"We won't be separated Cassie," he assured her.
"We won't be separated from anyone," she emphasized. "Not after last time. It is not going to happen Devon, not at all."
"Cassie..."
"If The Elders come back..."
"They won't," Julian interrupted.
"They could!" she retorted. "No, the only way I am leaving this town is if everybody goes. We are not splitting our numbers again."
"It would have been just you and me," Devon told her.
Cassie's mouth dropped. "What?" she sputtered in disbelief.
"Would have been," Devon emphasized. "Julian and I thought it was better for you not to be here. Luther disagreed."
Cassie turned toward Luther, astonished that he was actually on her side in this. Luther sadly gazed back at her. "I think it's best if you stay around your friends."
Something inside of her ached, it couldn't be her heart because that had stopped beating. "You mean you think I should stay with people who might be able to pull me back if I snap, or that can help to destroy me?" They were unmoving, mainly because she had just hit the nail on the head. "That makes sense."
Cassie glanced at the door that separated this room from the one next door. They had taken the three end rooms; the ones farthest away from the devastation of the manager's office. "Do they know that?" she asked.
"No, there is no reason for them to. Not yet," Luther answered. "I would also like to see what you are capable of Cassie."
"Wouldn't we all?"
He managed a wry smile as he rose to his feet. "Do you know how you were able to shoot fire today?"
Cassie shrugged as she wrapped her arms around herself. "No, I don't. I knew that I could absorb powers when touching someone, but I thought that once I touched someone else, that other power was gone. Apparently I was wrong."
"We have to figure out how you are able to do it, and just how many you can use at once. It could really come in handy."
"Or it could be completely dangerous."
Luther cleared his throat as he pulled his glasses off. "Well yes, that too, but we will need it against The Elders. What were you feeling when you were able to bring the fire back again?"
"Terrified," she answered honestly. "Frustrated. Angry."
He began to pace the small confines of the worn down hotel room. He moved past one of the double beds before spinning on his heel in front of the other and coming back at her. "We're going to have to find a way for you to be able to draw that power forth without your emotions ruling you, and a way for you to keep those abilities under control."
"Is that all?" she asked dryly.
Luther's shoulders slumped as he tugged at his hair and made his way back toward the other bed. "This is new to us all Cassie."
"I know," she assured him. "I also know that you're scared of me. That you all are."
Luther bowed his head, while Julian and Devon met her gaze head on. "Not of you princess," Julian murmured.
"Don't lie to me Julian, please. We both know better than that."
He looked like he was going to protest, then he shut his mouth, and shook back his shock of platinum hair. The near white band around his pupils was dilated. "Fine princess you are a little freaky right now..."
"Julian..." A lock of midnight hair fell into one of Devon's emerald eyes as he took a quick step toward Julian.
"What with this seemingly unlimited ability to absorb powers and the strange eyes..."
"Why do people keep mentioning my eyes? They are perfectly normal," Cassie insisted.
Julian and Devon exchanged a look; Luther quickly removed his glasses again. "They're not normal when they change Cassie," Devon said kindly.
"I see," she mumbled.
"You look exhausted."
"I am." She wasn't so much tired as she just didn't feel like being studied like a bug anymore.
"We'll let you get some rest," Luther muttered.
Cassie opened her mouth to protest, there was still so much they had to discuss, but Luther and Julian were already moving out. She heard the rattle of the chain lock as she sat on one of the worn pink and yellow comforters and hard mattress. She didn't care how hard it was though, it was like heaven compared to her sleeping conditions of the past couple of weeks. It had been weeks since she'd slept in a real bed, with real pillows, and comforters.
Cassie frowned as Devon grabbed hold of the bureau and walked it over to the window and placed it beneath it. Seizing hold of both of the nightstands he placed them on top and almost completely blocked out the night beyond. It wouldn't be much of a barrier against something trying to get in the window, but it would block out most of the sun. Finally, he placed the armchair in the corner against the door.
He was in front of her before she even had a chance to register him moving. His fingers slid over her cheeks as his emerald eyes latched onto hers. Any tiredness, and fear, was forgotten as his mouth brushed over hers and she opened her lips to the heady invasion of his tongue. His hands settled against her waist, lifting her up he moved her back in the bed and came down on top of her.
It was so easy to lose herself in him, to forget everything else when he was touching her and loving her, so easy not to think about the fact that she could destroy them all. Though they had exchanged blood earlier she knew the bond between them as mates wasn't complete. Not until now when she was clinging to him in order to stay grounded in a world suffused in sensation, caresses, and kisses.
She could feel them joining together, not only their bodies but also their souls. She used him as an anchor to keep her grounded through the sensations suffusing her as she bit into his vein, and he into hers. A scream almost tore from her as something seemed to cinch them together. They were bound together, bonded in a way they hadn't been before.
It was a bond she felt all the way to the center of her being and she knew there was nothing that could ever tear them apart, ever sever their tie. It was deeper than marriage, deeper than any human connection she'd ever experienced as she felt their souls melding together and becoming one. She knew now what it was to be a vampire that was mated. He was a part of her for eternity and she welcomed it more than she had ever welcomed anything in her life.
Devon's fingers entwined with hers as he collapsed beside her on the bed. His emerald eyes gleamed in the dark room, his tussled hair clung to the sweat dampening his forehead. She brushed her fingers over his lips as he kissed them. "I won't let anything happen to you," he vowed.