 
### Taken

### Annan Werewolf Series ~ Book 2

By Roxanne Fox

Published by Roxanne Fox at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Roxanne Fox

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my friends, family, and readers for their support and inspiration. Some of you have been here through it all, some have fallen away, but all of you have been vital to this journey. Thank you.

This story is dedicated to a pile of shit in the woods. Who knew some scat could lead to a whole new world full of amazing people and adventures.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, and incidents are all fictitious, or have been used in a fictitious way. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is purely coincidental.

Warning: This book contains adult content.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Ha-wa-ho-a

Chapter 2 – Being Sean Paul Laveau

Chapter 3 – My Future

Chapter 4 – Brain-ipedia

Chapter 5 – Chloe Bellerose

Chapter 6 – Enter: Antonio

Chapter 7 – Not a Bad Plan

Chapter 8 – Puppet Master

Chapter 9 – Drunk on Being Bitten

Chapter 10 – This is so Wrong

Chapter 11 – Who is Rostom?

Chapter 12 – Chloe, and Sean, and... Oh Boy

Chapter 13 – The Decision to Stay

Chapter 14 – What Party?

Chapter 15 – And Now to Tell Chloe

Chapter 16 – Turn, Turn, Turn

Chapter 17 – A Little Girl Time... and Hentai?

Chapter 18 – Is This Seduction?

Chapter 19 – Angelic Gets Her Wish

Chapter 20 – Hey Jealousy

Preview to Changes ~ Book 2.5

### Chapter 1

Ha-wa-ho-a

"I don't know how we didn't know!" Sean's voice was frantic. Worse than that it boomed through my mind and seemed to echo off the walls of my skull. It wasn't hard for me to discern that my new love interest sounded all wrong.

Trying to blink my eyes, I found that I couldn't see a thing, but before I could panic over being blind another voice echoed in my head.

"How come we didn't know he was planning that?" My cousin Korbin sounded odd too. Even though I had only known him a couple of days the sound of my new found family member's cadence was committed to memory, and just like with Sean, something didn't sound right.

"Shut up Korbin!" Anger and fear rolled through me as Sean's voice rolled around my head once more. For some reason it felt as though his words were my own thoughts.

"I can't find anything this way. He had to have taken the main road out." That sounded like Scott—a fellow pack member who I had recently met, along with his husband—but I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Fuck! I can't get a scent. Nothing! It's like they disappeared." As Sean spoke my fear increased, even though I didn't know what I was scared of.

"Sean. Cesair wants you at the house. She came as soon as we called her."

Gale sounded odd too but she wasn't as loud as Sean, or even Korbin and Scott for that matter. She sounded much further away and some feeling in me told me she wasn't finished speaking so I waited, though it didn't feel as though it was me waiting. For some reason it was as though my body felt it even though my mind didn't match up.

"She said it's too late, they are already gone. We need to try something else."

There was a sharp tearing at my chest as Gale spoke and I tried to grab at it, only to realize I couldn't move. Panic seeped in an increment at a time as I began to wonder why I was paralyzed and blind—opening my mouth, I tried to speak but nothing came out—or able to make a sound.

Wondering why my panicked thoughts weren't accompanied by a panicked feeling, a burning and tearing sensation spread throughout me instead. It felt as though some animal was clawing at my heart and as I puzzled over such an unknown feeling a scream cut the air.

Through the pain, I felt myself calling out the hurt I was experiencing, but the sound that was leaving me was one I had never made before. It was the sound of a large cat, one ready to attack or who is gravely wounded, but before I had a chance to wonder what was happening, the blackness which held my eyes covered my ears and my world went silent and numb.

~

For the first time in my life I had a headache. When I had found out that I was not only part werewolf, part vampire, and part fae but that all of those stemmed from aliens, I had thought the information overload gave me a headache. What was pounding behind my eyes and causing my stomach to lurch and real with each bump I went over was showing me how wrong I had been before. This headache reminded me of the ones my mom would sometimes complain about when dad came home reeking of turpentine—which was often, considering his hobby was building furniture—and she would have to take an Excedrin, and then a nap.

The thoughts of my deceased parents passed as the vehicle I was in hit another bump and my cheek slammed into something metal. My eyes flashed open and I spotted a dirty, rust-coated bucket near me. Scrambling to my knees, I grabbed the nasty thing and retched up everything in my stomach, another first for me. After heaving out every last drop I had in stomach, I sat back and spit in the thing as I absorbed my surroundings with a heavy pit in my gut.

Where I was, for lack of a better term, was in a cage. It seemed to be built into a box van, but it was a cage none the less. One with a metal floor and bars that held nothing but me and a bucket full of barf.

"Well now, you seem to have metabolized that pretty fast."

At the sound of his voice an unexpected laughter erupted out of me. Clamping my mouth shut with my left hand I leaned my head against one of the thick bars. Oh fucking la-te-da, I was right. Mitchell—the supposed safe pack member, who had been pack longer than my main squeeze, Sean—was not only creepy, he was downright scary.

The memory of us taking the trash out to the garage flitted through my mind. That was when he did it, when he injected me with some crap then took me from my family. Fuck, sometimes I really hated being right.

"Ain't you got somethin' to say?"

Dropping my hand I looked at his sun beaten features in the review mirror as he tilted it down to look at me.

"All I can say is: You are fucking dead." It would have been nice to throw my barf bucket at him for added effect, but I didn't want to chance splash-back when it hit the bars.

Mitchell chuckled to himself and his dirt brown eyes held my emerald ones as he pulled to the side of the road. All I could see out of the windshield was darkness and the tops of low bushes illuminated by the headlights. There didn't seem to be anything else around us, no houses or streetlights, just shrubbery and us in a van. He put it in park and grabbed a riffle I hadn't noticed on the ground between the driver and passenger seat. Before I had a chance to react he lifted the thing, aimed it, and shot me.

My right shoulder was hit and I expected to see blood gushing out from the force of the impact, but instead I saw a small hypodermic needle with fluff on the end. Grabbing it, I threw the thing down just as the cage began to waver.

Pushing at the bucket, I shoved it toward him and spilled puke across the bottom of the cage as I tried to scream, "Did you dart me?" Instead it came out sounding something more like, "ha-wa-ho-a?" And, with the last bit of effort I had in me I tried to pass out anywhere but in my own barf.
Chapter 2

### Being Sean Paul Laveau

"Elizabeta will be here soon." Cesair's voice was soothing and warm, but didn't heal the hurt I could feel. Nothing could erase the deep loss inside my soul.

The feeling of loss felt strange to me. It was kind of like when I had lost my parents, but different. The strangeness of it, though, was fogged over by the feeling itself and as Sean's voice echoed through my mind I couldn't focus on why it was so odd.

"Damn it. I knew she shouldn't have removed those spells. God fu—"

"Sean. Maybe you need a moment."

Gale cut him off, but for some reason I could hear a volley of his thoughts repeating the same thing he had said, which was the same thing I had thought when Mitchell had taken me.

Removing my protection and tracking spells was stupid.

Feeling more coherent, I tried to blink away the blackness to see what was going on. My eyes didn't feel like they did anything, but the attempt at blinking did cause a waiver of an image to appear. Trying to move my hands to rub away whatever the haze was, I discovered I couldn't move the rest of my body either. The whole situation was so strange, but I found myself more curious over it and less freaked out this time. Even if I didn't understand what was going on or where the weird sense of loss inside of me came from there was still no panic over either.

"When the portal is up you can go to his property. If he is headed there you will likely beat him." Cesair, once again, soothed my body, which didn't really feel like my body, with her words but something in my non-body didn't want to be soothed. A gentle touch pressed against the arm I could feel but not control and the image cleared revealing my aunt and uncle's living room with Cesair right in front of me. "It will be fine, Sean. We will find her and bring her home."

My head shook without me controlling it before I stepped away and felt my heart rip in two. There was a murmuring behind me about how Sean was handling the situation and guilt flooded through my body, causing the ripping sensation to spread. A thought of my life being over—no, my life would better if it was over—skittered through my mind and I realized what was going on with me.

I was _inside_ Sean.

Somehow, someway I was seeing what he was seeing, hearing what he was hearing, and feeling his body move as if it was my own. But, more than all that, I was experiencing what he was feeling and thinking as well. For a moment, I found myself even more shocked about what was going on than when I found out vamps and Weres came from aliens. The only thought my brain could seem to form was, "Well fuck, this is new."

Moving past my shock, I ignored the constant background noise of Sean's depressing thoughts—which circled around that the idea my kidnapping was all his fault—and mentally sat to contemplate the new predicament I found myself in. Let me tell you, it was hard to imagine sitting down when you felt your feet pacing around a room with nervous intent, but somehow I managed it. Mulling over the situation, it dawned on me that I had to be knocked unconscious by Mitchell before I popped in Sean's mind, and that it was obviously him both times it happened. Of course, that only raised the question of why I connected with Sean and not Korbin or one of the twins, or any of my blood family.

