***
"This way!"
"Cassie slow down! Wait! Cassie wait!" Melissa yelled after her.
Cassie couldn't wait though; she couldn't allow the vampire in front of her to get away. They may be her kind now, but she was also a Hunter and she wasn't going to allow any innocents to die tonight. She dodged the cars that skidded to a halt with their horns blaring as she sprinted across the street. One of the bumpers clipped her leg and she fell against the car. She rested her hand upon the hood as she tried to right herself after the impact.
"Cassie!" Melissa screamed.
She shoved herself off the hood and fled across the road. Angry shouts rang out from the drivers as she cleared the last lane and fled into the woods behind the vampire. He was faster than she had expected, but she was gaining on him. Leaping forward, Cassie snagged hold of the back of his shirt. The material gave way with a tearing that sounded like a gunshot in the still air. The vamp nearly tore free of her, but she had managed to give it a strong enough tug that it was knocked off balance. Cassie grasped hold of its shoulders as she spun it around.
The creature snarled as it lunged at her with hooked fingers and razor sharp fangs. Something within her surged to the forefront, something looking to be sated, and there was only one way to sate it. Without thinking, Cassie leapt forward and jerked the vampires head to the side as she dove at him. There was a flicker of fright in the creature's eyes, but she didn't acknowledge it as she sank her fangs in.
The vampire howled as it clawed at her arms in an attempt to dislodge her. Cassie stuck to it as they fell backward onto the forest floor. The blood was astonishing, so much better than the bags that Devon had been giving her. It was delicious and powerful as it flowed into her and warmed her to the very center of her soul. It satisfied a primitive urge that she'd been struggling for years to keep buried. It was the most magnificent feeling in the world to finally let it free, to finally let the monster bury the scared, frightened girl that had been living within her for the past four years. She wasn't scared of what she was and what she would become. It didn't matter anymore as the blood eased the ferocious clamoring of the beast.
The creature's movements became weaker as its struggle against her lessened. Cassie sat back and wiped the blood from her mouth as she studied the creature before her. It wasn't dead, but there certainly wasn't much life left to it as she lifted a stick from the ground and drove it through its deadened heart.
She thrilled at the power still coursing rapidly through her, and then the reality of the situation slammed over her. The horror was back, the terror, and confusion. Except now it was tenfold because she had just killed a person. Well maybe not a person, but she had killed something by draining its blood, its' very essence into her. And she had relished in it.
Who was she now? What was she?
***
Devon moved faster than he'd ever thought possible as he followed her scent, and the bond that connected them. Julian tried to keep up with him as they raced through the forest but he was lagging behind.
They caught up to Melissa and Chris and bypassed them. He burst through a copse of trees and skidded to a halt as he came across the immobile body of the vampire. Its eyes were open; two trails of blood ran down its neck from the bite inflicted upon it. His body thrummed at the sight of the body and the implications of those two marks.
He spotted Cassie sitting in the shadows, half hidden by trees and low growing brush. Her legs were drawn up against her chest; her arms wrapped around them as she watched him. Her golden hair was in tumbled disarray, dirt streaked her delicate features, and her full lips were tinted a darker shade of red. Her inhuman eyes were brilliant, there was a pulsating power radiating from her that caused his stomach to lurch violently.
He dropped before her but before he could reach for her she flung herself into his arms. Devon enveloped her as she buried her face in his neck. Her tears wet his skin and slid down to dampen the collar of his shirt. His hand cradled her head as he sought to give her comfort when he knew there was little to be found. She choked on the force of her sobs as her hands dug fervently into him. He spun her quickly away when Julian emerged from the trees.
Julian took in the scene and frowned ferociously as his lips compressed into a flat line. Julian whirled to face Chris and Melissa in an attempt to block them from seeing the body, but it was already too late. Melissa gasped and reeled back. Chris became as still as a statue as he looked around for something else to focus on.
Cassie wiggled against him as she seemed to try and escape the clearing by disappearing into him. "Shh, shh." He rubbed her hair as he tried to calm her. "It's ok. It was only a vampire."
A low groan escaped her as she burrowed lower against him. If she hadn't been immortal, he would have become concerned about her health. He kept her face pressed against his neck so that she wouldn't see their fear. He ignored the troubled looks of Chris and Melissa as he focused on Julian. "You know what to do."
Julian nodded briskly. "I do."
There was an unasked question in his gaze, a question that Devon couldn't answer. Julian knew that he had to take care of the bodies, but Devon had no idea how to take care of Cassie right now.
CHAPTER 13
Devon stared out at the spiraling snow as it filtered onto the blacktop and cars parked within the hotel lot. He dropped the thick curtains into place and effectively blocked out any sun. He turned back toward Cassie. She was curled up on her side, her hands beneath her head as she stared into space.
He was grateful that everyone had left them alone, for now. Julian had called to say that everything had been taken care of, but even he had stayed away. Devon moved over to the bed and sat down beside her. He brushed the hair away from her face as he caressed her cheek.
He didn't know what to do to help, and he was growing increasingly terrified that he was losing her. "Cassie, you have to talk to me." Her eyes became a deeper shade of purple. "I can't lose you Cass; you have to stay with me." His fingers lingered on her silken cheek as he wiped her tears away.
"What if I'm not me anymore?" she whispered.
"Cassie..."
"What if the girl you fell in love with is gone? What if she doesn't exist anymore?"
"Cassie, you exist. You are different than the first time I met you, but that isn't a bad thing. People grow, they mature..."
"I'm not a person. I never was."
"At heart, in your soul, you are still the same. You always will be. There is nothing that can change that. Nothing."
"I enjoyed it."