

## The Undead Heart

(#1 in the Blood Thirst Series)

By

### Stephanie Jackson

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2010 by Stephanie Jackson

S.O.S. Publishing © 2012

For my niece, Bev, for whom I wrote this book series for.

For my Dad, Sandy Rogers, who turned me into a book worm.

For my brother, Shane.

My eternal love to Rita Jackson for giving me _my_ Richard (I know, "No refunds, No returns!").

All my thanks and love to Becky Goppert, my best friend and editor, I couldn't have done this without you!

And for all my kids: Charley, Tommy, Harley, Potter, Bruce, Wes and Darian. I love you all!

### Chapter One

Rebecca Stockdale was seventeen years old, and today was her High School graduation. She was only at the graduation ceremony because her sister Bev had insisted on it. She didn't want to be there, but took a deep steadying breath as she grudgingly filed out onto the stage and took her seat among the rest of her graduating class.

When she looked out into the audience she was stunned to see what she had come to think of as 'The Man' sitting in the second row. She had not seen 'The Man' since she was twelve years old.

***

Beck (as Bev called her) had always been an unusual child. She'd always been pretty, with long red hair and bright green eyes. Unfortunately, she had also always been an abnormal child. She'd been born with the ability to see ghosts, and had occasional dreams of the future.

She'd also been born with a slight electrical problem. If her emotions were running high, or she was upset about something, she was prone to blow out light bulbs and appliances in her home. Her parents had removed all of the carpet from the home when she was three years old to cut down on the level of static electricity.

She'd gotten her first real beating from her father when she was only five years old. They had gone to a family reunion, and she'd told her aunt that she'd had a dream that she was going to die soon. When her aunt had died a week later, her father had beaten her, screaming that it was all her fault. For years afterwards she'd believed that she'd actually killed her aunt.

When she was seven, she'd told her second grade teacher during class that her house was going to burn down. When it had burned to the ground a few days later, all the kids either became afraid of her, or made fun of her. The few friends that she had had wouldn't speak to her anymore after that. Over the years it had only gotten worse. All the kids called her a witch or a freak, among other things. Even her own parents hated her.

In public they pretended to love her, but she knew the truth. She had also been born with the ability to sense or 'read' people's emotions. Bev called her a human lie detector. Bev had grown to hate their parents for the way they treated Beck. Charles and Lisa Stockdale were cruel parents who only cared about how things looked to other people. Outside the home, they acted like normal parents. But inside the home, they were quick with a punch or an insult. They never hit Bev, but Bev hated them anyway.

Beck knew that her abnormalities embarrassed her parents. She also knew that they wished she had never been born...or that she was dead. They had never come right out and said it, but she knew that it was how they felt. Several times she very nearly obliged them.

When she was seven years old, they had gone to see the 4th of July fireworks at the river in her home town of Clarksville, TN. No one had been paying attention to her, and she had wandered to close to the edge of the dock they were standing on. Her feet had left the dock, and she was going over the edge when an arm grabbed her around the waist.

She hadn't known how to swim at the time and probably would have drowned if 'The Man' hadn't saved her. She had already started to cry when he set her back on her feet. He'd squatted and turned her towards him.

"Shh. It's alright. You're safe now," he'd said. She could feel love, affection, and relief coming from him, but didn't know why.

"Beck, come on, the fireworks are about to start," Bev called to her.

She only turned her head for a second to look at Bev, but when she looked back 'The Man' was gone. She looked around but didn't see him anywhere.

"Where'd the man go?"

"What man?" Bev said sternly. "You know you're not supposed to talk to strangers."

Even though Bev was only ten at the time, she was far more maternal than their mother ever was. She would have told her about almost falling in the water, but the fireworks had started. She was only seven years old, and by the time the fireworks had ended the incident had slipped her mind.

She was nine years old when she saw 'The Man' again. Bev had started Junior High that year, and so wasn't able to walk her to school anymore. She had been crossing the street that day, by herself, two blocks down from the crosswalk on Crossland Ave. She knew if she crossed the street at the crosswalk with the rest of the kids, they would call her names and make fun of her the rest of the way to school.

She had been thinking about a test she was supposed to have that day and hadn't looked up before she stepped out into the road. She heard a horn blare and looked up in time to see a car skidding down the street at her. She wanted to jump back onto the sidewalk, but she couldn't make her body move. Right as the car was about to hit her, someone grabbed her arm and slung her out of the road. She looked up and saw ' _The Man_ ' standing beside her, holding on to her arm.

"Are you alright?"

She tried to answer him, but could only manage to nod her head.

"You must be more careful, Little One," he said. "Calm down, close your eyes and take a deep breath."

When she'd done what he said, she opened her eyes and he was gone. She'd stood there on the sidewalk for several minutes in shock. She knew it had been the same man that had saved her from falling in the river, she just didn't know who he was. She knew that she wasn't going to tell anyone about him though, not even Bev. She felt like he was her secret.

She knew that whoever he was, he cared about her and didn't mean her any harm. She'd had to run the rest of the way to school so she wouldn't be late.

Then on her twelfth birthday, her Grandma Cora had given her a bicycle. She had never ridden a bicycle before, and didn't know how. Her parents had said that they were too busy to teach her, and that she was going to have to figure out how to ride it on her own. She knew that _busy_ was what they said when they didn't want to be around her. When it came to her, they were always _busy_.

She knew Bev would've taught her how to ride, but she wasn't home. Bev had started playing the flute in the school marching band and had been at a football game that night. So after dinner she had taken the new bike out to give it a try, thinking _'How hard could it be?'_ She got on the bike and started peddling. She made it a sum total of one block down the street before she found out _'how hard it could be'._

She was going too fast, and squeezed the hand brake too hard, causing the bike to flip over and slam her hard on her back onto the concrete sidewalk. The impact had knocked the wind out of her, and she had not yet gotten her breath back when 'The Man' had lifted the bicycle off of her.

"Little One!" he said in a panicked voice.

She still couldn't take a breath, and she felt as if she was going to die. He ran his hands up her legs, over her ribs, and up her neck. When he lifted her slightly off the ground to run his hands down her back, her breath came back in a giant whoosh.

"Can't breathe", she gasped, waving her hands above her chest.

"Look at me." he said. She forced her eyes up to his. "Do what I do."

Taking her hand and placing it on his chest, he started taking slow deep breaths. She copied him, taking deep breaths and holding them for a few seconds before releasing them. She could feel his cool skin through his shirt, which she later thought was strange since it was the middle of July and had been at least 100 degrees outside.

"Better?" he asked when she was breathing more normally.

"Yeah," she said, looking at his face. "You missed me this time."

"I noticed that," he said with a deep laugh, and helped her to her feet. "I was unaware that this was going to happen. How do you feel?"

"Fine, I guess. My bike isn't so good, though," she said pointing at her bent front wheel. "I'm going to get whipped for that, for sure."

"Your parents shouldn't hit you."

She'd felt too comfortable with him and had said more than she had meant to say.

"It's okay." she said quickly. "It's not a big deal."

"It is to me," he said quietly. He turned her bike right side up and handed it back to her. "Take your bike home and don't tell your parents about it until tomorrow. You have suffered enough pain for one day."

"Okay. Thank you for helping me," she said.

"You are most welcome," he said, smiling at her.

He'd had an accent like ones she had heard before on television, and she'd really liked it. She had only walked a couple of steps towards her house before turning back to ask him his name, but he was already gone. She took her bike home and hid it in the shed.

When she'd gotten up the next morning, she had found her bike in the backyard. It had a brand new wheel on the front. She would not see 'The Man' again until her high school graduation.

***

Looking at him in the audience now, she knew that something was wrong. Looking back to when 'The Man' had saved her from falling into the river, she would have guessed him to be about 27 years old, and she had been seven. When he had saved her from being ran over, she'd been ten and still too young to notice his age. It wasn't until she was twelve years old and had crashed her bike, that she had noticed how nice looking he was.

He had been roughly 6'5" with muscles perfectly proportioned for his body frame. He had light red hair that he wore in a ponytail down the back of his neck and green eyes so light that they were almost yellow. She had noticed how old he looked then, but hadn't really thought much about it. Now it was ten years since the first time she had seen him and he hadn't aged a single day. No, that couldn't be possible. She looked at him again now.

He had almond shaped eyes, perfect cheek bones, and very pale skin. He was a beautiful man. And he was a man who had obviously not yet reached thirty years of age. If she was right about his age, then he should be around forty years old, and he definitely was not.

She looked away from him and tried to think of something else. She thought about graduating today. She was graduating at the top of her class, and had had no problem getting accepted to the college of her choice. Her parents were to 'busy' to come to her graduation, but Bev was there, and she was more stoked about Beck graduating than Beck was herself.

In four short months, she would be heading to Duke University to study Parapsychology. She had always been curious to find out why she was like she was. She was hoping that at Duke, she would finally find some answers. She wasn't expecting to have all of her questions answered, but at least some. Like why she was seeing a ghost right now.

She had seen this ghost her whole life. Every few months he would appear, hang around for a bit, and then vanish again. He was average height with short dark hair, blue eyes, a muscled body, and a mischievous smile. He nearly always had a smile.

He was standing in the back of the audience now, waving at her. She wiggled her fingers at him, acknowledging that she saw him, and he smiled again. He was not the only ghost she had ever seen, but he was the only one she had seen on a regular basis. She had never minded seeing ghosts. They had never scared her like they did most people.

She'd never seen a ghost covered in blood, or burned. Her theory for that was that she saw ghosts the way that they remembered themselves. If they _did_ remember themselves bloody, burned, or sick, they didn't project themselves that way to her. To her, they looked like anyone else.

She had also never had a ghost speak to her, and she had never tried to speak to them. She liked it that way. She had been made fun of enough without walking around talking to invisible people.

She looked through the audience until she found Bev. It had been Bev that had forced her to come to graduation. Bev is three years older than her, and a pre-law student at Austin Peay State University. Since Austin Peay was in Clarksville where they lived, so it wasn't hard for Bev to be at the graduation today.

She'd always thought Bev was beautiful. She was only 5'5" compared to Beck's 5'8". She had a perfect body and gorgeous hair. She had the same shade of red hair as Beck, but she could do so much more with it. She had pleaded with Bev not to make her go to graduation, but Bev would hear none of it.

"It's the only high school graduation you're going to get, and you are going. Now get dressed," Bev said.

Once she was dressed, she could no longer put off leaving. She trudged out of the house behind Bev feeling as if she was heading to the gallows. Bev had held her hand for the whole drive to the school trying to reassure her that there was nothing to worry about.

"It's going to be easy. One quick walk, take the diploma, throw the cap, and you're out of there," Bev had said.

That was easy for her to say. Bev had always been popular in high school, while Beck still didn't have a single friend. That was partially her own fault. As she had gotten older, she had never gone out of her way to make friends. Being around people made her nervous, and she didn't like to be touched.

She didn't mind being able to read peoples moods and emotions, but when someone touched her there was a transfer, and for a few seconds she actually felt the way they felt, and she didn't care for that at all. She didn't mind Bev touching her but that was about it. Except for ' _The Man_ ', of course, she had never minded him touching her, either.

She looked at him again and found him staring at her. The look he was giving her made her skin tingle; in some places more than others.

Who was this man to make her feel this way? What was he doing there anyway? Did he know someone here that was graduating? She looked around at the other students to see if she could guess which one he knew.

She jumped a little when she saw Alex Whitman sitting six seats down from her. She had only had sex once in her life. It had been with Alex Whitman, and it had been against her will.

***

She'd been sixteen years old, and Alex was supposed to have been her first date. She hadn't really known him, and was shocked when he had walked up to her in the hallway at school.

"Hey, you're Rebecca Stockdale, right?" he'd asked.

"Um, yeah, that's me," she said.

"Hi, I'm Alex."

"Yeah, I know who you are," she'd said shyly.

Everyone knew who Alex Whitman was. He'd been the star of the school wrestling team, and one of the most popular boys in school.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me Friday night?" he'd asked. "Maybe see a movie or something?"

"Really?" she asked in shock. She had never been asked out on a date before.

"Yeah, really," he had said, smiling at her.

"Um, yeah sure. I'd love to go."

"Great!" he said. Don't you live in the big white house on Cumber St.?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, surprised that he had known where she lived.

"Good. So I'll pick you up at eight o'clock on Friday then?"

"Okay," she'd said, and still in shock, watched him as he walked away down the hall.

After school, she had driven straight to Bev's dorm and banged on her door.

"I have a date with Alex Whitman!" she'd shouted when Bev had opened the door. Bev screamed and started jumping up and down.

"With who?" Bev asked excitedly.

"Alex Whitman."

"Isn't that the wrestler? The cute one with the blonde hair?"

"Yeah, that's him. We have a date Friday night."

"I didn't even know you knew him."

"I don't. He just came up to me today and asked me out."

"Where is he taking you?"

"To a movie, I think."

"Your first date!" Bev had squealed. "We have to celebrate! Let's go shopping!"

In Bev's opinion, everything should be celebrated by shopping and she'd bought her a new skirt outfit for her date.

She almost hadn't expected Alex to show up. She'd never been on a date before and didn't know how she was supposed to act. Was she supposed to hold his hand? Let him kiss her goodnight if he wanted to? She was waiting nervously on the porch when he pulled up.

He took her to see _The Mummy_ , and had tried to hold her hand during the movie, but she kept pulling away from him. She could feel that he was attracted to her. She could also feel that he was tense and jumpy, but there was another emotion that she couldn't identify. She hadn't liked it, and when the movie was over, she'd just wanted to go home.

"That was a good movie," he said when they were back in his car.

"Yeah, it was. Thank you for taking me," she had said politely.

"There is somewhere else I want to take you," he said pulling out of the parking lot.

"I really rather you just take me home. I'm not feeling very well."

It wasn't a lie. The emotions that she was feeling from him were making her nauseous.

"Later", he had said, not taking his eyes off the road as he turned onto a two lane road that led into the country.

"Take me home."

"Not yet."

She could feel the fear starting to crawl in her stomach. He had driven for ten minutes before pulling into the dark parking lot of an old abandoned building. She had known something was horribly wrong and reached for the door handle to get out of the car.

"Don't," he had said grabbing her arm.

"Please, just let me out," she begged.

"Come on. You knew we were going to do this," he said pulling her towards him.

"No. I don't want to do this. Let me go!" she'd yelled and slapped him. She felt rage and hatred fill him, and he punched her in the face.

"What did you think I took you out for, you stupid bitch?!" he snarled and punched her in the face again.

"No, please! Don't!" she had cried, trying to push him away from her.

"Stop fighting."

When she kept pushing him, he had punched her three times in the ribs. She couldn't breathe well enough to fight him much after that. He had reached over her and pulled the lever that laid the seat back. When he climbed on top of her, she had tried weakly to push him away again.

"I said _stop it_!" he had snapped at her and brought his fist down on her collar bone.

It had felt like she had been hit by a hammer, and she stopped moving. He had ripped her shirt open and undid the clasp on the front of her bra. She had lain as still as she could as he groped her breast.

"Nice, let's see the rest," he had said pulling her skirt up.

He tore her panties from her body and stuck his fingers inside her. She could feel a sick excitement running through him. He had slid his pants down and was rubbing himself on her leg as his fingers dug deeper insider.

"Ready?" he had grunted.

"No, please," she'd begged him again with what little breath she could pull into her lungs.

He had ignored her pleas and, as he thrust roughly into her body, she had felt her flesh rip. He thrust harder and harder, and an agonizing pain stabbed through her as something inside her cracked. She wanted to scream but couldn't draw enough breath. She had lain under him gagging on the blood that was running down her throat. He had reached up and wrapped his hand around her throat.

"Tell me how much you like it," he had groaned.

She couldn't talk through the pain and was terrified that he was going to kill her. She could hear him panting and feel his hot breath on her face. Some unknown time later, she felt him shudder. He rolled back over into the driver's seat and pulled up his pants.

"That was as good as I thought it would be," he had said.

All she could do was lay there and cry, completely helpless and ashamed.

"If you tell anyone what happened tonight, I'll kill you. I don't want anyone to know that I fucked a freak like you, now get the hell out of my car."

When she hadn't moved, he had reached across her and opened the door.

"Remember what I said, bitch," he had said and pushed her out of the car. He had thrown her panties out after her and drove away.

She didn't know how long she had lain there in the dark before she was able to make herself get up. She had had to stumble three miles to get to the closest pay phone to call Bev's dorm room.

When Bev had answered, she had barely been able to tell her where she was. Fifteen minutes later, Bev had slid her car to a stop in the parking lot of the gas station that Beck had called her from.

"Oh my, God! What happened to you, Beck?!" Bev had screamed when she had seen her.

"Alex. He, he..." she had tried to say but couldn't finish. She could feel blood running down her face and her thighs, and she couldn't stop shaking.

"Let's get you to the hospital. You can tell me what happened on the way."

On the way to the hospital, she had gasped out in little breaths what Alex had done.

" _SON OF A BITCH_!" Bev yelled, speeding into the emergency room parking lot. "We'll call the police when we get inside."

"No! I don't want to call the police," she'd panted in pain.

"My ass we're not calling the police. Look at what he did to you!" Bev yelled, pointing at Beck's reflection in a hospital window. She'd seen that she was covered in blood, bruises, and dirt. "You have a choice. We can call the police on _him_ for what he has done to you, or you can let his family call the police on _me_ when I kill him!" Bev had said, walking her through the emergency room doors. "We need help over here!" Bev screamed and a nurse had come running to them.

"What happened?" the nurse asked.

Bev had looked at her, and Beck nodded her head.

"Call the police," Bev had said. "We need to report a rape."

The doctors had taken swabs of the fluids in her and x-rayed her whole body. She'd had a broken nose, a fractured cheek bone, two cracked ribs, a broken collar bone, several tears in her vaginal wall, a bruised cervix, and a fractured pelvic bone. They had given her I.V. pain killers, and she'd been talking to Det. Eaton when her parents came in.

"What is going on," her mother snapped when they came in the room.

"Alex Whitman raped Beck," Bev said, and explained what had happened.

"Thank you for coming Detective, but we won't be pressing any charges," her father said.

Det. Eaton had looked up from the notebook he had been writing in. "Excuse me?"

"There has been a misunderstanding," her mother said.

"A misunderstanding?" Beck asked.

"If you didn't want to have sex with him, then you shouldn't have gone out with him," her father said. "You're not going to put that poor boy in jail because you changed your mind later."

Det. Eaton had looked at her parents like they were bugs.

"Changed her mind? What is wrong with you? That 'poor boy' broke six of her bones!" Bev yelled.

"It's her own fault, and we won't have her humiliating us by taking this to court," her mother said.

"It is not up you, Ma'am. Your daughter is the one who was _clearly_ attacked. It is up to her whether or not she wants to file charges," Det. Eaton had said coldly, and then turned back to Beck. "Do you want to press charges?"

"I do," she'd said, and he had nodded at her.

"You're telling me that, because she lies about being raped, that we have to go to court?" her mother asked.

It was more than Bev could take, and she reached out and slapped the hell out of their mother.

"I want her arrested," her mother demanded.

"For what?" Det. Eaton asked calmly.

"For assault!" her mother yelled.

"I didn't see an assault," Det. Eaton said.

Her mother's mouth had fallen open in shock.

"What I do see," Det. Eaton continued, "is you harassing a victim of a violent crime. If you don't leave now, then I'm going to have to arrest you for interfering with an investigation. If I hear that you in any way badger this young woman after she leaves this hospital, then I will personally arrest you for obstruction of justice and tampering with a witness. Do you understand me?"

"But she is our daughter," her father said.

"Not tonight. Now get the hell out of here," Det. Eaton said, and her parents had stormed out of the room.

"Thank you," Bev said.

"My pleasure. I'm going to go file the charges and get a warrant for Whitman's arrest. I'll have him picked up within the hour. You're doing the right thing here, and don't let those people tell you any differently. Now try to get some rest."

***

"One year of probation?! You have got to be _shitting_ me?!" Bev had screamed into the phone two months later. "Yes, I understand. I understand that I should have killed him myself instead of relying on you for any kind of justice!" Bev screamed and slammed the phone down.

"Bad news?" she had asked. She had just walked in the house and only caught the end of the conversation. They had been waiting for the judge to hand down a decision on the case, and it hadn't sounded as if things had gone well.

"We should have went with a jury trial."

They had foregone a jury trial and opted instead to have the case heard by a judge in a closed court. She had still had to take the stand and recount the events of the night of the rape just not in front of a whole courtroom full of strangers.

Only the people that had been involved in the case had been allowed in the courtroom. The D.A. had allowed Bev to stay in the courtroom as morale support for Beck.

"Why? What happened?"

"The D.A. accepted a plea agreement from the defense. Alex has pleaded guilty to Assault in the First Degree in return for the rape charge being dropped. He was given a two year suspended sentence and one year of probation. They dropped the restraining order. He can go back to school now, Beck."

She sank slowly into a kitchen chair. "He won't spend any time in jail at all?"

"None," Bev growled. "Not one Goddamned day."

"So, we did it all for nothing. Calling the police, going to court, it was all for nothing?"

"I could tell you a bunch of bullshit about how you standing up for yourself will help some unknown girl in some unknown future stand up for herself, too. But that's all it would be; bullshit. Yes, we did it for nothing. I'll be back in a few minutes," Bev had said, and snagged her keys off of the wall before heading for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Alex should be leaving the courthouse in a minute. I'm going to run over him."

"Bev, no, don't do it!" she yelled.

"Why not? He deserves to be punished, and the court is obviously incapable of doing it. He's getting away with it, damn it!"

"I know he is, but you being in prison isn't going to help me."

"I'd be out in no time. He got a year of probation for beating, raping, and throwing you out of a car. That means I should get about three years for murder. I'd be out on parole in fifteen months."

She had to smile at how Bev's pre-law brain had worked.

"We don't have that kind of luck. If you killed Alex, they would probably give you a lethal injection, electrocute you, and then hang you just to make sure you're dead. Please, just let it go, Bev. For me?"

"Fine," Bev had said after a few seconds and tossed her keys onto the table. "What are we going to do about your school? He could be back at school as early as tomorrow. We could get you transferred to another school."

"No, I'm not going to do that just because he's there. I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not going to let him chase me away. I don't have any classes with him anyway, so I won't have to see him that much. I'll just have to deal with it."

"Okay, but I'm taking you to school every morning and picking you up every afternoon. If I see him say so much as a single word to you, I swear before God, I'm running him down."

But she had had nothing to worry about. Alex Whitman never spoke to her again. She'd walked past him a few times in the halls, and when she had been unlucky enough to catch his eye, he would flash an evil smile at her, but no more than that. When that happened, she had just looked in the other direction and kept walking.

***

She hadn't realized that she had been staring at Alex until he looked over at her and gave her that evil smirk. She knew what that smirk meant. It was his way of telling her that he had gotten away with it.

God, she fucking hated him! She snapped her head back around to the front and found herself looking directly at 'The Man' again, and he looked... _angry_? He looked slowly from her to Alex and back to her again. She had no idea what he looked so mad about, but she knew it was somehow about her.

She tore her gaze from his and found Bev's face in the crowd. Bev was glaring at Alex with murder in her eyes. Bev had never gotten over what Alex had done, and how the law had failed them. Bev had wanted to drop out of law school after Alex's plea agreement, but Beck wouldn't let her do it. She knew that Bev had always wanted to be a lawyer, and Beck hadn't wanted what had happened to take that away from her. Alex had taken enough away from them.

Bev had stayed at Austin Peay in pre-law, but had lost all of the zeal she had once had for it. Beck glanced back at 'The Man' and saw that he too, was glaring at Alex with hatred in his eyes. All she wanted to do was get out of there. When her name was called, she took her diploma, and threw her cap with the rest of her graduating class. When looked back out into the crowd. 'The Man' was gone.

### Chapter Two

The wait to go to college was the longest four months of her life. She was just weeks away from getting out of her parents house forever, and time seemed to be dragging by. Both she and Bev were upset that they would be so far apart from each other. She would be in North Carolina at Duke while Bev remained in Clarksville at Austin Peay. They consoled each other with the fact that they would talk to each other every day on the phone. That, and North Carolina was only a few hours' drive, so that they could visit each other whenever they wanted made it bearable.

"I'll come and stay with you at your new apartment every holiday and summer break," she promised Bev.

"And I'll come and take you to Florida for your first Spring Break," Bev said.

They'd spent most of the time they had left together buying the things she was going to need for college. They'd bought books, pencils, pens, paper, folders, and binders. She'd also bought a lot of decorations for her dorm room, and Bev insisted on buying her new clothes.

"I don't need new clothes. The ones I have are fine."

"The ones you have are old. You haven't bought any new clothes for a year."

"Not buying new clothes for a year is not a criminal offense, Bev," she said with a smile.

"It should be! People need to change their style occasionally, even if they buy their clothes at thrift stores. People should have something different every now and then. It makes you feel better."

"I don't need to feel better. I feel fine now. My clothes are in good condition, and they still fit. I don't need new ones."

"Thank God it's not up to you, and you do need new clothes, because you don't have any. I knew you were going to give me shit about this so I burned all of your old clothes after you went to bed last night."

"You didn't!" she yelled.

"Oh, yes I did. Backyard, starter fluid, match, poof, gone!" Bev said gleefully.

She threw the back door open and saw a black lump that used to be her clothes, melted in the middle of the yard.

"How could you?" she gasped.

"It wasn't that hard." Bev said dryly. "I've known how to strike a match for quite some time."

"That was an evil thing to do."

"It was, wasn't it?" Bev said, not sounding one bit ashamed of herself. "So now you don't have a choice. Let's go get your new wardrobe."

Bev picked out nearly everything that they bought. Most of it wasn't what Beck would have picked out for herself, but she had found that once Bev got into her shopping groove, it was easier to just let her have her way.

"You needed new clothes anyway. How were you going to find a nice, eligible, college guy wearing those old rags you had?"

"We've been over this, Bev. There is not going to be ' _a nice college guy'_ for me. I'm just not interested in dating."

They had had this conversation many times before, and she wished that Bev would just let it go, but knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Come on, Beck, I know what happened to you was horrible, but you can't spend your life alone because of it. If you don't let it go, you're going to turn into a hermit."

"I'm not going to turn into a hermit, and I really don't mind being alone."

"That's not the point. You can't let Alex _fucking_ Whitman take anymore of your life away from you than he already has."

"He's not. Look, I don't think about what happened much anymore, but it did happen, and I can't just act like it didn't. It changed me, and there's nothing I can do about that."

"I know you'll get passed this, you are the strongest person I've ever known," Bev said quietly.

"I am a strong person. Strong enough that I don't need a man in my life to make me happy. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I know you will. And I know that you'll find the right man someday."

"Maybe," she said, but she only said it to make Bev happy.

She knew there was no ' _right man_ ' for her, and she was fine with that. Life had changed, and she had adjusted. She didn't want a man. She had no more childish dreams of a Knight in Shining Armor sweeping her off her feet. There were things to fill her life with other than a man. She was comfortable with that; she just wished that Bev could be, too.

***

It was the night before she was supposed to leave, and her nerves were shot. Her parents had waited for Bev to leave and started in on her about college.

"Can't you study art or business? Can't you at least try to act normal?" her mother, Lisa, asked.

"No, I can't. I'm not normal. You have told me my whole life how _abnormal_ I am. I've accepted it, you should too."

"Do you have to humiliate us with everything you do?" her father snapped.

"Yeah, I do. Apparently, it's my job. Everything about me embarrasses you."

"I don't see how it's any of your business where I go to college or what I study. It's not as if _you're_ paying for it."

"If it wasn't for my mother, you wouldn't be going to college at all," her mother shouted.

"If it wasn't for Grandma Cora, you would have sent me to boarding school when I was seven. The only reason you didn't was because she would have cut you off and you may actually have had to work for a living!" she screamed at her mother.

"Don't you take that tone with us!" her father yelled and slapped her across her face.

"Don't you ever touch me again!" she yelled as she stormed into the kitchen and threw open the door to the breaker box.

"Don't you dare!" her father shouted.

"Fuck you! Fuck both of you!" she screamed and touched the breaker switches. Everything that was on in the house fried out, and the power shut down.

"God damn it!" her father yelled.

She ran quickly out of the house, jumped in her car, and drove away. She hated them! She wished she had already packed her things into the car so she could leave tonight! She drove around until 1:00 in the morning before finally driving back home. When she pulled into the driveway she saw that all of her things were piled on the front porch.

They had put her out of the house. She was so mad that she decided to go for a walk before putting her things in the car. If she didn't walk off some of this anger, she was going to end up throwing her own stuff! She was three blocks away from the house when she heard growling. She looked out into the street and saw a huge German Sheppard stalking towards her. Her first thought was to run, but she knew if she ran that the dog would chase her down.

She backed slowly away from the approaching dog until she bumped into the fence behind her. She looked back and saw that the fence was eight feet tall. She wouldn't have a chance of getting over it before the dog jumped on her.

"Damn it!" she screamed when the dog lunged at her.

She threw up her arms to guard her face, and then caught a blur of movement from the corner of her eye. he looked through her arms and saw a pair of hands catch the dog's head in midair and crush it. No, that couldn't be possible. Could it? When she lowered her arms, she found 'The Man' standing in front of her.

"Good evening," he said.

It was too much, and for the first time in her life, she passed out.

***

She woke up on the porch swing just as the sun was rising. She convinced herself that 'The Man' and the dog had only been a dream. Things like that just didn't happen.

Her parents must be anxious to have her gone, because they had already gotten up and packed her things into her car. She didn't hear them, but that wasn't surprising, she had always been a heavy sleeper. She was just grateful that she wouldn't have to see them again before she left. She got into the car, took one last look at the house, and backed out of the driveway.

She screeched to a stop three blocks down when she saw the dead dog on the sidewalk. It _had_ happened! 'The Man' had killed the dog, carried her home, and put her on the swing. She remembered the new tire that had been on her bike after she had crashed, and wondered again who'd really packed her things into the car. She'd assumed that her parents had done it, but it really didn't sound like something that they would do.

She looked in the back seat and saw that everything had been put in neatly. Surely if her parents had done it, they would have just stuffed it all in. She got out of the car and popped the trunk open. All of her things that didn't fit in the back seat were stacked neatly in the trunk.

They were even tied down by straps that she didn't own, so that the stuff wouldn't fall over. Now she _knew_ her parents didn't pack the car. What the hell? She knew 'The Man' had done this, but why? She closed the trunk, got back in the car, and headed to the interstate.

It was possible that he lived somewhere on her street, and she just hadn't known it. It didn't matter now, though. She was leaving her street behind her, and since she was never going back, it was a good bet that she would never see him again.

The idea saddened her a little as she got on the interstate and headed out of Clarksville.

She pulled into her dorm parking lot before 4:00 that afternoon. She got out, opened the back door, and reached into the backseat to pull out her tub of clothes. It was gone! But it couldn't be gone. She'd seen it in her rearview mirror just a little while ago. She looked around and saw 'The Man' standing on the other side of the car, holding the tub of clothes.

"What the hell? What are you doing here?!" she yelled.

"Shh, stop yelling, Beck. People are looking."

She glanced around and saw a couple of people looking in their direction. They were only a few people around. She had gotten here late on purpose. She didn't want to be trying to move in when everyone else was. She didn't really care for crowds.

"What are you doing here?" she asked a little more quietly.

"You're here. Now where are we taking this?"

"I'm not telling you my dorm room number. I don't even know your name."

"My name is Richard, and your room number is 205. I was only being polite by asking," he said, and smiled.

"How did you know that?"

"I heard you giving Bev your address."

"We were in the kitchen when I did that. Where were you, outside the window?" she asked angrily.

"Actually, I was across the street. Can I take this to your room now?"

"Why the hell not, you will anyway," she said and walked off.

"That's the wrong way, Little One," he said laughing.

She turned and stalked in the other direction. When she found room 205, she slipped the key in and unlocked the door. Richard was already waiting inside the room.

"How did you get here so fast? How did you get in here at all?"

"I'm very fast."

"You're very fast? That's your explanation for everything. Just you're very fast."

"No, that's my explanation for how I got in here before you did. I'll explain everything else when I get the rest of your things," he said, and walked out the door.

She sat on the edge of the bed and waited. If he wanted to lug all of her stuff in here, let him. When he finished, she wanted some answers. It took him fifteen minutes to carry in everything that would have taken anyone else forty-five minutes to do. When he brought in the last load, he kicked the door closed behind him.

"The room is bigger than I thought it would be," he said, sitting the last of the boxes on the floor.

"Why are you thinking about my dorm room at all?"

"I think about everything that has anything to do with you, Beck."

"Why? You don't even really know me."

"I know you _very_ well, and I've known you for a very long time."

He reached out for her hand and she jumped off the bed.

"You're not a stalker are you?" she asked quickly, backing away from him.

She didn't feel as if he was dangerous, but she had been catastrophically wrong before.

"No, I'm not a stalker, Beck. I would never hurt you. I know you can feel that."

"You seem to know a lot about me, and I want to know why."

"I can explain some things, but not until we feed you."

"What, you even know when I'm hungry?"

"I can hear your stomach growling, Little One. Let's go get you some food. When we get back, I have some questions for you, as well. And I want the truth," he said the last part almost as a demand.

"I thought you knew everything about me," she said crossly.

"So did I, but it appears that part of your story has been left out. I intend to find out what it is," he said as he led her out of the dorm.

They ended up at Burger King. He ordered food for her, but nothing for himself. He didn't say much, he just sat across from her and stared at her while she ate.

"Are you sure you're not dangerous?" she asked, taking a drink of her Coke.

"Not to you, Little One, never to you. You are the only reason that I have struggled to keep existing," he said softly.

"Well, of course I am, because that makes _total_ sense," she said sourly.

"It will make sense later, I promise."

She should be freaked out by the way he talked about her, but she wasn't. She knew she should be running away from him right now, but she didn't want to. She wanted to know who he really was and why he had helped her so many times. She was ready to go, but he wouldn't let them leave until she had finished all her food. When she was finished, they walked back to the dorm in silence.

"Okay, now are you going to answer my questions?" she said.

"I'll answer yours if you promise to answer mine."

"Deal."

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Most of the time, when I was in real danger, you were there to help me. How?"

" _Most_ of the time?" he asked, his eyebrows raising in curiosity.

"Just answer the question. How did you know when I was going to be in danger? Are you psychic?"

"Hardly. I only knew where to be because you told me."

"That's not true," she said in disbelief.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it is true."

"I don't know you. I didn't tell you anything," she said.

"You're right, you didn't, but you will."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not ready to answer that yet. What's your next question?"

She wanted him to explain, but let it go...for now.

"How did you crush that dogs head last night?"

"I'm very strong."

"Look, you're going to have to do better than that. I want the whole truth. You're not lying, but you are being intentionally evasive."

"I know I am," he admitted. "I just don't want to scare you away."

"I don't scare very easily. I want to know how you're so strong, how you're so fast, how you haven't aged a day in at least ten years, and I want to know _right now_ ," she demanded.

He was quiet for a long time before he finally spoke. "I'm a vampyre, Beck."

"Excuse me?" she asked. "What did you just say?"

There was no way he'd just said what she thought he'd said.

"I'm a vampyre."

Yeah, that was _exactly_ what she thought he'd said.

"Really? You're a vampyre? That's what you're going with?" she asked angrily.

"Believe me, it wouldn't have been my first choice either, but it is true."

"Vampyres don't really exist."

He took her head gently and laid it on his chest. "What do you hear?"

She heard nothing. No heartbeat, no stirring of breath in his lungs, nothing.

"This is some kind of trick, right?"

"No, Little One. It's no trick."

"I'm going to need more proof than that."

He moved across the room so fast that if she had blinked she might have missed it. He picked up a thick silver vase out of one of her boxes and crushed it one hand like it was made of clay.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked.

"Yes. I believe you."

***

He was a vampyre. As impossible as it seemed, it was true. She let it run through her mind for a moment, and then busted out laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked in confusion.

"Last night you said 'Good Evening', like in the old vampyre movies," she said, still laughing.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself," he said with a grin.

"Wait," he said, the grin falling from his face. "You're not scared?"

"No, I'm not scared of you. If it was your intent to eat me, you would have done it by now. Why haven't you eaten me? Do I smell bad or something?" she asked, sniffing her armpits.

"You sound offended that I haven't munched on you," he said laughing. "No, Beck you don't smell bad. Actually you smell like Fruit Loops, but no vampyre would ever bite you."

"Why not?"

"Whatever gives you the abilities that you have; seeing ghosts, and your 'electrical problem', it runs in your blood. It's a poison to us. If a vampyre drank your blood, it would kill them."

"Wow!" was all she could think of to say. She didn't know how to react to being told she was toxic, so she changed the subject.

"At my graduation, I felt a pull to you that I never felt when I was a kid. Was that the some sort of vampyre trick?"

"No, that would be puberty," he said, laughing again.

"What?" she asked.

"Puberty. You didn't feel that pull when you were a child, because you had yet to go through puberty. You felt it at graduation, because...well, you had become a woman," he explained.

"No, that can't be right. If it was only puberty, why was I only drawn to you? Why not one of the boys at school?"

"Because we're mates, lovers, and your body knew that somehow," he said.

She stared at him in shock. He had to be insane, because there was no way that that was true.

"You're lying. I would never have a lover."

"You're only eighteen years old, Beck. What makes you think that you would never take a lover?"

"I have my reasons," she said guardedly.

"Don't you ever plan to get married?" he asked with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"No, I don't, so I know you're lying."

"I'm not lying. We are lovers, and you know I'm telling the truth," he said gently.

If he was lying, she couldn't feel it, but didn't understand how it could be the truth. Even if she could except that she would ever have a lover, the fact that she had never had sex with him still remained.

"It just can't be true."

"It can't be true, yet it is. Why would I tell you that I'm a vampyre and lie about being your lover?" he asked. "Now it's my turn to ask you a question."

"What could you possibly want to ask me that you don't already know?" she asked.

"The boy that you were looking at, at your graduation?"

"What boy?" she asked confused. There had been a lot of people at her graduation.

"The name on his car registration was Alex Whitman."

She flinched as if he had slapped her.

"Who is he?" he asked again.

"Why are you asking me? You seem to already know who he is."

"Allow me to rephrase the question. Who is he to _you_?"

"I'm not comfortable talking about this with you."

"Please, Little One. I need to know."

"I have a hard time talking about it."

"Can you think about it?"

"Sometimes I can't _stop_ thinking about it," she admitted.

"I can see other people's memories. If you will allow me to take your hand, then I can see who he is for myself."

"You can see people's memories?" she asked in surprise.

"Only if the person allows me, but yes I can."

She thought about that for a moment. She wasn't totally sure that she wanted to share this with him, but he'd shared who he was with her. And it wasn't like what Alex had done to her was a big secret. She hesitated a moment longer, and then held her hand out to him.

"Thank you," he said, taking her hand. His hand was cool around hers.

"What do I do now?"

"All you need to do is think about the memory that you want to give me. As you remember it, I'll see it," he explained.

"Okay," she said and watched him close his eyes.

She closed her eyes as well and skimmed as lightly as she could over the memory of that night with Alex. She finished the memory and snapped her eyes open when she felt his rage. She didn't know that rage this pure could even exist.

"He raped you! He beat you, broke you, and left you to walk miles in pain!" he roared. "He dared to take a woman's virginity against her will! He dared to touch _my woman_!"

"Shh! Calm down," she said. She didn't need everyone in the dorm to know what had happened to her.

"I will _not_ calm down," he said.

"It's in the past. It's over."

"No, it's not. I have to get out of here. I need to...I'm going to...I have to get out of here. I'll be back in a few hours," he said and walked out of the room.

She didn't know where he was going, or if he would really come back. She may have scared him away with that memory. She started unpacking her boxes for lack of anything better to do. When everything was put away, he still wasn't back. She took a shower, put on her pajamas, and popped a movie into her DVD player. When the movie was over, he still had not returned. She flipped off the light and went to bed, pretending to herself that she didn't care.

***

He was running through the darkness back to Clarksville. He had a car but running was faster. He 'd had his brother, Leso, pace him in a car once. The cars speedometer had pegged out at 120 mph, and he had left it behind. The faster he ran, the angrier he became. He kept seeing that boy smile at Beck at the graduation ceremony.

He had been laughing at her! He had believed that he had gotten away with what he had done to her. _He had been wrong_! A fresh wave of rage washed over him every time he thought of that boy touching Beck. Justice had missed Alex Whitman the first time around, but it was coming at him now, and this justice was not blind.

He reached Clarksville before midnight. There was nothing he could do to change what had happened to Beck, but he would do the one thing that the courts had refused to do. He would make her righteous. He would give her the justice that the courts had failed to deliver.

He had known that Beck wasn't a virgin the first time they had made love, but she had never told him about this. He wondered why she hadn't told him, but knew he would never know. He knew where the Whitman boy lived, he had been here before. He had followed his scent there after the graduation to find out who he was. He could have waited to hear his name at the ceremony, but he had chosen to leave after Beck had taken her diploma. He had been angry that Beck had been staring at Alex, and that Alex had smiled at her.

He had thought that maybe Whitman had been her boyfriend, and the reason she had not been a virgin when she came to him. He'd left the ceremony, afraid that if he stayed that he would've jumped on the stage and torn that boy apart in front of an auditorium full of people.

He'd been right about Whitman taking Beck's virginity, but not in the way he'd thought. She'd been sitting on that stage with her rapist and he had not known it. If he'd known, he would have killed that boy. If he'd known, the attack would have never happened.

He stood in front of Whitman's house deciding what to do next. He could hear only one person moving inside the house. He decided to take a straight forward approach and knock on the door. As luck would have it, Alex Whitman himself opened the door.

"Follow me," he commanded, staring into the boy's eyes. The boy followed him with no questions, as he had known he would. When they were in the yard, he released Alex from his gaze. He watched as Alex looked around in confusion.

"You raped Rebecca Stockdale."

He didn't want this boy to have any doubts as to why he was there.

"I didn't rape anybody. Those charges were dropped," Alex said smugly.

"Not by me. You raped her and beat her."

"So what if I did? What's it to you?"

"It is everything to me," he growled.

"The bitch loved it. You should try her sometime," Alex said with the same smile he had given Beck at the graduation.

"You made one mistake," he said.

He watched in amazement as Alex swelled his chest and squared his shoulders. This boy, _this child,_ actually thought that there was going to be a fight! He saw Alex through a haze of red as his eyes filled with blood.

"And what was my mistake?" Alex asked, still unaware of the danger he was in.

"Your mistake was touching _my_ woman," he hissed.

He grabbed Alex and crushed him until his ribs cracked and his back snapped, then flung him to the ground and walked away, not caring if the boy lived or died. Either way, the boy would never rape another woman.

He started running when he hit the street, and headed back to Beck. He slowed down when he realized that he needed to cool down before he explained to her what he had done.

He couldn't allow an offense like this to go unpunished, but be couldn't explain why without telling her how and when they really met. He'd had 113 years to think of a way to tell her and had come up with nothing. There was just no way of telling her that they had met, had fallen in love, and become lovers in the past without sounding completely insane.

He would just have to tell her and get it over with. She was going to be mad, though. He ran faster and braced himself to get yelled at. ..again.

***

He opened the door silently at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. He'd hoped that she would still be sleeping. She wasn't. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her cell phone to her ear.

"Yeah, thanks for calling and letting me know," she said. "I'm glad you're so happy. I have to go. I still have a lot to do," she said and paused, "I love you too, Bev. Bye."

Damn it! He'd completely forgotten about Bev still being in Clarksville. He'd hoped that he would be the first to tell Bec what had happened.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked calmly.

"What do you mean?" he asked, stalling for time.

"Don't you play dumb with me. Det. Eaton was at Bev's apartment this morning at 4:00 a.m. to tell her the good news. It seems that Alex Whitman was found in his yard around 1:00 a.m. He has seven broken ribs and a severed spinal cord. He's never going to walk again."

"Damn. He lived?"

"Yeah, he lived. The doctors say that he almost appears to have been squeezed. Are you really going to tell me that you had nothing to do with this?"

"Would you believe me if I said that I didn't do it?"

"Hell no."

"Then yes, I did it," he admitted.

"Why?" she asked.

"After what he did to you, do you really need me to explain _why_ I did what I did? Are you actually mad at me about it!?" he snapped angrily.

"Don't you yell at me! And no, I'm not mad at you. He deserved what happened to him, and not just for what he did to me. If he did it to me, then he would have done it to someone else eventually, and that woman may not have been as lucky as I was. She may not have survived. Bev is over the moon about this. Det. Eaton is taking her out for a celebratory breakfast."

"Well, I'm glad I could make your sister happy," he said. "But if you're not mad at me, then why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm not mad at you for doing what you did. I'm just confused about why you did it."

"You're very special to me."

"Why am I special to you?"

"I will explain it, I promise I will, but I have to sleep first. I'm exhausted."

"So you sleep until dark?"

"No, that's just a myth. I only sleep two hours every couple of days, but I do sleep. I even dream," he said.

"What do you dream about?"

"You, Beck. Always you," he said. "I've have dreamt about you every time I've closed my eyes for the last 113 years. I don't expect this time to be any different."

"You're going to explain that later."

"I will explain everything, I promise."

"I guess you can sleep in the bathtub, it's dark in there with the door closed."

"Why do I need to sleep in the bathtub? I thought you said you weren't mad at me."

"I'm not, but I forgot to pack a coffin, so I thought the bathtub might be suitable."

He tried to bite his laughter back, but couldn't do it.

"What is so funny?" she asked.

"I don't sleep in a coffin, Beck, or a bathtub for that matter. The bed will work just fine. Unless, of course, you _prefer_ I sleep in the tub," he said smirking.

"Oh, just shut up and go to bed."

And he did, he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

***

She stared at him as he slept on her bed. He said that he dreamed, but she could feel nothing from him. If she didn't know any better she would swear that she was looking at a corpse. She really did have things to do, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. Why did he keep saying that they knew each other? She had only seen him a few times, and most of those times she'd been a child. It wasn't like they'd ever had any meaningful conversations.

And what had he meant by '113 years'? Nothing he'd said so far has made much sense to her. He 'd said that he was a vampyre, but how could that be true? Everyone knew that true vampyres didn't _really_ exist. Sure, you had people running around claiming to be vampyres. They drank their friends' blood, and hung out in cult clubs, but they weren't true vampyres; not like him. They couldn't move as quickly as him, or crush ten pound silver vases like they were cotton balls.

She couldn't deny that she was drawn to him.

Since the rape she'd shied away from all contact with men, so why was she so comfortable with him? She wondered about him as she watched him sleep, losing track of the time. Would he be as cool to the touch as he had been when she was twelve? She wanted to reach out and touch him but was afraid that she would wake him.

She leaned over and smelled him. He smelled like fresh cut wood and spring rain. It was a very powerful and pleasant scent. he remembered his scent from when she was a child. Smelling him now brought all of her memories of him into sharp focus. It was a very comforting scent.

When she gazed back up at his face, he was looking at her. It startled the hell out of her, and she nearly flipped backwards. His hand shot out, almost quicker than she could see, and grabbed the chair before it went over. She hadn't realized she had been sitting next to him for so long.

"Do you always move that fast?" she asked.

"Usually only as a reflex. What were you doing?"

"Nothing," she said. She could feel all her blood rushing to her face.

"You don't look like you were doing nothing," he teased.

"Fine. You're going to think that I'm a freak, but I was smelling you."

"I don't think you're a freak, nor do I think it is at all strange that you were smelling me. Scent is very important to mates. I find your scent to be extremely comforting."

Her heart jumped in her chest when he said that. She'd just had the same thought about his scent.

"Have you been sitting there the whole time I was sleeping?"

"Yeah, I guess I was," she admitted, then changed the subject. "I still have a lot of questions for you."

"And I have three days to answer them," he said, sitting up on the bed.

"Why only three days?"

"Because if I stay longer than that, I won't be able to leave you, and as much as I hate it, I do have to leave you."

"Why do you have to leave?"

"I'll explain it later. Go ahead and ask your questions. I'll answer them the best that I can."

"Okay. If you're a vampyre, then how are you able to walk around in the sunlight?"

"Sunlight killing vampyres is just a myth. Not only do we not catch fire in the sunlight, we don't even get a sunburn. It does affect our vision, though. We can only see as well as humans while we're in the sun. I actually love being in the sun."

"Why?" she asked.

"Think of us like snakes. Snakes don't create their own heat, so they bask in the sun to get warm, but unlike snakes, we don't need heat to survive; we could live inside of a block of ice. Still, it's nice to feel the sun on my skin," he explained. "Next question."

"How long have you been a vampyre?" she asked.

"Since 1834."

"How did it happen? Did you do it on purpose?"

"No, I most certainly _did not_ do it on purpose," he said. "It happened in London, where I am original from. I was walking to a gathering at a friend's house when I was struck from behind. When I awoke, I was tied face down on the floor of an abandoned building. I was struggling with the bonds around my wrist when I heard a voice behind me say, ' _Now you will pay for what you have done_ '. I felt something bite my shoulder, and when I awoke again, I was a vampyre."

"Did it hurt when you changed?"

"The bite hurt like a hell, beyond any pain that you could ever imagine, but only for a few moments. It doesn't take very long for vampyre toxin to kill you, and by the time it does, you're grateful for death."

"But you're not dead, you're right here talking to me."

"Alright, I'm not dead, I am the undead. I'm not truly alive, nor am I truly dead."

"So you're an immortal?"

"No, if you were to cut off my head I would die. With the exception of your blood, it's the only known way to kill a vampyre."

"Do you know who bit you?"

"No, I never knew who bit me. Nor have I ever done anything that anyone would have wanted me to _'pay'_ for. I think it was a simple case of misidentification. Whoever did this must have thought I was someone else, but it doesn't really matter. Once you're a vampyre, there is no going back."

"I thought a stake through the heart killed a vampyre."

"Another myth. Even if a human could get close enough to a vampyre to drive a stake through their heart, which is unlikely, the wood would simply shatter on their chest. The only thing that can penetrate our skin is pure silver."

"What if the stake is made of silver?"

"If it was of silver, then yes, it could be driven into a vampyre's heart, but it still wouldn't kill them. It doesn't do any good to stab a heart that doesn't beat."

"I never thought about that," she said. "Why aren't your canine teeth pointed?"

"Because they don't need to be," he said. He picked up a quarter off the bedside table, bit it in half, and handed her the pieces.

"Oh, that does explain it," she said. "What did you look like before you were turned into a vampyre?"

"What do you mean?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Well, I mean you're beautiful. I was just wondering if it happened while you were 'dead' or after you woke up 'undead'," she asked. A big smile spread across his face. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"You're perfect," she said.

"I stopped aging after I was bitten, but I looked like this before I became a vampyre."

"You're kidding me! You really looked like this before you were bitten?" she asked.

"I did."

"Can I touch you?"

"You can touch me anytime you'd like, Beck."

She slowly reached out and placed her hand on his cheek. His skin was very cool to the touch. He turned his head quickly and kissed the palm of her hand. The sensation of his lips on her skin sent what felt like an electrical current up her arm, causing her to jump. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, quite the opposite.

"Sorry. It's just been so long since my lips have touched you. I couldn't help myself."

"That still doesn't make any sense to me," she said.

"It will later. What's your next question?"

"Are you married?" she asked. She didn't know why this should be important to her, but it was.

"I used to be."

"Were you married before you were a vampyre?" she asked.

"No, after."

"Where is your wife?" she asked. She was trying not to be angry that he belonged to someone else.

"My wife died a long time ago."

"I'm so sorry," she said. She felt instantly guilty for her angry thoughts. "I thought vampyres didn't die."

"My wife was human," he said.

"What happened to her?" s

"She was killed by another vampyre."

"Do you know who did it?"

"Yes, his name is Royal Elderson," he said bitterly. "I was there with her when she was killed, but I was unable to prevent it."

"Did you kill him?"

His eyes burned with anger. "Not yet, but I will."

"When did it happen?"

"Over a century ago."

She could feel the sadness he still felt over the loss of his wife. He must have really loved her to still be mourning her death over a hundred years later.

"How did he kill her?"

"I would rather not discuss the details of her death right now, Beck."

"Of course not. I'm so sorry; it was rude of me to ask."

"Don't worry about it. Next question."

"Do you drink blood, or is that just another vampyre myth?"

"No. Unfortunately that part is not a myth. Vampyres do indeed feed upon blood."

"How often does a vampyre need to feed?"

"When we wake up after being bitten, we are crazed with hunger and have to feed immediately. After that we have to feed at least every seven days or so."

"What happens, if for some reason, you're unable to feed when you need to?"

"We can go longer if we must, but the blood thirst becomes harder to control and we become dangerous."

"Aren't vampyres already dangerous?"

"Of course we are, but we are usually in control of ourselves. If we don't feed, then we lose that control, and the thirst takes over. The thirst will drive us to feed no matter what we have to do to do it. The blood thirst feels like a madness, and you will do whatever you have to do to make it stop. Even if that means that you have to feed on the blood of a child."

"That's horrible!" she gasped.

He nodded his head in agreement.

"Does everyone you bite become a vampyre?"

"Not at all. We can chose who we want to turn. We carry a toxin that we can release at will. If we want to change someone, then we release the toxin into our saliva when we bite them. Most of the people that are bitten by vampyres are bitten as food. Their blood is drained and they die. It's very rare that they are changed."

"Doesn't it hurt the human when you feed on them?"

"That depends on the vampyre, but it doesn't have to hurt. We have the ability to mesmerize our victims. When we do that, the victim feels no pain and no fear. But there are vampyres that enjoy the pain and terror of their victims. If a person was evil or sadistic when they were human, becoming a vampyre only makes them worse. They use becoming a vampyre as an excuse for leaving their humanity behind."

"Do you mesmerize people?"

"No, I don't. I don't feed on people, Little One."

"I thought you needed blood to survive."

"Vampyres won't die without blood, but we go insane without it, and will do whatever we have to do to get it."

"Still, you do need blood," she stated.

"Yes, I need blood, but it doesn't have to be human blood. I sustain myself on the blood of animals."

"Does it make a difference to your health that it's not human blood?"

He laughed again. "I'm the 'undead' and you're concerned about my health? No, it makes no difference to me, but most vampyres disagree. They don't think it's natural to live on the blood of animals."

"Have you ever fed on a human?" she asked.

He stared at her for so long that she started to think that he wasn't going to answer.

"Yes, Beck, I have," he said. "In my first year as a vampyre, I didn't know that animal blood was an option. I thought human blood was the only thing that would sustain me, but I never fed on a healthy person. Vampyres have the ability to smell illness in humans. I only fed on humans that were already dying.

"Vampyres are immune to all human sickness, so their blood was of no danger to me. Then, I met a vampyre named Anton who showed me another way to survive. He showed me that I could live on the blood of animals. The taste was unpleasant at first, but the blood sustained me just as well as human blood. From then on, I have survived on animal blood, and it has served me well."

"So I'm not in any danger of you eating me?"

"I never said that I wouldn't eat you, only that I would never bite you," he said, giving her a leering wink.

She was pretty sure she could feel even her hair blush!

"So, when do you need to feed next?" she asked, grasping for anything that would change the subject.

"Not for a while. I fed before you left Clarksville. But you _do_ need to eat."

"I'm alright," she said.

"Your stomach seems to disagree."

"How can you hear my stomach growling when I can't? No, let me guess. You hear very well, right?"

"Exactly. Now, where would you like to go eat?"

"No need," she said, reaching into the drawer of the nightstand and pulling out a box of blueberry pop-tarts. "Food of the gods," she said after taking her first bite. "Do you miss eating?"

"Believe it or not, it's what I miss the most. In case you didn't notice, I'm a big guy, and I was a big eater. It's torture watching people eat while I am on an eternal liquid diet."

"I'm sorry. I can eat later," she said, swallowing the food in her mouth and attempted to put the rest of the pop-tart back in the package.

"Don't be silly, Beck. I've been watching people eat for 167 years. I believe I can endure watching you eat a Pop-Tart."

"You can't swallow food, right?"

"No, I cannot. Vampyres can't process any food or any liquids other than blood."

"How do you know that?"

"It's just something that we know. Kind of like how humans know not to swallow glass or metal."

"Okay, so you can't swallow food. Can you taste it?"

"I don't know. I've never tried. It smells good, though."

"Would it hurt to taste it as long as you didn't swallow it?"

"I don't think so."

"Wanna try?" she asked, holding the pop-tart out to him.

"Yes, I do," he said. He took the pop-tart, sniffed it, and took a small bite. His eyes got big as he chewed. "It's wonderful!"

"Good. Now spit it out," she said, holding her hand under his mouth. She could tell he didn't want to, but he was a good boy and spit the food into her hand.

"I hope you're happy with yourself, now I want to taste everything."

"Okay, let's do it," she said, grabbing his hand and trying to pull him towards the door.

"No, Beck."

"Why not?"

"I can't run around the town spitting out chewed food. What would people think?"

"Fuck what they think. We don't even know the people here. I stopped giving a shit what people think about me a long time ago. This is the first time you have tasted food in 167 years, and I want you to do it with me."

"Alright, I'll do it on two conditions. You have to spit out the food, too. That way people aren't just staring at me."

"I don't have a problem with that. What's the second condition?"

"You have to let me kiss you."

"What, now?" she asked in shock.

"Yes, Beck, now. I have shown incredible restraint thus far, but I can't stand waiting any longer."

"My experience with boys hasn't been good," she said nervously. She really did wanted him to kiss her, but she was terrified.

"I am no boy, and _I_ would never hurt you. Please, Beck."

She nodded her head, and it was all the invitation that he needed. He gently placed a hand on each side of her neck and pulled her face towards his. His breath smelled like pop-tarts and honey. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

"Calm down, Little One. It's only me," he whispered against her lips. When his lips touched hers, it felt as if time had stopped and everything but them disappeared. She could feel her blood rushing through her veins. Some unknown time later, he pulled back and put his forehead to hers.

"My Beck," he whispered.

"Wow," she said.

"Now the food?" he asked.

"Now the food," she agreed, and they left the dorm to scour the city for treats.

***

He was serious about wanting to taste everything. He chewed and spit out cheeseburgers, tacos, fried chicken, pizza, pancakes, barbeque ribs, hot dogs, chips, cookies, and soda. He tasted everything they passed. He'd been right about people staring at them, but they were having so much fun that they stopped noticing. She'd never seen anyone as happy as he was then. They tried the food at so many places that they didn't get back to the dorm until after 10:00 that night.

"That was the best day I've ever had," he said, flopping down on the bed.

"I'm glad you had fun. I'm going to grab a shower and wash the smell of food out of my hair."

She took a shower, put on her panties and a long sleep shirt, and stepped back into the room. She heard him gasp as she closed the bathroom door.

"Beck, put some clothes on! I only have so much control!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked. She didn't know what his problem was. Her tee-shirt hung to the middle of her thigh, everything was covered.

"I haven't seen you in 113 years, and you come out here practically naked. You're killing me," he growled.

"I always sleep in this, and what do you mean by 113 years?"

"Nothing. Forget it. I wish I could take a shower too, but I don't have any more clothes with me."

She knew he was evading her question but decided to deal with it later.

"I have some big boxer shorts that I lounge around in sometimes. They'll fit you. The dorm laundry room is two doors down. I can start your clothes while you're in the shower," she said, digging the boxer shorts out of a drawer.

"Sounds good," he said, taking the shorts.

She could hear the shower running when she returned from starting his laundry. She decided to pick a movie from her DVD collection for them to watch. She ended up picking _The Whole Nine Yards_. It was one of her favorite movies. She heard the shower turn off and waited fifteen minutes, but he didn't come out.

"Is everything alright?' she asked, knocking on the bathroom door.

"I can't come out wearing this. It's not descent, Beck," he said through the door.

"You said we used to be lovers, right? So what's the big deal? Just come out here."

He slowly opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him in nothing but the boxer shorts. She'd never been attracted in this way to anyone before. Now she had to put her hands behind her back to keep from running them up his chest. It was crazy.

"You didn't put on anymore clothes," he said accusingly.

"I'm wearing more than you are," she laughed, "I picked out a movie for us to watch. Do you like comedy?"

"Yes," he said.

"Good," she said, grabbing the remote and laying down on the bed. She pushed play on the remote and started the movie.

"No way! This one of my favorite movies," he said, lying down next to her on the bed.

She just smiled about their shared taste in movies.

"Richard? What's your last name?"

"Jaxon," he answered.

"How old were you when you were turned?"

"I was six weeks shy of my thirtieth birthday when I was bitten."

"I'm sorry this happened to you," she said.

"I'm not. Not anymore. If it had not happened, then I would have never found you," he said, turning towards her on the bed. "You made my life worth living. The last 113 years without you have been torture. First, I had to wait for you to be born. Then I had to wait for you to grow up. Now, you're eighteen years old and lying next to me. You may not realize it, but right now, I'm in Heaven."

This time he didn't wait for permission, he just kissed her. The kiss was gentle at first, and then turned into a deep, more lust filled kiss. She felt his hand, still warm from the shower, slide up her hip. He slid his hand slowly up her side, under her shirt, and cupped her breast. She gasped in pleasure when his thumb brushed across her nipple. He jerked back at the same time the light bulb blew out.

"Beck, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that. I just got carried away."

She suddenly understood that he had taken her gasp as fear.

"I wasn't afraid, Richard. It was really nice. Apparently too nice," she said, frowning at the lamp. "Oh well, at least it wasn't the T.V."

He'd jumped out of the bed when he thought she was scared. Looking at him now, standing there in nothing but the boxer shorts, she had to agree with him; he was no boy. Everything about him was all man.

"You're okay with me touching you?"

"I think I'm more than okay with it. Now will you get back in the bed?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, with you, I'm sure."

He got back on the bed and reached for her. He kissed her again, and she felt as if she were floating above the mattress. He pulled her shirt over her head and kissed his way down her neck to her breast. He paused there to tease her nipple with his cool tongue. She couldn't believe that this was happening, that she was lying in bed, with ' _The Man'_ running his lips and tongue over her body.

He kissed down her ribcage, over her hip, and down her thigh. Her breath was coming in small gasps. When he kissed back up her thigh and dipped his tongue between her legs, she could take no more.

"Richard. Now," she panted.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"Now," she repeated.

He didn't ask again. He scooped his arm under her waist and brought her body up to meet his trust. He pulled her to him over and over as he pushed into her. Pleasure that she never knew existed crashed over her in waves. When it was over, he collapsed on top of her. She knew something was different about him, but it took her a second to realize what it was.

"Richard, your heart is beating," she said.

"Huh?" he mumbled into her neck.

"YOU'RE HEART IS BEATING!"

He was standing up before she even knew he had moved.

"This is not possible," he said, holding his hand to his chest.

"Possible or not, it _is_ beating."

"It stopped," he said dropping his hand. "That's never happened before. Not in 167 years anyway."

She could feel that he was worried.

"Most people freak out when their heart stops beating. Well, actually, I guess they just die, but you see my point. Is this a bad thing?"

"I don't know. I've never heard of this happening before."

"Do you think it's dangerous?"

"I don't know," he stated truthfully.

"Maybe it's us. Maybe my electrical problems are affecting you somehow. Maybe we shouldn't be together if it's going to hurt you."

"Don't you know that I would rather die than be without you? We only have two days left to be together, and I won't waste them by staying away from you. It's not up for debate," he told her firmly.

Oh _hell_ no! Who did he think he was talking to?

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! I am a grown ass woman, and I will not be talked to like a fucking child! I live by my own rules, not yours. We just had sex! It's not like you're my husband! Do you understand me?!" she yelled.

"Yes, by damn, I _am_ your husband! Do _you_ understand _me_?" he yelled back.

Her mouth fell open, but no words came out. She had been struck speechless. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. It startled the shit out of her, making her jump a foot off the bed. When she opened the door, she found a little wisp of a girl standing there.

"I'm sorry to bother you but could you turn your T.V. down? I live across the hall, and it just woke me up," the girl said timidly.

"I was just about to turn it off anyway. I'm so sorry that I woke you up," she said.

"That's alright. I'm Maggie by the way. I hope that we can be friends," Maggie said, and yawned.

"I'm sure we will be. Goodnight."

"Night," Maggie said, already closing her door.

She closed the door and turned back to Richard. He'd moved to the left so that Maggie wouldn't see him.

"It's nice that you've already made a friend."

"Don't you even try to change the subject," she snapped. "What the hell did you say to me?"

"I'm your husband, Beck. At least I was a long time ago, or will be in a few years from now, depending on how you look at it."

"You told me that your wife died," she said. He looked down at the floor and nodded his head.

"So you're telling me that, somehow, I travel into the past, marry you, and fucking die!" she yelled.

"If you don't stop shouting someone is going to call campus security."

"So what?" she snarled. "If they show up, you can squeeze them and we can stack them in the closet until you get hungry."

"That wasn't nice," he said, feigning hurt.

"Neither was not bothering to tell me that we're married."

"What was I supposed to do? Just show up yesterday and say 'Hi, Beck. You don't know me, but I'm your husband'?"

"Why the hell not? You had no problem showing up and telling me that you were a vampyre."

"Well, I thought with your abilities that that piece of knowledge would be easier for you to handle. I was going to tell you."

"When? Right before you left?" she asked. She held up her hand to stop him before he could answer. "Did we fight a lot when we were married?"

She was angry, but she knew he was telling the truth about being her husband.

"Yes, but it usually ended with us making love, so I really didn't mind," he smiled.

"Well, it ain't ending that way tonight, buddy," she informed him. "I'm going to bed. When I wake up, you are going to tell me everything, and I mean _everything_. No more of this _'I'll tell you later'_ bullshit. Then, we're going to the library to see what we can find out about your heart. Goodnight," she said, turning off the one light that was still working.

***

The darkness of the room didn't bother him. He sat next to the bed and watched her sleep. Telling her that she was his wife had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped. At least she believed him and hadn't thrown him out. He'd waited 113 years to be with her again and didn't think he could have left her even if she had told him to. She had been right to want to know everything. He just didn't know how to explain it to her. It had been unfair that they had had so little time together in the past.

She had come into his life on August 27, 1888, and had died November 12, 1888. He'd been there when Elderson had killed her and had been unable to stop it. Elderson had pulled her up into a tree and snapped her neck. She'd died instantly. He had not even gotten to bury her body. Her body had simply vanished before it had hit the ground. Elderson had not seen her body disappear, he'd already been fleeing when that happened.

He'd given chase, but had lost what little scent Elderson had that night when he reached the river. He'd run back to where her body should have fallen but knew he would find nothing. There was no body, but he'd held no fantasy that she had survived. Elderson had twisted her head nearly all the way around. He'd heard her neck break and her heart stop beating. She had died, but the cruelest part was that he had lived.

He had not wanted to live without Beck. He'd wanted to turn himself over to the hunters and let them tear his head off, but his family wouldn't allow it. When Beck died, it'd seemed as if the air had been sucked from his world. The color had drained from everything, and he had not understood how people had gone on with their daily lives when Beck was gone from the world.

What was the point of the sun rising everyday when there had been no Beck for it to shine on? It had taken his family a long time, but they had finally convinced him that since Beck was from the future, that she would be born again. That if he could just wait, he could be with her again.

"What's a hundred years or so to you?" they'd asked.

Having lived through those years without her, he could now answer that question.

"An eternity," he mumbled into the darkness as he crawled onto the bed to lay down beside her.

It had felt like an eternity to him.

Elderson had wanted him to trade his family for Beck's life, and for years afterward he had wished he had agreed, but all he'd been able to do was wait for her.

On July 18, 1983, she had been born at Clarksville Memorial Hospital on Madison Street. Rebecca Emily Stockdale had been born at 2:03 on a Monday afternoon. She had weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and had been 18 ½ inches long. She had great big eyes and had been as bald as an egg. He knew all of this because he had been there in the hospital when she was born.

He hadn't been able to stay away. He'd had to see for himself that she'd indeed been born. He'd seen her through the nursery glass and his relief had nearly brought him to his knees. She hadn't looked like his Beck yet; no red hair, eyes still baby blue, but he could smell her. He could pick her scent up from anywhere inside the hospital. He'd noticed in his years as a vampyre that children tended to smell similar to their parents. Not Beck, though. Her scent was hers and hers alone. Had he not been there for her birth; he would have assumed that she was adopted.

Maybe her scent had something to do with her abilities. She'd told him in the past that she had an electrical malfunction. He hadn't known what that meant until she had taken his hand and shown him her memories of some of things she had destroyed in her childhood.

He could only see what people allowed him to see, and only when in direct physical contact. If someone was emotional upset he would sometimes pick up memories accidentally, but he didn't touch very may people, so it was a rare event. It was like watching a mini movie. He literally saw the person's memories.

And as he saw them, they became his memories, as well. The memories that people gave him became as real to him as if he'd been there himself.

He found Beck's abilities more interesting. Her dreams of the future were rare, but when they happened they were nearly always accurate. The seeing of ghosts, while amazing, seemed to serve no purpose. She'd told him once, that as far as she knew, no one on either side of her family had had these problems. He had told her that they weren't problems, they were gifts, but she didn't see it that way. 'These ' _gifts_ ' have only ever brought me problems,' she'd told him.

It was her parents that had made her feel that way. Once they'd noticed her differences, they had turned on her. They had abandoned her. They had allowed her to live in their home; they had fed her and clothed her, but they had withdrawn their love. Thank God she had had Bev to get her through. They weren't just sisters, they were best friends. And now she had him, at least for a couple more days.

He'd tried to stay away from her as much as possible when she was growing up. He had not wanted to interfere with her life too much. He knew if he stayed around her that he would run the risk of changing the essence of who she was, and he'd certainly not wanted that to happen.

He had only wanted to stop the worst things from happening to her. Her scars from being run over and bitten had not bothered him at all, but he had thought they had affected her self-esteem. The hit and run had caused a lot of damage. The car had broken her right arm, leg, several ribs, and her hip causing her to walk with a permanent limp.

The impact had thrown her, causing a break in her left arm, a broken rotator cuff, and scarring to her face with what she had called 'road rash'. She'd had several surgeries to repair most of the damage, but had been left with many scars. The dog bites had left scars on her arms and right breast. He'd been afraid that saving her from these things might take away from her strong disposition, but that didn't appear to be the case.

She was just as stubborn and willful as he remembered. She would be too much for most men to handle. She would not be a woman that cowered behind her husband. He liked her that way. She was an extremely intelligent and strong-willed woman. She could hold her own in any conversation, and was not intimidated by anyone.

You would have to have known Beck intimately to know that she had any self-esteem problems. Now he knew that the external scars had not been the only problem, it had also been the damned rape. She'd been raped, and he had not been there to save her. He had been busy scouring the United States for vampyres who might know where he could find Elderson.

No one had known. If she had only told him about it, he would have been there. He would have stopped it. He wanted to go back to Clarksville and kill Alex Whitman, but he did relish the thought of Whitman pissing and shitting in a bag for the rest of his life. Modern medicine would make sure that he had a long, semi-healthy life of being miserable.

Saving her from the accidents had seemed to help, though. She wasn't a bit shy about her body now. She seemed like a different Beck. He'd loved the Beck he had met in the past with all of his heart, but had to admit that he felt a stronger pull to this Beck. He also had to admit that it was a relief that when she went back this time, she would already know what he was.

He'd wasted so many moments before telling her what he was the first time around. The waiting had been for nothing. When he'd finally told her that he was a vampyre, she had taken it in much the same way as she had this time...with acceptance and without fear. She'd gotten along well with his whole clan, and they had loved her immediately.

***

For the first time in years, his mind willingly went back to his family. His clan's father was Daryl, and Rita was their mother. He also had three sisters: Saphira, Heidi, and Jenny. Saphira was 5'6" with long black hair and big brown eyes. She had the best sense of humor out of all his sisters, and a loud laugh he was sure could be heard a mile away.

Jenny was 5'8", had short brown hair, startlingly clear eyes, and was the quietest of his sisters. She'd had the hardest time coming to terms with what she had become and had been sad most of the time.

Heidi was 5'7", a bit heavyset, medium length, dark red hair, nearly black eyes, and was his favorite sister. She was also Beck's favorite of his sisters. They had become very close before Beck's death, and the loss had affected Heidi deeply.

He also had three brothers: Bruce, Harley, and Leso. Bruce was 5'8", had close, cropped, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and was very stocky and muscular. He was a favorite of the women at the brothels in the city, and very much enjoyed his women. Harley was 6'6", lanky, and was uncommonly strong even for a vampyre. He had short, light red hair, and light green eyes that were always dancing with mischief. He was the clown of the family, always making everyone laugh. He and Saphira were constantly cutting up.

Saphira and Harley ran a sort of daycare service for the ' _working women_ ' in the city, though most of the daycare was at night since that's when most of the women _worked_. It always made him smile to think what these women's reactions would have been had they ever found out that they were leaving their angels with 'blood sucking monsters'. But, to Saphira and Harley's credit, they had never eaten a single child.

Then there was Leso. He was 5'11", had short black hair and brown eyes. He was his favorite brother because he was his true, blood brother. Richard had changed him himself. Leso was his younger brother by four years, but had been twenty-nine when he changed him, so he guessed they were technically the same age now. Leso had been a construction worker and had been working on an apartment building when he had fallen from the 4th floor, landing onto the cobblestones below.

He'd been taken to London hospital, but there had been little they could do for him. They had told Richard that Leso's insides had burst, and he would likely pass before the night was over, advising him to go and say his final goodbyes. When he had seen Leso, he realized that he was in a great amount of pain. He could tell right away that the doctors were correct; there was a huge amount of internal damage. Leso's stomach was already distended with blood. Leso was the only human that knew what Richard had become. When Richard knew he was no longer a danger to humans, Leso was the person he had gone to.

Their father had left them when they were very young, and Richard had helped entertain Leso while his mother washed clothes for people who were better off than they were. He remembered his mother scrubbing clothes in the winter, her chaffed and bleeding hands wrapped in cloth so as not to get blood on the clean laundry.

She had worked very hard to make sure her sons had a roof over their heads and never went hungry, although many nights, she did. She had passed on after a short illness when he was twenty-seven. She went peacefully in her sleep, and though greatly saddened by her passing, he was enormously grateful that her suffering had been short.

When he'd come to his brother and told him what he had become, Leso hadn't cared. He only cared that Richard was back. Watching his brother at the hospital and waiting for him to die was almost more than he could bear, but it had not been his idea to change him into a vampyre. It had been Leso's idea. He'd been sitting by Leso's side, holding his hand, talking to him about random things to try to occupy his mind and bring him some comfort.

Back then, they would tell the families that the patient was dying, but not the patient themselves, and advised them not to tell the patient either. They said that it would cause the patient ' _undue stress in their last days and hours_ '. He had tried to go along with that. He had not wanted Leso's death to be any harder than it had to be, but Leso wasn't a stupid man.

They had given him a lot of morphine and the scent was almost as strong as the scent of his blood. Richard was surprised that he was not unconscious. He'd been talking about a mutt they 'd had as children, when Leso turned to look at him. His face was pale and haggard-looking.

The pain was taking its toll on him, and the morphine had stopped impeding the pain.

"I'm dying," Leso said. It had been a statement, not a question. "Can you help me?"

"I can't heal you. That's not an ability I have, though I wish it were."

"You can save me though, can't you?"

Richard's skin crawled at the thought of what Leso was asking of him. "You don't want to do that, Leso. If you didn't know about me, you wouldn't know such things as me existed."

"But I do know about you. Will you help me, Richard?" he asked from between pained, clenched teeth.

Richard didn't think Leso understood what he was truly asking for. He'd admitted to himself that it was tempting to give Leso what he wanted, but it was for selfish reasons. It would be nice to have the last member of his family with him, and not worry about ever having to see him die. He knew there were other vampyres around because he could sense them, but had never met any of them. He was tired of being alone, but he could not do this just to alleviate his own loneliness.

"You don't understand what you're asking for, how much it changes who you are."

"It's true that I don't know about the changes, but I do know you. You were a decent man before you changed, and whether or not you realize it, you still are. Had you not told me, I would not have known anything happened to you. Except for some small changes, you appear to be the same person I've known our entire lives."

Richard tried to explain that he only appeared to be the same. He told him about the thirst for blood, the heightened sense of hearing, sight, and smell, and tried to make him see what he would be sacrificing.

"If I die, I'm giving up everything. Please, I don't want to die, not yet," he pleaded.

Richard knew he only had a minute or so to decide. He could hear Leso's heart racing as it tried to keep what little blood he had left flowing through his veins.

"I won't be like you; bitten and left alone. I'll have you to help guide me through it," Leso said weakly, his life fading fast.

In the end, he had given Leso what he had asked for. He pulled the curtain to give them some privacy and returned to his brother's side.

"This is going to hurt more than you can possibly imagine," he said softly, and then bit the tiniest piece of Leso's little finger.

He didn't have to bite him on the neck to do the job; that was something that came from some writer's imagination. He only needed to make a small opening for the toxin to get into his body. The only reason a vampyre needed to bite someone's neck was to feed. The neck contains some of the largest veins in the body from which to drink.

