her gaze.

Cara was surprised to see that he actually meant it.

Reuben explained, “I never thought it would go this way. I meant what I said. I wanted to take you to the mage and have him send you back to your old life. But it just can’t be like that now, no matter how much you want it. Ezekiel…” he sighed. “I have to protect you.”

Tears welled up behind Cara’s eyelashes, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hold them back. She wanted more excitement, but she didn’t want this.

Reuben looked over and saw Cara’s tears. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“Cara, I promise I will make this right. Nobody will hurt you ever again.”

They drove for what seemed like hours. Cara had a long road ahead of her, starting with securing clothes and money. Their belongings were probably getting soaked by the blood of the brave policeman who’d tried to save them.

“Do you have a plan?” she finally asked after an eternity.

Reuben was her best shot at survival, and to be honest, she could get used to the idea of him taking care of her.

Noticing Cara had relaxed considerably, Reuben placed his hand on her knee and slowly moved it up to her thigh. Cara wanted his touch, but she playfully slapped his hand away. After all, she was supposed to be mad at him.

Reuben laughed and removed his hand.

“Even though I would love for you to wear a sheet all of the time, we probably need to get some clothes. Where? I don’t know. You’re wearing a sheet, and I don’t have a shirt or shoes. I guess we could join a nudist colony.”

“We need clothes. Got it. Step two?”

“I don’t know. Ezekiel has smelled you and he can already track me. No matter where we go, he’s going to find us.”

“Could we just go back to the Enchantment Society and use them for protection?” she asked hopefully.

“Good idea, but no. They’re just middlemen. Again, think of the bank reference. They’re not the military, and they have nowhere near the power to deal with someone like Ezekiel. And you might remember that we broke in there and severely injured some guards. I don’t think they’d be too keen about us visiting again. I have some friends in the South. They’ll be able to help us. I assume you’re coming with me?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

He thought about it. “Honestly… no. You don’t.”

Cara shrugged. “I like the idea of sticking with you. Besides, you’re pretty good in bed.”

He smiled broadly.

“Yes, well, hopefully we’ll have plenty of time for that.”

He continued in a more serious tone, “I have plenty of money. My supplies have been admittedly running low, so we’ll need some help with that. I’ll teach you how to shoot, and about weaknesses of vamps and anything else Ezekiel might send at us.”

There was a pause.

“So… what would have happened if he’d bitten me?” Cara asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“Short answer? You’d die. Long answer? You’d go catatonic and become utterly devoted to them for the next thousand years as your body slowly disintegrated. You wouldn’t feel a thing, but it wouldn’t be good.”

“I thought people that got bit by vampires turned into vampires.”

“Legend. Common misconception. Turning into a vampire is a much more complicated process.”

“I guess I have a lot to learn.”

She settled back into her seat. She had no idea where they were going aside from somewhere in the South.

This new adventure was going to be scary, but Cara was also excited about spending more time with Reuben. If she could only block out the fact that she could be killed at any moment. Fate had forced her out of her comfort zone to create a better story then she could have ever written. Maybe one day she would use her life as the inspiration for a new novel.

Ezekiel, based on what Reuben had told her, wasn’t going to stop trying to kill them anytime soon. He would send anything and everything that it took to kill her in the most violent way possible.

But no matter what he sent, no matter how many, or how horrible, she’d be there to greet them. And not just her. She had Reuben.

Together, they would build a new life.

Together, they would survive.

* * *