Unless...

The memory of Sean's surety that we had come together—as in him and I became a mated pair after the first time we had sex—reared its ugly head, but it took little effort to shove that thought back in the dark hole it belonged in. Wishing I could take in a deep breath, I tried not to let this interesting event confirm the fact he was right. It was easier to believe it had more to do with some of my one-of-a-kind BS I had been told about than to believe in something I wasn't comfortable with in the first place.

Damn that mate business...

Anyway, back to problem at hand. Focusing less on why I was in Sean's head and more on what I could do with it, I decided the only thing to do was try and get his attention. After all, that seemed the most logical step.

Mentally standing, even though Sean was still pacing the room, I controlled the urge to look around at anything but the floor and concentrated on trying to speak, even though I had no mouth to move.

"Sean, can you hear me? I'm with you... kinda." Holding in a breath I couldn't hold in, I waited for a response.

A response that never came.

Well, shit.

Before I could formulate another plan someone came into the house and Sean's heart started to race as he moved faster than I knew he could to whoever it was at the door. A woman shorter than him, with brunette hair that fell in a long braid down her back, stood looking at him through eyes the color of mosses found deep in the forest.

"I've found something interesting." Her arched brows pursed as her eyes fell and she turned around.

She strode out of the house with her plum wool coat wrapped around her body. Her fitted jeans and boots were suitable for the snowy conditions indicating she needed them, unlike my family who strode around like it was spring or summer at all times, and I had to wonder what kind of supernatural creature, or Supe, she was.

Sean followed her as Cesair took up stride beside the new woman. The two of them spoke low to one another but Sean, and I was assuming everyone who was with him, could hear what they were saying. It didn't matter though, because they were talking in some language I didn't understand, and I had no clue if Sean did or not.

Frustrated, I tried to throw up my hands and scream but was unable to, which only caused me to become more irritated. "God, what the hell! What is going on?"

Storming to myself, I thought, "Who is this woman anyways?" and the answer came to me. Somehow, from somewhere, I'm guessing from Sean's mind, it was implanted into my own.

"Elizabeta. She is the head mage where Sean and Korbin work, a secret organization called the Supernatural Intelligence Agency, or SIA for short. Cesair is the head of the SIA which operates secretly under the—"

"Holy crap, enough. Elizabeta the mage that Sean works with. Gotcha, Sean's brain..." It was so odd to think-talk at someone's head.

The whole thing was nuts. The information entered my mind like my own thoughts but as an unstoppable flow until I commanded it to end. Stranger than that was, as I was bombarded with who Elizabeta was I saw correlating images of her. Such as, her in a white room with shelves along the walls holding jars containing strange items I didn't get a good look at before the door closed. Or, of her kissing some guy while he pressed her against a messy desk in a place reminiscent of a chemistry lab of some kind. It was strange to say the least.

Wishing I could bite my lip as I processed the implications of having access to all the things Sean knew, and the memories associated with those things, I heard a loud word I didn't recognize but could tell was a curse of some kind.

"What language are Cesair and Elizabeta speaking?" I thought at Sean's head.

"Old Norse, a language that—" Sean's mind started shoving information interwoven with images of the two women speaking into my head.

"Okay, stop!" Jeez, that could get out of hand _._

My thoughts were interrupted by Cesair's urgent approach from a grassy circle ringed by stones set in the thick snow. The ring looked out of place in the winter landscape complete with small flowers of varying color beginning to bloom in the center of it.

"He used this." Somehow both of us could tell this was a side of Cesair which wasn't often seen. She was pissed. Her golden hair seemed to boil around her as she walked, her bare toes glittering from under her silken beryl toned dress.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked, but I could tell he knew the answer. He just wanted her to say it, to join him in his fury no matter what the reason.

"He used _my_ portal to take her." She strode back to it, back to the portal. The gold threads woven through her dress caught in the illumination given off by glowing orbs hovering around circle as she made calculated strides around it. "Somehow he was able to use it."

She knelt by the ring and started talking in Norse to Elizabeta again, who nodded and started talking low in a different language, but I didn't dare ask what it was. All I could do was watch my family, as well as Scott and his husband Ray, come around Sean. Both men looked worn down and not like their usual Seattleite selves. Ray's face sported a shadow of a dusky-blond beard wanting to grow, and Scott had a matching black one. His dark eyes looked just as worried as Ray's sliver ones.

Taking in my family, I could see that worry creased all their faces as they watched Cesair and Elizabeta. My aunts sapphire eyes swam, like Korbin's matching ones, and I tried to be surprised he was crying but the twin's silver-gray eyes spilled tears and so did my uncles. His brown eyes looked down to his wife, tucked under his arm, and he kissed her on her ebony locks before squeezing her tight.

It was hard for me to see my family like that, even if I hadn't known them long. Just before I was taken I had really began to feel like they were my people and that I had finally made it home. Seeing their pain made me wish to protect them, even though I was the one who needed protecting.

"I can't believe he opened our portal and was able to cross through."

Sean had not been focusing on my family, even though I was taking them in from his periphery, but he focused on my uncle now and for some reason it felt as though I could sense some anger coming from my uncle. Sean didn't seem to notice the strange feeling, as though there was an invisible press of his emotion against me, but I had never felt anything like it before so it stood out.

Maybe it had to do with being in his head or something?

The new odd development would need to be looked at later. Sean was unaware of it, so it must not be important and with the thoughts pouring through him, there was no time to mull over the idea he could feel what Mike was feeling anyways. He was just as pissed as my uncle appeared to be and didn't understand how or why Mitchell did what he did. He was supposed to be a trusted pack member, not one high up in power, but trustworthy. He was in no way supposed to be some lowlife with the power to do what he did.

"So what does this mean? How are we going to find her?" Sean's rage was interrupted by Gale but he wasn't as worried about how they would find me. He was sure he would. He was willing to bet his life on it.

"It will be okay, Mom. Sean and I are going to get her back, don't worry."

Sean looked away from Gale's tears as she hugged Korbin, and to Elizabeta who had finished walking around the circle. My mind and non-body felt loaded down by Sean's thoughts and emotions but I tried to ignore it all as I watched the ground the mage was walking on light up in a hazy blue glow. The glow spread and revealed two tire tracks going right to the edge of the circle before vanishing. She muttered some words Sean and I didn't know and an opaque image of a white van appeared over the tracks with its back doors open. Sean walked around the image and to the back where he saw me, in a cage lying on my side with my hair covering my face.

There was a pull at Sean's chest that was accompanied by a burn of anger over seeing my lifeless body behind bars. Mitchell came around the back and opened a mason jar before reaching in and grabbing a handful of what looked like herbs. He threw them inside the van in an area behind the cage and a small circle with symbols lit up before he slammed the door shut.

"Did you see that?" Sean was shocked as he watched Mitchell's wavered image get in the van while he closed the jar. It was still packed full of whatever was in it. His door closed and the sadistic bastard smiled.

"Holy, fuck. That is some clever, yet expensive, shit." Gale didn't bother to correct Elizabeta's language, but I was guessing a woman who regularly spoke Old Norse was much older than my Aunt, and therefore not able to be scolded.

Cesair watched as the image of the van drove toward her and then disappeared as it passed through her and over the circle. "It seems Mitchell has created a mobile portal."

"How is that even possible?" Korbin sounded as confused as Sean felt.

"It's tricky, but possible. With the right spell, laid the right way—which, as we saw, the spell was— someone can open dormant portals. He's had that spell laid on his van so—"

"He can use any abandoned portal he wants," Sean finished for her. He wasn't too happy about knowing what she was going to say, though. All it did was increase the sense of loss already deep within him.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Can we track where he went?" Gale asked, but Sean's eyes stayed on where the van's tires had disappeared.

Cesair's hand was warm on his shoulder as she replied to my Aunt. "It will be almost impossible. That is why he did not use an active one. I could trace him through active portals since I always keep track of them. If he continues to activate decommissioned ones it will make the task of tracking him that much harder since I do not keep a record of them, due to the vast amount that have been set and taken down over the centuries."

Sean brought his eyes to her and I saw a grim look on Cesair's face as she shook her head. The expression didn't fit her golden visage. "It will take some time to figure out how to track him this way. My concern now is how he would know to use decommissioned portals. No one outside of the SIA knows I don't log them and that seems to be the only reason he has gone to such lengths to use them when just taking her to an active portal would be so much easier.

"The only thing I can think to do now is collect the herbs and trace where they originated from." Her eyes met Sean's. "Maybe if we find where he got them we can find the mole." Her lips pursed as she looked at the portal. "I will need to clear my head to figure out how to approach this. I was concerned something may happen to Annan, I could have never predicted this is what it would be."