Leso's entire body stiffened, but he didn't scream. Richard was pretty sure that when the toxin had taken hold in _his_ body that he had screamed. It had only lasted a few moments, but the pain had been excruciating. He never knew if Leso's body was too far gone to recognize the pain, or if he was just that tough, but he was pretty sure it was the latter.

Leso had always been a tough kid, never crying over cuts and scrapes like most kids, but no one could fight the toxin for long. Within two minutes he heard Leso's heartbeat slow, and then stop. He went to get the nurse to tell her that Leso was gone.

It hadn't been hard to retrieve his body, because back then it was normal to have the funeral at the families' home, and the burial at their family cemetery. They released the body to the family after the death certificate was signed.

He collected the body the next morning after the doctor had been there to make it official. The viewing and wake had been that afternoon. There had been a handful of people in attendance, mostly their mother's old friends; Lillian, that lived in a cottage down the street, and Gerthel Milam, that had sometimes helped their mother with the washing.

There were also some of the guys Leso had worked with. He remembered how Ms. Milam had commented on how good Leso looked, _'He looks like he's sleeping and may wake up any minute'_ , she'd wept. He remembered thinking she didn't know how right she was. He'd known that Lillian was only there to do her 'Christian duty'. She'd never really cared for Leso. He had stolen some apples from her tree when he was seven years old and she had never really forgiven him.

If it had not been for the fact that he knew some of the mourners would go to the cemetery, he wouldn't have bothered to bury Leso at all. It was unavoidable, however, as some of Leso's friends had volunteered to be pallbearers. He could have carried the coffin all by himself, on the tips of his fingers of one hand, but he had accepted their offer and thanked them. The next morning, he had buried his brother. After the burial, he'd shaken hands and accepted condolences. He explained that he would be leaving to deliver the news to an old friend of Leso's that had not yet heard of his death, and he expected to be gone for awhile. He couldn'trisk someone stopping by to check on him. That night, he dug up his brother and waited for him to rise.

He'd caught two deer and staked them in the backyard, because he knew Leso would need to feed immediately. He only had his own experience to draw expectations from, and so really didn't know what to expect. He assumed the change was different for everyone, and he was right. When Leso awoke, he didn't recognize Richard. He lunged at him as if he was going to feed on _him_. It took a lot of wrestling and snapping of teeth before he was able to get Leso out of the backdoor and to the deer in the yard.

Leso fell on the deer like a starving man. He completely crushed the first one, but by the second one, he was starting to get the hang of it. When he finished, he stood and faced Richard, who had dropped into a defensive crouch, ready to defend himself against Leso should it become necessary.

"What's your problem?" Leso asked.

"What the hell is _your_ problem? Are you finished trying to attack me, yet?"

Leso had thrown back his head and laughed. He'd been fine after that, and could make the claim truthfully that he had never sustained his life with the blood of a human.

He and Richard could stay in any given place for no longer than ten years before they had to move on, due to people possibly realizing that they weren't aging. It wasn't hard for them to move on. They didn't make any close bonds to humans, and they didn't own any property except their childhood home. Finding new construction work was never difficult because they were young, hard workers who could do twice the work of other men. {They could have done fifty times the work of other men, but that would have looked a little suspicious.}

They were living in a cottage 200 miles outside of London in the Fall of 1873. He and Leso had both been reading and had simultaneously stopped and looked at each other. Three minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Richard had hesitated in answering but thought, if they were there for a fight, they probably wouldn't have knocked. When he opened the door, he was greeted by an older man, about 6' tall with long, flowing, silver hair, and an average build.

"You are vampyres," the man stated.

"As are you," he countered.

"May I come in?" the man asked.

Richard asked in response, "Is there going to be a problem?"

"Goodness! I should hope not," the man answered.

Richard opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow the man to enter.

The man stepped inside and looked around politely. "You have been here three years?"

"I take it from your statement that you know we have."

The man looked around for a few moments longer and then stated, "I have been rude, forgive me. I am Daryl Young. My family and I are staying on the other side of this charming town. I would like to invite the two of you to my home to introduce you to my family and make you an offer. I promise it is a friendly invitation. You are free to decline, of course, and we will leave you in peace."

Richard felt that the man was sincere, but looked at Leso anyway. It was not only his own life that would be at risk if he was wrong.

Leso nodded, and Richard turned back to the man and said. "We accept."

"Wonderful! We'll expect you at 7:00 tomorrow night," Daryl stated happily, handing him a piece of paper with an address on it.

Richard stopped Daryl as he turned to leave. "Don't you want to know our names?"

"You are Richard and Leso Jaxon. I would not have walked in here blind, young man."

"Then you have the advantage," Leso said.

"All will be explained tomorrow night. Until then, goodnight," Daryl politely said and disappeared into the night.

He was pulled away from his thoughts of the past when Beck rolled over and threw her arm over him.

### Chapter Three

When Beck woke up, there was no Richard in sight. She'd just finished getting dressed when the dorm room door opened.

"How do you keep getting in and out of the dorm without someone stopping you? This is an all girls dorm, you know."

"I have unforeseen skills... and a piece offering," he answered holding out a bag.

She would have kept arguing, but she smelled bacon.

"Eggs, scrambled light, crisp bacon, biscuits and gravy, and coffee-regular."

"Ha! A lot you know. I don't drink coffee with my breakfast."

"Open the bag."

She opened the bag, and found a can of Coke sitting on top of the take-out box.

"You told me when we were together before that the only things you really missed were the internet, your sister, and Coke. You have the internet. You talked to your sister yesterday. Now, you have your coke," he told her, still smiling.

She opened the Coke and held it out to him. "Wanna taste it?"

"No thanks. I spit out a whole can on the way here, very tasty stuff," he said. "So, what do you want to do first today?"

"I told you, I want to go to the library. I want to see what we can find out about your heart."

"We have a lot to talk about. Are you sure you want to waste our time together in a library?"

"I can check out twenty books at a time. We'll just grab what we want and come back here," she answered with her mouth half full of food.

They got to the library right as they were opening. They ended up checking out every book that said anything about vampyre hearts. They looked through all of them back in the dorm room. Most were just about what to stick through a vampyres heart to kill them. There were two books that said vampyre hearts always beat, only very slowly. They threw them in the crap pile.

Then, she felt his mood change. "What is it?" she asked over the top of the book she was reading.

He looked even paler, if that was at all possible. He didn't answer, just stared at her. She took the book he been looking at from his hands and read the title. He'd been reading _Vampyre Lover by Potter Harris_. She looked back to the beginning of the chapter and started to read:

_The vampyre heart, which does not normally beat, will beat when intimate with their true lover; their soul mate. The soul mate proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the historically known soulless vampyre does indeed have a soul. The soul mate of a vampyre will always be an unchanged {someone who has not been turned into a vampyre} human. The drawback to finding this lover is that while the vampyre heart is beating, it is just as delicate and susceptible to damage as the human heart_.

"Could this be true?" she asked him. "I think it must be. It's the only explanation that makes sense," he answered, but he had already lost her. She was rattling away on her computer.

"What are you doing?"

"This book is only two years old," she stated as if that was supposed to make sense to him.

Then she had the phone in her hand. Before he could ask what she was doing now, she held up her finger to 'shush' him.

"Mr. Harris? This is Beck Stockdale, and I'm studying parapsychology courses at Duke this year. I was just reading your book and have some questions about your explanation on the beating heart and was wondering if I can come by and talk to you about it..." she paused to listen. "Yes, I can come now," she said, writing an address on a scrap of paper. "Thank you. I'll see you in about twenty minutes. Goodbye," she said and hung up.

"What are you doing?" Richard snapped at her. "I'm sorry. Did you not just sit here and listen to the conversation? I'm going to meet the man that wrote this book and ask him some questions," she said as she walked to the door. "I'll be fine. I'll be back in a couple of hours. You stay here and spit out some M&M's," she said and shut the door behind her.

When she walked out of the front door of the dorm, he was already outside in the parking lot.

"You can't go, Richard. We don't know this guy or how he got this information."

"I thought you said it was going to be fine?"

"Richard..." she started, but he stopped her. "You're not going without me, Beck."

She knew he meant it, and that there was nothing she could say or do that would make him change his mind.

"Fine, come on then," she said and headed for her car.

"Let's take my car," he said, and steered her to the other side of the parking lot.

He stopped at a beautiful 1969 Pontiac Trans Am. It was painted flat black with green metal flake flames up the hood, over the roof, and down the trunk, factory Pontiac rally wheels cut and made 8" deep in the front and 10 ½ inches on the back.

"This is your car?" she asked in awe.

"Yes. I hear it's a bit of a classic," he answered, a small smile curving his lips.

"Open the hood," she said and stepped back as he popped the hood latch. "455 H/O, 4 speed, Rock Crusher Muncie."

"How did you know that?" he asked, clearly shocked by her knowledge

She laughed, "Bev had a boyfriend for three years who knew how to build muscle cars from the wheels up. It's all he ever talked about. After a while, you pick it up."

They got in, and the car started with a deep growl. She watched him as he drove. She'd had sex with the man, and she didn't even know that he could drive, much less that he had a car like this. She didn't really know anything about him. She knew he was a vampyre but knew nothing about his life.

Still looking at him, she realized it didn't matter. She loved him. It made no sense, but she knew it was true. She thinks that she may have loved him since the day she was twelve years old and he'd lifted her bike off of her. She held out her hand to him now and he took it, smiling at her.

"I had a dream last night. Bev's gonna meet a man. Actually, she's going to meet her mate. I'm so excited for her. She deserves a good man," she said enthusiastically.

"I thought you couldn't see your family's future?"

"I can't. I'm pretty sure I was seeing his. That's how I know he's a good man."

"I'm happy for her. I know I haven't formally met her yet, but I know how good she's been to you."

His cool hand felt so natural in hers. Throughout her life, whenever he had touched her, his hands were cool but never cold. It stood to reason that he would stay about room temperature, or whatever the temperature was around him.

They pulled up in front of the address she had written down, and Richard reached over and turned off the car with his left hand so as not to let go of her hand.

"There's a vampyre in there," he said.

"Yeah, I thought there might be."

"The vampyre in there is going to know I'm here, too. We can leave," he offered.

"No. We need to find out what's going on with your heart," she said as she got out of the car.

She was halfway up the steps to the door when he put his arm around her waist, stopping her. He was wearing short sleeves, and she could feel his cool arm through her thin shirt.

"We do this my way. That means you stay behind me."

She let him have his way only because she could feel how afraid he was for her. She stood behind him as he knocked on the door. A man answered but before she could get a good look at him, Richard had turned, swooped her up, and had her on the other side of the long front porch, all before she could blink.

" _You are a hunter_ ," Richard said in an unearthly hiss.

She tried to get a better look at the man, but Richard was still blocking her.

"I was a hunter, but no more my friend. I mean you and your female no harm."

"He's telling the truth, Richard," Beck said.

He immediately took a step to the side. She knew that Richard didn't trust this man, but he obviously trusted Beck's senses and she was touched by it.

She could see the man now. He looked all of 25 years old, was covered in tattoos, had piercings in his ears she could put her thumbs through, and a dark red Mohawk.

"Where are you imprisoning the vampyre?" Richard growled. "I don't know what's going on anymore than you do Richard, but there is no unhappiness in this house." Beck said.

"I'm Potter Harris," he said in a strong Irish accent. "Please come in." Beck went through the door with Richard stuck to her side.

"Mr. Harris, we just have a few questions," Beck started.

"Call me Potter, and please, have a seat," he said leading them into a small but comfortable living room.

Beck had just sat down when she realized Potter had frozen in his tracks and was staring at Richard.

"Holy Christ!" Potter gasped. "You're Richard Jaxon."

"Have we met?" Richard asked.

"Not exactly," Potter responded. He looked slowly back at Beck and said, "I don't think I'm the person to answer your questions. Please excuse me while I get my wife."

"This is very strange," Richard said. Before Beck had a chance to reply, Potter walked back into the room. "She will be down in a moment. May I offer you something to drink?"

"No thank you," she answered politely as if the room hadn't become full of tension.

At that moment, a young woman appeared in the doorway. "Richard?"

"Jenny," Richard gasped and was across the room hugging her, though again, Beck had barely seen him move. "We thought the hunters had gotten you. We came home, and the house was torn apart. We thought that the hunters had been there. How is this possible?"

"I came home and saw the house as well. I thought the hunters had gotten _you_ and _Leso_. Leso! Is he..." Jenny started to ask, but Richard had put his finger across her lips.

"He's fine. He's not here with me today, but we have been together all these years."

"What are you doing here?" Jenny asked. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't," he said, turning Jenny by her shoulders and pointing at Beck.

Jenny stared at her for two seconds, and then squealed, " _BECK_!"

Again, Beck barely saw the vampyre move, but was suddenly swept up and was being danced around the room at a dizzying speed.

" _Beck, Beck, Beck_ ," Jenny chanted.

Then Richard was there, peeling them apart. "Jenny, she doesn't know you, yet," he laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot," Jenny said.

But Beck was all smiles. She didn't know Jenny, but she already liked her a lot. After they had all calmed down and sat down, the questions started.

"Where's Leso?" Jenny asked.

"I left him back at the college," Richard said.

"He's at the college?" Beck asked in surprise.

"Yes. He didn't think I would be able to leave you without help when the time comes," he replied.

"But why do you have to leave her?" Jenny asked shocked. Richard sighed, "So she will be better prepared when she goes back this time."

"Go back? Why would she go back? She's _here_. You're _here_. Why in the world would you let her go _back_?" she demanded. "You, Leso, Beck, and I are all that's left Jenny. She may be able to change that. Wouldn't you like to have them all back if you could?" he asked.

"I didn't know I had the three of you!" Jenny cried. "Please don't do this," she pleaded to Beck as she turned to her with streams of blood pouring down her cheeks. It startled Beck at first. Then she realized that the blood was Jenny's tears. "You don't know what it was like when you were gone, what we went through. Do you even know what happened to you?"

"I died, killed most likely," Beck answered. "And still you would go?" Jenny asked surprised. "To save Richard's family, my family? Yes, I'll go. I don't know how I'm getting there yet, but I'll go."

"But you die!" Jenny wailed. Beck got up and hugged her, "Things change, Jenny. I'll know what I'm walking into this time. That's bound to make a difference."

Potter handed Jenny a tissue. "It's okay, love," he said patting her on the shoulder.

Jenny turned and looked at Potter. "What about us? If the past changes, we won't have each other."

"Yes, we will. We're soul mates. One way or another, we'll find each other. You know that. You're just grasping at straws. I'm with them. I killed one of your brothers. If she can change that, then I'm all for it."

"Okay, stop," Beck said. "I need to know what hunters are; what member of Jenny's family you killed; when it happened; and for a bonus, throw in the explanation about the vampyre heart."

As Beck had been speaking, Jenny had walked to the fridge, gotten a can of Coke out, and handed it to her.

"Do all of you know about my Coke fetish?" she asked as she opened the can.

"You bitched constantly about your loss of Coca-Cola. We have some human friends, and I always keep some in the fridge," Jenny explained.

"You're going to want it. This may take awhile." Potter said as he started his story: "There was a vampyre, centuries ago now, that had found his soul mate. They were together for many years, and although she begged him, he refused to turn her into a vampyre so that they could be together forever. He had not wanted her to be like him, he didn't want his love to have to sustain herself on the blood of others.

But the reality of that decision was that she would someday die. Then one day, she fell extremely ill. We know not of what, but before he had time to reconsider her pleas to him, she died. Only after she was gone did he realize what he had done, what he had lost, and he started to become bitter.

He never recovered from her loss, and over the years, the bitterness turned to self-hatred. Over time, that self-hatred turned into hatred for all of his kind. He believed that it had to be against the will of God for them to exist, that they were a cursed and soulless people to be forced to wander the world forever, only sustaining themselves on the blood of humans, never to know lasting love and happiness. So, he found a way to pull from his own blood what he needed to make an army of hunters.

He pulled men from the villages; men that hunted his kind already, out of fear. They were right to be fearful. There were no vampyres then that fed on animals. I'm sure that vampyres then were no more evil than they are now. They just didn't know they could live on anything other than human blood.

He gathered 412 of us, one for each year of his vampyre life, and he changed us. Not into vampyres, for we do not suffer the thirst. We eat, drink, and sleep as humans do, but we have our creator's strength, speed, and sense of smell. We smell the scent of humans like he did, but our scent and senses for vampyres is heightened. We can catch their scent from a mile away, and track it for hundreds of miles.

We knew of the senses we would get, and we agreed to his deal. He told us his story, and for all of these powers, all we had to do was what we wanted to do anyway; kill all vampyres, starting with him. We were living in fear and stupid enough to believe he was telling us the whole truth. What he did not tell us was we would also receive the vampyre longevity.

That we would watch our loved ones die of old age, but we would live...that our hearts would beat, but would be impenetrable to any weapons. That blood would not run from our open veins. We can die from beheading, just like a vampyre, besides that, the only way for us to die was to kill all of the vampyres. When the last vampyre falls, so shall we. We became very good at hunting. Like I said, we wanted to kill them, but after awhile that became secondary to being allowed to die in peace.

We killed our way around the world. There were more vampyres than we had ever imagined. Most of the 412 of his army fell, their heads ripped from their bodies. After awhile, I ran into a new breed of vampyres, ones that didn't smell of human blood. Most of the hunters wouldn't have cared, but I was curious.

We had set out to kill murderers, but _were_ these murderers? I was watching a group of animal eating vampyres, a girl in particular. I had not hunted in many years, but I could not stop watching her. I didn't know what my draw was to her. I was so intent on her, her scent, that I missed the vampyre coming up behind me.

I didn't want a fight, not with this family, but I got one anyway. I ran, he chased after and caught me. There was a fight. I tried to explain that I meant no harm, but he would hear none of it. I don't blame him, not after what we had done to them through the years. We fought, I won. I regretted it, for myself, for him, but mostly, for her.

I ran from what I had become, not bothering to hide what I had done. I did not know then that I had killed her brother. I only knew it had been one of her clan, and that he had not been her husband. He enjoyed the services of the whorehouses in town."

"Bruce," Richard whispered.

"No vampyre wife would put up with that. It could have been her father, her brother, possibly a grown son, and I had taken him from her. I knew they would run. They _should_ run. She shouldn't be around me. And they did run.

It was fifteen years before I ran across her scent again. I wanted to leave but could not resist my need to see her again. I followed her scent to a small house and watched it for two days. There were only two male vampyres living in the home with her. Her clan, no; her family, was greatly diminished. I was under no delusion that they had separated. I had watched this family before, and had witnessed the strong bond that they had shared. If the rest of her family were not with her, then I knew they must be dead.

I felt a deep sadness for the pain that I knew she would have suffered from their loss, and shame in the knowledge that I had caused some of that suffering. One day, I watched as the two men left the house. An hour later, she left as well. My curiosity got the better of me, and I broke into her home to discover whatever I could about her. I found pay slips for the two men with the names Leso and Richard Jaxon, but nothing about her.

When I sensed them returning, I ran for cover, leaving the house in a shambles. The men returned first. They packed their things and were gone in ten minutes. She returned a while later and fled, as well. I followed her from a distance. She was all alone and I could not allow anything to happen to her. I knew that they had known a hunter had been in their home.

Their house was torn apart and no scent of another vampyre or human was evident; It could only have been a hunter. I followed her for two months. She didn't take another home, choosing instead to live in the forest. Then one day, the thing I had feared the most happened. She was found by another hunter.

She had been greatly weakened by grief and was no match for him. I attacked, and for the first time in my life, I removed another hunter's head.

After that she was willing to listen to me. The first time I looked into her eyes, I knew that I loved her and she knew the same. We've been together ever since.

It took me a year to build up the courage to tell her that I had killed a member of her family. She told me that it had been her brother Bruce. She forgave me and I was blessed.

The first time we made love, I noticed her heart beating. She was breathing as well. It took many years for technology to catch up to our curiosity. When it did, I took the required courses to become a radiologist, and got a job in one of the imagining centers that closed on weekends so that we'd be assured of privacy.

I'll spare you the details of what I did to start her heart beating, but the MRI results spoke for themselves. While we were intimate her heart beat. She drew regular, if not rapid, breaths. The blood flowed in her veins. Her skin texture changed, and her brain showed normal activity. For all intents and purposes, she _was_ human.

We tried the same thing with another female vampyre and a human male (who just thought she was kinky) and got no results. The MRI showed nothing, as if we were scanning a dead body. That's how I came to the conclusion that during those moments of intimacy, vampyres are just as susceptible to danger as humans, because at that moment, they _are_ human." He stopped talking and looked around at Richard. "I am sorry for what I did to your brother."

"I forgive you, as well. I understand the obsession to watch the one you love and to ensure their safety," Richard said. "Jenny, I have to say, this is the happiest I've ever seen you."

"I have made peace with what I am, and besides, if I were human, I would only have had one lifetime with Potter, and that would never have been enough," she told him, and smiled at Potter.

"Was all of the family still together the first time you were watching her?" Beck asked.

Potter replied, "Yes, they were all there. Why?"

"Because, I'm going to need a plan to bring you two together without anyone getting hurt."

Startled, Jenny asked, "You're not still thinking of going back, are you?"

"I have to. If I can change any of this, then I have to try."

"But, what if you still die?" Jenny whispered.

"Then, I'll be born again, and Richard will find me again, and I'll try again," Beck answered.

Pouting, Jenny said, "I want to see Leso."

Richard took out a cell phone that Beck didn't know he had and dialed a number. "Leso, I need you to come to 847 Greenland Street, now please." He flipped the phone shut, grinned at Jenny and said, "He's on his way."

Jenny nodded. "I still don't understand why you have to leave her."

"Because, if I stay with her for the years between now and the time for her to go back, I could never allow her to leave. I know that."

"What do you mean 'allow me'?" Beck asked. "I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"Me and Leso could tear down that entire building in three minutes, and you wouldn't be going anywhere," Richard laughed.

***

They were still arguing when there was a knock at the door. Richard stepped outside for a few seconds, and then brought a slender, dark-haired man into the room. He must have told him about the hunter, but not about Jenny, because the surprised look on this man's face was unmistakable. With the new excitement in the room, no one but Richard noticed the look of shock on Beck's face. He gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head so he wouldn't ask anything now.

After the excitement of reuniting with Jenny had passed, Leso walked over to Beck and gave her a long, gentle hug.

He pulled back so he could look at her properly. "Hello Beck. I'm your brother-in-law, Leso."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. Well, I guess I mean, it's nice to meet you _again_ ," she said smiling.

After another hour or so of catching up, Richard announced that it was time for him and Beck to go.

"There are still many things for me to tell her and not a lot of time."

Leso decided to stay the night with Potter and Jenny. They all said their goodnights before the two of them climbed back into Richard's car. On the way back to the dorm, they talked about his relief and happiness in finding Jenny safe, well, and most surprising of all, happy. She had never been truly happy before. When they got back to the dorm, the first thing he asked was about the surprised look on her face when she saw Leso.

"Do you remember me telling you about my dream of Bev finding a good man?" she asked, and he nodded. "Well, Leso's that good man."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course I'm sure."

"Are you upset about it; about him being a vampyre?" he asked quietly.

"Why would I be upset about it? You're a vampyre, and I love you."

He was across the room and had his arms around her in a flash. "Say it again."

"I love you," she said. "I haven't heard that in 113 years," he said, and kissed her. As hard as it was to pull away, she broke the kiss.

"I think you have a lot to tell me. Now's a good time to start. You need to tell me everything I need to know."

He sat her on the bed and pulled up a chair. Taking a deep breath, Richard began: "Okay, here it goes. It was 1888 when I met you. You walked past me on the street, and I caught your scent, but every other smell about you was alien. I didn't know until later that you had just stepped into our time and some of the scents from this time had clung to you. Skipping the details of our meeting, you were sent back to 1888 to find the true identity of Jack the Ripper.

"I eventually took you to meet my family. At that time my family consisted of my father: Daryl, mother: Rita, my brothers: Leso, Harley, and Bruce, and my sisters: Jenny, Heidi, and Saphira. They could not have picked a worse time to send you back. At the time you came, we were battling the hunters _and_ an evil clan of vampyres.

"Their master was an evil bastard of a vampyre. A person's personality doesn't change that much when they are changed into a vampyre. If you were a decent person before you were changed, most likely you will remain decent. On the flip side, if you were an evil person, you will be evil as a vampyre, and with the power you gain, it only gets worse.

"It was that very way with Royal Elderson. I never knew him when he was a human man, I can only imagine. As a vampyre, he is cruel and sadistic. Torture and human suffering were like the air that he breathed. They thought that the animal blood drinking vampyres needed to be killed, said we sullied the meaning of vampyres. Our happiness enraged him. That's why he killed you, because of my happiness.

"We were walking home from the city one night, nearly within sight of our house, when I sensed a vampyre, but thought it was just one of my family. You see, we can sense other vampyres, but not who they are. When we get close enough to them, we can smell the blood they have consumed. He must have forgone eating for days to get that close without my notice.

"He grabbed you from behind and jumped with you into a tree. He said he held my heart in his hands and wondered what I would give for your life. Anything, I told him, anything at all. He asked if I would surrender a member of my family to his clan to become one of them. Please forgive me Beck but I couldn't do it.

"He had his arm around your throat with your legs dangling over the branch he was standing on. When I told him anything but that, he used his other hand to twist your head nearly all the way around, and dropped your body. You vanished before you hit the ground. He was gone before I could Catch him. After that, some of my family was killed by his clan, and the others by hunters. You've met all that remain. I've waited all these years to have you back, to maybe change what happened, but maybe Jenny's right. How can I risk you again for my own selfish needs?"

"You were right to tell him no. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if your family were turned into monsters like him. And you're not asking me to go back. I want to go back. I'll find a way to stop it, I promise."

"You're starting to look tired. Go to sleep. I'll be here in the morning. We still have a lot to talk about."

She fell asleep quickly and again he watched over her. His thoughts went back to his family again remembering the first time heand Leso had visited their new family.

***

They had arrived at Daryl's invitation promptly at 7:00.

Daryl invited them in. "We are happy you have come to visit. Please come in and let me introduce you to my family. This is my wife, Rita." Rita was a short woman, no more than 5'3". She was rotund, but by no means fat, with green eyes, short red and gray upswept hair, and a most dazzling smile. "My son's Bruce and Harley, and my daughters Heidi, Saphira, and Jenny. They have all taken my last name, Young. So, I suppose we would be referred to as to as the Young family. Ironic don't you think, being as we are all so old in true years."

"Please make yourselves at home."

"What is it you wanted to discuss with us?" Leso asked, cutting to the chase.

"Not just to discuss. We wish to make you an offer. We have been watching you discreetly for quite some time and have learned that you, like us, do not live on the blood of humans. You have caught our interest. We were wondering if this is your way of life. If you and your brother have chosen to live this way or are you simply conducting an experiment."

"This is our way of life," Richard said. "I drank the blood of humans in my first year, but only until I discovered that I could sustain my thirst on the blood of animals, and have not harmed a human since."

"What of you young man, what made you give up human blood?" Daryl asked Leso.

"I have never fed on the blood of humans. My brother was there for my change. He led me in the right direction, and I have never strayed from that path."

"And you feel no pull to the blood of humans?" Daryl asked.

Leso shook his head. "No, I have never craved it, perhaps because it was not the first blood that I fed upon."

"That brings me to my offer," Daryl said. "We would like you to join our family. Times are changing. The hunters have starting to enter England 300 miles from here. It will not be long, mere months, before they enter this area, and if that isn't bad enough, Royal Elderson's clan wants to put a stop to us as well. We offend them by not drinking the blood of innocent humans. There are even some of his clan that drink the blood of children."

"We've not had a problem with hunters or this Elderson clan," Leso said. "You will when they discover your existence, and they will discover you. Two vampyres will be no match for them. We would like you to consider becoming members of our family. There is strength in numbers. You are most welcome here, and you are not under any obligation to change your name. You are more than welcome to keep your own name, and no offense will be taken," Daryl said

"I don't want a master," Richard said.

"There are no masters here. Our decisions are made by family discussions. As I said, this may be a clan, but it is a family first. Please talk this over between the two of you, but we need your answer by tomorrow night. After that, my family will be moving on," Daryl said while walking them to the door. "We hope to see you tomorrow night. If not, I want to say it was a great pleasure to meet you. Goodnight."

They soon found out that Daryl was correct. They'd not even made it back to their house when they sensed another vampyre. They waited, and within two minutes, an ugly, brown-haired woman approached them from the opposite side of the road.

"Good evening. I am Tamara Elderson. I have been sent to bring you to my master."

This vampyre definitely smelled of human blood.

Leso spoke for himself and Richard.

"Tell your master thank you, but no."

Tamara snarled at them. "It was not a request. Either you come with me or you die."

Richard and Leso looked at each other. They knew she was the only vampyre around. She couldn't possibly kill both of them.

"The answer is still no," Leso said.

She lunged at them. Within seconds, it was over. She had jumped at Leso, and Richard stepped up behind her and ripped off her head.

"Are you alright?" he asked Leso.

"Hell no, I'm not alright! This was a brand new shirt," he replied, looking down at his white shirt that was now covered with spats of blood, and shaking his head. "I'll never get this out."

"You know there's bound to be more of them waiting at our house," Richard said.

Leso nodded. "So what do we do now?"

"I think we should go back to the Youngs'. Like Daryl said, there's safety in numbers."

"I agree. If we decide later that being part of a clan is not for us, we can always leave."

"We agree then. I think we should go now before those at our house figure out that we're not coming back," Richard said, and they broke into a run.

Richard was fast, but Leso was faster. Richard knew that Leso was slowing his pace so they were running side by side. They made it back to the Youngs' in less than one minute. The door opened before they had made it halfway across the yard.

"What has happened?" Daryl asked.

They explained what had just taken place.

Daryl turned to his family. "There has been a change of plans. We will be leaving tonight. Quickly gather what you wish to take with you. Harley, please ready the carriages." He turned back to Richard and Leso. "I do not advise you returning to your home. I hope there is nothing there that you need."

"Nothing worth dying for," Leso said.

"You will be coming with us?" Daryl asked.

Richard answered for them both. "Yes."

"Wonderful. We need to stick together in these dangerous times," Daryl said.

It took only a short time for them to be ready to leave. Two carriages had been pulled out front. Bruce would be driving one, Saphira the other. Leso and Richard rode in the carriage with Daryl and Rita.

"How many vampyres does Elderson have?" Richard asked.

"No more than six or seven. He does not make more than he can control. He fears that if he makes any more than that, they would turn on him. There's always someone who wants his place of power. Therefore, he keeps his clan small," Daryl explained. "The hunters are more prevalent and much more dangerous, but only travel in groups of two or three. They tend to be more cautious. They're smart, which only makes them more dangerous."

"Where are we going?" Richard inquired.

"London, I think. We haven't been there in many years. It should be interesting to see how it has changed," Daryl answered.

That was how they came to be part of the Young family. It was that fateful night that led him back to London, and six years later, to Beck. That was the first time he had killed another vampyre, but far from the last, because Elderson had replaced every one they killed. On the other hand, hunters could not be replaced. He had killed three and Leso two. If what Potter had said about there only being 412 hunters was true, then there couldn't be many left.

***

He had to admit that Jenny had gotten him thinking about sending Beck back. Actually, it had been what Beck had said. If she died, Richard would find her _again_ , and they would try _again_. He had always assumed that this was the first time, but was it? How many times had this played out? How many times had he watched Beck die? Seen his family die? Ten? Hundreds? He had her now. How wise was it to let her go? Was he willing to let her die again just to get what he wanted?

Elderson never knew where Beck had come from. What if he found out this time? What if he killed one of her parents? Then, there would be no Beck. Was it worth it? But Beck knew now. She knew what she was getting into. He could stop her, but she would never forgive him.

He could tell she already thought of this as her family, and he had set her on a mission to save them. He had to leave her soon, though he would never be far from her; just far enough. And it was a sure bet that Jenny wouldn't leave her. Elderson was still out there somewhere. just to be safe, they wouldn't stray too far away.

But Leso was right. He couldn't stay with her and still allow her to go. She would never know how hard this was for him, never see the blood streaming down his face as he watched her sleep. He would leave her tomorrow night, and it would tear his soul apart.

At least he could watch her now.

He watched her sleep, trying to think of everything he needed her to learn. He knew she needed to learn all she could about Jack the Ripper, because her knowledge of that is what gets her the job that brings her to him in the past. She also needed to take a class that would allow her to study blood.

He wanted her to study a sample of his blood to see if there was any way she could devise a weapon from it. He wanted her to research any way to kill vampyres. He needed Elderson to be dead if they were ever really going to be safe. That was all he cared about...keeping his family safe. He felt like he had failed them all.

After Beck had died, he had lost his focus; had lost himself. He would wonder away for days at a time. His family had said nothing to him about it, because they knew he was grieving, but they worried about him going off on his own. Ironically, they were worried about him when it was he that was gone when some of his family had been slaughtered. Bruce had been killed first, out in the forest, by a hunter, but he didn't learn of that until later. He'd only come home in time to help his brothers and sisters pick up the pieces of his mother and father.

It had been three hunters that had attacked. The hunters had all been destroyed in the attack, but not before killing his parents. None of his siblings had blamed him. They hadn't had to. He blamed himself. If he'd been there, he would have been in the fight, and they may have been saved. They buried their parents, burned the bodies of the hunters and had moved on.

They didn't fear another attack. That band of hunters had been killed, but the memories there were too much to bear. There were many moves after that. They never stayed in one place longer than a couple of months. Richard, Leso, Harley, Jenny, Heidi, and Saphira remained together, but it never felt the same without Daryl and Rita. It was a senseless killing. They were harming no one, but the hunters didn't care.

They only wanted the vampyres dead, all of them, no exceptions. The guilt he carried around was like a crushing weight _or_ weightlessness in the pit of his stomach. He knew now that it was comparable to being on a roller coaster...that feeling in your stomach when you start to drop after going over the top. That's what his guilt felt like, only his drop never ended.

He had moments where he didn't feel it, but as soon as his family popped into his mind, his stomach dropped and his brain was chanted:

Your fault. YOUR FAULT! _YOUR FAULT!!!_ In all the years that had passed, his guilt had never eased. He knew he was sending Beck back to save them but also to make the guilt stop.

A few years later they lost Saphira and Heidi when they had been returning home from town. Usually, Richard, Harley, and Leso would walk them home, but they had gotten off work early and must have decided it would be safe for them to make the journey home alone. They had been wrong.

They were ambushed on the way home. It was the Elderson clan. They were nice enough to leave a note, "You're next," written in the blood of their sisters. Once again, they buried their family's bodies. One of Elderson's vampyres had been killed as well. They just threw it's body into the woods. Then it was Richard, Leso, Harley, and Jenny.

Three years later, Elderson himself had gotten Harley. Then it was only Richard, Leso, and Jenny. Then Jenny was gone as well. From then on it had just been Richard and Leso. As it turned out, a hunter really did get Jenny, just not in the way that they had originally thought. They had killed hunters and vampyres throughout the years between then and now, but had run into very few vampyres since they came to the United States and no hunters, with the exception of Potter.

He wondered how many hunters were left. It could not be many, a handful at most, and right now, Elderson had to be his main focus. Nobody seemed to know where he was. Richard had other vampyre friends that had been searching for him for years just as he and Leso had.

No one had seen or heard of him in 23 years, but nobody made the mistake of thinking he was dead.

If that had happened, the news would have been spread far and wide. Even if one of his own clan had killed him, they would have spread the news to let everyone know they had killed the great Elderson and taken his place. His clan was nothing if not vain. He was still out there somewhere, and one day, they would find him. He hoped it would be he that found him. They had a lot of unfinished business. He had broken Beck's neck and ran. He had not seen her body vanish. Richard knew the 'transmitters' in Beck's body were set to return her to her time on a certain date, but it must have also been designed to return her immediately in the event of her death.

They knew they would be separated when the time came for her to leave. The separation would have been years for him but mere minutes for her. He was prepared as much as he could be for that separation but not for her death. For 95 years, he had hoped she would be born again but had never truly believed it until that day at the hospital. Now here she was, and he might be sending her back to die again. What kind of husband was he? But he knew the answer to that question, _a desperate one_.

### Chapter Four

Beck woke up the next morning to a breakfast biscuit and a Coke.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" she asked, yawning and unwrapping her breakfast.

"I was thinking maybe this isn't such a good idea. What if we've done this many times before and you always die anyway?"

"Nope, this is the first time," she answered with confidence. "How can you be so sure of that?"

"You said that I didn't know you when I went back the first time, and that I didn't know your family. If that's true, then it stands to reason that this is the first time you've ever came to me in the present."

"I didn't think about that."

"So, what do you need me to do?"

"I want you to analyze a sample of my blood, see what you can make of it, and if a weapon can be made with it."

"That won't work."

"And exactly why not?" he snapped. She snapped right back at him, "Don't get an attitude! I'm just saying that the blood in your veins is probably going to be that of whatever you ate last. I'd have a better chance with a sample of your toxin."

"Oh. Yeah, okay. I'll give it to you but please be careful with it. My toxin may be as deadly to you as your blood would be to me."

"What else?" she asked.

"I want you to research whatever you think may be a viable way to kill vampyres. If you think it might work, study it. I doubt there's any history on hunters, but I would render a guess that what kills us would also kill them."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. The toxin that changed them had been altered. We don't know that what would work on vampyres would work on them."

"Yes, I see your point. Well, you don't need my help. You seem to know what you're doing. Can you still get into a chemistry class?"

Smiling she said, "With enough money, I can take any course I want. It will be a lot of extra work and time, though. It'll cut my social life down to nothing, but I don't foresee me doing a lot of dating anyway."

"I should think not unless you want those men's deaths on your conscience," he said, only half joking.

"You wouldn't," she said.

"I might," he said. "You want to try me?"

"Actually, I do," she said, smiling as she pulled him onto the bed with her where they spent the rest of the day, only stopping to have pizza delivered. There was a knock on her door at 8:00 pm.

"It's Leso," she stated, pulling on a pair of old sweats and a t-shirt before Richard answered the door.

"It's time to go," Leso said.

Suddenly distraught, she whispered, "Don't go."

"I don't want to, but I have to," he said. He stepped to her and hugged her. "I'm sorry, Little One. It's the only way I can do this."

"I love you," she said.

"Say it again."

"I love you," she repeated. "I love you, too, Beck, more than you can ever imagine."

Leso stepped forward and hugged her next.

"Take care of him," she told him.

"I will, don't worry. Bye Beck."

And just like that, they were gone.

***

For days, she expected him to pop back up, but he didn't. She threw herself into studying but found she couldn't focus. She knew it was because she couldn't sleep. When she could sleep, it was only for 2 or 3 hours.

She finally went to the campus clinic and got a prescription for Ambien. She had to get some sleep. She had to learn this stuff. It wasn't just her grades that depended on it. About three months later, Potter brought her a vial with about two drops of clear liquid.

"Vampyre toxin," he said.

"Can I ask you to do me a favor?" she asked.

"Sure. What do you need?"

"A vial of your blood."

"I guess, but why?" he asked.

"I just want to see how it compares with the vampyre toxin," she lied.

"Cool, let me know what you find out." They walked to the Chem. Lab and drew his blood with a silver needle she'd had made, and not just for this occasion. As she walked him out, she told him she had to do the test at night when nobody would walk in and question what she was doing.

She spent a fair amount of time with Jenny, mostly sightseeing and shopping.

Jenny told Beck something she hadn't thought of. "You know, if this works and you do come back, you will be the only one who remembers all of this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, all of our pasts will change," Jenny stated. "You mean Richard and I may not be together when I come back?" she asked in a gasping panic.

Jenny just laughed, "That's not even possible. Richard and you are like me and Potter; soul mates. I just mean that everyone's memories from the time you leave the past until you return to the future will be different. Everyone's memories _except_ yours. It's bound to be confusing for you. Seven years of your life will be altered from what you remember. We're going to have to come up with a reason for you to have amnesia or something so everyone doesn't think that you've gone crazy." That gave Beck something to think about. Richard wouldn't remember coming to her here. Jenny would have no memory of dancing her around the room or of all their shopping trips. She could live with that as long as she had more family to come back to.

When she got a chance for a moment alone in the Chem. Lab, she put the vampyre toxin under the microscope. Nothing. It was like looking at a drop of sterilized water. She then looked at a small drop of Potter's blood. A-positive just like hers, but for all intents and purposes, human blood. She saw no mutations. She put the rest of the blood into a plastic vial and put it in her dorm room freezer.

***

She was in her second year when she started her official study on the Jack the Ripper murders, but she had already read everything she could about them. She was on the top floor of the library one night, looking for a detailed book on the Ripper, when a man approached her.

"Can I help you find something?" he asked. "No."

She could feel he wasn't there to help her. It wasn't until that moment that she realized how truly alone she was. Not many people were in the library on a Friday night, and she didn't remember seeing anyone else on this floor.

"Come on, let me help you," he said stepping closer to her and almost touching her.

"I said _no_." she hissed loudly.

"Come on, don't be like that," he said, grabbing her wrist. "I believe the lady said no," a familiar voice said from the end of the aisle.

She turned her head and saw Richard standing there. And he didn't look happy.

"Nobody asked you, did they?" the man asked.

Richard walked towards them. He emitted danger, but this man obviously didn't sense it.

Richard looked at the man. "Leave."

"Me and the lady's talking," the man said. "You leave."

When Richard got to them, he leaned down and she saw that the whites of his eyes were filled with blood.

"Leave now or die," Richard hissed. Richards hiss was different than hers. Her hiss was human. His sounded as if it came from the deepest bowels of hell, and the man holding her wrist finally understood that he was in true danger.

The man pulled Beck in front of him like a shield, putting one of his arms around her throat. She looked nervously at Richard. She'd thought he'd looked mad at her graduation, but that was nothing compared to the way he looked now.

She saw just a flash of movement and heard the man's arm break. The man screamed and dropped to his knees. Richard picked the man up by the back of his neck and threw him down the aisle into a brick wall hard enough to make it crack.

He was headed towards the man again when Beck stopped him. "Richard, you're going to kill him."

He turned and looked at her. "Yes, that was the general plan."

"Please don't," she said, rubbing her throbbing wrist.

Suddenly, he was right in front of her, "Are you alright, Little One?"

"Yeah, I think it's just sprained."

Richard took her wrist gently and examined it closely.

"You're right, it's not broken, but we should get some ice on it, and a bandage, I think. Come on," he said as he led her out of the library. "What about that man? Will he be alright?"

Richard just shrugged his shoulders.

They got into his car and he drove them down to the corner store. He went in and came out of the store with a bag of ice, zip lock bags, and an Ace bandage.

"How did you know where I was?"

"I'm always around." Back at the dorm room, he iced and wrapped her wrist. "So what? You just watch me everywhere I go?"

"Pretty much," he answered curtly. "And you couldn't drop by and say hello?"

"No, I couldn't," he said quietly. "And why not?" she demanded. "Because just watching you is tearing my heart to pieces . To spend time with you, and then leave again may just rip my very soul apart." he said fiercely.

"You're here now," she said. "You needed me."

She moved her wrist and cringed. He got up, went to the dresser drawer and pulled out a bottle of Hydrocodone the clinic had given her for a pulled hamstring she had gotten about six months ago in a self-defense class she was taking.

"How did you know those were there?"

"I could smell them," he said as he shook one out into his hand and got a glass of water from the bathroom.

"I don't want it. They make me sleepy."

"It's late. It's time to sleep. Take it."

"Only if you stay with me until I fall asleep," she said stubbornly. Soothingly, he assured her, "Of course I will, Little One."

She took the pill, and he helped her change into her nightshirt.

"So, what did you learn from the toxin I sent you?"

"Nothing at all. It was like looking at sterile water. I don't know what's in it that causes the change, but it doesn't show up in any chemical test or under a microscope."

She had a plan, but she wasn't going to tell him. She could have secrets, too.

"Damn! I was hoping it would be of some help," he said disappointed, then sighed and asked, "So what have you been studying?"

"This last semester has been about werewolves. Do they exist?" she managed to ask between yawns.

"No, that one was made up. However, fairies, gnomes, vampyres, ghosts, Bigfoot, and witches are real, along with lots of other things," he teased as he watched her eyes drooped and she drifted off to sleep.

***

He knew he should leave, but he couldn't pull himself away just yet. It had been torture all this time to be close enough to smell her scent but never close enough to touch her. He wanted to tear apart every man that turned their head to watch her walk by. Jealousy had never been a strong emotion with him, but that had changed.

He saw her having a cup of coffee with a young gentleman in the courtyard about a month ago, and had an overwhelming urge to go over and rip the man's heart out through his mouth. Only willpower had stopped him. And now there were going to be questions about what happened in the library. He would leave her a note telling her that if they questioned her to say she had seen nothing unusual that night. He also knew now that she had gotten her fighting skills from self-defense courses.

Hopefully, this time when she went back, there would be no need for her to use them, but it was nice to know she could if need be. She could probably keep herself safe, but it was his place to keep her safe. He'd wanted to ask her who the man she was having coffee with was, but he had no right.

He'd left her, and he knew she would not betray him. He had not betrayed her since the moment she had vanished. No other woman held any interest for him. And now he had to leave her again. He sat and watched her until the sky started lightening with the morning sun, and then he quietly left the dorm.

***

When Beck woke up, he was gone. The news about the man in the library was all over campus. His arm was broken in three places, his shoulder was pulled completely out of its socket, and he had a fractured skull. He claimed to have no memory of what had happened to him. Who knows, with a fractured skull, he may not ever remember. _Or_ , he may not remember because; he was not a student at the school, had no reason to be on the property, and didn't want to explain himself to the police. Either way, he'd live.

Weeks passed and Richard never showed himself again. It was strange knowing he was there but always out of sight. She had to admit it made her feel safe. She put all her focus into her Ripper studies. She needed to learn as much as she could on the subject.

All the victims were known prostitutes. The first victim was Mary Ann Nichols. She was killed Friday, August 31, 1888. Her body had been found at 3:40 a.m. She had been murdered on Bucks Row less than 200 yards from London Hospital. Her throat had been deeply slashed twice. Her lower abdomen had been partially ripped open by a deep wound. There were also cuts across the upper abdomen and up to four cuts down her right side believed to be caused by the same weapon.

The second victim was Annie Chapman. She had been killed Saturday, September 8, 1888. She had been murdered at 29 Hanbury Street between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m. She had been killed by two deep cuts to the throat, her abdomen had been cut open, and her uterus had been removed.

The third victim was Elizabeth Stride. She had been killed around 1:00 a.m., Sunday, September 30, 1888, in Dutfields Yard off Berner Street. She was killed by a single knife wound to the throat. Police thought her attack was interrupted due to the fact that she was still bleeding when her body was found. Catherine Eddowes was the fourth victim. She was killed Sunday, September 30, 1888, between 1:35 and 1:45 a.m. within an hour after Elizabeth Stride's murder. She was murdered in Mitre Square.

Witnesses saw her walking in the direction of Mitre Square at 1:35, and her body was found at 1:45. She had been killed by two deep wounds to the throat, both of her eyelids had been sliced, her nose and part of her uterus had been removed.

The fifth and final victim was Mary Jane Kelly. She had been killed Friday, November 13, 1888. She was killed in a room at 13 Millers Court between midnight and 10:45 a.m. when her body was found. Hers was the most gruesome murder. Her throat had been sliced twice and severed to the spine. Her face had been horribly mutilated. Her abdomen had been cut open with the entire contents emptied and scattered around the body on the bed. Her breasts had also been removed and placed on the bed. The skin and tissue had been removed from her thighs all the way down to the bone. The heart had been removed and never found. There were more murder victims during that time, but only these five were thought to be Ripper victims. The description of the Ripper from alleged 'eyewitness' accounts was a white male, 20-40 years of age, average or below average height, well dressed, and possibly a foreigner. Though how they would know he was a foreigner was anybody's guess. The top four suspects were: Montague John Druitt, Aaron Kosminski, Michael Ostrog, and none other than Prince Albert, grandson of Queen Victoria.

The first suspect, Montague John Dritt was born to a well off family in Dorset. He graduated with a degree in the classics and went on to teach at Blackhealth Boarding School. His father was a surgeon, and his mother was institutionalized for depression. Shortly after being dismissed from his job at Blackhealth, he committed suicide by jumping into the Thymes River in December of 1888, a month after the last Ripper murder. No evidence exist that Druitt was the Ripper. For reasons unknown, his own family told police that they had little doubt that he was Jack the Ripper. The second suspect, Aaron Kosminski lived in White Chapel at the time of the murders. He was known for his strong hatred of women and homicidal tendencies. He was locked up in an insane asylum in March of 1889. There was an alleged witness to the Mitre murder who at that time said he could not identify the murderer. Only two years later did he claim that Kosminski was indeed the murderer. Most investigators do not believe that the witness was credible enough to point the finger at Kosminski for the murders, and he was never charged with any of them. The third suspect was Michael Ostrog who was a Russian doctor. Ostrog spent the majority of his life in prison for theft and was later transferred to an insane asylum where he registered himself as a Jewish doctor. No evidence exist that he was even in Whitechapel at the time of the murders, and he was never known to be a violent criminal. Being 5'11" and in his late 50's to early 60's, he was both too tall and too old to fit eyewitness descriptions.

The fourth suspect was Prince Albert. This opinion did not surface until decades after the murders. It has been claimed that syphilis caused him to go insane and commit the murders. Many investigators discredit Prince Albert as a suspect owing to the fact that he was in Scotland at the time of two of the murders. It is also known that he possessed no medical knowledge and was never known to be a violent man. Other theories of the Ripper abound. None of the victim's bodies showed any kind of defensive wounds. There were no signs of a struggle. This lead investigators to assume that he must have been very charismatic and able to charm the prostitutes. It was also assumed that he had to have been very fast and strong giving the women no time to defend themselves. The reason behind the attacks does not appear to have been rape but rather for degradation, humiliation, and mutilation.

Later in the 1980's, the Institute of Forensic Science prepared a psychological profile of Jack the Ripper. The profile suggested that he was a male, in his late 20's, and thought to be a resident in the Whitechapel area at the time of the murders. It was believed that he had regular employment and was single because of the late hours that he kept on weekends. It is probable that he had been in trouble with the law on lesser charges. It is also believed that he was abused as a child, probably by his mother. No one was ever caught, and the identity of the murderer remains a mystery to this day.

Beck thought he was one sick son of a bitch, whoever he was. They knew from the wounds that he was likely right-handed. Because of his knowledge of anatomy, the thought was he had at least some medical knowledge, but he could have just as likely been a butcher. All the books and reports she had read told her the same thing; that they didn't know jack-shit, and they still don't. Many of the authors of the Ripper books put the blame on the police for not catching him, but Beck didn't feel that way. They didn't have the forensics then that they do now.

They didn't have crime scene experts, finger printing, DNA, testing or fiber analysis. We have all that now, and we still don't catch all the bad guys. Back then, they had to catch them in the act or have a credible eyewitness. In the Ripper case, they didn't even believe that most of the eyewitnesses were witnesses at all. You have to work with what you got, and in the Ripper case, they just didn't have a lot to work with.

***

Beck was in the end of her third year of college before she saw Richard again. She'd had dinner with her friend Benny the night Richard turned up. She'd only made a couple of friends since she started college. One was Maggie from across the hall. Maggie was also studying parapsychology, and she also saw ghosts. Beck believed her, because they had seen the same ghost at the same time outside a pizza place in town, but they felt differently about it.

They had both seen ghosts their whole lives. However, whereas they didn't bother Beck, they scared the ever lovin' shit out of Maggie. She'd just never gotten used to it. he was here to study ghosts, but also to see if she could make it stop.

Beck didn't mind the ghosts, and she thought she'd actually found one of her own answers. She'd seen one male ghost off and on since she was a kid. Most ghosts stayed in one location or with the person they had attached themselves to.

This man wasn't attached to Beck. He wasn't there all the time, but he did pop up from time to time. He had always been pleasant enough, and from listening to Jenny talk about her family, Beck was pretty sure her ghost was Jenny, Richard, and Leso's brother, Bruce.

Her other friend was Benny. He was in his second year, and was also studying the Ripper cases. However, Beck was known as the Ripper expert on campus, and he had come to her for some information. To her surprise, they got along well. It was nice to have somebody to argue with about the cases. They rarely agreed, but had a wonderful time debating it.

He walked her back to her dorm after dinner, kissed her on the cheek, and left. When she opened her dorm room door she found Richard sitting on her bed.

"Who was that?" he asked in a pissy tone. "Hello to you, too."

"Who was that?" he asked again. "Oh, calm down. He's just a friend." Beck told him.

She could feel his anger and jealousy.

"He kissed you!"

"Only on the cheek."

"What is a man doing kissing any part of you?"

Now she was getting mad. Did he actually think she would cheat on him?

"Well, _you_ haven't been here to kiss me so somebody had to."

It was the wrong thing to say. In a blur of movement, he had her pressed against the door with his body, pinned her hands above her head, and was kissing her. It was the hardest, deepest kiss they had ever had. There was violence in it, but rather than scare her, it excited her. Slowly, his body relaxed against hers. He released her hands and buried his fingers in her hair.

It seemed a long time later that he pulled away. "Now you've been kissed."

"Do you know how hard it is to have a boyfriend you can't see?"

"Do you know how hard it is to have a wife you can't touch?" he countered. "Who is he, Beck?"

"I told you, he's just a friend. Don't you trust me?"

"Yes, but I don't trust _him_. He's bound to be interested in you," he said, the pissy tone creeping back into his voice.

Beck just laughed, "He'd be more interested in you than me, no doubt."

"What?" he asked, clearly confused. "Benny's gay," she said between giggles. "Oh...well, that's different, isn't it? Now I feel like an idiot."

"You sound like an idiot," she agreed.

"It won't be long now and we'll be together. Just five more years," he said.

"You say that like it's not a long time"

"In vampyre time, it's not."

"Well, I'm not a vampyre, and five years is a long ass time," she told him.

"I'm sorry, Little One," he said."Why do you call me that?"

"You said once that you always wished you were shorter. I told you that you'd always be my Little One, and it just kind of stuck."

"Oh well, that's kind of sweet, I guess. By the way, I know you've been in my room," she said, smiling.

"How do you know that?"

"I can smell you on my pillows. Have you been sleeping here

"Sometimes. Mostly, I come here just to feel closer to you."

"So, you come here to smell me?" she asked. "No. I can smell you from across the campus. That's just your scent. It's how I follow you. I come here to be where you live, to touch the things you touch, to feel like I'm still part of you," he said quietly.

"So stay," she urged.

"I can't do that," he said.

"Then just stay tonight," she said, and she took his hand.

"That I can do," he said, and pulled her down on the bed with him. When she woke up in the morning, he was gone. She didn't see him again for years.

### Chapter Five

After Bev graduated from college, she took a job in Durham to be closer to Beck. Bev got a job in one of the smaller law firms in town. They handled all kinds of cases but mostly personal injury. Bev said she liked it, because most of the cases were settled out of court. It was nice to have Bev around. She kept some of Beck's loneliness at bay since Richard had stopped coming to her room.

His scent no longer lingered on her pillows. She felt so alone most of the time, and had it not been for Potter and Jenny, she probably would have convinced herself that Richard had just been a figment of her imagination.. Beck graduated at the top of her class and was forced by Bev to go to yet another graduation ceremony. She had flat refused to give a speech. She watched the crowd for any sign of Richard, but he never showed.

She moved into a house she and Bev leased in Durham. It was a nice house with a big private yard enclosed by a privacy fence. It had 100 year old trees in the yard that provided shade for the house. She was more comfortable living with Bev again than she had been the entire time she had been at the dorms. She hadn't realized how much she had missed Bev until they were back together.

Richard had once told her not to go looking for the Ripper job that it would come to her. That left her a lot of free time to fill, so she took part in a paranormal research team. They searched through old houses in North Carolina looking for ghosts. Potter and Jenny joined in just for fun. "You're crazy! Why would you go looking for ghosts?" Bev asked her over dinner one night. "Don't you get enough of that?"

"I don't know. It's kind of interesting. I've seen them my whole life, but what they get on the voice recorders is just amazing. I may not see any ghosts, but we still capture voices. It's strange. Potter loves it, but it kind of gives Jenny the creeps."

"Yes, your friends, they're very...interesting. You never told me how you met them. Ya'll seem real close."

Beck told her that Potter had written a book she'd read in college and that she had went to ask him some questions, and met his wife Jenny. She didn't lie to her. She just didn't go into detail.

"So, what was the book about?"

"Vampyres," she said quickly, wishing the conversation would go in another direction, but knowing it wouldn't.

"So, I'm curious. What are some of the vampyre myths? I've seen a lot of movies, but what did they teach you in school?"

"Well, it depends on what you read. Most of the myths about them are just bullshit; like they sleep in coffins; they're repelled by crosses; they burn in the sun; they're burned by holy water; they shape-shift; they're not visible in mirrors; and that they can only live on human blood. I could probably think of fifty more, but they're all crap," Beck explained before continuing, "Now, there are some that hold up better. Vampyres are cold. Silver is the only thing that can penetrate their skin, but they heal very, quickly They can be in the sun, it just affects their vision. They can't fly, but they are very fast and can jump extremely high."

"You sound like you actually believe in this stuff. So, tell me Ms. Expert, how do you kill a vampyre?"

"Again, it's subjective, and most of its crap, too. Burning; burying a body face down; a stake through the heart; piling blessed stones on the grave; putting poppy seeds on the grave; burying the body at a crossroads. Most of that shit is just to prevent a body from rising as a vampyre, and none of it would work. Once they're infected with the toxin, they _will_ rise."

"Toxin? So, if you're bitten by a vampyre, you'll turn into a vampyre?"

"Not likely, they don't have to release the toxin. They choose who they want to change, and they're very selective. Most people bitten by a vampyre are just going to die."

"Beck, do you believe in vampyres?"

"Yes, I do," she answered honestly. "Why do you ask?"

"You just sound so sure about all of this. Want to tell me why?"

"Not really," Beck answered. "Okay...Well, I'm thinking about planting something under the living room windows. Any suggestions?"

"Four O'clocks," Beck said quickly, and just like that, the conversation moved to other things.

Bev had always been good about not pressing Beck about things. It was one of the things she loved about her. However, what she didn't like was Bev's attempts at matchmaking. She kept trying to set her up with guys and she was becoming increasingly frustrated at Beck's flat refusals.

"You're 25 years old. You have to start dating eventually," Bev told her after about her seventh attempt to get Beck to go out with someone. "No, I don't," Beck told her firmly. "Tell me this is not because of Alex Whitman," Bev said quietly. Beck looked her straight in the eye and told her. "This is not about Alex Whitman."

"Okay," Bev said, obviously believing her. After a few moments, she inquired delicately, "Are you gay?" A picture of Richard's face, and perfect naked body, blazed across her mind. "Definitely not."

"Don't you get tired of being alone?" Bev asked. "I'm not alone. I have you."

"You know what I mean. You need to find someone to be happy with."

"You're not with a man right now, and you're happy," she pointed out.

"Yes, but at least I'm trying to find the right man. I just can't find _the_ one," Bev said, clearly frustrated.

"Don't worry. You will," Beck said with a smile in her voice.

Bev looked at Beck and said, "You know something. You _saw_ something."

It wasn't a question. She knew Beck's tones too well.

Beck just shrugged. "I gotta go to work. There's boogiemen to be found."

She said as grabbed her keys from the table and headed for the door. "You know I hate you, right?" Bev called from the other room.

"Naw, you love me," Beck laughed.

"Be careful," Bev yelled past the closing door.

"Will do," she called as she stepped out into the night.

***

The night was a flop. No ghosts, not so much as a single whisper on the recorders. She'd dropped Potter and Jenny off about 20 minutes ago, and was just pulling into her driveway when her skin started to crawl. It was a charged night, a lot of lightning, but no wind, rain, or thunder. Her grandmother used to tell them that lightning with no storm was a bad omen.

She'd never noticed until now how dark their yard was at night. She turned off the car and just sat there for a minute. Her skin was crawling in waves. It was already 2:00 in the morning. She couldn't sit in her car all night. Then it hit her; what if the danger was in the house? 'Bev!' her brain screamed. She jumped out of the car and ran towards the house.

She didn't even make it halfway across the yard when a man landed silently in front of her. He was dark-haired and her height, but that was all she saw before he grabbed her by the neck with one hand and threw her backwards toward the car. She twisted in mid-air and landed hard on her stomach, her face smashing into the ground. She didn't even have time to rollover before she felt him above her.

She heard a deep growl from the other side of her car, felt something sail over her, and heard the impact of meat and bone crashing together. She couldn't see much. The porch light wasn't on to illuminate the yard, but she saw enough in the frequent lightning to know there was one hell of a fight going on.

They moved quickly around the yard, almost too fast for her eyes to track, but the sound was horrible. It sounded like a bobcat fighting a dog; hissing, snarling, growling and snapping noises tore through the still night air. The sound of the impacts were violent and terrifying. Then the front door of the house opened and the yard was suddenly lit from the porch flood light.

"What's going on out here?" Bev called from the porch.

At that moment of distraction, the strange vampyre was thrown onto his back. Leso took this opportunity to jump on the stranger's chest and kick his head off like a soccer ball...and Bev had a front row seat.

"What the fuck?!" Bev screamed.

Leso turned towards Bev in a blur of movement. Bev fainted, but Leso caught her before she hit the ground. Beck got up off the ground and limped over to the body in the yard, never happier about the privacy fence.

"That's just nasty," she said to Leso.

"Yes, but still, it was necessary," he replied.

"I'm not complaining, and thank you very much for charging in like that, but it's still nasty," she said, wrinkling her noise.

Leso carried Bev into the house. She followed him, snapped off the porch light, and closed the door on the horror scene in the yard. She didn't bother to lock it. What would be the point, really? If any other vampyres wanted to come after them she really didn't think a deadbolt would give them much pause.

She turned to Leso. "Are there anymore?"

"Not that I can feel," he said softly as he sat on the couch, cradling Bev in his arms.

She could tell he was having a hard time taking his eyes off Bev's face. He finally slid Bev gently off of his lap and settled her carefully onto the couch. He came over and squatted down in front of the chair Beck was sitting in.

"Are you alright, Beck? You've got blood all over your face."

"I'm fine, but we have to get that body out of the yard."

"Yeah, I'm on it," he said as he took out a cell phone, dialed a number and said, "You need to be at Beck's, _now_."

"Where's Richard?" she asked when he snapped the cell phone shut.

Although she had never asked Jenny and Potter where he was, right now, she really needed to know.

"We have found it easier to watch you if we take it in shifts. With his attraction to you, and my draw to your sister, we needed a break to stop us from coming to the two of you. Richard said you knew about me and your sister." He paused for a moment before quietly asking, "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't mind at all. I've known for years. You have my full blessing, and on the upside of things, when she wakes up, _you_ get to explain all this," Beck told him teasingly.

He looked startled. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"It's a great idea. Relax, Bev is gonna love you. I'm glad the two of you will finally be..." she was saying as the door flew open and Richard, Jenny, and Potter stormed in.

It had taken them all of seven minutes to run the distance it had taken her twenty minutes to drive. Richard was across the room in a flash, his hands flying over her body, checking her for wounds.

"Oh, Beck! I'm so God damned sorry," he said before turning on Leso. "What the hell happened? Where were you!?"

"I was right here. He was just faster than I thought he would be."'

It was at that moment that Bev woke up. She sat up slowly and looked at everyone in the room, but it was Leso her eyes lingered on.

"Bev, are you okay?" Beck asked, concerned.

"That depends. Did I just see him kick a man's head off?" she asked, pointing at Leso.

"Yes, you did," Beck answered.

"Oh well, then I'm fine, I guess" she said before asking, "Vampyres?"

"Yes," Beck replied.

Potter jumped up like a scalded dog, "Hey! I'm not a vampyre."

"Really? I read your book. I thought you were the vampyre," Bev said calmly.

"Nope, that would be Jenny," he said.

"But you're not quite normal, are you?" Bev asked.

"No... not quite," he agreed. "How did you know that they're vampyres?"

"You told me," Bev answered. Beck shook her head. "No I didn't."

"Well, not directly, no, but when we talked about them you said you believe in them."

"I used to believe in Santa Clause, too," Beck teased. Now Bev shook her head. "No you didn't. Since we were little, you only believed in what you could see and what you could feel, and you're rarely wrong. So, if you believe in something, then I believe in it, too."

Beck was touched almost beyond words.

"Well, none of these vampyres will hurt you," she said.

Her focus was on Bev, glad that she wasn't flipping out, but she was intensely aware of Richard staring at her.

"Yeah, I kind of gleaned that for myself. Is that your blood all over you?"

"Yeah, I took a bit of a tumble, but I'm fine."

"You are not fine." Richard growled. "You're hurt and bleeding."

"I'm fine, Richard, really I am."

He stepped up to her slowly and put his hand on her neck, turning her head up to meet his gaze.

"I'm so sorry," he said in a tortured voice.

"OOOOOH!" Bev shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump. "You're the reason she doesn't date!"

She was pointing her finger at Richard, catching on to what everyone else in the room already knew.

"Yes, that would be my fault. I've encouraged Beck not to make me kill the men she meets, but it's not been easy for me," he said to Bev, but his gaze was burning on Beck's face.

Beck broke his gaze and tried to control the heat in her face.

She focused back on Bev and said, "You know Potter and Jenny. This is Richard, and the man eating _you_ with his eyes is Leso." Leso had the grace to look a little embarrassed, but only a little, not enough to look away though. "I'm not sure what's going on _now_ , but I'm sure Leso would be happy to answer your questions." Taking her cue, Leso pulled Bev to her feet like he thought he was going to break her. "Let's get you something to drink. A coke, perhaps?" he said, shooting Beck a quick grin and led Bev towards the kitchen. When Bev glanced back, Beck gave her two thumbs up, knowing that Bev would catch her meaning. Bev looked back at Leso, her eyes wide with understanding, then they were out of sight.

Richard looked to Jenny and Potter. "Would you two get rid of Leso's mess, please?"

"No problem," Potter said, and he and Jenny went out the door leaving Beck and Richard alone.

"Let's get you cleaned up," he said, leading her upstairs to the bathroom. Beck had assumed he meant to get a wash cloth, but she was wrong. He closed the door, stepped around her, and turned on the shower. He turned back to her and started undressing her as if they had just seen each other yesterday. She stood stock still until he was done, just smelling him. Then, he grabbed her and set her on her feet in the steaming hot spray of water. Before she could do more than register that she was in the shower, he was naked and in the water with her.

He washed her face and hair. He checked her whole head carefully, looking for any wounds he may have missed. There were none. Then, he washed the rest of her body. She knew he was checking her over for any unseen damage. She had a couple of scrapes on her breast and a small cut on her knee, but other than that, she was fine. In fact, she was better than she had been in years. Which was bazaar considering that she'd just seen a man get his head kicked off.

Richard had not spoken a word to her since they entered the bathroom. He'd turned her towards the spray and was rubbing her shoulders and neck with cool hands. he dropped her head down and saw blood running through the water between her feet. _She_ wasn't bleeding anymore. She turned quickly and saw blood pouring from his eyes, down his face, and splashing into the tub below.

"Richard?" she asked, fear making her blood run cold.

He put his shaking hands over his face, trying to wipe away the tears.

"You could have died, and I wasn't even here," he said in a shaky voice.

"I didn't die. I'm right here," she said, trying to pull his hands away from his face.

He stepped around her and put his face in the cooling spray of water. When he turned back to her, the tears were gone. He cradled her face in his hands and just looked at her. She stared back at him, absorbing every detail of his face. He hadn't changed a bit since the first day she saw him. It seemed unfair for one person to be so perfect.

"You're cold," he said. She hadn't noticed when the hot water ran out. He scooped her up and stepped out of the shower. He kicked their clothes out of the way and got two big towels out of the closet. He wiped down her body with one towel and tried his best to dry her hair with the other. While he did this, she couldn't stop herself from touching him. She touched his face, his shoulders, his chest, his stomach, trying to reassure herself that he really was here. Her eyes raked up and down his body.

Dressed, he was perfect. Naked, he was a god. He was flawless. There was not one thing about his body that wasn't exquisitely perfect. It was hard to believe that he was hers. That if she did everything right, this was to be her prize.

"Stop touching me," he said quietly.

"No."

He groaned. "You are driving me crazy."

"Good," she smiled.

He gave her a small hiss, threw her over his shoulder, and left the bathroom.

"I'm naked!" she yelled at him. "Me, too. Don't worry. Nobody's coming up here," he stated as if it were an undeniable fact.

He opened her bedroom door, walked in, and flipped her onto the bed. He was on top of her without pause. The feeling of him on her was incredible. She had waited so long to see him again. She playfully licked and bit his shoulder and something in him broke. All traces of gentleness were gone. He wrapped his arms under her shoulders and pulled her up to him as he thrust into her. His thrusts were so violent that the bed frame gave way beneath them, crashing with them to the floor, but he seemed not to notice. Nor did she.

He was not hurting her, quite the opposite. For the first time in years, she felt complete. When their lovemaking was over, he collapsed on top of her. She lay there for the longest time feeling his heart pound against her chest until it slowed and finally stopped altogether. She waited for him to say something, to shift his weight off of her, but he didn't move. She shook his shoulders but got no response. She wiggled out from underneath him, grabbed him and shook him harder.

"Richard?" she said, but still got no response from him.

In a panic, she rolled off of the mattress onto the floor and screamed, "Leso!"

He was through the door before she could draw a breath to scream again.

"What?" he asked, flipping on the light, his eyes quickly scanning the room.

Bev came into the room at a more normal speed but with an edge of panic in her voice, she asked, "What's wrong?"

She looked at Beck and snatched a robe off of the back of the door and wrapped it around her sister. Beck had completely forgotten she was naked.

"Something's wrong with him," Beck said in a strained voice. Leso walked over to Richard and flipped him onto his back. He looked him over and put his ear to Richard's chest.

"Well Beck, you've killed him," he said laughing.

"That's not funny!"

"Calm down, he's just sleeping. What did you do to him?" he asked still smiling as he looked at the trashed bed. He just couldn't seem help himself. He continued laughing as he looked at Beck's expression and said, "Is that a bite mark on his shoulder?"

"Oh, shut up," Beck growled suddenly embarrassed now that she knew nothing was wrong with Richard.

"In a couple of hours, he'll be good as new, and I'm going to enjoy teasing him about this in the morning," he said in a gleeful voice. "Oh, you're not really gonna tell him, are you?" Beck asked him, really embarrassed now.

"Oh, you can bet on it. Goodnight Beck," he said, darting across the room, grabbing Bev, and running out of the bedroom.

"Leso!" she yelled. She heard his deep laugh from downstairs, but he didn't return.

She took a deep, steadying breath, flipped off the lights, and went to lay next to Richard on the mattress. She traced her fingers across his ribcage, still a bit warm from the heat of her body. 'Just sleeping' was her last thought as she fell asleep beside him.

***

Richard's eyes snapped open in the darkness. The digital clock across the room told him it was just after four-thirty in the morning. He sat up and looked around the room, a bit confused. Suddenly, it all came back to him in a rush. Had he really fallen asleep? He hadn't slept in four days and had been exhausted.

He knew they were getting close to the time that Beck would leave, and he was torn between letting her go or keeping her safe here with him? But last night's events proved that she was _not_ safe here. There were not that many vampyres in the United States, and he did not believe that it had been a coincidence that one had found its way to her. He needed to talk to Leso, but the noises he was hearing told him it would have to wait.

He really wasn't ready to get up yet, anyway. He laid back down and rolled over to face Beck. She was alright, but she might not have been, and where had he been? He had been off running, trying to control himself, his need to be with her. He had sensed another vampyre (Jenny, it had turned out) streaking through the night towards Beck's house. They had met up in the yard.

He'd only thrown a glance at the lifeless body lying there on the ground. When he got into the house and saw Beck's face covered in blood, he'd wanted to throttle Leso. Keep her safe! That's all he had to do, and he had very nearly failed. As he listened to Beck breathe in and out, he felt some of his anger with Leso slip away.

He had to remember that Leso's woman lived in this house as well. Leso would have died before he would have let that creature touch Bev, just as Richard would do for Beck. In the end, Leso had taken care of it. But what was going on? What was that creature even doing here? They had watched over Beck and Bev as a precaution. but they had never expected anything like this to actually happen.

The room had started to lighten with the coming day. He could hear movement downstairs and knew Jenny and Potter were back. He should have sensed Jenny coming, but was distracted by the woman at his side. He needed to go and talk to his family, but he still couldn't pull himself away.

He brushed the back of his knuckles across Beck's forehead, brushing the hair out of her face. A big bruise had bloomed on her cheek, and the bridge of her nose was a bit swollen but it could have been _much_ worse. He didn't even really know what had happened yet, but right now it was enough that she was still alive.

He laid beside her for hours, breathing in her scent. He touched her beautiful red hair, so thick it was still wet from the shower. Finally, he got up, threw a towel around his waist, and went down the hall to retrieve his clothes from the bathroom. Once dressed, he came out of the bathroom just as Leso stepped out of the bedroom at the end of the hall.

Leso looked at him, and a big grin split his face. "Beck looks really nice naked."

"Excuse me?" he sputtered, his anger already rising. "Yeah, and that little pink birthmark on her left breast just sets the whole thing off," Leso said, and took off running.

Richard gave chase, but knew he didn't have a chance of catching him. He streaked after Leso through the front door, finally cornering him in the yard, and stalked him around one of the old trees.

"How do you know about her birthmark?" he asked, trying to sound calm.

Leso laughed again and launched himself up into the tree. "You shouldn't fall asleep like that, brother," he called down to him, the laughter clear in his voice.

Richard jumped up into the tree and continued to stalk Leso through the old branches. They had spent a lot of time in these trees and knew them well.

"You fell asleep on top of her, and she screamed for me. She thought you were dead. You were both still naked when I got to the room. Nice work on the bed, by the way," he said, and laughed again. "I never knew Beck was a biter. How's your shoulder?"

"Shut up, Leso," Richard growled, but he stopped stalking him and sat down on the big branch where he'd been standing. "I really feel asleep on top of her?"

Leso sensing the danger was over, leapt over, and settled himself down next to his brother.

"Yeah, you really did. I think she thought she'd really killed you," he said still smiling. The laughter gone, he added seriously, "I am sorry about last night. I should have been quicker."

"No worries, mate. You took care of it." They sat for a while in silence, until a bird landed on Richard's leg.

"You gonna eat that?" Leso asked jokingly.

"Shut up," Richard said, waving the bird away. Even when he was human, birds seemed to have a thing for him. He thought being a vampyre would have changed that, but it hadn't. They had no fear of him, and he had never hurt them.

"What happened last night?"

Leso filled him in, and Richard learned how close to death Beck had come.

"I should have been here," he said sadly. "You couldn't have known this was going to happen."

"Would you accept that as an excuse for yourself if it had been Bev thrown across the yard last night?"

Leso said nothing, and Richard had his answer: No.

"I'm not leaving Beck again," he said softly. "Yeah, I'm not leaving Bev, either," Leso replied as they watched Jenny walk across the yard towards them.

"What are you two doing in a tree?" she asked, looking up at them. "Just enjoying the morning," Leso called down. "Right...whatever. Beck and Bev are up if you two are interested," she said and turned back toward the house.

Richard and Leso looked at each other and smiled. They knew Jenny hadn't missed a bit of their run through the yard. They jumped from the tree, landed silently and gracefully on the ground, and raced past Jenny into the house. Leso, of course, got there first. Richard was used to it by now. They each had things they were better at. Leso was better at sensing people's intentions, just as Beck could. If allowed, Richard could see people's memories.

Leso was faster, but Richard was a better fighter. All of it came in handy from time to time. Now it was time for them to decide what to do next.

***

Beck had woken up to the sound of Leso's laughter echoing through the front yard. She got to the window just in time to see Leso, then Richard, jump twenty feet, straight up into the air, and land in a tree. Even after watching Leso fight last night, it still took her breath away. You could see that there was no effort in it for them. They chased each other around the branches like monkeys, swinging gracefully through the air. She was just happy Richard was still here. She'd expected him to be gone this morning.

She grabbed some clothes, took another quick shower, dried her hair properly, and went downstairs to hunt down some aspirin. Her whole body was sore, whether from being tossed across the yard or the lovemaking later, she wasn't certain. She had a pretty big bruise on her face, but at least her nose wasn't broken like she had feared. When she got downstairs, she found Jenny watching her brothers from the living room window.

"I swear, they act like they're five years old. Leso goads Richard, and Richard tries to kill him. Well, maybe not _kill_ him, but beat the crap out of him, at least," she said before finally turning to look at Beck. "You look like hell."

"Well, good morning to you, too, Sunshine."

"Sorry," Jenny said. "How do you feel this morning?"

"Fine," Beck lied.

She knew Jenny felt jumpy but didn't know why. Before she could ask, Bev came down the stairs.