The idea someone in Cesair's organization, one she built to protect and govern the Supes, had betrayed her in such a way added to Sean's anger. It seemed there was more to the Supernatural Intelligence Agency than the small amount I had learned before being taken and it was tempting to ask Sean's brain about it, but he started talking so I decided it would be a question for another time, maybe even after I was rescued.

"So, you're saying it's hopeless."

Sean glanced at Gale who looked as defeated as she sounded, but something in him knew Cesair always had a trick up her sleeve. Somehow, he knew it wasn't hopeless, not if Ces was still calm.

"It's not hopeless, it will just be more difficult than it could have been."

The tall woman walked to where the image of the van had been. She put her hands out and began chanting in the same language Elizabeta had earlier. Small pieces of what looked like dirt, or something else similar, loosened itself from the snow and drifted up to float below her hands. More joined the loose ball that was forming in front of her to make about a pinch of what I figured must be the stuff Mitchell had thrown in the van.

As she brought her hands under her find, a clear like bubble surrounded it but still hovered above her palms. "Take this back. I want you and Serenity to analyze it. Find its composition, source, and whose magic is on it."

Elizabeta nodded as she took the hovering bubble of herbs and walked back to the portal. She said some words and a wavy image of the room I saw her kissing a man in appeared. She walked through it and the image vanished right after her boot covered foot crossed the magic threshold.

"Sean." Cesair pulled Sean's attention from the vanished portal as she glanced around her. "Everyone, try not to worry. We can at least find out who supplied the herbs and that is a start. For now try to rest and prepare for Annan's return, because she will not be gone forever."

There was murmuring among my new family and friends about not being able to rest while I was missing, as well as talk of going back to the house and calling pack who knew Mitchell best to try to find out more about him, when Cesair turned to Sean. "Why don't you and Korbin rest up. I'll have you two get your gear and go to his property. See if you can find out anything there."

"Why don't we go now? What's the point in waiting?" Korbin's words mirrored Sean's thoughts to a T.

"I want you both to let this incident settle before you head out to investigate it. The likelihood he went to the first place you would look is not high, but to ease your mind I will pop there before going back to help Serenity and Elizabeta. As soon as I am there, I will call you and let you know what I see. If I deem it necessary, you will go tonight, if not you will go tomorrow after you have rested and I have had time to gather what you need."

The conflict inside of Sean was obvious. He trusted Cesair and knew that with her ability to open a portal around her at will she could easily see if he was home—too bad she couldn't just pop to me, but she needed a location not a person—however, he didn't want to sit and do nothing. But, as he had once told me, Cesair's word was like the law with our kind, so true to that statement, both him and Korbin agreed, even if it was with some reluctance. Korbin followed Cesair back to his parent's place to discuss what they could do to help, but Sean stayed put.

As he looked at the circle, I wondered if I should take the break in action to wheedle some information out of Sean's head when the image of his shoe covered toe poking a small pink bloom began to fade around the edges. Trying to mentally blink my vision back, the vignette only increased with each try until finally I wasn't able to open my internal eyes at all.

### Chapter 3

My Future

My stomach contracted and grumbled, waking me before I even registered the smell in the air. There was a thought that everything had been one crazy dream and I was waking up to Aunt Gale's home-cooking when I realized that _that_ in itself didn't make sense. Why would I be waking at Mike and Gale's and not at Sean's?

Blinking my eyes open, my head ached something fierce but not to the point of making me want to vomit, and as my vision cleared I remembered where I was. However, the cage that surrounded me this time was completely different than the one in the van.

Instead of being on a hard metal floor I was tucked in a twin bed and when I moved to get a better look, I noticed my clothes had been replaced with thick flannel pajamas. Someone started to hum and the sound of the odd tune was joined by one of sizzling, like bacon frying, and both noises had me freezing my movements and stilling my breath. If whoever it was didn't know I was awake, I sure as hell wasn't going to alert them to the fact.

It was hard to tell who supplied the humming, the only person I thought would be with me was Mitchell, but by the sound of the hum it had to be a woman. From where I was laying I couldn't see anyone in the cage with me, which held a toilet in the back corner, me on the bed, and nothing else. There was another cage with a mirrored layout adjacent to the one I was in, but no one was in it. Beyond the cages, all I could see was concrete floor and the bottom of a stair case, there was nothing else in view from my angle and I didn't dare move to see more.

The sizzling increased and finally the smell of bacon hit my nose and mixed with what I recognized as pancakes and made my stomach rumble again.

"I can tell from the change in your breathing you are awake. It's okay, _he_ is gone for now." The way she said _he_ —and figuring she spoke of Mitchell—told me she didn't like him any more than I did.

Sitting up, I saw the room continued on to a living area which doubled as a bedroom by the looks of the furniture—all thrift store quick picks. There was also a small bathroom that had no door on it and a kitchenette along one wall. A woman with short blond hair, matted and uncombed, was standing at the stove cooking bacon. Her stomach was swollen so that there was no denying she was very, very pregnant. Her gaze fell on me and it was all I had to not draw in a breath of surprise over the pain I saw there. Her red ringed eyes wore heavy circles and spoke of many hours crying, as well as a lack of sleep.

Standing up and coming to the edge of the cage, I grasped the bars as she moved to put the bacon in the oven, a plate with pancakes stacked high was already inside. As she shuffled back I heard the sound of a chain running across the floor and looked down to see she had a cuff around her right ankle. Mitchell had put a black pad between her skin and the metal but the obvious bruise indicated the padding did little to help cushion the cuff.

My eyes followed the length of heavy chain from her foot to a poll in the middle of the room. As I took in the poll, the chain , the sorry state of the woman with her swollen belly, everything slammed into place. Stepping away from the bars a small shiver started to work its way through my body, I felt as though I was witnessing my future with Mitchell.

Shaking off the horror of the situation, I went to the corner of the cage closest to the woman. "Who are you? How long has he had you? Are you able to get free?" The words seemed to tumble out of my mouth and were only stopped by her slamming the oven shut.

"My name is Tanya I have been here for..." She shook her head and let out a disgusted laugh. "I don't know, maybe a year, maybe longer. There was another girl when I first got here."

Swallowing, I said, "Another girl? Where is she?" My voice was quiet. I was scared I would set her off again.

Her eyes were haunted as they fell on me from over her shoulder. Looking back at the raw bacon in her hand, Tanya said, "She's dead."

The sound of the bacon hitting the pan was the only noise in the room as I waited to see if she would ever answer my other question, but the cuff at her ankle seemed to answer it enough for me. There was no way for her to get free.

Deciding to try and learn more about our situation, I pressed on, even if it meant she would snap again. "So, Tanya. Are you a human or something else?"

She let out another sound of disgust. "I was a human, but now I'm not." She looked back at me a moment before turning back to the stove. "I take it you are not human since you know about the other things. What are you?"

Licking my lips I dropped my eyes, feeling more like the enemy who had taken the poor woman from her home and less like another victim. "I'm a mix of things."

"Like what? Are you a vampire? A shifter? Or some changed pack member on the run?"

Her question struck me as odd. "I'm actually part werewolf, part vampire, and part fae."

She turned to me, spatula in hand. "You were born like that? You weren't changed or turned or... I don't even know if you can be made into a Fae. You were born that way?"

There was a panic in her voice as she came closer to the cage. "Y ... yes." Stepping backwards I wanted some distance between me and the pregnant werewolf—which from what I was told was impossible—as she advanced on the cage.

She leaned in closer to me and breathed in deep, then backed up and let out a hysterical sounding laugh. "Oh my god, he was right. He was right." Her wild eyes fell on me as she began pacing, the bacon behind her forgotten and wafting up trails of smoke. "I thought you were just another one of his jobs, just some run away or debtor who owes the vamps or something, but no."

She laughed again and tried to run her hand through her hair only to notice she was still holding the spatula. "Shit." She ran back to the stove and moved the burnt bacon off the burner before throwing the spatula in the pan.

Turning back to me, she strode to my cage. Her eyes looked crazed as she grasped the bars. The smile on her lips was not one you would see on a person of sound mind. "You know what you are to me?" Her voice sounded sadistic, as though she was possessed.

From the other side of the cage, I swallowed hard and said, "I can't be anything to you, we just met."

She laughed again and smiled. "No, you're my ticket out of here. He said a born female Were would bring him the child he desires. A true werechild, one born of parents who are both Weres."

The idea this woman saw me as her way to freedom had my back up. Standing taller, I set my eyes on her. "Well, jokes on you because I haven't even changed yet and Cesair—yeah, the lady that's the head of the SIA—said I might not change at all. She said I could just be coming into my Aos Si powers. From what I can see, the only female Were in this room that is bearing him a child is you."

She backed up from the bars, looking as though I had struck her.

Stepping forward, feeling much less sorry for someone who saw me as a replacement, I added, "And, from what I have been told, you being pregnant isn't even possible so he has to be a lot closer to having his dream with you than with me."

She placed her hand to her belly as tears began streaming down her cheeks. "He... he keeps me this way. He buys potions and spells to keep me from changing on the full moon." Her cries turned into a hiccupping sob. "I haven't changed for six months. I can't sleep, I only get maybe an hour every four days or so." She shook her head wiping snot away. "I don't want to stay like this, you were my way out, my way to be free. He told me I would be free when the born female werewolf came."

Feeling like an ass for attacking someone Mitchell no doubt made crazy, I went to the edge of the cage to apologize. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be a bitch." My eyes fell. "This is a bad situation for both of us." My gaze met her tired honey colored one again. "We shouldn't be fighting. I can help you. People are coming for me so you will be free too, I won't let him keep you like this."

She stopped her slow advance backwards as her sobs decreased. "How do you know?"

Not wanting to give away my secret of being in Sean's head, instead I gave as much of the truth as I could to reassure the girl that, indeed, someone was coming. "Cesair is my grandmother and my boyfriend" —okay fudging the truth there— "works for her, my cousin too, and both of them have watched me all my life. If it wasn't for the fact I had Ces remove the tracking spells on me, they would be here by now."

As I spoke, she calmed and made her way back to the cage I was in until she ended up standing right in front of me, looking better than she had since I first laid eyes on her. There was a spark of hope in her tired depths. "You mean he'll pay for this, for what he did to me? To the others?" She grabbed my hands. "For what he'll try to do to you?"

Looking down at her stomach, I couldn't think of having to bear one of his forced offspring, a child who would be hated by its mother and used to fulfill some sick fantasy by its father. That would be awful.

Bringing my eyes to Tanya's worn gaze, I said, "Do you want this child?"

She squeezed my hand and without a thought said, "It may sound horrible, but I would rather die than have his kid."

Pursing my lips I nodded, wishing there was something I could do. I felt bad for the baby in her belly but also for the woman who carried it. The choice should be hers but if she could change, if he allowed her the freedom of becoming the creature he turned her into, she would not even be able to carry the baby. Worse than that, my family had said not changing with the moon drives Wereanimals mad if they resist it too long. They said a year would kill a Were and she was halfway there.

Touching her stomach, I said, "I wish there was something I could do."

Her small smile, something I hadn't expected, turned sour as her brows came together in pain. She lurched backwards holding her stomach. "Oh, oh no, I'm changing."

Not sure what happened, if I did something, or how I did it if I did, I watched dumbfounded as she fell on all fours and began to change in her clothes, in the shackle, with her belly full of life. Life that would die with that change.

Grabbing the bars, I screamed out, "No, I didn't want to kill your baby, I just wanted to help. Oh my god, I don't even know what I did."

Tears burned my cheeks as I watched her body morph and flow like Sean's had. This time I didn't see silvery fur spring out in a wondrous experience. No, this time I cried as a pregnant woman screamed out while her bones cracked and contorted as thick umber fur ripped her skin apart.

~

"I... I honestly don't know _what_ to do now." Tanya bit into another piece of bacon. They were a bit rubbery from sitting in the oven, but still edible.

"They _are_ coming for me. I don't know when, but my family will be here to save me. I'll take you with me and whatever you decide to do, I'll be there to support you." Looking at Tanya, it wasn't hard to offer such a thing. My family would save me and if she wanted to keep the baby, well, the millions of dollars left to me by my parents afforded me the opportunity to help her if she wanted it.

She just nodded looking down at her stomach, the baby inside safe and sound—it gave a good kick as if to agree. After Tanya changed then changed back and didn't have a miscarriage we were both in awe, and had a kind of bonding moment. Mitchell—whose name was actually Randall Smith, or at least that's what Tanya said his name was—apparently didn't bother with surveillance on his captives' hideaway. She said it was too easy to trace, so I was able to share more about myself and how I knew we would be fine. She was not as sure.

Before I could try and reassure her more, the door at the head of the stair opened and Tanya tensed up beside me on the other side of the bars. Dusty boots clomped down the bare wood stairs revealing Mitchell, aka Randall, inches at a time. There was a second for me to wonder if he deliberately entered that way, knowing it would torment us below, when I saw the rest of him and the black sack he had over his shoulder. The sack looked ominously like a body bag.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Aren't you two all nice and cozy? I see you are enjoying your new home, Annan. I hope you thanked Tanya, there, for loanin' you a set of pajamas and washin' your clothes for you." He threw the body bag in the cell next to mine and took out an old fashioned lock to latch it closed. There seemed to be a spark of energy in the bars boarding my cell as Randall dropped the lock. His eyes were on me the entire time. "Don't worry darlin' we'll get you some new clothes soon."

Standing up, I brushed off the jeans Tanya had had given me when she had gotten fresh clothes herself. The shackle above her foot ended up being spelled, so no matter what shape the person was in while wearing it, the thing would fit and stay. Too bad for the wearer it also meant dresses only and no underwear. Tanya got to her feet shades slower than I had and backed away as soon as she stood. There was no way I was backing down. Inching forward I jutted up my chin, showing him I wasn't scared. In fact, he was lucky there were bars separating us.

"I'll thank her by saving her from your sick ass. Some kind of man you are, having to kidnap women so you can start a family. I bet that's what gets you off, isn't it? Just wait until I'm out of here, you'll wish you never heard of me you sick fuck."

His hands flexed at his sides as red rode his neckline, but his voice stayed calm. "We'll have to train up that mouth of yours, now won't we?"

"Fuck off Mitchell, or should I say Randall—if _that_ is even your real name." I added a good middle finger to the expletive hoping it would piss him off enough to get him close to my bars.

"You little bitch." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tanya flinched at his venom. "You want a lesson right now? I'll come in there and teach you."

He came to the bars as I was hoping he would and I reacted without thought. My hands shot between the metal grabbing fists full of his shirt so I could pull him with full force against a bar between us. My guttural screams were combined with a lovely crunching noise as I yanked him over and again, crushing his face against the bar at least five times before he managed to pull free. Screaming out for him to come back so I could kill him I felt something strike my arm just before it went numb.

The impact cleared my fit of rage and I looked down to see another one of those damn darts in me. Pulling it out, I threw it and dropped to the ground. The sound of him yelling various threats was blotted out by the blackness and, considering what he was saying, I was glad when it overtook me.
Chapter 4

### Brain-ipedia

"Did she mention anything about needing goats? This is ridiculous."

"Stop bitching Korbin, we're almost there."

"Sean, stop being so loud." My voice was lost to nothingness, which shocked my system and cleared my vision.

A terrain thick with brambles surrounded Sean and Korbin who hacked away at them with ease, making Korbin's bitching all the more irritating. Trying to get my bearings I had to think for a moment if that was Sean's thought or my own, and in the magic of being in Sean's mind I knew it was both.

Wanting badly to shake my head, I knew I would never get used to being inside of Sean's. Forgetting how odd the situation was, I focused on using it to my advantage instead, and thought out, "Where are we?"

"On Mitchell Jason Schmidt's property found in Montana's Bitterroot Mountain range—"

"Okay, stop."

That was something I knew I would never like, useful or not. The answer was accompanied by images of Sean's trek thus far since it was his first visit to Randall's, or as he still thought: Mitchell's, property. The information was good to know but the way it entered my mind was hard to stomach.

It seemed there hadn't been a whole lot of time that passed since my last visit to Sean's head, which made me believe I was only out less than a day from the drugs Randall was laying into me.

The guys cleared a hill and the brambles dissipated to a bank of open snow broken up only by a few scattered pine trees. The small slope ended at a cabin and Korbin motioned to Sean who nodded and followed behind.

As they approached the house in the still winter morning the place looked dead and silent, as though no one had been there in a very long time. It wasn't hard to figure out the place wasn't the one where Tanya and I were being held by a mad man. There was a small part of me that was sad but I knew from what I had seen through Sean's eyes, as well as my own, he had not taken me to the home the pack was aware of, just as Cesair had predicted.

As the guys approached the deck at the front of the house Korbin pulled something out which looked a lot like an infrared thermometer I had seen in a restaurant I worked at for a short stint. Curious as to what he would need to take the temperature of I asked brain-ipedia what it was.

"Wisca, a term which stands for W.S.C.A. or Wards, Spells, and Charms Analyzer; an item used to test the type and strength of—"

My mind was berated with all information about it and the times Sean had used the thing. When my stomach began to churn from the barrage I thought out an end to it. The flow of info and imagery was more than uncomfortable. Even though I now understood fully how to use the Wisca, like how to turn it on, operate it, read it, charge it, and what made it function, I still didn't understand the root of most of the stuff, like what the hell the MIDataFrame was.