"Coffee?" Bev asked hopefully.

"Yeah, Potter made a pot of coffee just a few minutes ago. You two go get some, and I'll go get the children," Jenny said as she headed out the door.

"Children? Did I miss something" Bev inquired, puzzled.

"No, it's just an inside joke. Come on," Beck said, leading the way into the kitchen, where she found a bottle of aspirin waiting for her on the table.

Potter was also in the kitchen. He had two cups of coffee waiting for them and a cup of his own in his hand.

"You can drink coffee?" Bev asked while Beck tossed down a couple of aspirin.

"All day long. Didn't you and Leso talk _at all_?" he asked smiling.

"We hit some of the finer points, I think, but we didn't talk much about you. He said Beck could tell me later," Bev stated, blushing.

"I've had dinner here. You've seen me eat and drink. I can't believe you thought that _I_ was the vampyre," he said, shaking his head at her but still smiling.

Bev stuck her tongue out at him as Leso burst into the room, followed by Richard. Leso stopped inside the door to stare at Bev. He walked more slowly across the kitchen to Bev's side.

Bev looked up at him and jumped. "I wish you wouldn't do that!"

"Do what?" Beck asked confusion..

"Just appear like that," Bev said.

"Huh?" Beck asked, still confused.

"He was by the door, and then he was here," Bev explained as she pointed at Leso, but now she was the one that sounded confused.

Potter's laughter drew their attention.

"That would be the mesmerism. It's the vampyres preferred weapon of choice. They catch a human's eye, and it kind of hypnotizes them. They see nothing but the vampyre. Then, the human is theirs. They could lead them across the world, and the human would follow them without question. They could chase a human down with no problem, but why do that if you don't have to?" he said, and then looked at Beck "I heard that doesn't work too well with you, though."

"No, not at all," Richard said from the door. He walked to the table, pulled a chair up next to Beck's, and sat down.

"You've tried that shit on me?" she asked him, kind of pissed.

"Oh, many times, but it's a no go," he said, smiling at her.

Potter laughed again. "It isn't his fault. He can't help it. If they see a human they want, it just happens."

"But, we can do it intentionally. I can catch any other human's eye and stun them into silence. Not you, though. You just keep right on yelling at me," Richard explained.

"Good," Beck said.

"How come it works on me and not on her?" Bev asked.

"Beck is unique," Potter stated simply.

"Yeah, she always has been," Bev said smiling at her.

Potter laughed. "That particular effect will probably fade over time, though."

"I hope so. It's a little disorienting to have him just appear like that," Bev said.

"Okay, now we need to get serious. For just the immortals in the room, please raise your hand if you think that the extra vampyre last night just happened to stray into _this_ particular yard," Leso said. Not one hand went up. "No, I didn't think so either. So, anybody want to weigh in on what's going on?"

Jenny spoke first, "Well, we know who's behind it, but not how or why."

"Who are we talking about?" Bev inquired. Richard was the one to answer her. "Elderson."

"No. That can't be right. He thinks I'm dead," Beck said. "He didn't just think it. He was right. You died, I was there."

"So, why would he be after me now?" Beck asked, more confused now than she had ever been.

Potter shrugged. "I don't know, but what I do know is we can't stay here."

"Why?" Bev asked. "It was just one vampyre."

"It was just _one_ last night," Leso said. "We don't know what else may be coming. So, we best not be here."

"I don't like running," Richard said. "Nor do I, brother, but we're only four strong, and we're flying blind. Until we know more, it's prudent to leave."

"But go where?" Beck asked."Back to Clarksville," Richard said. "That's where you'd be going soon anyway."

"Home?" Bev questioned. Richard shook his head. "Not exactly. We've had a few years to setup other living quarters. We didn't think you'd want to stay with your parents."

Beck shuddered at the thought. "Absolutely not!"

Richard reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

"We'll be fine," Richard said." This is just a precaution."

Potter took Richard's cue and directed his remarks to Beck, although he was speaking to everyone, "Well, if we're leaving, there's no time like the present. Grab just what you can fit in a bag. Jenny and I will take our truck. You, Richard, Leso, and Bev can take Richard's car. We should leave you and Bev's cars here. Maybe if they see them, they'll think you're coming back. That will give us some running time, just in case we need it."

"Would you mind too much if Leso and Bev take your truck and the two of you ride with us? I have some questions I want to ask you." Beck asked Potter

"Sure, whatever you need," Potter agreed. Beck went and grabbed some clothes, a hairbrush, a toothbrush, makeup, and a few odds and ends. She also had a large box prepared that needed to go with them.

When everyone was ready, they pulled out of Beck and Bev's driveway, stopped by Potter and Jenny's for them to get whatever of their things they wanted to take, and then hit the interstate.

When they were about 200 miles outside of Durham, Potter asked Beck, "So, what do you want to know?"

Beck glanced over at Richard, not sure how he was going to feel about her plan.

"How did becoming a hunter affect you?" she asked Potter.

"Physically or mentally?" he asked without skipping a beat. "Let's start with physically. How long did it take for you to change?"

"About three hours."

Surprised, she said, "I thought the change took days?"

"For vampyres, not for us. Our essential makeup didn't change. Like I said before, we eat, drink, and process food the same way you do. We still sleep, though we don't have to. For all intents and purposes, I'm still human. We got the vampyres heightened senses, strength, speed, and longevity, but not their downfall, the thirst for blood. We didn't get the ability to mesmerize, but vampyres can't sense or scent us.

"Also like them, we have skin that can only be cut by silver, but we heal just as quickly, and to kill us, you have to take our head. But I've told you most of this before."

"Yeah, but I need to make sure of some things. Okay, now, how did it affect you mentally? I know that you wanted to die for a long time, and you suffered from depression. That sounds reasonable for any human that was put through what you were. What I need to know is how it affected your higher mental skills?"

"You mean to ask, did I get smarter or dumber?" he laughed.

She nodded.

"Neither, all of that stayed the same. Obviously, the longer you live, the more you have the chance to learn. After I found Jenny, my depression vanished. We've had to move away every ten years or so, but I don't mind. I have Jenny, and that's all I need," he said, and smiled at Jenny. "What's with the questions all of a sudden?"

"Because, I'm going to become what you are, and I'm betting Bev will want the same thing," Beck said.

"I told you before, hunters don't carry the toxin. I'm sorry, Beck, but I can't help you. A vampyre could bite you and change you, but I can't."

"No, it would kill a vampyre to bite me."

"No, it would kill them to _drink_ your blood, but they don't have to drink to release the toxin," Potter explained.

Stubbornly, Beck continued, "I think you can help me. You don't carry the toxin in your mouth, but I believe you carry the altered toxin in your blood. See, I think vampyres and hunters are essentially the same. You were made with vampyre blood, and I think that it's not so much a toxin, but an infection, nothing I could find in the lab, but still there.

"The infection you were given was modified. That's why you're still on the human side, but it was still part of the vampyre strain. I still had your blood at the house, but it was frozen, so I destroyed it before we left."

"You stole my blood?!" he exclaimed, sounding irritated and impressed at the same time.

"No, you _gave_ me your blood. I just saved some of it."

"Where'd you get that silver needle anyway?" he inquired. "I had it made. It's in a box in the truck," she answered simply. "I don't think the original vampyre strain would work on me anyway. If my blood would kill them, then I'm willing to bet that their 'toxin' would kill me, as well. Have you ever been bitten by a vampyre before?"

"Many times. Their teeth can get through our skin, but their toxin has no effect on us."

"Can you starve?" she asked, genuinely curious. "No, but you can get miserable damn hungry."

Richard exited the interstate and found a hotel for the night. Beck had told him that he could drive through the night, but he shook his head. Hed maintained a good poker face, but she could feel his displeasure, though he had not said one word to her yet. He got out of the car and came back with three room keys. He pitched one to Leso, one to Potter, and proceeded to lead her to their room.

When he shut the door behind them, he turned and asked incredulously, " _ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR EVER LOVING MIND,WOMAN_?!!!"

He sat on the bed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers like he had a headache.

"Are you thinking at all? Potter's blood could kill you just as fast as mine. No. Absolutely not! _You're_ not doing it! _NO_!!"

He actually sounded like he thought that settled it. It was kind of cute, but unfortunately for him, it wasn't going down like that.

"You don't tell me what to do. I'm a grown-ass woman, and I don't take orders from you!" she yelled at him. "The only reason you know about it at all is because I didn't think you'd let me ride with just Potter."

"And you would have been right. I won't let you do it," he said firmly."You can't stop me. You're not even going to remember this after I step into the past. Your future is going to change. I'm the only one out of any of us that will remember this."

"If you remember it, then I can too, or did you forget that?" he shouted at her.

"Only if I let you see it, or did you forget _that_!?" she mocked him. His jaw dropped. "You wouldn't do that to me. You wouldn't take the time we've spent together away from me, would you?" he asked quietly, the shocked look still on his face. He looked as if she had slapped him, and she instantly regretted mocking him.

"No, I'd show you most of it," she assured him. "All of it."

"Do you really want to remember the fights?" she asked quietly. "I want you to show me everything you remember. I want every second we've been together, but I'll take whatever you got. Please?" he nearly pleaded.

She looked at him and nodded. He walked across the room and put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry. I just don't understand why you want to do this. Are you trying to kill _me_?" he asked, burying his face in her hair.

She sighed. "I'm not doing anything to you. I'm just changing me a little."

"No. If you kill you, then you kill me, too. Don't you understand that, Little One? I have only come through all these years on the chance you would be born again. If you had not been, I would have been finished. I have already gotten the promise of death from Potter if you don't come back to me this time," he explained softly.

"I told you, you're not going to remember this, and I won't show you your plan to die," she told him pointedly.

"I don't need your memory to remind me that there is no point to life without you. That's a knowledge I carry within in my very soul," he mumbled into her hair.

"Well, thank God you have Jenny and Leso. They'd never let you do that."

"They know about it. They understand. They know they wouldn't want to live if their mate was gone forever."

"That's crazy! Please don't do anything stupid over me," she begged. "I exist today because of you. It would only be stupid to attempt to continue on without you. Do you really want to be an immortal, Beck?" he asked, pulling away from her and lying back on the bed.

"No one is really immortal, not really, you said so yourself. You can be killed and so can Potter," she repeated his words back to him playfully as she yawned.

"Go to bed Beck. We can talk about this later." As she pulled the blanket down and climbed into the bed to lay down, she asked sadly, "How long are you going to stay with me this time?"

"I'm not leaving you again."

"Really?" she stammered. "Truly," he promised.

She smiled at him and settled down for the night.

***

When he heard the steady breath of her sleep, he left the room and went to knock on Potter and Jenny's door. "Come in, Richard," Potter said from inside the room.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Don't do it! Don't give her your blood."

"Think about this Richard," Jenny said. 'If she's right, and Potter's blood works on her, then she would be with you for your lifetime instead of just her human one. You do want that, right?"

"You know I do, but not if it puts her life at risk. I can't watch her die again. I just...I can't."

The wind had kicked up outside so much that none of them had smelled Beck approaching. They all jumped slightly as she yelled through the door, "Get your ass back to our room! _Now_!"

He left Jenny and Potter's room with the belief that he was going to get cussed out... again, but she didn't say much except to ask him to please stay with her while she slept. After he agreed, she went back to bed. He sat through another night watching her sleep.

He didn't know what to do. The thought of losing her again was impossible to consider. He wanted to be with her until the planet died and turned to dust, but even the slightest risk of it hurting her made it not worth it. He would gladly just take her lifetime for them to be together, but humans were so frail.

What if something else happened to her? He had watched her die once, and she had nearly been killed again less than twenty-four hours ago.

He could now see how Potter's creator could become bitter enough to create the hunters. He himself had already gotten a promise from a hunter for his death if she didn't come back to him. He had not lied. He needed no memory to tell him that his life would be over. The guilt of losing his family never compared to his guilt of watching Beck die.

He'd been right there and could not stop it. Was it right for him to stop her, if being an immortal was what she truly wanted? Could he stop her even if he wanted to? He knew that if she really wanted this, she would find a way. Would she still want him if she had more than this lifetime to look forward to, when he was no longer faster or stronger than her? It was selfish for him to even think about that, but he couldn't stop himself.

What if she only loved him because of the fascination she has for what he is? That fascination would be gone if she became a hunter. She would be the same as him. No. She would be _better_ than him. She would not suffer the thirst.

What would he do then? He didn't know. He loved her, only her, and had been consumed by the thought of her for more years than he wanted to think about. Could her love for him be erased by one drop of hunter blood? He knew she would say no, but could she be certain before the change? These thoughts chased through his mind until the sun came up.

During the rest of the drive to Clarksville, Beck questioned Potter. She finally got down to the bones of her plan.

***

"My blood," Beck said.

"Say again?" Potter asked.

"I think we can kill Elderson and his clan with my blood." They were driving down a wooded road, and Richard nearly put them into a tree when she said this.

"What are you talking about!? How much of your blood!?" he shouted.

"I'm not sure yet, but it shouldn't take a lot," she said, her eyes daring him to argue with her .

He got out of the car and leaned his legs against the fender, staring off into the woods.

Jenny patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. He's a bit touchy when it comes to you. I think the thought of any of your blood leaving your body greatly disturbs him."

"Well, I am a woman. A lot of my blood leaves my body every month. So, he needs to get over that."

"Yes, he couldn't watch over you during your time of the month. When you were a teenager, it was hard for him, but once you had gotten to college and your body had fully matured, he had to be restrained. One of us would watch over you and the other two would stay with him. I'm glad you found us so soon. I don't think Leso could have handled Richard on his own," Jenny explained.

Beck asked incredulously, "He wanted to eat me when I was on my period?"

Potter laughed, "Not at all. We're _all_ animals, Beck. When you're on your period, you're in heat. He could smell it from over a mile away, further if the wind is right."

"But, he has to have been around thousands of women in ' _heat'_. Why didn't he jump on them?"

"They weren't his mate," Jenny explained. "You are."

"Regardless, you'd think he'd at least want to hear my idea, especially if we can kill Elderson," Beck said.

Potter smiled. "He can hear you. I think he's just trying to not start another fight with you."

"Well, come on. We'll talk about it when we get to wherever it is you're taking us," Beck said a little louder.

Richard stood up, kicked over the big tree he had almost hit, and got back in the car.

They were back on the road when Beck took his hand, "Richard...," she had started to say.

Richard kept hold of her hand but said firmly, "No. Don't talk to me. Not yet."

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a house about a mile back in the woods. It was a gorgeous, huge log house.

"How did you find this?" Beck asked in amazement.

"We didn't find it," Richard said. "We built it."

"How? I thought you've been with me all this time."

"I have been. We built this house when you were still a little girl," he said, smiling at her.

"Are you serious?" she asked, looking up at the beautiful home. "Yes, that's what Leso and I used to do; build things. So, we built you this. Do you like it?"

Awestruck, she replied, "You built this for me?"

"Yes, Little One. We built it for you."

"Thank you so much," she said, and hugged him. "I love it!"

"Hey! I built it too," Leso said from behind her. She turned to hug Leso too, but Richard grabbed her and jumped. "Mine!" he yelled as they sailed through the air and landed on the chimney of the house.

She screamed and clung to his arm for dear life. "Don't drop me!"

"Never," he whispered. "Are you frightened of heights?"

"Just a little," she admitted.

"I'm sorry for getting mad earlier." +

Smiling, she told him, "Don't tell me, tell that to the tree you murdered."

"It was either the tree or the car, and you were in the car."

"How are you planning to get us down from here?"

"Unless you want to slide down the chimney like Santa Clause, we're going to have to jump."

"I was afraid of that."

Scooping her up like a baby, he asked, "Are you ready?"

"No," she answered truthfully, and squeezed her eyes shut. He laughed and jumped. She could feel them dropping, but instead of crashing like she had expected, she didn't even feel it when he touched the ground. "How long does it take to get used to that?"

"I don't know. You're the only human I've done that with," he told her. "Would you like to go see your house now?"

She nodded, and he carried her in the front door. The house was beautiful inside, too. It had two staircases, on either end of the house, that led upstairs. The downstairs had a big living room, a dining room, a huge kitchen, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. Upstairs, there were six bedrooms and two more bathrooms. She knew who all the extra bedrooms were for and hoped she could fill them.

"It's perfect. But if you built it a long time ago, where did all the new furniture and stuff come from?"

"We built it when you were little, but we didn't fill it up until a couple of months ago."

They went back downstairs and found everyone sprawled out in the living room.

"Now, can we hear about the plan?" Potter asked. "Only if he promises not to kick down any of my walls. He already owes me a silver vase and a quarter," Beck said, pointing at Richard.

"I'll be good," Richard promised. "Okay, I need to ask something first. If a vampyre drank my blood, how long would it take to kill them?"

"A few minutes, maybe less," Richard said. "It would depend on how much blood was already in their stomach to mix with, but no more than a few minutes."

"How about if it was injected into one of their muscles?" she asked. "Nearly instantaneous," Jenny said. "But you'd still want to take their heads, just to be sure."

"How are you planning to get the blood from here to the past? I don't think they're going to let you go back in time holding a bag of frozen blood," Richard asked smugly, obviously thinking he'd stumped her. "I'm going to get the blood through in my body. Let me show you something," she told him, and walked out the front door with Richard right behind her.

"I'm just going to the truck."

"You're not even going that far alone."

She got the big box out of the back of the truck. Richard took it from her and followed her back into the house. When he sat the box on the floor, Beck opened it, pulled out ten dresses, and dumped what had been under them onto the floor. There were two I.V. needles, two tubes, two one-pint blood bags, one small bottle of anticoagulant, and twenty-nine silver-tipped syringes.

"I don't think they're going to let you go back with that in your arms either," he teased, but sounding a little more impressed about how well thought out her plan was.

"I'm not going to be holding it," she explained grabbing one of the dresses and flipping the hem up to show the pockets that had been made into it. "The tubes go around my waist, and the bags and anticoagulant will go in the hem. Even if they pat me down, they won't be able to feel anything."

"True, but they will feel twenty-nine needles," Richard said, sounding a little distressed now.

"I'm only taking three, but they only made them in batches of thirty, and I already used one on Potter."

Now moving to mad, Richard said, "They'll feel three."

"They would, but they won't be _in_ the dress?" she told him. Now fully pissed off, Richard asked, "Then how are you getting them there?"

Before she could answer, both the other women in the room laughed as they caught on before any of the men.

"She's going to take them through inside of her, Richard," Bev explained. "You know, like a woman taking drugs into jail when visiting an inmate." As he absorbed what they had just said, his eyes widened with shock. and he finally snapped.

"Christ, Beck! You came up with all of this because I jokingly told you that no vampyre would bite you!?"

"Actually, I came up with all this the night told me that I was going back in time. It just took awhile to pull all the pieces together."

Richard turned and walked out of the house.

***

When he reached the front yard he broke into a run. He didn't know how far he ran, but he ran until the woods ran into a cliff. He jumped up onto it and looked down upon a big field that ended at the Cumberland River. He could strongly smell the zinc coming from the zinc plant a good five miles away.

"You know, her idea has a good chance of working," Leso said from behind him.

"Yes, my woman is going to bleed for us. She's going to drain her blood to save us. That's _wonderful_ ," he said sarcastically. "Not all of it," Leso reminded him. "That's hardly the point. After she drains her blood, she's going to become a hunter."

"Yeah, I heard about that. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. I really like Potter. He's made Jenny very happy."

Richard sighed. "I like Potter too, but again, that isn't the point. His blood could kill her. I'm sure you heard her infection theory."

"Yeah, I could hear Jenny and Potter talking about it at the hotel. It makes sense."

"It does, but what if the part of the infection that's in us, is in Potter, too? She could die."

"I know you don't want to, but hear me out before you try to kill me. I don't think he carries that part of the infection. The part of the infection we were given _did_ kill us. What he was given _didn't_ kill him. I'd be willing to bet my everlasting life that his heart never stopped beating. I really don't think his infection will kill her."

"Would you bet Bev's life on it?" Richard asked, knowing Leso wouldn't.

"I would...I will. I'm willing to risk anything to be with Bev forever. If she has to take on a little hunter blood to make that happen, then so be it."

Richard looked at Leso in shock. He had truly expected him to say no.

"Richard, I know you believe that she'll live. You've already thought of my theory of her not dying. You want to tell me what's really bothering you?"

Had it been any other person in the world besides Leso asking, he would have said no. But it was Leso, so he told him what he was afraid of, his worries of how her feelings might change after _she_ changed.

"You really think that could happen? And here I've spent all these years thinking you were intelligent and _sane_. She's risking her life to save _your_ family, to make _you_ a happier man. She knows she died the last time, and still she wants to go. She just got attacked by a vampyre, and did she even put her foot in your ass about it? No, she didn't even get mad.

"Look at all the planning she did. Everything she put together. You left her over and over while she was in college, for good reason, but she always took you back. She ran with you here, not forgetting her _box of plans_. She did it for _you_. She did it because she loves you. And how did you thank her? You ran out on her.

"Well, I'm going back. _I'm_ going to thank her. You can sit here and sulk for as long as you like," Leso said before he jumped from the cliff.

Richard sat in stunned silence. Leso was right. He had spent so much time watching over her, that he'd never given any thought to what she was doing for all those years. He was so worried what it would do to him to lose her again, that his only priority had been to keep her safe, but he'd wasted the eight years he could have been with her. She loved him, and he had run away. He streaked back through the woods, back to her. He ran towards Leso, who was leaning against the truck smiling. "Your brain finally catch up, did it?" Leso teased. He didn't stop to answer him. He ripped the door off the hinges getting into the house and broke three logs on an interior wall when he crashed into it, but he got there. She was on the couch next to Bev. He walked over and dropped to his knees in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I'll never run out on you again. We'll do whatever you want. You can change into a hunter, or a witch, or the Tooth Fairy. I don't care. I love you. I've always love you. I will always love you. Stay with me in the past, the present, and the future. Marry me. Be with me forever. Please."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes, but also with a smile.

She looked at the front door laying on the floor and the cracked logs, and then back to him. "Is there anything you don't break?"

He nodded. "Your heart, ever again. I promise,"

Then she was in his arms and his heaven was back in its place. His world was right again.

After a very forgiving night in their new bedroom, he nudged her foot with his."So will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Marry me tomorrow?"

"Yes, on one condition."

"Anything."

"You have to fix my house," she smiled. "I'll get right on that," he promised, but it was nearly daylight before he pulled himself out of the bed.

***

He and Leso went hunting, hung the door back up, and were just finishing putting the logs back into place when Beck came downstairs. "Why are you two making so much noise?" she asked through half-opened eyes.

Richard's smile covered his face as he answered her. "The sun's up, the house is fixed, and you said you'd marry me. Are you ready?"

"It's not even 8:00 a.m. We still have to get a marriage license and find a preacher willing to marry us today."

"We just have to get the license. I already have the preacher, your preacher actually, Rev. Joseph Bryce. It's all setup. He's thrilled to do it. We're supposed to meet him at his church at 11:00 a.m.."

"Richard, he'll tell my parents," she gasped. "So what, they won't show up," he said. "Yes, they will. They would look bad if they didn't."

Repentantly, he said, "Sorry, it's too late now, though." She fixed her hair, threw her makeup on, and was ready to go in thirty minutes. They stopped at McDonald's to get her some breakfast, and then went to get their marriage license at the clerk's office. They were done in plenty of time to go to Wal-Mart to get something besides her old clothes to wear. She picked a long, light orange sundress and white sandals. Richard chose khaki colored dress pants, a nice short-sleeved shirt, and dress shoes.

He also bought six disposable cameras.

"That's just a waste. You know those are going to disappear when I do."

"I know, but you're going to look at every picture and remember them for me," he said, smiling.

He grabbed flowers next. He picked orange and white roses for her to use as a bouquet.

"These stems are way too long. Do you have a knife with you?" she asked as they were driving to the church.

They were at a stop sign, and he took the roses from her. "How long do you want them?"

"About five inches," she told him.

He turned the roses sideways and bit the stems clean through. He handed them back to her, and threw the leftover stems out the window.

"Hey, don't litter."

"It's not litter. It's rose stems."

They got to the church with five minutes to spare. Just as she had predicted, her parents were sitting in a car out front.

"Told you so," she moaned as they began walking toward the church. Her parents jumped out of their car and walked quickly over to her, wearing their best Sunday church clothes.

"Rebecca, why didn't you tell us you were getting married today?" her mother asked.

"You might have said something, young lady," her father added. She couldn't believe it. They were actually trying to act normal to impress Richard!

"When would I have said anything? I haven't seen or spoken to either of you in nearly eight years," she said icily. "Yes, sorry about that. e've been really busy, dear," her mother said, still smiling, but Beck could feel her parents were mad and embarrassed by what she'd said.

Coming closer to her back, Richard inquired, "I'm sorry, I must have missed something. Did you say you've been busy?"

"Hello. It's so nice to meet you. We're Rebecca's pare...," her mother started, but Richard cut her off.

"I know who you are. I know you're here for your preacher's sake. You couldn't have him telling the parish that Beck got married without you here, could you?"

"I see Rebecca's been telling stories again. If you met our other daughter...," her father started to say.

Richard pointed to the church steps. They swung their heads, and their faces took on a look of shock and horror that matched the expression Bev's when she saw them. "That daughter?"

They swung their heads back toward Richard with their mouths hanging open.

"Yes, that's what I thought. Pay attention to me, folks, because I'm only going to say this once. You can go into the church. You can go home. You can go straight to hell for all I care, but what you will not do is disrupt this day for us. Do you understand me?"

Beck reached out and touched the tip of her father's nose, giving it a loud static electric shock. He made a move toward her, just a tiny twitch, but Richard was already in front of her.

"I really wish you would, sir." Showing them no concern, he turned his back on them and directed his next question to Beck, "Can you put them out of your mind, Little One?"

"I always have."

He took her hand and led her toward the church. "That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Can you do that whenever you want?"

"No, only when I'm emotionally overexcited, or there's an electrical charge in the air, but I've been _wanting_ to do since I was a kid," she laughed.

They walked into the church followed close behind by her parents who were all smiles again. Well, appearances had to be upheld, didn't they? Even if they had known that they would be surrounded by vampyres that didn't like them, they still would have come. Bev was her bridesmaid, Leso was the best man, Potter sat on the opposite side of the church from Beck's parents, and Jenny was assigned picture duty. She went through two cameras during the short ten minute ceremony. It was hard not to smile though Rev. Bryce's praying when she could hear Jenny back there just clicking away. Richard was looking at her with a curious expression on his face. Obviously, he wasn't seeing the humor present here.

After it was over, they rushed out of the church, leaving the others to deal with Beck and Bev's parents.

Richard turned to her as soon as they were in the car. "What had you smiling through the ceremony?" She told him about her reaction to Jenny's picture taking, and he smiled. "So, that was the reason for the smiles?"

"Most of it," she told him. "There's more?" he asked. "Just one other thing...and I'm not making fun of you, but I was hoping that neither you, Leso, or Jenny would be overcome and moved to tears. When that crossed my mind, I had to fight the urge to laugh so hard that I nearly peed myself. I think I may have actually let a little go. I don't think I could have explained to Rev. Bryce why my new family cries tears of blood," she said, laughing.

This made him laugh so hard that he had to pull the car over and wait it out. Good thing he had a handkerchief in his pocket.

"This memory! Remember this one for me," he said, wiping the blood tears from his eyes when he finally got his laughter under control. Beck just couldn't resist. "Oh, you like this moment? Too bad we don't have Jenny here to take some pictures for you."

That set him off again, and it was another couple of minutes before they got back on the road. He took her to El Toro's for lunch.

While she was eating, she asked, "Do you know what would happen if you actually swallowed food?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I swallowed a bite of a cheeseburger out of curiosity when you were in college. As it turns out, if I ingest human food, I throw it back up... along with my last real meal. Trust me, you don't want to see that... nobody does," he said and cringed.

"Gross," she said and changed the subject to a more lunch friendly, topic. "What do you want to do today?"

"I want you to show me your town."

"You know this town as well as I do. You've been here longer than I have."

"I don't know what you see when you look at it. I want to know what your favorite places are. Will you show me, Little One?"

"Sure. Let's go," she said and laid down her fork. Her appetite for lunch had been ruined anyway. They started with the fairgrounds.

"What do you like about this place?" he asked.

"Bev and I used to come here for the carnival, the circus, or to just feed the ducks and hang out. From what I hear, though, it won't be here much longer."

"Why is that?"

"The city is going to turn it into a 'marina' for the rich folk."

"Beck, you are the 'rich folk'."

"I'm not the kind of 'rich folk' who try to take a cruise in a two hundred foot wide river.

"Point taken," he said before taking a picture.

Their next stop was Cumberland Drive.

"Our class came here to watch them blow up the old bridge so they could build a new one that goes straight across to the college. See? You can still see the road it used to connect to. We were way back there, but when they blew it up, you could see it, hear it, and feel it. It made you feel like you were gonna fall down or pass out. It was pretty cool."

He didn't say anything, just took another picture, and they were off again.

"This is Clarksville's first high school. It opened in 1908. Think about it, that's 83 years _before_ I was born and twenty years _after_ I died. Pretty cool, huh?"

"No, not particularly," was all he said before taking another picture, and they were off yet again.

That's how it went for the rest of the day: her first school, her favorite park where they shot water out of the ground, her favorite place to grab a burger, the river walk where she saw him for the first time. It was getting dark by the time they left the river walk, so they headed back to the house.

The next time he spoke was as they pulled up at the house. "I want to show you one of my favorite places. We will need to take the truck, though."

***

She got out of the car and into the truck. He ran into the house, but was back in a couple of seconds with an old fashioned picnic basket. They drove through the woods for fifteen minutes before they stopped at the cliff wall. She got out and looked around. It was really dark here. It was a clear night with a full moon, but the light didn't reach down here.

"This is one of your favorite places?" she questioned, confused.

"No, up there," he said, pointing up.

"That has to be forty feet. You can jump that high?"

"Let's find out," he said teasingly, putting his arm around her waist, pinning her to his left side, and leaping straight up, landing softly at the top of the cliff.

"That's amazing," she exclaimed when he sat her down on the ground.

He turned her so she was facing the field below. She gasped. The breeze moving through the bright, moonlit field made it look like an ocean. He took a tablecloth out of the basket and laid it on the thick carpet of grass on the ground beneath their feet. He took out a plate of paper wrapped sandwiches, chips, and cokes. She ate, he tasted, they talked, and made love on the tablecloth spread out on their cliff above their ocean. "This is where I came yesterday when I ran away from you. This is where I was when I found out that this beautiful place is the ugliest place in the world without you here to look down on it with me. I love you," he whispered into the cusp of her ear.

After a time, they both fell asleep.

### Chapter Six

When he awoke, he noticed the moon had shifted its position in the sky. He shifted her weight to the side, careful not to wake Beck. His whole left side was warm with the heat from her body. He got up, dressed, and put their things back into the basket. He couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding day. He was laying back on the ground next to her when he felt a familiar tickle in the center of his brain.

Was it Leso or Jenny coming this way? No, wrong direction...Shit! He rolled onto his stomach so he could peek down onto the field. A single vampyre made its way through the moonlit crop below.

Was there just the one? He cast his senses out, scouring the area around them. Yes, it was alone. What could it be thinking to come here alone? What in the hell was going on here? He stood up and jumped, but not soon enough.

Out of nowhere, Potter streaked out of the night. Potter needed no help from him and yelled for him to stay back. He collided with the vampyre, throwing him back twenty feet. Potter was on his feet; crouched and ready for the battle, long before the vampyre jumped up from the ground.

When the vampyre had regained his footing, he launched himself at Potter, but Potter was quicker, darting under the launch and shoving his shoulder up into the vampyre's ribcage, throwing him into the air. Before the vampyre got more than seven feet high, Potter grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him to the ground. The vampyres bones broke with the sound of gun shots through the night air. "Stop! I mean you no harm, Hunter," the vampyre pleaded. "As if you _could_ harm me," Potter said in disdain. "What is your purpose here?"

"I only seek an old friend, a vampyre named Richard," the vampyre said.

"He's an animal feeder, or he's portraying himself to be," Potter called across the field.

Richard walked over to them and looked down at the vampyre on the ground. "Jeremy?"

"Aye," the vampyre answered, stretching his hand up in what appeared to be a friendly gesture, but Potter kicked it out of the air with a snake strike quickness, breaking more bones.

"Would you please stop that, Hunter?"

"Don't move until you're told," Potter ordered the newcomer. "Richard, would you tell him I'm your friend?" Jeremy asked.

"Were, you _were_ my friend. It has been many years since we were friends," he said, and turned to Potter. "Where's Leso?"

"Sleeping."

"Damn! Watch him, Hunter. If he moves, kill him," Richard stated, and he threw a quick wink at Potter to let him know not to really kill him; yet.

Potter nodded once, and Richard was gone. He was back up the cliff in two seconds. Beck was already dressed and waiting for him.

"I need you to do something."

"Okay."

"I didn't tell you what yet."

"It doesn't matter."

He truly did love this woman. He picked her up and jumped.

She giggled. "Sorry, dropping tickles."

He smiled and said, "Let's see how you like this."

He ran about a dozen feet and leapt, two more leaps, and they landed at Potter's side. He sat her down behind him and dropped into a defensive crouch.

With a hissing growl in his voice, he addressed Jeremy, "If you even look at her wrong, I'll take your head off myself, old friend." Dropping his voice into a more normal tone, he said, "Now tell this woman why you are here."

"How is this possible?" Jeremy asked amazed.

Richard's crouch became a wider stance, his upper body dropping to balance itself on the fingertips of his left hand, his right hand suspended in mid-air over Jeremy's head.

"Last chance."

"I am here to see Richard, to warn him of Elderson. I am not a friend of Elderson, nor part of his clan. I am only here because Richard is my friend."

"Is he telling the truth?" Potter asked.

Her answer was given without hesitation, "He is."

Richard stood and offered Jeremy his hand, but Jeremy popped up on his own.

"Your trust has waned over the years, Richard," Jeremy said, eyeing Potter cautiously.

"I'm sorry," Richard said. "It was necessary."

"I'd like to know why," Jeremy said.

"I'm sorry, but no," he said, offering nothing.

"Christ, man! Were you not paying attention at all?" Potter asked Richard.

"It's my wedding night. I had _other_ things on my mind," he said as they turned and headed back toward the cliff.

"Well pull your head out of your ass, mate, before you get us all fucking killed."

"Watch yourself, Hunter," he warned.

"Ya'll fight in a strange way, more speed and force than skill," Beck said from behind them.

Richard couldn't help but laugh at her. His mistake! Before he'd stopped laughing, his legs had been kicked out from under him, a small push between his shoulder blades took away his opportunity to recover his balance, and he fell on his face.

He felt her weight as she fell to her knee in the middle of his back, quickly put her right arm around his neck, and gripped her bicep in her left hand, yanking his head back toward her weight on his back, and kissed the top of his head. _DAMN_! She had gotten him! If she'd been a vampyre, he would be dead now.

"What the hell was that!?" he asked from his place on the ground.

"Rear Naked Choke," she said.

"Hunter, throw this human in the air."

Potter was still laughing at him, but he didn't hesitate. He put a hand on each side of Beck's waist and shot her straight up into the air. Richard was up on his feet before she was ten feet off the ground. He cocked his knees and waited for her to stop rising.

"Is that really her?" Jeremy asked, still not believing his eyes.

She crested at about thirty feet and started to fall.

"Yes," Richard answered and launched himself into the air.

He caught her like a baby in mid-air, sailing higher with her. They crested at about fifty feet and started to drop. He spun like a top with her laughing in his ear. He touched the ground lightly and kissed her.

***

She'd had such a perfect day. Neither her parents, nor the fight in the field, had been able to ruin it. They were all in the living room now, listening to Richard talk to Jeremy.

"The Jeremy I knew wouldn't have taken such a beating like you did tonight."

"I haven't had much reason to fight in the last 100 years or so, and your hunter is very fast."

He was a good looking man, about 5'11" with short, black hair, a slender but muscular build, and she would bet he was in part Mexican decent because of his skin tone and the shape of his dark brown eyes. He was honestly there out of concern, but Richard had asked him wait until Leso woke up before telling them of Elderson.

"Could we stop with the 'Hunter' shit now?" Potter scowled. Richard stated, "Sorry, I forgot. Jeremy, let me introduce you to Potter, Jenny's husband."

"Husband? A hunter and vampyre marriage? How does that work?" Jeremy asked.

"Like any other marriage, I would imagine," Potter said stiffly.

"Forgive me, I meant no offense," Jeremy said. "It's just that I thought hunters were driven to kill vampyres, yet you are here _guarding_ them, even married to one. I'm just confused."

"I vowed to kill the murdering vampyres, that's true, but my family doesn't drink human blood," Potter explained. "They're not murderers, and I will guard them until the day I die."

"Your family?" Jeremy said in awe. "Amazing," Potter had another question for Jeremy, "How did you know about Beck?"

"I didn't meet Richard until after she'd died, but he spoke of her nearly every day of the five years we traveled together. He spoke of her abilities, her keen knowledge of other's emotions. The way he spoke of her could leave little doubt that there would never be another mate for him.

Then tonight, he brought her to me to read my emotions, ready to kill me if I so much as twitched in her direction. It's impossible that it could be her, but also impossible for it not to be her. I take it that you still won't explain how this came to be?" he asked Richard.

"No, none of us will tell you. I'm sorry."

Jeremy nodded "No, I didn't think you would. Still I'm very happy for you. Men so rarely get two bites from the same apple."

"Thank you, old friend," Richard said sincerely, but his eyes were on Beck.

She didn't know how to feel about Jeremy's story. She knew Richard had waited over a century to see her again, but not until now did she understand that he had lived everyday of those years in sadness, and knowing that when she went back again, he would have to live through those years again. But, she had to go. She had to try to save them. "What's going on?" Leso asked as he walked into the room. Then he saw their guest. "Jeremy?"

"Hello, Leso. Nice to see you, again," Jeremy said, standing to shake Leso's hand.

"How did you find us?" Leso asked.

"I didn't know where else to look. Richard once told me that his mate had been from this area. I thought maybe he would come here to feel closer to her. Imagine my surprise to find not only him, but her as well."

"Why were you looking for Richard?"

"He was just about to tell us," Richard said.

He pulled Beck onto his lap, and everyone settled down and waited for Jeremy to speak.

"Elderson was the vampyre that created you. Did you know that, Richard?"

It took a couple of minutes for the shock to fall off his Richard's face. Finally, he spoke, "Why?"

"Because you killed his brother."

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, but you did. Think back to your human life, to a little girl being attacked."

Richard thought back, searching for the dim, distant memory, and tried to bring it into focus. He remembered a girl screaming. He found her on the ground in an alleyway, a man's hands around her throat. He rushed to help the girl, punching the man behind his right ear. He had not meant it to be a fatal blow, but neither had he felt a moment of remorse about it.

The girl had recovered, but the identity of the attacker had never been discovered. Two years later, he had been bitten. All the pieces now came together in his mind.

"Why did he wait so long to attack me?"

"He was not yet a vampyre, and he was a coward in his human life. After he was bitten, he found you. He had never intended for your existence to have any peace or to last so long. He wanted your hero's soul to be tortured by killing human after human to survive. He then planned to kill you after forcing you to watch the death of _your_ brother.

"His plan may have worked too, had he not been forced to run when stronger vampyres than he moved into the area. Three years later, after the others had left the area, he returned intent on finishing what he started. He was enraged to find that, not only had you given up the pursuit of human blood, but had turned your brother into a vampyre, thereby, taking Leso's human life out of his reach forever."

"Well, he actually did me a favor," he said, pulling Beck tighter into his embrace.

Jeremy hesitated and continued, "You will not think so in a minute. You see, he spent many years considering what to do next. Killing your brother no longer interested him. He had given up and was going to kill you both, but when he sent for you, you killed his messenger and joined the Young clan. He couldn't reach you then, not with you surrounded by so many others.

"Then all of his dreams came true. You found a mate, your true soul mate. He starved himself for weeks so you wouldn't smell him, driving himself nearly insane with hunger, striking only when near other vampyres, so your senses would be dampened. Then, he had done it. He had taken the life of your mate.

"He left you in hell. When it looked like you weren't miserable enough, he would take some of your family. He never thought that one day, you would hunt for him. When you did, he ran and hid like the coward he still is, leaving you in the hell he had created for you. I came to tell you that he's looking for you again. Now I'm even more concerned. If he finds you happy, and with the same mate that he has already killed, he will take her life again."

"He can try!" Richard had growled, pulling Beck even closer to him.

"He may already know of her existence," Leso said. "I killed a vampyre in her front yard the other night. That's what brought us here."

They talked for awhile longer until Richard insisted Beck go to bed. Now, as he watched her sleep, his guilt rolled in his stomach. It wasn't about her. It had never been about her. He had put her in this danger. If he hadn't pursued her in the past, she wouldn't have died. If he hadn't pursued her in this time, Elderson would never have known she existed here.

He had to convince her to not come to him in the past, to go a different way so she wouldn't cross his path this time. She had to find a hotel and stay in it until she vanished back into this time. If he didn't know she existed, she would never be in danger. This had to stop.

He found her box in the closet and silently dumped it on the floor, kicking the dresses to the side, snatched up the scattered needles, and crushed them to dust in his hand. He tore the blood bags to pieces, then threw it all back in the box, and stuffed the dresses back on top. He put the box away, deciding not to tell her until the night before she left what he wanted her to do. He wanted to enjoy these last days with her, even if he would never remember them.

***

They were in the kitchen the next morning looking at the wedding pictures that Jenny had developed yesterday when Beck's cell phone rang.

"Is this Ms. Rebecca Stockdale?" the voice inquired.

"Yes, it is," she replied. "Hello, Ms. Stockdale. My name is Dr. Mike Rogers. Can I have a minute of your time?"

"Sure. What can I do for you?" Beck asked as she walked out the front door for a little privacy.

Richard was in the backyard somewhere with Leso. "We were looking over some reference for an experiment we're running and saw that you graduated at the top of your class at Duke, and that you are considered somewhat of an expert in the field of Jack the Ripper. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"We would like to use your expertise in our experiment. It doesn't pay very much, but I think you will enjoy the experience. Do you think you would be interested?"

Richard landed beside her, having just jumped over the house.

Beck ignored him and continued, "Yes, that sounds very interesting. When would I need to meet with you?"

"Let's see. Next week, July 20th at 9:00 a.m. would be excellent. We are located in what I see is your hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, and I believe you reside in North Carolina now. Is that correct?" Dr. Rogers asked.

"Yes, it is."

"We will, of course, set everything up and pay for your travel expenses"

"That won't be necessary," she assured him. "I was planning to be in Clarksville then anyway."

"Wonderful, and can I get your dress size? We would like to have some period clothes made for you from the Ripper era. We want the experiment to be realistic."

"That won't be necessary, either. I have dresses from that era already." Dr. Rogers sounded excited, "Fabulous! Bring them along. We're located on College Street, down the street from the Red River Bridge, in a large gray building surrounded by a chain link fence. Do you know where that is?"

"Yes, it used to be an old factory, I believe."

"Indeed it was. Just show your identification at the gate and they'll show you where to go. We'll see you then. Have a good day," he said, and hung up.

Beck turned to smile at Richard, but he looked sick. She could feel the despair coming off of him in waves.

"Did you eat something?" she asked him.

"What?"

"You look like you're gonna throw up," she said, trying to tease him out of this mood.

He smiled sadly. "No, it's just a week isn't very long."

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, I know it will," he said. They spent the rest of the week mostly talking and spending every second they could together.

"So where did you learn that move you used to take me down with?" he asked one day. "That was an attack, not self-defense."

They were sitting on the cliff looking at their ocean down below.

"I thought you would have known. I took two years of mixed martial arts and kickboxing classes after I finished the self-defense courses," she explained. "For the record, I know you let me take you down the other night."

He smiled and admitted, "No, you really did get me on the ground. I stayed down to see what you were going to do. I was impressed by the move, though. You're very fast for a human."

"You've really never watched the Ultimate Fighter or any MMA fights on T.V.?"

"No, human fighting is to slow to interest us much. But you were right. We depend on strength and speed when we fight."

"Well, one of the first things I'm doing when I go back is teaching you and your family to fight. You can go get Jeremy and teach him. He was in Dublin, Ireland then. He told me last night when you and Jenny went hunting."

***

They spent her birthday playing toss in the front yard, but instead of a ball, they tossed her. Potter, Leso, Jenny, and Richard took turns seeing who could throw her higher, but Richard was always the one to jump up and catch her. They tried to toss Bev, but she threw up after the first toss, so Bev sat on the porch cheering on everyone else. Later that night, they had cake. Only Beck, Bev, and Potter could eat it, even though Richard sat across the table spitting out icing.

"That's so gross!" Jenny practically gagged. Richard just stuck his icing coated tongue out at her. Beck noticed no one was taking Richard's precious pictures. She excused herself and went up to their bedroom to get one of the cameras. When she flipped on the light, she saw 'her' ghost standing in the middle of the room. She took a deep breath, not believing what she was about to do.

"Bruce?" she whispered.

He nodded, but was not smiling as he usually did. He pointed to the closet. She opened the door and waited for him to tell her what she was looking for. He pointed to the big box with her dresses in it. She pulled it out and opened it. Her dresses were just stuffed in the box. She pulled them out and saw all of her stuff laying in the bottom, destroyed. All those years of planning, gone! She took a deep breath to scream Richard's name, but Bruce appeared not six inches in front of her face, holding his finger across his lips and shaking his head.

Then he was on his knees pointing under the bed. She got on her knees too, looked under the bed, and saw one needle laying there. She grabbed it and stood up. Bruce was at the head of the bed, pointing at her pillow. he went and put the needle under the pillow. She looked over, and Bruce was back by the box, waving her over. When she got to the box, he made a palms down patting motion. She got on her knees. He jabbed a finger towards the floor, opened his mouth, and ran his open hand quickly up his throat: _NOW SCREAM!_

" _RICHARD!"_

He was at the door almost before she finished his name.

"What's wro...," he started to say, when his eyes caught site of the box. "What the hell did you do!?" she yelled at him.

"Beck, let me explain."

"I wish you would," she seethed between clenched teeth. "We can't talk here. Come with me?"

He threw open the shutter-style windows, picked her up, and jumped. He put her in the car, drove to the end of the driveway, and stopped. He shut off the car and turned toward her.

"You can't do it, Beck."

"Well, not anymore, thanks to you!"

"No, when you go back, you can't come to me."

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"It's not safe for you to find me. Don't you understand? If we're together, Elderson will hunt you down. He won't stop until you're dead. I would never have come to you here if I had known what was going on."

"So, you think that if we never met, I'd be safe?" she asked, staring out the front of the car at Bruce. For the first time in her life, she wished ghosts could talk to her.

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry, but it's for the best, I promise. Go in the opposite direction than they tell you, get in a hotel room, stay there, and have food sent up to you. Don't go out to see who the Ripper is. It's Elderson. I cannot stress how dangerous he is. Please don't go looking for him. When you get back, tell them it's any suspect you want. It doesn't matter. They're all dead anyway, and it's not as if they're going to release any of the information that you give them. Please?" he begged.

She thought for a moment and then replied, "You're right. I've been thinking about it, and I don't think I can be with a vampyre. It's been fun, most of it anyway, but I would never feel safe. I do love you, in a way, but not enough to do this. I wasn't going to come to you anyway. I just didn't want to tell you. What would be the point when you were never going to know me anyway."

Bruce was nodding, but she could taste the lie, like bile, in the back of her throat.

"Don't tell Leso, though. It would kill him to know he's not gonna be with Bev. Can you take me home, please?" He nodded and backed the car down the driveway.

She got out of the car and went into the house. She walked past everyone and went to her room. Bruce was already there.

"Did I say the right thing?" she mouthed. He nodded. "You know it was all bullshit, right?" His face broke into the big smile she was used to and nodded again. Richard didn't come to their room that night, but Bruce stayed.

***

Richard ran, but not to the cliff. He couldn't look at it. He ran in the other direction, leaving drops of blood like a trail behind him. She didn't want him. He'd expected her to fight with him, to tell him he was crazy. He stopped running, jumped into a big tree, sat on a branch, and let the blood fall like rain to the ground below.

She didn't feel safe with him. And why would she? It's not as if he'd done anything to make her feel safe. He'd let her get killed by one vampyre and then attacked by another. She had to run from her home, but still he hadn't seen this coming. He wanted to go get Potter and have him kill him now, but she was right. It would kill Leso if he knew. She loved him 'in a way, but not enough'.

His soul screamed in agony. He knew it was for best, but it didn't feel that way. It felt like his insides were being ripped out by acid-coated hooks. All the pain he'd felt before, the years without her, the loss of his family, the guilt, all combined held nothing in comparison to this moment. His need to go to her was almost more than he could resist.

He wanted to shake her and demand she take it back, to make the torture stop, to tell her it was more than he could bear. He wanted to grovel at her feet and beg her not to go, to stay with him, that he would find a way to make it right, but he couldn't. He had to let her go to keep her safe. Elderson had finally gotten his wish after all. He was in hell.

***

Beck spent most of the next morning with Bev and Bruce. They were allowed to stray only as far as necessary to ensure some privacy from vampyre ears. She let the others believe she was just nervous, but she didn't really feel nervous at all about it. In truth, she was excited. "What was the fight about last night?" Bev asked. Beck sighed. "Richard explained to me that when I got to the past, I _must not_ seek him out, that we _can never_ meet, that it's the only way to keep me safe."

"What did you say?"

"I agreed with him. It is the only way to keep me safe. I told him I'd do it."

Bev's jaw dropped open in shock, but before she could say anything, Potter landed softly beside them at the tree line of the front yard.

"I thought you couldn't hear us," Beck said tightly.

Potter answered just as tightly, "They can't hear you. My hearing is much more attuned. How could you agree to that? After all the work you put into this?"

"Oh, he went behind my back and tore up all my 'work' before he told me what he wanted me to do. He knew what he wanted, and he did what he wanted. He didn't give a damn what my opinion might be. So I gave him what he wanted, I told him I'd do it."

The stricken look on Potter's face made her relent a little.

"Oh, relax. I lied to him. I'm going to find him anyway, but Bruce seemed to think it was a good idea to help him on his quest to becoming a martyr. It's a good thing I love him, or I might have gone along with his damn plan."

"Bruce?" Bev asked. Potter was stunned. "Where?"

"He's right here. I've seen him since I was a kid," she said and smiled at Bruce. "We go way back."

"You're talking to ghosts now?" Bev asked. "I thought you didn't do that."

"I _tried_ to talk to him, but it didn't work. He's not actually talking, just hand movements really."

"Can you tell him I'm sorry for what I did to him?" Potter asked. "He's dead, not deaf. You just told him yourself."

Bruce made a sweeping motion with his palms flat down. He put his hand to his chest, then extended it palm up towards Potter.

"He said you have nothing to be sorry for, and he apologizes for attacking you," Beck translated.

Potter looked like a thousand pound weight had been lifted off his back.

"I love you, Beck," he said softly.

"Love you back, Potter," she said, smiling. "So, where's Richard at today?"

"I don't know," Potter said. "He didn't come home last night, and we didn't go looking for him this time. What did you say to him to make him mad enough to stay out like that?"

"I told him I wasn't going to look for him in the past anyway, that I didn't feel safe, and I didn't love him enough to go through this with him." Potter's mouth fell open in shock as he sank down into a squat. "Please tell me you didn't really say that to him."

"I did. Why?" she answered, now worried. "You can't just say shit like that to him, Beck. He's not a man; well, he's not a _human_ man, and he doesn't love you like a human man would. He doesn't have the capacity to heal from the trauma of losing his mate again. The only reason he survived the last time was with the desperate hope that he would find you again here. You can argue and fight with him until the end of time, but you can't just take your love away. Don't you see, Beck? He doesn't know it wasn't true."

"I just thought, since I was going to change our future anyway, it didn't matter. He wouldn't remember it anyway. I thought I was giving him what he wanted."

"You're changing _your_ future and the future of the Richard you're going back to, but what if _this_ Richard stays right here in this time, always believing what you said to him, that he's not worthy enough for your love?"

Now she was the one who was horrorstruck. She had never considered that this Richard might remain here without her.

"Do you know where he was headed?"

"Just that he went that way," he told her, pointing in the opposite direction of the cliff.

She looked at Bruce. "Do you know where he is?"

Bruce held up his finger, telling her to wait, and then he vanished. He was back in two seconds, nodding.

"How many miles away?"

He held up one finger.

She looked to Bev and Potter. "He's a mile out."

"Only a mile?" Potter asked. "He must be bad off. I don't sense him at all."

"I'm going to get him. Can you keep an eye out for extra vampyres for me?"

Potter nodded. "I'll be watching."

"Lead the way," she told Bruce, and followed him into the woods.

***

They walked for quite some time before Bruce stopped and pointed into the tree they were standing beneath. She stepped next to him and looked up. Richard was sitting on a branch with his head hanging down. She was looking into his face, but he didn't seem to see her. Something touched her arm, and she saw that it was blood. She looked down and realized that the ground was covered in it.

"Richard, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. Come down."

He didn't respond. She screamed his name until she was hoarse, but he didn't move. There was no way she could get in the tree, no branch she could reach. She even hit him with a rock, but he didn't even flinch. She didn't know what else to do, so she sat in the rain of his tears and waited. Bruce had left her alone with Richard. She knew he felt horrible about the part he played in this. She had hoped that Potter would have shown up by now to help get him out of the tree, but no such luck. She was still grasping for something to do when a high-pitched snarl disrupted her thoughts.

Her first, terrified thought was: _vampyre_. But when she swung her head around, she saw that that wasn't the case this time. There, not six feet away from where she sat, was a bobcat. Of course there was a bobcat. Why wouldn't there be a bobcat when she was sitting on the ground covered in blood?

"Well, shit," she said softly.

She very slowly got her feet under her and stood up. She knew not to turn her back on it, so she started backing away. Bobcats were small cats, not much bigger that a large house cat, but they were vicious animals.

Their teeth and claws could make them lethal. Her size would not detour him when she was saturated in blood. She took one more step back, and it leapt. She covered her face with her arms and waited for the claws to sink into her, but they never did. She peeked between her arms and saw Richard standing in front of her, holding the cat.

***

He'd thought he was dreaming. He'd known Beck wasn't here. His mind was only torturing him with her image, her scent, her voice. He'd even imagined Bruce standing next to her at one point, further proof that it was a dream. In his beautiful dream, she had said the things he longed to hear: 'I'm sorry. I take it back. I didn't mean it'. He never wanted to wake up.

It wasn't until the animal hunched its legs to attack that he knew it was no dream, not all of it anyway. No dream of his would ever attack her, never her, and he jumped, catching the cat in mid-leap. He dropped the cat on the ground, allowing it streak back into the woods. Beck was covered in blood, his blood, and he could hear her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Are you alright, Little One?"

"I'm better now, thanks to you," she said, walking over to him and taking his hand. "I'm sorry about what I said to you. It wasn't true."

"It was my fault," he said, and his beautiful wife drew back her hand and slapped him hard across the face, stunning him.

"It was your fault! You're an idiot! You decided for both of us how things were gonna be without even discussing it with me. You're not the only one in this relationship, Richard. Did you ever stop to think that even if I did what you asked, that if I went back and didn't meet you, that _I_ would still remember? That _I_ would have to come back and have to live my life without _you_.

"Do you really think that would be easier for me than for you in those hundred plus years you were without me? Not meeting you may save my life, but what would be the point of saving it without you in it? Don't you know how much I love you?"

He pulled her to him and whispered against her lips, "Say it again."

"I love you," she said and kissed him.

He could smell her scent under the blood and knew he had been pulled out of hell and set back on solid ground.

"You're a mess," he told her lightly.

"And you, this was not your fault either," she said, turning and talking to...nothing. "We both thought we were doing the right thing."

"What?" he asked, confused. "What's going on?"

"Take this memory," she said, taking his hand.

He took her hand and saw his brother, Bruce, standing next to him, here in this place, and he looked very upset about something.

Looking at Beck, he gasped, "How is this possible?"

"He's a ghost, and he's upset because he showed me the box, and he thought me telling you what I told you was the right thing to do."

"Vampyres don't leave ghosts."

"I beg to differ. He's been around off and on since I was a kid. Anybody can leave a ghost. Most souls move on, but some get stuck, and some stay around until things from their lives have been resolved. Besides, a vampyre is just what you are in life. When you die, your soul is released just like any other person's."

He had seen Bruce from his place in the tree. Could that mean he was, at that moment, closer to death than life?

He didn't know, but it was nice to know that a vampyres soul remained intact, and not immediately sucked into hell at the moment of their death. None of that mattered now, though. Only that she was here, and that she loved him, mattered.

They cleaned up in the shower once they returned home, washing away all traces of his tears. Afterwards, she spent a good hour questioning Potter. Did he love Jenny on first sight? Would he come with Beck in the past? Where was he between August and November of 1888? Everything she could think to ask him. Then, she and Richard spent their last night together, in this time, on their cliff. One last, perfect night.

### Chapter Seven

Now, she _was_ nervous. She'd left the house with Richard ten minutes ago after lots of hugs and kisses from her family. Today it had really hit her that if she messed this up, there may be no family to come back to.

"I would still like you to consider my suggestion of hiding," Richard told her.

"Would you just shut up about that? I told you I would think about it."

He'd insisted on being the one to drive her to the old factory. She knew he wasn't going to let up about them not meeting, and she was right. She told him she would think about it, but that was _all_ she would do. She knew she was right not to tell him about the needle he's missed. He would have destroyed it.

As it was, it was extremely painful to sit in the bucket seat of the car, and Richard pestering her about what she should do wasn't helping her mood. She was glad she never wanted children, because if that needle broke, it wouldn't be an option anymore. By the time they got to the old factory, she was terrified.

She still hadn't decided how much to tell the Richard of the past. She was going to have them find Jeremy as soon after she left as they could, not only because she liked him so much, but so he wouldn't run into the vampyre that had told him the story of Elderson.

She knew just as sure as she was breathing, that if Richard knew that story, and how it ended in her death, he would try to hunt Elderson down and kill him. She couldn't risk that. She had her own plan to take care of Elderson.

Beck got out of the car, and Richard pulled the box of dresses out of the back seat for her. Just the relief of standing up put her in a better mood. They couldn't stand here too long. There was a guard in the guard shack watching them, and a long goodbye would look strange. "Please, be careful, and if you decide that you have to find me, please tell me everything I need to know to keep you safe," he said, pulling her close to him.

"I will," she lied easily. "I love you."

"Say it again."

"I love you, Little One." She pulled away from him, grabbed the box, and walked away. After showing her I.D. to the guard, she walked towards the building. She used the time it took to get to the glass double doors to pull herself together. She had to appear to be unaware of what was going on. Not looking back, she opened the door and went in. She was in a small reception area, with a couple of chairs, and a desk with a very large woman overflowing out of the chair behind it.

"Good morning," the woman called out cheerfully.

"Good morning. I'm Rebecca Stockdale. I have an appointment with Dr. Mike Rogers at 9:00 a.m.," she said, glad that her voice came out cool and professional.

The receptionist smiled. "Well, of course you do. I see it right here. If you'll have a seat, I'll let him know you're here."

"I'll stand. It was a long drive here," she said, looking at the chair like it was a porcupine.

The receptionist made a call, and less than a minute later, a tall, blond haired man wearing glasses came out. She could feel the excitement in the air around him.

"Ms. Stockdale! I'm so glad you made it. I'm Mike Rogers. Would you come with me please?" he said, leading her down a long hallway to a small office.

"Please, have a seat," he said, and pointed at a hard plastic chair on the opposite side of his desk. She groaned to herself as she perched on the edge of the chair. "First things first, I need you to sign this before our conversation can continue."

He slid a piece of paper across the desk. It was a confidentiality agreement saying that if she ever told anyone what happened here that they would deny it and sue her for every dime she would ever have. She signed it and slid it back across the desk to him.

"Excellent! Now, I have your psyche reports, medical, and school records here, and everything about them tells us that you are the perfect candidate for our current project. Tell me, Ms. Stockdale, what do you know about time travel?"

"Call me Beck, please. I was under the impression that time travel was impossible," she lied easily.

"What would you say if I told you that not only is it possible, but that it's what we do here?"

"I would ask why you called me here today?" Beck questioned, although she already knew the answer.

"Our project today is the Jack the Ripper case. We would like to send you back to 1888 to observe the five known Ripper murders, and ascertain the identity of the killer."

"Why me?"

"Out of all the candidates we've looked at, you were the only one who never named a suspect that you believed was the killer. That indicates an open mind. We also didn't want to send a man, for fear he might try to save the victims. You need to understand that you can't change anything. The murders have to play out without your interference. Can you do that?

She paused for a moment to make it seem as if she was actually thinking it over. "Yes, those women died a long time ago. I'm not willing to change that. If I save even one of them, the consequences to history as I know it could be severe."

"I'm glad you grasp our dilemma about sending people back in time. We have to be very selective about who we choose to work with. Your college psyche evaluations indicate that you would be psychologically able to watch these murders without it being detrimental to your mental health. Do you believe this to be correct?"

She wondered what about her psyche evaluations indicated that she was capable of calmly observing five brutal murders.

"Yes, like I said, they're already dead. I would simply be watching historical events while they unfold."

"Wonderful! I like your views on this. We also saw that you've had training in self-defense. We don't think you will need it, but we would like you to be able to defend yourself if necessary. You won't be able to take any weapons. If anything happens to you, you will be on your own. Can you deal with that?"

"Yes, I have no problem with that," she answered, knowing she wouldn't really be 'on her own'.

"You would have to go today. Before we go any further, are you willing to do that?"

"Yes, I can do that," she answered. If she didn't get out of this chair soon, she was going to scream.

"Great! Come with me, and I'll show you how this works."

She would have followed him to the moon to get out of that chair. He led her back into a section of the old plant that had a bunch of science fiction looking machinery hanging from the ceiling and a control panel table with two chairs. She really hoped he didn't ask her to sit in one of them. There were two platforms in the floor about ten feet apart, but not much else.

"All you will have to do is step up on this platform to go, and D.J. will bring you back on the other," Dr. Rogers explained.

It didn't sound too bad, and she already knew that it worked, but she tried to look appropriately worried, and it worked.

"No need to worry about this part. I assure you, it's all in working order," he continued, smiling at her. He flipped open his phone, pressed a button, and said, "D.J., come to the control panel, please," then he flipped it shut. "D.J. is the control operator. He created all of this," he said, indicating everything in the room.

A very attractive man wearing a backward baseball cap walked up behind them. "What cha' need boss?"

"D.J., this is Beck, our next time traveler. Can you show her how this works?" Dr. Rogers asked.

D.J. grinned at her. "Sure, have a seat."

Aww, man! She sat up as straight as she could on the edge of the chair. He went around a wall and came back with a white and black rabbit.

"This is Pucker, our first traveler," he said, and placed the rabbit on the platform.

He came back to the control panel, typed something into the keyboard, and hit a button. A bright red light lit up the platform, and the rabbit was gone. Two seconds later, a bright purple light lit up the other platform, and the rabbit was back.

"Pucker just spent ten minutes out on our grounds. As you can see, she's perfectly fine."

"But, she was only gone a couple of seconds."

"A couple of seconds to us, but ten minutes of her life just passed. It will be the same for you. You'll be gone longer than Pucker was, so it will take a little longer to get you back, but only a little longer. To you, you will have been gone 2 ½ months. To us, it will only be a couple of minutes." She was intrigued. "How do you keep track of what you send so that you can bring it back?"

"Microscopic transmitters in the bloodstream. Everything else gets sprayed with a transmitter solution. I need to spray the dress you'll be wearing when you go back. We also have some slipper shoes from that time for you to wear that have already been treated. Buy some more shoes when you get there, put the treated dress and shoes away, and don't get them wet. Make sure you're wearing them when it's time to come back, or you'll find yourself on that platform naked. Come with me," he said as he stood.

He led her back through the plant, past the hallway to a big, metal door. Inside, it looked like a hospital room. Her dresses were stacked on the bed.

"You'll only be gone a few seconds in our time, but you have to stay here 24 hours after your return. It's just a precaution, in case shock sets in. It happens every now and again. Don't worry about it, though. You'll be just fine. I haven't killed anyone yet," he smiled. "Give me your arm."

He got out a hypodermic needle full of what looked like egg yolks and walked back to her. "Don't worry, it's completely non-toxic. This is the transmitter solution. When you get back, we'll put you through an MRI. The magnetic field will deactivate the transmitters." He stuck the needle in the vein in her arm. "Give me whichever dress you're going to wear, so I can treat it."

"One off the top is fine." He took the dress and mused, "Don't know how women wore these big, heavy dresses in the heat. You'll be alright. You're from the South. If I sent a woman from Maine, she'd probably die of heat stroke. I'll be landing you on August 27, 1888, near the end of summer; still hot though. There's a bag over there that fits in to that time period.

"The slippers you need to put on are in it. The bag's already been treated, and you can put your dresses in it. There's also a hairbrush and a canister that has deodorant in it. No makeup, sorry. Everything in the bag will go. Put any personal possessions in that closet over there. I'll be back in a few minutes with your dress."

The first thing she did when the door closed was pull down her pants, get the needle out, and throw it in the bag. She put her dresses on top of a bunch of torn-up cloth. D.J. was back quicker than she expected, carrying her with her dress and a plastic bag.

"Here's your dress. The spray dries fast, so you can go ahead and put it on. I have a bra thingy from the 1800's. You'll have to get your other underwear there. Umm, I have to tie you up in this, though. Shelia's already left to get her second breakfast," he said, blushing as he pulled the 'bra thingy' out of a plastic bag.

"Don't worry D.J. I'm not shy," she said, taking off her shirt and bra. It took him a few minutes to get her tied up right. It would have gone faster if he was looking.

"Don't want to tie ya' too tight. That's what used to give women what they called the 'vapors', made them pass out."

"You have sent a person back before, right?" she queried, trying to get him to relax.

"Yes, ma'am. They didn't lose Kennedy's brain. We have it in our possession," he said, laughing.

"You said something about a woman from Maine would die of heat stroke. What _does_ happen if I die there?"

He smiled again. "You're not gonna die, but if your heart stops beating for three seconds, the transmitters will shoot you back here. So, if you feel like you absolutely have to die, please, _don't_ do it in public."

He finally got her tied into the 'bra thingy', and she stepped into the dress. She didn't take her pants off until she had the dress done up. She would have taken them off before she put on the dress, but D.J. was so shy, _he'd_ probably get the 'vapors'.

"What is the torn up cloth for?" she inquired while putting on the slippers.

He turned even redder, if that was possible. "Umm, there were no maxi pads back then, so, umm...," he trailed off.

She tried not to laugh, but she couldn't stop herself. "Okay, well thanks, I guess."

"Here's a pocket watch. You have to remember to wind it. Make sure you are out of sight when you come back. Your hotel room would be best. Here's money for that time. It's not real, but they'll never know it. There's plenty there for you to get your hotel room, food, and whatever else you need.

"Talk to as few people as you can. Don't make any friends. Don't write any notes on what you see. You'll just have to remember it. We're really only going after identity here.

"Me and Mike have a $50 bet going. I think it's going to be Aaron Kosminski. He's going for Prince Albert. I told him that Prince Albert wasn't even close to Whitechapel for some of the murders, but he's convinced it's some kind of cover-up." She liked D.J. a lot. He was easy to be around. "Who pays for all this, D.J.? The military?"

"Oh, hell no. Just some old, nosy, rich codger, bless him."

She laughed with him. It was an old southern habit to say something horrible about somebody and then bless them, and there was no doubt that D.J. was a born and bred southern man.

"Well, let's get going then." He grabbed the bag with all the things in it and led her to the control panel. "Now, you make sure you look around during the day and find places near where the murders happen, but where you won't be seen." He handed her the bag, and gave her a tight one-armed hug, and then flipped his phone open, "Mike, we're ready."

"D.J., did you ever wonder what happened in October of 1888?"

"What do ya' mean?"

"Well, think about it. Jack the Ripper killed once at the end of August, three times in September, then not again until November 13th. Serial killers don't just stop like that. I always wondered what happened to him for the six or so weeks in between."

What she really wanted to know was what had caught Elderson's attention during those weeks.

"I don't know. That is strange, but you'll let me know in a minute," he smiled.

"Are we all ready?" Dr. Rogers asked when he walked into the room. D.J. nodded. "Great! Did you tell her everything she needs to know?"

"Yep, she's all filled in, and has everything she needs," D.J. answered, and then turned back to her. "Ok, I'm going to set you down in a small area outside the city. You'll see a road in front of you, turn right and follow it into the city. It shouldn't take more than a ten minute walk. When you get across the bridge, turn right again. That will lead you into the city. Get a hotel, shop, check out the Ripper, and be careful."

He took her over to the platform, went back across the room, and sat down at the control panel.

"Now, I'm sending you back to August 27, 1888, at 3:00 p.m. Your return date is November 13, 1888, at noon. You ready?"

"Yeah, I'll see you in 2 ½ months" she said with a smile.

"I'll see you in 2 1/2 minutes," he smiled back at her, and hit the button that would send her to the past, and into her future.

***

She opened her eyes and saw she was right where D.J. had said she'd be. She her opened the bag, pulled out her wedding ring, put it on her finger and followed his directions into town. He was right about the dress and the heat, too. She felt like she was going to melt.

It wasn't much hotter here than it was in the Tennessee she had just left, but she wasn't out walking in a ten pound dress back home. She'd been thinking about how she was going to approach Richard, but by the time she saw him, she was so hot and miserable that she really didn't care anymore. He was already watching her when she spotted him. She walked up to him, shoved the bag into his hand, and said, "Hold this."

***

Richard was standing on the street waiting for Leso when he caught a fruity scent on the breeze, mixed with other things he didn't recognize. He spotted a red haired woman walking in his direction. She was beautiful, and she was the source of the scent. He felt his chest squeeze, and he knew he had to find out who she was.

He was thinking about following her when she looked in his direction and headed his way. If he could catch her eye, he would mesmerize her and get her somewhere more private, so he could find out who she was.

Then she walked right up to him and shoved a bag into his hand. "Hold this!"

He caught her gaze and tried to capture her mind. He thought it was working until she said, "Ten minute walk, my ass. It was at least thirty. I'm gonna stuff that ball cap down his throat! Where's the closest hotel?"

He just stood there stunned. His gaze did not work on her at all.

"Are you gonna stare at me all day, or are you gonna tell me where a hotel is?"

She spoke with an accent that lilted. It was very nice. She had the most beautiful, green eyes he'd ever seen.

She clapped her hands in front of his face and said. "Focus! Hotel! Now!"

He shook his head to clear his mind. "There's a nice hotel down the street on the left."

She turned in that direction and started walking. She looked back at him and snapped, "Well? Come on!"

He didn't know who she was, but he knew she was angry. Outside of the hotel, she reached inside the bag he was holding and pulled out a roll of money.

"Do they know you here?"

"No," he answered, confused. "Good, go and get us a room for the night," she ordered, shoving the money at him.

He didn't understand. Was she insane? He didn't care, he would be with her anyway, but _was_ she insane?

She glared at him. "Richard, I don't want to scream at you on this street, but you don't know how close I am to doing it."

"You know my name?" he asked, shocked. "Yes, I know your name, and if you go get the hotel room, I'll tell you how."

That was all he needed to hear to walk into the hotel. He got a room and led her to it. Once inside, she started taking off her dress.

"What are you doing?!" he gasped.

"I'm sweating to death. Don't you recognize the symptoms? Are these women crazy? No wonder they get the vapors," she nearly growled and she kicked the dress across the room. "Don't get the dress wet, he says! I hope sweat doesn't count, cause it's soaked. If I go back naked, it's his own fault."

He didn't know what she was talking about and didn't care. She was standing in front of him wearing nothing but a corset and the tiniest scrap of underwear he had ever seen, her skin damp with perspiration.

She walked over and kissed him. "Hi, Sweetie," she smiled. He loved her. He didn't know how or why, but he knew it was true. If she knew what he was, would she run away screaming?

"I'm Beck."

"Beck," he repeated, tasting the sweet name in his mouth. It was perfect. "Actually, my name is Rebecca Emily Stockdale Jaxon, and I have some things to show you."

"I shouldn't be in here with you. It's not decent," he said, turning towards the door.

She grabbed his arm and spun him back around. "Sit!" she said, pointing at the only chair in the room.

He had no choice but to obey her command, so he sat in the chair and waited. She flopped on the bed, pulling her crossed legs up in front of her, and looked at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. She was killing him. If he had needed to breathe to survive, she would have him dead already.

"I never asked you. How many memories you can take at one time?" He was shocked. She couldn't know that about him, and how was he supposed to answer her anyway, when he could focus on nothing but her hair falling over her perfect left breast?

"Alright. Let's try this again," she said, seeing his difficulty. "Your name is Richard. My name is Beck. You are a vampyre, and you can see other people's memories. I need to know how many memories you can take at a time."

She knew he was a vampyre! How? She knew and yet, she still sat there with no trace of fear? Who was this woman? Why was she here?

"I need you to answer me. I don't want to overwhelm you." Too late, he was overwhelmed already. "I don't know. I've only received three at the most from one person at one time, but that was all they gave me. So, I couldn't say."

"Well, I have a lot more than three. Scoot the chair over here, and we'll see what you can take." Again, he did as he was told. She took his hands in hers. "Your skin is so cool, you lucky bastard."

He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, allowing his body to cool it, and then blew it across her body. She dropped her head back and moaned. He watched, mesmerized, as the goose bumps chased each other up her arms and across her shoulders.

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Nor did I," he replied, watching the goose bumps fade. "Okay, here we go. You ready?"

He nodded and closed his eyes. He saw himself pulling a small child away from the water's edge, pulling the same older child from in front of a strange carriage, crushing the head of an attacking dog. Then, he saw himself in a room with her, telling her she would go to the past to meet him. They were kissing. He was running his hand up her hip... "Stop," he breathed, pulling his hands away. This wasn't possible. She was showing him memories of himself that he didn't have, of things he hadn't done. Was this some kind of trick?

"Richard, I know this is hard to understand, but we do know each other. I thought the memories would be easier than the explanation."

"It seems your explanation is that you are from the future."

"Yes," was all she said. "And we've been, what, chasing each other through time?"

"Yeah, something like that." He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe you."

"Yeah, you do," she said sympathetically.

"I have to go," he stammered, hurrying to the door. "You'll be back," she called out as the door closed behind him.

***

He had to find Leso, had to tell him about this woman. He found Leso on the street where they were supposed to meet earlier.

As he approached, Leso said, "What has happened to you, brother?"

"I need to talk to you. I met a woman," he started, and told him of everything he had just seen.

"Do you believe her?" Leso asked when he was done. Richard shrugged. "I don't know what to believe. She wouldn't have those memories to share if they weren't true, but how can I believe she's from the future? It just can't be possible."

Leso smiled. "We are not possible either, brother, yet here we stand. So, I ask you again. Do you believe her?"

He thought about it for a moment, and then nodded his head. "I do."

"Then, perhaps you should go back and hear the rest of her story."

"Yes, I think I will," and turned back towards the hotel.

When he returned to the room, she was dozing on the bed, perspiration covering her again. He took another deep breath and blew it across her body. The cold air made her eyelids flutter open.

"Told you that you'd be back." He looked at her for a few moments before speaking. "How could I stay away? Give me your memories, all of them, everything you can think to give me. I need to know."

She gave him his request. He stood for hours, holding her hand in his. Each memory was relived in his mind, becoming one of his own: the fights; the lovemaking; the man in the library; Leso killing the vampyre; their declarations of love; their cliff; their ocean; the story of some of his family's deaths; their wedding day; playing toss with her in the yard with some of his family, and his new hunter brother.

He took everything she gave him and understood. She was his wife, his reason for being on earth, and he was hers. Of course she would travel through time to help save his family, just as he would walk through over a hundred years to be with her again. It made perfect sense.

When he opened his eyes again, she was smiling at him. "I love you."

"Say it again, Little One."

"I love you," she repeated as he pulled her up into his arms.

Even though he had seen it all, and believed every word, he was still stunned. He'd truly met the one woman that he would spend eternity loving no matter what else happened to him, her, or them. Beck kissed him fully and deeply on the mouth and then leaned back giggling. Richard looked at her questioningly.

Beck smiled and said, "Now _you've_ been kissed!" Instantly, one of the memories she had given him took hold, and he laughed, too. She kissed him again, sat in his lap on the chair.

He pulled back to look down into her eyes. "I know that this isn't technically our first time, but will you just humor me for a little while?"

"It would please me to no end to give you your wish." He slowly smiled at her, and he was suddenly standing upright with her cradled in his arms. He gently sat her on the large, over-stuffed bed while he sat down behind her. He ran his hands over her body, starting at her hips, rubbing her back, and then, as he moved the hair off of her neck, his cool lips began to graze her neck.