Sean's brain had given me the info I needed about the device but it didn't elaborate on certain details. So, I knew a MIDataFrame was where the information in the Wisca came from but I didn't know what it meant or if it was a magical thing, or some computer or whatever. Even though I could ask brain-ipedia to find out what it was exactly, using the damn thing was so aggravating and stomach churning I decided it would have to be last resort kind of thing. At least while they used the Wisca I would know what was going on.

"Level 3 Electric; pretty basic stuff considering what we saw on the van," Korbin said as he hooked the Wisca on his belt and pulled out a small case from his bag.

Sean nodded and watched as the other man grabbed what looked like a small glow stick. Fascinated by what was to happen, and not wanting my head assaulted, I watched as he cracked it just like the tiny glow sticks I had seen for earrings or straws—yeah I tried to burn energy at a rave once, not a good idea—but instead of emanating light the small cylinder swirled with a white cloud almost indiscernible to the eye.

He tossed the small object onto the deck but before it could land it hit an invisible barrier and vanished. Through Sean, I could smell ozone on the air as though a storm was building. Placing the box back in his bag, Korbin vaulted up to the deck and Sean followed the larger man in the same fashion.

"That counter spell was strong enough to take out anymore electric surprises like that on the property."

Sean only nodded as Korbin scanned the door with the Wisca. His mind was racing; thinking on me and how I was and to what Mitchell/Randall was doing to me. That last thought tugged at him more than anything else.

"Sean, I wish there was some way to let you know I'm fine." Rethinking that, I countered with, "Well, I'm better than I could be. I know you'll find me... somehow." It seemed odd to talk to Sean inside his head with a mouth that did move as him and Korbin entered the vacant home, but there was nothing else I could do.

"Cesair was right. No one has been here in a very long time." Sean brushed his hand along the mantle leaving two trails in the thick dust.

"Look at this mail. It's from three years ago." Korbin dropped the envelops back on the table sending up a cloud of dust motes which caught in the shafts of light coming from the door. "When was the last time Rick said he was out here."

"Four months ago. Mitchell had called to see if he wanted to do some fishing, told him they were running in record numbers by his place. He picked him up and they spent the day fishing. Alric said he went home loaded down with what they had caught that day. This doesn't make sense." Sean shook his head in confusion. Thoughts of Alric being the oldest pack member, and the most trusted one at that, swirled around Sean's mind and fueled his confusion.

There was a sort of "ah-ha" feeling inside Sean as his eyes fell on Korbin. "Alric needs to have his memory checked. With the magic Mitchell has access to, it reasons to think he has access to some that could change memory."

"Or a vampire."

"Or that."

Both men stood still in the silent, empty house. Sean's mind raced around thinking on how Mitchell was able to change the memories of a werewolf such as Alric, when Korbin broke the silence.

"We'll get that information to Cesair when we are done here. Either way, we still need to check and see if there is anything here that might lead to him. He obviously moved from here a long time ago and has been manipulating pack members to not know that, but there could be something here that will let us know where he went."

Sean nodded but didn't really listen to the other man as he walked toward the back of the house. "He's planned this for a long time." His quiet voice was eaten up by the empty rooms as he glanced in each one.

Sean kept thinking on how Mitchell had been in the pack longer than him and had to have been planning my capture since my birth. A tinge of anger rolled through him, and me, over that realization but Sean was happy the precautions they had put in place had at least kept him taking me for over twenty years.

As he stood in the open door of the empty master bedroom he wished something, anything, would jump out at him as important. All the precautions in the world had never prepared him for the scenario he was in—a trusted pack member having taken what he cherished most in the world—so he had no idea what to look for.

Feeling guilty over aiding in my own abduction by having those precautions removed, I tried to not focus on Sean's thoughts anymore as he called out to Korbin. "Nothing back here except three empty rooms and one tiny bathroom."

Sean puzzled over the size of the bathroom as Korbin hollered back that the kitchen was empty as well. Something wasn't right to Sean and I could see what he was thinking as he looked at the white tiled bathroom from the door. If a person sat on the toilet their knees would be smashed against the tub, which was small in size itself.

His brows pursed as he stared at the room and poked the latch to the pocket door. The room was too small even for a normal interior door. Sean stepped past the bathroom and returned to the bedroom bordering it and noticed that the room was smaller than it should have been too, at least if you compared to the master across the hall then the room was too small.

"Hey Korbin." Sean thought of how he helped build his own home on pack lands, and how the sizes and dimensions on it worked, and how something was not right with the interior of Mitchell's abandoned home.

"Yeah," Korbin said as he opened a can of Coke.

Sean looked at him as he started to drink the soda. "Where did you get that from?"

Korbin pointed behind him with the can. "I found a case in the laundry room he forgot." He took another drink.

Both Sean and I were mortified and from the look Korbin was giving Sean, I was sure it showed on his face.

"What? I scanned it and it's fine, just plain old Coca-cola," he said and took another drink causing my stomach to churn, or maybe that was Sean's.

Sean shook his head and faced the room again. "Look at this. Look at how big the master is. It even has windows on two sides." Korbin poked his head in the room and nodded. "Now look at this room." Sean pointed to the smaller room, and then at the bathroom. "Now look at how tiny the bathroom is." He waited for Korbin to look in the cramped washroom before coming back, confusion painting his face. "Is it just me, or are the rooms on this side of the hall too small?"

Sean followed Korbin into the smaller room as he nodded and drank his cola. He walked to the closet at the back of the room and Sean thought he must have noticed something he hadn't. "Why would you put a closet on an exterior wall? There should be windows here." Korbin pointed to the closet with his soda.

My cousin scanned the closet doors with the Wisca as he finished his cola and shrugged when Sean looked at him. The larger man slid the door open and set the empty can on top of the dusty shelf. Nothing seemed odd about the small space. It was a standard closet with a ledge and a bar running its length.

As Korbin looked inside the tiny area Sean walked out of the room and back to the master. There was a thought forming but it wasn't there enough for me to sense it and I didn't want to ask brain-ipdia what it was, so all I could do was sit back as Sean tried to understand what was wrong with the room. To me it seemed small but fine and as he stared at the large open master I could not figure out why he was certain something was amiss.

Sean joined Korbin once more and as he spoke the thought rolled out and I was surprised he even noticed what he had. "There is about four feet missing from this room. Everything on this side of the hall has been condensed, that is why the bathroom is so tiny and this room is so small. There should be more that way." He pointed to the back of the closet.

Korbin lifted a brow and pulled out the Wisca once again. This time he scanned the wall at the back of the closet the screen lit up and indicated: Level 3 Concealment Charm. He smiled at Sean, who I felt did not smile back. His eyes began scanning the interior of the closet until it hit him, and it seemed Korbin as well.

Confusion flowed through me as Korbin and Sean pulled the doors off and set them aside. My cousin smacked aside the can and ripped the shelf off the wall, after which Sean pulled out the bar.

Giving up on trying to figure out what was going on I decided I needed the help of brain-ipedia. "What did they find?"

As soon as the thought left my mind information and images began filling it on how charms are made and how Sean believed the shelf and bar were the charm because you needed wood to make a charm. Having had enough, I shut down the flow as I saw Elizabeta showing Sean how she layered the wood for a charm she made him which kept humans from seeing the real color of his blue and yellow eyes. From what I saw and heard from his brain, charms could be any size, they just had to be a special kind of wood, or woods, and made by a mage.

The wall wavered and changed as the last bits of wood was removed and Sean and I were both thinking there was some Mage out there that was going to pay in pounds for assisting Mitchell/Randall. Once the charm was gone the door in the closet appeared and it was as though Korbin and Sean were afraid to enter it. Korbin scanned the door and shook his head when nothing came up. When Sean opened the door like it was going to blow off the hinges I wished I could smack him and tell him to get on with it.

Through the opening, in the near pitch black, Sean's kitty-vamp eyes could see stairs leading down to a basement he didn't know existed. "There's a basement on this house."

Really?" Korbin left the room but was back a few heartbeats later. "If you look close outside, he has it charmed as well. The lattice work under the porch appears to cover an open area with only some stacked blocks here and there holding the house up, but if you put your hand through the holes you hit something solid."

Sean nodded, taking his word for it. He didn't need to see the charmed lattices hiding the basement, he was more concerned about what they would find _in_ the basement. Korbin pulled out a huge flashlight, though neither of them really needed it, and started down the stairs. Sean was close at his heals.

Once in, Korbin placed the flashlight down so its beam shone on the ceiling and cast enough light that both men could see the room in perfect detail. Even though I had no body, I swallowed a lump down as I took in the room. It matched the one I was in, and the cages in the back were the only things Sean had eyes for.