She began to turn, but he stopped her and whispered into her ear, "Have patience, Little One...I want you more in this moment than ever before, even counting the memories you've given me. Will you let me do as I will until I ask you to join me?"

Breathlessly, she replied, "Anything you want, but please don't make me wait so long as I have to beg you to let me touch you, too."She could feel his mouth spread into a smile as he ran his tongue across her neck at the same time as his hands slid around her waist and gently over her breast. As his lips slid over her neck and back, he continued to caress her breast, standing her nipples straight to attention. As her breath caught in her throat, he slid one hand down her stomach and in between her thighs.

As she unconsciously spread her legs, he moved around her and laid her back on the bed. He was on the floor and went from sucking her toes to licking her leg from her ankle to her inner thigh. As his mouth found her nub and licked at it with a gentleness that few ever achieve, he moved his hands up her body again.

As she totally surrendered to him, he asked, "Are you ready?"

She reached out to pull him upward and onto her. Deeply, they kissed as she reached down and guided him into her. As their bodies moved in perfect unison and as one mind, she was on the verge of her second climax. As she strained into him, Richard moaned, and she literally lifted him a foot off the bed as her body spent itself again. They seemed suspended in space forever before collapsing one with the other totally fulfilled from the lovemaking.

***

It had gone better than she had hoped it would. She'd known that when he left the room, he wasn't running away. She knew he'd just needed awhile to process what was going on. She knew he was going to be angry when he found out all the things she had not shared with him.

She'd showed him nothing of Jeremy's story of Elderson. Jeremy had told her that he had only run into the vampyre that had told him of Elderson's plan a few months before he found Richard. She knew the day that she was supposed to die in this time, and planned to take Elderson out with a syringe of her blood. But, if that plan failed, she didn't want Richard to start hunting him.

She was here to save his family, not to get him killed. If she died, he could find her again. If he died, it was over. She had never told him that her biggest fear was stepping back into her time and finding him gone. She would not be the one to give him the information that would bring that fear to reality.

She'd also not told him about her plan to become a hunter. She thought that would be more than he could take right now. She'd left out the last fight they had had, as well, but that was mostly out of shame of what she had said to him. She didn't tell him about the rape, either. What would be the point? Even if he did stop it, she would still remember it. He brought her out of her thoughts and back to the bed they were laying in. "Any other memories you want to share?"

"Not at the moment."

"You have the most beautiful accent," he said. "I don't have an accent, you do, and it's much stronger now than what I'm used to," she smiled.

"Does it bother you?"

"Not at all. It's just different."

"How does what I am not bother you, Little One?" he asked quietly.

"What? The vampyre thing? That's just _what_ you are, not who _you_ are. _Who_ you are is a kind, decent, loving man. You also happen to be my husband, and I love you. We have to get married again when I get back, by the way. Only if you want to make it legal again, I mean."

"Of course I do. Only this time, I would prefer there to be more of my family there, and less of yours. How was someone as good as you raised by such horrible people?"

"It wasn't easy. If I didn't have my sister, who knows what kind of person I'd be?"

"You have come all this way to save my family. Can I ask how you plan to do this?"

"Well, I thought I would teach your family how to fight." He laughed. " _You're_ going to teach _us_ how to fight? Forgive me Beck, but you are only human."

"Here, take this memory," she said, and gave him the memory of the rear naked choke hold in the field, leaving out the confrontation with Jeremy that happened just before.

"Alright, I'm intrigued. You _are_ very fast for a human."

"We talked about this in my time. In a fight, vampyres rely on speed and strength. I'm going to give you skills."

"Whatever you wish. If it will help my family, we'll try anything."

"And I need to find Potter."

"The hunter?" he asked coldly. She'd had to leave out a lot of her memories of Potter because of the conversations they were having at the time, but she still didn't care for Richard's tone.

"You trust him with your life."

He said nothing.

"You trust him with my life," she said softly. "I don't think that's possible."

"It is, though," she said and gave him one of her favorite memories of Potter.

She had just gotten Richard with the rear choke hold in the field, and Richard had said in a very serious voice: 'Hunter, throw this human in the air'.

"Alright, I'll give him a chance," he said grudgingly. "You will not give him a _chance_! You'll give him your _trust_. He loves Jenny with all his heart, and she feels the same for him. You will not fuck this up for them. He is to her, what I am to you. You always told me that Jenny was never happy. _Potter_ makes her happy. So, you just suck it up and get use to him. He's your family, too. You saw that yourself through my memories."

"You have a foul mouth."

"Yeah, and you can suck that up, too."

"Suck it up?"

She sighed. "Yes, it means: learn to live with it. And you really are gonna have to learn to live with it. Potter is going to be around for a long time."

"When do you go back?" he inquired.

"November 13th at noon."

"That's not very long to truly get to know you, Beck."

"Well, you'll have to do your best. Besides, that's all the time I have to get to know you, as well."

"But you do know me."

"I know I love you, but we never really talked about you. I know you're a vampyre. I know how you became one. I know a little about your family, but not much else."

"Good, then I'm not the only one of us at a disadvantage," he smiled. "Well, that's not nice. In the time I just left, you knew quite a lot about me. You watched me pretty much my whole life."

"I was saving you when you were a child?"

"Oh, yes. Without you, I would have fallen in the river, been run over, and attacked by that dog."

"And attacked in that library," he said, a touch of anger in his voice.

"I could have taken care of that on my own. You just didn't give me the chance."

"God willing, I will never give you the chance to defend yourself against a man," he growled.

"He was only human. I could have easily taken him down."

"No offense, but you are also only human, Little One. Did I kill him?"

"No, he lived," she answered. "Well then, next time around I will have to make sure to throw him harder."

She giggled. "You know, you're incredibly over protective of me. I'm a big girl. I can hold my own in a fight; with a human, at least."

"Of that I have no doubt. What made you want to learn to fight, Beck?" She thought of that night in Alex Whitman's car, not only of the rape, but of the beating she had taken.

She looked him right in the eyes...and lied. "I've just always found it interesting."

"Well, hopefully, the only use you will ever find for those skills will be to teach us," he said. "What do you wish to do first tomorrow?"

She couldn't get over how proper his voice sounded now. His brogue was so strong that it was hard to believe it was coming from the same man she had started her morning with.

"Well, I'd like to meet your family, of course. Then, tomorrow night, I need to go find Potter."

"Do you know where to find him?"

"Yes, he told me that in this time, he was working nights at the Ten Bells Pub."

"I will take you there as soon as you wish."

"No, you won't. I have to go by myself."

"I will not allow that." he said firmly.

"Look, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but you don't get to _allow_ or _disallow_ me anything. I'm grown, and have been grown for quite some time."

"I am your husband," he hissed quietly. "Yes, you are my husband, not my owner. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions."

He tried a different approach. "It's not safe for you to walk around this city, especially at night."

"You're just gonna have to try and trust me." she said.

"It's not you I don't trust, Little One."

"I also need to buy some things. I may need some help with that."

"What do you need to purchase?"

"Mostly undergarments, but also shoes, maybe some clothes I won't melt in," she said, making a mental list.

"I can have Heidi help you with that. I've never had the need to buy women's clothing before. I doubt I would be very helpful."

"I'll take Jenny. I've been shopping with her before," she said, unaware that she was closest to Heidi in her last trip to the past.

"If that is your choice," he said. They spent the rest of the night in pursuit of more pleasurable activities, sleep only catching her as the sun came up.

***

What was he going to do with this woman in his arms, this fragile human? He'd just found her and already she wanted to go gallivanting around the city, alone, after dark, in search of a hunter. She really didn't know that much about him if she thought he was going to let that happen. He would find a way to keep watch over her while she searched for her hunter, no matter how angry it made her. He wouldn't allow her to put herself in danger, no matter how well she could take care of herself.

He wanted to go find Leso and tell him what he had learned from Beck, find out what he thought about what had happened. He also needed to tell his family about Beck, but he was loathed to leave her alone. He would have to leave her with Leso when he went home. She already knew Leso, so she should be comfortable with him.

He needed to tell his family about Beck, and what she was doing here. How was he going to tell his family that they were supposed to die? He had a hard time believing it himself. He finally left her sleeping and went to search for his brother. He found him on the road leading to their home, waiting for him.

"Well, what did you find out?" Leso asked. Richard took a deep breath. "She is my wife. I saw the nuptials take place myself. I will not marry her for many years, but in every other sense, it has already occurred. I feel that she is my wife already. She wears a band on her finger that I, myself, placed there."

"And did you consummate this marriage last night, brother?" Leso asked smiling.

"Be quiet, Leso, mind your own," he cautioned. "My apologies, please continue."

"I need to tell you other things, as well. She has shown me the fate of our family, and the story is grim. Our family is at this moment fated to die. Of some, I know not how. Others will be taken by hunters until only Jenny, you, and I remain. She has come to keep this from happening, to help us save our family."

"How is she going to help us? She's human, is she not?"

"She is human, but she is different than any other human I have ever seen. Her skin smells of sweet fruit, but her blood smells of poison. She would be toxic to any of our kind that dared drink her blood."

"Have you thought of drinking her blood, brother?" Leso laughed.

"You know I never would."

"So, what is her plan for helping us?"

"She plans to teach us to fight."

Leso threw back his head and laughed. "Are you serious? _She_ will teach _us_ how to fight?"

"Do not laugh, brother. I've seen some of what she can do. It has great potential. I would like you to sit with her today while I talk to the others about this before I bring her home. She knows you. I don't think she will mind."

"I'll find out if she is telling the truth."

"I know she is telling the truth. Do you think her memories lie to me?" he snapped. "Do you think me that _easily_ fooled?"

"Of course not. Again, my apologies. I meant no offense."

Richard nodded. "I only want you to keep her safe while I am gone."

"Are you expecting her to be attacked, brother?"

He shrugged. "I do not know what to expect anymore, Leso."

"Well, let's go back then." They walked back to the hotel.

When they got there, Richard turned to Leso. "You wait here."

"Why?"

"Beck was undressed when I left."

Leso asked, "Is she shy?"

"Not in the slightest, so I will be shy for her. Besides, if you see my wife nude, I may have to kill you," he said, only half joking as he opened the door.

***

She woke up to Richard blowing his cool breath across her back. She rolled over to find him holding her dress in his hand.

"You have to put this on," he told her.

"Why?"

"Leso is outside the door, waiting to meet you."

"Oh, okay, but I can't wear that dress." She picked the next dress out of her bag and started putting it on.

"Beck," he said, and she looked over and saw him holding the corset.

"Ahh, come on, it's only Leso. That thing kills me!" she whined. "Just put it on. I don't want him to see you in an indecent state."

"It's a bit late for that," she said, remembering the night Leso had rushed into their room.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, never mind, just help me put the damn thing on!" It looked like she was in for another miserable day.

"Don't tie it up too tight. Unlike you, I actually need to breath. Just tie it back down the way D.J. had it. I can live with that."

"Who is D.J.?" he asked while he tied her up. "The guy who sent me here," she said and felt one of the strings on the back of the corset snap.

"A man helped you put this on?" he asked in a strangled voice.

"Oh, calm down. It's not a big deal, and I can't wear this now. _You_ broke it," she said gleefully, and threw the corset on the floor.

"You are going to have to explain to me how a man helping my bare breasted wife into her under things is 'no big deal', because I don't understand."

"It's not like that," she said as she buttoned her dress. "You'd like D.J."

"If he's the man who helped you put that on, I dislike him already," he growled.

"My time is different than this one. Someday, you'll understand that."

He shook his head. "I highly doubt that, Little One."

"Oh hush, and let Leso in." When Leso came into the room, she gave him a big hug.

"Hello, Leso. I'm your sister-in-law, Beck." His smile split his face from ear to ear. "You really are, aren't you?"

"Yes, I really am," she smiled back at him. "I don't know what to say. It is very nice to meet you, Beck."

"This is so strange, meeting you for the first time... again."

"Well, now you only have two more people left to meet again," Richard said. "Leso is going to stay with you while I go home and prepare my family to meet you."

"I don't need a babysitter, Richard. You should both go and talk to your family. I'll be fine here."

"He's just going to keep you company until I get back," he said, and kissed her before walking to the door. " I won't be gone very long."

"Well, what would you like to do while he's gone?"Leso asked when the door closed behind Richard.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get my shopping done. I was going to wait and go with Jenny, but I'd rather get it over with."

"Your wish is my command. Where would you like to go first?"

"Well, I need clothes and shoes."

"Follow me then," he said and guided her out of the hotel and through the city. "There's a nice ladies clothing store down this street."

"Actually, I'd like you to take me to a men's clothing store."

"As you wish. Are you shopping for Richard as well?"

"No."

"I won't ask why, then," he told her, leading her in the other direction. "Do you think we should have left Richard a note?" she worried. Leso laughed. "Following your scent through the city is not a problem for him. I have to say, I've never seen my brother this flustered before. Could I ask you to tell me what you showed him, or would I be overstepping myself?"

"I'm sure Richard already told you everything. I'm not stupid, Leso. I know you just want to know if I'm telling the truth," she laughed. He looked a little ashamed. "Hey, don't worry about it. We kind of share the same skill. I know when someone is lying, too. I guess you can say I read people's emotions the same way you do. I don't blame you. If some man showed up and told my sister a story like this, I would want to know the truth too."

"You really are amazing. So, will you tell me the story of how you came to be here?"

All through their shopping trip, she told him of her childhood, her time in college, the vampyre attack in Durham, their run to Clarksville, and the house they had built her. She also told him the edited version of the death of his family, and how she had gotten to the past. Over her lunch, she told him about Bev.

"Your sister will be my mate?!" he asked in an awed voice. Beck nodded. "Yes, she will, but you have to wait until _I say_ to approach her. Promise me?"

"I promise."

"So, what do you think? Am I telling the truth?"

"No, you're not, not all of it anyway. You are purposely leaving parts out of your story. o you want to tell me why?"

"It's for the safety of your family. There are things that could cause Richard to get himself killed if I told him. Please, don't tell him that I'm keeping things from him. Please, just trust me," she begged.

"I do trust you, and I'll keep your secret."

"Thank you."

The rest of their afternoon passed pleasantly. She'd gotten five pairs of pants, eight shirts, several pairs of socks, a pair of flat-bottom riding boots that were similar to moccasins, and a pair of woman's shoes to wear with the dresses. They had turned to walk back to the hotel when Richard came out of nowhere and grabbed her.

"You were gone," he told her, hugging her tight. Looking at Leso, Beck said, "I told you we should have left him a note."

"And I told you he would find you, and here he is," Leso smiled. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then turned to Richard. "I'm sorry. I went ahead and did my shopping while you were gone. How did it go with your family?"

"They are anxious to meet you. I told them I would bring you back with us."

They got back to the hotel, and Beck threw the packages she was holding onto the bed. Richard scooped them back up and grabbed her bag off the floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "You're not coming back here. You're going to stay with me."

"Are you sure that will be alright with your family?"

"Yes, it was their idea. I told them that we would be perfectly content to stay at the hotel, but Daryl and Rita wouldn't hear of it."

"Wow, southern hospitality in Jolly Old England, who knew? Well, as long as they're fine with me staying, then so am I. Let's go."

### Chapter Eight

Leso was waiting outside with a two-horse carriage. Richard and Beck sat inside while Leso drove.

Richard turned to Beck. "You're not scared at all, are you?"

"Of what, your family? Not at all. The only thing I'm scared of is this not working. What if I can't help, and they die anyway?" she worried. He pulled her over into his lap and nuzzled her neck, "Don't worry so much. You don't know how much it means to them that you are here to try. You literally traveled through time to try and help them. How many other people can make that claim?"

"I hope that what I teach them will be enough to at least help. But after I'm gone, you and your family have to run. You can't stay here. There's one other person I want you to find after I'm gone, and then you need to disappear. Please listen to me and run," she almost begged. "Calm down Little One. I will do whatever you ask of me. If you say we need to run, then we'll run. I promise. Now relax, we're almost home."

They were traveling down a long lane in a wooded area. When they stopped and Richard helped her out of the carriage, she was shocked to see a replica of her house standing in front of her.

"My house," she whispered.

Richard laughed. "You must have really liked this house for me to have recreated it for you."

"You have got to build me my house again," she said softly. "I was already planning on it, Little One."

She stared in wonder for a few more moments before Leso landed beside them.

"Let's go in, shall we?" Leso said, breaking her trance.

Richard's family was waiting in the living room when they entered.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my father, Daryl; my mother, Rita; my sisters, Heidi, Saphira, and of course, you know Jenny. You've met Leso, and this is my brother Harley."

Beck shook hands with everyone and Rita gave her a hug and said, "It is wonderful to meet you child."

"I'm happy to meet you, too." she said, looking around the room for the one face she didn't see. " Richard, where's Bruce?"

"Did somebody say my name?" Bruce asked, coming through the front door behind them.

"Bruce!" she screamed, launching herself up into his arms and kissing him all over his face. He looked just like his ghost.

"Beck, what the hell are you doing!?" Richard yelled.

"Aww, leave her alone Richard. I don't know what this was all about, either, but I like her," Bruce said smiling, and wrapped his arms around Beck waist.

She realized that she hadn't given Richard any of her memories of Bruce. She leaned back in Bruce's arms and grabbed Richard's hand. She quickly ran through most of her memories of Bruce, and looked back at Richard. His jaw dropped open when he realized the Bruce in her memories was a ghost.

"Well, go ahead then," he said, and she kissed Bruce several more times on the head before she jumped back down.

Richard looked at Bruce. "I hope you enjoyed that, Bruce. It will be the only time it happens."

"Well, I guess that's just as well since she's my sister-in-law, but yeah, I did enjoy it." Bruce smiled.

Beck looked at Daryl and Rita. "I hope you don't mind that I'll be staying here. I don't want to put ya'll out."

They looked at each other in confusion. After a few moments, Richard laughed.

"I think she means that she doesn't want to be an inconvenience."

"Oh! Don't be silly, Beck. This is your house too." Rita said.

Richard laughed again, and she knew he was thinking of the identical house he had built her in her time.

"Behave, Richard." Beck

Daryl smiled at Richard's laughter. "Let him laugh. He doesn't do it often enough. We're just happy that he's happy."

"What do you mean 'he doesn't laugh often enough'?" she asked. "Richard laughs all the time."

Heidi looked surprised. "Does he? We don't see if very often."

"Well, the Richard I left in my time laughs a lot."

"It's because of you that he laughs. There is a complete difference in his emotions since you have arrived," Leso said..

"Really? Once he got over the shock of what I showed him, he feels pretty much like the same Richard I left."

"You know, I am standing right here. I _can_ hear you," Richard stammered.

"Sorry, brother," Leso stated. She talked with Richard's family until after dark. She adored them all. Harley was the funniest, teasing everyone in the family.

Saphira giggled all the time. Heidi was the curious one, and had a constant stream of questions.

But, Jenny was not at the Jenny that Beck had known. Richard had said that Jenny hadn't been happy, but this was more than sadness. It was cold, hard, depression.

She couldn't stand to see her like this anymore, and got to her feet. "I have to go."

"Go where, child?" Rita asked.

"There's someone I have to meet." Harley was surprised. "You know someone else here?"

"Yes, and it's time to go get him. aryl, Rita, do you trust me to bring someone else to your home?"

"Bring whomever you wish," Daryl said.

"Thank you. Leso, will you take me back into the city?"

"I'll take you," Richard said.

"If you take me, you have to drop me off and leave. Can you do that?"

"I won't _like_ it, but I can do it." Outside she turned to him and said, "I mean it Richard. You have to drop me off in the city and go home. If Potter senses you nearby, it will make it harder for me to convince him to come with me. I love Potter, and I trust him. He won't hurt me. So don't follow me, like I know you're planning on doing."

Richard's mouth turned down on the corners in a frown as he drove the carriage down the lane to the road.

"He is a hunter, Beck. He already knows we're around."

"Yeah, but knowing you're around and having you standing outside the door are two very different things. This is for Jenny just as much as Potter. Try to remember that."

"You can't be sure he won't try to hurt you, Beck."

"Yes, I can. Potter is not a danger to humans anymore than you are."

"I can be a big danger to humans, Little One. I have been," he said quietly.

"You only fed on humans that were suffering and dying. You were more of an Angel of Mercy than a true murderer."

"An Angel of Mercy?"

"Yes, its people who take, or help take, the lives of people who are dying."

"That's how you see me?" he asked, stunned. "That's what you think of what I've done?"

"I know that's what you did. You had to feed, so you took the dying. You could have just as easily fed from healthy victims, but you didn't."

"True, but were still victims of me, Beck."

"Maybe, but you knew that in the long run, what you did to them was better than they would have gone through had their illnesses been allowed to run their course."

She knew he would have argued further, but they had made it into the city. "This is good. I can walk from here," she said stopping him. She jumped down from the carriage and looked up at him. "Go home, Richard. I'll be there soon" she said as she turned and walked away.

***

He left, but he didn't go all the way home. He stopped and pulled the carriage into the woods outside the city and waited. He could feel his guts twisting in his stomach with worry. His human wife was in the city alone, looking for a hunter. She didn't seem to understand the danger she was placing herself in. Hunters were dangerous, merciless creatures, wanting only to take as many heads as they could before their own was taken.

He couldn't just go home. He could only hope that the hunter would not think to harm her while inside the city. If the hunter harmed one hair on Beck's head, he would paint all of London with his blood. She'd wanted him to go home. The best he could do was wait.

He smiled. It appeared that he would not be waiting alone. A minute later, Leso, Bruce, and Harley were at his side.

"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked. "Beck wanted me to go home, but this is as far as I could go."

"Is she going to get who I think she is?" Leso asked. Richard nodded. He had not told his family about Jenny's hunter, but he should have known that Beck would've told Leso everything. "What's going on?" Harley asked from the tree above them. Richard looked over to Leso and nodded.

"It appears that the only thing to make Jenny happy is to find her true mate," Leso explained. "The irony of that is, Jenny's true mate is a hunter. Beck has gone to find him."

There was a stunned silence for five seconds before Harley fell out of the tree laughing.

"What do you find so amusing this time, Harley?" Bruce asked. "You've killed your share of hunters, more than the rest of us combined."

"If you could pull yourself away from the brothels, perhaps you could bring up your score, brother," Harley countered, still laughing. "Harley, do you not see the danger Beck has put herself in?" Richard growled.

"No, I don't. After what she has gone through to get here, you have to believe she knows what she is doing. Besides, we are right here. We'll not let him harm her, and I've never heard of a hunter killing a human."Silently, they waited for Beck to come back down the road with Jenny's future.

***

The Ten Bells Pub was packed with people when Beck walked in. She circled the inside twice before she finally spotted Potter. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure how to approach him, and she had no way of making him believe what she had to tell him. She could only hope he'd had an open mind before he met Jenny. She walked over to where he was talking to two men at the bar.

"Potter, I need to talk to you."

"What can I do for you?" he asked politely.

"You can talk to me, outside please."

"Um, sure," he said, sounding confused. He held her elbow, led her back through the crowd of people, and out the front door.

"What is this all about?" he demanded, all the politeness was gone from his voice.

"I would like you to come with me."

"How do you know my name? No one knows my true name," he demanded, shaking her arm.

"Let go of me right now, Potter. You know as well as I do that you're not going to hurt me."

He dropped his hand back to his side, and she finally got a good look at him. He looked a lot different without his tattoos and Mohawk. The only tattoo she could see now was the small four-leaf clover on the webbing of the back of his left hand between his thumb and forefinger.

"I know you don't know me, but I know you very well. I need you to have a little faith and come with me now."

"I lost my faith a long time ago, Miss," he said, and turned back toward the pub door.

"You were born in 1722 in Ireland. You were born Lugh Potter. Your father's name was Sanford. Your mother was Norma. Your wife's name was Sabrina. You watched them all die while you continued to live. Oh, and you're a vampyre hunter."

He'd spun back toward her and was now frozen in shock.

"If you come with me now, I can give you back your faith," she said, holding her hand out to him.

She could feel the war he was having within himself. Trust or not to trust. She could only hope he would make the right decision. Finally, he nodded and took her hand.

She had him. Gratitude swept through her for his decision to trust. They didn't talk on their walk out of the city. It wasn't until they had turned onto the road that would lead them down the lane to her house that he finally spoke.

"How do you know all of those things about me?"

"You told me," she answered."I've never told anyone those things. I don't even know you."

"You don't know me yet, but you will. It's a little hard to explain...," she started, but Potter had stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He didn't answer, but pulled her close to his side. He was staring into the woods to the right of the road. Suddenly, he put his hands on her shoulders and slammed her to the ground, taking a defensive stance over her. At that moment, four bodies landed in the road and surrounded them. _DAMN IT!!!_ She'd told him to go home! She could see how this looked to all of them. Potter had slammed her to the ground when he had sensed the vampyres, and was standing guard over her, ready to give his life to protect her. Her vampyres had seen him slam her to the ground and thought Potter was attacking her. She heard bones breaking before she could catch her breath to stop it.

She tried to get up twice, but Potter was quicker and pushed her back down both times. He was blindingly fast. Every time a hand reached out for her, he was there to knock it away. He never got more than two feet away from her, but still managed to keep all four vampyres at a distance. She was screaming now, but none of them were listening to her.

Potter wasn't going to need her help with fighting skills. All of his kicks and punches were precise, never missing their mark. She tried not to be too impressed while he was breaking her family.

Soon it was over, as fast and skilled as he was, he was no match for four vampyres. Leso had him on one side, Bruce on the other, and Richard was scooping her off the ground.

"Are you alright, Little One?" Richard asked while setting her on her feet. She looked over in time to see Harley punch Potter in the ribs and heard them break.

" _NO_!" she screamed and launched herself across the road. She landed a hard kick to the back of Harley's knee, dropping his leg from beneath him, reached around his throat, and slammed him backwards onto the ground. He popped right back up, but she had already put herself between him and Potter.

"Stop it, God damn it! He was protecting me from you; from all of you!" she yelled.

Harley tried to back-step out of her anger. "He threw you to the ground."

"Only because he sensed you and your dumbass brothers lurking in the woods. He was only trying to get me out of harm's way."

"Well...hell then, my apologizes, Hunter," Harley said. "You tricked me!" Potter accused Beck

"No, I didn't. I'm sorry this happened. My husband seems to think he's a three-year old who doesn't have to listen and do what he's told," she said angrily.

Potter was shocked. "Your husband?!"

"Yes, my husband," she said before turning toward Richard and yelling, " _I told you to go the fuck home!!!_ Was I not clear enough?! Did I stutter?! What's _wrong_ with you?!"

Harley fell to the ground laughing as Richard tried to explain, "I was only trying to make sure you were safe."

"Well, you did a bang up job! Now I'm covered in dirt, and I'm gonna have a bruise on my ass for a week!" she continued yelling at him.

This set Harley and Bruce into fresh peals of laughter.

"Shut up!" she yelled at Bruce and Harley. "Let him go, _NOW_!"

When they released him, Beck looked at him and said, "I'm so sorry, Potter. I'm Beck. That's my husband, Richard, and my brother-in-laws-Leso, Harley, and Bruce. I didn't trick you, I promise. Will you still come with me?" she asked, holding her hand out to him again. Quicker than she had hoped, he took her hand again. They walked to the house without saying another word.

Once in the yard, she turned to Richard, "Would you go get Jenny, please?"

Richard nodded and went into the house. He was back outside in less than half a minute, leading Jenny through the yard.

"Look at her, Potter," she encouraged when Jenny was standing in front of them. When he looked into Jenny's eyes, Beck knew her promise to them had been kept, and she handed Jenny Potter's hand.

***

After Jenny had led Potter into the house, Beck turned on Richard in the yard. He didn't know many women that even knew that kind of language she was using.

Beck not only knew it, she was fluent in it, and she had thrown every word of that language at him right out in the yard. She hadn't even waited for them to be alone. She cursed him in front of his whole family.

Daryl, Rita, Saphira, and Heidi had all come out of the house to see what was going on. No one had said a word to stop it, either. They'd just stood there smiling.

When she had finally wound down, she turned to Rita and asked, just as nice as you please, "Where will I be sleeping?"

"I'll show you," Heidi offered and led Beck into the house, leaving him standing open-mouthed in the yard.

He looked at Rita and she told him, "Well, she did tell you to go home, dear."

That threw Daryl, Leso, Harley, Bruce, and Saphira into a fit of hysterics. It had taken him an hour to work up the nerve to go into the house. ]Some of the things she had said he had not understood, like when she had threatened to 'tear him a new one' and to 'stomp a mud hole in his ass,' but he had gotten the gist of it. He went to his room and found her curled up in what must have been one of his shirts, asleep on his bed.

He quietly went about opening the packages from her day of shopping and was confused to find men's clothing. What was this all about? ]They weren't for him. They were far too small. Bruce, maybe? But why would she have bought clothes for Bruce?

He'd intended to put her purchases away, but stacked them on the dresser for lack of knowing what else to do with them. ]He looked at how peaceful she appeared to be laying on the bed. You would never guess that she was capable of unleashing the kind of fury that she had turned on him. He lay on the bed next to her, trying not to wake her, but she rolled over on top of him and kissed him.

"Are you finished being angry with me, then?" he asked, holding her. "Yes, I'm done. Sorry I got so mad," she said and started nibbling on his neck.

He moaned softly and ran his hand from her thigh to her hip. The little scrap of cloth she had been wearing was gone. He felt his blood start running through his veins. He'd seen her memory of his beating heart, but when they had made love at the hotel, he had not stopped to pay attention. Now he could feel it.

As she unbuttoned his shirt and kissed down him chest, he could feel the pace of his heartbeat pick up. By the time she undid the buttons on his pants, his heart was racing and his blood pounding in his ears. He lifted her off of him and kicked his pants to the floor. She started kissing down his stomach. When she took him in her mouth, his heart was racing at the pace of a hummingbird.

He buried his hands in her hair and tried to catch his breath, because right now he needed to breathe. He tried to take long, deep breaths to get oxygen into his long still lungs, but each breath was torn from him as she took him deeper and deeper into her mouth. When he could take it no more, he lifted her up and pulled her on top of him. He had to lock his jaw to keep from crying out when her tight, hot wetness slid down the length of him.

Then, she started to ride him, pushing him deeper inside of her. He thrust up into her every downward motion, lifting them off the bed. She didn't seem to be breathing any better than he was, the sounds of her gasps were driving him insane. He grabbed her hips and pulled her harder and harder onto him. He felt her body squeeze tight around him and heard her cry out. He could take no more and exploded inside her. She collapsed on his chest, and he rubbed her back for several long minutes as he listened to his heartbeat slow to a stop and felt the blood become still in his veins. "Wow," Beck said.

"Yes, _wow_ , to say the least," he agreed. "What brought that on, Little One?"

"You told me once that most of our fights ended in sex. I guess you were right."

"Then I will have to make sure I anger you more often," he said laughing. "And that was not a fight. It was a verbal slaughter."

"I said I was sorry," she said. Softly, he told her, "You were right. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry as well, Little One."

He didn't know she had fallen asleep until he heard her soft snores. He lay there for a while holding her before sleep took him as well. He was downstairs the next morning before Beck woke up. He went into the city and bought food, but she still wasn't awake when he returned. He had seen Potter and Jenny, though. It was as if Jenny had been transformed, her happiness showed on her face. He was looking out the window when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Beck was coming down, and she was dressed in a man's shirt, tucked into men's pants, that were tucked into a soft pair of riding boots.

"There's no bathroom in this house," she stated.

He gasped. "Beck, you can't wear that!"

"Why not?"

"Because, those are men's clothes."

"No, they're my clothes. I bought them. Bathroom? Toilet? Bucket? Anything?" she asked desperately.

"We don't have a lavatory. We've never needed one before."

"Okay, I'll be in the woods then," she said and pee-pee danced out the back door.

What was he going to do with her? She was going to walk around in front of his brothers with pants that hugged her hips and a shirt that outlined her breasts? She was killing him. He wanted to say something about it, but wasn't quite ready for another tirade. When she came back in, he tried to arrange his face into an unconcerned expression.

"I bought you some food. Would you like some tea to wash it down?"

"Sounds great."

She sat in a kitchen chair and pulled a muffin to pieces while he got her tea.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked. "Teach you to fight."

Surprised, he asked, "You want to do that today?"

"I want to do some of it every day while I'm here." He would have said more, but Jenny and Potter had come into the room.

"Beck," Potter said, pulling her to her feet and hugging her. "Thank you so much."

Richard wanted to tear his head off for touching her, but managed restrained himself.

"I can't believe you did this for me," Jenny chimed."Don't be silly, we're sisters. I know it doesn't seem like it to you, but I've known you for years, and trust me, Jenny's not the same without Potter," Beck smiled.

Sitting down and grabbing a muffin, Potter asked, "So, you're really from the future?"

"Yeah, I really am. I would have told you last night, but I didn't think you would come with me if I did. I was shocked you still came with me after what happened.

Potter laughed, "I had to. I'd just watched a human woman back down four vampyres, even taking one to the ground. I had to know what was going on."

"I didn't back down four vampyres. They were never going to hurt me."

"Still, it was impressive the way you took Harley down."

"I didn't really take him down. Like I said, he wasn't going to hurt me. Besides, what I did wasn't nearly as impressive as what you did. I've seen you fight a vampyre once before. After last night, I know you were just toying with the vampyre I saw you fight."

Richard thought back on all the memories Beck had given him. She had not shown him the fight she was speaking of.

Potter smiled. +"Did I hear you say you wanted to fight today? Jenny told me you wanted to show them a new way to fight. Can I watch?"

"Actually, I want to start with you, if you can slow it down to a more human pace."

"I can do that," Potter said. "When do you want to start?"

"Now," Beck said and slid back from the table.

"Alright," Potter said, stuffing her torn up breakfast into his mouth before following her out of the house.

Once in the front yard, she sat Richard under a tree, "Stay here. It may look bad, but it's not a real fight. I don't need you to try to save me again."

She turned and walked a little ways into the yard. "Okay, I want you to hit me, just don't _break_ me. I don't heal like you do, and remember, human pace," she told Potter.

Now she just wanted him to sit here and watch her being attacked by a hunter? She really was trying to kill him.

Jenny patted his arm and reassured him, "Don't worry, he won't hurt her. She's his sister now. He loves her so much already, just as I do." Richard watched Potter land a soft blow to Beck's outer thigh and follow through by swinging a fist at her head, stopping just before making contact.

"Like that?" Potter inquired. "Perfect, let's go," she said and took her guard.

Richard watched her fight, landing as many blows as the hunter. She was very good. She spun Potter around with a kick, and then had him down with the same move she had gotten him with in her memory, 'a Rear Naked Choke' she had called it.

Potter was stunned. "How did that happen?"

"You've got to keep your guard up. If you get distracted for even a second, it's over," she instructed, and they walked back to where Richard was sitting.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No," he lied.

"Your turn," she said, reaching down for him. "Let me show you something," she said as she pulled him to his feet and led him out into the yard.

Potter followed them. "I'll referee."

"Okay." She then looked at Richard. "This wouldn't work in a human fight, but with your strength, it will be a good way to tear a head off."

She dropped to a squat, bringing her leg around and sweeping his legs out from under him. She launched herself at him, landing with her knees on his shoulders and using her hands to give his head a sharp twist. It would work. She was smiling down at him, gloating.

He couldn't help himself. "Hunter," he said, smiling up at her.

"You wouldn't," she said.

"Throw this human in the air," he continued, and Potter didn't let him down. He grabbed her by her hips and launched her into the air, and just like that, he and Potter were family. He popped up and jumped to get her, laughing at her giggles on the way down.

***

She spent most of the day, after fighting, talking to her new family. They were full of questions about the future and how she had gotten here.

"I don't know exactly how it works. I knew from Richard that I had come to the past before. I knew it worked, so I didn't bother to ask D.J. exactly _what_ made it work. I do know that it only takes a moment for the process to be complete. Even though I'm here for ten weeks, there I'm only gone for a couple of minutes."

"You're only going to be with us ten weeks?" Saphira said, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, but I expect to see all of you when I get back," she said, looking at everyone.

Daryl asked, "Why did they send you back to this time?"

"Oh, there's going to be a series of murders in Whitechapel. I kinda0 specialized in those murder cases in college. They become known as the Jack the Ripper murders. The murderer brutally killed five prostitutes in the ten week period that I'm here for. They never discovered the identity of the killer, so they sent me back to observe the murders and ascertain the identity of the murderer."

"Excuse me? You're not doing that!" Richard snapped.

"I'm not going to watch all of them, but I have to see at least one," her tone daring him to start another fight.

"You can scream and yell at me until you turn blue in the face and pass out. You're still not going."

"One of us can go and tell you who it is." Bruce offered. "No, you can't. If I'm right, and I know I am, then the killer is a vampyre. If you were to go, he would sense you and the murder may not take place. It would change history, and I can't let that happen. It's very important that the murders play out as they would have if I weren't here."

"You _want_ these women to get killed?" Harley asked incredulously. "No, of course I don't want them to be killed, but you need to understand that to me, these women have been dead for over a hundred years. If we change history as I know it, the repercussions could be severe."

"What makes you believe that the killer is a vampyre?" Rita asked.

Because Richard had told her, but she didn't say that.

"Because, all but one of the victims were killed out in the open. None of them had any defensive wounds or so much as screamed. It's believed the killer was very fast, and in every case, he killed with wounds to the victims throats before he mutilated them."

"He mutilated them?" Heidi asked. "To different degrees of severity, yes. The last one being the worst."

"So, you want to follow a lunatic vampyre through the streets of Whitechapel?" Richard asked roughly.

"I don't need to follow him. I know exactly where he'll be for all five murders."

" _You're not going_!" Richard fumed.

Potter, trying to maintain the peace said, "I can go. He won't sense or scent me. I can watch and tell you who it is."

"No, you can't, Potter. It's in your nature to protect humans from vampyres. I just don't think you would be able to watch a human being attacked and not do anything to stop it."

"I could if you were with me. I would be more concerned with your safety than that of a random person on the street. This way, I could keep you safe, and you would get to see your killer."

"We can do that, but only if you're sure you can control yourself."

" _YOU'RE NOT GOING!!!_ " Richard bellowed. "I am going, and don't yell at me about it, because it's not going to do any good. I'm supposed to watch all five the murders. I'm agreeing to just watch one so you don't have a complete meltdown, but you're going to have to live with this. I have to see this for myself." Richard leaned back in his chair and stared at the opposite wall. She had to see what Elderson looked like, see what she was up against. She was worried about the impact of what she was going to do, and how it would affect the future. If she was successful, and her blood killed Elderson on November 12th, then Mary Kelly's murder would not occur. Was she willing to risk altering the future even by that much to save this family? Yes, she was.

She didn't know what the repercussions would be, but she was willing to risk it. She was already risking her life, why not the future? She would have to find a way to calm Richard down about this. She was coming back from another bathroom trip in the woods, when she saw Leso leaning against a tree waiting for her.

"You died the last time you were here, didn't you?" he asked, straightforwardly.

"Shh! He'll hear you," she whispered.

"They can't hear me from here."

"Potter can. All of his senses are more attuned than vampyres."

But it was too late. Potter had cleared the house and was at their side in two seconds.

Damn it! She'd not wanted this to happen. "What does he mean, _you died_?" Potter asked.

Beck sighed. "Where's Jenny?" Potter was not going to be deterred. "She went hunting with Richard and Harley. Now answer the question."

"Why do you think I died?" she asked Leso. "Because of the stories you told me while we were shopping. You told me how Richard was at the hospital to see for himself that you were born again. Not born, but born _again_. About how hard it was for him to let you go back here again. But why? If you had stepped back in your time as you were supposed to, there should have been no question of you being born.

Why would he have been scared to send you back here? What danger would you face here that we couldn't keep you safe? It's not just the things you said or say, but what you don't say. Things you won't tell him. A lot of the things you have said only make sense if you never made it back to your time."

She didn't know what to say. She knew she couldn't lie to Leso, he would know.

"Could we just let this go?"

"No, we can't." Leso said. "Look, it's not important anymore, because it's not going to happen this time."

"Beck, it's important to _us_ ," Potter said. "What happened?"

"Do both of you promise not to tell anyone?" They both nodded. "Yes, I died the last time I was here. Actually, I was killed. I know who did it, and I know when and why. When he tries this time, I'll be ready."

"Do you expect this person to attack you again?" Leso asked. "I'm counting on it."

"Will you tell us why you wish for this to happen?" Potter asked.

"No, I won't. I shouldn't have told you this much."

"If you tell us, we can help you."

"I don't want you to help me. I've got this."

"If you change your mind, you'll let us know?" Leso inquired.

She nodded and walked back to the house.

***

She was just as insane as he had first thought she was. She wanted him to allow her to go and watch a sadistic vampyre kill and mutilate women on the street. She'd spoken of it as if she were going to see a play! Did this woman have no sense of self-preservation at all? And he was supposed to stay at home like a good boy and hope that she would come back. He didn't think he was going to be able to do that. Why would she keep asking him to let her walk into danger and do nothing to stop it?

She'd been right about Potter, but what if she was wrong about this? What if she didn't come back? What would he do when he found her again in the future? Would he send her back again? No, he wouldn't. No matter what happened this time, this would be her last trip through time.

He should have grabbed her in the future and ran. What had his future self been thinking to send her again? If anything happened to her, it would be his fault. It wasn't that he didn't trust Potter. He just didn't trust anyone but himself to protect her. But she didn't want his protection. Did she not trust him to keep her safe?

Did she not know that he could have killed Potter the other night if he had wanted to? Did she think him inept? He'd seen Potter's protective stance over her, had known that they had been mistaken in their assumption of his intent. But his only concern had been to get her off the ground, and to stop _Potter_ from attacking _them_.

Potter was a very good fighter, though; better than any other hunters he had ever seen. Had it only been Harley and Bruce, they would be dead now. If his family was to be attacked, it would be good to have Potter on their side. He needed to talk to Potter if he was to entrust Beck's safety to him.

He needed him to know that if he messed this up, Jenny was going to be unhappy for a very long time, because he going to kill him.

### Chapter Nine

She was nervous. It was a bit creepy to leave the house knowing she was going to stand witness to someone's murder. It was August 31, at 3:15 a.m., and it was Mary Ann Nichols time to die. Her body would be found at 6:40 a.m., 200 yards away from the London Hospital.

Before she left, she gave Richard a big hug and kiss.

"Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it."

He ran his cool hands up her neck pulling her close to kiss her again. "Please be careful."

"I always am."

She could feel the tension, worry, and fear coming from him.

"I love you, Little One"

"I love you, too" she said and stepped over to Potter. Potter put his arm around her shoulders. "Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are."

They took the carriage only as far as the end of the road where Potter hid it in the woods, then walked the rest of the way into the city. It was a fairly long walk, but it gave her a chance to pull herself together. She tried to convince herself of what she had told everyone else; that she was just going to watch something that had already happened.

It was bullshit. Right now, in this time, Mary Ann Nichols was alive and walking the streets of Whitechapel. Mary Ann Nichols, Polly to her friends, had no idea that her life was about to be over. It seemed unfair that Mary had no one to protect her; that the one man that could protect her was being forced to stand with Beck and bear witness to her death.

"This is far enough," Potter told her. They were standing on Buck's Row. Beck could see the hospital from where they stood.

"Hold tight." Potter said as he put one arm around her waist and leapt to the top of a three-story building, landing without a sound. "We should be able to see everything from here."

The street wasn't very bright, but it was lit well enough to see the cobblestones below.

"Will he be able to smell me?" she asked in a shaky voice. "Probably not, there's a good breeze tonight, and we're well above street level. Don't worry; I'm not going to let anything hurt you."

"I know you won't," she said, and threw him a nervous smile. "So, when did I start using my real name again?" he asked. "Do you know?"

She knew he was trying to occupy her, and she was grateful. "Actually, I do know. You told me you stopped using your name after your family died. You didn't want any reminders of who you were, or what you had become. You said after meeting Jenny, she helped you come to terms with who you are, and you did the same for her. She made you proud of who you are now. Ever since then, you have always used Potter as your first name. You were answering to Potter Harris when I met you."

"It is very strange to hear you talk of things I haven't told you yet. How did I meet Jenny before?" he asked.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."

"Alright then," she said, and told him the story that he'd once told her.

She had just gotten to the part where Bruce's ghost had forgiven him for killing him, when Potter said, "Shh, a vampyre is coming."

He tensed beside her, waiting. She tried to look over the edge of the building, but Potter pulled her back. He held up a finger, telling her to wait. It was a few more minutes before she heard footsteps from the street below. He pulled her to the edge of the building and pointed to a corner a little ways down from their position on the roof. On the corner stood Mary Ann Nichols, Beck recognized her from the photos taken of her body after her murder. Only a minute or so passed before a man approached her. He was about six-foot tall, or as close to it as she as could tell from the roof.

He was very slender, with long legs and arms. He had shoulder length, brown or dark red hair that partially obscured his face. He stared for a moment into Mary's face. He turned and walked up the street towards them to a stable directly across from where they hid. Mary followed as if she were attached by a leash. When she stopped behind him, he turned and delivered a hard blow to her face that sent teeth flying from her mouth. Still, she did not move.

He reached out and grabbed Mary's face in his hands, jerking her head back to expose her neck. He struck her neck with what Beck could only assume was a small knife. He had his mouth on her throat before the blood had time to drop onto her dress. When he finished feeding, he released her. and dropped to the ground, landing with a dull thud. He crouched over her and started cutting her abdomen in fast strokes. The deepest wound to her lower abdomen made a small ripping noise, and Beck had seen enough.

She stepped back from the edge of the building and turned to Potter. Fear shot through her when she looked at him. His face was twisted, as if he were in terrible pain, and he had one arm held tight across his chest.

She stepped over and touched his arm. He grabbed her and pulled her tight against him. It would have looked like an embrace to anyone watching, but Beck knew he was trying to hold onto himself. To keep himself from doing the one thing he'd swore to do.

His body shook in her arms, his breath heaving against her neck. She held onto him just as tightly, letting what she had just witnessed wash over her. She wondered what had happened to the Elderson brothers as children that would cause them to stalk and kill women and girls in the street.

What would cause a man to not only to kill a woman, but to rip her guts out?

They stood there for a long time before Potter stepped away . "He's gone. Let's go home."

She took one more look at Mary Ann Nichols broken body lying in the street, and then held onto Potter as he jumped from the building. It was full daylight when they got back to the carriage. She wasn't surprised to find Richard there waiting for them.

He picked her up and worriedly looked into her eyes. "Are you alright, Little One?"

"I'm fine."

"And you, brother, are you alright?" he asked Potter, setting her on her feet and placing his hand on Potter's shoulder.

"I will be."

***

They rode home in silence, too emotionally wrung out to talk just yet. When they walked into the house, the entire family was waiting for them in the living room.

After Jenny handed her and Potter a cup of coffee, Daryl asked, "Did the murder you predicted occur?"

Mary Ann Nichols face flashed through her brain. "Yes, it did."

"And was it a vampyre?" Saphira asked."It was," Potter said in a strained voice. Jenny sat next to him and took his hand in hers.

"It could have been worse," Beck said. "At least he mesmerized her first."

Potter turned his head and looked at her/ "That's not exactly true. He did mesmerize her, but only enough to keep her silent and still. She was very aware of what he was doing to her. He fed from her neck wounds, but did not drain her. He kept her alive enough to feel the mutilation of her body."

"Oh my God!" Rita gasped. Beck was shocked. She'd no idea that Mary could feel what was happening to her. She could feel bile rise in her throat and had to fight to swallow it down.

"I didn't know you could feel how Mary felt," she said, stunned.

"I can't, but I _can_ sense vampyres. When he consumed her blood she became part of him. I could sense him, so while she was still alive, I could feel her, too."

"You never told me that you could feel the humans that the vampyres fed on." she said.

"It doesn't happen very often. I generally prevent a vampyre from attacking a human, not stand witness to their death."

"You could feel her fear?" she asked.

"Yes and his _joy_ in it," Potter said, scathingly.

"I thought you could only sense that vampyres were around. I had no idea that you could actually feel what they were feeling," she said.

"We only sense them like that when they are making a kill. And it doesn't last very long,"

"Did you recognize him?" Daryl asked.

"No, I did not. He is not one that I have seen before."

"What did he look like?" Leso asked. When Potter finished describing the killer, Daryl was speechless.

"Elderson?" Harley asked.

Bruce stated, "It surely does sound like him."

"I knew he was mean, but I had no idea he was this sadistic," Heidi said.

"I wonder when he got to London?" Leso pondered. "It could not have been too long ago, or we would have known by now," Richard said.

Beck asked Richard, "Do you know Elderson?"

"The Youngs' have all seen him before, but Leso and I have not yet had the pleasure. He sent for us once, but we declined to meet with him. We became part of this family that night, and have been with them ever since. He sends some of his clan after us from time to time, but never comes himself."

"What I don't understand is why he used a knife. He could have torn Mary Nichols apart with his bare hands," Beck said.

"To make it look like a human crime. He doesn't want to risk catching the hunters attention with a crime like this," Potter said stiffly.

"What do we do now?" Jenny asked. "We don't do anything. We can't change the future," Beck answered. Harley was incredulous, "So, we just let him go on killing?"

"Yes, that's exactly what we do," she said. " Look, I know it sucks, but it has to be this way."

Harley smiled. "It 'sucks? That sounds a bit perverted, Beck."

"It should, it means exactly what it sounds like."

Harley roared with laughter, and the discussion about Elderson was over.

"I'm going to bed. I'm wiped out."

"I'll tuck you in" Richard said, and followed her up the stairs.

***

He could see in Beck's eyes that she was not handling what she had seen nearly as well as she would like everyone to believe. Potter was visibly shaken, as well. He couldn't even imagine how it had been for him to watch a vampyre slaughter a human right before his eyes and do nothing. The sheer willpower it had taken for him to stand his ground was not definable.

He'd said he would not leave Beck's side, and he had not. He could not imagine another hunter showing the kind of control that Potter had tonight. That he had been able to do it showed the love he had for Beck. He'd watched Beck with Potter and saw the easy brother/sister relationship they'd formed. Beck and Potter both had fit into his family as if they had always been there. He'd never thought he would see the day that he would have a human wife and a hunter brother. It should feel strange, but it did not.

But he wished she would understand that she _was_ human. She was very brave, but she was going to get herself killed if she wasn't more careful. She would not be going to ' _observe_ ' any more murders. He would have followed her tonight, but his family had held him prisoner in the house until well after the time of the murder. He was sure that Beck had put them up to it.

He had a distinct feeling that there were things she wasn't telling him, but not why? Why would she travel to the past to help them and not tell them everything? Why would she lie to him, even by omission? Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe she wasn't really hiding anything from him. Leso would have told him if she was lying about anything. Wouldn't he?

***

Over the next three weeks, she was able to let go of what she had seen, but she knew she would never forget it. When she'd started to teach her family how to fight, she had run into some resistance.

"We don't need to learn how to fight," Harley argued. "We already know how to fight," Harley had argued.

"I know you can fight just as well as any other vampyre. I want to teach you to fight _better_ than them."

"Beck, most of the things you're teaching us won't help. We have to be able to take their head," Bruce added.

"How fast do you heal from a broken bone?" she asked. Jenny answered, "A second, maybe two, depending on where the break is at."

"Well, then that gives you a one to two second advantage. Break enough bones and you'll have several extra seconds to find the best way to take the head."

They had not complained much since then, and they were coming along nicely. She had taught them to do spinning back kicks, the Kimura, the Guillotine choke, the triangle choke, arm bars, the rear naked choke, the ankle lock, and leg locks. They took to it all in easily.

The hardest thing to teach them was to watch their guard positions. Otherwise, the only problem she was having was Richard's refusal to learn.

"I don't need to do this. I can fight just fine already," he said from his place on the porch.

"It wouldn't hurt to learn more."

"No thanks," was all he'd say. She walked back across the yard to watch Harley and Bruce square off against each other. Harley landed a good, solid, knee to Bruce's ribs.

"Good shot, Harley! Bruce, watch your guard," she instructed.

Bruce got in under Harley's arm and punched him in the face, breaking his jaw with a loud snap.

"That's better."

She backed up several yards so she could keep an eye on everyone. She had just dropped down into a squat when she felt the warm gush of blood between her legs. Damn it! Before she could stand up, she was knocked hard to the ground, and a heavy weight pinned her down.

Just as quickly as the weight hit her, it was gone. She popped onto her feet and found Potter blocking Richard from approaching her. "No, Richard," Potter was saying as he pushed Richard backwards.

"Move, Hunter!" Richard roared. "No, you're going to hurt her if you don't control yourself." Everyone in the yard had frozen to watch what was happening. Richard seemed to struggle with himself before dropping back. Potter shot over his shoulder to Beck. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered, and she stepped around Potter and punched Richard in the mouth. "What is your problem?! Are you out of your rabid-ass mind?! Don't you ever put your hands on me like that again!"

"I'm sorry Beck. It is just your scent. I am having a hard time controlling myself right now," Richard explained.

"So what, you're going to attach me every time I get my period!? I don't think so, asshole! You better grow up, because the next time you jump on me like that, we're done!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and stormed off. She went into the house, grabbed some fresh clothes and one of the torn rags, and went to the stream behind the house.

She was cleaning up when Jenny walked up.

"So, what was that all about?" she inquired.

"What do you mean 'what was it about'? He was going to attack me!"

"Attack you? He wasn't going to attack you, Beck."

"What would you call it then?"

"It was just his instinct to protect his mate. Even human men do it to a certain extent. It's just worse for you, because Richard catches your scent much stronger than a human man could."

"I don't understand," she murmured, but she was getting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her that she had made a terrible mistake.

"When he catches the scent of your menstrual blood, it triggers his instinct to protect you from all other males that may also catch your scent. He wasn't attacking you. He was attempting to keep you from _getting_ attacked."

She pulled on clean pants and picked up her boots. "I need to go talk to him."

Now that she knew what he'd really been doing, she felt horrible for yelling at him. She also felt like an idiot for thinking that he would attack her in the first place. She knew him better than that. "You can't, he's gone."

"Gone?" she asked. "Gone where?!"

"I don't know, just gone. He won't come back for at least a few days, not until your time of the month has passed."

" _SHIT!_ "

"Richard loves you, Beck. He would never hurt you. Why in the world would you think he was going to attack you?"

Beck didn't answer Jenny's question, she just looked down at the ground.

"Ahh, I'm sorry, Beck. You didn't tell us that you were attacked before. Does Richard know?"

"No, he doesn't, and please don't tell him," she begged. "Of course I won't tell him."

"Thank you for explaining this to me."

"Someone needed to, and it won't be so bad the next time, you'll see. Come on, let's get back to the house and get you something to eat."

Beck walked back to the house with Jenny, feeling like a fool. He was gone, and now she would have to wait an entire week to apologize to him for the misunderstanding.

***

He ran. He was more than a mile and a half away before he outran her scent. He'd actually jumped on her! Had it not been for Potter, he might have actually grabbed her and ran. As it was, he'd had to restrain himself from killing Potter when he pulled him off of her.

His mind knew that Potter was protecting Beck, but every other fiber of his being had taken it as a challenge, as a threat to her. It had taken everything he had not to attack him. He was not surprised when he felt Leso coming his way.

"Well, that was interesting," Leso said as he sat down under a tree beside him.

"It was stupid. What's wrong with me?"

"It wasn't your fault. It just took you by surprise."

"It wasn't her fault either. She's right. What am I going to do, throw her down and stand guard over her every month? I could have hurt her by trying to protect her."

"Being punched in the mouth seemed to have brought you around. Maybe she could just bash you in the head once a month," Leso laughed. "I'm glad you're amused, brother," he growled. "She overreacted. There was no need to hit you."

"She had every right to hit me. I had just tackled her. There's no telling what she thought was going on. I scared her."

"She didn't look scared. She looked mad. Scared people don't generally punch vampyres in the face."

"Maybe, but she was definitely angry."

"Yes, but only because she thought you were going to force yourself on her," Leso stated.

" _WHAT?_ " he said, stunned. "No... she would never think I that would do that."

Surely Beck knew he would never do anything to hurt her, that he would rather die than see her come to any harm. "You need to learn to pay attention. Look at it from her point of view. She started her period, and you jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. Potter had to throw you off of her. After she punched you, she told you to 'never put your hands on her like that again'. Did it not occur to you what she meant by that?"

It hadn't. He never even considered that she thought that he would attack her. Could she really think he would do something as disgusting, as vile, as raping her?

"Shit!" he whispered.

"You should go and talk to her."

"I can't, not yet."

"Well, then soon. I know Jenny went to talk to her. She's probably going to feel badly about hitting you."

"If she thought I was going to force myself on her, then she should feel badly," he fumed, becoming angry with her for even thinking such a thing. "Don't be petty."

"Go away, Leso," he growled. Leso smiled and took off.

***

It'd been a long six days with Richard gone. She wanted to talk to him, to apologize for what she had said and done, but he hadn't come home yet. She'd spent most of the time he was gone talking to Jenny, Potter, and Leso. She was probably more comfortable with them because she had known them longer than everyone else.

They were talking on the back porch, and had gotten into a conversation about vampyres and their hunting habits.

"Richard told me once that he had to feed every seven days. Is that the case for all vampyres?

"More or less, it depends on the vampyre, and their size of the last meal, but seven days sounds about right," Jenny answered.

"Why do most vampyres feed on human blood?"

"Well, we all started off as humans. I think our bodies crave human blood in an attempt to repair itself, to replace what it no longer has. Only a few of us have been able to make the adjustments to live without it. It's not an easy thing to do. It's easier on Leso than the rest of us, because he has never drank human blood," Jenny continued.

Beck directed her next question to Leso, "So, you don't crave human blood at all?"

"Well, humans still smell like food to me, but they smell like a food I don't particularly like, like broccoli to children," Leso explained. "So, what happens if you don't feed every seven days?"

"Well, obviously, we don't die, but it would become unbearable. After a few weeks, we would be driven insane by the thirst," Leso said.

"That sounds horrible. Richard said you chose to become what you are now. Can I ask why?"

"I know it's surprising that anyone would choose this kind of existence. Imagine being on your deathbed and knowing your life is over. Now imagine that in that exact moment, you were presented with another option, that you could live, no matter how lowly that existence may be. Could you turn your back on it?"

"I see your point, but you don't look all that miserable to me. None of you do."

"It has everything to do with how we chose to live the life we've been given. I was lucky enough to have Richard to help keep me on the right path," Leso smiled.

"Speaking of Richard, he's back," Jenny told Beck. She looked down the yard, and sure enough, Richard was stepping out of the woods. She watched him walk across the long yard towards them. It wasn't until he got closer that she could see that he looked angry, totally pissed off actually. Was he this mad that she had hit him? It couldn't have hurt. He was a _vampyre_ , for Christ sake! When he got to the bottom of the steps, she stood and took two steps backwards away from him.

"Don't," he said, grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder, and bounded back into the woods. When they were out of hearing distance of the house, he placed her back on her feet. He grabbed her by her shoulders and gently shook her. "What's wrong with you?! How could you ever think I would do something as vile, as repulsive, as forcing myself on you?!" he yelled. "I'm sorry; I didn't understand what was going on until Jenny explained it to me."

"That's not an excuse for believing that I would do that. Don't you understand how much I love you? You are _literally_ the very beat of my heart. Every time you give your body to me, it is a gift. I would never just take you. I need you to know that, Little One. I would never let anyone do that to you."

She tried to control the expression on her face at his last words, but was not quick enough.

"Beck?"

She knew what he was asking, what he had seen in her face, but she didn't know what to say. She hadn't wanted this to come up while she was here.

"Beck?" he asked again, shaking her by the shoulders.

"I don't want to talk about this now, Richard," she said, pulling away from him. "Let's just go home."

He grabbed her again and pulled her back to him.

"Beck?" he in a stained voice.

"Look, it was a long time ago," she said, and tried to pull away from him again.

"Tell me what happened, Beck."

"I said that I don't want to talk about it! Now let me go!" she screamed, and yanked back out of his grip.

He grabbed her shoulders again and dragged her back to him.

" _Tell me what happened, Beck!_ " he shouted. "Where was I that this could have happened to you?"

It wasn't until he said that, that she realized she was angry with him. Where _had_ he been when her innocence was stolen? When her body was abused and broken; _where_ _had he been!_? When she had needed his protection the most, he had not been there. _Why?!_

He said he had watched over her. Where the hell had he been that night? Where had he been in the months after? For the court case, for the plea agreement. Where had he been when it had been within his power to stop it from happening? _Where had he been_?!

" _Fine_! _You want this memory! THEN TAKE IT!!!_ " she spat, grabbing his wrist and remembering.

She'd just skimmed over the memory of the rape the first time she had shown him, not this time, though. This time she focused on every detail; her fear; the smell of Alex Whitman's breath; her helplessness; the pain of the beating; the sound of her bones breaking; the taste of her own blood in her mouth; the pain of the rape itself as he hammered his body into hers, and her humiliation after being thrown from the car. She gave it all to him.

When she was done, he opened his eyes, took a step back, turned away, and vomited blood on the ground.

***

What had he let happen to her? He wanted to kill that boy, but there was no one to kill yet. He wanted to pull from the memory in his head, but he was frozen to the ground. Beck had already walked away, and he could not move to follow her. He wanted to tell her to wait, but his throat was locked down.

He couldn't stop the sound of her ribs breaking from echoing in his head. The memory of the pain she had suffered drove him to his knees. He grabbed his head in his hands, trying to force the memory back, but it wouldn't let him go. He relived her attack over and over in his head, watching the boy force himself into Beck's body. Where had he been? Why had he not protected her? This was his fault. He had failed her in the worst way imaginable, and he could never change it.

He could stop it from happening to the Beck of the future, but this Beck, his Beck, would always remember. He was so emerged in her memory that he had not sensed or heard Leso's approach.

"What happened, Richard?" He could not even look at him. "What did she do to you?"

"Do to me? She did nothing to me, and it has become quite apparent that I have done _nothing_ for her," he groaned.

"What are you talking about, brother?"

"I missed it. How did I miss it?" he said, more to himself than to Leso.

"Missed what, Richard?"

"I was supposed to keep her safe."

"Keep who safe? Beck?"

"She was attacked. A man, a boy really, beat her, raped her, and threw her away like garbage, and I was not there to stop it."

Her thinking he would force himself on her made sense now. It had happened to her before. Her learning to fight made sense now, too. She'd had to learn to defend herself, because _he_ certainly had not done it. "She told you this?"

"No, she showed me."

"She gave you her memory of it?"

Richard nodded.

"My God! Why?" Leso asked, obviously shocked.

"I asked her to tell me what had happened to her."

"She didn't have to give you the memory. She could have just told you."

"She could have. I wish she'd have done it that way."

"It was cruel for her to do that to you."

"No, it was only fair. Why should she be the only one to carry this memory when it was I that failed to protect her?"

"You can't protect her from everything, brother."

"Apparently not. I could protect her from falling in the water, being run down, a dog bite, but when she was raped, I couldn't be bothered to be there."

"If you had known, you would have been there."

"If I had been watching her like I should have, I would have known. He could have killed her!"

"He didn't kill her, brother. She's here now."

"No thanks to me."

"You can't be that way. We don't know that this will happen again in the future."

"I _know_ it won't happen again. It won't help my Beck, though. My chance to save her from that is gone."

"I don't know how to help you with this."

"You can't help me. No one can," he said, defeated.

"I can," Beck said from behind him. "I can help you," she said and held her hand out to him.

She had come back to him.

***

"I shouldn't have done that. It was hateful."

"I deserved it."

She felt extremely guilty for showing him her memory of the rape. She had no right to be angry with him about what had happened that night.

"No, you didn't deserve it."

Leso was glaring at her, and she could feel his anger. "You didn't have to do this to him."

"I know. I'm sorry for it. Could you give us a minute alone, please?"

"What for? He is already down. Are you planning on kicking him?" Leso snarled.

"Leso, just go," Richard said.

Leso gave her one more nasty look before walking off. Leso had every right to be mad at her for what she had done. She was mad at herself. What had happened to her was in no way Richard's fault. That fault lay only with Alex.

"I wish you could just forget what I showed you. You never should have seen it," she apologized.

"It should have never happened in the first place. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you," he said, not looking at her.

"It's not your fault you weren't there, it's mine," she stated simply as she sat down next to him on the ground.

"How do you figure that?"

"Because I didn't tell you about it when I was sent here the first time. I could have said something, and you would have stopped it, but for whatever reason, I choose not to. That's my fault."

"It was not your fault, Beck."

"The rape itself wasn't my fault, I know that, but the decisions I made were my fault. I knew Alex was a jerk. Everybody in school knew he was a jerk."

"What is a 'jerk'?"

"An asshole, you know, he was mean, rude, and hateful."

"Why did you go out with him if you knew he was a jerk?"

"Because he was also gorgeous and popular. I'd never been asked out on a date before. Hell, I'd never really had any friends, much less a boyfriend. When Alex asked me, I jumped at the chance to go out with him. I didn't stop to think about _why_ he wanted to go out with me. That part was my fault."

"Beck, you didn't deserve what he did to you just because you wanted to go out on a date."

"I didn't say that I did. No woman deserves that. I only said that I should have given some thought as to why he was asking me out."

"That is asinine. You are a beautiful woman. What male would not want to go on a date with you?"

"All of them, actually," she said with a smile. "I was kind of the school freak, but thank you."

"You're not a freak, Little One."

"I know that now, but you couldn't have convinced me of that then. Everyone with the exception of Bev and my grandmother thought I was a freak of nature. Even my parents."

"They just didn't understand you."

"And you do?" she laughed. "Not exactly, but I accept you," he said softly. She could feel his misery subsiding and was glad for it. As his misery ebbed, so did hers.

"It's probably easier for you to accept me because you've been around Leso for so long."

"I'll grant you that, but I love you, so I would have accepted you anyway."

"I know you would have, but children aren't like that. If you want to find the cruelest person in the world, you should look to the playground."

"How did you cope with it so well? I mean, you're so sexually uninhibited that if you hadn't have told me, I never would have guessed that anything of this nature had ever happened to you."

"That's because of you. You told me once that the first time I came back to this time, that I was very self-conscience. I'm not surprised. I didn't have great self-esteem anyway, but after the attack, it was trashed. My parents didn't care about what Alex had done to me. They wanted to drop the charges against him. I wouldn't have even reported what had happened to the police if it hadn't have been for Bev. She insisted on it."

"Why wouldn't your parents have wanted you to report what had happened? Did they not understand that you had been a victim of a violent crime?" he asked, confused.

"Oh, they understood. They just thought that it was my fault."

" _They what?!_ "

"My mother said I had probably given Alex mixed signals, and that he hadn't known that I didn't want it. My father believed that I had consented to the sex, had changed my mind, and cried rape after it was over."

"But you were severely beaten! Surely they didn't think that was consensual."

She could feel his anger and was a little touched by it.

"They wouldn't admit that I had anything worse than bumps and bruises. They said that Alex may have gotten a little rough, but nothing he should have to go to jail for. My mother said that if I didn't drop the charges against him that I would embarrass the whole family."

"Bumps and bruises? Your bones were broken! What's wrong with those people?!"

She didn't know how to explain her parents to him when she didn't really understand them herself. They'd never really acted like parents are supposed to act, not to her anyway. They had tried to be parents to Bev, but when Bev was old enough to realize how they treated Beck, she'd wanted as little to do with them as possible. By the time Bev had moved into the dorm at Austin Peay, she had had no use for them at all.

"My parents are all about appearances and Alex's parents were well known in our community. My parents didn't want me to offend them with frivolous charges against their son."

"Frivolous charges? Are your parents mentally ill?"

"No, but they act like it sometimes. They don't care how things are, just how they look."

"What kind of parents treat their child like that? Why would they care what other people think when their child had been hurt the way you were?"

"Bev felt the same way. She flew into a rage at them when they told me the attack was my fault. She told them what deplorable parents they were _and_ that they were pitiful excuses for human beings. I've never seen her as mad as she was then. She actually hit our mother," she smiled. "I'm glad she did. I wish I could reach them right now. It sounds like they needed some sense shaken into them."

"It wouldn't do any good. You can't change people who don't want to change, and they don't matter to me and Bev anyway. Besides, we were talking about how you changed me, remember?"

"How could I have changed you?"

"The first time I met you was when I came to the past the last time. I was 26 years old, just like I am now. The difference now is the first time I didn't know you, this time I did."

"How does that matter?"

"Well, I figure the first time I had ten years to agonize over what had happened to me. Ten years for me to close up and become bitter. This time, I met you not even two years after it had happened. I had decided right after the rape that I never wanted to have a man in my life, that I didn't need one. I thought I could live my life just fine alone.

"I believed that until you showed up in my college parking lot. That's when I found out that my life would be empty without you in it. After that I didn't just think about the rape that much. It still crossed my mind from time to time, but it wasn't my main focus anymore. It just became part of my passed, where it belonged."

"You're stronger than most women."

"No, I'm not. Everybody is different, so they deal with things differently. You can't just say that one person is stronger than another, that's not fair. And not everyone has someone like you to crush their assailants for them."

"But I didn't stop him."

"You didn't stop him from attacking me, but you did stop him. As soon as I told you about it, you found him and crushed his spine."

"That's all I did to him?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"No, it is not enough. He will not get off so lightly the next time I see him," he promised. "You had to learn to fight because I couldn't protect you."

"What? No, that's not why I learned to fight. I learned to fight so I could defend myself. It had nothing to do with you. Everyone should be able to defend themselves. You don't feel as weak if you know you can fight, even if you never have to. I may not be able to really take down a vampyre or a hunter, but I can stand toe to toe with any human and not be afraid."

"You can't beat us, so you teach us," he said with a small smile. "You don't blame me for what happened to you?"

"No, I did for a few minutes, but not anymore. I don't want you to blame yourself either."

"I don't know how to not blame myself for this. I don't know how to deal with this at all."

"You have to do it the same way I did, just let it go. I know it's not easy to do, but in the end, it's the only thing you can do."

"I don't know if I'll be able to do that."

"You will, but it will take awhile," she said, squeezing his hand. "Now that I have you here, there's something else I want to talk to you about. Something I need you to do."

"What?"

"Don't come to me in the future."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm selfish. Look, the first time I was sent back in time, I didn't need your help to do it. That leads me to believe I would have studied Jack the Ripper on my own, without your suggestion. Please, by all means, save me from the accidents I would have been in, but that's it."

"But why?" he asked again. "I told you, I'm selfish. I'm the only Beck I want you to ever be with." He laughed. "But she would be you."

"Yes and no. Look, will you just do what I'm asking please?"

"If that's what you want, of course I'll do it," he said with a small smile. "Anything else you want me to do?"

"Just be there when I step back into my time."

"That, I will _definitely_ do."

### Chapter Ten

Leso didn't speak to her for three days. She hated him being so angry with her, but she understood. It wasn't until the rest of the family had gone hunting that she had a chance to explain herself.

"You're still mad at me."

"Very much so," Leso said stiffly. "I am sorry I did that to him."

"You hurt him on purpose, Beck. I never thought that you would do that."

"I wish I hadn't of, but I can't change what I did."

"Why did you do it?"

She told him about her attack, her injuries, Richard not letting her go until she told him, and about how, in that moment, she had blamed him for it.

"You could have just explained it to him."

"I could have, but I was angry. I wanted him to feel the whole scope of what I had gone through. It was a mistake."

"It _was_ a mistake, but I understand a little better now about why you did it. How are you doing with this?"

"I'm okay with it now. It took me a long time, but I got over it."

"Beck, do you know where Richard was when it happened?"

"No, not really. He stayed away from me as much as he could. He said that he hadn't wanted to 'alter my personality' by being with me before it was time. He shot that plan all to hell when I started college. Even then, he didn't spend much time with me, but we did have some nights together, not many, but enough."

"Enough for what?"

"Enough to 'alter my personality'. It changed me just knowing that he was around, that he was waiting for me. I just wish I knew what to do now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he hasn't touched me since he found out what happened to me. I think I might disgust him now," she whispered quietly. "Beck, no! How can you think that?"

"What else am I supposed to think?"

"You said you told him before, in your time. How did he react then?"

"Not like this. When I showed him before, he went and crushed the guy that did it, but when he came back, he seemed fine."

"This time there's nothing he can do, no one to take his anger out on," Leso said.

"Or, maybe he thinks I'm unclean; contaminated somehow. The Richard I first met was around for a lot longer than this Richard. Maybe the one I met was better able to deal with this than this Richard is."

"He's the same Richard, Beck."

"Well, he is and he isn't. He is the same person, but when I met him, he had been through over a hundred years more of life. He'd watched the world as it changed around him. Things are different in my time, more open. Maybe he needed those years to prepare him for something like this."

"You're wrong, you have to be. Richard loves you, Beck."

"I know he does, but maybe this is how it's going to be until I get back to my time. Maybe he needs all those years to deal with this."

"You can't be right. Nothing could change the way he feels about you. You should talk to him."

"No, I won't. I won't talk to him anymore about this. I've said all I can about it, and I'm done. If he can't bring himself to touch me, that's fine, but I won't beg for his love," she said and walked away.

***

She was hurt by Richard's reaction to this, but she wouldn't tell him that. He would either get over it or he wouldn't, but it was up to him. She was hot and tired. It was getting late and all she wanted to do was strip down and go to sleep. It was even hotter in their second story bedroom. She threw the windows open, stripped off all her clothes, and feel asleep on top of the sheets of their bed.

She was dreaming of air conditioning and cold Coke when the dream changed: She and Richard were walking side by side, it was dark out. Something grabbed her and snatched her away from him and up into the air. She could see herself dangling in what seemed to be mid-air. She woke up to the sound of the bedroom door slamming shut. It was dark in the room, but she could make out the shape of Richard standing by the door.

"I was sleeping, damn it!" she snapped. She had never liked being woken up.

"Good! Now we're both mad!" he snapped back and started undressing."What's your problem?" she inquired while watching him pull off the last of his clothes.

"You first," he said.

"I don't have a problem."

"Don't you? Because that's not what Leso seemed to think when he was cursing me out."

Leso! Ohh, she was going to chop his head off herself! How could he tell Richard what they had talked about? She never would have said anything to him if she had known that he was going to be a tattletale!

"How in the bloody hell can you think that I don't want to touch you? That you could ever disgust or repulse me?' he growled.

"What else am I supposed to think? You haven't so much as kissed me on the cheek since you found out what Alex did to me! If that's not your problem; then what is? Do I have cooties now or something?"

That stopped him for a second. " _What_ is a cootie?"

"Tiny little germs," she snapped at him. They couldn't even argue properly, because he didn't understand her. It was very frustrating! "You don't have _cooties_ or anything else. I haven't touched you because I didn't think you would want me to."

It felt very strange to be arguing with him while they were naked. "Well, you were wrong. What Alex did to me has nothing to do with how I feel about you. If you had listened to me, you would have known that! For your information, _every time_ I have made love to you has been _after_ that had happened! That's something else you should have figured out on your own."

"I just thought...," he started to say, but she cut him off. "Well, stop thinking! It doesn't seem to work out well for you when you do, and I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself with the effort!" she yelled. She barely saw him move in the darkness. One second, he was at the foot of the bed, then the next, he was on top of her, crushing her lips with his. He stole away any breath she had to argue. He showed her exactly how much she did not disgust him, pressing her body over and over into the bed. When it was over, he collapsed on the bed beside her.

"You have to be the most exasperating woman I have met."

"Leso shouldn't have told you what we talked about. It was personal."

"Oh, he didn't tell me. He yelled it at me, nearly bit my head off. But you're right, he shouldn't have told me, you should have. I'm not like you and Leso. I don't know what you're feeling unless you tell me."

"Then maybe you should ask me the next time."

"Does everything have to be an argument with you?" he growled. "Not always, but most of the time, I'll back down when I'm wrong."

"You never back down."

"I'm never wrong."

As she was falling back to sleep, she remembered her vision from earlier; the vision of her death as seen through Richard's eyes. Well, she hadn't actually seen herself die, but she knew the attempt was still going to be made. When she'd been killed in the past, Elderson had told Richard that he would let her live if Richard and his family would join his clan. It was a lie. He'd never intended to let any of them live. She hoped that this time around, Elderson would be the one to die.

***

The next afternoon found them alone. "Everyone's going to do a bit of shopping, take in a play, and find lodging in the city for the night," he told her when she had come back from her small bath in the stream. "They wanted to give us some time alone."

"They didn't have to do that. This is their house."

"They know that. They wanted to do it. Rita said, 'Young married people need time alone.' I think she's a romantic at heart."

"Well, it was very sweet of her."

"So, what do you want to do today?" he inquired.

"You're kidding, right? It's 1888, there's nothing _to_ do," she giggled.

"Come with me. I want to show you something." He led her back through the backyard to the stream. They followed the stream for about half a mile to where it opened up into a small lake that was completely enclosed by trees.

"It's beautiful!"

"I thought you might like to go for a swim."

"I'd love to," she said, already slipping out of her clothes.

He had to restrain himself from jumping on her when she stepped into the water. When the cool water hit her legs, goose bumps raced up her body, standing her nipples on end. She took one more step and dove into the water in a smooth, fluid motion. He watched her surface and swim to the other side of the lake and back again.

"Aren't you gonna come in?" she asked. "I better not. The water is a bit cool."

"How exactly does that matter to you?"

"It doesn't matter to me. I was thinking about you. The water will make me very cold to the touch later," he explained.

"Are you serious? It's about 200 degrees in our bedroom! The colder you are, the better. Besides, I'll do everything in my power to get your heart pumping later and warm you back up. Come on."

He didn't need any more encouragement to get out of his clothes and into the water with her.

"I'm not a great swimmer," he said. He was holding her and turning in slow circles in the water.

"I would be terrified of the water if it wasn't for you."

"How's that?"

"You know the memory I showed you where you saved me from falling in the water?" He nodded. "Well, the first time it happened, I did fall in. I nearly drowned. I guess that put me off of water sports."

"Well, I won't let you drown this time."He could feel the heat of her body against him. He shifted her weight in his arms and pushed her down onto him. She wrapped her legs around him and laid back letting the water hold her weight. He moved slowly inside her at first, letting her drift slightly away and then pulling her gently back down onto him. When she squeezed him with her thighs, he knew _slowly_ was not what she wanted now.

He grabbed her waist and pulled her hard against him until she cried out and his heart was racing. When it was over, she swam away across the lake, giggling. He was glad _she_ had so much energy. He had not yet gotten his legs to quit shaking. When his heart stopped beating, he walked out of the water and laid on a large rock in the sun.

He smiled as he listened to her splashing in the lake. He was glad they had this time together. He was married! The marriage may not happen for many years, but he already felt married. He'd wanted to marry her here, in this time, but she said no. She'd said that she would be more than happy to marry him when she got back to her time, but she wanted their next marriage to be permanently legal. If that was what she wanted, then he could wait.

He opened his eyes when her shadow fell across him. Even with the sun affecting his vision, she was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"All done?" he asked.

"Yep, now I'm starving."

"Well, let's get back and get you fed. Then, we'll see if we can put that empty house to some use," he said, smiling.

They got dressed and started back toward the house. She took his hand and exclaimed, "Wow! You _are_ cold!"

"I told you I would be. You wouldn't listen."

"I don't mind. I like it. I've never been good with the heat."

"I figured that. You don't complain much, but when you do, it's either about the lack of air conditioning or the lack of Coke," he said, laughing. "I can't help it. You'd be surprised how much you can miss the things that you are accustomed to having. I miss a lot of things, but besides my sister, Coke and air conditioning are at the top of my list."

"What else do you miss?"

"My computer, fast food, television, French vanilla coffee creamer, shorts and tank tops, music. I miss a lot."

"Well, it won't be long now, and you'll be home," he said sadly. "What's wrong?"

"It just doesn't seem fair that you have to spend virtually no time without me, whereas, I have to spend over a century without you."

"True, but I'll have to travel through time to get back to you," she smiled.

"I will have to travel through time to get to you, as well. It will just be a much slower process."

"Don't be a smartass. The whole point is for us to spend our life together, right? When I get back, we'll be able to do that."

She would be able to spend her life with him, but one day her life would come to an end, and she would be gone. He couldn't change her into a vampyre, and he could not become human. He tried to be grateful for the time he would have with her, but could not always stop his thoughts from straying to when she would have to leave him.

"I would love nothing more than to spend my life with you, Little One. However, you do know that in the winter I'm going to feel like a block of ice, don't you?" he said, effortlessly changing the subject.

"Well then, we'll just have to make sure our house has really good heat. _Or,_ we can spend our winters in Florida. You can feed on alligators and sharks."

They had made it to the backyard when he felt a tingling in his head. He pushed her behind him, and in a low voice, hissed, "Vampyre!"

***

Richard stood stone-still for a full two minutes. It had to be one of the family coming back. It couldn't be anything else. There had been only one vampyre attack the last time she was here, and it had resulted in her death. That wasn't supposed to happen for another month. She wasn't ready. She thought of the hypodermic needle up in their bedroom and wondered if she'd wasted her time bringing it here.

No, this couldn't be happening. It had to be Leso or Bruce coming home early. It wasn't though. She knew something had changed when the vampyre came around the side of the house. It wasn't Elderson, but she had seen him before. It was the same vampyre she had watched Leso kill in her yard in Durham. _SHIT_! What was going on?

"That's the same..." she started. But he finished her thought, "vampyre that Leso killed. I remember your memory," he said in a whisper.

"What are you going to do?"

"Kill him, most likely," he answered quietly. The vampyre walked cautiously towards them. "Good afternoon," he said in a deep voice.

"It was," Richard replied. "I have come to meet the new female in your family. I see by your reaction that she is _your_ female. How lovely she is."

"You need to leave," Richard told him. "That's not very polite of you. Aren't you going to introduce us?" the vampyre asked.

"Leave now," Richard growled. She didn't have to see his face to know that the whites of his eyes had filled with blood. The vampyre took one more step towards them and Richard jumped. The look of surprise on the vampyre's face told her that he hadn't really believed that Richard would attack him. He was terribly wrong.

Richard landed on him with both feet and drove him to the ground. The vampyre jumped back up, but Richard was ready for him. From a crouch, he used his leg to sweep the legs out from under the vampyre. He jumped on him, landed with his knees on the vampyres shoulders, and used his hands to tear his head off. The head came off with a wet, sucking sound. "You were right. That move was very effective," he said, getting off of the ground and tossing the head over his shoulder. "I did teach you that, didn't I?"

She couldn't take her eyes off the headless body on the ground. It didn't freak her out or anything, it was just a little strange to see the same headless body twice.

"Are you alright, Beck?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I was just wondering what the hell is going on. Why would this guy show up here now? Leso killed him in my time. He can't come back to life, can he?"

"No, he cannot. There's nothing that can be done now to bring him back to life."

"This didn't happen before. Something changed."

"We have to deal with other vampyres from time to time. That may be all this is. Maybe it did happen before, and I just didn't think to mention it."

"Trust me, you would have mentioned it. Besides, if that were true, it wouldn't have been this vampyre. _He_ shouldn't have been here today. You said yourself that he's dead. He can't die here _and_ in the future, right?"

"That's true. Then it only stands to reason that something _has_ changed, but what? What would we have done different this time?"

"I don't know. It could be anything. I just don't know."

"Do you think it's going to matter in the future?"

"I doubt it. Not to the human world anyway."

"Then it doesn't matter. What's done is done, right?"

"Right. Now, can you get that out of here? It's kind of gross?" she stated and pointed at the body.

"Alright." He picked the body up like it weighed nothing and turned towards the woods.

"Uh, Richard?"

"Yes"

"The head too," she said, pointing at the head that he had left lying on the ground.

"Right, sorry," he smiled slightly as he came back and snagged the head up by its hair. "You stay here, I'll be right back."

He was gone in a blur of motion. He was back in less than three minutes. "Did you take it a good, long ways away?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Because I have to pee out there. I don't need that head staring at me while I do it."

"I'm sure. The body is miles away."

"Okay, I was just checking."

"Did what just happened not bother you at all, Little One?"

"No, not really. It didn't bother me the first time he got killed. Why should it bother me this time? Well, I guess this would actually be the first time since I'm in the past now, but you know what I mean."

"You are a very strange woman."

"Yeah, tell me something that I don't know."

"Are you still hungry after seeing that?"

"Absolutely. It takes more than seeing you kill a vampyre to ruin my appetite."

"It takes more than seeing me tear another vampyre's head off to ruin your appetite?" he asked surprised.

"Actually, I thought that was kind of sexy."

"You're very strange. So, you still want to put the empty house to use?" he asked in amazement.

"I'll race you," she said and took off running. She stopped about three yards from the porch steps and looked back. He was still at the end of the backyard. "What are you doing?" she called across the yard.

"Giving you a head start," he yelled.

"Then I win. I'm already here," she yelled back. "You're not there yet."

He took two steps and turned into a blur. She turned to run up the steps, but he blew past her and was waiting on the porch, holding the door open. "That's not fair. You used your vampyre super powers! I want a rematch when your heart's beating and you have to actually breathe."

"You now there's only one way to make that happen, Beck."

"I know. I'll race you to the bedroom."

***

Much later in bed, after they had 'made use' of nearly every room in the house, Richard fell asleep. She laid next to him and let her mind wander. What had changed? She didn't know what they had done different this time, because she didn't know all the details of what they had done the last time. But Richard was right, what was done was done. She just wished she knew what it was she _had_ done. What else was going to change? She was still thinking about it when she drifted off to sleep.

***

Richard had taken a lover. How wonderful! A human woman at that. It would be so easy to break her. He'd sent Nicholi to Richard, and he had not returned. He had not truly expected him to return. He'd wanted to see what length Richard would go to protect the woman. Richard had been willing to kill or be killed for her. Could that mean that the woman was not just a lover but his _mate_?

Had Richard really been foolish enough to fall in love with a human? Could it be that easy to destroy the hero? Kill the woman, destroy the man? It was too good to be true. This was so much better than his plan to kill Leso had been.

Richard would truly regret the day he had taken it upon himself to kill Royal Elderson's brother. He had killed Mitchell for what? Over a girl he didn't even know?

What Mitchell had been doing had been of no concern of Richard's. He could have walked away, but he'd had to kill Mitchell; to play the hero. He couldn't wait to watch the hero fall, to see him crumble before him, to have him beg him for death. He would give him death, after he had suffered enough, after Richard had suffered as he himself had suffered over the loss of his brother.

He was only a little concerned over the loss of Nicholi. He was not afraid of Richard, but he now knew that Richard was willing to kill for this woman. There was no need for him to put himself at unnecessary risk. He had sent Nicholi to Richard when the rest of Richard's family was in London. He could only hope that that particular opportunity would present itself again. If it didn't, then he would find another way to kill the woman.

***

She woke up to the feeling of pins and needles in her bicep. The sensation woke her up in the same place in her vision as she had been when Richard had slammed the door. Damn it! She'd like to see more of the vision, to see if she lives or dies.

Richard had fallen asleep on her left arm, and she had not pulled it out from under him before she had drifted off. She must not have been asleep very long, because Richard was still asleep beside her. She tried to pull her arm out from under him but couldn't. She couldn't pull her arm out, because her arm was _gone_!

She used her right hand to turn up the hurricane lamp on the nightstand. She had thought she may have been dreaming, but no. Her left elbow, forearm, and hand were gone! She wasn't bleeding or in pain. Her arm was just gone. How could her arm just be _fucking gone?!!!_

She did what anybody else would have done; she screamed. No one was home to hear her, and Richard didn't budge. She had to find it!

She didn't know what she was going to do with it when she found it, but she had to look. She pushed Richard off the bed with her feet; nothing. She tore the sheets and pillows off the bed but came up empty. She looked under the bed...nothing. She sat on the bed and examined the area where her arm used to be attached. She could see the bone and flesh. It looked as if her arm had been cleanly sliced off., but there was no blood on the bed or on Richard. She was still sitting on the edge of the bed in shock when Richard woke up.

"Beck? Why aren't you sleeping?" he asked, getting up off the floor. "How did I get on the flo...What the _hell_ happened to you?! Where in God's name is your arm?!" he yelled, jumping over the bed and landing in front of her. He waved his hand through where her arm should have been. "It's gone!"

"Yes, thank you, genius. I hadn't noticed," she snapped at him. "But, where is it?"

"Unless you ate it, I don't know. All I do know is it's not here. When I fell asleep I had it, when I woke up, it was gone."

"You're not bleeding. Are you in pain?"

"No, it doesn't hurt."

"We have to get you to a doctor." She could feel his panic building. She couldn't deal with his panic right now. She was barely keeping her own panic at bay.

"And what exactly would we tell a doctor? That my arm ran away while I was sleeping?"

Before he could answer, her arm was back. It was gone, and a blink of an eye later, it was back. She was so happy that she didn't notice the piece of paper that had fallen from the palm of her newly returned hand until Richard picked it up.

"What's that?"

"A letter," he stated.

"Well, what does it say?" He read aloud, "It says:

Beck, Sorry girl. I didn't know this could happen. The transmitters are programmed to send your body back here if you die. Apparently, it will also send back a piece of you if the circulation is cut off to that body part. (I hope you weren't in public when it happened.)

You killed my transmitters, girl. Not to worry, I injected more transmitters into your arm and a hypo full of antibiotics, just in case. The machine shut down when your arm came back without you. You gave me a scare there for a minute. I thought I'd lost you. Everything is all up and running again now, and I'm about to send your arm back to you. Just watch your blood circulation, and we should be fine. Just destroy this note after you read it (Dr. Rogers doesn't know I'm sending it, but I thought you deserved an explanation.). When you get back, I'm buying you a beer. You'll need one by then! Don't tie the strings on your corset to tight. I don't think I could fix it if your torso came back without you!

D.J.

"Would this be the same D.J. that helped you put on the corset you came here in?" he asked coldly.

"Yes, he's the only D.J. I know that has his very own time machine."

She knew he tended to get jealous, but this was too much.

"He is not taking you out for a beer, or anywhere else for that matter."

"I was missing my arm for over an hour. Do you really think that put me in the mood to go out on a date with him?

"Probably not, but still, I don't like that he presumes that you _would_ go out with him."

"D.J. did not ask me out. He said he was going to buy me a beer. In my time, a man and a woman can go out for a beer without it being a date."

"That may be true, but you're not going to do it."

"Don't start with me. I would go if I wanted to, but I don't really drink, so there is no point in discussing it."

"I still don't like him."

"You don't even know him," she said in frustration. "I know he saw you topless, that's enough for me."

"Oh, Jesus Christ! They're just boobs! You do know every woman has them, don't you? I'm not the first woman God stacked up like this, you know? I'm willing to bet my arm that mine is not the first breasts you've ever seen," she snapped at him.

"I will not discuss with you what I did in my human life. It is completely inappropriate," he said stiffly.

"Your human life? Are you telling me you haven't been laid in fifty-four years?" she laughed.

"Laid?" he asked, confused. "Sorry, you haven't had sex since you became a vampyre?"

"No, not until you came along."

"That's quite a dry spell," she smiled.

"Be quiet, Beck."

She could feel his embarrassment and couldn't help herself.

"Maybe when I'm gone, you can hit the brothels with Bruce, get in some practice," she teased.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her up against his chest. He gave her a long, deep kiss, his hand stoking her hip.

"Do I need practice?" he whispered into her mouth.

"Well, practice never hurts." He growled and tossed her on her back on the bed, his weight landing on top of her.

"Well, I better get in all the practice I can now, because I can never do this with anyone else."

"Well, far be it for me to hamper your progress, so practice away."

***

The vampyre had been after Beck. He knew it, and he was sure she knew it, as well. He was equally as sure that she did not want him to know it. When his family had returned in the morning, he'd left her with them so that he could hunt. He knew Leso was coming. He could feel him.

He never knew when it was someone else in his family until he caught their scent, the scent of animal blood, but with Leso, he just knew. Perhaps it had something to do with the bond they shared in their human life. Leso thought so, anyway. Right now, he just needed to talk to him, to see what he thought of what was going on.

"Is it really true that Beck's arm vanished last night?" Leso asked when he caught up.

"Yes, it's really true. Near gave me a heart attack"

"You can't have a heart attack," Leso reminded him.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't believe that her arm just disappeared." Leso said, amazed.

"Here, read this," he said, reaching into his shirt pocket and handing him the note from D.J.

Leso read the note with his jaw hanging open.

"Where did you get this?" he asked when he was finished reading it. "It was in her hand when her arm returned."

"So, she really is from the future?"

"What, you didn't believe her?"

"I believe that _she_ believed it. I believed that she was a seer. I knew that she could read people's emotions. But that she was really from the future? That was a little hard to believe," Leso answered honestly.

"Then why did you send me back to the hotel to her? What about, 'We are not possible either, yet here we stand'? You said that to me that day on the street."

"I only said that, because I could feel that you believed her already, that you loved her already. I could have said that she was the Antichrist and you still would have gone back to that room."

"Yes, I would have," he admitted. "I wouldn't have been able to stop myself."

"Please understand. It's only because I couldn't see the memories that she showed you. I never thought she was lying. I just thought she was..." Leso tried to explain, but his voice dropped away.

"Insane? Yes, that was my first thought, as well."

"Did it matter?"

"No, not in the slightest," he said with a smile. "What is this paper made out of anyway? It's so light," Leso asked, holding the note up.

"Could you not worry about the paper right now? I need to talk to you about something."

"Sorry. What do you need to talk to me about?" Leso asked, putting the note in his pocket.

"You remember me telling you about Beck's memory of you killing the vampyre?"

"Yes, that would be a hard thing to forget."

"Well, I killed the same vampyre yesterday." He told Leso everything about their encounter the day before.

"Damn! Beck must have been terrified."

"No, she thought that me tearing off his head was 'sexy'," he smiled despite himself.

"You're shitting me!"

"You've been spending too much time with Beck, brother. You're starting to develop her foul mouth."

"You don't seem to mind when she curses," Leso said, also smiling."It suits her, but never mind that right now. Don't you think it's more than a coincidence that the same vampyre showed up where Beck happened to be, in two different times?"

Leso looked around at the trees and down at the ground.

"I do think it's strange, but if Beck wasn't scared, then she probably knew it was going to happen, right?"

"That's just it. She said that this didn't happen the first time she was here. How could it have? I couldn't kill him here, and you kill him in the future."

"Are you sure it was the same vampyre?"

"Yes, I saw the memory myself. It was him."

"And she said nothing like this happened before? Maybe that an attack happened, but just not the same vampyre?"

He knew that look on Leso's face. "You know something. What is it, Leso?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were always a terrible liar.Now, tell me what you know!" he snapped.

"I can't. I promised," Leso offered. "Promised who? Beck? She knows something she's not telling me?"

"I don't know. You would have to ask her," Leso replied, looking at his feet.

"You do know, Leso. Tell me!" he demanded, but Leso said nothing. "If you don't tell me, I'll break every bone in your body," he growled.

"I'll heal. I don't know anything about this."

"Which one of us is in love with Beck, me or you? If you know something that will help me keep her safe, you need to tell me, goddamn it!" he yelled louder.

"I can't tell you anything. You need to talk to Beck."

"You know she won't tell me anything."

"No, she won't," Leso agreed. "If anything happens to her because of whatever you're not telling me, I will kill you myself," Richard promised.

"I believe you. I would expect nothing less."

"Will you at least tell me if she is in danger?"

"According to Beck, we are all in danger. Now that I know for sure that she _is_ from the future, I have no choice but to believe our family may die. I also have to believe that you sent her here to help us, even if just to warn us."

"I must have been crazy to send her here."

"Beck came here with her eyes wide open. It's very important to her to save this family."

"I know. I'm the one who made it important to her." It was true. He'd sent her here, and if anything happened to her, it would be his fault. "Why didn't I keep her in the future where she was safe?" he pondered aloud, more to himself than to Leso.

"Was she safe? I was under the impression that the vampyre you killed yesterday was after her in the future, as well. Look, we don't know what's going on, and if Beck knows, she's not telling us. I'm sure she has her reasons, and for right now, I'm willing to trust in her. Are you?"

"I don't seem to have a choice in the matter," Richard replied gruffly.

"Well, she's not going to be here much longer. So, if anything is going to happen, it will be soon."

"Exactly what about that statement is supposed to make me feel better? The part where my wife may get killed soon or the part where she is about to disappear for a century or so?"

"Sorry, bad choice of words." To change the subject, Leso sniffed to air and stated, "I smell red deer. Let's go eat."

"Leso, give me the letter back."

"Right, sorry," he said, digging the note out of his pocket.

Richard tore the note into tiny pieces and ground them into the ground with his heel. "Now we can go eat," he said as they took off.

***

When they got back to the house, they found Beck gone.

"Where is she?" Richard asked Rita in a panicked voice.

"Relax. She's just gone into town. Jenny, Potter, and Harley went with her. She'll be fine."

"What did she need to go to town for?"

"She said there were some things she wanted to purchase."

"She should have waited for me. I would have taken her," he said, worried.

"She is accompanied by two vampyres and a hunter. Stop worrying, dear."

After what happened yesterday, how was he supposed to not worry? "Did she tell you what happened yesterday?"

"About her arm or about the vampyre?" Rita replied."She told you about the vampyre?" He was surprised. He had not really expected Beck to tell them.

"Oh yes, she told us. I hear you were most impressive, dear. She also told us that, other than that, the two of you had a lovely day. She said that you had a nice time at the lake and that you two 'made use' of the house," Rita smiled.

"Sweet Jesus! Is there anything she doesn't tell you?"

"She is a very open person. She's good for you. You are too uptight."

"Why? Because I don't think it's appropriate to discuss our love life outside of our bedroom?"

"Your bedroom? We don't keep the kitchen table in your bedroom, dear. Or the sofa, or the stairs, or the...," Rita was saying."STOP!" he half yelled and half pleaded in shock."Oh, don't be silly. When I met your father, we couldn't keep our hands off of each other. I remember a time when..." Rita started before Richard cut her off again.

"Well, don't, and I'd like to keep it that way," he said, and turned to leave. I'm going to wait at the end of the road for Beck to come back."

"See, you're too uptight, dear," she called after him, laughing.

### Chapter Eleven

They were to several shops to buy food. She'd bought cooked meats, chunks of cheese, some small pies and cakes, and some fudge.

"Let me get this straight. Richard is going to eat this?" Harley asked, nodding at the packages of food.

"No, he's going to taste it. He has to spit it out, though." Harley was incredulous. "And he's going to _want_ to do this?"

"Yeah, he loves the taste of food. Doesn't it smell good to you?"

"No."

"How about you?" she asked Jenny. Wrinkling her nose, Jenny replied, "Not at all."

"Well, it smells great to me," Potter chimed in, stuffing a piece of ham in his mouth.

"You don't count. You're always eating," Beck teased. "That's one of the few upsides of being a hunter. I can eat as much as I want, never gain any weight, and never get sick."

"That's good to know," Beck acknowledged.

"Does Richard know he's going to be doing this?" Harley asked.

"No, he doesn't know he can do it yet. I thought I'd surprise him." Harley laughed. "Cake for a vampyre is not surprising. It's goddamned shocking!"

"Harley, watch your language. There are ladies present," Jenny told him firmly.

Harley grinned and looked around, "Where?" Jenny scowled at him, and Beck laughed. "I'm sure Rickard knows that food smells good to him, but he hasn't tasted it since he was human," Beck explained.

"I can't believe it smells good to him. It doesn't even smell like food to me," Jenny stated.

Harley agreed. "Me, either."

"It sure does taste like food, though," Potter said, stuffing one of the small cakes into his mouth.

"Could you leave some for Richard, please," she said, taking the packages of food away from him. "I wish I had a cell phone. If I were in my time, I could call and ask what kind of bread he liked when he was human."

"A what?" Harley asked. "A cell phone. It's a small telephone that you carry around with you. You can call and talk to anyone you want, from wherever you are."

"I want one," Harley exclaimed, just like a kid in a candy store.

"I don't." Jenny said.

"You will, though, and in the future you have one, so does Potter, Richard, and Leso."

"If I make it to the future, I'm getting one," Harley stated again. "You better make it to the future," Beck told him, "or I'll kill you myself."

She bought two kinds of bread at the bakery, and they headed home. She knew Richard would be waiting for them.

"Hello," she said when jumped out of a tree and put his arm around her. "You look nice in a dress."

"Get a good look, then, because when I get back to the house, I'm putting my pants back on."

He reached to take the packages from her. "Were you hungry?"

"A little," she said, and Harley laughed. Beck heard a bone break and knew that Jenny had punched him.

"What's going on?" Richard was suspicious. Potter laughed. "Oh, you'll see."

"Just wait," Beck told him.

When they got back to the house, she put the packages on the kitchen counter and went to change out of her dress. When she came back downstairs, she found that Harley had unwrapped all of the food. He'd also gathered the whole family in the kitchen. Richard was sitting at the table looking very confused.

"Alright, Potter, I need your knife." He handed her his knife from the sheath on his side. She cut off a small chunk of roast beef and looked at Richard. "Open your mouth." He opened his mouth, and she put the meat in it. "Now chew, but don't swallow it." He chewed, and his eyes drifted closed, and he moaned softly. "Now, spit it out." She held her hand out in front of his mouth, and he spit the food into her hand. "I love you," he said, grinning at her.

"You actually liked that?" Heidi asked. "I loved it! It tastes wonderful." Saphira looked repulsed. "You just let him spit chewed up food in your hand!" She looked so disgusted that Beck had to laugh. "You catch animals and suck their blood out but chewed up food grosses you out?" Beck teased.

Saphira continued, "I don't chew the animal up and spit it into anyone's hand."

"Oh, my mistake. I see now that the chewed up food is much worse," Beck laughed.

Daryl looked at Richard. "Does that truly taste good to you?"

"Yes, it tastes like food."

"I have never heard of a vampyre still having a taste for human food," Daryl wondered aloud.

"I've always loved the smell of food. That's the one thing that never changed. I just didn't know what would happen if I tried to eat it."

"You didn't know what would happen?" Bruce asked. "Yet, you let her put it in your mouth?!"

"I trust her. I don't think she came all this way to murder me with roast beef."

Harley laughed. "From what we've heard, she's trying to kill you with sex."

"Harley!" Leso exclaimed. "Yes?" Harley was still laughing. "Run!" Leso urged Harley. "Oh, shit!" Harley yelled, and bolted toward the door with Richard right behind him.

Rita sighed. "He is very uptight."

"He gets better."

"He can't get much worse," Bruce interjected.

"He won't really hurt Harley, will he?"

"Oh, he'll break a few things, but he won't kill him." Saphira said.

Beck started packing the food in a basket to take down to the lake. Bruce asked, "Is he going to chew up all that food?"

"Most of it."

"What happens if he swallows it?" Heidi inquired. "He throws it up, along with his last meal." Surprised again, Daryl stated, "Vampyres don't vomit."

"Richard does, I've seen him do it." She left out the reason _why_ he had vomited.

"That is very interesting," Daryl stated. "I guess so." She was starting to wonder about some things, but she would keep them to herself for now.

She grabbed the basket and said, "I'll see ya'll later," and walked out the back door.

***

"I'm going to the lake," she hollered when she was in the backyard. Richard jumped over the house and landed in front of her.

"Good, you have the food."

"Yes, I have your food, you junky. Let's go."

He took the basket, and she took his hands as they walked towards the lake. When they got there, his main focus was the food. She reminded him not to swallow any of it.

He chewed up the meat, cheese, bread, cake, and pies. It wasn't until he got to the fudge that he had a problem. He swallowed a piece of it, vomited it up, and left a fountain of blood down the side of the rock they were sitting on.

"I told you not to swallow it," she told him as she wiped the blood off his lips with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I didn't intend to, it just slid down my throat."

"Yeah, we call the swallowing."

"It was worth it," he grinned. "Richard, do you like being a vampyre?" she asked, curious if he felt the same way about it now as he had when she had met him.

"It does not matter whether I like it or not. It is what I am."

"That's not what I asked you."

"Until quite recently, I would have said no, but now I'm glad for it."

"Why?"

"If you would have come here, and I was human when you left, I would have never seen you again. In truth, I never would have met you. My life would have been over by now. Being a vampyre means I can walk through all the years it takes to get back to you. I now think of it as a blessing." She wondered if he'd feel that way if he found out who gave him this 'blessing' and why.

"Why didn't you like being a vampyre before I came here?"

"I was just never comfortable with it. I drink blood to sustain the thirst, but I hate it. I do my best not to think about it, but every few days I must hunt, and drink blood to feed the thirst. I can never forget what I am," he said sadly.

"It can't be all that bad."

"Yes, it can. If you could find a way to confine me for a couple of weeks and put a human in with me, I would feed on them. The thirst would control me, and I would be helpless to stop it."

"But that's not your fault."

"No, it's not, but it is what I am, and I can never change that."She climbed onto his lap and kissed him. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"And I am not, not anymore. If not for that, we would not be sitting here today. I am no longer human, but I do have you. It was a fair trade," he said, hugging her to him.

"Would you be that hard to confine?" He sat her off his lap and stood up. He jumped from the rock to the base of a large tree about twenty yards away. The circumference of the tree had to be at least ten feet. He put his hand up against it and pushed. He jumped out of the way as the roots of the tree tore free from the ground under his feet. The tree fell to the ground with an earth-shaking crash. He leapt back onto the rock, landing beside her.

"Where would you put me that I would not escape?"

"Do you have a problem with trees in general, or what?" she asked, remembering the tree he kicked over on the side of the road in Clarksville. "Excuse me?"

"Never mind, just take it easy on the trees. We kind of need them."

She hadn't shown him that memory, because they had been talking about her plan to kill Elderson and his clan with her blood. She wouldn't be sharing that memory with him while she was here, maybe not ever.

"The only way you can confine a vampyre is with silver. We don't have any strength against it."

"Would you rather be like Potter?"

"Potter is just as susceptible to silver as a vampyre."

"That's not what I meant. Would you rather be a Hunter?"

"A hunter?! I've never thought about it before. The only hunters we have encountered before Potter, we killed. Until I met him, I didn't know hunters could be so normal. I never knew they could have a sense of humor or the ability to love."

"I told you that you would like him."

"He is growing on me," he admitted. "Think of all the years you have ahead of you to enjoy him," she laughed. "All the years without you," he told her sadly. "Hey, don't think about that now."

"I cannot help it," he said softly. "Do you want to hear the selfish thing about being a vampyre?"

"Sure."

"If I knew my toxin wouldn't kill you, I would bite you. I would turn you into a vampyre just to keep you with me forever." He was ashamed of himself, she could feel it. "I don't think I would want to be a vampyre."

"That's the thing, though. I don't care. I wouldn't ask you. I wouldn't need your permission. I would just do it."

"You wouldn't ask me? You wouldn't care how I felt about it?"

"No, I wouldn't."

She was glad to hear that. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that you know it would kill me." she only half joked.

"Are you mad at me for feeling that way?"

She replied honestly, "Not even a little bit."

"I love you, Little One." He ran his fingertips down her check.

"I love you, too."

"Say it again."

"I love you, too."

***

The next month passed pleasantly, with no more unexpected surprises. On November 11th, Richard announced that he would be taking her to the opera the following evening. She hated opera, but now knew where they had been walking back from when she had been killed. All she'd known before was that they had been returning from a night in the city. It seemed a bit unfair that she had been subjected to opera _and_ killed all in the same night.

"You'll like the opera. You said you missed music."

"I do miss music, just not opera."

"We don't have to go."

"No! I want to go." She had to go. If she didn't, things would change again, and she would miss her chance to end this with Elderson. "I want you to do something for me first, though."

"What would you like me to do?"

"I would like you to watch a movie with me?"

"A what?"

"A movie. It's like a play with special effects."

"Where would you suggest we see this 'movie'?"

"Right here in our room."

"Come again?"

"I didn't have any friends growing up, so I watched a lot of movies. There are a lot of movies I watched so many times that I have them memorized. When I get bored, I can just watch a movie in my head."

"If you can do it, I would be very happy to watch it with you," he said excitedly.

"How about a scary movie?" He laughed at her. "I'm a vampyre, Beck. You can't scare me."

"I'll take that challenge." she said, and walked to the bedroom door. "Where are you going?"

"To pee. A movie takes about two hours to watch. While I'm gone, I'll think of the perfect movie to scare the hell out of you," she told him as she went out the door.

On her walk to the woods, she ran through her list of memorized horror movies. It wasn't until she was on her way back that the perfect movie occurred to her. She was so excited that she ran the rest of the way back to the house and up the stairs to their room.

"I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"The perfect movie to scare the big, bad vampyre."

"It won't work."

"We'll see about that. Lay down." He laid on the bed, and she settled down beside him. He moved to take her hand, but she snatched it away. "No way! You're not crushing my hand into dust. I'll just hold onto your wrist."

"You're being silly, Beck. There's nothing you can show me that would scare me."

"That's what you think now."

"Fine. What is the name of the play we'll be watching?" he asked with a sigh.

"It's a movie not a play. And I need you to remember that it is only a movie. It's not a memory of anything that actually happened, though it is supposed to have been based on a true story."

"I do actually understand the concept of make believe, you know. Are you going to tell me the name of the play or not?"

"Movie, and it's called _The Exorcist_."

"Well, let's have it, then."

"Alright."

She laid her hand on his wrist. She started the movie in her head. She'd seen this movie so many times that it came easily to her. He handled it pretty well for awhile, but when they got to the part where the girl spider-walks down the stairs, he pulled his wrist away.

"Something wrong?" she inquired, innocently. "No, please continue," he said nervously, putting his arm back down. She touched his wrist again, glad that he could not feel her joy at his rising fear. He pulled his arm back again when he saw the girl's demon face.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly.

"I just thought you might like something to drink. I know it's warm up here to you," he said politely.

"No, thank you, I'm fine."

"Just thought I would check," he resigned himself, laying his arm back down.

She laid her hand on his wrist again and continued the movie. He was terrified now, and she was loving it. When the girl started masturbating with a cross, she lost him. He was off the bed, with his back against the wall in less than a second.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you ever watch anything like that?" he asked in a shocked voice.

She couldn't help it. She had to laugh at him.

"Look at you! I watched this movie for the first time when I was 13 years old. I watched it at night, by myself, in the dark. You are an 84 year old vampyre, and you're trembling in a corner in broad daylight. I believe you said, 'I'm a vampyre, Beck. You can't scare me.' What happened, big boy?" she asked, still laughing at him.

"I am not scared."

"Ohh, you liar! Lie to someone else. I can feel how scared you are!" she cackled.

"Fine, it scared me a little. I just didn't expect it to look so real, to _feel_ so real. You were right. It is definitely not a play."

"Do you want to see the rest of it or not?"

"I have to finish it. I need to know how it ends."

"Well, then pull yourself off the wall and get back over here."

He managed to stay on the bed for the rest of the movie, though he did give a couple of good jumps. When it was over, she got up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going now?!" he asked in a near panicked voice. "Now I do need something to drink. I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you," he stated, jumping off the bed and landing by the door.

"You're such a wuss," she laughed as she opened the door.

He held her hand all the way down the steps and into the kitchen. Leso, Potter, and Jenny were sitting around the kitchen table. Potter was eating... again.

"What's wrong with you?" Leso asked Richard in a shocked voice. She nearly dropped the jug of tea she was holding when she doubled over laughing.

"Beck showed me a movie," he explained. "A what?' Leso asked.

Richard did his best to describe what he had seen.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Potter stated.

"You didn't see it."

"I've never seen you scared like this before," Leso smiled. "You don't understand how terrifying it was," Richard replied, sheepishly.

"In 1973, you can take _him_ to see it," Beck alluded while motioning to Leso.

"He can go see it. I think I'll pass on seeing it again."

"Oh, don't be such a baby. It was only a movie."

"Yes, don't be such a baby," Leso mimicked Beck. Richard reached over and flicked Leso's arm, breaking it with a loud crack. Leso shook his arm and was all better. "Does it even hurt when your bones break?"

"Yes, it feels just like it would to you if your arm was to break, but the pain only last for a second," Leso explained.

"Gruesome."

"That is exactly what that movie was. Gruesome!"

"Come on, let's go upstairs. We'll find you a movie that won't scare the crap out of you."

"I want to see another scary one."

"Sure you do."

"I really do. It was kind of fun."

"Well, go upstairs and I'll be up in a minute. I need to talk to Potter in private real quick."

"I'll wait for you here."

"You big baby," she said, standing.

"Can you come outside for a second?" she asked Potter. "Sure thing," he said, and followed her out the door. They walked out of earshot of the vampyres in the house. "You know you owe me, right?"

He nodded."I owe you everything."

"When I get back to the future, I'm going to ask you for something. I want you to promise that you'll give it to me."

"Are you going to tell me what I'll be giving to you?"

"No."

"In that case, of course I'll give it to you," Potter told her, smiling. "Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay, we can go back in now."

"Okay." He grabbed her around the waist and leapt back across the yard.

***

The next morning found them at the kitchen table again. She was still tired. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Richard had really gotten into seeing the movies she knew, and she had been up most of the night running movies through her head for him. He had seen _The Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist_ , and _Chucky_. She'd also shown him _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ before she had fallen asleep. "That was one of the best nights I've ever had," Richard said happily. She wanted to slap him for being so perky, while she was sucking down the bitter, sorry excuse for coffee that they had here.

"The things you get to see in your daily life are amazing."

"Yeah, it's awesome," she said, less than enthusiastically. "You'll get to see them all too. You just have to catch up first."

"Yes," he responded, the smile falling off of his face. "I'm going to the stream. I need to splash some cold water on my face to wake up, and then we really do need to talk."

"I'll go with you."

When she got to the stream and the cool water, she felt much better, "You wanna go to the lake?"

"Yes, but wait here for a minute," he said and was gone. He was back a couple of minutes later with a picnic basket.

"What do you have?"

"Muffins, bread, meat, and tea."

"That's a big breakfast."

"Only the muffins are for you," he told her sheepishly.

"Well, just don't swallow anything this time," she smiled. "I'll do my best."The lake was beautiful in the morning sun. "I'm going to miss this place."

"I'm going to miss the sound of your lilting voice," he stated softly."Chew your breakfast."

She knew he was having a hard time accepting that she was going to be gone soon. She didn't know how to comfort him. Hell, she didn't even know if she would survive this day.

"Did you tell everyone that when I'm gone they have to leave here, too?"

"I did."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Are they going to do it?"

"Of course they're going to do it."

"Are they mad about it?" she asked while picking at a muffin.

He picked her up with one hand and sat her in his lap.

"Beck, you came a long way to help us. They all know that. If you say run, we'll run. They're not thrilled about it, but they'll do it."

"What if I haven't helped? What if they all die anyway?" she worried. "What if Leso, Potter, Jenny, or God forbid, you die? It will be because of something I did, or failed to do."

"No, Little One, never think like that. You have done everything you can. You've warned us, and taught them to fight. What more could you have done?"

She could have told him the truth. She could've told him everything she really knew, but she hadn't, and wouldn't do it now. She would tell him everything when she got home, but not before then.

"Nothing, I guess. When I go, you need to go to Dublin, Ireland. You'll find a vampyre there named Jeremy McMantis. He's an animal hunter like you, and he's a friend to you, or at least he will be."

"Do you know where he is in Dublin?"

"No, not exactly, but with all of your vampyre senses, you shouldn't have a hard time finding him."

"We'll find him, don't worry."

"I also have a letter for you to give to Bev," she said, pulling the letter out of her front pocket. "Give this to her in the future after I step back in time. I'll be in that building for 24 hours. That's how long you'll have to get to her from wherever she's at and get her to Clarksville." She handed him the letter.

"May I?" he nodded at the letter."Sure."

He read it aloud:

_Bev, You need to go with this man. His name is Richard, and he's my husband. I'm out of the country right now without my cell phone, but I'll talk to you when I get back. Richard's gonna take you to a man named Leso. Leso is gonna be your husband, but you'll understand when you see him._ _Believe everything they tell you, it's all true._

See you soon, Beck

"She knows my handwriting. She'll go with you. The other side is for Leso _after_ you get Bev."

He flipped it over and read: _Okay, NOW I say_. "He'll know what it means." He nodded and put the letter in the picnic basket. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back to his chest. "I don't want you to go," he told her thickly.

"I have to, I don't have a choice."

"I know, but I don't have to like it."

"We'll be together again, and the next time, it will be for the rest of our lives," she said, hoping that she wasn't lying to him.

***

They spent the rest of the day relaxing, making love, and talking. When the sun started to set, they walked home to get ready for their night out at the opera. Jenny loaned her a dress that would be more appropriate for the opera than anything she had.

The only thing she really cared about was that the dress had big, loose pockets that she could put her hands in. She braided her hair down the center of her back and tied it with a ribbon. She got the hypodermic needle out of the bag and put it in the pocket of the dress.

Richard was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. "Ready?"

"Almost. I need to visit the little girl's woods first."

"Well, hurry or we're going to be late." When she got to the woods, she took the needle out, pulled her sleeve tight above her vein, and drew her blood. It wasn't until she had recapped the needle and put it back in her pocket that she started to shake. If this didn't go exactly as planned, she was going to die, and she was _terrified_! She took several long, deep breathes and walked out of the woods. Richard was waiting by the back door for her.

"Now I'm ready."

They walked back into the house for her to say goodnight to Jenny and Potter.

"You two have fun tonight," Jenny told them.

"We'll try," Richard replied. When Beck turned toward the front door, Leso was standing there. She new by the look on his face that he could feel her terror. She shook her head at him, and he turned his head away before Richard could see his face.

"Yeah, you two have fun," he said casually.

"Who could have fun at the opera?" Beck responded.

"Stop picking with Leso and let's go. Are you sure you want to walk?"

"Yeah, it's a nice night tonight." It really was. The breeze was crisp but not bitter, and the night was mostly clear. They'd just left the lane and turned onto the road, when Richard grabbed her arm and pulled up her sleeve.

"What happened to you?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I could smell it."

"You're like a shark. I just got poked by a limb in the woods," she lied. "A shark?" he asked, pushing her sleeve back down. The plastic container of the syringe must be covering the smell of blood inside of it, because he didn't notice.

"Yes, a shark. They say a shark can smell one drop of blood in the water from a mile away."

"A shark, I like that. But I could smell a drop of your blood from more than a mile away."

"Yeah, when I'm on my period. I remember," she smiled. "No, that is a different scent. I had to get three miles away before I lost that scent."

"You've handled it very well since then."

"It was a shock the first time. Now I know roughly when it is going to happen, and I know that the men that are around you would never hurt you."

She couldn't help it, she laughed.

"What?" he asked.

"You're a man alright."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"A man's main concern at all times is to keep other men away from their pussy. You're just a little more territorial. I'm surprised you didn't pee on me to mark your area."

"You have a very strange sense of humor. Do your parents curse as much as you?"

"No, and I don't curse. I was born and raised in the South, in the Bible belt of the United States. I cuss."

"You know you're insane, right?"

"Yeah, but we all are. Only the degree of insanity varies from person to person. Bev cusses a lot, too. I hope Leso doesn't mind."

"I'm sure he will get used to it. I did."

"Does it bother you to be in public with so many humans?"

"It can be overwhelming at times, but as long as I've fed, it's controllable."

"But you still want human blood?"

"Yes."

"And that bothers you?"

"Very much."

"Then why are we going into the city?"

He laughed. "I used to work there everyday. I haven't worked since you came here, but I think I can manage not to eat anyone tonight."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "You haven't worked since I've been here?"

"Yes, I thought we just established that."

"That has to be it. That's what changed."

"What? Me working?"

"Yes. We didn't get married until October 14th the last time I was here. You asked me to marry you the day before that. You also didn't tell me you were a vampyre until that day. As uptight as you are, I bet you mostly saw me in the city, and I bet you were still working."

"And?" he asked as they started walking again.

"Well, this time you disappeared six weeks earlier. They must have seen us in the city that day, then noticed you missing after that and came looking for you."

"They?"

"Other vampyres," she recovered quickly. "I guess that makes sense. There are many vampyres in London at the moment. We sense them all the time. We tend to dismiss it until they get to close."

She hadn't thought about how many vampyres may be in London.

"How many?"

"I don't know exactly, around twenty, I guess."

She knew Elderson would only have six in his clan at a time. "You don't know any of them?"

"We've seen some of them, but they don't care for our kind."

"Your kind?"

"Animal hunters."

"Oh, right. You've mentioned that before."

"Have I?"

"Yeah, in the future. Why do they care what you eat?"

"They believe what we do goes against nature. They don't seem to realize that drinking blood at all goes against nature. None of us should exist," he said stiffly.

"That's not true. You don't feed on humans, and most humans eat the flesh of animals. The only difference is that you drink the blood instead of eating the meat."

"The only difference? If you go two weeks without eating meat, would you kill and eat the flesh of a human?"

"No, probably not."

"Then it's not the only difference, is it?"

"No, I guess not, but my point is that _you're_ not hurting anyone."

"And my point is that I _would_ if I had to." They were entering the city before they spoke again.

"I sorry you hate yourself so much."

"I do not hate myself, Little One. I only hate what I have been forced to become."

They were walking down a nearly deserted street when a man approached them.

"Trouble," she whispered to Richard.

The man pulled a wicked looking knife on them, "I'll be having your money," he told them.

He was Richard's height with a stronger build. He must have thought that that gave him the advantage, that and he had the knife. To Richard's credit, he did not pull her behind him.

He looked at her and said, "I'm not in the mood for this tonight, nor do we have the time to waste. We're nearly late as it is"

"Your money, _NOW_!" the man said again, waving the knife at them. "Don't kill him," Beck said "I won't as long he gives me the money."

"I wasn't talking to you," Beck told the man.

She saw a flash of movement, and the man no longer had the knife. Richard crushed the knife like a piece of paper and dropped it on the street. "What the hell?" the man mumbled. "Now what?" Richard asked. "We go to the opera." They stepped around the stunned man and continued down the street.

"See, if you were still human, that would have been a problem," she smiled.

He laughed. "You would have protected me."

"Maybe, but we still would have been in danger."

"True."

"See, being a vampyre isn't all bad."

"I never minded the strength or speed, only the blood thirst."

"Does it bother you to talk about it?"

"Not with you."

"You've never told me how the rest of your family became vampyres."

"Because I don't know. It is an extremely personal thing. Most of us won't discuss it."

"Jenny told me she was bitten by a vampyre that wanted her as a mate.

She was with him for a year before she killed him."

"I've told you how me and Leso became vampyres. The only other one I know about is Bruce. He was bitten by a female vampyre when he was leaving a brothel. I don't know if her intentions were to change him or kill him, but Harley happened by and killed her. Harley carried him out of the city they were in to the house he was staying in at the time. They were still traveling together eight years later when they met Daryl and Rita."

"Were Bruce and Harley still hunting humans then?"

"Yes, but Harley was ready for a change. I know he had a younger sister and three brothers when he was growing up. I think he missed the human part of himself. You've seen him with the children they watch. He can play with them all day and never get tired of it," he smiled.

Harley did have fun with the kids, and they loved him. Who would have thought that the safest place for children would be in a house full of vampyres?

"About children, you do know I can never give you any, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"I don't want any children, I never have. Don't get me wrong, I like children. I just don't want any of my own. Bev feels the same way. So, Leso's off the hook, too."

"You're sure you never want babies?"

She nodded. "Absolutely positive."

"You don't know what a relief it is to hear that."

"You would have thought that being a victim of a vampyre attack outside a brothel would have been enough to keep Bruce out of them."

"He was only twenty when he was changed. Besides the thirst, women are all he thinks about," he laughed.

***

They had arrived at the opera. They took their seats, and soon the torture started. It was just as horrible as she thought it would be, but Richard seemed to enjoy it. It went on for hours, and when it was finally over, she had a headache. How anybody could enjoy opera was beyond her.

Richard looked at her and asked, "Ready to go?"

"I was ready to go when we got here."

"It couldn't have been as bad as you thought it would be," he smiled.

"No, it was much worse."

"Well, let's get you home then," he laughed, leading her through the crowd of people and out the door. Her headache started to ease in the cool night air.

"Do you want to get some dinner?"

"No, I just want to go home." After the night she had just had, she would almost welcome death.

"I thought you might enjoy it once it started."

"It's just not music to me, not music I like anyway."

They were on the road home, but still about a half a mile away from where the trees would start lining the road. If her murder was still going to happen, it would happen soon.

"What kind of music do you like?"

"I can show you." Why not? There was no one around, and she had never danced with him before. This may be her last opportunity to do it.

"Please do."

She knew the perfect song, her favorite song. It was an old song, but he wouldn't hear it again for nearly a hundred years. She took his hand, put her other arm around his neck, and started playing 'Let's Get It On' in her head. She danced with him in the road, a half mile and minutes away from when she was supposed to die. Right now that didn't matter. Only him, her, and the music mattered. They swayed together in the empty road. The song was over to soon.

"Did you like it?"

"I loved it. The music and lyrics are very provocative. I've never heard anything like it before. What is it?"

"It's _'Let's Get It On'_ by Marvin Gaye. It's Motown music."

"I want to hear more of the music you like."

"When we get home. Let's go." She walked on his right side with her hand around the ready syringe. She thumbed off the cap and waited for the attack. hey were almost to the lane to the house when it happened. She was grabbed from behind and pulled into the air. They had barely landed on the tree branch when she jabbed the needle into his thigh and depressed the plunger. He hissed and released her.

She was falling when Richard caught her in mid-air and landed gently on the ground. The vampyre landed with a thump in the street beside them.

She jumped from Richard's arms and spun around to look at Elderson. Richard blocked her view by reaching down and ripping off his head.

When he threw the head at their feet, she saw a long, blonde braid. She used her foot to roll the head over and saw what she already knew. It wasn't Elderson. Shit! She kicked the head like a football, sending it flying into the woods. She turned back around in time to see Richard pull the syringe out of the vampyre's leg.

"What is this?" he asked. She plucked it from his fingers, recapped it, and put it back in her pocket. "Nothing."

"You knew this was going to happen." It was not a question, and he was pissed.

"I can explain."

"Explain with what, another lie? Don't bother. Just don't talk to me at all. I don't want to hear anything you have to say," he said coldly, and turned away from her. "Leso and the others are coming."

***

A few moments later, the road was full of people. The whole family had come.

"Potter sensed another vampyre," Daryl said. "What happened?" Richard was picking the body up out of the road. "Ask Beck. Maybe she'll tell you, because she sure as hell didn't tell me. Take her home," he said before disappearing into the woods with the body.

They walked back toward the house with everyone wanting to know what had happened. She told them about the needle and her blood, and how she had died from the attack the last time. She didn't tell them that it was supposed to have been Elderson. Why tell the truth now?

"Why didn't you just tell Richard what was going to happen?" Saphira asked.

"I don't know," she mumbled. When they got back to the house, everyone went in except her, Leso, and

Potter. When the door closed, Potter grabbed her and jumped across the yard. Leso landed beside them. Potter held her in a crushing hug.

"I thought you were dead," he cried.

"I'm not dead. I lived this time," she said, hugging him back. "I could smell your blood in the air."

"After I injected my blood into the vampyre, Richard ripped his head off. That's probably what you smelled."

He stepped back and nodded, wiping his face with his arm. "I knew you were terrified when you left," Leso said. "I didn't know you were expecting to be attacked."

"I told you I was killed the last time I was here."

"I figured something had changed, that maybe the vampyre Richard killed here _was_ the attempt on your life."

"No, it was tonight, exactly when it was supposed to be." Just not what or who it was supposed to be, but she kept that to herself. Potter chided her, "You should have told me. I would have stopped it."

"I needed to do this for myself."

"No, you didn't. It was dangerous, and you're lucky you weren't killed," Leso stated.

"I know, and now Richard's mad at me. He told me not to speak to him," she said softly. "He thinks I lied to him."

"You _did_ lie to him, Beck," Potter told her. "Not really, I just didn't tell him everything."

"Then you lied by omission, but it was still a lie," Leso said. "I know, but I can't tell him everything I know. It would put you all at risk."

"I know that's what you believe, but maybe it won't be that way," Potter said.

"And maybe it would. I'll tell you everything when I get back home, I promise. But until then, just keep moving, please," she begged. "We told Richard we'll run when you're gone, and we will," Potter assured her. "Don't worry, we'll keep everyone safe."

They waited for Richard to come back until it was to cold for her to stay outside anymore. Finally Leso stood up, "You go inside where it's warm, and I'll go and find him."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do," Leso said angrily. "Don't fight with him. He has every right to be mad at me. He's been through enough for one night," she said, wiping tears out of her eyes. Leso was angry and upset now. "Really? _He's been through enough_? I was under the impression that _you_ were the one that was nearly killed."

"Yeah, but I lied to him."

"That's no excuse to leave you here alone and upset," Leso said. "I'm not alone, and if he wants to be a dick, let him."

"No," Leso threw over his shoulder as he ran off. Potter pulled her to her feet and walked her into the house.

***

She had lied to him. She'd known that this was going to happen tonight, and she hadn't told him! Why?! She had gone with him tonight knowing that she would be attacked. She had used her blood to kill the vampyre! She had planned this before she had even come here, bringing the needle made of silver with her! Why? He was sure she would have her reasons, but he did not want to hear them. He didn't want to talk to Leso now either, but could feel him coming.

"Go away," he said when Leso sat down beside him.

"You need to go home to Beck."

"No, she lied to me."

"I know. You still need to go home. She's upset."

"I don't care if she's upset. I'm not going to comfort her," Richard replied coldly.

"You don't need to comfort her. She has Potter for that." Richard said nothing. "She knew what she was doing. She was supposed to die tonight. The last time she was here, she did die."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Would you have rather she had died?"

"No, I would rather she had told me the truth. She chose to lie to me instead. She chose to lie to all of us."

This time Leso said nothing. He looked over at Leso, and he knew the truth.

"You knew. This is what you wouldn't tell me. She told you not to tell me."

"I guessed that she had died when she was here before. She told me how but not when."

"And you told me nothing."

"I promised I wouldn't tell you."

For the first time since they were children, Richard hit his brother in anger. He punched Leso in the face, breaking his jaw. He had hoped Leso would fight back, but he did not.

"I _am_ sorry," Leso told him when his jaw had healed. "Just go away."

"Fine. When can I tell her to expect you home?"

"When she is gone."

"Beck's right...You are a dick," Leso stated simply as he left.

***

She had waited up for him all night and all morning, but he had not come back. Now it was almost time for her to leave. She put on the same dress and shoes she was wearing when she had come here. She put the syringe and her wedding ring into the packed bag, and went downstairs. She opened the watch that D.J. had given her, saw she had less than ten minutes left, and went out the front door. Everyone was waiting for her on the porch.

"Well, this is it, I guess."

"I'm so sorry, Beck," Jenny told her.

She knew Jenny was talking about Richard not being here.

"Hey, at least I won't have to get a divorce, right? When I get back to the future, we will have never been married at all. But, please do what I asked and be safe," she said, trying to smile.

"We'll see you when you get home," Bruce said. "You don't have to, I'll understand, but let me know you're still safe."

"Beck, we want to see you. This is his problem, not ours," Harley assured her.

Potter added, "I know me and Jenny will be there. You're my sister now, and I'm not going to lose you." Jenny nodded in agreement. "We'll be there too, dear," Rita added. Leso told her, "I'll build your house by myself."

"I'll help," Heidi stated.

"Me too," Saphira added. She looked at all of them. "I want you all to know that I love you, and that I'm really glad that I came here to meet you." She hugged and kissed every one of them. All of them had blood running down their faces. She wished she could cry with them, but she had no tears left. She stepped back and checked the watch again, one minute left. She picked up the bag and waited.

***

He was watching the sky. He didn't need a watch to know what time it was. Beck would be gone in a few minutes, and he could go home. He knew he was going to hear it from his family when he got there, but what was he supposed to have done? Just let her keep lying to him? He looked up at the sky again. She would be gone in about three minutes.

She would be gone. She would be gone? He wouldn't see her again for 113 years. Gone. He felt like he'd just woken up. Gone! He took off running. He had to get there He had to see her. He had to tell her how much he loved her. He had to hold her, and kiss her goodbye. He ran as fast as he could, faster than he had even known he could. He ran down the lane to the house and into the front yard just in time to see her disappear from the porch. _NO_!!!

### Chapter Twelve

She was back, and she was dizzy as hell. D.J. jumped up and helped her to steady herself as she stepped down from the platform. "Sorry," he said. "The return trip can be a little disorienting."

"Who was Jack the Ripper?"Dr. Rogers asked.

"Aaron Kosminski," she said, saying the name of the first Ripper suspect that popped into her mind.

Dr. Rogers nodded and walked away.

D.J. was ecstatic. "I knew it! That's the first bet I've ever won with him."

He led her back to the room she had changed in before she left and handed her a hospital gown.

"Put that on, and we'll get you into the M.R.I. and get the transmitters deactivated. I'll be right outside the door," he told her, and stepped out of the room. She peeled out of the dress, kicked the shoes off, and put on the gown. D.J. was waiting for her when she stepped out of the room.

"So, did you enjoy your trip?"

"Yes, it was very interesting. Is that all Dr. Rogers is going to ask me?"

"Yes, he just wanted to know what you found out, and then he was leaving. He's probably already gone. They may ask you to write a report later, but all they really wanted to know was who the killer was. It's this room," he said, stopping and opening a door.

"Just lay down here, and I'm going to pass you through once. It will only take a minute for the magnets to kill the transmitters," he said as he left the room.

She lay down on the table, went into the machine, and back out once, and then D.J. came back. "All done, we can go back to the room now."

He led her back to the room she had changed in. "Hop up in the bed, and let me put the blood pressure cuff on you."

She got in the bed and let him put the cuff on her arm.

"You're going to be tired, that's normal. You'll probably sleep most of the day and night. There are some sandwiches and bottles of water in that little fridge over there if you want them, and the bathroom is through that door over there. If you get up, just remember to put the cuff back on when you get back in bed. It'll check your blood pressure every thirty minutes. I'll be able to see the readings on the computer in my office. I'll be here the whole time. So, if you need me, just hit that button on the bed."

"Okay, thanks."

"Do you want me to turn the light out?" he asked. "Yes, please."

"Okay, get some sleep," he encouraged, turning the light off and leaving the room.

She didn't remember ever being this tired before in her life. She fell into dreamless sleep as soon as she closed her eyes. She vaguely remembered getting up and drinking some cold water at some point in time. She must have remembered to put the cuff back on, because it was on her arm when she woke up again. There wasn't a clock in the room, so she had no idea what time it was.

She turned the lights on and went to the bathroom. She nearly cried when she saw the toilet. It was beautiful. When she was done in the bathroom, she went back into the room to find her clothes. She found them in the cabinet where she'd put them before she left. They were not the same clothes she had on when she had come here. Of course they weren't. These were the other Beck's clothes, a Beck she had never known.

She put on the shorts, tank top, socks, and shoes that were there. She picked up the purse that she had found laying under them and took out the wallet. The identification inside told her it was indeed her purse. She flipped through the pictures. She knew nothing about her life now. All of the pictures were of herself and Bev. Some of the older ones she remembered, the newer ones she did not. She had changed her future, and for what?

She'd tried her best to help them, and she'd lost Richard for it. He hated her, he had left her. She'd been sure that he would come home before she left, but he hadn't. She wanted to cry, but couldn't. She just felt numb. Had she done it all for nothing? No, if her family was still alive, then it had not been for nothing.

Well, it was just _his_ family now. She didn't really expect to see them again. It has been 120 years since they'd last seen her, and she'd learned all too clearly that things change over time. She found makeup and a hairbrush in the purse. She also found perfume. This proved to her that the Beck these things belonged to had never known Richard. Richard didn't like it when she wore perfume, and she had given it up years ago.

She went back to the bathroom and fixed her face and hair. he wanted a shower, but that could wait. She threw the bottle of perfume in the trash and dug a cell phone out of the purse. At least the phone looked the same. The clock on the phone said it was 6:32 a.m. She looked on her contact list and found Bev's number. It wasn't the number she remembered. She closed the phone. She'd call her later.

She hit the button on the bed and said, "I'm awake."

"I'll be right there," D.J. said a moment later. She took the needle and wedding ring out of the bag, put them in the purse, and waited for D.J.

"Morning," he smiled, stepping into the room a few minutes later and handing her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip. No French vanilla creamer, but still much better than the coffee she had been drinking. "How do you feel this morning?"

"I feel fine. I was wondering if I could leave yet."

"You're supposed to stay 24 hours, but your blood pressure has been fine since you got back. You're not dizzy anymore, are you?"

"Not at all."

"Well, I guess you can go whenever you're ready."

He had not mentioned her arm coming back without her, and she knew it hadn't happened to the other Beck. Well, _she_ was the other Beck now.

"You know the rules about not telling anyone what you've done here, right?"

"Yeah, who would believe me anyway?"

He laughed, "Probably no one." She stood up and grabbed the purse.

"Don't you want any of the dresses you brought back?"

"No, I've seen enough of them to last me a lifetime. You can throw them away if you want."

He walked her to the door of the waiting area.

"It was a real pleasure to meet you, Beck. Maybe we can work together again some day."

"That would be fun," she said, knowing there was no way in hell she would ever go through time again, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Well, you have yourself a good day and thanks for helping us out," he said, giving her a quick one-armed hug, and walking away down the hall. She walked out into the waiting room and saw that Shelia wasn't there yet. She walked out the front door and looked around. No one was there, not even the guard. She looked in the purse and found car keys, but had no idea where her car was or even _what_ it was.

She put the wallet in her back pocket, and her ring and cell phone in her front pocket. She threw the purse in the dumpster at the end of the driveway. Nothing in it was really hers anyway. She twisted her hair up into a knot on the back of her head and took off running.

It felt good to run again. She'd kept in shape while she was gone, but hadn't gotten to run. She ran down College Street to Kraft Street and kept running when Kraft ran into Riverside Drive. She stopped at a gas station that she knew had coffee and _her_ creamer. She paid for her coffee and walked across the street to the River Walk. She sat on top of a picnic table, put her feet on the bench, and watched the river run below her. The numbness was wearing away, and she was starting to get angry. She'd been trying to keep him safe, and he had left her for it! He didn't want to hear her explain why she had lied to him. Didn't want her to talk to him at all. Fine, screw him. She didn't need this shit!

***

She was still sitting there an hour later, trying to figure out what to do next, when movement down the walk caught her eye. Her stomach flipped over when she saw Richard. He was wearing sweat pants, tennis shoes, and a black t-shirt, and was walking toward her. She got off the table, threw the cup in the trash can, and jogged off in the other direction.

He jogged up beside her. "Morning."

She ignored him and ran up the stairs to the crossover that ran over the street. She sprinted across, jogged down the stairs on the other side, and then ran down Riverside Drive. He stayed right beside her. She could feel how confused he felt, she just didn't understand why. He was the one who had left her, after all. Did he think she had forgotten? To her it had only happened yesterday. She ran down Crossland Ave., turned onto Cumberland Drive, and jogged toward Austin Peay. He was still next to her.

"It's a nice morning," he attempted again. She ignored him again and kept jogging, but he wouldn't go away. She ran across College Street, up the steps to Austin Peay, and stopped. Richard stopped beside her.

She put her hands on her hips and bent over to catch her breath. "What do you want?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you following me?"

"I wasn't. I was just jogging with you."

"Well, don't," she said, and turned to go back down the stairs. "Wait, please," Richard said quickly. She could feel fear and panic coming from him now.

"What?"

"Please let me stay with you," he said quietly.

"No, go away."

"I can't do that."

"Figure out a way to do it," she stated flatly, and ran back down the steps.

She ran toward downtown. He ran up beside her again.

"I said go away," she panted. He didn't say anything, just kept pace beside her. he turned onto 2nd Street, ran back down to Riverside Drive, and back to the River Walk. She couldn't run anymore. She had to stop.

She walked back down the River Walk and laid on top of the picnic table she'd sat on earlier. Richard sat down on the bench attached to that table. She kept her eyes closed until her breathing had returned to normal.

"I asked you to go away."

"And I told you, I can't do that."

"Then tell me what you want."

"I just want to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you," she said, and got off the table to walk away.

"Please don't leave."

"Why would I stay?" she turned back around and asked "And just for the record, _you_ left _me_ , remember?"

She turned to walk away again.

He grabbed her arm, spun her around, jerked her up against his chest, and kissed her. It was the best kiss he had ever given her, making her toes curl inside her shoes.

"Beck," he whispered inside her mouth.

She could feel his joy and relief, but why? She hadn't forgiven him yet. She pulled her head back.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I thought maybe you weren't you," he answered, still holding her tight. Confused, she asked, "What?"

"I went to pick you up and caught your scent on the street. You'd already left. When I found you here, you acted like you didn't know me. I followed you, hoping you'd get mad, and at least say my name, or say anything that would let me know it was you, but you didn't. Then, I noticed you're not wearing your wedding band. I thought maybe something had gone wrong, and you weren't the same Beck that went into that building yesterday."

"Are you high? You been smoking that shit? If I didn't know who you were, I would have called the police when you wouldn't stop following me."

"I didn't know what the other Beck would do."

" _She_ wouldn't have come back. She died, remember? I'm sure Leso or Potter told you about that when you finally came home," she stated coldly, trying to pull away from him.

"I did come home. I realized that you were really going to be gone, and I ran home. I saw you disappear. I was there. I was just too late to tell you I love you, to late to kiss you one last time. I was stupid. Can you forgive me, Little One?"

"I can if you promise not to leave me again."

"I didn't leave you. I could never truly leave you, Beck. But, I will never run out on you like that again."

"I've heard that from you before."

"You'll never have to hear it again."

"Look, I'm going to do things that make you mad. I understand that sometimes you need to walk away. Just don't leave me with the impression that you're not coming back."

"I promise."

She kissed his neck, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Little One," he said, pulling her tightly back against him.

"How is everyone?"

"Alive...every one of them," he smiled. "And Bev?"

"Is at home with Leso. I dropped her off before I went to pick you up."

"And where is home?"

"I'll take you there. Can you wait here while I go get my car?"

"Where is it?"

"Just down the street at Taco Bell. I parked it when I knew I was close to you."

"You can follow my scent from a moving car?"

"Yes, I can smell your scent stronger than anything else."

"That's so cool," she said. "I'll just walk with you to the car."

"Sure you're not too tired?" he smiled. "You look a bit winded."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Where's your car?" he asked as they were walking down the road. "Who the hell knows. I don't even know what she drove. I threw her keys and purse away. I don't want her things."

"What about her money?"

"Let's not get crazy. It was my money first, and I never told you I had money. How did you know?"

"When Bev read your letter, she asked me if I married you for your money. How much money do you have that would cause her to think that?"

"My grandmother setup trust funds for me and Bev when we were born. When we turned 25 years old, we received over six million dollars each."

"Six million dollars?," he whistled. "I can see why Bev might have been worried."

"At least we don't have to worry about money."

"I don't want your money, Beck."

"Our money, we're married."

"Not legally."

"Close enough, and we can fix the legal part."

They walked into Taco Bell's parking lot, and she saw his car. It was the same car he had had when she left. Every detail about it was the same.

"Did I ever show you a memory of this car?"

"No, why?" he asked.

"Because it's the same car you had before."

"I restored this car myself," he said proudly, opening the door for her. When she got in she saw a cup of chewed up food in the console and a box of Fruit Loops lying in the back seat. "Have you been chewing up Fruit Loops?"

"I can't help it. They smell just like you. I really missed you, Little One," he smiled.

"I guess that's sweet, in a weird, messed up kind of way." He reached for the keys to start the car, but she stopped him. "I need to tell you some things before we go."

"Am I about to find out why Elderson and his clan have been chasing us all over the world?"

"Yes, and you're going to be mad at me again."

"Let me get us out of this parking lot, and then you can tell me."

He started the car, rolled up the windows, turned on the air conditioning, and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove down the road to a gas station and pulled in.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he was taking his wallet out of the glove compartment.

"I'll be right back." He got out of the car and came back a minute later with a bottle of Coke.

"Oh! You remembered," she squealed, opening the bottle and swigging half of it down.

"Everyone remembered. I bet there's a six month supply of it at the house," he said as he drove back out of the parking lot. "So, you didn't get to know the other Beck at all?"

"No, I saved her from all the accidents you told me about, but I never spoke to her. You were right. he was Beck, but she wasn't you."

"Alex Whitman?"

"Died in a tragic car accident the night before her date with him. He was on a dark road when he lost control of his vehicle. When it flipped, he was thrown through the window and crushed by the car."

"Car accident?"

"That's what they said on the news. They were right about some of it. He was thrown from, and crushed by his car," he shrugged. "Nice work."

"Thank you, he said. "Where is your wedding band?"

"Oh!" She took the ring out of her pocket and put it back on her finger.

"Much better," he said, taking her hand and kissing the ring. He was driving down the street to where the house he had built her had been. "You built my house?"

"Of course I built your house," he told her, pulling the car to a stop at the entrance to the driveway. "Alright, what do you want to tell me?"

"There are a lot of things I didn't tell you. Do you want me to explain it or give you the memories?"

"Give me the memories. It will be quicker that way."

She took his hand again and gave him her memories. She gave him telling her about her death, and who had done it. She gave him her plan to kill Elderson and his clan with her blood; the fight they had after he destroyed her things. The last memory she gave him was the story Jeremy had told them; how and why Elderson had turned him into a vampyre, and how Elderson had planned to hurt him by killing her.

When she was done, she let go of his hand and waited for him to speak.

"You should have told me about all this."

"I didn't want you to hunt him. He's as crazy as cat shit, and he wants to destroy you."

"We have to tell the rest of the family about this," he said, and drove down the long driveway.

***

Her house was right where she'd left it. All of her family were waiting in the yard for her. When she got out of the car, they rushed over to her. They all hugged and kissed her, passing her from person to person like a party favor. They were all there: Daryl and Rita, Potter and Jenny, Leso and Bev, Heidi, Saphira, Harley, Bruce, and Jeremy.

"Enough. I need to talk to all of you," Richard said. They all gathered on the front porch, sitting in chairs and on the steps. When everyone was settled, Richard told them what Beck had shown him. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. You've all been running all these years because of me," he apologized when he finished.

"No, it's not. That girl was only fourteen years old. What were you supposed to do, Richard? Leso asked. "Walk away and let him kill her? You could never have done that."

"He's right." Daryl agreed. "You're a good man. You could never have allowed something like that to occur."

Richard shrugged and turned back to Beck. "I told you not to come to me in the past. You should have listened to me."

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Elderson is evil and sadistic. He would have found another way to torture you."

"I know that, but _you_ would have been safe."

"Safe and alone. Don't you get it? I love you, and you love me. If we both have to die for that, so be it."

He leaned over and kissed her.

"I love you, woman," he growled.

Bev giggled. "Sorry, I've just never seen you with a boyfriend before. You've only been on two dates your whole life."

"She dated?" Beck asked Richard. "It must have been after she went to college. I know she didn't date in high school," Richard answered.

Bev was confused, "Who is 'she'? I'm talking about you, Beck. You didn't date in high school, either. You were distraught after Alex Whitman died in that wreck. That poor boy. You didn't try dating again until college. But you know all this."

"No, I don't know any of this. You don't actually know me, not this me anyway. The Beck you knew is gone. Everything up until my date with Alex Whitman is the same as you remember it. After that, my life veered into a direction that your Beck's did not."

"I don't understand," Bev said. Leso explained to Bev about how the Beck that had left yesterday was not the Beck that had returned today.

"Why did your life 'veer into another direction' when Alex died?"

"In _my_ life, Alex didn't die. I went on that date with him. You said that 'poor boy'. That 'poor boy' took me out and...," she tried to explain, but Richard stopped her.

"I'll tell her."

He told Bev everything about that night, the details of the rape and beating.

"Oh my God!" Bev said loudly. "Do you actually remember this happening to you?"

"Of course I remember it. I was there when it happened."

"This is unbelievable. I'm glad he died in that accident. At least one Beck didn't have to go through that," Bev said.

"It wasn't any accident. I was there. Richard snatched the car up and threw Alex out of the window," Leso explained. "The kid took off running, but Richard flipped the car down the street and crushed him with it. I would have felt sorry for the kid _if_ I hadn't known what he was going to do to Beck."

Bev looked at Richard. "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure."

"Can all of you pick up a car with one hand?" Bev asked. "Oh, that's nothing. You should show her your trick with a tree sometime," Beck smiled at Richard.

"I can't," Richard laughed. "You told me to leave the trees alone."

"What are you talking about?" Bev inquired. "Nothing. Never mind. So, has Elderson really been chasing you all these years?" Beck asked.

"Yeah, through the years we've killed over a hundred vampyres that he's sent at us. He never shows up himself, though. He's too much of a coward for that," Potter explained. He looked just as he had when she left; tattoos, Mohawk, and all. She wondered if he made his own silver tattoo needles, she'd never asked him.

"You really should have told me what you knew, Little One."

"I said I was sorry."

"No, you misunderstand. Over the years, Elderson's insanity has taken over. He has now amassed himself an army," Richard told her. "No! You told me that he was too much of a coward to create more than six vampyres at a time. That's what _you_ said."

"And so he was, but I told you that his insanity is in control now. His clan is now at least forty vampyres strong."

"Oh my God! What have I done? What are we going to do? Do we need to leave here yet?" she panicked.

What had she done? She should've let Potter try to kill Elderson the night he had killed Mary Nichols, and let the future be damned. She should have let the whole family know what was going on. There would've been a fight, but at least some of them may have survived.

"Calm down, Beck," Richard said. "We're not running anywhere anymore."

"But they'll be coming for us!"

"And we'll be ready for them," Leso said.

"How? He has an army now," she snapped.

Harley laughed, "We have an army too."

"There are only ten of you. Ten people is not an army."

"You're right, it's not," Richard said. "Potter?"

Potter jumped off the porch and yelled, "HUNTERS!" They came from everywhere; from out of the woods, out of the house, some even came flipping over the roof from the backyard. She counted seventeen including Potter; all men, most wearing swords on their backs.

"Are they all hunters?" Beck asked in awe. "Yes," Richard told her. "How?"

"Potter found them," Jenny smiled. "They, like him, are only interested in killing the vampyres that feed on humans."

"That's still only twenty-six people," Beck said, quickly doing the math in her head.

"We're not done," Bruce laughed. "VAMPYRES!"

From out and around the house came nine vampyres, five men and four women. Richard put his arms around her waist. "There are thirty-five of us. It will be enough. It has to be."

She hoped he was right.

***

"Let me introduce you to my hunters," Potter said. "This is Damon, Jeff, Gunner, Bane, Christov, Aohngus, Shane, Declán, Liam, Keith, Patrick, Darian, Coner, Séamus, and in the back we have the twins, Seanán and Tiarnán."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for being here," Beck said to all of them.

"Your turn," Potter told Richard. "Right. This is Saphira's husband, Gerold; Heidi's husband, Levi; Harley's wife, Alexis; Bruce's wife, Susie; Jeremy's wife, Charley; Jonathon and Gabryel Barrett; and Gavin Knight and his mate, Isiah Turney."

She said hello to each of them and shook their hands. There were so many new people that it was going to be hard to remember all their names. Some she wouldn't have a problem with, like Damon. He had to be every bit of 6'10", and as muscled as a bodybuilder. He had short, cropped, bright red hair, and blue eyes so light that they almost had no color at all.

She shuddered to think how much he ate. She may not have enough money to feed him. Gunner wasn't far behind Damon in height, but not nearly as well muscular. Gunner was as black as night, and as bald as an egg. He definitely did _not_ look Irish. She could remember Seanán and Tiarnán, because they were twins. They were both 6' tall with short, curly, blonde hair, and a muscular build. All the others would take a while to learn. When everyone had drifted away, Richard led her into the house.

"Where do all the hunters live?" she asked as they walked up the stairs to their room.

"They live in several houses we have scattered around the property. Jonathon, Gabryel, Gavin, and Isiah live in one of those houses as well," Richard explained.

"Is this still our room?" she asked before opening the door. "It is."

She opened the door and went in. "The room looks the same."

"It should. I used your memories to furnish it. I wanted it to look, as much as it could, like you remembered."

"You did a good job. How did you know where to build the house?"

"I searched until I found our cliff and worked my way back through the woods until the trees looked right."

"You have an excellent memory. Half the time, I can't even find my shoes," she laughed.

"You run around barefooted half the time anyway."

"Because I can't find my shoes," she laughed again. "Do I have clothes here?"

"Yes, in the chest of drawers and the closet. Jenny and Heidi picked them out for you."

"Wonderful. I'm going to grab a quick shower."

She grabbed some clothes out of the drawers and went to the bathroom. She found razors in the drawer. It was so good to be home where she didn't have to risk her life with a straight razor every time she wanted to shave her legs. The hot spray of the shower was heaven. She shaved her legs, washed her hair, and scrubbed her body until her skin was pink.

She towel-dried her hair, threw her clothes on, and walked back into the bedroom. Richard was gone. She went downstairs but found no one in the house. She went back outside and found Damon on the porch. Richard's car was gone from the driveway.

"Damon, do you know where Richard went?"

"No, he didn't say. I'm sure he'll be right back, though. He's been so anxious for you to come home that I don't imagine he'll stray to far away from you for a while."

"Yeah, we had a slight disagreement before I came back home. He was probably anxious because he didn't know how mad I might be."

"A slight disagreement? He was mad at you, ran off. I think it served him right to miss you leaving."

"He had his reasons."

"There is no reason for what he did," Damon said coldly."Do you not like Richard?"

"I like him just fine. I just don't like the 'woe is me' attitude he's been carrying around all these years. He brought it on himself."

"You shouldn't talk about him behind his back like this," she said stiffly."It's nothing I haven't said to his face. We've all told him the same thing."

"Does Richard like _you_?!" she snapped at him.

"He must, he appointed me to be one of your guards," he laughed."I have guards?"

"You have four: Jeff, Darian, Shane, and myself."

"Do I need four guards?"

"Not really, not yet anyway. We were chosen to be your guards years ago, just in case you would need us someday."