Korbin began going through all the cupboards, the bathroom, around the furniture, as Sean went to the cages. His hands pressed against the bars as his heart fell. He looked at the small bed and couldn't help but picture me lying there, or having to use the toilet in the corner on full display. The anger in him built to the point of where he thought he heard his heart pounding in his skull, but I could tell that under it there was a steady staccato of an artificial beep.

"Oh fuck! We have to go. Now!" Korbin grabbed Sean's arm but he yanked away. My cousin hit Sean in shoulder and that got his attention. "We have to leave right now!"

Sean looked at the Wisca screen as it was shoved in his face. It read: Level 10 Inferno Ward. Fear tore through him, and me thanks to the knowledge I had gained from his brain—what showed was the strongest fire-based security ward there was. His feet chased Korbin up the stairs but he was too late. Through Sean, I felt a burning catch at my back and trail up my neck seconds before I heard the world blow apart around me and rain down molten death, covering me in darkness and pain.
Chapter 5

### Chloe Bellerose

My eyes flew open, as did my mouth to scream, but a cool hand cupped it while another came around my sides to hold me against the bars, and my fear dwindled.

"Please do not fret. I'm not going to hurt you. I just do not want that _man_ to know you are awake quite yet." Small lips at my ears spoke to me in a hushed tone which brought to mind moss shrouded plantations. It was all sweet, Southern-bell. "Your emotional state had me concerned so I waited near you until you awoke. That way I would be able to assist you. I figured you would be screaming. You seem better now though, would you like me to remove my hand?"

The small, strong hand at my face left as I nodded my head, but the one around my waist only loosened its delicate yet unbreakable hold on me. Turning to see who had me pressed light against the bars, I came face to face with a cornflower blue gaze that matched of one of Sean's duel colored eyes. At first it was so affronting I didn't know what to say as I took in the woman's diminutive features.

Her button nose and pursed lips any man would want to suckle—hell, some women too—were framed by alabaster skin which made Sean's look almost tan in comparison. Her hair, like her eyes, reminded me of Sean as well. Platinum blond, but unlike Sean's it was thick and had volume you wouldn't expect to see with such a color, which was one normally found in a bottle. Her delicate features fit her small frame though—we may have both been on the floor, but I could still see she would stand no more than five feet tall, if that—and gave her a look of a modern dressed porcelain doll in Jeans and a loose fitting slate-hued sweater.

Her eyes were intent on mine as she put a chipped-polished finger to her lips and that's when the sound hit me. There was a clear peal of sobs punctuated by grunts, but worse than that was the sound of flesh on flesh blanketing over the cries of sorrow and pleasure combined. My gut reeled as the understanding that Randall was raping Tanya seeped in and took hold. The woman in front of me must have sensed something because she grabbed my arm quicker than my eyes could track and shook her head.

"Please do not call attention to yourself until he has had completion. It's bad enough I had to witness what he is doing to the other one, I don't want to see it done to you as well." Her voice was so quiet it was almost impossible to hear her.

Once I nodded again she released my hand. "What's your name?" I asked, matching her ultra quiet tone.

"Chloe. Chloe Anne-Marie Bellerose." She removed her hand from my waist and put it out to shake, which I did as best I could with both of us lying on the ground.

"Nice name. We share a couple, sort of. Mine is Annan Marie Michaels, or well I guess it could be Anderson now." Looking around, I added, "Chloe, why are we on the floor?"

She smiled at me and it was almost as heart wrenching as Sean's, but disappeared in a flash. "I can't say why you are, I found you that way when I came to, but like I said, I'm here because I wanted to help you when you woke. Can I ask you something?"

Nodding, I kept my eyes on her and tried not think about how much they looked like half of Sean's.

"What keeps making you so sad?"

My brows drew together over her question and she smiled at me again.

"I can read emotions. Yours are rolling off of you in a strong way and sadness seems to predominate all others."

Not wanting to tell a stranger what I was going through, but wanting to drown out the sounds of what Randall was doing, I asked, "So, are you a vampire?"

She let out a silent laugh. "Yes. Are you an unfortunate wolf such as that girl he is forcing himself on? Is that why you are so sad, because he forced you to be a wolf and is going to rape and impregnate you too? And how is that other wolf pregnant like that? From what my master has told me about Weres that is not possible."

"Long story. Let's just say Randall is a twisted bastard."

Chloe let out another silent laugh.

"And I'm kind of a wolf, maybe."

"Well, that's helpful." She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back, even with the circumstances.

"My father was a wolf and my mother was half fae half vampire."

"My goodness, you are a rare one. I would have to say there probably will never be another creature like you. To think a fae mated with a vampire than that offspring joined with a werewolf." Chloe made it sound like it was some romantic thing, which was only half true.

"From what I was told my mother was the unwanted spawn of a new vamp who raped an Aos Si when she was on earth. I haven't got the full details because I never even knew my mom or dad, hell I didn't even know I was all this, or that any of this even existed, until a week ago." Trying to count up the days I was on pack lands and how many I was drugged made me think of Sean and what happened last time I was in his head, which was something I was trying to avoid.

"You still haven't told me what is making you so sad, I'm thinking it's more than this situation since it spikes now and again."

"I was thinking of someone I care about. He could be hurt."

"Oh, I'm very sorry. How about I tell you why I'm here, that will take your mind off it and cloud up that poor girls whimpers."

Nodding to Chloe she began speaking, telling me about her runaway attempt and how she didn't want to be tied to her master forever the way another vampire in their family had been.

"He's not horrible, he doesn't treat me badly—any of us—I just know that my time to be my own master will come and he won't let me go. He hasn't let Angelic go and she is strong enough."

"Are there others in your vampire family?" I asked intrigued by this glimpse into the life of vampires. My one experience to a full out vamp was lack luster to say the least. I mean come-on, lord turned vamp, turned diner owner; boring.

"There are the gross brother and sister, but they don't want to leave."

"Gross brother and sister?"

She nodded. "Yes, they were mages who chose to be turned. I say they are gross because they fornicate together. They are lovers and have been since they could do such a thing. Unlike Angelic and I, they sought out a vampire to be turned. They wanted to spend an eternity together and not be ridiculed by their coven."

"Ewe." My disgust was clear in that one short word. "How did you end up becoming a vampire?"

Chloe's eyes shadowed as she looked away. "Antonio found me and made the offer. It was a bad choice at that time, though."

Before I could ask her to elaborate we heard Randall finish and I reached out to Chloe, who took my hand.

"He won't lay a hand on you if I can help it." She squeezed my fingers in hers as the sound of fabric rustling and a belt latching filled the room.

"Stupid bitch." There was a noise as though something was kicked and I heard Tanya let out a small gasp. "I told you not to fucking cry when we're making love."

Something passed over Chloe's face and she released my hand and was on her feet before my eyes registered her movement. "You are some piece of work Randall Smith. You call forcing yourself on a woman making love? You are the sickest kind of man there is."

"Awe, you jealous I can't give you some sweetie. Your daddy wouldn't like that too much now would he? Spoiling his goods?"

Chloe spat at him as I stood up next to her on my side of the bars. She reached her hand through them and I took it, feeling a sense of satisfaction as Randall's eyes became round over our clasped hands.

His gaze moved from our joined digits, to my eyes, and became hard. "Aren't you two all friendly? What were you doing down there while Tanya and I were havin' fun? Are you jealous too? Getting turned on my big Randy and his little lady? You want to take her place, Annan?"

My lip twitched in disgust. "You repulse me. I wouldn't want any woman to take her place you sick fuck." My words colored his face crimson and I wondered if he was stupid enough to come near the cage again. "In fact, when Chloe's master comes I'm going to see if he'll take me from here. Hell, I'll even offer up to become a vampire if it means getting the fuck away from you. And there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do to stop me. I bet you can't hold your own against a master can you? How old is Antonio, Chloe?"

"She don't need to answer you, I know how old he is, don't I Chloe?"

Looking to Chloe, I could see hatred in her eyes and I figured with how she addressed him, and stared at him while he threatened me, she had encountered Randall before.

Facing him again, I said, "Well, whatever fuck-face. Going with Chloe would be better than staying here and the fact that I'm a multimillionaire and could offer not only money but myself as a one-of-a-kind unique creature, I'm sure he'll take the offer. No way would he want to pass up such a sweet deal."

Randall's eyes bugged out just before he stormed away from the cage and began looking around the room, shoving things out of his way; including Tanya.

"What is he doing?" Chloe asked.

"I think he can't find his dart gun." Glancing at Chloe I looked back to Randall raging through the basement. "Oh what is it, _Randy_ old boy, can't find your toy to shut me up. Bet taking me seems like a pretty lame idea now, doesn't it?"

"Once I pump a baby in that belly of yours it won't." Those words had me shutting up, but they seemed to unhinge Chloe.

She snarled as she said, "You lay a hand on her and I will have your head Randall."