"How long have you been with the Youngs?"

"I was the first hunter Lugh recruited. He found me in India in 1896. The last two to join us were Seanán and Tiarnán in 1954."

"You call Potter Lugh?" she smiled."It is his name," Damon shrugged."I bet he loves that," she was still smiling."Not particularly, but it suits him. His parents named him well."

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "He was named after the God of Light; Lugh-the Shining One. He was known to excel at everything he did. He was also known to be handsome, strong, passionate, loyal, energetic, and eternally youthful."

"You're right, it does suit him. Why doesn't Potter carry a sword like most of the other hunters do?"

"He doesn't need one. His fighting skills are unparalleled. If you put him up against any two hunters here, he would defeat them without fail. And he prefers hand to hand combat."

"Any two hunters? Including you?"

"Including me," he said, unashamed.

"Wow!"

"Your vampyres are pretty impressive as well. Lugh said they learned their fighting skills from you."

"I taught them what I could. I don't know if it was enough to help."

"Come with me. I want to show you something," he said, standing up and offering her his hand.

She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. Her hand looked like a child's hand in his. He led her across the backyard and into the woods. They walked about half a mile when they came to a break in the ground. It was roughly twenty-five feet across and twenty feet deep, with a creek running through the bottom of it.

Before she knew what he was going to do, he'd picked her up and jumped. She screamed, sure she was going to fall to her death. When they landed on the other side, he set her back on her feet.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _me_?!" she yelled at him. "What the hell's wrong with _you_?!"

Potter appeared from out of nowhere, picked her up, and placed her behind him.

"What did you _do_ to her?!" he snapped at Damon. It would have looked comical to see Potter squaring off against Damon if she couldn't feel how angry Potter was. What would have been funnier was the way Damon held his hands out in front of him as if to ward Potter off.

"Just a misunderstanding, Lugh. I don't think she was ready to jump."

"I might have been if you had warned me first!" she snapped at him from behind Potter.

"My apologizes...Next time, I will let you know first," Damon said. "Thank you."

Potter looked at Beck. "You scared the hell out of me. I've never heard you scream like that before."

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly as they stated walking again. "Where's Richard?" he asked.

"I don't know. He left while I was in the shower," she told him.

Potter smiled. "He looks happier today. He's been pouting for 120 years."

"Could ya'll lay off of him. Imagine how you would have felt if you had lost Jenny for 120 years," she said sharply.

"Point taken."

"So, how long have ya'll been in Clarksville?"

"Twenty-six years. We were all at the hospital when you were born. You were such a _cute_ little baby," Potter said, reaching over and pinching her cheek.

"Oh, shut up," she said, slapping his hand away. "All of you were at the hospital? Even the hunters?"

"Everyone except Richard. He wouldn't go. He said it wasn't really you," Damon replied.

"He really was miserable without you," Potter said. "The only time I've seen him smile was the night he killed that Whitman kid. When he told Bev it was his pleasure, he wasn't kidding."

"Well, I'm glad he enjoyed himself."

"Me too," Potter smiled again. They'd come to a break in the woods. In front of her were three big houses with a large clearing in the middle. There were four fights going on in the clearing. Jenny was fighting with Jeff. (Jeff was 5'10" with short, dark brown hair, and a fairly well defined body.) Jenny kicked him in the chest, launching him back about ten feet. She could feel Potter fill with pride at the site of Jenny.

"Watch your guard," Bruce yelled from across the clearing. Saphira was fighting with Harley, and Leso was fighting with Shane. (Shane was 6' tall, with broad shoulders, and long brown hair.) Leso kicked him, but Shane was quicker. He crouched, grabbed Leso's leg, and used it to swing Leso into the air, and slam him hard onto the ground. She could hear Leso's bones break like gunshots. She winced, but Leso popped right back up, ready to go again. There were two other hunters fighting too, but she couldn't remember their names.

"You taught them well. They are evenly matched against our hunters, and our hunters are good," Damon said.

"They're all good fighters, and they practice every day, just like you told them to," Potter said, leading her back into the woods.

"Richard's home." Damon said.

Sure enough, when they got back to the creek, Richard was waiting on the other side. Potter picked her up and tossed her across the break. She laughed all the way over to where Richard caught her on the other side. He kissed her before he set her down.

"You taste like french fries," she laughed.

Potter and Damon landed beside them.

"What the hell?" Damon said in a miffed tone of voice "I hold you and jump across, and you scream bloody murder. Lugh throws you across like a Frisbee, and you laugh, and _he_ didn't warn you either."

"I'm used to them throwing me." Damon was surprised. "They've thrown you before?"

"Yes, like this," Potter said, and grabbed her and shot her into the air. She flew up to thirty feet and was falling when Richard caught her. They were both laughing when they touched the ground.

" _That_ doesn't bother you?!" Damon said, incredulous. "No, not at all. I know they're not going to drop me."

" _I_ wasn't going to drop you either," Damon mumbled.

Potter changed the subject, "You do smell like French fries. Where's the food?"

"Back at the house," Richard laughed.

"Let's go," Potter said, already walking toward the house. Damon laughed, and told Potter, "At least he's not chewing up those damn Fruit Loops."

"Hey! I think it's cute that he does that," Beck teased.

"That's easy for you to say. You haven't been stepping over chewed up piles of them for the last sixty years," Potter grumbled.

Richard laughed. "I think I can give up the habit now," looking down at Beck.

"Thank God," Potter exclaimed. Richard feigned hurt, "I don't complain when you eat."

"I don't complain when you eat, either. I complain when you taste things all day long," Potter said and looked at Beck. "I wish you never would've shown him he could do that. I bet he spits out enough food in a week to fill up a thirty gallon trash bag."

"I do not," Richard denied.

They bickered all the way back to the house, with Damon following quietly behind.

"What did you get for lunch?" Beck asked as they went into the house. She stepped into the kitchen before he could answer, and gasped. "I didn't know what you would be in the mood for."

The kitchen table was heaped with bags. She saw Arby's bags, Taco Bell bags, McDonald's bags, Wendy's bags, Whitt's BBQ bags, and Dairy Queen bags.

"Excellent!" Potter exclaimed, and sat down at the table.

Damon sat down across from him.

"Is there a cheeseburger in one of those bags?" she asked.

Potter picked through the bags, sniffing boxes, until he found the box he was looking for and tossed it to her.

She leaned up against the counter, ate her burger, and watched the two hunters eat. She'd thought Potter could eat, but he had nothing on Damon.

In twenty minutes, he ate three Whoppers, three Big Mac's, eight large orders of fries, nine tacos, two BBQ sandwiches, three roast beef sandwiches, and drank seven of the large cokes that came with the various meals.

"Oh my God!" she stated from pure shock when he had finally pushed back from the table. "Do you eat like that all the time?!"

"Yes," was all Damon said. "That's nothing. You should see him at a buffet. We went to Ryan's Steakhouse once, and an old lady passed by the table where we were sitting. She patted him on the head and said, "Well, honey, ain't you just born, bred, and cornbread fed" and walked off. I don't know what that means, but it sounded funny," Potter laughed.

Beck laughed too, "She thought you were from here. She was just saying you're a big ol' boy."

"You say the strangest things here. I was in Kroger's once, and a woman called me gianormous. I looked it up. It's not even a word," Damon chuckled.

Beck explained that as well. "Sure it is. It's what you say when giant and enormous just won't cover it."

"Cover what?" Damon asked. "Never mind, I give up. How have you lived here for twenty-six years and not figured out how we talk in the south yet?" she asked, bewildered. "We don't exactly socialize. We don't go out in public that often. We send two people at a time to get supplies, always different people, to different stores, so people don't get used to seeing us. All of the houses are run on generators and solar panels. The water is pumped from wells and the sewage goes into septic tanks.

"All of our televisions are hooked up to satellite dishes that we installed ourselves. We don't have landline phones. Even our internet is wireless from cell phone companies and billed to fictitious names. We're pretty much off the grid here. We go out to eat every now and then, but even that's a rarity," Potter explained.

"That must be horrible for you."

Beck felt so guilty. They'd all been stuck here because of her.

"Not really. =We have our own community here. What would we talk about with humans anyway?" Potter asked.

"But you protect humans." Damon jumped in, "Yes, but the only way that works is that the humans _do not_ know about it.

If they knew of our existence, they would want us dead. Or worse, they would want to study us to see if they could become like us. Humans have become obsessed with looking young and living forever."

She felt another flash of guilt. What was Potter going to say when she held him to his promise?

"I'm human, and you talk to me all the time," she said to Potter. Potter rolled his eyes. "You _are_ human, but you're one of us. It's not the same thing."

She felt some relief. Maybe he wouldn't be too mad when she asked for his blood.

"You really are unique. Most humans would freak out if they knew we existed. You accepted us without fear. Most humans aren't capable of that," Richard smiled at her.

"Bev isn't scared of you."

"Only because she trusts you. If it wasn't for the letter you wrote to her, she would have jumped out of the car window when I told her I was a vampyre."

"Maybe, but once she met Leso, you wouldn't have been able to get rid of her," she smiled.

Richard smiled back at her. "She must really trust you. When she read your letter, she called the man she had been dating, told him she was sorry, but that she was getting married, and hung up. She hadn't met Leso yet, but you said he was going to be her husband, and she believed you."

"Bev was dating someone? Seriously dating someone?"

"Apparently so. I guess when the other Beck's life changed, so did hers." She thought about it and decided it didn't matter. Bev was supposed to be with Leso, and now she was. Bev could've _been_ married, and she still would have gone with Leso when she met him .

"Don't any of the other hunters have mates?" she asked Potter.

"Nope, just me, and they don't want one, not now anyway."

"Why not?"

"They're here with us now to protect you and Bev, and for the promise of the eventual battle."

"So, you think there will be a battle?" '

"It's inevitable. You know that, Beck."

"And the hunters are looking forward to the battle?" she asked stunned. "We kill vampyres, Beck. It's what we do, who we are. It's what we were created for."

Softly, she said, "But you could be killed."

"Then it will be a good day to die," Potter said, getting up and hugging her. "This is not your fault, Beck. It never was," Potter told her quietly as she cried into his neck. "You said yourself that in your other future, Elderson sent that vampyre after you. He was never going to stop. What you've done is saved our family from an early death, and gave us more time to prepare to defend ourselves. You did a good thing," he said, still holding her.

"It doesn't feel like a good thing. I gave him time to build an army," she sniffed.

"You gave us time to build one as well, and I guarantee you that ours is better," Potter assured her as he stepped back from her. "Don't worry about it now. It could be years before we hear from him again."

"I hope so."

"I don't," Damon said.

She jumped a little. He'd been so quiet she had forgotten he was there.

"I've been meaning to ask, are there _any_ female hunters?" she asked, wiping her face with a napkin.

"No, they're all men. We can only assume that our creator thought of women as weak," Damon told her.

Potter laughed at the look on her face. "It was a long time ago. If he were to create his hunters today, he would not make that mistake again."

"Alright, that's enough for now," Richard said, pilling Beck over to him. "Would you like to visit our cliff?"

"I'd like that."

He took her hand and pulled her out the front door. "Would you like to walk or drive?"

"I don't want to take your car into the woods. It will get scratched."

"There is _no_ way I would take my car in there," he said, shocked. She smiled, "Then what?"

"Come, I'll show you."

They walked about twenty yards into the woods to where they had cleared a place to park the vehicles. There were a few cars, but mostly pickup trucks and several large moving vans. He opened the door to one of the smaller pickups, and she got in.

"Why don't you park your car in here?" He gave her a shocked look. "I was right about you. You are insane! I'm not parking Lucille back here where they'll hit her with car doors or back into her. Plus, she'd get covered in tree sap. She can just stay in the yard where she's safe."

"Lucille?" she laughed. "You named your car?"

"Don't tease me about my car," he growled playfully.

"Did you really build Lucille yourself?"

"I really did." He said with a touch of pride.

"I'm impressed," she said as they pulled up to the base of the cliff. "Thank you," he smiled as he got out of the truck. She was out of the truck when he came around, and he put his arm around her waist.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded, and he jumped. The cliff was just as perfect as she remembered.

"I feel like I haven't been here in years," she said, gazing down at the field below.

" _I_ haven't been here in years. Actually, I've only been here once, and that was only to find the location for the house."

"Why not? You always loved it here."

He came up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist, "This is _our_ place. Without you here, it's just a sad place. I have all your memories in my head of the times we spent here, and I didn't want to be here without you," he said quietly.

She turned in his arms and kissed him. "You didn't have to be so sad all those years. I didn't want that for you."

"I didn't know how mad you would be when you got back here. When you left, no one would tell me how mad you were. Jenny said that you had mentioned divorce, but nobody else would tell me anything. I thought you hated me," he said softly.

"I thought you hated me. When you didn't come back before I left, I assumed you were done with me."

"I was mad, but I was stupid, too. I shouldn't have left you that night. I should have stood in the middle of that road with you and had a screaming argument. It would have been bad, but not nearly as bad as the last 120 years have been. And I should have been there when you left. You see, I don't need Elderson to torture me. I did that pretty well all on my own," he said, holding her tight.

She nibbled on his neck, "Do you want to argue about it now?"

"No, that's not what I want right now," he said, and pulled her to the ground with him.

***

It had been so long since he had been able to touch her like this. It took all of the willpower he had not to just rip off her clothes and take her. He felt the first heartbeat in 120 years thump in his chest and knew he was alive. He pulled her shirt up over her head and cupped her breasts in his hands. He took a deep breath and pulled her scent into him.

He slid his palms down her ribcage and hips, sliding her shorts down her legs. When he had her undressed, he drew back to look at her. She was exquisite. He was sure she had flaws, but love is blind, and his eyes could not see them. He ran his tongue up her thigh, tasting the salty sweat on her skin. He felt her body shudder at his touch. He undressed and knelt between her open thighs. She reached to touch him, but he stayed her hand.

"Don't."

"Why not?"

"It has been a long time for me. Controlling myself is difficult at the moment. If you touch me now, I will lose what little control I have."

He watched a wicked look flit through her eyes. She shot her other hand forward, encircled him, and squeezed. God! He threw her hand away from him and lunged forward into her. The tightness of her body nearly sent him over the edge.

"Wait," he said, and held himself still for a few moments. When he had regained a fraction of control, he started to move slowly inside of her. He was trying so hard, but she was not helping. He could feel her biting his shoulder, could feel her nails dragging down his back.

Her moans were driving him crazy. When she started arching her body up to meet him, he was done. He rolled over onto his back, pulling her on top of him. He arched up, pulling her to him, faster and faster until she cried out as he exploded inside her.

***

They spent the evening on their cliff, watching their field turn into an ocean, lightning bugs glittering over it like stars.

"Let's go home," he said when she yawned.

He watched her that night as she slept. His mind went over everything he had learned that day. He couldn't believe that everything that was happening was because he'd saved a little girl 177 years ago, because he had killed a worthless, pitiful excuse for a human being.

His mother had raised Leso and himself to be good, honest, decent men, but she had also been a realist. He could hear her voice in his head even now saying that 'No good deed goes unpunished.' He had not believed her then, but now he understood. He did not have the opportunity that Beck had had. He could not go into the past and change things.

Would he stop himself from saving the girl if he could go back? No, he would still save her. Would he stop himself from killing her attacker? What would be the dilemma to him. He would be able to stop all of this by just preventing his other self from killing that man. Beck would be safe. However, by doing that, Elderson would never have bitten him.

He would never have become a vampyre and lived long enough to find Beck. He would've been dust in his grave before she was ever born. Even if he'd still been alive when she had come to the past, he would have been 83 years old...an old man. Life without Beck was unthinkable. So, would he let himself kill that man? Yes, he would.

He would do whatever it took to get to her, to be here with her now. He also couldn't believe that for even one second, Beck had believed that any of this was her fault. He admitted to himself that he had hated Potter a little today. When Beck had cried, Potter had known how to comfort her.

It had killed him to watch him hold her while she cried on his shoulder, to listen to Potter speak the words of comfort that she had needed to hear.

He knew that Beck and Potter shared a special bond. He knew they were as much brother and sister as if they had come from the same womb, but closer than that. He knew Beck would kill for Potter, and Potter would die for her. He just wished he could understand her as well as the 'Great Lugh' did. He loved Potter, but was a bit jealous of him, as well. Why had he not known that she was upset? She was _his_ mate, after all. Had he been a vampyre so long that he had forgotten how humans felt?

Had his blood been still for so long that he could not understand? Was he not paying enough attention? He didn't know. What he did know was that he could not watch Potter comfort her for the rest of her life. He would have to learn how to anticipate her moods. He would learn to be the husband she needed him to be. and while he was doing that, he would also find a way to keep her safe, because the day was coming when her life would be in danger again.

### Chapter Thirteen

When she woke up the next morning, Richard was gone again. He'd left a note on his pillow that read: _Little One, I went hunting with Leso. I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you._ She got out of bed, got dressed, and went to see who she could find in the house. She found Bev sitting at the kitchen table.

"Morning," she chimed, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Morning," Bev responded. "You know Leso went hunting, right?"

"Yeah, they just left a few minutes ago. Is all this real?"

"Yeah, it's real. I know it takes a while to get use to, but you will."

"I don't know if I can get used to those hunters. They scare me a little." Surprised and amused, Beck asked, "The hunters scare you? Not the vampyres?"

"The vampyres are all nice. The hunters seem dangerous."

"They are dangerous, but not to you," she assured her. "So, how are things going with Leso?"

"I'm loving Leso. Thank you for bringing me to him. He's everything I ever could have asked for in a man," Bev smiled. "Except human?"

"Turns out that's not as important as I would have thought," Bev shrugged and gave Beck a curious look. "You're so different from the Beck that I'm used to."

"How's that?"

"I don't know how to explain it. You're stronger, more confident somehow. Even the way you move is different."

"I told you, I had a different life than your Beck. Did Leso explain to you that the Beck you knew isn't coming back?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem real to me. To me, you _are_ Beck."

"I am Beck, just different, like you said."

"I can get used to this Beck."

"Good, because I'm the only Beck you are going to get," she smiled. "What I can't get used to is that Potter."

"What do you mean 'that Potter'?" she asked coolly, the smile falling from her face.

"Well, I don't know him, but doesn't that Mohawk and all those tattoos bother you?"

"You're right, you don't know him, and no, nothing about him bothers me. He happens to be a brother to me and my best friend. I love him as much as I love you. So, please don't talk about him like that anymore. I won't have his feelings hurt."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense," Bev said quickly. "I just meant that he scares me a little."

"I'm sorry, too. I'm just a little touchy where Potter is concerned."

"That's okay, I understand."

"Is anyone else home?" Beck inquired.

"Not that I've seen."

"I'm going to go see where everybody's gone to," she said, getting up from the table.

***

She found Potter, and her four bodyguards, scattered around the yard. Damon and Jeff had a truck pulled out and were doing something under the hood. Darian and Shane were sparing, and Potter was watching.

Potter saw her coming, jumped across the yard, and hugged her. "I love you, too. And don't worry, my feelings aren't hurt that easily," he smiled. "I should have known you heard that. She'll warm up to you."

"Eventually."

"What are they doing to the truck?"

"Trying to find out why it keeps backfiring," he said, walking with her over to the truck.

"Start it up" she said to the hunters. Jeff jumped into the cab of the and started the engine... _POW_!!!

"Yeah, it's backfiring. Have you adjusted the carburetor?"

"I tried that, it didn't help. The plugs are fine, too," Jeff verified. She climbed onto the front bumper. "Let me check something." When she stepped back down, she tossed a part to Jeff. "Your distributor cap is burnt out."

"I didn't know you knew anything about engines," Potter said.

"I know a little," she said. "Where is everyone?"

"Some are hunting; everybody else is sleeping or fighting."

"I've been meaning to talk to you. Do you remember the promise you made me?"

"That I would give you whatever you asked me for? Yes, I remember," he said, walking with her back across the yard.

"Can we go somewhere where we can't be heard? I want to ask you for something, but I don't want anyone to know about it until it's done."

"Sure." He led her over to the side yard, but before they could enter the woods, Bev came out the front door.

"Beck!" Bev yelled across the yard. "Yeah!"

"Are there any tampons here? I started, and I can't find any," Bev yelled.

Before Beck could answer her, she heard crashing sounds from the woods on the other side of the yard.

"Shit!" she yelled as Leso tore out of the woods, Richard hot on his tail. "Damon! Get him!"

Damon shot across the yard and managed to tackle Leso on the front steps, smashing Leso and her steps to the ground.

"Aww, damn it!" she cussed as she ran across the yard. Why did they have to keep breaking her house?

Richard was helping Damon hold onto Leso when she got to the porch.

"Sorry, I tried to catch him."

Leso was still fighting to get loose. "What the hell is going on?!" Bev asked in a shocked voice. "He's just reacting to your period," Beck explained. " Don't worry about it."

"Were you going to eat me?" Bev asked Leso, sounding a little scared.

But Leso was still struggling to get loose and didn't answer. This was a lot worse than with Richard. He'd come to his senses once Potter had gotten him off of her. Leso didn't seem to be able to control himself near as well.

"No, it's a protection instinct. He was going to guard you. If he didn't kill you knocking you to the ground first, that is."

"I need to get him out of here," Richard said, pulling Leso back across the yard. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Beck yelled after him, "Somebody is going to fix my steps!"

"Yes ma'am," he called back over his shoulder. Potter laughed. "That was fun."

"Yeah, lots of fun," she scowled, looking down at her destroyed steps. Potter looked over at the other hunters. "Jeff, go buy this lady some tampons."

"What?!" Jeff exclaimed. "You're kidding, right?"

"Do you see me smiling?" Potter answered in a stern voice. "Aww, man," Jeff moaned, and walked across the yard toward where they kept the vehicles.

As soon as Jeff's back was turned, Potter's face split into a big grin.

"You are an evil man," Beck smiled.

"I know," Potter said, the grin still on his lips. "Ain't it cool,"

"Is Leso coming back?" Bev asked in a worried voice.

"Yeah, he'll be back," Beck said. "It will probably be a few days though."

Bev looked disappointed. "I have a lot to get used to, I guess."

"It should get better after a while."

"I hope so," Bev mumbled, going back into the house.

Potter looked at Beck. "Still going to tell me what I'm supposed to give you?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute," she said, and she ran into the house.

***

When she came back out, he was waiting for her. "Let's go."

He led her about a mile from the house before finally stopping.

She sat down under a tree. "Why did we have to come out so far?"

"You said you didn't want to be heard."

"Can you hear people from a mile away?"

"No, but we passed several hunters on our way here."

"I didn't see any," she said, surprised.

Potter smiled. "Well, that's kind of the point, Beck"

"I want to ask you a few things."

"Go ahead," he said, sitting down across from her. "When you became a hunter, how long did it take you to adjust?"

"How do you mean?"

"How long did it take you to get used to being as strong, and as fast as you are?"

"Oh, that's not really something that you have to get used to. It's just something that's there when you want it. It's no different than a human that's strong or fast. I'm just stronger and faster."

"How about the rest of it? The scents, your hearing, your vision?"

"Again, it's the same as being human only the scents are stronger, my hearing is better, and my vision is more crisp. I can see further, and in more detail."

"How does hearing as well as you do not drive you crazy?"

"It's not like that. You hear everything around you, but your brain filters most of it out. You only pay attention to the things you want, or need, to hear. The rest is just background noise. It's like when you're in the kitchen talking, but you can still hear the television in the living room. You hear it, but your brain tunes it out."

"Okay. How do you sense vampyres?"

"I'm not sure how it works, but it feels like a tingling in my brain. The closer the vampyre gets, the stronger the tingling gets."

"Doesn't your head tingle all the time here?"

"No. Once I know that there isn't any danger, it stops."

"So, you don't _have_ to kill vampyres?"

"No, I don't have to, I _want_ to. Not the vampyres here, or any other vampyres that feed on animals, but when I come across one that feeds on humans, every fiber of my being screams for me to destroy it. Why do you want to know about all of this anyway?"

She pulled the syringe out of her back pocket. "Because you're going to give me your blood."

"Excuse me?" Potter questioned, his eyes on the needle. :I'm going to give you what?"

"Your blood," she repeated..

"Why?"

"So I can become like you."

"I'm not going to do that," he said, shaking his head. "You promised to give me what I asked for."

"Well hell, Beck!" he yelled. "I didn't know that you wanted to shoot up with my blood when I made that promise!"

"But, you did promise to give me anything I asked you for. Did you lie to me?"

" _Damn it_!" he shouted in frustration. "No, but have you really thought about this?"

"I've thought about it for eight years. You wouldn't remember it, but we even talked about it once."

"Why do you want to do this?"

"So I can live longer. So I can spend more than just a human lifetime with Richard and my family. I think I've earned that right, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, but what you're asking me for might kill you," he said in a pleading tone.

"I don't think it will."

"You may not think it will, but you don't _know_ that it won't."

"No, but I'm pretty sure it won't, though."

"Have you talked to Richard about this?"

"No, you know he's throw a fit."

"Gee, I wonder why?" he said sarcastically. "You should ask him before you do this."

"No, I shouldn't. Besides, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission."

"He's going to kill me."

"No, he won't."

"Oh really? You weren't there when he found out that I knew you were supposed to die in the past. That man beat me like a steel drum," he snapped.

She smiled. "You're not really afraid of Richard, are you?"

"Hell yes! When it comes to you, that man is crazy!"

"Even if he does get a hold of you, you'll heal right back up."

"Having my bones broke still hurts, you know?" he stated in a peeved voice.

"You'll be fine."

"Even if my blood doesn't kill you, you don't know that this will even work."

"There's only one way to find out. Give me your arm."

He grudgingly held his arm out to her. She drew the syringe full of his blood, pulled her short sleeve tight around her arm and stuck the needle in her vein.

"Beck?"

"What?"

"Just don't die. Okay?" Potter said. He sounded scared to death, and she felt a little guilt about putting him into this situation, but not guilty enough to stop.

"I'll do my best."

She didn't know how much of the blood to use, so she shot half of it in, recapped the needle, and put it back in her pocket. A few moments later, she felt like she had shot herself full of tranquilizers. Her vision went dim, and her brain became fuzzy. She had time to wonder if she had killed herself after all, before being pulled into the darkness.

***

When she woke up, she was in Potter's lap. "Oh, thank God! I was afraid you were going to die on me," he said in relief. "

Why? What happened?" she asked, climbing off of his lap. "Your breathing became rapid, and your heart rate slowed to almost nothing."

Except for feeling a bit groggy, she didn't feel any different.

"It didn't work," Potter stated.

"How do you know?"

"You still have your scent. We lost that when we changed. It keeps us from being tracked."

"Well, damn it! I really wanted this to work," she said sadly. "How long was I out?"

"A little over an hour. I'm sorry this didn't work for you, but look on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"You're still alive, we don't have to tell Richard we did this, and I'm not going to die," he smiled. She could feel his relief at not having to tell Richard and couldn't help but smile.

"Let's go home," he said and took her hand.

"Richard can't be that bad."

"Oh yes he can."

"Did he really beat on you after I left?"

Potter laughed. "Like I stole his money!"

"That's terrible. He shouldn't have done that."

"It was understandable. I did keep one hell of a secret from him."

"But _I_ made you promise not to tell him."

"Yeah, I told him that, but from the twenty-three bones he broke, I was able to deduce that he didn't care."

Shocked, she exclaimed, "He broke twenty-three of your bones?!"

"At least. He was a little upset," he said, turning her head to look at her. 'What's wrong?"

Beck stopped walking and put her hand to her head. "I don't know. My head is buzzing."

"Buzzing?"

"Like my brain is vibrating," she said, rubbing her forehead. "That's not possible."

"What's not possible?" she asked confused.

He just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"What?" she asked again.

"No, it didn't work. If it had worked, you would have lost your scent," he whispered softly.

"What?"

"It sounds like you're sensing the vampyres around us, but you can't be, because it _didn't_ work."

Did it work? Is it possible that she'd kept her scent, but still became a hunter? She looked down at Potter's hand entwined with hers and squeezed. She felt and heard his bones shatter.

"Oww! Damn it, woman! There were other ways to find out, you know!" he yelled, shaking his hand.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know it would be so easy."

"It worked! It actually worked! You still have your scent, but it worked."

"I'm a hunter?"

"It looks that way. The first female hunter to ever exist," he said, shaking his head.

"Awesome!" she said and started walking again. "Hey, since you still have your scent, there's no reason we have to tell Richard right away, right?"

"You know, for a hunter, you're a wuss," she laughed.

"It's not you he's going to jump on when he finds out about this," he mumbled as they stepped out of the trees. He grabbed her arm and stopped her when he saw Richard and Harley on the porch.

"Can you hear them?"

She tilted her head and listened. She could make out their voices, but not what they were saying.

"Not really. Can you?"

"Yeah, they're talking about Leso."

"I can't hear it clearly."

"We need to get away from here and see what you can do and what you can't do."

"Alright, give me a minute," she said and walked across the yard to the porch where Richard was. "How's Leso?"

"He's fine, just a little mad at himself."

"He'll get over it," Harley laughed. She climbed up the steps and went into the house. When she came back out, they had moved on to talking about Seanán and Tiarnán.

"All they do is fight with each other," Harley said. "It's getting out of hand. They knocked a six foot hole in the wall last night. I thought Charley was going to kill them both."

Potter frowned. "How did they do that?"

"Tiarnán threw Seanán through it," Harley explained. "What were they fighting about?" Beck asked.

"Last night they were fighting over the remote control, which would make sense if they didn't want to watch the same thing. They were fighting over who was going to _hold_ the remote," Harley laughed again.

"They'll fight about everything and nothing," Richard said. "I really don't care if they fight. It's just that they destroy everything in their path while they're doing it. They don't stop to think about what they're doing."

"I'll go talk to them," Potter said, getting up.

Beck jumped up. "I'll go with you. I want to see Jenny anyway."

"I'll take you," Richard said. "No, you won't. You stay here and fix my steps."

"Oh, right. I can do that." She leaned down and kissed him. "I'll be back soon."

She hopped off the porch and followed Potter through the backyard and into the woods.

"I can talk to the twins later. Can you wait to see Jenny?" Potter asked.

"Sure."

"Good, because right now I'd rather find out what you can do."

When they got to the creek, he grabbed her and jumped to the bottom. The water was only a couple of feet deep, but the water was cold.

"See if you can jump back up."

She looked up to the top and leapt. She wasn't anywhere near as graceful as they were with her landing, but at least she made it to the top. She looked back down at Potter.

"Like that?"

"Just like that," he laughed. "That was so cool!"

"Now, jump back down."

She took a deep breath and jumped. Cold water sprayed up at her when she landed, but she was fine.

"Okay. Now, lets see if you can run," he told her after they were out of the creek. "We're just going to run along the break."

He took off running with her close behind. She could hear the wind whistling in her ears. She wasn't as fast as him, but he never got out of her sight. When he stopped a minute later, she nearly ran into his back.

"Okay, you didn't lose your scent, your hearing didn't improve, but you got the strength and speed, and you also got the ability to sense vampyres. How's your sense of smell and vision?"

"The same as it was before."

"It's strange how some of the abilities missed you," he mused, bewildered.

"Maybe it's because you drank modified toxin, and I used your blood. Or maybe, it's just because I'm female."

"It could be either one of those, I guess. Well, that's it, let's go."

"Wait, that's not it. You still have to break one of my bones to see if I heal like you.."

"Are you nuts? I'm not going to break any of your bones!" he gasped, looking horrified.

"But it's the only way we'll know. Just punch me in the ribs."

"If I punch you in the ribs, and you don't heal like us, it would kill you."

"Then just break a little bone. Here, break my finger," she said, holding her hand out to him.

"I don't want to do this, Beck."

"Just do it quick and get it over with."

"Fine." He held her little finger, closed his eyes, and snapped it. "Oww!" she screamed, but as quick as the pain came, it was gone. "I'm fine. It's okay. Calm down," she told Potter, who was jumping around like he had to pee.

"That was so wrong! Don't ever ask me to do that again."

"I won't, but we now know I heal like you. See," she said, flexing her finger. "Does that mean that I am an immortal now, too?"

"You know we're not really immortal, but I would have to say, yes, you're as to immortal as the rest of us. How are you going to tell Richard about this?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about this for a while."

"Just let me know first so I'll have a head start," he smiled as they walked back to the house.

"I will, don't worry," she smiled back at him. "What are you going to say to the twins?"

"I don't know, but something has got to give. They can't keep tearing everything up. If I have to, I'll put them in separate houses."

"You can't do that, they're twins."

"I don't want to do it, but I'm running out of options. They've busted out windows, punched holes in the floor, smashed the furniture, and now the wall. I've talked to them until I'm blue in the face, but it doesn't help. I don't know what else to do."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she said as they walked into the yard.

Richard was back on the porch again, and her steps were back to normal.

She walked up onto the porch, sat on his lap, and kissed him. "Thank you for fixing my steps."

"You are very welcome," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Where did everybody go?" she inquired. "Harley went with Jeff to get a new distributor cap, and Damon, Shane, and Darian went home. Didn't you see them there?"

"No, we must have missed them," she said, then looked over at Potter. "Hey, do you want to come to dinner tonight?"

Potter raised an eyebrow. "What are you having?"

"If you take me to the store, I'll make you lasagna."

"I'll take you to the store, Beck," Richard said, sounding a little hurt. "Okay, let me get my wallet."

"I'll go get one of the trucks," Richard said. "Why aren't we taking the car?"

"And have my car smell like meat and garlic? And what if something spills? It would ruin the upholstery," he said, shaking his head at her.

"Fine, get the truck then, ya' weirdo."

"You can take my truck. The air-conditioning works in it," Potter offered."Where are the keys?" Richard asked.

"I think they're in it," Potter answered, jumping off the porch and walking across the yard with Richard.

Beck ran upstairs, grabbed her wallet, and came back down. She was just closing the door when she heard the yelling.

' _You took it!_ ' she heard a voice yell. ' _No, I did not!_ ' said another voice. ' _Yes, you did!_ '

Seanán came tearing around the side of the house like a bat out of hell, with Tiarnán hot on his trail. She could only tell them apart because Tiarnán's hair was a fraction of an inch longer than Seanán's. Tiarnán dove and grabbed Seanán's foot, crashing him to the ground.

"Give it back!" Tiarnán yelled. Seanán yelled back, "I don't have it!"

He kicked backwards, connecting hard with Tiarnán's face, jumped up, and ran over to Richard's car. When he picked it up, she reacted without thinking.

" _Not the car_!" she screamed.

She launched herself across the yard and snatched the car out of Seanán's hands before he could throw it at Tiarnán. She sat the car gently back on the ground, and then turned back to Seanán, grabbed him by his shoulders, and shook him.

"What is wrong with you?! That is not your car! You _will_ stop breaking other people's stuff! Tiarnán! Don't you dare move!" she yelled when she saw him trying to creep back around the house. "You come here to me! " _RIGHT NOW_!!!"

He walked cautiously over to her. She grabbed them both by the arm and yanked them to her.

"This is it! If I hear you two are fighting with each other, or that you broke one more thing that doesn't belong to you, I will tan you hides 'til hell won't have 'em'! Do you understand me?!" she shouted, shaking them both one more time before letting go. "Yes ma'am," they said in tandem. "Good. Now go home!" she snapped and turned around.

***

Richard and Potter were standing at the edge of the yard with their mouths open, staring at her. Richard swiveled his head slowly toward Potter. Potter took off running without even looking at him, but Richard was faster. He tackled him before he'd made it halfway across the yard, and started wailing on him.

"I warned you, you little shit!"

"It was her idea!" Potter yelled. "I don't give a fuck!" Richard yelled back, punching every part of Potter that he could, breaking every bone he hit.

She was frozen to the ground. She'd never seen anything like this before. Potter was trying to defend himself, trying to get Richard off of him, but he never had a prayer. he finally broke out of her trance and ran over to them.

"Richard! Stop it! Let him up!"

When Richard looked up at her, Potter flipped him off him and jumped up. She jumped in between them.

"Stop it!" she demanded when Richard tried to circle around her to get back at Potter. "Please stop."

"I warned him about keeping anymore secrets with you," he growled. "I asked him to do this." Richard stopped. "What exactly _did_ you do?"

"I injected his blood into me."

"Did you ever consider that it might kill you?!"

"I knew there was a small risk." He looked coldly at Potter. "And you let her do it?"

"I made her a promise 120 years ago, but I didn't know what I'd promised until today."

"But when you found out, you still let her do it?"

"Aye, I did," Potter admitted, stepping up beside Beck. Richard nodded and turned away to walk off, but turned back. "I'll be back later," he told Beck, and kissed her gently on the lips. e punched Potter in the mouth one more time, and then walked away. "So, I guess you'll be taking me to the store then." Potter laughed. "It looks like it, but now you're making me two lasagnas with spinach and mushrooms. And I want garlic bread."

"I can do that. Let's go."

***

He tried to comfort himself with the fact that Beck was alive, but couldn't pull his mind away from how dangerous what she'd done had been. He'd finally gotten her back after all those years, and the first thing she'd done was risk her life. He was following Leso's scent, and finally found him at the fairgrounds by the pond.

He sat down next to him. "Beck's a hunter."

"Run that by me again."

"Beck is a hunter," he repeated. "No, she's not."

"Yes, she is."

"How can she be a hunter? She was human yesterday," Leso questioned, confused.

"She snuck off with Potter today and injected his blood into her body."

Leso was so shocked. "Holy Mother of God! Is she alright?"

"She seems to be fine, but she could have died," he said angrily. "But she didn't. You didn't run out on her again, did you?"

"Not really. I told her I'd be back."

"You can't keep walking away every time you get mad. Look at what you went through the last time you walked away."

"I know, but if I had stayed, I would have yelled at her. I didn't want to do that."

"You should have. I don't think Beck would mind arguing with you," Leso grinned.

"I know she wouldn't, but she was already mad at me. I didn't want to make it any worse."

"Why is she mad at you?" Leso asked, confused.

He explained to Leso how Beck and Potter had not told him what they'd done. How he'd found out about it when she jumped across the yard and yanked his car out of Seanán's hands.

"You should have seen her snatch those boys up. he scared the hell out of them. I bet they don't break anything else for a long, damn time."

"But why is she mad at you?" Leso asked again. "You remember how I warned Potter about keeping anymore secrets with Beck?" he said quickly, trying to explain himself. "Oh, I remember. Who could forget seeing a beating like that?"

"I warned him. He should have listened to me."

"What did you _do_?"

"I beat the holy hell out of him, just like I told him I would."

"In front of Beck?" Leso asked in surprise.

"Yes, in front of Beck."

"How bad did you beat him?"

"There may have been a bone or two I _didn't_ break."

Leso laughed. "That was stupid. You know how much she loves him."

"I know, but I did warn him."

"Wait a second. How did you _not_ know that she had been changed?"

"She still has her scent."

"Really?!"

"Yes, her scent didn't change at all."

"I've never heard of a hunter with a scent."

"Nor have I, until now, but I've never heard of a female hunter, either."

"True...Do you think his blood would work on Bev?" Leso asked quietly.

"Are you serious?! Would you really consider that for her?"Leso nodded. "I would."

"You've got to know how dangerous that would be, Leso," Richard said, stunned. He would have never thought that Leso would ever risk Bev's life.

"It didn't kill Beck."

"Yes, but we don't know that it wasn't sheer luck that kept her alive," Richard replied sarcastically.

"I still think it's worth the risk."

"Why?"

"So I can spend more than just fifty years or so with her. I love her, and want to spend the rest of _my_ life with her, not just the rest of hers. If she's willing to try this, then I'm willing to let her."

It sounded crazy to him. Of course he wanted to spend eternity with Beck, but he would never have allowed her to risk her life to do it. Which was probably why she hadn't told him she was going to do it.

He looked at Leso. "So, when are you coming home?"

"A few days, I guess. How did you control yourself when this happened with Beck the first time?"

"I didn't. I knocked her to the ground. Remember? Potter had to throw me off of her."

"Yes, but after he threw you off of her, you calmed down. I felt your mood shift. How did you do that?"

"I don't know. I just snapped out of it when I realized what I was doing."

"Could you have stayed with her without jumping on her again?"

"I think I could have, but I left just to be sure."

"I can't do that. While you and Damon were holding onto me, I was telling myself to stop, but I couldn't."

Richard smiled. "You'll adjust after a while."

"I hope so."

"Well, I'm going to go home and get 'cussed out' again," he said, getting up off the ground.

Grinning from ear to ear, Leso said, "Have fun with that."

***

"I can't believe he jumped on you like that," she said, tossing the garlic bread into the buggy.

"I told you he was going to do it."

"I've seen the hunters break each other's bones, but I didn't know how much it actually hurt until you broke my finger."

"Hey! I didn't want to do that."

"I know you didn't. I'm just saying, what he did to you must have been excruciating."

"You have no idea," he said, pushing the buggy into the checkout line.

"How do you get use to that kind of pain?"

"Well, you don't. The goal is to not get your bones broken," he laughed. She frowned. "I really though Richard was going to kill you."

"I didn't. He wouldn't have wasted his time whipping my ass like that if he was going to kill me. He would have just ripped my head off."

"How can you laugh about it? It was terrible."

"How can I not laugh about it? He is the only brother I have that can beat me in a fight," he said, throwing the food onto the conveyer belt. "I know he can beat me, and yet, I still keep pissing him off," he said, grinning.

She asked angrily, "He doesn't beat you like that all the time, does he?"

"No, he hasn't whipped the shit out of me like he did today for 120 years, but he'll jump on me from time to time."

The man checking them out had stopped scanning the food and was staring at them.

"What are you looking at?" Potter snarled. "Mind your own business and do your job."

When the man had dropped his eyes and started scanning the food again, Potter looked at her and smiled.

She scolded him they walked out of the store. "You're horrible. You scared the crap out of that man."

"I know. Cool, wasn't it?" he laughed.

"No, he really thought you were dangerous." He gave her a strange look. "Beck, I am dangerous."

"Yeah, but not to humans."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because you protect humans."

"True, but only from vampyres. I don't have a problem killing humans who deserve it, though."

"I didn't know you could harm a human," she said, surprised.

"You never asked. I can kill any human I want and not even feel guilty about it later."

Confused, she pushed further. "But when you saw Mary Nichols killed, you looked so tortured."

"I _was_ being tortured," he said, opening the truck door for her. "I was watching a vampyre kill a human. I was created to stop it, to destroy the vampyre, and save the human. When I had to stand there and do nothing, it tore my soul apart."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"So, you have?"

"I have what?"

"Killed a human before?"

"A few, but not for a long time. You learn pretty quickly that you can't kill every human that deserves it. You'd never have time for anything else."

"Does humanity really seem that bad to you?"

"We know how bad it is. It's humans that need to open their eyes and look the hell around. Murder, rape, and child abuse all happen right under their noses, and they either don't see it or ignore it. Even when they do get caught, what happens?

"A few years in prison? Sometimes not even that? I heard what that kid, Alex, did to you. I didn't know the details of what he did until Richard told Bev, but I knew what he'd done. Richard told me before that that kid got a year of probation. A year! For a brutal assault and rape!" he spat, driving the truck a little too fast.

"Actually, he only got a year of probation for the assault. The D.A. dropped the rape charges," she said.

"See, that's what I'm talking about! He should have been put to death or at the very least, rotted in prison. Why should we protect humanity from itself when they don't care enough to protect it?"

"The D.A. said they had to take his age into consideration."

"He was seventeen years old, for Christ sake! Did they really think he was going to change?"

"You're preaching to the choir. I was all for him going to jail," she said. "It's a dead argument anyway. It never even happened in this time."

"It did happen, Beck. It happened to you, and as far as me not killing humans, do you really think I didn't want to kill that kid?"

"I never really thought about it, I guess."

"Well, I did want to kill him. We all did, but Richard wouldn't let us be involved, told us to keep our asses at home and let him deal with it. He wouldn't even let us watch," he said sadly.

She couldn't believe he was disappointed that he had missed it.

To change the subject she asked, "Did Richard really warn you not to keep anymore secrets with me?"

"Yep, I think he mentioned it between breaking my arm and my collarbone," he laughed again.

"That's not funny."

"Sure it is. I would have been just as mad if Richard had kept secrets like that with Jenny."

"Maybe, but you wouldn't have attacked him like that."

"Only because I know it would turn out just like it did today."

"He is an amazing fighter, isn't he?' "Yep, and he doesn't even practice. He just comes by it naturally."

He pulled into the driveway.

"Be that as it may, he's not going to beat on you anymore," she said firmly.

"Aww, don't yell at him, Beck. He did warn me."

"I'm not going to yell at him. I'm just going to tell him to leave you alone about this."

"Okay. Let me know how that turns out," he chuckled, getting out of the truck.

"Just take the food into the house, you pussy."

***

Jenny, Heidi, Saphira, Bruce, Harley, Alexis, Charley, Daryl, Rita, Susie, Jonathon, Gavin, Isiah, Jeremy, and Bev were waiting in the living room when they walked into the house.

Beck asked, "What's going on?"

But she already knew what they were all there for. She should have known that Seanán and Tiarnán would have ran and told everyone what had happened. Damn!

"Is it true?" Daryl asked. Potter played innocent. "Is what true?"

But no one even looked at him.

"Did you take Richard's car out of Seanán's hands?" Charley asked. Potter spoke up. "I can explain."

"We didn't ask you hunter!" Jonathon spat. Beck didn't care for Jonathon's tone. "You need to either shut your mouth or get the hell out of my house!"

"I did not mean to offend you," Jonathon apologized.

"Who were you trying to offend then? My brother?" Jonathon asked coldly, "Oh, so today he is your brother?"

"He was my brother long before today, and I want you out of my house, _now_."

Her family was watching the argument like a tennis match. "Don't you talk to my husband like that," Gabryel yelled. "I wasn't talking to you, bitch," Beck snapped. "Why don't you get up and follow his ass out the door?"

Jonathon stood up. "You apologize to my wife immediately!"

Potter stepped in front of her and took a defensive stance.

"Are you going to kill me hunter?" Jonathon snarled. "Only if you take one more step towards Beck," Potter said calmly, but she could feel the rage pouring out of him.

Jonathon asked, "Do you think a room full of vampyres are going to allow you to kill one of their own kind?"

"Do you see any of us jumping up to help your dumb ass?" Harley smiled.

"The only reason we're sitting here is because Potter doesn't need any help from us," Bruce added.

"Beck, either," Jenny assured him. Jonathon was shocked. "You would allow him to kill me?"

"You started it, dear," Rita said kindly, but her eyes were as cold as ice.

"I did not come here to be spoken to like this by Richard's whore!" Jonathon roared.

Everyone had surged to their feet when she heard a crash from behind her. When she spun around, Richard was standing where her front door use to be, and her door was lying broken on the floor. Well, shit!

"What did you just call my wife?!" Richard growled.

All of the vampyres who had stood to her defense, sat back down. Potter pulled her to the side, so that there was no one between Jonathon and Richard.

"She called my wife a bitch. I simply demanded an apology, and her hunter threatened to kill me," Jonathon explained, backing up. Beck laughed and looked up at Potter. "Are you my hunter?"

"I reckon so," Potter smiled.

His rage was gone, and she could feel that he was enjoying himself now. Richard considered Jonathon's explanation for a moment, and then asked, "Why would Beck call your wife a bitch?"

"Because my wife asked her not to speak to me the manner she was," Jonathon stated carefully, taking another step back as Richard stepped into the room.

Heidi spoke up helpfully. "No. She yelled it at Beck when Beck told Jonathon to get out of her house. That's when Beck called her a bitch and told her to get out with him."

Gabryel shot Heidi a dirty look.

"Just wanted him to get the facts straight," Heidi said, shrugging. Richard nodded and walked further into the room.

"And yet, here you both still stand. Just out of curiosity, why was Beck throwing you out of _her_ house?"

"Because I offended her hunter," Jonathon said quietly.

"So, you offended her brother, in her house, and she told you to leave?"

"Yes," was all Jonathon said. "Now that I know what happened, why don't you answer my original question? What did you call my wife?" Richard asked, but Jonathon said nothing.

It was Harley that decided to be helpful this time. "He called her a whore."

"Yes, that's what I thought he said," Richard said, and lunged at Jonathon.

He was so fast that he was just a streak as he shot in front of her. He snatched Jonathon up, cracked him backward across his knee, and threw him through the empty door frame. When he jumped out of the house after him, everyone rushed outside.

Richard was pounding on him like he'd done Potter, only much worse. The hunters must have heard Jonathon's screams, because they all emerged from around the house. Saphira and Jenny were holding onto a screaming Gabryel.

"Stop! Please stop!" Jonathon screamed in pain, but Richard ignored him. The hunters all stood watching, looking only mildly curious. When she looked up at Potter, he had a big grin on his face.

"What are you smiling about?!"

"It's not me this time," he said happily. She watched as Richard broke Jonathon's arms, legs, back, ribs, collarbones, hands, and face over and over again.

"Is he going to kill him?" she whispered nervously to Potter.

"No, but I bet right about now, Jonathon wishes he would," he laughed.

Harley called from down the row of people, "I think Richard is a little pissed off."

When she leaned out to look at Harley, she saw that he and Bruce were doubled over, laughing. It seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only five or six minutes.

When it was over, Richard stood over Jonathon and asked, "Do you still want to stay?"

"Yes," Jonathon answered quietly.

"Then you should know that if you ever so much as speak to my wife again, I will tear off your fucking head. If I'm not here to do it, then her brother will do it for me. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

Richard nodded and walked over to Beck and Potter. He reached out, put his hand on Potter's shoulder, and nodded at him. Potter nodded back. She knew it was an apology, and a thank you, and Potter had acknowledged both. Richard turned to her, put his arm around her, and walked back into the house.

Potter picked up the groceries from where he had set them inside the door, headed for the kitchen with them, and asked, "You're still going to make the lasagna, right?"

"Yes, I'm still going to make lasagna." She turned to Richard. "You do know that if you turn a door knob that the door will open, don't you?"

"Sorry about that, but I was defending your honor." She smiled at him, and teased, "You should have defended my door."

"Hey, at least I didn't tear up the whole house. It took me a minute to figure out how to get him outside."

"Is that why you were asking so many questions?" Potter asked.

"Yes. I couldn't have cared less why he called her a whore. I just didn't want to destroy the house."

"Well, thank you for that, but you're still buying me a new door," Beck said.

"I'll go get the wood first thing in the morning."

"The wood?" she asked, pulling the pots and pans out from under the counter.

"Yes. I made that door."

"Really?" It was such a beautifully carved door. She'd just assumed that he'd bought it.

"He made most of this house," Potter said. "He split the logs, made all of the doors and window frames. He even made the floors."

"You didn't tell me you did all that," she said, looking at Richard. "I told you I built the house." With the exception of Jonathon and Gabryel, everyone had drifted back into the house. Soon, they'd all packed into the kitchen.

"Let me help with that," Bev said, and started chopping up the mushrooms.

"How could you hold the weight of a car?" Bruce asked Beck. "Beck became a hunter today," Richard answered for her. He sounded a little bitter, but not mad anymore.

The whole room gasped.

"But I can still smell her scent," Charley said.

Jeremy agreed. "So can I."

"She didn't lose her scent," Potter explained. "I also didn't get the enhanced hearing or vision."

"But she got everything else," Potter added.

"So, you're not human anymore?" Bev asked.

"No, I'm not."

Jeremy inquired, "How did you do it?"

"She injected my blood into her vein," Potter said.

Bev gasped. "Wasn't that dangerous?"

"Yes, it was dangerous, but it was what I wanted."

"You could have died, you know," Jenny fussed. "I know, but I didn't."

Gavin asked, "Did you do it to stay young?"

"No, I don't care about staying young. I did it to stay alive, to spend as much time as I can get with my family." She flipped on the light over the stove, and blew the bulb. "Damn it!"

"Don't worry about it. We were prepared for you to come home. We have a whole case of light bulbs in the mud room," Bruce said.

Harley laughed. "Just don't touch the big screen in the living room."

### Chapter Fourteen

"Everyone seems to have handled what I did it pretty well," Beck told Richard later that night on the porch.

"Yes, they're all very happy about it."

"How about you? How do you feel about it?"

"I'm good with it, I guess. I was a little mad about it at first, but only because you could have killed yourself."

"Come on. I know that's not all that's bothering you. Tell me what's wrong."

"It's just, you already had more in common with Potter than with me, and now you two share this too," he told her softly.

"Are you jealous of Potter?"

"A little bit," he admitted. "Why?" she laughed. "You know how much I love you."

"I know. I'm not jealous in that way. It's just that he's always with you. He knows how to talk to you. He knows how to comfort you when you need it. It's not enough that he's a hunter, now he has you, too," he said sadly.

"He does not _have_ me, you do. And what does him being a hunter have to do with anything?"

"You know what I mean. He sleeps, eats, and drinks just like you do."

"You drink."

"Yes, blood. That hardly counts," he mumbled. "I think you're perfect the way you are," she said, rubbing his arm. Sarcastically, he said, "Sure, who wouldn't love someone who spends their days sucking the blood out of the local wildlife?"

"Would you like me to send away for something more exotic for you? A giraffe, perhaps?" she smiled.

Smiling a little, he said, "That's not funny, and you know that's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?"

"That I'm a monster."

"You are not a monster!" she snapped.

"Yes, I am. Hell, they write horror stories about me, Beck."

"What are you reading that trash for anyway? You know as well as I do that the people who wrote those stories never even met a vampyre. Everything they write about, they get from myths and legends."

"Maybe, but most of them have it right enough. Vampyres hunting and killing humans, drinking their blood."

"You're not like that, and you damn well know it."

"I've done it, though."

"Damon's right. You're very 'woe is me'. You have got to let this go," she sighed.

"Could you let it go? You chose to become a hunter today, not a vampyre."

"You know I couldn't do that. Your toxin would have killed me."

"Exactly. I am poison to you."

"My blood is poison to you," she reminded him. "Does that make me a monster?"

"It's not the same thing. If my toxin would not have killed you, would you have allowed me to bite you today, or would you still have chosen to be a hunter?"

"I still would have chosen to be a hunter, but only because I would've had a choice. You weren't given one. That choice was made for you. I know you would have chosen to be a hunter."

"I would have _chosen_ to remain human."

"Well, you're not human anymore, and you never will be again."

"Well, that's comforting," he frowned.

"It wasn't supposed to be comforting, just true."

"Don't you think I know I'm not human? That I will never again _be_ human? I am reminded of it with every swallow of blood."

"I know you know it. Now, you just need to accept it."

"I can learn to accept anything as long as you're with me," he said, kissing her hand.

She smiled, "Anything?"

"Anything."

"Even me being a hunter?"

"Even that."

"Good. I'm going to go grab a shower before bed. Meet me upstairs in twenty minutes?"

"I'll be there."

***

As she stood in the spray of the shower, she thought about what he'd said. He would've chosen to remain human. He would've remained what she had so easily thrown away. She had spoken the truth. He would never be human again, nor would she.

There was no way back to humanity for either of them. She'd expected to feel differently when she became a hunter, but she still felt human.

Apparently, Richard did not. It must be different for vampyres, or maybe it was just him. When she walked back into the bedroom, he was undressed and waiting for her.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "I'm naked." He smiled. "I noticed that. Come here."

She walked to where he was sitting on the foot of the bed. He put his arms around her waist and rested his head on her breast.

"I love you, Beck," he said softly.

"Show me."

He pulled her down on the bed with him. When the lovemaking was over and he lay with his heart pounding against her chest, she slid her hand up the bed.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you," he said, his cool breath brushing against her skin. She pulled her hand out from underneath the pillow, drove a needle into his back, and pushed the plunger. "Oww! What was that? What did you do?" he asked, raising himself up on his arms.

She watched as his eyes slid out of focus. "I love you, too," she said right before he collapsed on top of her.

***

She lay beneath him until his heartbeat and breathing had stopped. She got out of bed, dressed, pulled a chair up to the bed, and watched him. She was almost sure that this wouldn't kill him since, technically, he was already dead. When he didn't wake up in two hours, she became nervous. After three hours, she was worried.

She was on the verge of panic when he took a ragged breath. He didn't take another breath for thirty minutes. She watched him all night, until he was taking a breath about every five minutes. When the sun started to come up, she climbed into bed beside him and fell asleep.

When she woke up at noon, he was still out. His breathing was deep and even, and his skin was warm to the touch. It had worked. He wasn't human, but he was no longer a vampyre. She wasn't sure that what she'd done would work on any of the other vampyres, but Richard had been different. He had still craved food and could vomit.

None of the other vampyres wanted anything to do with food, and none of them had a gag reflex. She'd asked. She watched him for a couple of more minutes, and then went downstairs to get some lunch. he found Potter, Jenny, and Bev in the kitchen.

"Where's Richard?" Jenny asked. "I haven't seen him all day."

"Um... he's sleeping." Potter was confused. "Sleeping? But he slept yesterday morning before going hunting."

"Well, yeah, he did, but he's going to be sleeping a lot more now," Beck said vaguely.

Jenny laughed. "He can't sleep more than that, Beck."

"He can now," she said quietly. "What are you talking about?" Bev asked.

" _BECK!"_ Richard screamed from upstairs. She jumped, and sparks shot out of the outlet that the coffeemaker was plugged into.

"So, what did you do now?" Bev asked calmly, looking at the fried outlet.

Bev had seen Beck fry so many things over the years that the sparks shooting out of the outlet hadn't fazed her at all. _"BECK!"_ Richard bellowed again. She could hear him coming down the stairs.

"Can't you run really fast now?" Bev asked.

"Yes."

"You should probably do that now," Bev said, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Good idea," she agreed, jumping up and shooting out of the house, glad that she didn't have to stop to open the door.

She had a head start, so she made it to the edge of the yard before Richard jumped over her and blocked her path to the woods. She turned to go in the other direction, but he grabbed her.

"Why are you running from me, woman?!" he growled. "You don't know why I'm running?" she asked, surprised. "No, I don't."

"Then why were you yelling my name?"

"Because, it's daylight, and I don't remember falling asleep," he said, looking a little scared, and very confused.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Lying in bed with you after making love. You asked me if I trusted you."

"What else?"

"Nothing else. That's the last thing I remember."Potter landed on the grass beside them. "What's going on?"

He looked at Richard strangely and leaned towards him a little. She knew Potter had noticed that Richard's scent was gone. He whipped around and looked at her.

"Nooo...," Potter said in a strangled whisper.

"Yeah," she confirmed.

" _You didn't_ ," Potter whispered.

"I did," she admitted.

He looked back at Richard in amazement. "What is going on?!" Richard demanded.

"He doesn't know?" Potter asked.

She shook her head.

"You didn't ask him first?" Potter asked in shock.

She shook her head again and Potter's face split into a smile. "Is anybody going to tell me what's going on?" Richard asked, letting go of her arm.

Potter immediately grabbed her and put her behind him.

"What are you doing that for? What's wrong with you two?" Richard asked. "And, _what_ is that damn humming noise?" Potter said in amusement, "I believe that humming noise is the blood running through your head."

"The what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _your_ blood. Have you not noticed that it's moving? How about that you're breathing and your heart's beating? Have you not noticed that yet, either?"

Richard's hand flew to his chest. His jaw dropped when he felt the heartbeat there.

"I don't understand," he said softly. Potter smiled. "I don't know exactly what happened, either. However, if I had to venture a guess, I'd say Beck stuck you with her shiny, silver needle while you weren't looking." He looked over his shoulder at Beck. "How did that work anyway? You have to be alive to become a hunter."

"Well, his heart _was_ beating at the time," she blushed.. Potter crowed with laughter. "That's black widow behavior! And _you_ called _me_ evil!"

"You injected Potter's blood into me?" Richard asked.

She stepped further behind Potter. "Yes, but remember, you said if you could have turned me into a vampyre without killing me, you would have done it without asking me. I just figured, I didn't have to ask you first, either."

"I'm not a vampyre anymore?" he asked, stunned. His emotions were in such a flux that she didn't know what he was feeling.

"Well, no, but you hated being a vampyre," she said quickly.

"I'm not a vampyre," he said softly. Looking at Beck, he inquired, "You did this to me?"

"I did it _for_ you."

"Potter, move."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Do you really believe that I would ever hurt her?"Potter hesitated a moment before stepping to the side. Richard swept her up and kissed her.

"You're not mad?" she asked.

He smiled. "No, I'm not mad." She could feel happiness radiating from him now.

"We don't know how well it worked yet," she told him. "If I don't have to drink blood anymore, then it worked perfectly." She smiled. "Well, then let's go see if you can eat."

He didn't put her down until they reached the house.

"What do you want to try eating?"

"Leftover lasagna."

"Sorry bro, you got up way too late in the day for that," Potter said. Richard glared at him.

When they walked into the kitchen, Bev asked, "Is he going to be chewing up food again?"

"Yes, but this time, he will be swallowing it," Potter answered.

Jenny balked. "Oh, come on! I'm not cleaning up all that blood!"

"Don't you notice anything missing, honey?" Potter asked. "What do you mean?" Jenny looked around the room at everyone. When her eyes met Richard's, she froze. "I can't smell you!"

"I knew you'd get there," Potter laughed, patting Jenny on the head. "Shut up!" Jenny said, slapping Potter's hand away. "Hey, there's no reason to be violent," Potter stated, shaking the hand that Jenny had just broken.

"How?" Jenny asked.

Potter told her what Beck had done. "I can make your heart beat. You want to try becoming a hunter?" he alluded to Jenny, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Uh, no thank you. I'm perfectly happy the way I am."

Beck knew that Jenny meant it. She was glad Jenny had made peace with herself.

"Fine, be that way then. How about you?" Potter said, turning to Bev and wiggling his eyebrows at her. "You want to be a hunter?"

There was a loud crack hen Jenny jabbed him in the ribs.

"Oww! Stop it, woman!"

"Sit down and behave then," Jenny laughed, and then looked at Richard. "Are you okay with being a hunter?"

"I'm thrilled about it."

Jenny got up and hugged him. "Then I'm happy for you."

"Thank you."

"Now, what do you want to try and eat?" Beck asked. "Bacon and eggs... _if_ there's any of those left," he added, shooting another glaring look at Potter.

Potter laughed. "There should be plenty." When the food was ready, she sat a plate for Bev, Potter, Richard, and herself.

"Go ahead, try it."

He took a fork full of eggs and put them in his mouth. When he swallowed, everyone but Bev instinctively scooted back from the table, but he didn't vomit.

"Well, it looks like you can eat," she said.

He was too busy shoveling food into his mouth to say anything. When he had cleared his plate, he snagged Potter's. "Hey, damn it!" Potter snapped. "That's mine!"

"You've eaten enough." Richard said, and finished eating Potter's food. Beck handed Potter the rest of her lunch, and he ate it without setting the plate down. When Richard had cleaned off Potter's plate, he looked at Bev's.

"I wouldn't do that," Beck cautioned quietly, but he didn't listen.

When he reached for Bev's bacon, she stabbed him hard enough with the fork to sink it down to the bone in a human arm.

"Oww!" he screamed.

Bev went right on eating like nothing had happened.

"Yeah, she doesn't share will with others," Beck laughed.

Richard grumbled, "I bet she doesn't stab you."

Beck showed him four small scars on the back of her right hand.

"Thanksgiving 1994. I tried to snag a piece of turkey off of her plate."

"Wow, you're mean," Potter said to Bev.

Bev smiled. "She could have gotten her own turkey."

"Well that settles it. We will _not_ be having any silver flatware in this house," Richard said, giving Bev a baleful look.

Bev stuck her tongue out at him and ate her last bite of bacon.

"Now, let's see what _you_ can do," Potter said to Richard.

They followed Potter out into the front yard. "Let's see you run."

Richard easily out ran Potter. His hearing was better. He was faster, stronger, and his vision was no longer affected by the sun.

"Let's see how you heal," Potter said, reaching out and breaking Richard's right arm.

"Hey!" Beck said to Potter. "You only broke my finger."

"You broke Beck's finger?" Richard asked. "She made me do it," he tried to explain, but Richard broke his nose anyway. Richard's arm was just fine.

Beck frowned. "Stop hitting him."

"I'll stop when he stops pissing me off."

"Then he's never going to stop," Potter grinned. Jenny went and retrieved the rest of the family for Richard to tell them the news.

Heidi asked sadly, "So, you're not one of us anymore?"

"I will always be one of you. You're my family. Nothing can change that," he said, leaning over and kissed Heidi on the forehead. Gavin inquired, "How does it feel to be a hunter?"

"I don't really know yet. I've only been one for a couple of hours. I guess I would have to say I feel human again."

"That sucks," Harley laughed. Charley questioned, "Could any of us become hunters?"

"I don't think you can. Your heart has to be beating for you to become a hunter," Beck explained. "Why? Would you want to do it if you could?"

"No, I like who I am now. I was just curious."

The rest of the family felt the same way. After a few more minutes of questions, they all seemed satisfied that Richard was happy, and went about their own business.

"That went better than I thought it would," Richard commented. Potter shook his head. "I doubt it will be that easy with the hunters."

"Why is that?" Beck asked.

"Well, there hasn't been a new hunter since we were created."

"Uh, hello!" Beck said, waving her hand in front of his face. "You created me yesterday, remember? Are they upset about that?"

"No, but you're not really a hunter."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, thoroughly annoyed. "Don't get your panties in a wad, it's just that you didn't get all the hunter attributes. It's different for Richard. He's become a _true_ hunter. I don't know how they're going to react, especially since this hunter was a vampyre first." Beck asked Potter, "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell them. Why don't you two go out for a while?"

"Why?" Richard asked. "I told you, I don't know how they're going to react. I would rather the two of you not be here when I tell them."

"Alright," he grudgingly agreed and guided Beck towards the car. He stopped and turned back toward Potter. "How do _you_ feel about me being a hunter?"

"Doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me. You're my brother either way."

Richard nodded and opened the car door for Beck. They were halfway down the driveway when she heard Potter yell, " _HUNTERS!_ "

***

"I never thanked you," Richard told Beck as they drove down the street. "I just knew how much you hated the blood thirst."

"I don't mean that. I never thanked you for saving my car from the twins," he smiled, "but not being a vampyre is good, too."

"You are way too attached to this car," she said, shaking her head. He patted the dash. "She's a really good car."

"Whatever. So, where are we going?"

"I thought we could go find Leso since he missed the announcement."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No, but I can find him." They drove around for a while before he pulled into the parking lot of the River View hotel.

Beck was surprised. "He's staying in a hotel?" '

"Did you expect him to stay in the woods for a week?"

"No, I guess not." She hadn't really given much thought to where Leso had gone after they'd taken him away.

The hotel room door opened before they got to it.

"Hey Beck," Leso said, stepping out of the room. He froze when he saw Richard.

"What?" Richard said with a smirk.

"What happened to you?"

"Beck snuck up on me and turned me into a hunter." Leso gasped. "A hunter? You?"

"Yes, me."

"You did this?" Leso asked Beck. "I did."

Still amazed, Leso asked, "And it worked?"

"Obviously," Richard smiled. "Well, congratulations, I guess."

"Thanks."

"We got kicked out of the house while Potter tells the other hunters about Richard," Beck said. "You wanna come hang out with us for a bit?"

"Sure, I've been bored to death sitting here by myself," he said, reaching back and closing the door behind him. "Why did you have to leave for Potter to tell the hunters about the new you?"

Richard explained what Potter had told them.

"Are you expecting a problem?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what to expect. I'm sure Potter will find a way to smooth things over." He looked at Beck. "So, where do you want to go?"

"How about the mall?"

Leso rolled his eyes. "What is it with women and the mall?"

"It has that new clothes smell," she said, smiling. As they pulled onto the street, Leso asked, "How's Bev? Is she mad at me?"

"Not at all. I explained to her what happened, she understands."

"Beverly Stockdale is not the delicate little flower you believe her to be," Richard said sourly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's mean, selfish, and violent."

"Excuse me," Leso snapped.

"They had a slight misunderstanding over some bacon," Beck giggled.

"A slight misunderstanding? She tried to nail my arm to the table with a fork!"

"Huh?" Leso asked. Beck explained what had happened over lunch, and Leso laughed. "That's my girl!"

Richard scoffed, "You would take her side."

***

At the mall, they turned the head of every woman they past. She couldn't blame the women, they were beautiful men. They exuded confidence and sexuality. Richard immediately made his way to the food court.

"You just ate a couple of hours ago," Beck teased. "I have a lot of time to make up for."

"Fine, I'm going to look around."

"Here," Richard said, opening his wallet and handing her a debit card. "You didn't bring your wallet with you."

"Where did you get your money, anyway?"

"We listened to the things you said you missed in 1888 and invested in them. We did _very_ well."

"How well?"

"Well enough that each of us has more money than you and Bev combined."

"Great! What's the pin number?"

"71883, your birthday." She kissed him. "You'll find me when you're done?"

"Wherever you are," he assured her.

She shopped for a while before he found her in Victoria's Secret.

"See, I found you. Your scent is still the strongest thing I smell," he whispered in her ear, flicking her earlobe with his tongue and sending shivers down her spine.

"What are you looking for?"

"I thought I'd buy a couple of nightgowns."

"Why?"

"Umm... to sleep in."

"I like the skin you sleep in now," he said, leering at her. Leso interrupted from across the store. "What is the point of this underwear? There's no underwear to them, just strings." She looked over and saw him examining a pair of thong panties.

"They're sexy."

"If you say so." Leso frowned. "They leave absolutely nothing to the imagination."

She ended up not buying anything there, but Leso bought Bev a beautiful, white silk nightgown.

"Would you give it to her for me, and tell her I'll be home soon?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

Richard asked, "Do you think it's safe to go home yet?"

"Are you actually worried about going home?" Leso inquired.

"No. I only left because Potter asked me to. I don't see what the big deal is. They don't like vampyres, and now I'm not one. You would think that that would please them."

"True, but you know how the hunters are."

"What do you mean by that?" Beck asked.

"They believe that they're stronger and better than vampyres. It's a point of pride for them," Leso explained.

"I don't feel that way."

"You've been a hunter for one day, and you're not truly a hunter. Richard is."

Sensing her mood, he added, "Don't be irritated with me. I just mean that you didn't receive all their gifts, though I'm sure you could probably beat most of them in a fight."

"Potter doesn't think he's stronger and better than the vampyres."

"No, Potter doesn't think it, he _knows_ it. And with the exception of Richard, he's correct."

"That's not nice. Potter loves all of you."

"I didn't say he didn't, and we all love him too. I wasn't insulting him, I was praising him. Potter is our brother, and I could not be happier that he's on our side. God knows I'd hate to have him as an enemy," Leso continued. "All I meant was, I can see where they might have a problem with Richard becoming one of them."

She hadn't known that what she'd done might cause discord between the hunters and Richard.

Thinking of discord reminded her of something else. "Why do Jonathon and Gabryel want to stay after what happened?"

"What happened?" Leso asked.

Beck told him about the confrontation in the living room and what Richard had done.

After she finished, Leso said, "I've never liked that uppity little snot, or his bitch of a wife."

Beck asked again, "So, why do they want to stay?"

"Elderson's clan killed the Barrett clan while Jonathon and Gabryel were away on holiday. Two of the clan were Jonathon and Gabryel's sons. They know that they have no chance of defeating Elderson on their own. They're not willing to give up their chance for revenge just because we had a fight," Richard explained.

"I didn't know that. That's sad." She couldn't imagine what they had gone through. "You should try and make peace with them."

"I absolutely will not. I can sympathize with what happened to them, that's why I allowed them to stay. What I will not do is allow him to stand in my wife's house and talk to her like she is a piece of rubbish," he said firmly. "And he's a bit of a coward. Trust me, he would not have spoken that way to Potter had he not thought he had a room full of vampyres to back him up. If I hadn't come in when I did, Potter would have killed him."

Beck shook her head. "Potter wouldn't have done that."

"O' ye of little faith," Richard said. "If Jonathon had so much as twitched in your direction, his head would be lying on your living room floor right now."

"You don't know the Potter we know," Leso said. "When pushed too far, he is absolutely lethal. You've never seen him kill."

"He's deadly," Richard agreed. She just didn't think of Potter as being dangerous.

Leso got out of the car at the hotel. "Tell Bev that I love her, and that I'll find some way to deal with this better next month."

Beck nodded. "Come home soon. I know she misses you."

"As soon as I can," he said and walked away.

"I feel sorry for them. They just found each other, and they have to be apart already."

Richard sighed. "I went through the same thing with you."

"It wasn't the same thing, though. You weren't uncontrollable like he was."

"He'll be fine. It will pass." She was glad she wouldn't have to go through that anymore.

***

When they pulled into the driveway, all of the hunters and vampyres were gathered in the front yard, including Jonathon and Gabryel. Richard stopped the car at the edge of the woods.

"What's going on?" she asked with fear, as Potter came jogging across the yard toward them.

"I think we're about to find out," Richard replied, getting out of the car.

Potter was waiting when she got out. She could feel anticipation, excitement, and fear drifting from across the yard. Bruce and Harley came to join the three of them.

"Well?" Richard asked, walking with Potter towards the house. "They're willing to accept you, but only if you agree to a challenge," Potter said.

"A challenge?" Richard asked. "They want you to fight one of the hunters," Bruce elaborated. "What?," Beck sputtered. "Why?"

"Hush, Beck," Richard said. "You did _not_ just tell me to hush," she said, instantly pissed. "Sorry, but please, let me deal with this." She was still put out, but said, "Fine."

"Will the fight be to the death?" he asked calmly. "No. We can't afford to lose anyone. The fight will end when one of you taps out," Potter explained.

Outraged, Beck couldn't hold her tongue. "So what? He has to be jumped in like he's joining a gang?!"

"Beck, please," Richard implored. "No, he's not going to be jumped in, Beck. He only has to fight one hunter," Potter said. "Don't worry. They've seen Richard kill before, but they've never really seen him fight."

Richard started taking off his shoes. "Which one?" he asked. "They wanted me to do it, but I said no. Then they wanted Damon to do it, but he doesn't have a problem with you being a hunter, so he refused to do it, as well. They finally settled on Gunner," Potter said quietly, as to not be overheard.

She was shocked. "Gunner! He's huge! Are you crazy? That's not fair!" she whispered furiously.

"Beck, stop it!" Richard insisted. "But this is insane!"

"Harley, take her over there," Richard instructed, indicating a place near Jenny. Harley reached out to take her arm.

"I wish you _would_ touch me! I dare you!" she challenged Harley.

Harley dropped his hand, and she marched across the yard to stand next to Jenny.

Gunner stepped out into the yard as Richard approached. "Now he'll get what's coming to him," Gabryel said in a stage whisper.

Beck made a move toward her, but Jenny grabbed her arm. "Don't."

She got a hold of herself, and stared ahead at Richard. Gunner struck first, landing a sharp blow to Richard's shoulder. She heard it crack and winced. Richard danced a little away from him. He spun on his heel and delivered a perfect spinning back kick to Gunner's chest, shattering his ribcage and throwing him backward.

Gunner recovered quickly and jumped at Richard. Richard sidestepped, but Gunner's fist collided with his jaw, cracking it to the side. Richard jumped away and used his hand to push his jaw back into place. The fight was moving slower than she had expected. Gunner attempted to lunge at Richard again. Richard did what she'd seen Potter do to Jeremy.

He ducked under the launch and drove his shoulder into Gunner's ribcage, sending him into the air. He reached up, grabbed Gunner's ankle, and whipped him with bone-shattering force into the ground. Potter had said that the hunters had never seen Richard fight. She thought they must have forgotten what happened with Jonathon yesterday, but now she understood. That hadn't been a fight, it had been a beating. _This_ was a fight.

Gunner popped back up and swung his huge fist at Richard, catching him in the bicep. She heard Richard's arm crunch, but he never flinched. He drove his other fist into Gunner's stomach, driving him backwards. Richard kicked out and broke Gunner's knee backward with a wet pop, crumpling him to the ground. He didn't allow Gunner to regain his feet. He jumped on him, driving both knees into Gunner's chest, breaking his sternum with what sounded like a gunshot.

Before Gunner could recover, Richard had spun and had him in a perfect hip lock. She heard Gunner's hip pop out of its socket. Gunner screamed, reached out his hand, and struck the ground twice. He had tapped out. It was over. Richard released him and sprang back to his feet. She was about to run over to him when she heard Gabryel running her mouth.

"He never would've beaten that big one," she said bitterly. Beck would have let it go, but the woman didn't know when to shut up. "You saw that, didn't you? That Potter was too much of a coward to fight him."

That was it! She'd heard to all the shit she was going to listen to come out of this bitch's mouth. All the hunters had rushed out to Gunner, and there was no one between her and Gabryel.

She walked over, grabbed Gabryel by the arm, and spun her around to face her. She punched Gabryel in the face, following through with her elbow. She grabbed Gabryel's hair on both sides and used it to jerk her forward and down, ramming her knee hard into her face.

She threw her back and was about to kick her when she felt a sharp blow to her back. She both felt and heard her shoulder blade crack. What the hell! She spun in time to see Jonathon's fist coming at her, but not in time to duck. He struck her in the cheek bone, crushing it, and sending her flying backwards. She jumped back to her feet when she hit the porch.

That _asshole_ had actually hit her! She looked toward the people in the yard. They were all busy congratulating Richard or tending to Gunner, who was still on the ground for some reason. No one seemed to have noticed what had just happened except for Jenny, who was standing there, open-mouthed, with shock. When she looked back at Jonathon, he was advancing on her again.

She could feel his emotions and finally understood that he was insane. He would kill her if he could. She jumped and kicked him away. He was faster than she expected and managed to kick her in the stomach. She couldn't breathe but managed to kick him backwards again. It was all happening very fast, like someone had hit the fast forward button. She shot a quick look around and saw that Gabryel had a sick, evil smile on her face. She was just as insane as her husband!

He was coming at her again when Jenny screamed, "Potter!" In an instant, two hunters, Bane and Aohngus, grabbed hold of Jonathon.

"What happened?" Potter asked roughly, standing next to Jenny. Beck was now surrounded by the hunters and her family. Richard was at her side, but she didn't know how he'd gotten there. She was stunned speechless by what had just happened. She glanced at Jenny and saw that Jenny was even more stunned than she was.

"What's wrong, Little One? What happened?" Richard asked, putting his arm around her.

"She struck my wife, and I demand something be done about it," Jonathon spat.

If she had been speechless before, then she had now been struck dumb.

"Did he speak to you?" Richard asked her.

She managed to shake her head.

"He hit her," Jenny managed to squeak out.

Seanán snatched Jonathon backward out of Aohngus and Bane's hands, and threw him to the ground where he and Tiarnán preceded to brutally stomp on him. Bane and Aohngus pulled them off and stood Jonathon back up. Richard and Potter looked mildly confused, as if they had not understood what Jenny had said.

"What did you say, honey?" Potter asked Jenny. "I said, he hit her."

"He hit who? Gabryel?" Richard asked, looking over to where Gabryel stood.

"No. Beck hit Gabryel. Jonathon hit Beck," Jenny explained.

Beck felt Richard stiffen beside her.

Jonathon yelled, sounding genuinely outraged, "I did not. That is a lie!"

"Did he touch you, Beck?" Richard asked. She couldn't find her voice. Richard shook her gently.

"Beck?"

She finally answered him. "Yes...he hit me in the back, stomach, and in the face."

"Are you insane?" Potter asked Jonathon. Gabryel screamed, "She's lying!"

"He _is_ insane, literally insane, and so is she," Beck said, pointing at Gabryel.

Potter stepped forward towards Jonathon.

Without looking at him, Richard said, "No, Potter."

Beck looked at Harley and Bruce. Neither of them were smiling at the moment.

"Let him go," Richard told Aohngus and Bane.

They released him and stepped away. She could feel Richard's anger crawling over her skin.

"What are you going to do about your woman? " Jonathon asked Richard.

Damon whistled. "Damn, boy! You're just stuck on stupid."

"You put your hands on Beck, and you want to know what I'm going to do about _her_?"

"If you're not going to anything about her, then we will be leaving," Jonathon spat.

"No. You won't," Richard said and lunged forward.

There was a ripping sound, and Jonathon's head fell to the ground. Gabryel screamed and tried to launch herself at Richard.

Saphira snatched Gabryel back, tore her head off, and tossed it on the ground next to Jonathon's. "I never liked that bitch," Saphira said, shrugging.

"You killed him," Beck said quietly to Richard. "He hit you. Of course I killed him, Beck." Potter pouted. "You should have let me kill him."

"You can kill the next man that hits me," Beck said, watching the hunters pick up the pieces of the Barrett's and carry them away.

Richard was not amused. "There better not be a next one."

"Were you serious about them being insane?" Jenny asked. "Yes."

"How could Leso have missed that?" Daryl asked. "I missed it, too. He kept a tight rein on his emotions. I think when I hit Gabryel, I made his control slip."

"Why did you hit Gabryel?" Richard asked, picking her up and setting her on the porch.

"She was running her mouth again," Jenny said.

"She did a lot of that," Rita said. "I guess she thought no one would ever do anything about it."

Jenny smiled. "She thought wrong."

"What got into Tiarnán and Seanán?" Beck asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Ever since you jumped on them about the car and their fighting, they kind of think of you as their surrogate mother," Potter explained. "When Jenny said that Jonathon hit you, I guess they snapped."

Beck asked, "Their surrogate mother?"

"Yeah. They've been as good as gold since you got onto them. I've yelled at them hundreds of times, but I guess they needed a woman's touch," Potter smiled.

She hadn't wanted kids, but if it would make them behave, she guessed she didn't mind.

"They were only sixteen when they lost their parents and barely seventeen when they became hunters," Potter explained.

"How did they lose their parents?" she asked.

"Vampyre attack. That's why they were so willing to become hunters."

"That's horrible," she said, and then looked at Richard. "Can you build an addition onto the house?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Well, if we're going to be parents, then our children are going to need a room."

***

"Are you serious about taking in Seanán and Tiarnán?" he asked her that night as they lay in bed.

He'd never even considered having children, and now she wanted him to be a father to two buck-wild, super-human teenagers?

"Yes, I'm serious. They're just kids, and they need a family."

"I thought you said you didn't want children."

"I didn't, but this is different. They're already here, and they need us."

"I don't know how to be a father, Beck." He'd never had a father to show him what a father was supposed to be.

"I don't know how to be a mother, either, but I imagine we'll figure it out. How long will it take you to build their room?"

"I can have that done in a day. We'll have to get them new furniture, though. They've broken most of theirs."

"We can take one of the moving vans in the morning and get everything we need."

He sighed. "You know they're probably going to tear up the house, don't you?"

"If they do, then they are going to have to fix it."

"They don't know how to fix things like that."

"That's what you're for, to teach them how to do things like that," she explained.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure."

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"No, but I'll find out soon enough," she replied sleepily. She was asleep within a few seconds. He didn't know how to feel about this. In just a few days, he had gotten Beck back, found out she had become a hunter, beat the hell out of Potter, became a hunter himself, killed a vampyre, and now he was to become a father. It was a lot to process.

What was he supposed to do with two teenagers? He didn't even really remember being a teenager himself. And these were not normal teenagers. These teenagers could quite literally tear the house out from under their feet. He hoped she knew what she was doing, because he didn't have a clue.

### Chapter Fifteen

Early the next morning found them pulling out of the driveway in two moving vans, Richard and her in one, and Potter and Jenny in the other.

"How much stuff are you planning to get?" Richard asked. "I just thought it would be easier to put all of the building supplies in one van and the furniture in the other. When we get to Lowe's, you and Potter can get what you need, and me and Jenny can go buy furniture."

When they pulled into Lowe's, she kissed him and jumped into the other van with Jenny.

"Where to?" Jenny asked.

"I want to get the furniture first."

She bought two full-sized beds, two dressers, two chest of drawers, two nightstands, and two recliners. She felt a little bad watching two dock-loaders struggle to lift it all into the back of the truck. She knew she could have loaded it all by herself without breaking a sweat. When they were done, she gave them a big tip and got back into the truck. Jenny asked, "Are we ready to go home?"

"Not yet. I want to go to Wal-Mart first."

"What are we getting at Wal-Mart?" Jenny asked, turning the big van onto the street.

"I just want to pick up some things for the boys."

"It's really nice of you to take them in like this." Beck shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"It will be a big deal to them."

"Has Potter told them yet?"

"No. He wants to let you surprise them."

"What if they don't want to move in with us?" she asked nervously.

Jenny giggled. "Trust me, they will. All they talk about is Beck this and Beck that. You made quite an impression on them."

"I've only talked to them a couple of times, and the last time I yelled at them."

"They're going to love you, don't worry."

"I can't help it. What if I mess this up?"

"You're not going to mess this up. You're going to do fine, Beck."

They pulled into Wal-Mart's parking lot a few minutes later. She picked out summer clothes that she thought would fit them; most of them loose enough to fight in without ripping, socks and underwear, sheets, comforters, and pillows for their beds. She picked out several posters of MMA fighters for their walls. She got a plasma T.V. for their room, an X-box 360, and all the games she thought they would like. She also got them a nice stereo system and two laptop computers.

"You're going to spoil them," Jenny smiled.

"No I'm not," she replied as she picked out the biggest trampoline they had. They paid for everything up front, but had to drive around back to get some of the larger items loaded into the van.

"Anything else?" Jenny asked.

"Just one more place," she said.

A half hour later, they walked out of the pet store with two identical bloodhound puppies and headed home. It was late afternoon when they got there. The guys were already finished with the room, and Richard had replaced her door. She put the puppies in the house and went to find Richard. She found him and Potter putting the last of the shingles on the roof.

"Can we go ahead and put the furniture in their room?" she called up to them.

"I'll do it," Richard said and jumped off the roof.

"I can do it," she said.

"I'm the man. I'll move the furniture."

"Fine, go be the man then. I'll bring in everything else."

"I thought that you were just getting furniture," he said.

"I picked up some odds and ends at Wal-Mart," she said, following him around the house to the van.

"Odds and ends! Is there even any furniture in this van, Beck?" he asked when he rolled up the door and saw everything she had bought.

"Yes, it's up toward the front."

He handed the bags and boxes out to her and Jenny.

"I told her she was going to spoil them," Jenny said.

"Spoil them? Once we put all of this stuff in their room, we're not even going to be able to _find_ them," he grumbled.

"It's not that much stuff."

"This is a twenty-eight foot van, Beck. You have ten feet of furniture and eighteen feet of 'stuff'."

"They needed it."

"They needed a trampoline?" he asked handing her the box. "You do know they can jump fifty feet into the air all on their own, right?"

"It's not the same thing," she said putting the box on the ground.

He handed them the rest of the stuff and unloaded the furniture into the yard. He picked up the first chest of drawers and carried it into the house, while Beck and Jenny set up the trampoline. From inside the house, he yelled, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Jenny laughed. "I think he found the dogs."

"Did they really need dogs?" he asked, coming back outside. "Every boy needs a dog."

"Did you forget that most of the people that live in this house drink animal blood?"

"They are not going to eat those dogs, and you know it. Now, get the rest of the furniture in the house so we can finish fixing up their room."

"Going to chew up all the furniture," he mumbled, carrying the other chest of drawers into the house.

An hour later, everything was setup and ready.

"I'll go get them," Potter said.

Beck stood on the porch and twisted her hands nervously.

"Stop that. Everything's going to be fine," Jenny assured her.

"I hope so."

***

A few minutes later, Potter was back with the twins.

"We didn't do _anything_ ," Tiarnán said to Beck when they got to the porch.

"I know you didn't. That's not why you're here."

They stared at her curiously.

"How would you two like to stay here with us?"

"Really?" Seanán asked. Tiarnán inquired, "We can do that?"

"Yes, you can do that, but you have to follow the rules: No fighting, and if you break anything...," she was saying.

"Then we have to move out," Tiarnán said, cutting her off. "What? No, you won't have to move out. I was going to say, if you break anything, then you have to fix it. You'll be living here with me and Richard like a family. We would never make you move out."

"So, you would be like our parents?" Seanán asked. Both he and Tiarnán were smiling.

"Yes, but like I said, there are rules; no fighting, especially in the house...no breaking anything."

"No touching the car," Richard said.

"Keep your room clean, no leaving the property without asking first and telling us where you're going."

"No touching the car," Richard said again. "You will be home for dinner at 6:00 p.m. everyday, and be in bed by midnight every night."

"And under no circumstances are you _ever_ to touch the car," Richard stated firmly.

"Do you think you can follow these rules?"

"Yes, ma'am," they said together. "If you break the rules, we will ground you and start taking your stuff away until you can act right."

Seanán snickered. "That won't take long. We don't have any stuff."

"You do now," she said. "Come on, and I'll show you your room."

"We have our own room?" they asked, again in unison.

"Didn't you have your own room at your house?" Potter answered before they could. "No. They shared a big room with Declán, Keith, and Liam."

"Well, you'll have your own room here," Beck stated, opening their bedroom door.

Together, they said, "WOW!" and Beck looked at Potter.

"They do that a lot. It must be the twin thing," he said about them speaking at the same time.

They stared around the room with excitement. The room ran the length of the back of the house, with one set of furniture on either end of the room. The chairs were in the middle of the room facing the T.V. on the wall.

"This is our stuff?" Tiarnán asked in disbelief."It is, so take care of it," she told them. "These are yours, too." She handed them each a laptop. "You will study for two hours a day. I don't care what you study, as long as it's educational."

They set their laptops in the chairs and hugged her.

"Thanks, Beck," they said in tandem.

"You're welcome," she smiled, hugging them back.

Richard had been following and watching, he'd disappeared for a few moments and had just walked back into the room.

"These are yours too," he said, and handed each of them the puppies. "Cool! Dogs!" they said as they took the puppies. Richard told them firmly, "You have to clean up after them and take care of them."

"Yes, sir."

"And, you have to name them," Beck reminded them. "We get to name them?" Tiarnán asked, again stunned. "Of course you do. They're your dogs."

"Awesome!" they replied.

She led Richard and Potter out of the room and closed the door. They'd walked back to the porch before Potter asked Beck, "You do know that these two boys are exceptionally deadly hunters, don't you?"

"They have, on their own, killed half of the vampyres that have come our way," Richard said

"Really?"

"They took it upon themselves to learn Aikido, Bando Thaing, Chanbara, Gatka, Jeet Kune Do, Judo, Karate, Kendo, and Muay Thai," Potter explained.

"Jeet Kune Do?"

Potter smiled. "They love Bruce Lee."

"Most of those martial art forms are weapons-based."

"Yes, and they have the weapons, all of them made of silver," Potter told her. "They are amazingly lethal. They could take on any vampyre or hunter here, and kill them with little to no effort at all."

"Can they beat you?"

"Me? Oh, hell no, or Richard, but any of the others wouldn't be a problem for them."

"Speaking of fighting, why did Gunner stay on the ground so long yesterday?"

"I pulled his hip out of its socket," Richard said, pulling her down into his lap in the rocking chair he was sitting in.

"So?" she asked.

"Our bones heal in a second or two, but if you pull one of our joints out of socket it's excruciating until you pop it back in. As long as I had him in the hip lock, there was no way for him to drive it back into place."

"Sounds painful."

"Popping it back into place is just as painful. That's what took him so long to get up," Potter explained.

She looked at Richard. "I saw you beat the crap out of Potter. You weren't fighting to the best of your ability with Gunner."

"That's okay. Don't worry about my ego," Potter mumbled. Richard told her, "I was supposed to fight him. That doesn't mean I had to make him look bad. I actually considered losing."

"What changed your mind?"

"You were watching."

"I can't believe you were worried that he would lose," Potter laughed. She slapped Richard lightly on the knee. "I can't believe he told me to hush."

"My favorite part was when he told Harley to take you away. Did you see the look on Harley's face when you dared him to touch you? I've got to start carrying a camera," Potter laughed again.

Richard looked at Beck. "I can't believe that you started a fist fight."

"I'm sorry about that."

"I'm not. I don't have any tolerance for a man that would hit a woman like that," Richard said. "In some situations, it can't be avoided. I have had to kill female vampyres before, but I would never just hit a woman like he did."

"I know. You're such a gentleman."

"Now, I haven't eaten all day. What's for dinner?"

"Potter, what has he eaten today?"

"Burger King and Subway," Potter answered without hesitation. Richard kicked him, "Traitor!"

***

"Where's the back porch?" Leso asked when he returned home a few days later.

"I had to tear it down to build a new room."

"Why did we need a new room?" he asked, curious. "For our children."

"Excuse me?" Leso sputtered 'Your what?"

Richard caught Leso up on everything that had happened while he was away.

"Let me get this straight. When I left, Beck was human, and you were a vampyre. I come back six days later and you're both hunters, Jonathon and Gabryel are dead, and you have children? I don't believe it!"

"Believe it. It's all true."

"You know those boys are going to tear the house down."Richard laughed. "That's what I told Beck, but they've been here for three days and haven't broken a single thing yet."

"It's a miracle," Leso said. "Where are Seanán and Tiarnán anyway?"

"Beck and Bev took them to buy shoes."

"Damn! I wanted to see Bev."

"They should be back soon."

"Did they take any guards with them?" Leso asked, sounding worried. "Yeah...They took Tiarnán and Seanán. They _are_ hunters, remember?"

"Right, I knew that," Leso said. "You've got me thinking of them as kids."

"They are kids. They're just not like other kids."

"That's an understatement," Leso commented dryly. "She's going to have them spoiled. You should see their room."

"Did she buy them that trampoline?"

"Yes, I thought it was a waste, but the boys love it," Richard said, watching the car pull back into the driveway.

Bev jumped out of the car before it had completely stopped. "Leso," she screamed, running and jumping on him.

"I missed you so much," Leso said, kissing her and carrying her into the house.

Beck was yelling hen she opened the car door. "I don't care why you did it! Don't you ever do anything like that again!"

She marched up onto the porch with the boys trudging along behind her. "What happened?" Richard asked. "Go ahead, Tiarnán. Tell him what you did."

"We went shopping for shoes."

"He knows we went shopping for shoes. Tell him what happened _after_ we left the shoe store," she snapped.

"We were getting in the car, when this dickweed whistled at Beck," Tiarnán said.

"And?" Beck prompted impatiently. Tiarnán looked down at his feet and said nothing.

"So, Tiarnán picked the man up and tossed him over two cars!" she finished for him.

"Good boy!" Richard said proudly. "That's not helping, Richard! That man might have really been hurt. I wouldn't know though, because we had to leave! How would I have explained that if someone had called the police?"

"I don't know, but I bet that man won't be whistling at anybody else," Richard said.

"Yes, that's such a good lesson for them to learn! Tiarnán, go to your room. I don't want to see you again until dinner. And no T.V. or video games for three days!" she yelled after him. Directing her attention to Richard, she fumed, "What is wrong with you? You're supposed to back me up."

"But I don't agree with you."

"How can you possibly not agree with me? He threw a man over two cars!"

"Look at it from Tiarnán's point of view. A strange man in a parking lot made a pass at you. If I had been there, I would have done the same thing. Besides, compared to what Tiarnán was _capable_ of doing to that man, what he actually did was pretty mild."

"That still doesn't make what he did alright."

"Maybe not, but you have to keep in mind that they're not used to interacting with humans. You have to give them a chance to get used to it."

"How many people do you think they'll need to chuck over shit before they adjust?" she asked sarcastically.

"You know what I mean. You just have to give them time."

"I'll try."

"Maybe you just shouldn't take them out in public for a while," he suggested.

"I can't do that. I promised I would take them to Kentucky Kingdom tomorrow."

"You did what?!"

"They've never been to an amusement park before."

"Are you crazy?! You can't take them there!" he said, shocked. "Why not?"

"Do you have any idea what those boys could do to one of those rides?"

"Only if they get scared, and I don't think an amusement park ride is capable of freaking them out, do you?"

"No, probably not, but still, they'll be surrounded by humans."

"I'll talk to them before we leave in the morning and give them some ground rules. They'll do fine," she said as she headed toward the house. "I'm going to go wash up and make dinner."

Richard sat thinking for a few moments. She had to be nuts to take them to a place like that! Now he would have to spend the next day making sure that those two, barely controllable, violent, vampyre hunting, twin teenagers acted human. Wonderful!

***

Leso, Bev, Potter, and Jenny went with them to the park the next day.

"Remember what I said: No tearing up the rides; no jumping in front of people in the lines; don't do anything that humans can't do; and under no circumstances are you to hit or throw anyone," she warned before they got out of the car.

"Yes, ma'am," they said. She could feel their excitement and had to smile.

Richard added, "And you are to stay with us at all times."

"Yes sir."

They got out of the car and walked to the entrance gates to join the others. The kids had a blast. They rode all of the rides at least twice. They played all of the games, winning almost every game, and giving their prizes to smaller kids. They acted like such kids themselves that it was hard for her to believe that they were actually over two hundred years old.

They ate food that they'd never had before, but their favorite was cotton candy.

Beck worried aloud, "They're eating way too much junk."

"It doesn't really matter what they eat. We don't really need the nutrition. We eat for the taste and to not _feel_ hungry," Potter said. "They could eat nothing but bags of sugar every day, and it wouldn't make a difference."

"Still, I would prefer that they don't eat so much junk." Bev laughed. "You sound like their mom."

"I _am_ their mom now."

She didn't know that the boys could hear her from where they were, but they both looked at her and smiled.

***

It had been a good day. They didn't have a single problem until they stopped at a gas station on the way home that night. Potter, Jenny, Leso, and Bev had come in a separate car and hadn't needed to stop. Richard had gone in to pay for the gas, and Seanán had gotten out to pump.

Beck was talking to Tiarnán and hadn't noticed the truck that had pulled up on the other side of the pump until she heard a man's voice say, "What are you looking at, you little punk?"

Seanán did not respond to the man.

"I'm talking to you, boy," the man said menacingly.

"No, don't," Beck told Tiarnán when he made a move to get out of the car.

She was about to get out of the car herself when she saw Richard coming out of the store.

"I wasn't looking at you," Seanán said.

The man came between the pumps, grabbed Seanán by his shirt, and slammed him against the car. She didn't have to feel this man's emotions to know that he was mean and liked to bully people that he thought he could intimidate.

"Don't touch me, sir," Seanán told the man as respectfully as possible.

She had to bite back a smile. Bless his heart. He was trying so hard to be polite and not break the rules.

"What are you going to do about it, kid?" the man asked, slamming him against the car again.

"Get your goddamned hands off of my son!" Richard roared.

"You gonna save him?" the man sneered.

"Actually, I was trying to save you."

The man just laughed, still holding on to Seanán.

He was as tall as Richard, and built like a lumberjack. He must have assumed that Richard would back down, as she was sure most people did.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Richard warned.

The man slammed Seanán against the car a third time.

"This is going to hurt like hell," Richard told the man before he kicked him about twenty feet across the deserted parking lot.

The man screamed when he hit the ground, and Richard went after him.

"No, please don't," the man begged.

"Oh, _now_ you don't want to fight? Too late. This is why you should never put your hands on another man's child. You never really know what might happen to you."

She watched as Richard broke the man's arms and legs. He came back and hung up the gas nozzle. He and Seanán got back in the car, and they drove out of the parking lot.

"Now do you see why we don't mingle with humans?" Richard asked her as they pulled back onto the interstate. "I'm starting to."

"Most humans tend to keep their distance from us, but something about us seems to provoke some humans. We may go years without having a problem, and then we run into a human like that. A human who thinks they can do whatever they want to people and get away with it. Then they run into someone like us, and they get hurt."

"If you were human that man would have beaten your son in front of you."

"He would have tried. Even human, do you think that man would have been much of a challenge for me?"

"My point is this. That man deserved what you did to him." The twins didn't speak the rest of the way home. When they got out of the car, they went straight into the house and to their room.

"They're mad at me," Richard told Beck later when they had retired to their own room.

"No, they're shocked that you stood up for Seanán like you did," she explained.

Surprised, he asked, "Why?"

"I don't think they thought you liked them very much."

"I didn't think I did either until I saw that man slam Seanán against the car. I know Seanán could have taken care of it very easily, but it made me mad anyway. What I really wanted to do was tear that man's head off for touching him."

"And you were so sexy taking up for your kid like you did."

"How sexy?"

"Come here, and I'll show you."

***

Beck and they boys were in the front yard the next morning with Potter, Damon, Jeff, and Jenny. The boys were jumping on the trampoline and telling everyone what had happened the night before. Richard had just walked out of the house when Seanán got to the part of the story where the man had grabbed him.

"Pop told him to take his hands off me. When he didn't let me go, Pop kicked him across the parking lot. It was totally awesome!" Seanán said, doing a back-flip off the trampoline.

Richard had frozen to the porch. She walked over to see what was wrong with him.

"What's up?"

He turned around and walked back into the house. She followed him into the kitchen, where he took a set of keys off the wall.

"What's wrong with you?"

"They called me Pop."

"Yes...I noticed that."

"I've got to go," he said turning to leave. "You're leaving because they're calling you Pop? I can tell them not to do that if you don't want them to."

"Don't do that! That's not why I'm leaving. I'll be back soon," he said, kissing her before running out the door.

"Where are you going, Pop?" she heard one of the boys call out.

"I'll be back," he called across the yard.

A minute later, she watched him drive off in one of the big pickups. She had no idea what he was doing, but she knew them calling him 'Pop' had floored him. When he came back an hour later, he had the truck bed full of bags of concrete. He unloaded them and left again. He came back with another load and left again. When he came back again, he had a third load of concrete.

"What are you doing?" she finally had to ask.

"You'll see."

After six more loads of concrete, he pulled in with six basketball posts and two goals.

"You're building them a basketball court?"

"Yes, but don't tell the boys yet. I want to surprise them. Where are they anyway?" he asked, looking around.

"On the other side of the creek with everyone else."

"Good, go tell them to spend the night there and not to come home until one of us comes and gets them."

When she came back, he'd already stripped a 60' by 30' spot flat in the side yard and was putting wood forms together for the concrete to be poured into.

"It's awful big for a home court."

"For them, it has to be."

"Do you want me to go get Potter and Leso to help you?"

"No, I want to do it myself." He said, and continued placing the forms. "Why?"

"Because they're my kids, and I want to build their basketball court." She smiled. "Okay, be my guest. Since you don't want any help, I'm going to go watch a movie."

"Okay," he said, picking up all the goal posts and going around the back of the house.

***

When she came back out three hours later, it was nearly dark, and he was done. She had expected to see six basketball goals, what she found was two, one on either side of the court, and each one thirty feet high. "What did you do?"

"I welded three posts together for each goal."

"Why?"

"Because, regulation height is only ten feet. What are our boys going to do with a ten foot goal? I had to make it higher for them to be able to really play."

She noticed that he had called them 'our boys'.

"You really put some thought into this, didn't you?"

"Yes. Do you think they'll like it?"

"They're gonna love it," she said, kissing him.

"What did you cook? The smells have been driving me crazy."

"I made two pans of chicken pot pie. I can't smell it out here, though."

"Well, I can smell it like its right under my nose. Is it ready?" he asked, walking with her into the house.

"Yes, it's just cooling."

"It's cool enough," he said, scooping up as much pot pie as he could onto his plate. "I love actually being hungry again."

"So, you don't miss the blood thirst?"

"Hell no, I don't miss it! What I missed was _food_."

He shoveled the pot pie into his mouth and refilled his plate.

"You weren't kidding about being a big eater," she said, watching him start on the second pot pie.

"I told you I was a big eater?"

"Well, the first Richard I met told me that."

Before he could say anything else, Potter walked through the door.

"I know you're not eating my pot pie too," he said, grabbing a plate and sitting down.

"I didn't know Jenny made the pot pie."

Putting food onto a plate, Potter said, "Beck made it."

"Exactly. My wife, my pot pie."

"Beck's not actually your wife," Potter corrected him.

Richard reached across the table and punched him.

"Stop hitting him," Beck insisted.

"Then he needs to shut up. We've gotten married twice."

"No. Another Richard married another Beck in a different past. This Beck married a different Richard in an alternate time, but you two have _never_ been married."

Taking a bite of her food, Beck agreed. "He's right." She had never thought of it like that.

"Yes, he is right. So, will you marry me?"

When she looked over, he was holding a ring box out to her. In the box was a beautiful diamond ring. He slid his chair back and got down on one knee.

"Beck, I have loved you for 120 years. When I lost you to the future, something in me died. When I found you again, you _literally_ gave my life back to me. Will you do me the honor of spending it with me?"

Her heart was racing in her chest. "Yes."

He took off her wedding band, and slid the diamond ring onto her finger. "Thank you, Little One," he said pulling her into his arms.

"You two set me up," she said, wiping her eyes when Richard released her.

Potter smiled. "Just a little bit."

"I can't believe you two did that to me."

"I can't believe you agreed to marry him again," Potter laughed.

Watching the diamond sparkle in the light, she asked, "When did you get the ring."

"I bought yours forty years ago in Paris. Leso bought his at a jewelry shop in the mall when we went the other day."

"Leso's going to ask Bev to marry him?" she squealed excitedly.

"He's asking her tonight. He wanted to ask her the same day I asked you."

"That's so sweet."

"So, how do you want to celebrate our engagement?"

"I'll show you. Come on. I'll race you to the cliff," she said, and ran out of the house with him right behind her.

### Chapter Sixteen

Bev screamed when Beck came into the kitchen the next morning, "I'm getting married!" She danced over to Beck and showed her ring.

"Oh, it's beautiful," Beck said. "Congratulations!"

"Leso said Richard was asking you, too."

"He did," she replied and showed Bev her ring.

"Beck, we have to have a double wedding."

"That's a great idea." It would be fun to have a double ceremony with Bev.

"I'll call Rev. Bryce and find out what will be the best time for him to perform the ceremony."

"You sure you want to do that? You know he'll tell Mom and Dad."

"We can't have someone else do it. It would hurt Rev. Bryce's feelings if he found out."

"You're right. Go ahead and call him."

She would have to deal with her parents one last time. Bev went to call the reverend, and Richard came in from outside.

"The concrete is dry. Potter went to get the boys," he told her and ran back outside like a kid. She got up and followed him outside. There were two basketballs sitting in the middle of the court.

"Here they come," he said.

A few seconds later, Potter and the boys stepped into the yard.

"Cool!" the boys exclaimed.

Potter told them, "Richard built it for you."

"Thanks, Pop!" they said, running to the court.

She could feel a thrill go through Richard when they called him Pop. She watched Tiarnán pick up one of the basketballs and slam dunk it into one of the thirty foot goals. She would never again be impressed by NBA players. They had nothing on her boys.

"Hey, Pop. Aren't you going to play?" they asked.

"Yeah, sure," he said happily, and jumped across the yard onto the court.

Soon Potter was playing, too. She watched them play for a while until Bev called her into the house.

"Rev. Bryce said he could do it in two weeks. I told him that would be fine."

"That works for me. Do you need to do the wedding dress thing?"

"Lord, no! It's way too hot for that. I was thinking maybe just a couple of nice white dresses. What do you think?"

"Sounds great. We can go shopping for them today if you want to," Beck suggested.

"Okay. Let me just go tell Leso where we're going." Bev ran out of the room.

Beck grabbed a pitcher of sweet tea and some glasses to take out to the guys, and she wanted to tell Richard she was leaving. The crowd on the court had grown. Now Christov, Gavin, Patrick, Gunner, Conor, Harley, Bruce, Jeremy, and Séamus were playing now, too. Charley and Susie were sitting by the court watching the game. Charley was all of 5' tall with long, light brown hair and hazel eyes. Susie was much taller with blonde hair and blue eyes. Both of them were beautiful.

"Bev and I are going shopping for dresses," she called to Richard.

Tossing the basketball through the hoop, he nodde, "Okay."

"Do you two want to come with us?" she asked the girls.

"I would," Charley said, popping off the ground.

Susie chimed in, "Me too."

"Where's Alexis?" Beck asked Harley.

"She's across the creek."

"Do you think she would want to go?"

Harley laughed, "Please! Watch this." He yelled loudly, "Alexis! Beck is going clothes shopping. Do you want to go?!" Not ten seconds later, Alexis burst out of the path from the woods, purse in hand. "I'm here. I'm ready."

"I knew you wouldn't miss a chance to go shopping," Harley laughed again.

"Be quiet, Harley," Alexis said.

Jenny yelled, "Wait for us," as she, Saphira, and Heidi came running out of the woods as well.

The three of them, along with Bev, rode in one car. Charley, Susie, and Alexis rode with Beck.

Beck started talking to Susie. "You know, I was shocked as hell to hear that Bruce got married. You do know what he use to be like, don't you?"

"You mean about all of the brothels he used to go to?" Susie laughed.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I'm glad he finally settled down. Where did you two meet?"

Susie laughed again. "In a brothel."

"You worked in a brothel?" Beck asked surprised.

"I did. Bruce came in one night, and we've been together ever since."

"I never thought about vampyres working in brothels."

Susie shook her head. "I wasn't a vampyre then. Bruce changed me."

"He did what?!"

"Calm down, Beck. He didn't just jump on me and bite me. We were together for three years when I got sick. I didn't know what was wrong with me, just that I was really tired all the time. I didn't have any energy, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I don't know how he knew so soon, but one day Richard came into my room and told me I wasn't going to get any better.

"He said I was going to die and that I needed to make a choice: Did I want to die as a human or live as a vampyre? He said to really think about it, because once I had made the choice to be a vampyre that it couldn't be changed. I guess that didn't apply to him, though, since he's a hunter now.

"Anyway, three weeks later, the pain in my stomach started. Bruce came to me a few days later and told me the same thing that Richard had told me weeks before. He said I was going to die and asked me what I wanted to do. I chose to stay with Bruce, and here I am."

She knew how Richard had known Susie was dying before anyone else. Before he'd known he could feed on animals, he'd spent the first year of his life as a vampyre feeding only on humans that were dying. He had learned the scent well.

"You made the right choice, Susie. Bruce is a good man. How did you meet Harley, Alexis?"

Alexis was a stone-cold fox. She had a model's body, cat eyes, and long black hair that fell to her waist. "He used to watch my sister's kids. I knew him for a year before I even knew he was a vampyre. I had him change me for the same reason you became a hunter, so I could be with him forever."

Beck agreed. "Always a good reason."

"I was already a vampyre when I met Jeremy," Charley offered. "My family was in a head on collision in 1963. My parents and my brother were killed, and I was paralyzed from the waist down. I spent eleven months in the hospital. I was only eighteen when they released me. I didn't have any family that was willing to take me in, so I was sent to a convalescent home.

"I was still there a year later when a nurse named Sarah came to work at the home. She was really nice. She would come in and talk to me every day. After a while, we became really close. One day, I was telling her how I would rather be dead than live like I was living, and she told me that it didn't have to be that way. She told me what she was and that if I wanted her to, she could change me. I told her that being a vampyre had to be better than living in that home. She took me from the home that night and turned me."

"If you gave it a little more time, you would've adjusted," Beck said.

"I know that now, but it didn't seem that way then. I was young and couldn't see a way out from where I was. I've never regretted my decision, though. This life has been good to me. It brought me Jeremy and a new family. I'm happy."

"Beck, Susie and I want to thank you," Alexis said out of nowhere.

"For what?"

Susie looked at Alexis, who nodded, then told Beck, "For saving our husbands. If it weren't for you, they wouldn't be here, and neither would we."

"Oh, well, you're welcome, I guess," Beck blushed uncomfortably. She hadn't actually saved Bruce and Harley for them, but was glad they had found each other.

They met back up with the others when they got to the mall. "Bev said we're shopping for dresses. Are you sure you don't want to wear a wedding dress?" Heidi asked.

Beck said with conviction, "I'm sure."

"It's your wedding, I guess. Are you going to have bridesmaids?" Jenny asked.

Beck smiled, "I thought we could share all of you. You, Saphira, and Heidi can be my bridesmaids, and Charley, Susie, and Alexis can be Bev's."

"Is that okay with you, Bev?" Charley asked.

Bev smiled, "Yes, that's what I was thinking, too."

"Cool! Now let's go get those dresses," Alexis exclaimed happily.

***

"Do you know we're getting married in two weeks?" Leso asked Richard when the basketball game was over.

"No, I didn't know when it would be. Are you nervous?""

"No, I just wish it could be sooner, but Bev called their Reverend and that was the soonest he would be available."

"Reverend Bryce?" Richard asked, startled.

"Yes, why?"

He recalled Beck's memories of their last wedding and of her parents showing up. "He's going to tell their parents about the wedding."

"That's what Bev said, too. Maybe they won't show up since they're not invited," Leso said hopefully.

Richard shook his head. "They'll show up. You can count on it."

"Maybe we can just kill them," Leso grinned.

"Don't think I haven't considered it."

Leso was surprised. "Have you really?"

"Yes, I have. They're horrible, cruel people. The way they treated Beck when she was growing up was deplorable."

"I know Bev can't stand them. She hasn't so much as spoken to them in years."

"Beck hadn't either, until they showed up at our last wedding. It wasn't exactly what you would have called a happy reunion."

"We'll figure out something to do with them. Don't worry about it. By the way, it looks like you're getting on well with the boys. They love that basketball court you built them."

"I liked building it for them. They're good boys," Richard said.

"I guess they just needed a family structure. Maybe they'll be able to grow up now."

"Not too fast, I hope."

"I take it you like being a father."

"I didn't think I would, but I really do. They call me 'Pop'," Richard told him, pride ringing in his voice.

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all. I like it."

Leso smiled. "You do know that they're actually older than you, don't you?"

"I know, but I was older than them when I was changed into a vampyre, so I'm actually twelve years older than them."

"Whatever makes you happy, I guess."

Richard joked, "Maybe you can steal a baby for you and Bev to raise."

"Ha, ha...Very funny. No thanks. If it's all the same to you, I'll just stick with being Uncle Leso."

"You don't know what you're missing."

"I'll take your word for it."

***

"Are you sure you don't mind that all the bridesmaid's dresses don't match?" Jenny asked after they returned home.

"I couldn't care less," Beck said. "You all look wonderful in the dresses you picked out. It's only going to be the family and the hunters anyway."

"You're right, and I do look good in my dress," Jenny giggled.

Beck agreed. "Potter will love you in it."

They'd shopped for so long that it was dark when they finally got home. She'd stopped and got them twenty pizzas on the way home, and everyone that could eat was out on the porch. She walked outside to get a piece before it was gone.

"I thought you and your flock of females must have been planning to spend the night at the mall," Richard half-scolded, handing her a piece of pizza. "I tried to call you, but you didn't answer the phone."

"I saw that you tried to call. I ignored it. Don't you know that you never interrupt a woman while she's shopping?"

"What if it had been an emergency?"

"If it had been an emergency, you wouldn't have called. You would have been there. I heard your voice message. That it was after 6:00 p.m. and there was no dinner does _not_ constitute an emergency."

"It was an emergency. I was really hungry. It's your fault. You're the one who has me on a 6:00 dinner schedule. I waited as long as I could to call you," he replied, stuffing another piece of pizza into his mouth.

"You called at 6:03."

"That was as long as I could wait," he said with his mouth full.

"You could have cooked something."

"I don't know how to cook."

"Do you know how to make a sandwich?"

She heard the rumble of thunder close by and jumped a little. Great, thunderstorm.

"I did make a sandwich."

Lightning lit up the sky. Beck and Bev both jumped up and ran into the house.

"Where's the breaker box?!" Bev yelled.

Beck answered quickly. "In the kitchen."

Bev ran into the kitchen and shut down the power to the house. Thunder rocked the house, followed by several bright burst of lightning. She could feel the electrical current running through her body. Damn it! She hadn't been around lightning since the night Leso had killed that vampyre in Durham. She could tell that this storm was going to be much worse.

Bev ran out the front door. "Shit! The generators are still running! Somebody go shut the generators to the house down. Now!"

"Why?" Leso asked.

Bev screamed. " _NOW!_ " and went back into the living room. "How are you holding up?" she asked Beck.

"Not good." She could feel the current build inside her body.

"Remember to breath."

Coming into the living room, Richard asked, "Don't you want to come watch the lightning storm?"

"Have you lost your mind?!" Bev yelled. "She is a lightning rod, and you want her to go outside?!"

"Beck, are you alright?" he asked, rushing into the room.

"Don't touch her!" Bev told him...too late. He'd reached out to touch her face. _POW!_ The static shock hit him like a gunshot. "I told you not to touch her."

"What the hell was that?!" he gasped.

Beck apologized, "I'm sorry! It's the lightning. It causes me to charge with static electricity."

"That shock would have put a human on the floor," Bev giggled. "Trust me, I know. I bet it still hurt though, didn't it?"

"My hands are still tingling. Would it do it if I touched you again?"

"Yep, it won't stop until the storm passes."

Richard smiled, "Oh, okay." Then he yelled, "Potter! Come here!"

"That's not nice," Bev scolded.

Richard said softly, "Don't tell him."

"I wasn't going to," Bev whispered, smiling ear to ear.

Richard ran across the room to stand next to Bev. "What's up?" Potter asked, coming into the room, soaking wet from the rain.

"Touch Beck," Richard coaxed.

"Why?"

Bev encouraged, "Just do it."

Potter shrugged, walked across the room, and grabbed her arm. _POW_! He flew back about four feet and hit the floor. Not thinking, Beck jumped up and grabbed his arm to help him up. _POW_!

"Stop touching me, woman!" he yelled.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," she told him.

Richard and Bev were laughing so hard that they couldn't breathe.

"What the hell?" Potter asked.

"I'm sorry. It's the lightning. They made me do it," Beck explained, pointing at Richard and Bev.

"Very funny, you assholes. I was wet! You know water is conductive. Damn that hurt!" He thought for a second, and then yelled, "Damon!"

"What are you doing?" Bev asked.

"Damon's wet, too. Might as well share the love," Potter said, laughing.

***

It was the wedding day, and he was on the porch of the house a half hour before the ceremony was supposed to begin. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there was just enough breeze to keep the heat from being overwhelming. It was a shame he was going to miss the nuptials.

He wished he could be there, but he had a job to do. Beck would understand. He hoped. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but this had to be done. Five minutes later, the front door opened, and a man and woman attempted to step outside. He shoved them back into the house, stepped in behind them, and closed the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Get out of my house immediately!" Charles Stockdale yelled.

"I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you, so, sit down and shut up."

Lisa Stockdale reached for the phone. "I'm calling the police."

"You can try, but I cut your phone lines an hour ago."

Charles dove across the room and grabbed a gun out of the end table.

"Get out of my house," he yelled again, pointing the gun at the intruder's chest.

"A gun? Really? I've never been shot before. Well, go ahead then, shoot me," he said, raising his hands above his head.

Charles pulled the trigger and shot him. He felt the bullet strike his chest. It hurt a little, but only for a second.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, and then streaked across the room and snatched the gun from Charles's hand. "I bet you've never seen anyone move that fast before, have you?" Charles looked shocked. "I bet you've never seen this either," he stated as he crushed the gun in his hand. "Now sit down!"

He picked Charles up by the back of his neck and tossed him onto the couch.

"What do you want?" Lisa asked, crying.

"I want to be at a wedding, but I'm here because you two don't seem to realize what 'unwelcome' means."

Charles asked, "Our daughters' weddings?"

"Yep."

"Who are you?" a sniffling Lisa asked.

"Me? I'm Potter Harris."

"How do you know our daughters?" Charles demanded.

"That is none of your business, and if you raise your voice to me again, I'll crush your fucking head."

Lisa asked quietly, "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing this because your daughters can't stand you, and you damn well know it," Potter snapped. "You knew you weren't invited to their weddings, and you were going to go anyway. What's wrong with you people? Haven't you messed up my sister's life enough?"

"Your sister?" Lisa asked in confusion.

"My sister Beck."

Charles pointed his finger at Potter. "Beck is not your sister!"

It was the wrong thing for Charles to say. Potter reached out and snapped Charles' finger, causing him to scream. "Life lesson number one: Never put your fingers in somebody's face, they might get broken. Keep running your mouth, and I'll break all of your bones one by one. It won't bother me a bit."

"Shut up, lady," Potter said.

Lisa sobbed, "You're going to kill us."

"No, as much as I want to, I'm not going to do it." He would like to kill them, but they _were_ Beck and Bev's parents. As much as they hated them, him killing them might make them a little mad.

"What are you?" Charles asked, looking at the crushed gun on the floor.

"What I am is no concern of yours," he said, sitting down on the coffee table.

Charles cradled his injured hand. "I know your name. I'm calling the police when you leave."

"You can call the Pope for all I fucking care, but you won't call anyone. What would you tell the police? That the boogie man held you hostage to keep you from going to your daughter's weddings? They would put you in a rubber room," he smiled.

He would love to see them explain this visit to the police.

"Let me explain something to you. Beck and Bev have a new family. One that, unlike you, actually loves and cares about them. They don't want anything to do with you two, _ever_. I would suggest you leave them alone. You see, there's thirty-two more boogie men where I come from, and they're not all as nice as I am."

Charles mumbled, "It figures that Beck would end up with freaks like her."

"You're just as dumb as a rock, aren't you?" he said, shaking his head. He reached out and crushed Charles' wrist, sending him into another scream. "Life lesson number two; don't piss off the boogie man. Now, we're going to sit here and enjoy each other's company for the next hour or so, and then I'll leave, and you can go to the hospital. After that, if you're lucky, you'll never see me again."

He would've rather have been at the wedding, but scaring the hell out of these people was fun, too. If he had to be here, he might as well enjoy himself.

***

"Lugh told me that I'm supposed to give you away," Damon told Beck, sticking his head into the antechamber off of the main hall of the church.

"What? He's supposed to give me away! Where is he?"

"I don't know. He said he had something to do, and he would talk to you about it later."

She was hurt. "He's not coming to the wedding?"

"I guess not," Damon answered meekly.

"I'm going to kill him," Jenny said icily.

"What could he have to do that's more important than being here?" Beck asked.

Heidi shrugged. "I don't know, but that explains why he gave Isiah a camcorder to tape the wedding."

"I am going to _kill_ him," Jenny said again.

Beck asked, "Saphira, go ask Richard if he knows where Potter is."

"It's too late," Saphira said. "They're ready for us."

A second later, the music started, and it was time to go. The bridesmaids walked down the aisle first, followed by Daryl and Bev. When she and Damon started down the aisle, Richard looked at Damon with confusion. She could tell he didn't know where Potter was, either. She looked around the church and felt relief to see that her parents weren't there.

She forgot about Potter when she got to Richard. It was a beautiful wedding. Richard's best man was Harley, and Leso's was Bruce.

Everything went perfectly. When the ceremony was over, everyone applauded and threw birdseed on them as they left the church.

"Where the hell was Potter?" Richard asked as they walked to the car.

"I have no idea. I can't believe he wasn't here."

"I know where he is," Jeff said.

"Why haven't you said anything?" Richard asked impatiently.

"Lugh told me not to tell you until the wedding was over. He went to Beck's parent's house to keep them from coming to the wedding. He said it was his wedding gift to you."

"My parent's house?" Beck repeated, startled.

"Yes. Lugh said that you didn't really want them here, so he went to make sure that they didn't come anyway."

"You don't think he'd kill them, do you?" she asked Richard.

He opened the car door for her. "Probably not, but we should go get him anyway."

Beck smiled a little. "I hate to admit it, but Potter did give me and Bev the perfect wedding gift."

"We talked about how much you didn't want your parents to be here, but I didn't know he was going to do this."

They pulled up in front of her childhood home a few minutes later.

"I haven't been here since I left for college," she said, getting out of the car.

She walked up the steps, onto the porch, and into the house. Her mother was crying, her father was holding his right hand to his stomach, and Potter was flipping through an old family photo album.

"Hey, Beck!" Potter said, looking up from the album. "Is the wedding over already?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"Me too," Beck said.

Charles yelled, "This man broke into our house and assaulted me!"

"What did I say about raising your voice?" Potter asked calmly, and Charles' mouth snapped shut.

"What happened to him?" she asked, pointing at her father's arm.

"Life lessons," Potter said.

"You hit him?"

"He shot me first."

"He broke my finger!" Charles wailed.

"You shouldn't point at people," Potter said. "It's rude."

"He broke your father's arm," Lisa sobbed.

"Don't be such a drama queen, it was only his wrist," he said before turning to Beck. "Look at this picture of you when you were two. You were so cute. We need to start our own photo album. I've never had one before."

"Rebecca, this 'thing' is not human," Lisa said, looking at Potter.

"I know exactly what he is, and he is more human than you ever were. He is kind, decent, loving, and would die for anyone in his family. This 'thing' happens to be my brother."

Charles snapped at her. "This _monster_ is not your brother!"

"Boy, you just don't learn, do you?" Potter said and squeezed Charles' broken wrist.

Lisa jumped to her feet and slapped Potter across the face.

"Don't you hit him!" Beck screamed, pulling her mother back.

Lisa spun and punched Beck in the mouth. It didn't hurt, but it stunned her.

"You ungrateful little bitch! We should have killed you when you were little! You have caused nothing but embarrassment and misery since the day you were born! I wish you would just die!"

Before she knew what she was doing, she'd slapped her mother. She'd never struck one of her parents before.

"How dare you hit your mother!" Charles yelled.

He raised his uninjured fist to punch her just as the door behind her flew off its hinges. The blow never fell.

Richard had Charles pinned against the far wall before she could even blink.

"Uh-oh," Potter sighed. "I told you most of the other boogie men weren't as nice as me."

"You will _never_ touch my wife again!" Richard growled and threw her father to the floor. "I have watched you physically and emotionally abuse her since she was a toddler. I've wanted to kill you for twenty-six years. You're only alive now because I have allowed it. Don't make me change my mind today."

"That's impossible," Lisa said in disbelief. "You can't be more than Beck's age."

"I am 204 years old."

"Really?" Potter asked. "That's all?"

"Yes. Why?"

Potter laughed. "Because, I'm 287 years old, and I look _much_ better than you."

Lisa looked toward Beck, shocked.

Beck shrugged. "What can I say? I like older men." She turned to Richard. "Let's go. I've spent enough time in this house to last me a lifetime."

"As you wish," Richard nodded, walking back to her and leading her out of the house.

### Chapter Seventeen

It was the first night of their honeymoon in Hawaii, and she was dreaming. She was walking around the side of the house. Her skin was burning, and the hunters were running toward her. She had the deepest, heaviest sense of foreboding. She called out to the hunters, wanting to know what was wrong. They neither stopped nor answered her.

The feeling of fear was overwhelming, and she clawed her way back to consciousness. She sat up in the bed and looked around the room. Everything was fine. Richard was snoring softly beside her. She lay back down and thought about the dream. What did it mean? There was not enough information in the dream to give her a clue what it was about. Eventually, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

***

The next day found her lying on the beach, reading a magazine. "Aren't you going to come in the water?" Richard asked, flopping, soaking wet onto the blanket beside her.

"Um, no. Not never."

"Why not?"

"We keep the sharks in there," she said.

Amused, he asked, "You're afraid of sharks?"

"Not at all. I have no reason to be afraid of them, because I'm not going in there."

"You know you can't be hurt by a shark now."

"Yeah, right. With my luck, I'd get bit by a shark with silver fillings. No thanks."

"Come on, Beck. Look at that beautiful ocean," he said, waving his hand towards the water.

She looked up from her magazine. "Yes, it's lovely. I can see it from here."

"So, we're in Hawaii for a week, and you're not even going to swim?"

"That's not true. There's a nice pool at the hotel that I'll be more than happy to jump into."

He pointed out into the water where Bev and Leso were swimming. "Bev's still human, and she's swimming."

"Good for her. I'm still not going in there."

"Leso says Bev's not warming to the idea of becoming a hunter."

"I know. I asked her about that. She said it's not worth the risk of death."

"I agree with her."

"You didn't mind when I turned you into a hunter."

"It wasn't such a big risk for me. Technically, I was already dead. I'm surprised you haven't just snuck up on Bev and stuck her."

Offended, she said, "I would never do that to her."

"You did it to me," he smiled.

"That was different. You hated being a vampyre. Bev doesn't hate being human. It has to be her choice. Maybe Leso will just bite her one day."

"He'd never do that."

"You said you would have bitten me."

"And I would have, but Leso feels the same you do. He believes that it should be her decision."

"I take it that you don't agree with him?"

"I just don't understand it. If I could have turned, I would have. There's nothing wrong with Bev's blood, and Leso still won't bite her."

"Are you implying that something is wrong with my blood?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

He laughed. "Wrong with it? No. Besides being poisonous, it's perfect."

"I was hoping the poison smell would go away when I became a hunter."

"I'm glad you didn't lose your scent. I love your Fruit Loopy smell. I don't even notice the poison scent anymore," he said, and kissed her shoulder.

"I wonder if Bev would keep her scent if she became a hunter?"

"We may never know," he said, getting up. "Are you sure you won't come into the water?"

"I would rather play leap frog with unicorns," she said off-handedly, looking back down at her magazine.

He laughed and jogged back down the beach to the water.

***

The months passed quickly after the wedding. She'd finally learned all of the hunter's names and was getting a chance to get to know the new members of the family better. "How did you meet Heidi?" she asked Levi one day while they were watching the boys practice their martial arts skills. They were _very_ good.

"We met in Indonesia in 1930. I had gone to see the volcanoes. I used to be very fascinated with them."

"Used to be?"

"Well, when I sensed other vampyres there, I was curious. So, I tracked them down. I found Heidi, Saphira, and Harley halfway up Mount Merapi, looking at the volcano."

He was very easy to listen to. He had a voice that held your attention, no matter what he was saying. He was easy to look at as well. He was nearly six feet tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

"Mount Merapi? That's the Mountain of Fire, right?"

"It is. It's one of the 129 active volcanoes that form the Pacific Ring of Fire."

"Isn't 1930 the year it erupted, killing a lot of people?" she asked.

"Yes. The pyroclastic flows killed at least 1,400 people and destroyed thirteen villages, but we were gone before that happened."

"Thank God."

"Anyway, I knew that the vampyres that I'd found could sense me just as well as I could them. When I got close enough, I could smell that, like me, they did not feed on humans. I didn't sense any other vampyres or humans around, so I attempted to approach them."

"Attempted?" she asked, confused.

"Yes, attempted. When I was several yards from them, I was picked up from behind, by who I later learned was Damon, and thrown through the air. Heidi was in front of me when I jumped up. We have been together ever since."

"I don't understand. What about that made you not like volcanoes anymore?" she asked.

"Oh, that. When Damon threw me, I landed not two feet away from a lava flow. Lava burns at around 2,000 degrees. I'm sure that would have been hot enough to vaporize even a vampyre. Almost getting tossed into one took all the flavor out of my fascination," he laughed.

***

In October, she sat on the roof soaking in the last of the fall sun and watched Richard and Leso build what appeared to be a large kiln.

"What are they doing?" she asked Harley when he jumped onto the roof beside her.

Rolling his eyes at her, he replied, "Building a kiln."

"Yes, I can see it's a kiln, smartass. Why are they building it?Is somebody taking up pottery?"

"No, they're going to use it to heat Leso this winter so he doesn't give Bev frostbite."

Shocked, she asked, "Leso's going to get in that thing?!"

"It won't hurt him. He'll only have to stay in it for a few minutes to warm up."

"Couldn't he just sit in front of the fireplace in the house?"

"It wouldn't work. That would only heat his skin. As soon as he moved away from the fire, he would get cold again. The kiln will heat him all the way through."

"Won't that make him to hot for Bev to touch him?"

"For a little while, but after a while in the house, he'll drop down to room temperature and stay that way until he goes back outside."

"He must really love her if he's willing to climb into an oven for her," she said.

"He does, but the kiln was Richard's idea. He thought of it years ago."

She couldn't believe that she was actually touched that the man she loved had been willing to cook himself every day for her.

"I've never asked you where you're from before," she told Harley.

"No, you haven't."

"Well?"

He grinned, "Oh, you're asking now?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well then, I'm from Aberdeen, Scotland."

"When were you born?"

"1697."

"Damn! That would make you 312 years old!" she said surprised.

"311. I wasn't born until December," he said grinning and adding, "I'm still younger than you and will _always_ be younger than you."

"Good point," she said. "Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure."

"How did you become a vampyre?" She saw him flinch. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's none of my business."

"I'll tell you. You saved my life."

"You don't owe me anything for that."

"Really, I don't mind." He was quiet for a minute, and she could feel his uneasiness. "I was 19 years old when I was changed. I had three little brothers and one little sister that I took care of. We'd lost our mother the year before, and my father was a mean drunk who would disappear for weeks at a time. He used to beat on the younger kids until I put a stop to it.

"Then I came home one day and heard my sister screaming. I rushed into the house to find our father slamming her into a wall. She was only two years old, and I'd had it enough.. I beat him pretty badly and threw him out of the house.

"He was a useless man, and we didn't need him. He had not helped take care of my mother when she was sick, nor had he helped bury her when she died.

"He'd left that to me, as he had everything else. Six peaceful months had passed since he had left. My twelve year old brother had helped take care of the smaller children while I found work anywhere I could. We didn't have much, but we got by. For the first time in a long time, we were happy, but it did not last.

"I'd been away overnight, working, and came home to find all of my brother's bodies laying scattered in the yard. All of them dead, and all of their throats ripped out. I ran into the house to find my sister. What I found was a man leaned over her body, feeding from her neck. It was my father.

"He threw her lifeless body to the ground like she was nothing, and then came at me. When I woke up, I fed for the first time. I went home, buried my brothers and sister beside our mother, and left. I never knew why my father only bit me, and I didn't bother to ask him before I killed him a few months later. Maybe it was revenge for throwing him out, but the 'Why?' never mattered to me. After that, I traveled alone for years until I found Bruce. A few years later, we found the Youngs, and then you found us, and here we are."

"I don't know what to say," she said sniffling.

"There's nothing _to_ say. Don't cry, Beck. It was so long ago that I don't even remember my sister and brother's faces," he said, patting her shoulder. He was lying about that, but she didn't call him on it. "I'm going to go find the twins and see if they want to shoot some hoops."

He flashed her a smile and dropped from the roof.

She looked back down to where they were building the kiln. Richard was looking up at her. She could see clear tears on his cheeks, and knew that with his improved hearing, he had heard Harley's story. She also knew they would never talk about it.

***

"Hey, Ma! Come look!" Tiarnán yelled from the front yard.

It was January, and they had gotten about two feet of snow overnight. She stepped out the front door and gasped. All the snow on the ground and the surrounding trees was gone, and there was a twenty foot tall snowman in the front yard. It had two hubcaps for eyes and an orange safety cone for a nose. She had to give it to them; when her sons decide to make a snowman, they did _not_ fuck around. The dogs, Bailey and Blaze, were chasing each other around the base of it.

"It's huge," she said in amazement.

"Cool, huh?" they said together.

"I'm impressed. How did you get the snow out of the trees?"

"We shook them," Seanán replied.

How many mothers could say that their boys could shake thirty foot tall trees?

Richard stepped out of the house, and froze. "Good Lord! Were you two bored?"

"A little bit," Tiarnán said. They really were a family now. The boys couldn't have felt more like her sons if she had given birth to them herself.

"I heard that your birthday's are today," Richard said to the boys.

"Yeah, we're 279 years old today," Seanán answered.

Beck laughed, "Neither of you look a day over 17."

"Gee, thanks Ma," Tiarnán said.

Richard smiled at them. "Hop in the truck, and we'll go pick up your birthday presents."

"We get presents?" they asked, surprised.

"Sure you do."

"We haven't gotten a birthday present since we were human," Seanán explained.

"Then today's your lucky day," Richard said. "Let's go."

She waited two minutes after they left before yelling, "They're gone!" at the top of her lungs.

All of the hunters and vampyres started coming off of the path from the woods carrying boxes and bags.

"Where do you want this stuff?" Gavin asked.

"Put the presents in the living room, and the cakes and decorations on the kitchen table," she told them as they filed past her into the house. She walked into the kitchen and saw six cakes sitting on the table. She'd bought seven. "Where's the other cake?"

Potter faked a frown, "Uh...yeah, sorry about that."

"You ate a whole cake?"

"I was hungry."

"We do have other food, you know?"

"I know, but none of it tasted like cake," he laughed.

She tossed him a box, and said, "Here, hang these decorations up, you pig."

The decorations were hung, and everything was ready when the truck pulled back into the driveway. "Happy Birthday!"everyone shouted when the boys came through the door.

The boys froze in shock. They looked at the banner that read 'HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY... AGAIN' and looked at Beck. "You threw us a party?" Tiarnán asked.

"Yep."

"We've never had a party," Seanán said.

"Come on and open your presents."

They opened the gold watches Jenny had gotten them. They also got new video games from Leso and Bev, and various other gifts from everyone else. After the boys had thanked everyone, Beck announced, "Time for cake."

"Wait!" Potter said. "They haven't gotten my present yet. It's out back."

They walked around the house to find an eighteen foot long ping pong table in the backyard.

"Awesome!" the twins chimed. "Thanks, Uncle Lugh!"

"You're welcome," Potter said, watching them run to the table.

Beck was astonished. "I didn't know they make ping pong tables that big."

"They don't. I had to cannibalize two tables to make that."

"Well, it was nice of you to do that for them."

Potter laughed. "It was, wasn't it?"

"I can't believe they're going to play now. It's so cold out here," she said, pulling her jacket tighter around her.

"You're still a newbie hunter. In a hundred years, you won't even notice the cold anymore."

"Great! Then I'll see you in a hundred years. Until then, I'm going back in the house where the heat is."

***

"The grills are ready," Bev called to Beck.

It was a warm day in March, and they were having a cookout. All of the hunters were there, and they were having to use five grills to cook all the food.

"Remember to cook my steak all the way through. I can't eat it all bloody the way you do," Bev reminded her. "It's gross."

"I know how to cook your steak," Beck said. " But I'm telling you, a well-done steak doesn't have any flavor."

They'd had this argument many times before.

"You don't like a good juicy steak?" Potter asked Bev, picking up a raw steak and taking a bite out of it.

Bev gagged, leaned over, and threw up.

Looking at Potter and wiping her mouth, she said, "I was right. I don't like you."

"Yeah, you do," Potter answered, cracking up. "You would not make a good vampyre."

"No shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue?," Bev asked. "The gagging or the vomit?"

Richard came up and put his arms around Beck's waist while Potter and Bev were bickering.

"Are you sure we only have two children?" Bev stuck her tongue out at him and went to sit down at one of the new picnic tables. "Can you make my steak well-done, too? I've consumed enough blood to last me a lifetime."

"I'll do it, but it's a waste of good meat," Beck said with a sigh.

"I'll risk it. Do you want to go to our cliff later?"

"I'd love to. We haven't been there since last fall."

"I know. I kind of miss it."

"You know what I miss? That lake in London," she told him.

"We can go visit it whenever you'd like. We own that property."

"We do?"

"We do," he smiled.

"Can we go there on our anniversary?"

"Maybe. Will you swim naked in the lake for me?" he teasingly whispered in her ear.

"Maybe."

"Hey, Pop," Tiarnán yelled, coming out of the house with a basketball. Richard kissed her and took off across the yard to the court.

A little while later, Bev came across the yard with two bottles of soda. "Here, I brought you a coke."

"Thanks."

She'd just reached to take the bottle from Bev when it happened. She felt a warm gush of blood between her legs. Damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen anymore! She felt a weight slam into her back, smashing her into Bev, and knocking both of them to the ground.

Bev screamed. Beck knew Richard wasn't holding her down, and she was right. When she turned her head, she found Declán. She only saw him for a second before he was pulled away from her and thrown across the yard. Richard landed on him and was punching him with bone-crushing force.

"Stop! Richard, stop!" she screamed at him.

They couldn't afford to lose any more people. They were already down by two. Richard either didn't hear her, or chose to ignore her, because he

kept right on shattering Declán.

"Potter, stop him!"

Shocked, he asked, "Are you crazy?!"

"Just do it!"

"Fine, but if he beats the hell out of me, it's all your fault."

He jumped on Richard and knocked him off of Declán. Declán popped up and ran at her again, but Damon grabbed him, held him off the ground, and ran out of the yard with him. It had all happened so fast that no one had helped Bev off the ground yet.

Tiarnán picked her up. "Aunt Bev! Are you okay?!"

"No, I'm not okay! I think that bastard broke my arm!" Bev yelled.

"Where's Leso?" Beck asked.

"He went across the creek to get ice. I'll go get him," Seanán said, jumping over the house and vanishing.

"What the hell just happened?" Bev asked.

"You said this wouldn't happen anymore," Beck said to Potter.

"I said I didn't _think_ it would happen. Obviously, I was wrong."

"Obviously," she replied dryly.

Bev asked confused, "What?"

"She started her period," Potter explained.

"Why don't you tell everyone?!" Beck hissed.

"Everybody _but_ Bev already knows. We can smell it, remember?"

Beck glared at him. "You still don't have to announce it. What the hell got into Declán anyway? He's never jumped on Bev like that."

"You're a female hunter. Your scent is more enticing to the hunters, I guess."

Richard looked at Potter accusingly. "Does it attract you?"

"Eww, she's my sister! That's just nasty!" Potter exclaimed with a grossed-out look on his face.

"Just checking."

Leso came rushing out of the woods and slid to a stop next to Bev.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a panic.

"No. I need to go to the doctor." Leso reached to pick Bev up, and she yelled, "Stop it! He broke my arm, not my legs. I can walk."

"Are you sure you don't want me to kill Declán?" Richard asked Beck after Leso and Bev left.

"No. It's not his fault. I'm going to go cleanup. Potter, take the meat off the grill."

She went into the house, took a quick shower, dressed, and went back outside. Damon was back and eating a steak. "Where's Declán?"

"Two miles from here. He asked me to tell you he's sorry."

"It's okay, I guess. Where are the boys?" she asked, looking around the yard.

Damon gasped. "Oh shit! Declán!"

He jumped up and ran into the woods, Richard behind him, and Beck behind Richard. She could hear screams before she saw the boys. They were beating Declán like a piñata.

Damon bellowed, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Teaching Declán not to touch our Ma," Tiarnán said, stomping down on Declán's femur with a crunch, causing him to howl in pain.

"That's enough!" Beck yelled. "He couldn't help it."

"I bet he'll be able to help it the next time," Seanán said, kicking Declán in the ribs.

Declán cried, "Stop it! I said I was sorry."

"You're not sorry yet, but if you touch our Ma again, you will be," Seanán threatened.

"Let him up," Richard told the boys. "He's had enough."

They let him up but held onto his arms.

"Declán, are you okay?" Beck asked sincerely.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm fine. I do apologize for what happened before. It won't happen again," Declán promised.

Richard agreed. "Damn right it won't!"

She could feel that Declán was completely in control of himself now.

"Let him go," she told the boys.

Seanán balked. "He'll jump on you again."

"No, he won't. Will you?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. I just took a twenty minute beating from twin psychos. I can honestly say that I never want to touch you again," he said sincerely.

She smiled. "That's a good thing to know. You may want to steer clear of Bev, though."

"Why is that?" he asked as they started back toward the house.

"You may have caused her to break her arm," Richard said. "She's pretty pissed off."

"I'm so sorry!" Declán declared. "Leso is going to kill me!"

Richard laughed. "Leso will probably be more understanding than you would think. He knows how it feels. Bev's not so nice, though."

"Really? I always thought Bev was a sweet woman."

"Think what you want, but if she has a fork in her hand when she gets home, you should run," Richard warned.

***

Leso and Bev pulled into the driveway a few hours later. When Bev got out of the car, she had a cast on her arm.

"It's fractured," Bev told them, flopping into a chair on the porch. "Dr. Kasper said I have to wear this stupid cast for six weeks."

"Where's Declán?" Leso asked.

Richard replied, "Hiding, if he's smart." He told them what Tiarnán and Seanán had done.

"Good for them! Now I don't have to kill him," Bev almost cheered.

### Chapter Eighteen

"I'm going with Keith to get supplies. Do you want me to pick anything up for you? Tampons, maybe?" Bev asked, smiling at Beck.

It was the middle of May, and Bev had been in an exceptionally good mood since getting her cast removed two days before.

"Ha, ha, very funny. None for me, thanks."

The period she'd had that had caused Bev to get her arm broken had been the last one she'd had, and had only lasted one day. She was hoping there wouldn't be anymore.

"However, you can pick up a few gallons of ice cream. Potter's managed to eat his way through all of what we bought last week."

"Sure, any particular flavors?"

"Any flavors are fine. He eats it so fast that I'm not even sure he tastes it."

"Okay. Leso's asleep. If I'm not back when he wakes up, tell him where I went."

"I'll let him know."

"Thanks," Bev said, and left.

***

It was 6:45 when Bev and Keith left and was already dark outside when Beck had finished making dinner. She and Richard had gotten the boys dirt bikes for their birthday, and they had taken them across the creek where Richard and 'Uncle Lugh' were. She was walking around the side of the house, heading toward the path through the woods when she suddenly felt as if she had been dropped in boiling oil, and her skin flash-fried.

She gasped and opened her mouth to scream, but before the scream could leave her throat, the pain was gone. She could feel the fear and dread come over her and knew that this was what she had dreamt about in Hawaii. She waited, and seconds later, she heard people running down the path in her direction, and hunters came rushing out of the woods.

"What's wrong?" she cried out, but just like in her dream, she received no answer.

She watched as Liam, Declán, Christov, Seanán, Tiarnán, Aohngus, Damon, Richard, Potter, and Gunner ran past her. With the exceptions of Richard and Potter, all of the hunters had their swords on their backs, including Tiarnán and Seanán. She turned to run after them, but Harley and Bruce grabbed her.

"You can't go with them, Beck," Harley told her firmly.

"Why not?" Harley and Bruce exchanged a worried look. She could feel their fear and anxiety.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a strangled whisper.

"A hunter was killed." Bruce said.

"What? Which hunter was killed?" she asked.

Harley and Bruce just looked at each other, but wouldn't answer her question. She paced back and forth in the yard for twenty minutes trying to get them to answer her.

Jenny yelled from the porch. "You better come in and see this."

On the way to the house, Bruce whispered to Harley, "It had to be Keith."

Beck had heard him and frozen in her tracks. "I thought there weren't any other vampyres in Clarksville."

"There's not," Harley said.

When they got into the house, there was a news update on T.V.: _The following recording is very graphic. If you have small children, you should make them leave the room_ (the anchorman was saying). The video surveillance for the store parking lot started. It showed two people walking across a parking lot.

You couldn't make out what they looked like, but she knew it was Bev and Keith. They were putting bags in the back of the truck, when a man stepped up behind them. He pulled a sword and chopped off Keith's head. Then he grabbed Bev, stuffed her in the trunk of the car that was parked next to the truck, and drove away. Keith had been killed by another hunter, and, just like that, Bev was gone.

***

"What are we going to do?" she cried. Her sister was gone. For all they knew, Bev could be dead by now.

Saphira tried to calm her. "They're going to find the hunter that killed Keith and took Bev."

All of the vampyres and remaining hunters had gathered in the living room. The T.V. was showing the muted kidnap video over and over, asking the viewers to call the police if they recognized anyone in the recording.

"How are they going to find them? Hunters don't have a scent for them to follow!" she cried.

"No, they don't, but Bev does, and that's what they'll be following," Jeff said.

"Why aren't all the vampyres and hunters out looking for her?" she questioned hotly.

"Since we don't know what's going on, Richard wanted some of the hunters to stay and guard the house and... the vampyres couldn't go," Heidi explained.

"Why couldn't the vampyres have gone with them?"

Daryl answered. "The hunter they're tracking would have sensed them."

"How did they know a hunter had died?"

"We can feel it," Bane said.

"Does it feel like your skin is burning?"

Aohngus nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what it feels like."

"I felt it, too."

***

They'd been tracking Bev's scent all night. The scent was strong enough to tell them that she was still alive. If the hunter had hurt her at all, if she had so much as a scratch, he would make sure that the hunter's death would be an excruciatingly painful one.

He could only imagine what Beck and Leso were going through. If it had been Beck that had been taken, he would be deranged. He wondered briefly how they were controlling Leso, but didn't have much time to dwell on it.

The hunters had removed their weapons and hid them behind a dumpster down the street from the parking lot where Keith had been killed, and Bev had been taken. Keith's head had been chopped off, and eight men with swords on their backs would most likely have drawn unwanted attention.

They'd known that Keith had been killed, but had not known Bev had been taken. They had not found that out until they had run past some houses that had their televisions on and heard the news updates.

When they reached the parking lot where it had happened, they found it full of detectives, crime scene units, and police officers. The outside of the crime scene tape was surrounded by onlookers.

They blended in with the crowd and walked around the perimeter searching for the direction from which the hunter had left.

"Found it," Potter said quietly, but all the hunters heard him and joined him at the far end of the store parking lot. "They went that way," he continued, pointing down a side street.

"He's probably on the interstate by now," Damon said.

Potter nodded. "Maybe, but he can only go as fast as his car."

"Get your weapons," Richard told the hunters. From where they were standing, they could see Keith's body laying in the parking lot. "He has about a fifteen minute head start," he continued, watching as the crime scene officers walked around Keith's body taking pictures.

"As long as he's traveling by car, we can catch him," Potter said. "I don't understand why a hunter would have done this," Richard said. "It doesn't make sense. Why kill another hunter and kidnap a human?"

"I don't know, but I'm betting that he doesn't know about us either. He wouldn't have done this if he had known that other hunters would be chasing him down."

"We need to find out why he did this," Richard said. "We have to keep the other hunters from killing him before we get some answers."

"I can do that, but you'll have to control _your_ boys," Potter smiled.

"I'll do my best."

***

"Leso, stop it!" Harley yelled.

When Leso woke up, Jenny had told him what happened to Bev, and he was fighting with Bruce, Harley, Darian, and Jeff. He was trying to get past them and get out of the house.

"Get out of my way! I have to go! I have to help her!" he roared.

Harley ducked under the fist Leso was swinging at his head. "You can't, damn it! None of us can go, and stop trying to hit me!"

"She needs me!" he screamed, trying to push past Darian.

Bruce grabbed Leso by the neck. "What Bev needs is for you to calm down. If you go after her, the hunter that took her is going to sense you. We don't know what he'll do to her if that happens."

"Bev is my sister. I'm worried too, but Richard, Potter, and eight others have gone after her. There's nothing else for us to do but wait," Beck said calmly as possible, taking Leso's hand and pulling him over to the couch with her. "Just sit down and wait with me."

He sat on the couch with her and held her hand. She could feel the panic pulsing through him. She understood. She felt the same way.

"Why didn't _all_ of you go after her?" Leso asked desperately.

Darian said, "Because we don't know what's going on, so we thought it best if some of us stayed here, just in case."

"How do we even know that she's still alive?" he whimpered.

Harley tried to be delicate. "We don't, but we can't think that way until we know differently. We just have to believe that she's still alive."

"She's alive. I think we would feel it if she wasn't," Beck said, squeezing Leso's hand.

"Do you really believe that?"

"I really do," she said, and he nodded knowing that she was telling the truth.

After that, she became lost in her own thoughts. She really did believe that she would know if Bev had been killed. They had lived in each other's pockets their whole lives. Bev was the only person she'd ever been close to until she met Richard. Bev was the only _real_ family that she'd ever had.

She'd loved her Grandmother, but had rarely gotten to see her. Bev was the one that had always been there for her. She'd been the only one that she had ever trusted before now. So, yes, she believed she would know if Bev was dead. But she also knew that just because you believed something, didn't necessarily make it true.

She was scared to death, but Harley was right. They couldn't think that way. So, she held Leso's hand, sat quietly, and did something she had not done in years...she prayed. She prayed that Bev would come home safe, but she also prayed for Richard, Potter, and the twins. They were out chasing a hunter who had no problem killing one of his own, and kidnapping an innocent human, and she couldn't help them. So, she waited, and she prayed.

***

They followed Bev's scent up I-24 into Kentucky. It was Sunday night, and there was almost no traffic on the interstate. They'd only had to run off the side of the road under the cover of trees a few times to bypass cars doing the 65 mph speed limit. They'd passed the Oak Grove exit and were almost into Hopkinsville when they spotted the car they were looking for.

"Aunt Bev is in that car," Tiarnán said with certainty, pointing at the old '84 Cutlass. They could all hear Bev pounding on the inside of the trunk lid.

"There are two of them." Potter said.

"Hang back," Richard said.

They dropped their speed down to the speed limit, keeping the car in view but staying well out of sight.

"How do you want to do this?" Damon asked. "We obviously can't flip the car with Bev in the trunk."

"We can't just grab it, either," Seanán said. "That would send Aunt Bev crashing into the trunk wall."

"What I need four of you to do is pick up the car without slowing it down. Then, I can rip off the trunk lid and get Bev out without hurting her. After she's out, get the car off the road, and out of sight," Potter instructed.

Richard said, "I can get her out."

"No, I need you to stay with the car. When that car stops and they realize who we are, they're going to hit the ground running. I need you to stay with them and make sure that those hunters don't get away, and that our hunters don't kill them before we can question them."

It wasn't the best plan, but it was the best plan they had time to come up with.

Richard relented. "Fine, but be very careful. Nothing can go wrong after we get the car off the ground. If you drop her while we're running 65 mph, it will kill her."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to drop her," Potter assured him. "Damon, Gunner, Tiarnán, and Seanán...I want you to lift the car about two feet off the road. Remember, don't slow down until Bev is clear of the car. Ready? Go!"

He kept pace with the hunters as they ran up to the sides of the car. The hunter driving the car spotted them and tried to speed up, but it was too late. Potter jumped on the bumper of the car as soon as it was lifted off the ground, punched through the trunk lid, and ripped it off the car. Richard's stomach clenched as he watched Potter grab Bev from the trunk and do a back-flip off of the back of the car with her.

"Got her!" Potter yelled to them.

"Don't let them out of the car!" Richard shouted as he watched the car doors push open. Damon and Gunner slammed the doors closed.

Tiarnán asked, "Should we throw it, Pop?"

"No. Just get it off the road and out of sight."