"Right, what are you going to do?" He threw a chair out of his way. "You're no master and you haven't eaten in days." A side table joined the chair, which Tanya avoided only by inches as she screeched and ran away.

Shoving my arm at Chloe, I said, "Here, if it helps take my blood. If somehow it will get us out of here, take it."

Chloe's eyes shot to mine and then my arm before returning. "Are you sure? I don't know if I can get free and it could hurt since we are not" —her cheeks tinted the barest of pinks— "being intimate."

"God, I don't care about that." I shook my arm at her. "Just do it, if there is even the barest of chances we can get free, than do it."

Chloe's sharper-than-normal K-9's extended and I looked away, not wanting to see them pierce my skin. Randall's eyes caught mine when I turned and he paused in his search.

He was not happy.

In less than a heartbeat I began to say hurry as her fangs sank in, and an unexpected sensation streamed from them. It was as though her teeth entering my arm was the same as being at the height of climax right as a man entered me, or should I say Sean since that was the only real experience with sex I had. There was no way to control the orgasm that ripped through my body, and believe me I wish I could have because being caged while a vampire fed from me, as a mad man tried to get in that cage and stop us, was not where I wanted to be while having an orgasm.

A long moan escaped me as my legs gave out and Chloe released my arm. Her eyes were wide and my blood stained her teeth while she apologized over and again, telling me that wasn't supposed to happen. Her apology was interrupted by the sound of cursing and a pain at the back of my head followed by Chloe screaming, "no" and "leave her alone."

Through the fog of the clearing orgasm, I felt my body go numb against the repeated blows of Randall's boot against my head and back, which only ended when he said, "You want to fucking get off that bad, I'll help you."

Blackness began to envelope my vision as I was hoisted in the air. That darkness continued on to my ears to drown out Chloe's threats of violence which were broken up by the noise of fabric tearing as Randall ripped the clothing from my body. There was but a second to think, that if he was going to rape me, being unconscious for the event was preferable. And, thank the stars, the blackness took me just as his rough hand grasped my breast and squeezed.
Chapter 6

### Enter: Antonio

My head was pounding making the faint sound of sobbing louder than it should have been as I tried to open my eyes. Reaching up to touch where the pain was coming from, I heard a gasp and my hand was seized.

"Annan. Oh, Annan are you alright? There was nothing I could do. Even if I had more of your blood it wouldn't have been enough, he warded my cage.

Sitting up with Chloe's help through the bars, I noticed I had on the flannel pajamas once again. "Where are my clothes? Who put this on me?"

Looking at Chloe in the dimness of the room—someone had shut off every light so the only illumination came from the cable box—I saw tears streaming down her face.

"Tanya put that on you after Randall left."

Looking around, I couldn't see the other woman from my sitting position. "Where is she, is she okay?"

Chloe let out a little sob as she shook her head. "Randall had left your cage open when he went upstairs to search for his gun. Tanya cleaned you up, dressed you, and set you near me as soon as he left. When he returned he saw what she had done and was so angered he beat her to death. He's out disposing of the body now."

An icy vice asserted itself around my heart and I knew if there was any way for me to get to Randall, he was dead. No, he was more than dead. He stole that woman from her home, changed her, raped her, and drove her nearly insane only to kill her in a fit of rage. Whatever he had done to me was nothing compared to what he did to her. As soon as he touched my body, unconscious or not, I knew he had to die. The revenge for Tanya would have to be more than death.

"I'm so sorry Annan." Chloe's small voice interrupted my silent seething.

"For what, Chloe? This isn't your fault."

She squeezed my hand. "It is. If I wouldn't have taken from you, you wouldn't have..." Her voice trailed off but I knew what she was getting at.

Squeezing our clasped hands, I brought my other one atop them and tried to comfort her. "Chloe, there was no way for us to know that was going to happen, and from the looks of how Randall treated Tanya, he was going to rape me someday anyways. At least this way he beat me unconscious first."

My reassurance sounded weak but I meant every word. All I had to do now was find a way to get out before he did it again while I _was_ conscious. Swallowing down the bile that wanted to rise over the thought of getting the full experience of Randall's treatment, I was glad when Chloe interrupted my brooding.

"I'm not sure if you would want to try it, but there is a way I could help with what Randall has done to you."

Not sure what she meant, I pursed my brow in question.

"It's nothing too bad, though I do worry with your reaction to my bite." Her eyes cast down a moment then came back to mine. "I can give you my blood and it will speed your healing. I'm offering because I'm concerned about your head with how badly he damaged it."

My brows drew together as I considered what she offered; I didn't think it was that horrible. I had accidentally tasted Sean's blood and it wasn't bad. It could be there was some vampire part in me that enjoyed it, either way the fact it was blood wasn't enough of a deterrent to refuse the help. The fact I may get off from taking her blood made me leery, but the throbbing spot at the back of my skull said I should take the chance. I had never been in a situation where someone beat me unconscious so if there was some way to help me, even if I felt aroused from it, it would be best to try it out.

"Okay, Chloe how does it work?"

Her pout lips pulled into a smile. "You simply drink my blood and you will begin to heal. Being what you are I'm sure you would heal it eventually, but it is taking longer than I would have thought."

Waving away her statement, I said, "That's probably because I haven't had my first change. My kind of grandmother said I may not even become a werewolf."

"Oh my, I had assumed with what you told me and with Randall's horrid comments while he... you know, did _that_ to your unconscious body, you were already a wolf."

Carefully shaking my head once, I saw her give a curt nod.

"Taking my blood is a good idea, then. You don't want to be too week if Antonio doesn't let you come with us."

"If what?" Something in my head must have been knocked loose when Randall kicked it in because what she said was only vaguely familiar.

"You must have forgotten. You told Randall you would ask Antonio if you could go with us when he collects me. It's what set him off."

Confusion knitted my brows together as I thought about what she said, then the _whole_ event came back like a slap to the face. A small shudder of fear ran through me as I remembered how it felt when Randall ripped the clothes from my body and I was even more grateful I had not been conscious for the event. Just as I was thanking whatever god there was that I would never remember being raped, I realized something that had a deeper pit of fear settling in me. When I blacked out I had not been in Sean's mind like every other time it happened.

"Annan, are you alright?" Chloe asked as ice traveled through all of my body.

Sean was dead. The explosion I had seen through his eyes killed him, burned him alive. His death was the only explanation I could think of for why I wasn't in his head when Randall knocked me out this last time.

With him gone—my chest felt as Sean's had when he knew I was gone, it felt as though it was tearing apart—the search for me would be that much harder. My family and Cesair would continue but I knew, just knew, Sean was my best link. I mean come on, I was going for ride-alongs in his head the whole time.

Chloe began rubbing light circles on my knee as she asked, "What's wrong Annan? Do not despair, I'm sure Antonio will let you go with us. Being with him is much better than being here, I can assure you of that."

A string of hope blocked off some of the pain of Sean's loss—oh god, and maybe Korbin's loss too. Pushing out that depressing thought, I focused on what I had remembered, why going with Antonio was a better choice. Looking at Chloe she smiled. If she could get away from Antonio and was restricted to the night—I had to assume the body bag I had seen Randall place in the cell was her—it would be a piece of cake for me to get away from him. Hell, I've been doing nothing but running from something for nearly six years. Even if it was myself, the running was literal.

However, there was still the chance Antonio wouldn't even take me.

While I tried to mull through my soreness and what to do next, my head decided it was time to remind me it was injured in a way it never had been before as shots of pain ran through the back of my skull.

Wincing, I grabbed my head. "Sorry Chloe. My mind is elsewhere, I have a bad feeling people I care about are dead. It's hard to explain."

She squeezed my knee in reassurance.

Dropping my had, I brought my eyes to her and said, "I remember what I had told him before. I'll do it, being anywhere else is better than here. I can't believe your master does business with this guy."

Chloe's eyes fell. "He doesn't care for Randall but he has a talent at finding things. He's known in the darker circles of Supes as the Finder. I've only heard of one occasion where he didn't find his quarry and it was only a child in Washington."

Swallowing hard, I wasn't sure if I should tell her he knew where that quarry was all along, or not. Deciding it wasn't important, I set aside the new piece of information and said, "Oh, well maybe after he sees this, he'll get a new associate for that particular task."

Chloe's eyes flinched but she just nodded her head.

"About the blood I'll do it. You're right, if Antonio doesn't let me go with you I will need my strength up."

Chloe's hand tightened on my knee in a protective way, giving me the feeling she didn't like the idea of me staying. She nodded once before removing her hand and bringing it to her mouth. Her teeth bit down in a flash, and just as quick she brought her wrist to me. Before the blood had time to well, she pressed it to my lips and I accepted, drinking down the warm liquid.