They ran the car off the side of the road and into the copse of the trees. Richard reached under the car and tore the rear-wheel axel off before the hunters dropped it to the ground.

"Get out of the car," Richard ordered after they had the car surrounded. The car doors opened, and two men slowly got out.

"Be easy, brothers," the driver said.

The passenger added, "We bear no arms."

"That's your mistake," Tiarnán said, drawing his sword.

"Tiarnán, no!"

"They took Aunt Bev, Pop!"

Seanán added, "And killed Keith."

"I know they did, but I would like to know why they did it _before_ we kill them," he explained to his sons.

Tiarnán sheathed his sword, but didn't look happy about it.

"You are all hunters," the driver stated.

Stepping through the trees with Bev, Potter said, "And you are Oberon, and I believe you are Thomas."

"Aunt Bev, you're okay!" the twins said, rushing over and hugging her.

"Thanks to you."

Surprised, Oberon said in a weak voice, "Lugh."

Both Oberon and Thomas dropped to one knee in front of Potter, bowing their heads to him.

"Lugh, I am sorry. I did not know that the woman was yours," Oberon said without raising his head.

"She is my sister-in-law, wife to my brother, a brother that I can only imagine is terrified right now. Now that we're all here, why don't you tell me why you killed my hunter and kidnapped my family?"

"I did neither of those things," Thomas said.

Damon almost bit his head off, "Nor did you prevent it!"

What was going on? Why were these hunters bowed down to Potter?

"Stand up and explain yourselves!" Potter demanded.

Oberon said, "The vampyres have my wife."

"What vampyres?" Richard asked.

"I don't know who they are. We were traveling through Ohio when we found them, or rather, they found us. We had stopped for the night at a hotel and were settling in when Thomas and I sensed the vampyres. We left my wife in the hotel room while we went out to hunt them," Oberon explained.

Richard was shocked. "You sensed vampyres, and you just left your wife in a hotel room alone?"

"I didn't think she would be in any danger. We were in a large city. The chances of her being a victim were slim," Oberon continued.

Gunner snickered. "How do you feel about those chances now?"

Oberon ignored him and continued, "We circled the city for miles, following the vampyres. They led us right back to our hotel. When I ran into the room, I found my wife missing, the stink of vampyres in the room, and a phone number on the bedside table.

"When I called the number, I was told to meet them in Lexington, Kentucky. When we got there, they had my wife tied up in a corner of the house they're still staying in. They said I had to find a woman.

"They told me what she looked like, and that she would be with a hunter or a vampyre. I was to get the girl and bring her to them. I had two weeks. If I did it, they would return my wife unharmed. If I can't do it, they will turn her into a vampyre. I had to try."

"When is your two weeks up?" Richard asked.

"I have two days left."

Christov said, "You could have asked Keith for help instead of killing him."

"We didn't think he would give us the girl," Thomas interjected.

"No, he wouldn't have, but he would have helped you," Damon said. "He would have brought you to us."

"I didn't know any of you were here. It was just luck that I ran across the hunter and the girl," Oberon sighed.

Gunner asked angrily, "It was _luck_ that you killed Keith?"

"I didn't mean it that way. It's just that we were about to give up in this area when we saw him and the girl."

"Well, just so you know, if you would have taken this girl to the vampyres, they would have killed both of you and your wife," Potter told Oberon.

Thomas argued, "They made a deal!"

"They made a deal with you to bring a certain girl back, but not this girl. In your hurry to do their bidding, you managed to kill the wrong hunter and take the wrong girl," Richard informed them.

If he was right, and he was sure he was, then this was Elderson's doing. He'd sent these hunters after Beck.

"I bet you were allowed to kill the hunter, but not the vampyre. Am I right?"

"You're correct, but how did you know?" Thomas asked.

Potter answered, "Because we know who sent you, and I think we've learned all we need to know from you." Seanán and Tiarnán drew their swords, ready to strike.

"No!" Bev screamed.

Seanán bristled. "Are you kidding me?! They stuffed you in a trunk, Aunt Bev! They were going to hand you over to vampyres like a sacrificial lamb!"

"I know what they did. I was there. Think about this, though. They're only doing what we're doing. They're trying to keep their family safe. The way they went about it was fucked up, but what was their choice?"

"I would never have done what they did," Richard said.

"You wouldn't? Oh, my mistake, then. So, what is the limit of what you would do to get Beck back?" Bev asked. "Where would you draw the line and just let her die?".

Although Bev didn't know it, he had made that choice...once. But now? She was right. There was nothing he wouldn't do to save her.

"That's what I thought," she said when he didn't answer her.

Potter asked, "What would you have us do with them?"

"Help them get Oberon's wife back, and maybe they'll stay to help us. I can't see the future, but even I know that some bad shit is coming."

Oberon stated plainly, "If you help us, I will owe you my life."

"That may be the payment that's required," Richard told them.

Bev said, "Come with us. We'll tell you our story on the way home."

***

"She's coming," Leso said with relief, and jumped off the couch.

Leso rushed out the front door with everyone else following behind him. They watched as the hunters ran through the front yard. Leso snatched Bev from Potter's arms before he had a chance to set her down.

"You're alright! I was terrified. I wanted to come for you, but none of this lot would let me leave," he said, casting a hateful glance at the hunters and vampyres that had stayed behind.

"It's okay, they saved me," she said, kissing him.

His eyes ran along the group of hunters. "Thank you." Then he noticed the new additions to the crowd. "Who are they?" he asked coldly.

Beck had been wondering the same thing. She could feel many emotions coming from these men and she knew Leso could, as well.

She could feel their guilt and fear, and wondered why the hunters had brought Keith's killers here. Had they brought them here for Leso to kill? "You did this? You took my wife?" Leso asked angrily, setting Bev on her feet. He started toward the strange hunters, and Beck knew none of their hunters or vampyers would stop him.

"Don't," Bev said softly, laying her hand on his arm. This stopped him as nothing else would have. "Just listen to why they did it. If you still want to kill them after that, I won't stop you."

Richard came over and put his arm across Beck's shoulder, and they listened to Oberon tell his story. As they listened, she could feel Leso's anger waning.

When Oberon had finished speaking, Potter said, "Bev wants us to help them."

"Help them how?" Leso asked.

Bev sighed, "Go get his woman back."

"I told her we would leave it up to you," Potter added.

When Leso asked, "How many vampyres are we talking about?" Beck knew they were going to save the girl.

"Seven," Thomas said.

Darian asked, "How long do we have before it's too late?"

"Two days," Potter told them.

Leso asked, "Will it just be the hunters or will we be giving them the full press?"

"Let's give them the full press. It's time to let Elderson know that we're done dicking around with him," Potter said

"Won't they kill her if they sense other vampyres?" Bev asked.

Richard shook his head. "No, they won't kill her. They'll bite her. They would think that that would be harder on Oberon than her death."

"They would be right," Oberon agreed.

Leso stared at him., "If they only bite her, we can fix it."

"You can't fix that," Thomas said.

"We can," Potter said. "You know that vampyre you were told not to kill?"

"Yes," Thomas answered.

Pointing at Richard, Damon said, "He is standing right there with his arm around the girl you were _supposed_ to kidnap."

"He's not a vampyre. He's a hunter," Damon said, confused.

"He's not a vampyre now, but for 175 years, he was."

"If your woman gets bitten, we can fix it. We can't turn her back into a human, but we can make her a hunter," Richard explained.

Oberon asked skeptically, "A female hunter?"

"Beck?" Potter coaxed.

She nodded, stepped forward, and leapt onto the roof of the house. Once she landed, she turned, and dropped back to the ground.

Thomas gasped. "That's not possible."

"Our creator didn't make any female hunters," Oberon stuttered.

Potter said, "No, he didn't. I made her."

"How is this possible?" Thomas asked.

Potter explained how she had become a hunter and what abilities she did and didn't get.

"I can believe that, but how did he become a hunter?" Thomas asked, pointing at Richard.

Oberon questioned this, as well."I have always been under the impression that you had to be alive to become a hunter. I mean no disrespect, but vampyres are Nosferatu; the undead. They walk and talk, but by no stretch of the imagination are they truly alive. It is not possible for him to become a hunter."

All their hunters and vampyres laughed.

"There are times that vampyres are alive, but they must be with their true mate," Potter smiled.

Oberon asked, "How do you know if they are your true mate?"

"If a vampyre is with their true mate, their heart will beat when they're making love. When their heart beats, they are basically human, and while their heart is still beating, they can be changed into a hunter," Beck explained, unashamed.

"What if my wife is not my 'true mate'? What happens then?"

"If you can't make her heart beat, then we can't help her. You would either have to accept her or leave her with us. The choice would be yours, and hers," Richard stated.

Oberon asked in a worried voice, "How can I make a choice like that?"

"I don't know, but it's a possibility that you may have to," Leso said.

Harley was getting impatient. "Do you want our help or not?"

"They don't have a choice anymore. Either they accept our help, or they die in this yard. They know where we are. If we allow them to leave, they would attempt to trade that information for his wife," Potter said flatly.

Bruce said, "Elderson's clan will kill them."

"Elderson's clan was going to kill them anyway. They just wanted to get what they could out of them first," Richard said. "They would have had no intentions of letting these hunters live."

Offended, Oberon yelled, "They made a deal!"

"And they would have broken it. We have been dealing with the Elderson clan for many years. Trust me, it wouldn't have mattered if you brought Beck back to them or not. You were going to die either way," Richard reiterated.

Potter nodded. "They may have kept their word. They may have released her unharmed, but I heard nothing in their agreement about allowing _you_ to live."

"I wasn't thinking about that when I agreed to this. I was only thinking about her," Oberon admitted.

Beck asked, "What's your wife's name?"

"Crystal."

Thomas asked suspiciously, "How do I know that we can trust you?"

"Does it matter? You're lucky you're still breathing after what you did!" Tiarnán yelled.

Thomas stepped away from him. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"You offended the hell out of us the second you put your hands on Bev," Seanán seethed.

Tiarnán snapped, "You killed our friend and kidnapped our aunt to give to vampyres, and you want to know if you can trust us? That's bullshit!"

"It's you that can't be trusted!" Seanán shouted.

"Enough," Leso said. "All of you. For now, let's just deal with the problem at hand. How are we going to get Crystal away from the vampyres?"

Beck watched the new hunters as they discussed possible plans. Oberon was around 6' tall with a slender build, short red hair, and gray eyes. Thomas was a solid 5'8" with green/blue eyes and cropped dark blonde hair.

"Are you sure there are only seven of them?" Potter inquired.

Thomas nodded. "There were only seven when we were there. If they have added more since then, we wouldn't know about it."

"Do they know we're in Clarksville?" Harley asked.

"No, but they do know that you're in the South."

"How?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know. They didn't explain how they knew, but they had it narrowed down to Mississippi, Alabama, or Tennessee. We missed you on our first trip through here. We searched Mississippi and Alabama. There are only a few vampyres there, and none of them had the girl. We didn't have time to kill them all," Thomas explained.

Jenny asked, "Were any of them animal feeders?"

"Not that we saw, but we didn't get that close to most of them. We only needed to get close enough to ascertain that they were not who we were looking for. Some of them may have been animal feeders, but that was not our area of interest at the time," Oberon answered.

"Do you kill animal feeders?" Potter asked.

"I've never given it much thought to what the vampyres I've hunted eat. It never seemed to matter before now," Thomas stated.

"I agree, but after tonight I may have to change my mind," Oberon said. "We have given you no reason to let us live, let alone help us. I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am."

"When do you want to go?" Leso asked.

Potter smiled. "There's no time like the present."

"No, wait. You can't leave yet," Bev interrupted.

Leso asked, "Why not?"

"Because I want to become a hunter first," Bev said without skipping a beat.

### Chapter Nineteen

"What? You said you didn't want to do that!" Leso said in shock.

"That was before I was stuffed into the trunk of a car. I was useless. I tried to fight him, but was helpless. I don't want to feel that way ever again."

"You wouldn't have gotten away even if you were as strong as us, Bev. There were two of them," Potter tried to reason with her.

"No, there was one, just Oberon. I don't believe that Thomas would have helped him," Beck guessed.

She could tell that Thomas wasn't at all comfortable with what had happened tonight.

"I understand his desperation. It is the reason I didn't stop him as I know I should have. However, I could not bring myself to kidnap a human female for the vampyres. It was just wrong," Thomas confirmed.

Oberon put his hand on Thomas's shoulder. "I understand."

"Do you?"Thomas asked roughly. "Do you know that when we drove away with her that I would have fought you to the death before I allowed you to hand her over to them?"

Beck could feel his shame at wanting to do the right thing, shame at wanting to protect the human from the vampyres as he was created to do.

"Yes, I know . The only excuse I have for what I've done is my love for Crystal. I've been telling myself that I was only trading one human for another. That either way, only one human life would be lost. I didn't allow myself to think that the life of this human meant as much to someone else as Crystal's means to me. I'm sorry I put you through this, brother."

Thomas nodded, and it hit Beck that brothers were what they truly were, brothers like Richard and Leso. Thomas had considered taking his own brother's head to save a human he didn't even know. The thought made her feel sick.

"Are you sure about this?" Leso asked Bev.

Bev nodded. "I'm sure. I thought about it while I was in that trunk, but I made my decision when Potter back-flipped with me off the back of a speeding car. That scared me more than being in that trunk. It reminded me how frail I really am. I don't want to be that way anymore."

"You flipped off a car with her?!" Leso shouted at Potter.

Potter shrugged. "If we had brought the car to a sudden stop, it might have killed her."

"It was a cool trick. I've never seen anything like if before," Damon smiled.

Leso yelled again, "It was not a trick! You could have killed her!"

"We had to do something. We didn't know where they were going. We couldn't just let them drive away with her," Potter said.

"And Lugh didn't kill her. She's fine," Damon said.

"If the hunter blood works on me, I won't be at such risk anymore," Bev said. "So, can we get this over with, please?"

"I'll get the needle," Beck said.

She had cleaned and put away the syringe just in case Bev ever changed her mind. She was worried about how Bev would react to Potter's blood. She'd tried to play off the risk to Richard, but she knew how dangerous this could be. She hadn't really thought that Bev would ever do it. Now she would have to put a needle in Bev's vein and hope she didn't kill her.

She had the urge to tell Bev not to do it, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Bev had made her decision just like she had made hers, and she wouldn't try to stop her. They'd talked about it before, so Bev understood that she could die. There wasn't any new information she could give her. She went into the bedroom to grab the needle from the drawer it was in.

"Are you sure she should do this?" Richard asked from behind her, causing her to jump.

"Not at all, but she's sure about it and that's all that matters."

"How does Leso feel about it?" he asked.

"Happily terrified."

"Maybe you should tell her to wait, to think about it for a few days."

"I can't do that. She's right. Being here as a human is dangerous. Look what happened to her tonight by going on a simple shopping trip. There could be a flock of crazy vampyres descending on us at any time, and what would we do with her then? Hide her? She wouldn't leave Leso. She'll be safer if she's like us."

"She should let Leso bit her then. It would be safer than this."

"She doesn't want to be a vampyre, Richard."

"This is just crazy."

"I know, but it's what she wants. Come on. They're waiting."

He took her hand and walked with her downstairs.

***

Everyone was in the living room, and she had drawn the syringe full of Potter's blood. She was going to use half on Bev and save the rest just in case Oberon's wife needed it.

She asked Bev, "Are you really sure about this? Once I inject this blood into you, there's no going back, you know?"

"I know and yes, I'm sure. Just do it."

"Give it to me," Potter said, holding his hand out for the syringe. "It's my blood, I'll do it."

She knew he didn't want her to feel guilty if something went wrong and Bev died. In truth, she was grateful. She handed him the syringe of blood.

He stuck the needle into Bev's arm. "Hold on tight, love. It could be a bumpy ride," he said and pushed the plunger, sending his blood coursing through Bev's veins.

Bev was out almost immediately.

"How long will this take?" Leso asked.

He was sitting on the floor next to the couch Bev was laying on, holding her hand.

"With me it was about an hour. With Richard it was a lot longer. It may be different for everyone," Beck explained.

"It is. When we drank the drink our creator gave us, we all blacked out. Some of the hunters were unconscious for over eight hours before they woke up," Potter said.

Bev started to pant lightly. "Is that normal?" Leso asked.

Potter nodded. "Beck did it."

"Richard was different. He didn't do it, but I'm sure that was just because he wasn't human."

She could feel how intently Oberon was watching. She didn't blame him. His wife might have to go through this process as well.

Bev went into a coughing fit.

" _That_ didn't happen to you," Potter said once the coughing had stopped.

A few minutes later, just as they had started to relax a little, Bev's back arched and she screamed.

"What's wrong with her?!" Leso asked, terrified.

Potter yelled over Bev's screams, "I don't know. Beck didn't do that either!"

She screamed for a full minute before she dropped back onto the couch.

"Is she supposed to be this hot?" Leso asked.

"Shit!"she gasped after laying her palm on Bev's forehead. "She's burning up. Get a bucket of ice water and some towels!" Beck said to no one in particular.

Within a moment, the bucket was by her side. She soaked the towels in the water and laid them on Bev's body.

She asked Potter, "Did I spike a fever like this?"

"No, not at all. If anything, your temperature dropped a little," Potter said nervously.

The ice water brought Bev's fever down some, and she started panting again. The panting had gone on for two hours when Bev stopped breathing.

"Do something!" Leso yelled at her.

She asked Potter, "Should I do CPR?"

"There's no point. If the virus is going to take her, you would only be making it harder on her," Potter advised.

"There has to be something we can..." Leso was saying when Bev took a deep breath and vomited.

"Get her on her side before she aspirates," Potter said.

Leso rolled her onto her side allowing the vomit to run out of her mouth. It was a full two minutes before she took another breath.

"I don't like the way this is going." Potter said.

"Neither do I, but it's too late now. We'll just have to wait it out," Beck said.

Bev's body was going through hell, and Beck had no way of stopping it. She watched as Bev screamed and thrashed in pain for hours. Bev had been out for seven hours when her heart started to falter. Her heartbeats would slow to almost nothing, and then speed up to triple the normal rate.

"She's been unconscious for so long," Leso said quietly.

"Don't give up on her," Richard said. "She's not dead yet."

"How can her heart survive this kind of punishment?" Leso asked, brushing his fingers down Bev's chest.

"Beck's did," Potter said. "This is actually part of what she _did_ go through."

Leso nodded but wasn't really paying attention. His focus was only on Bev. An hour later, Bev's heartbeat and breathing had returned to normal, and her eyes fluttered open.

"I'm alive?" she asked.

"Yes, sweetheart, you're alive," Leso said, pulling her off of the couch into his arms. His intense relief overshadowed every other emotion in the room.

Bev asked. "Did it work?"

"You've kept your scent. As for the rest, there's only one way to find out," Potter answered, reaching his hand out to her.

They tested her, and she'd gotten it all except for the hearing and the heightened sense of smell.

"Her changes are the same as yours," Potter told Beck.

"It must be because we're female."

Potter nodded. "I agree."

"Well, what do you think?" Beck asked Bev.

Bev smiled. "I think it's time to go get Crystal."

***

They waited until sunset to leave.

"We'll take the cars and trucks most of the way. When we're seven miles out, we'll park and travel the rest of the way on foot. We'll move faster that way," Potter said. "I want to do this in two stages. Patrick and Thomas, when we park I want you to run ahead of us and scout out the house. I'll give you fifteen minutes to report back.

If you're not back on time, we're coming in, but I'd like to know what we're rushing into." Patrick and Thomas nodded. "After they report back and we know what we're facing, I want us to go in two waves. I want the hunters to go in first, followed by the vampyres. I want us to be in place before they have a chance to sense the rest of you. That should give us the advantage."

Bev asked, "Will Beck and I be with the hunters or the vampyres?"

"You're not going, Bev," Leso said.

"Bullshit, I'm not going! I'm not going to be left behind alone!"

"You won't be alone," Richard said. "You'll be with Beck."

Beck turned her head to look at him. "If she's going to be with me then she better get her ass in the car, because I _am_ going."

"Beck, it would be better if you both stayed..." Richard started to say, but Potter cut him off.

"They're both going."

"No!" Leso shouted.

"Listen to me. There's a possibility that this could be a trick," Potter explained.

"Oberon and Thomas are telling the truth," Leso said.

"I don't doubt that, but that doesn't mean the vampyres are. They could know exactly where we are and have sent Oberon and Thomas to lead us away from here. I don't know, and I'm not taking that chance. We all go."

Leso relented first, "Fine, but they don't come in until the situation is under control."

"Agreed," Potter confirmed.

Oberon asked impetuously, "If you're done deciding where you're going to keep the little women, can we go?"

Potter punched him in the throat, crushing the bones and causing him to gasp for breath.

"We're about to put _'our little women'_ in a very dangerous position, because you were stupid enough to leave _your_ woman alone in a hotel room. I'm not happy about putting any of my people in danger over this. This is entirely your fault! I've been up for two days, and I'm not in a good mood. So I'm warning you, if you make one more smartass comment, I'm just going to kill you and your brother, and call it a fucking day."

"Sorry Lugh," Oberon said, getting his breath back. "I'm just anxious to get to Crystal,"

"I understand that. Just don't let your mouth run away with your head."

Turning his back on Oberon, he got back to the business at hand. "When we get to the house, I want all possible exits blocked. I don't want any of them to get away. Patrick, I want you to cut any phone lines going to the house. Let's go."

Everyone got into the cars and trucks and followed Thomas out of the driveway. When Thomas pulled onto the shoulder of the road a little while later, it was full dark.

"This is about seven miles out," he told them.

Potter looked at all of them. "You all know your jobs, so let's do this."

They watched as Patrick and Thomas disappeared into the night. They were back in less than fifteen minutes.

"There are eight vampyres in the house. There were no phone lines," Thomas reported.

Potter reached into his glove box and pulled out a small black box. "They must have cell phones. They'd need some way to keep in touch with their master."

"What's that?" Beck asked.

"A signal blocker. It will disrupt any cell phone in a fifty yard radius," Potter explained, handing the device to Damon. "I'm going to run with the vampyres. We'll be right behind you." Damon nodded and vanished into the dark with the rest of the hunters.

They waited ten seconds before following behind them.

***

The vampyres and hunters crashed through every door and window of the house. All but two vampyres were destroyed in seconds. One vampyre had been kept alive for questioning, and the other one was Crystal. What they'd done to her was sick.

Twenty silver spikes had been driven through her arms and legs and screwed into the concrete floor she was laying on. She was weak and crazed. Richard knew they'd turned her as soon as Oberon and Thomas had left the house two weeks ago. He would also bet his very last dime that they'd never let her feed.

"Don't let her up!" he yelled when he saw Oberon rush over to set her free.

"She's hurt," Oberon said.

Crystal was hissing and snapping her teeth.

"She's hungry," Potter said. "She needs to feed before you let her up. The thirst has her now."

"I'll go find her something to eat," Leso said and left.

In shock, Oberon asked, "What is he going to get her?"

"What in the hell do you think his going to get her? She's not exactly in the mood for a salad right now, is she?" Potter said sardonically.

When the hunters had the vampyre trapped in a chair, Richard pulled a chair over and sat down in front of him. Leso came back inside holding a good size doe with a broken back. He laid the paralyzed deer down with its throat across Crystal's face, and she fed. When the deer was bled dry, Leso lifted it off of her. She looked around the room until her eyes fell on Oberon.

"Obie?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, love. It's me," Oberon said as he and Potter and pulled the spikes out of her.

When Crystal was safely in Oberon's arms, Richard turned his attention back to the vampyre in front of him. "We have few questions for you."

"I'm not telling you anything," the vampyre spat.

Dropping the spikes they had pulled out of Crystal onto the table, Potter said, "You may not think you will now, but I have a feeling you're going to change your mind."

"What's your name?" Richard asked.

The vampyre spit blood on him. "Piss off!"

Richard wiped the blood from his cheek, and then calmly picked up one of the spikes and drove it into the vampyres thigh. The vampyre screamed in pain.

"Hurts, doesn't it? Imagine how Crystal must have felt being spiked to the floor for two weeks. Now, let's start again. What's your name?"

The vampyre gasped, "Tony, my name is Tony."

"Nice to meet you, Tony. Now why did you bite this lovely young woman?"

Tony said nothing.

"Allow me," Jeremy said.

He spun and kicked Tony in the head, breaking his neck. Tony screamed again.

"You must have a low pain threshold," Jeremy said with a grin. "I suggest that you just answer the questions. It's only going to get worse from here."

"Never mind that question. Why is Elderson looking for the female you seek?" Richard asked.

Tony didn't speak until Potter picked up another spike.

"No, wait! He seeks her for revenge on an enemy."

"How did he know that she would be here in this time?" Richard pondered, more to himself than to anyone else.

Tony answered, "I couldn't say."

"He's lying," Beck and Leso said in unison.

Beck pinched Leso's arm, and then poked him in the ribs. "You owe me a Coke."

Potter drove another spike through Tony's shoulder. "I have 18 more to go," he said when the screaming stopped.

"How did he know?" Richard asked again.

"Two of the females in the enemy's clan were overheard talking about it on the street by a woman that wanted to be a vampyre. She traded the information in exchange for being bitten. She told him that the woman was a time traveler and had returned to the year 2009. I thought it was bullshit, but Elderson believed her," Tony explained.

"The woman was right," Beck said. "I'm right here."

"So, now that woman is a vampyre?" Bev asked.

"No," Tony said. "After he got the information he wanted from her, he killed her."

The vampyres and hunters all looked at Oberon and Thomas as if to say without words 'told you so'. Oberon looked at Thomas in shame, and then at his feet.

"Where is Elderson now?" Richard asked.

"I don't know," Tony said desperately. "I swear I don't know."

Richard looked at Beck and she nodded. "Fine. How many are in his clan?"

"I can't tell you that. He'll kill me." Tony said.

Potter used one of the silver spikes to nail Tony's testicles to the chair. "Wrong answer."

The screaming was a lot louder and lasted a lot longer this time.

"What's wrong with you?!" Tony roared. "Are you demented?!"

Potter shook his head. "No, I just don't like you. So, you better hope your next answer make me happier."

Richard asked again, "How many?"

"You killed six of us, so there's forty-six left," Tony answered.

"Forty-five, we're done with you," Richard said. "Oberon, would like you do the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure," Oberon snarled.

"No! Don't kill me!" Tony pleaded. "Please! I don't..." Oberon swung his sword, and Tony's head tumbled to the floor.

"He bit me, Obie," Crystal cried. "I'm a vampyre now."

"I know," Oberon said, and wrapped his arms around her. 'Don't think about it now."

"Are the hunters going to kill me now?" she asked, terror rising in her voice.

"No, love," Oberon assured her. "They won't hurt you. They came to help you."

The holes that the silver spikes had made in her body were already healing. By the time they got home, they would be gone completely.

"Let's get out of here," Potter said.

"Should we get rid of the bodies?" Jenny asked.

"Fuck 'em," Potter said. "Let Elderson clean up his own bodies."

They left the dead vampyres behind and went home.

***

Two days later, as they sat at the picnic tables in the yard, Potter said, "It won't be much longer before they find us."

"How long do you think we have?" Crystal asked. As it turned out, she was Oberon's true mate after all, and she'd taken easily to being a hunter. She was a pretty woman at 5'5" tall, with long brown hair and blue eyes.

"Days, maybe weeks, but I would guess no more than that," Potter said.

"I personally wish that he would come on so we can get it over with," Isiah said.

"I agree," Gavin concurred. "For someone so hell bent on revenge, he sure is dragging his feet."

"That would be the coward in him, but he'll have to make a move now. When his clan finds out about the seven we killed, he'll have to act," Jeremy said. "If he doesn't, then they'll know he's a coward and turn on him, and his dreams of revenge will die with him. He won't let that happen."

Richard said, "I could just turn myself over to him."

"We've been over this before. It wouldn't do any good. He's not going to stop until he has Beck. You know that," Potter reiterated.

"We could all get killed," Beck said.

"Then it's like Lugh said. It will be a good day to die," Damon said. "We'll be ready for him, whenever he comes."

They watched as the twins came around the house, followed closely by Bailey and Blaze. She was terrified she was going to lose them in the battle. She didn't want them to fight, but knew she couldn't take that away from them. First and foremost, they were hunters. They were proud of that _and_ they were two of the best fighters they had.

All of the hunters were good, but the twins were among the best. They would need all of their fighters if they were going to stand a chance in hell of winning against Elderson larger clan. They seemed unconcerned about the coming fight as they played fetch with their dogs. The bloodhounds had shown an uncanny ability to track the boys. They could find the boys when the hunters and vampyres could not. They'd turned out to be good dogs. She hoped they didn't lose their masters.

Keith's death had been headline news. His body and possessions being stolen from the morgue hadn't even been mentioned. Potter and Damon had retrieved them the night before. They'd buried him behind the house, under a big tree, with his sword thrust into the ground to serve as his headstone. She wondered how many swords would join his before this was over.

### Chapter Twenty

One week to the day later, two hunters marched down the driveway with a human woman wearing a makeshift blindfold.

"What's all this about?" Beck asked. "Who is this woman?"

Séamus said, "She says she has a message for Richard."

"Okay. Why is she blindfolded?"

"She's a familiar," Christov said.

"And?" Beck questioned.

"And everything she hears, sees, or smells; her master does, too."

"Oh." Beck said, and then yelled, "Richard!"

He jumped over the house and landed beside her. "What's up?" he asked, his eyes on the woman.

"We seem to have been granted a visit from Elderson's familiar," Séamus said.

"A familiar? I haven't seen one of those in over 100 years," Richard said, a little surprised.

Beck asked, "Should we talk to it?"

"I am not an _'it'_. My name is Pauline. Can I remove the blindfold now?"

"I don't think so," Richard answered.

Pauline said, "I have to deliver a message to Richard."

"You don't need to see me to do that."

"You are not Richard. Richard is a vampyre. You are not."

"She can sense vampyres?" Beck asked

"She can. She can hear, smell, sense, and see as well as a vampyre, but she doesn't have the speed, strength, or life span. She is still human," Richard explained to Beck.

"How do you become a familiar?"

"This nasty bitch drank his blood!" Christov spat in disgust.

"You actually did this?" Beck asked, repulsed.

"It's only until I give Richard the message," Pauline explained "Then he's going to change me."

"Why wait?" Richard asked.

"If I was a vampyre, then the vampyres here would've sensed me."

"So? You were coming here to talk anyway. What difference would it have made if we sensed you coming?" Richard asked.

Beck could feel Pauline's emotions churning with confusion.

"Can I please take the blindfold off?" Pauline begged, now scared.

"In a minute," Richard told her. Then, he turned to the hunters. "Go get me Potter."

The hunters left Pauline alone with her and Richard.

"What in the hell possessed you to drink that monster's blood?" Beck asked Pauline.

"I want to live forever," Pauline answered in a trembling voice.

Coming around the side of the house, Potter said, "Well, you're not going to. Nobody lives forever, and that includes your master."

"You can take the blindfold off now," Richard told her.

She was a mousy, little woman. She was too skinny, with long, greasy, lackluster, brown hair. Her dull blue eyes were set too far apart on her face and teeth were too big for her mouth.

"I can't believe he made himself a familiar," Potter said in disbelief.

"He was too much of a coward to come on his own, and he didn't want to waste any of his vampyres just to deliver a message," Richard said plainly.

"My master is not a coward!"

She pulled the blindfold from her eyes and spun around, trying to look at everything at once.

"Go ahead, get a good look," Potter said. "There's nothing here for you to see that will help your master."

She spun her head back around and stared at Richard in disbelief. "It _is_ you! How is this possible?!" Pauline demanded.

"That's of no concern of yours or your masters," Richard answered.

Beck asked, "How does she know it's really you?"

"She is connected to Elderson. He sees through her, so he can see me. He knows it's me, so she does too. It's a strange connection."

Potter laughed. "I bet he's pretty pissed right now."

"Do not talk about my master!" Pauline snapped.

Potter grabbed her by the throat. "Shut up, you stupid little girl! Do you not understand that he sent you here to die? You are nothing to him but the latest sacrifice to his revenge! Surely your light bulb isn't so dim that you can't see that!"

She actually raised her chin in defiance. "My master will make you pay for touching me, hunter."

"My mistake. Your light bulb has _clearly_ blown out," Potter said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Richard asked, "What is your message, familiar?"

"You have one week to turn yourself and your time traveling female over to my master," Pauline stated boldly.

"And why would I do that?"

She continued undaunted. "Because if you don't, he will unleash his clan on your family and kill them all."

"Where would I turn myself over?"

"There will be two vampyres at the house where you killed the others, waiting to escort you to him."

"I'll have to give that some thought," Richard replied.

"We know your clan has nine vampyres, and I've seen your three hunters. Well, eight vampyres and four hunters now that you've found a way to change yourself, but it is of no matter. Our clan is large, and you do not have a chance of defeating us. Turn yourselves over or you will all die."

"Do you know why he wants this so bad?" Richard asked. "Why he's so bent on revenge?"

Pauline nodded. "Because you killed his brother."

"Do you know why I killed his brother?"

"Because you're an evil man."

"I'm an evil man? No. I killed his brother because he was attacking a little girl in an alleyway."

Beck added, "The same way your master murdered women on the streets of London in 1888, slashing their throats and cutting their organs from their bodies. Your 'master' was Jack the Ripper. Did he tell you that?"

"No, that's not true," Pauline said, turning a light shade of green.

"It is true. I saw it for myself. I stood on a rooftop and watched with my own eyes as your 'master' slaughtered Mary Nichols. That's the kind of shit your 'master' likes to do in his spare time," Potter said. "Your 'master' is sick as fuck, and you drank his blood. How do you feel about that now?"

Pauline leaned over and stuck her finger down her throat, spilling blood and vomit onto the ground. "It's too late for that now. You made your choice when you swallowed his blood," Richard told her.

Potter stepped forward and grabbed Pauline's arm. "No! Let me go. You can't kill me, hunter! I'm a human!" Pauline sobbed.

Potter shook his head. "Always with that misconception. I don't know who told you that, but it's not true. I can kill anyone I damn-well please."

"I don't want to die," Pauline whined

"You should have thought of that before," Richard said.

"Wait. Is there any way that we can reverse what she has done? What if one of our vampyres was to bite her?" Beck asked. "Would that override what she's done?"

She didn't like what this woman had done anymore than they did, but she didn't want to kill her if there was another option.

"It wouldn't work. She's a familiar now. She can only be turned by the toxin of her master," Richard explained. "No other toxin would have an effect on her."

Beck tried another approach. "Can she be turned into a hunter?"

"Only men can be hunters," Potter said, shaking his head slightly at Beck. "Even if we could turn her into a hunter, all we would be doing is giving her the strength and speed that she doesn't have now. It wouldn't break the connection. As long as she's alive, Elderson will see and hear everything she does."

"How about if we plug her ears, blindfold her, and put her in a room under guard until all this is over?" Beck asked.

"There is a reason that wouldn't work either, but I'll tell you about it later," Richard said in a tone that said to leave this alone for now.

Potter said, "There's really nothing else we can do."

"Alright then," Beck conceded.

"Please, I'll do anything," Pauline begged. "Don't kill me."

"I'm sorry about this, darlin', I truly am," Potter said sincerely. He reached up and snapped Pauline's neck. She was dead before she hit the ground. "What a waste."

She understood what he meant. While she wasn't particularly bothered by this woman's death, she didn't like that it had to be done.

"Séamus!" Richard called. Séamus stepped off the roof of the house. Beck hadn't even known he'd been up there. "Did you get all of that?"

"Aye, I did," Séamus said in a thick Irish brogue All of the hunters still had their accents. Potter's was lighter but still prominent. She knew it was from very little contact with the outside world.

Richard told him, "Take this body away and tell the others what her message was."

"Will do," Séamus said as he picked up Pauline's body and headed towards the path.

Beck turned to Potter. "Only men can be hunters?"

"I didn't want Elderson to know about you and Bev. Plus, he doesn't know what happened to Richard, and I want to keep it that way."

"Why couldn't we have kept Pauline hidden away?"

"It would have been a useless gesture. A familiar's life is tied to the life of their master. If the master dies, so does the familiar," Richard explained. "There was no point in trying to save her when we plan to kill Elderson. She would've died the moment he does."

"We could have let her go back to him, but we know he would have killed her," Potter added. "And judging by his past record, her death at his hand would have been cruel and much more painful than her death at mine."

She knew he was right. Elderson would have carved Pauline up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked.

"We wait. We have a week, more or less. He's painted himself into a corner, and he knows it. He has to attack, or he'll lose his power and control over the clan. When we killed the vampyres that he sent at us through the years, he was able to accept that as a loss.

"We killed one or two at a time, and only when they came at us. He was able to convince his clan that we were no real threat to them. We had never brought the fight to them," Potter said. "That all changed when we rescued Crystal and killed seven of their clan."

Beck was incredulous. "But they kidnapped Bev. They _made_ us attack them."

"It doesn't matter why we attacked. We're a threat now, and his whole clan knows it. Not to attack now would show weakness," Richard said.

"If he's sent so many vampyres after you over the years, how does he not have a better idea of how many of you there are?"

"We said he sent them. We never said that any of them made it back," Richard said. "Everyone that he sent was destroyed."

"Hunters kill vampyres. Elderson knows that. It probably shocked him that there were even three here, four including Richard. There's no way he would guess, or even believe, that there are twenty-two hunters here ready to _defend_ our vampyres," Potter smiled.

Richard smiled too. "And he thinks that there are only eight vampyres here. He won't be expecting sixteen of them. All in all, I'd have to say we're good."

"It's still forty-five against thirty-eight."

"Yes, but we're better," Richard smiled again. "You made sure of that."

"Will Elderson even show up for the fight?"

Potter nodded. "He'll have to. He can't send his whole clan into battle and stay behind. They would know him for the coward he is and wouldn't fight for him."

"So, what do we do for the next week?"

"The same thing we've been doing; we live our lives. We've always known this was coming. The only thing that has changed is that we now know when," Richard said.

She wanted to tell them that at least some of their people were going to die, but they knew that. They all knew that. She intended to spend the next week getting to know everyone a little better. If she might lose them, then she wanted to make sure she could truly remember them.

***

"Are you scared?" Richard asked her later that night as they relaxed on their cliff.

"Only about the possibility of losing the people I love."

"I'm only worried about losing you."

He couldn't stop thinking about it. What if he couldn't save her? What if, after all the years of moving from place to place, of gathering hunters and vampyres to help them was for nothing? What if he failed and she died anyway? The thought even tortured him in his dreams.

"Are you going to ask me not to fight?"

"No," he said. "As much as I want to put you on a plane to some far distant country, I know you wouldn't go. I also understand that this is your fight as much as it is ours. I just have to keep reminding myself that you are just as strong and skilled as we are."

He didn't like it though. It killed him to think about her being in the thick of the coming battle...to know that she would be out there defending her life and theirs. She could conceivably lose her life in the battle that was being fought to save it.

"We need to do something with Bev, though. I know she is as strong and fast as us, but she doesn't have the fighting skills I would like her to have."

"Leso already thought of that," he smiled. "I think they agreed that she will stay in the basement of the house until the battle is over."

Worried, she said, "But, what if they win? They'll find her."

"They're not going to win, so there's nothing to worry about."

He was rubbing his fingertips up and down her back, distracting her from the issue at hand. He leaned her back into the grass and started nibbling her neck.

"That's not helping us think," she said, moaning.

He kissed his way down her collar bone. "I don't know about that. It's got me thinking."

He unbuttoned her shirt and kissed his way down her chest to the waistband of her shorts, only pausing long enough to dip his tongue into her navel. He slid her shorts down her body and removed his own. He knelt on his knees between her open thighs and rubbed his thumb across the nub at the apex of her thighs until he could see the wetness of her glistening in the moonlight and slipped his fingers inside of her.

He moved slowly at first until she started arching against his hand. He moved his fingers faster and harder until she cried out. He moved his hand and thrust himself into her. She was wet and tight around him. He could feel the pulsing heat of her orgasm as her muscles pulsed around him. He pushed deep into her, pulling her against him. Their sweaty bodies slid against each other. With his orgasm crashing over him like waves, he collapsed on top of her.

"I love you."

"Say it again."

"I love you," she repeated.

"I love you too, Little One...forever."

He wondered briefly how long of a forever they would be allowed to have.

***

"So, how did the two of you meet?" she asked Gavin and Isiah the next day while they were sitting on the porch.

"We met in Rome in 1863. Gavin was visiting the Coliseum, and I worked in the Vatican."

She looked closely at them, trying to burn their faces into her memory. Isiah was a short man with medium length, dark hair. Gavin was much taller, very slender, with stick straight, black hair.

"What did you do at the Vatican?"

"I was a priest," he said.

Shocked, she responded, "No!"

"I was," he smiled.

"A vampyre priest. I never would have guessed that," she said, astounded.

"I wasn't a vampyre yet."

"I was only there to take in the sites of Rome," Gavin said. "I fancied myself a historian. My parents were wealthy, so I had the means to travel whenever I wished. I was in the Coliseum when I saw Isiah. When he looked over at me, something just clicked for both of us."

"Had you always known you were gay?"

Isiah shook his head. "That's the thing. I wasn't gay; neither of us were. But when we saw each other, it didn't matter. It was love at first sight. We talked for a while, and then left the Coliseum together. I never returned to the Vatican."

"So, Gavin changed you into a vampyre?"

"No," Gavin said. "I wasn't a vampyre yet, either. We were walking through the dark streets one night. We thought no one was watching, and we kissed. Suddenly, there was a beautiful woman standing in front of us. She said that she was deeply moved to see two people so obviously in love, and that she wanted to give us a gift.

"She led us to a room and told us that she'd been in love once, but that death had taken him away from her. She said that she couldn't bear the thought of that happening to us, and then she bit us. When we woke up, she told us what she was, and what we now were."

"She had two goats in the room for us to feed on. After we fed, she explained that we could feed on humans or animals, that the choice was ours. Shortly after that, she left, and we never saw her again. We chose to feed on animals," Isiah said. "We left Italy, and we've been together ever since."

"Were you ever mad that she did that to you?"

"I felt like she could have asked us first, but other than that, I'm good with it," Gavin smiled. "We've had some wonderful years together."

Beck was glad they'd had so many good years together, and hoped that they'd have many more.

***

She talked to Daryl and Rita later that same afternoon. "I don't mean to be nosy, but can I ask you two a question?"

Rita said, "You can ask us whatever you like, dear."

"How did you become vampyres? If the question is too personal, feel free not to answer. It won't hurt my feelings."

"Don't be silly, dear. We don't mind telling the story. It's just that no one's ever asked us before. Most vampyres don't like to discuss how they were turned, but our story is not a sad one, not the end of the story anyway. Daryl, would you like to tell it?" Rita asked.

Daryl nodded. "Sure. In 1726, Rita and I lived on a small farm on the outskirts of London. We didn't have much, but the farm was ours, and we were content. We'd been married for 45 years, and though the good Lord never blessed us with children, we had each other, and that was enough for us. How much do you know about smallpox, Beck?"

"I know that the onset of it causes fever, chills, nausea, headache, severe muscle pains, and vomiting. After a few days, the fever drops, and the characteristic smallpox rash appears. The spots eventually fill with a clear fluid. After that, the clear liquid turns to pus. Then, the spots turn to scabs and fall off. I know the whole process can take up to a month, and that there are two types.

"Variola major, where the fatality rate was 35 to 50 percent, and then there was Variola minor, where the fatality rate was only 1 to 2 percent. There was also a form of smallpox called Purpura Variolosa. People who contracted this form of smallpox suffered a severe loss of blood to the skin and organs. They would hemorrhage, and usually die before the smallpox rash could appear on the skin, and was nearly always fatal. I had to write a report about smallpox for my 12th grade health class."

"Well, you did your homework. In any case, I contracted the latter, and Rita contracted Variola major, which could have turned into the same thing I had. We had a family doctor that we'd had for nearly twenty years. I never once suspected him to be anything but human. I'd noticed that he didn't appear to age, but I figured a lot of people didn't show their age until later in life, and thought nothing of it."

"The last night he visited us, we were on our death beds," Rita said. "He said there was nothing more that medicine could do for us, but that he could heal us and make us better than we were before. He informed us that he was a vampyre, and that he could do the same for us. He said for us to think about it, and that he would return the next morning for our answers. We talked it over and decided to do it. He bit us, and since then, we have spent 283 happy years together."

"You understand that all of this could end in less than a week, don't you?"

Daryl nodded. "Our lives should have ended in 1722. All the years we've had since then were just a bonus. We've had more than our fair share of happiness. So, if we die this week, then that's just fine. You can't cheat death forever."

Maybe not, but she was praying that they would cheat it one more time.

***

The next day, she talked to Saphira. She decided not to beat around the bush about what she wanted to know. "How did you become a vampyre?"

Smiling, Saphira said, "I was bitten."

"I know you were bitten, thank you very much. What I want to know is why you were bitten."

"It was my choice. I lost everything in 1849, when I was only nineteen years old. I was spending a week with a friend of mine, and while I was away, our house caught fire with both my parents inside. Neither one of them survived. They were heavily in debt, so there was no inheritance, and I had no relatives to turn to for help. I ended up out on the streets.

"I begged and pleaded with strangers for money, and did unspeakable things with men just to be able to eat. And then a man picked me up one day.I thought he wanted sex, but all he wanted to do was talk. He informed me what he was and told me he could help me if I so wished.

"He said if I allowed him to turn me, I could live with his clan. I'd never have to worry about money, food, or shelter ever again. I was desperate, and his offer sounded like the answer to my prayers. I told him yes, and he turned me. I've never regretted my decision, but left the clan after three years.

"Daniel, the man who bit me, wanted me for his wife, but I didn't feel that way about him. The situation became uncomfortable, so I left. I traveled on my own for five years before I met the Youngs. They showed me how I could feed on animal blood. They accepted me as one of their own. I've been with them ever since, and I've never been happier. They're wonderful people."

Gerold joined them at the picnic table in the yard.

"So, how did the two of you meet?" Beck asked Gerold.

"I was crossing the street in New York one night. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and stepped out in front of a bus," Gerold said, taking Saphira's hand. "Saphira grabbed me and yanked me back onto the sidewalk. I asked her out right then and there. We dated for six months before she told me that she was a vampyre..

"At that point, it didn't matter. I was completely and totally in love with her. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. Two years later, I convinced her to bite me so we could spend forever together. She agreed, and I've never looked back. For me, it was the right decision."

Beck thought it was a lovely love story, and prayed their story would continue for many years to come.

***

Her next target was Jeremy. "Don't you know it's rude to ask how someone became a vampyre?" he asked as they walked the path towards the creek.

"I do know that, but I want to know anyway. We may only have a week to live, and I want to learn everything I can about the people I love."

"My story isn't that interesting anyway. You already know I'm from Ireland. What you didn't know was that I was a prize fighter. I was very good at it, and I never lost a match. I was also a hard drinker, what you would now call an alcoholic. It wasn't considered a big deal at the time. Most of the men in my town were drinkers.

"I managed my drinking fairly well until my wife, Kathryna, died giving birth to our only child. Her labor was so long and hard that her body just gave out. Our son, Shawn, followed his mother into death just one day later. He was a beautiful boy. He had a tuft of red hair, the same color as his hers. He had her lips, and my eyes.

"We buried him in his mother's arms in the family cemetery. After that, my drinking got out of control. The first thing I did every morning when I got up, was pour a glass of whiskey...the breakfast of champions, right? I still fought, though. I had to.

"It was how I earned my living. And just for the record, I never lost, even _after_ I was an alcoholic. But after every fight, I would head straight to the pubs. The problem was that after my wife and son died, I went from a fun drunk, to a mean drunk. I'd beat the shit out of anyone that I just _thought_ had looked at me wrong. I was way out of control, but I couldn't see it.

"I was drunk one night, like usual, and on my way home from the pub, I tried to pick a fight with a stranger. It was a bad decision. He beat me like I was a child. He was a vampyre, and apparently not in the mood for my drunken bullshit. After he broke most of my bones, he said, ' _It's time for you to learn some self discipline, laddie_ ,' and then he bit me. I woke up in the woods three nights later. I was very thirsty, but not for whiskey. It was blood I thirsted for.

"I grabbed the first person I found and fed on them until there wasn't drop of blood left in their body. This was in 1812, and the town I lived in was very small. I knew I had to leave. If I had stayed, I would have killed everyone there in a matter of months. I traveled from place to place for many years, feeding on strangers. I fed on humans for thirteen years before I started feeding on animals. The guilt of killing all of those innocent people had started to weigh heavily on me."

"You were never part of a clan?"

"No, not until Richard and Leso found me. I'd moved to Dublin about six months before they came to my door one evening. They told me the story of how they'd found me, of how a woman from the future had _sent_ them for me. I can't say that I completely believed them, but I was tired of being alone, so I went with them. I'm glad I did. They were telling the truth about you. Because of you, I now have a wife and a family. Thank you, Beck."

"Don't thank me yet. We may all be dead soon."

"At least I would die with my family and not alone. That means more to me than you could ever know."

***

Heidi and Levi were next. "Yes, we heard you're asking a lot of questions," Levi said as they sat at the kitchen table. "I told you how Heidi and I met. What else would you like to know?"

"I want to know what no one seems inclined to talk about. You don't have to tell me, but I would like to know how you became vampyres."

"If you really want to know, I'll tell you," he said. "In 1820, during my travels around the world, I decided to visit Romania. While there, I got it in my head to visit Transylvania to see Dracula's castle, though most Romanians know it by the name of Cetatea Lui Negru Voda, or the Citadel of the Black Prince.

"I didn't really have much interest in vampyres, but I thought the story of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, was interesting. They called him Dracul, which can mean devil or dragon. Obviously, he was not a vampyre; just a sick person that the locals thought was a vampyre because of his occasional habit of drinking human blood.

"Anyway, I was standing at the base of the castle at sunset, looking up, when someone grabbed me from behind. I was taken to another location and placed in a small cell. They held me there and fed on me every few days. They didn't take all of my blood, but only left enough to keep me alive. There were three of them, and they kept me there for three months.

"One day, while the other two were away for a few days, the third one took pity on me and bit me. When I woke up a few days later, he'd brought me a person to feed on. I fed, killed the vampyre that had held me captive, and ran. I fed on humans for three years, and then switched to feeding on animals. I haven't fed on a human since then, and that, Beck, is my story."

She turned expectantly to Heidi. Heidi took a breath and began her story. "It was 1871, and I was 23 years old. I was attacked in my bed. I was asleep when I felt someone sit down. When I opened my eyes, I saw a man sitting at the foot of my bed. I tried to scream but couldn't get any sound to come from my throat. When he leaned forward, I saw that it was Duncan, a man from town that had been trying to court me.

"I'd always told him no, but I guess he didn't handle rejection very well. He picked up my leg and bit me on the ankle. My mother found me dead the next morning. They held a funeral and buried me. When I woke up, I dug myself out of my grave and fed on the first person I could find. I left Sweden and traveled for six years before Rita found me. I was still feeding on humans then, and Rita showed me that it didn't have to be that way. I started feeding on animals, joined the Young clan, and have been here ever since."

Beck nodded in gratitude. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

***

"How did you come to be a hunter? I mean no offense, but you don't exactly look Irish," she told Gunner as they were sitting on the porch three days before the battle was supposed to take place.

Gunner laughed and said, "No, I'm not from Ireland. Actually, I'm from Jamaica."

"What made you decide to become a hunter?" she inquired curiously.

"When a vampyre killed my brother. My brother was fourteen, and I was nine. We were playing on the beach one day when a man attacked my brother. I stood there, paralyzed, as the man drained my brother of his blood. Then the man turned to me and said, 'You're not yet big enough to be a meal'.

"He threw my brother's body down and left. I vowed then, that one day, I would find and kill that vampyre. As I got older, I searched the world for him. I just happened to be in Ireland when our creator was recruiting hunters. I figured I was hunting a vampyre anyway, so what the hell."

"Have you ever regretted doing it?"

"Becoming a hunter?" he asked, and shook his head. "No, I have no regrets."

"Did you ever find the vampyre that killed your brother?"

"I did. Believe it or not, I found him in Ireland just days after I became a hunter. He suffered a very long, slow, painful death. I've been killing vampyres ever since."

She understood his motivation. If someone killed Bev, she would hunt them to the ends of the earth.

***

"So 'Big Un', what made you want to become a hunter?" she asked Damon that evening as he was eating at one of the picnic tables. If she didn't talk to him while he was eating, she would never get to talk to him at all. He always had food in his hands.

Damon smiled. "I just got tired of seeing the people in my village die. Every few days, someone would be found dead, drained of all their blood. I was the gravedigger for the village, and it just seemed like I was digging a lot more graves than normal. When our creator sent his familiar into our town requesting volunteers, I signed on. I just figured that if I killed enough vampyres, then I wouldn't have to dig so many graves," he said and took a big bite out of a cheeseburger.

"So, you didn't lose any of your family to vampyres?" She knew it was a personal question, but she really wanted to know while she had a chance to find out.

"No one in my family, but they got the boy that lived about half a mile away. His name was Ryan. We grew up together and were _like_ brothers. I cried the whole time I was digging his grave. It was maybe a week after he died that the familiar showed up with an offer to become a hunter. It took me all of two seconds to agree."

She knew Ryan not being a blood brother didn't make him less of a brother to Damon. It didn't make the loss any easier for him, either. She hoped he didn't lose anymore of his brothers, but she knew that it was inevitable that he would.

***

"Hey, Darian. Can I talk to you?"

"Sure. I heard you have been talking to everyone. I was wondering when you'd get around to me," he said. "What do you want to know?"

"What made you decide to become a hunter?"

"I had a family once...a wife, a four year old son, a two year old daughter, and a six week old baby boy. We were having dinner one night when someone kicked in the door. There were two of them. Neither of them looked as if they had yet reached their eighteenth birthday. They tied me to a chair and made me watch as they did unspeakable things to my wife and daughter.

"Then they started to torture my son. They reached into the fireplace, pulled out a burning log, and started poking him with it. They burned him over and over again. I can still hear his screams in my dreams. The screaming woke up the baby, and one of the vampyres picked him up and threw him to the floor. He stomped on my baby, and then threw him into the fire. He never screamed, so I assumed he was dead when the flames got him. God forgive me, but I hoped he was dead.

"They went back to work on my wife and remaining children. They beat them mercilessly, breaking their bones and biting chunks of flesh from their bodies. Finally, they fed on them and left their bodies dead on the floor. They never touched me. They left me tied to the chair, and walked out of the house.

"I sat there all night looking at my dead family lying on the floor, and smelling my baby burn in the fireplace. It was about two months later that the familiar showed up looking for men who wanted to hunt vampyres.

"You asked why I decided to become a vampyre hunter. My answer is, I didn't. Those vampyres made that decision for me the night they walked into my home."

"Did you ever find them?"

"Yes, I found them. It took me fifty-four years, but I found them. I made sure they suffered as much pain as my family did before I took their heads."

She didn't know what to say. She knew the coming battle was nothing to him. What could compare to what he had already been through?

***

Shane was next on her list.

"You want to know why I become a hunter?" Shane asked.

"If you don't mind."

"I don't mind. I never lost anybody personally, but we were hearing stories from a few villages away about vampyre attacks. You have to remember that this was in a time when people still believed in things like vampyres. From the stories that we were hearing, we knew the vampyres were heading in our direction. I was raising four children on my own, and there was no way I could protect them from vampyres. There _is_ no protection from vampyres."

"Had your wife passed away?"

Shane shook his head. "No, she left us when our youngest was only one year old. It was just as well. She wasn't worth a shit, and I was glad to see the back of her anyway. When the familiar showed up, I jumped at the chance to be a hunter. I would have done anything to keep my children safe."

"Did the vampyres show up in your village?"

"Yes, about three weeks after I became a hunter. I killed the vampyres that had caused the trouble in all those villages. Our village didn't lose a single person," he said proudly.

"And your children?"

Shane smiled. "They all lived long, happy lives. I didn't leave the village until they had all passed away, most of them from old age."

"Any regrets?"

He sighed and said sadly, "Only that I had to watch my children die. It's not supposed to happen that way. Children are supposed to bury their parents, not the other way around."

She couldn't agree more, but at least he hadn't had to go through what Darian endured.

### Chapter Twenty-One

She'd talked to all the vampyres and hunters, all of them except one.

"Potter, why did you become a hunter?" she asked as they were sitting at the edge of the creek with their legs dangling over the drop.

Potter smiled. "You've known me all this time and _now_ you want to know why I became a hunter?"

"Yes, I really want to know."

"Well, the village where I lived was fairly large, and we were starting to take heavy losses from vampyre attacks. I never lost anyone personally, but I understood that the vampyers had to be stopped. A group of men, me included, had already started to hunt the vampyres that were attacking our village. We did the best that we could, but the odds were against us. We knew what we had to do, but our human bodies weren't up to the task.

"No matter how hard we tried, we just couldn't stop them. Every few days, someone else would be lost. I watched a vampyre pick a man up and crush him like he was nothing. To the vampyres, we _were_ nothing. How could we fight against a creature like that? We were fighting a battle that we couldn't possibly win. Then one day a familiar showed up in our village.

"He told us that his master had an offer for us. Once we became hunters, we would have the ability to not only sense and track vampyres but also the ability to defeat them. I've told you the story of our creator before, but you wanted to know why I became a hunter. I would have to say that I chose to become a hunter to save humanity from the monsters, to keep humans at the top of the food chain," Potter explained. "Plus, I loved to fight."

With tears in her eyes, she said, "I love you, Potter."

"I know you do. I love you, too. Stop worrying about me. I'm not going to die. I'm the best, remember?"

"Second best. I seem to remember you getting your ass whipped by Richard."

He laughed. "Fine, second best then, but I'm still good enough to get through this. Hell, I'm looking forward to it. It's been a while since I've gotten to kill a vampyre. Now I'm going to get to kill a whole shitload of them."

She was glad he could laugh about it. Her nerves, however, were stretched to their limit. They had one day left before Elderson's clan was supposed to descend on them, and no one but her seemed to be concerned about it.

"Do you know what I'd really like to do right now?"

"What would that be?" he asked.

"I'd like to get, tore up from the floor up, drunk."

"You can't."

"I know. I've never even been drunk," she admitted. "I don't even drink."

It was true. She'd had a total of two beers in her entire life, and she hadn't finished either one of them.

"No. I mean you literally can't. You could drink a barrel of whiskey, and you'd never get drunk. You could do all the drugs you could get your hands on, and you would never get high. It's a hunter thing, and it sucks. Most of us are Irish for Christ's sake. If we'd known beforehand that we couldn't get drunk anymore, half of us wouldn't be here today," he laughed.

"You can't get drunk at all?"

He shook his head in mock sadness. "Not even a little buzz."

"Wow! That does suck. I guess it doesn't matter for me, though. Since I was never a drinker, I won't miss it."

"How did you manage to be twenty-six years old and never have been drunk?" he asked dumbfounded.

"That would be Bev's fault. She snuck out of the house when she was seventeen and went to a party with her boyfriend. She came home so drunk that she couldn't find her keys to get back in the house. I woke up to her knocking on my bedroom window, which doesn't sound so bad, except that my bedroom was on the second floor. Her drunk ass had climbed up our tree, and was trying to balance herself on the end of a limb."

"So, Bev fell out of a tree and that made you never want to drink?"

"No. She didn't fall out of the tree. I got her through the window before that happened, thank God."

"Then what was the problem?"

"Well, I got her in the house, undressed her, and put her in bed with me. That was my mistake. I was fourteen years old and didn't know what happened to a drunk person when they close their eyes. She said something about the room spinning, and then she threw up on my head. I had to wash my hair three times to get the smell of whiskey and bile out of it. After that, the smell of booze always made me gag."

He smiled. "So you spent your whole life sober? That's so sad."

"You know, there are worse things than being sober, like a pack of pissed off vampyres coming after your family."

"You need to stop worrying about it."

She frowned. "How am I supposed to not worry about it?"

"Because, you can't change it. Whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen. You sitting around pulling your hair out about it isn't going to change a goddamned thing, Beck."

"That's comforting."

"Look, all I'm saying is that you can't fight scared. We're in a fight or flight situation. We've decided to fight, so you've just gotta let that flight shit go. And you have to let it go right now, because they're coming," he said, and jumped to his feet.

***

She felt the vibration in her head a moment later, and knew Potter meant that Elderson's clan was coming _right now_. They were a day early! She jumped up when she heard the sound of the hunters running down the path towards them. They jumped over the creek, sailing ten feet over her head before they hit the ground running.

"Let's go, Beck."

Potter was halfway down the path before he looked back at her.

"Beck?" he asked in confused voice.

She knew he wanted to know why she was still standing there. She didn't know. She knew she needed to go to her family, but she couldn't make her legs move.

"Beck?" he asked again, running back to her.

It was all crashing down on her now. Some, maybe all, of the people she loved were about to die. They were going to die, and it was _her_ fault. She'd had the opportunity to let Potter kill Elderson the night of Mary Ann Nichols murder, and she hadn't taken it because she'd been so sure of her own plan to kill Elderson in 1888. She could've stopped this then, and she hadn't done it. And why?

So she wouldn't change history? It had been a stupid decision, and Elderson was here with an army because of it. She was in this state of mind when Potter reached out and slapped her. She was instantly angry, and without thinking, stepped into him and landed an uppercut to his chin. She felt his jaw break under her fist. He jumped away from her and pushed his jaw back into place.

"Right! Just like that, only do it to _them_! Now, _LET'S GO!!"_ he said, and took off down the path again.

She had no problem following him this time.

"You hit me!" she yelled when she caught up to him.

"I've seen it on T.V. before. If a person is in shock, a good slap to the face can snap them out of it. I must've missed the part where the person you slapped springs forward and breaks your jaw, though," he laughed as they burst into the backyard.

"You hit me first."

He smiled at her when they jumped over the house and landed in the front yard. "Stop being such a baby."

All the hunters and vampyres were waiting there. "What are you two fighting about now?"Richard asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Potter gave her a pleading look, but she ignored it.

"Potter hit me."

Potter's freshly healed jaw dropped in shock when Richard turned to look at him.

"I had a really good reason," he explained pointlessly.

"I don't care," Richard said. "You know I'm going to beat the shit out of you when this is over, right?"

"Yeah, I figured as much," he said, and then glared at Beck. "Tattletale."

"I know," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. Beck could feel Elderson's clan getting closer. "How long do we have?"

"About three minutes," Richard said.

"Where's Bev?"

"In the basement," Leso answered. "I told her to stay there until one of us comes to get her."

She thought it was cute that Leso really believed Bev was going to stay put. She had no doubt that Bev would slip out of the house when the fighting started. She'd like Bev to stay where she was safe, but wasn't naïve enough to think that it was actually going to happen. Bev would fight. This was her family, too.

Beck looked up at Richard. "What's the plan?"

They'd known that Elderson's clan would be coming, but hadn't really discussed what they were going to do when they got here.

"Kill them. The plan has always been to kill them."

"I like it," Beck said. "It's a good plan."

"Hunters!" Potter yelled. "Take your places!"

She watched as all the hunters disappeared into the woods.

"What about them?" she asked, pointing at Christov and Séamus.

"Elderson already knows about them," Potter said. "He saw them through his familiar, so he'll be expecting to see them."

"What about the vampyres he doesn't know about yet?" she asked. "Shouldn't we spread out?"

"Elderson's clan is traveling in a group right now. If we break apart, they will, too," he explained. "I want all of the fighting to happen right here, where we're in control. I don't want to give them any reason to separate."

She could feel that Potter was in full battle mode now. She could also feel how excited he was about it. There was not a trace of fear in him. She wished she could say the same for herself, but she was scared shitless. She wasn't afraid for herself, but for everyone else. She looked around the yard and saw everyone saying, possibly, their last goodbyes, and it broke her heart.

Richard said, "They're almost here."

She could feel the vibration in her head getting stronger. "I love you," she told Richard when Potter turned to hug Jenny.

"I love you too, Little One. Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."

"No. It's not, and you know it."

He pulled her closer to him and kissed her.

"You could go in the house and wait with Bev," he whispered in her ear.

"You could sprout wings and fly around the yard, but that ain't gonna happen, either."

"I didn't think so. It's too late now anyway. They're here," he said, and turned, putting her slightly behind him.

***

Her fear and anger snapped into focus when she saw Elderson and his minions walking down her driveway just as bold as brass. There were only a handful of female vampyres in his clan. That made sense to her. To Elderson, women were nothing more than victims, something to be played with, and disposed of when he was done.

She would bet money that the few women that were in his clan were mates to some of the males. Elderson would never give that kind of power to a woman. She could feel strong anticipation coming from the trees. Potter wasn't the only hunter excited about the impending battle. Elderson's clan came to a stop ten yards in front of them.

"So, it's true," Elderson said to Richard. "You are no longer a vampyre."

"No. I'm not," Richard said coldly.

"How did you do this?" Elderson demanded.

Richard glared at him. "Why the hell would I tell you that?"

She watched from behind Richard as he and Elderson stared at one another. She could feel the rage bubbling under the surface of Richard's skin.

Elderson shrugged. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Just hand over your little time traveling female and no one else needs to die here today."

She'd had enough. "Why don't you kiss my little time traveling ass?"

"Your female needs to be taught some respect, Richard," Elderson growled.

"She has plenty of respect," Richard said. "Just not for you."

"Do you even know why we're here today, little girl?" Elderson said condescendingly.

"Oh, I know _exactly_ why we're here. We're here because Richard is a decent man, and your brother was a troll who liked to hurt little girls in alleyways, just like you like to mutilate women on the street. What did your parents do to the two of you to turn you into such monsters?"

Elderson roared, "Don't you _ever_ talk about my brother!"

"Don't raise your voice to Beck," Leso hissed.

She hadn't heard a vampyre hiss in quite some time, and it caught her by surprise. She spun her head around to look at Leso.

Elderson took her surprise as fear. "What's wrong, Pumpkin? Afraid of your own people? Did you just realize that the 'monsters' aren't only standing in front of you?"

"She has no need to fear _us_ ," Leso replied.

Elderson ignored Leso and turned his attention back to Richard.

"This is your last chance. Hand over the human, and I give you my word that we'll leave your clan in peace. Your female's life for the life of my brother. Is that not a fair trade?"

"No, it's not," Richard growled.

Potter smiled at Elderson. "We don't have any humans to hand over to you anyway."

"Do not play with me, hunter! Give her to me!" Elderson demanded.

Potter smiled again, taunting Elderson. "No."

She could feel that Potter was enjoying himself. This was like foreplay to him.

"Come to me," Elderson commanded, catching her gaze.

Beck looked at Richard. "Is he trying to mesmerize me?"

He nodded. "Yes, he is."

"That doesn't work with me, but I'll tell you what. If you want me so badly, then come get me," she challenged.

Elderson didn't move.

"No? How about if I meet you halfway?" she said, walking out into the empty space between the two clans.

Elderson turned to the vampyre to his left. "Bring her to me."

"What's wrong? You can't come get me yourself? I am just a frail human after all, right?" She could tell that the vampyre he'd given the order to was thinking the same thing.

Elderson pushed the vampyre towards away from him. "Get her!"

The vampyre stepped away from his clan, and toward her.

"Why are you taking orders from this lunatic?"she asked the approaching vampyre.

"He is my master. He gave me new life."

"He may have given you new life, but he brought you here to die. You're nothing to him."

"Do you really believe that your clan has a chance of killing me?" the vampyre asked her incredulously.

She shook her head. "No, they're going to kill everyone else. _I'm_ going to kill you."

"You are a human. You are of no danger to me."

"That's the kind of thinking that got you killed today."

He reached for her. "I'm not dead, bitch."

She grabbed his wrist, jerked him toward her, and drove her knee into his thigh, breaking his femur. She jabbed her elbow into his back, dropping him face first onto the ground. From there it was easy to reach down and tear his head off.

She tossed his head at the of Elderson's clan. "You are now."

"What is this trick?!" Elderson bellowed.

Richard smirked, "Things aren't as they seem, are they Royal?"

"What is she?" one of Elderson's clan asked. "She is not a vampyre."

"Nor is she a hunter," Elderson said. "She has a scent, and she is female."

"Well, I guess you're left with a magical fucking mystery," Harley laughed.

She did a quick head count of the vampyres across from them. There was forty-five. Elderson had brought them all.

Elderson ordered, "Kill everyone except Richard and his woman!"

The hunters descended before Elderson's clan could do more that twitch. They exploded from the woods, and launched themselves from the treetops. It was like watching acrobats at a circus, only instead of landing in a net, the hunters landed, battle ready, on the ground, and surrounded Elderson's stunned clan

"It's a trap!" one of the female vampyres screamed. The fear coming from Elderson's clan was almost tangible.

"We didn't invite you here, so how could it be a trap?" Potter asked.

"You have been hunting us for over a hundred years. We knew this day would come eventually," Richard said. "Did you really think we would be unprepared?"

Elderson ignored Richard and turned his attention to the hunters instead. "You cannot protect them! You are supposed to kill vampyres!"

"Oh, believe me, we intend to," Damon smiled.

Elderson looked desperately at his clan. "We still outnumber them."

"But master, they are hunters!" one of the male vampyres cried.

Bruce smiled. "I don't think your clan likes their odds anymore."

"Attack!" Elderson roared.

Another member of his Elderson's clan pulled what Beck assumed to be his mate closer to his side. "Wait! We don't have to do this. We can give you Royal and be on our way."

"No, you can't," Darian said.

"Why not?" Beck asked.

They would get to kill Elderson, and there wouldn't be a battle. It sounded like a good deal to her.

"They reek of human blood," Gunner said, wrinkling his nose.

"We don't kill our vampyres, because they're not murderers. That's not the case with them," Potter explained. "They kill humans to sustain their own lives. They don't have to live on human blood, they chose to. They _are_ monsters, Beck, and we cannot let that pass."

She'd become so wrapped up in their own lives that she had forgotten about the countless human lives that were at risk from Elderson's clan. Forty-five of them meant the loss of forty-five human lives every week. That would add up to nearly twenty-five hundred lives a year or almost a quarter of a million people in a century. Where the hell were they getting all those people without being noticed?

Elderson was trying to work his way backwards through his clan, but they wouldn't let him pass. "If we die, you die," one of them told him.

"I am your master!" Elderson yelled.

Jenny shook her head at him. "You _were_ their master. Now you're just the asshole that got them killed."

"Well?" Potter asked Beck.

She wanted to take the easy way out and save her family and friends, but knew she couldn't do it. If they allowed them to leave, then they would be responsible for every human they killed later.

"Kill them," she said.

The hunters fell on Elderson's clan as if they had only been waiting for her permission. Her vampyres leapt into the fight as soon as the hunters struck. She lost sight of most of her family after that. There were nearly a eighty people fighting in the yard, and it was difficult to see through the crowd.

She didn't get to do much fighting. Every time she got close to a member of Elderson's clan, a hunter would jump in between them. She did see Jeremy fighting, though. He was a highly skilled fighter. In another time, in another world, a world where he was human, he would have made an excellent MMA fighter. She watched as he tore his opponent's head off with a Triangle from Mount.

She looked beside her in time to see Bev rip the head off one of the female vampyres. She knew Bev wouldn't stay in the house. That was her girl! She was still looking at Bev when she was struck hard from behind and nearly knocked to the ground.

"What the hell?!" she yelled above the noise.

"Sorry," Darian yelled back, springing from the ground where he had fallen after being thrown into her back.

He'd also had his left arm ripped off, but this didn't stop him from jumping right back into the fight. Fire flashed over her skin as the hunters fell. Every time she felt her skin sear, a prayer was chanted through her head: _Please God, not Richard, Potter, or the twins, not Richard, Potter or the twins._ She hated to lose any of the hunters, but Richard, Potter, Seanán, and Tiarnán were her family. The crowd had thinned out considerably when she felt the fire hit her skin again.

Pain sliced through her chest and drove her to her knees. She looked across the yard in time to see Elderson drop Seanán's head to the ground.

" _NO!"_ she screamed.

Tiarnán ran toward Seanán, but was blown backwards before he reached him. Their bodies hit the ground at the same time. Elderson escaping into the woods was the last thing she saw before she slipped into the darkness.

***

Richard was fighting two vampyres when he saw Seanán die. Seanán was fighting two vampyres of his own when Elderson came up behind him. It was over before Richard could even shout a warning. He saw Tiarnán run toward Elderson and then fly backward through the air. It looked as if someone had thrown him, but he hadn't been touched.

"Potter!" he yelled as he killed the vampyre he'd been fighting with.

Potter yelled back. "Right behind you!"

"Seanán!" he shouted back, ducking under the other vampyre's fist.

Potter darted a glance at him. "What?!"

"Duck!" Richard heard Damon shout.

He crouched to the ground just as the silver sword swung through the air, chopping off the vampyre's head. "Thanks," Richard told him.

"Go!" Damon yelled and launched himself back into the battle.

Richard paused long enough to verify that Tiarnán still had his head, and then bolted into the woods after Elderson. He'd only ran a half a mile before Potter caught up to him.

"That motherfucker killed my son!" he yelled to Potter. "He killed Seanán!"

"Damn it! Where's Tiarnán?" Potter asked.

"Back there, on the ground. I don't know what's wrong with him, but he still has his head."

"Beck?" Potter asked with concern.

"She's alive. I can hear her heartbeat," he said. "Jenny?"

"I don't know. I lost sight of her when the fight started."

He wanted to tell Potter that he was sure Jenny was fine, but he didn't want to give him false hope. The truth was that he didn't know who else might be dead. His focus right now was to catch and kill Royal Elderson. They chased Elderson's scent through the woods, and out onto the street.

They were running flat out down the road, past cars in broad daylight, but he couldn't worry about that now.

"There he is!" Potter shouted, pointing down the street toward the bridge.

They'd nearly caught up to him when it happened. Elderson jumped over the guardrail and dropped fifty feet into the water below.

" _Damn it_!" Richard roared, and dove in after hm.

He heard Potter hit the water a split second later. Together they searched the murky water for over an hour before swimming back to the bank under the bridge.

"I can't see shit in this nasty ass river," Potter said, pulling himself out of the water.

"He's gone."

"We'll find him," Potter said, putting his hand on Richards shoulder. Don't worry."

"You can bet your ass that I'm going to find him, and when I do, I'm going to make him wish he'd died with his brother," Richard growled.

Potter nodded in agreement. "Let's get back and check on the others."

That was fine. They would go home, take care of their family, and grieve for their dead. Then he would show Elderson how it felt to become truly hunted.

To Be Continued _..._

We hoped you enjoyed The Undead Heart (#1 in The Blood Thirst Series)! You can check out Blood Thirst (#2 in the Blood Thirst Series).

Blood Thirst (#2 in the Blood Thirst Series)

The continuing story of Beck Jaxon and her family: The Young/Jaxon family won the battle, but Elderson escaped, again. Now, Beck and her family have to deal with the losses they suffered during the battle with Elderson's clan.

They bury their dead and morn the loss of their family members. But there would be no rest for them. Elderson may have escaped this time, but he will be back. He wants Beck dead and will stop at nothing to make that happen.

Will Elderson succeed, or will Beck and her family finally rid the world of Royal Elderson and the evil he has unleashed for centuries?

<https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/254781>

The Wrath of Potter (#3 in the 3 book Blood Thirst Series)

<https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/327518>

Other books by Stephanie Jackson:

When Angels Fall

Danielle Coulter had never believed in anything except her mother, hard work and heartache. She never had time for religious fairytales. But when her mother died, Dani was forced to believe...or die.

Not only was she forced to accept that God and Lucifer are real, but also that she is the last living descent of God on Earth. An undeniable fact when the Archangel Gabriel fell to Earth to protect her.

Archangel Gabriel; banished from Heaven over four million years ago for refusing to kill his brother, Lucifer, was about to get a second chance to re- enter Heaven. He was sent to Earth on a mission from his Father to protect the last Daughter of God; the last woman to carry the Blood of God on Earth, and kill his brother, once and for all.

Gabriel had never expected to feel anything for Dani, but he soon found himself willing to fight Heaven and Hell to keep her safe, even if it meant his own destruction.

Smashwords — When Angels Fall — A book by Stephanie Jackson

The Lamp

What can happen when you let the Genie out of the lamp? It may not be what you think.

Ellie loves her friends and antiques. She even opened her own little antique shop, Timeless Treasures, when she graduated college.

Little did she know that her love of antiques would introduce her to a supernatural being...a Jinn who possesses the most powerful object ever sent to Earth; King Solomon's ring.

Not only did she just discover that the supernatural actually existed, but now she finds that she must make a decision as to whether or not to embark on a dangerous adventure that could cost her her very life, as just as she finds the love of her life, Matthaus. Will she make the right decision before it's too late to stop Iblis from claiming Solomon's ring and enslaving the world of humans for all eternity?

<https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/291280>

The Lamp eBook available through Smashwords

All books also available as paperback at Amazon.

eBook formatter: L.K. Campbell LK E-Book Formatting Service