Her blood tasted different than Sean's had. It lingered on the back of my tongue like winter air wanting to chill my throat, but it was mixed with some spice I didn't recognize, one that brought to mind swamp choked cypresses.

As her blood flowed through me, filling me with its healing gift, I felt as though I held her arm at my mouth for an eternity. My head suddenly no longer throbbed, and my side, which I hadn't known was aching over the pain in my skull, felt new... as well as an area I didn't want to think even needed healing.

Chloe sat calm the entire time with her free hand at my shoulder. Her voice was soothing as she coaxed me along. There was a feeling she would let me sit forever, drinking her rich sweet blood when the lights flashed on stinging my eyes in their suddenness.

"It would be better if you waited up stairs. I..." Chloe's arm pressed harder against my lips as I pulled on it one last time. Right when Randall's legs came into view. "Damn-it, now she drinking _her_ blood. Get that whelp out of here before I beat her like she's needin'."

Chloe drew her arm away and sat in silence as I wiped my mouth. Keeping my eyes on Randall's boots I refused to look at the man who raped me and then killed the woman who helped my body afterwards. A woman he had also raped.

"Chloe, Randall here is very upset that you have been tampering with this woman of his."

Angered anyone would assume I was anything other than a prisoner to Randall I stood to face Antonio with my fists clenched at my sides, ready to take my rage out on anyone.

"Do I _look_ like his woman? He kidnapped me from my home and is raping me." My eyes felt like fire and I tried not to react to the feeling I had over Antonio looking at me.

Chloe stood slower than she needed to on the other side of the bars as Antonio seemed to take me in. I'm sure I must have looked a hot-mess, but he was nothing but hot. Perfect ebony hair over perfect coffee-with-too-much-cream toned skin complete with dark sculpted brows over gorgeous eyes that looked as though silver and some shade of Mediterranean green were competing for space in the irises.

He was breathtaking, and the fact he was dressed as though a photo shoot for GQ was next on the list, it was hard to stand there looking like, well, a pile of shit and try to seem like something worth taking, but I was going to try.

"Chloe told me you are her master. I don't want to be here, so I am going to offer myself up to become a vampire and leave with you. I'm rich and well worth taking."

One beautiful brow rose. "I thought you said you were kidnapped. Why would you want to go with me? Shouldn't you want to return to your family?"

It was hard not to let a disgusted laugh out, so I didn't try. "Look at this shit hole!" That had both brows rising. "He just killed a woman he impregnated and was burying her before you got here. He beat me until I was knocked out, and _then_ raped me. He even said, just now, he would beat Chloe if he had the chance."

Shaking my head, I looked at his heart-wrenching features again. "I don't know what you think, but anything is a better option than this for a woman, even death or being undead as the case might be with vampires. And, returning to my family might not be the best either, how do you think he got me? They obviously can't protect me, but if I'm a vampire maybe I could protect myself."

He showed nothing as I spoke, he might as well have been looking at a wall, and as he turned to Randall, who had stood silent the entire time, I felt my chance slipping away. "Thank you for collecting Chloe, I'm sorry if she was any trouble to you."

Antonio handed Randall an envelope and the other man looked inside it before smiling and saying thanks. He stuffed it in his coat pocket and walked over to Chloe's cell. His eyes held a gleam as they fell on me when he passed by. Chloe glanced at me, panic showed all over her face. She knew Antonio was going to leave me.

As Randall opened Chloe's cage I looked at Antonio, standing like a dream behind the monster as he waited for his vampire child. "Please Antonio. You don't know what I am. I would be a great addition to your family. I'm the only born female werewolf known."

I had to figure if he was able to make a couple of mages into vampires he could do the same to me and my uniqueness had been important to everyone else thus far. By the shade of red Randall turned as his eyes came to mine, I had to figure he thought Antonio would find me just as important.

"Shut up you stupid bitch," he said as the lock dropped from his hand.

There was a clear shake to his fingers when he collected the thing from the floor before looking at Antonio again, but the vampires eyes were on me.

Giving a small, forced laugh I said, "Yeah, he doesn't want you to know it, but I'm _definitely_ one of a kind. My father was next in line to be Alpha in our wolf pack and he worked with my mother who was half vampire—"

"I said shut the fuck up!" Spittle flew from Randall's mouth and I just knew he didn't want me saying the last part.

Anytime the Aos Si thing was mentioned people's ears perked up, Chloe's had, I was hoping Antonio's would too. "The other half was Aos Si, I was told so by Cesair."

The anger rolling off Randall didn't affect me as much as the slight flinch that crossed Antonio's face—he knew who Cesair was and what the Aos Si were—but as quick as it had come, the moment passed and he reached for Chloe.

"Come Chloe, we'll have to be going now."

"Chloe's eyes swam as she glanced to me, making them look powder blue. "But Antonio, what about Annan. We have to take her."

His eyes shot to mine a moment before going back to Chloe. He stepped forward and grasped her hand. "All will be well, Chloe dear."

She seemed calmer as she nodded her head once and I had to wonder if it was some power Antonio had over Chloe, being her maker and all. She turned to me a small smile on her pouted lips as she said, "Don't worry Annan, all will be well. You rest easy."

The two of them headed for the stairs but not before Antonio glanced behind him. Some emotion crossed his face but it was so fleeting I couldn't tell if it was pain or sadness, maybe both. Pondering at what I saw, a movement at the corner of my eye caught my attention and reminded me Randall was still there.

"Now it's just you and me darlin'. Of course I have to walk my friend and his little bitch out first, but I'll be right back."

My skin chilled as ice traveled down my spine. "Just try it asshole. I got enough of Chloe's blood in me, and my own strength, to kick your fucking ass."

Feeling abandoned while I watched Antonio and Chloe disappear up the stairs, my blood boiled and made me jazzed for a fight. If I could just get him in the cage I might be able to get free. Of course, as soon as I started formulating a plan to get away something came up to beat it all to shit. Randall and his trusty dart gun.

"About that," he said right before he shot me.

As I heard the gun go off, I saw both Antonio and Chloe stop at the head of the stairs before they proceeded again. Grabbing the dart, I tossed it at Randall, but it just pinged off one of the bars and landed on the floor, useless.

Through the haze, and a slurred fuck you, I heard Randall tell me he would be back soon before following the vampires up. At that point everything went black and I didn't know, or care, if it was him turning out the lights again, or me falling into oblivion once more.
Chapter 7

### Not a Bad Plan

"I'm not sure anything will work. All we can do is try." The unfamiliar voice sounded almost child-like except it held no inflection.

"I'll try anything, it doesn't matter. After what I saw..." Sean was so loud it was almost deafening to my ears.

Sean?

My vision cleared in an instant. Sean was alive and was... in some weird place with a tiny black-haired girl. Her back was to Sean as she sat on a stool pushed up against a work bench in the stark white room I had seen before in his mind. Other than noticing even more jars of _things_ on the shelves, this time I could see the floors were made of some kind of Plexiglas and had a glow coming from underneath them. In fact, the walls and shelves seemed to have the same kind of internal illumination in them as well.

The girl turned and her porcelain skin, as white as Chloe's, was framed by a perfect, banged bob which barely fell below her ears. Even though I had thought Chloe looked like a doll, this girl shattered that comparison with her splay of thick black lashes around pools of sapphire mixed with aquamarine eyes—blue gems to rival my green. After seeing this girl, I knew Chloe would never look doll like again to me. She was all woman whereas this girl was all... _girl_. She must have only been twelve or thirteen when made into a vampire.

Shaking away my awe over the child vamp I listened to her speak, though from the feeling inside Sean—squee, he's alive!—I figured he didn't care much about what she had to say.

"What if drinking this kills you?" The words were just as bland as they had been before, her face didn't even slightly emote as she spoke. Her gaze just stayed even as her lips moved. It was a little unnerving.

There was a pause in Sean. He didn't want to die but if he drank her potion it could connect him to me again the way he had when he was put under for healing.

Wait... the way he what?

Before I could think, Sean's brain-ipedia flooded me with the answer, showing me how Sean saw where I was through my eyes. He saw Chloe, and what happened when she bit me, as well as what Randall did.

My mind screamed out for his to stop as I absorbed the experience through his eyes. The pain he felt at not being able to help me, the fury at Randall for using me, for using Tanya, all ate at my heart. He seemed to take the rape worse than I had. Beyond what he saw, he learned fast that my mind held answers and used it often to flood himself with information as to where I was, who was with me, and if there was any way out. There wasn't, and he was mournful and on a mission to reconnect, but in a way I would know he was there.

Watching through him as he took the glass from the small woman, I mentally crossed my fingers with him in hopes it would work, and not kill him like she said it might.

"What is in this that could kill me?"

"Jesus, Serenity. Stop scaring the poor guy. He's been through a lot." Elizabeta came into view, a warm smile on her lips and a lab coat just like Serenity's around her body. "It's fine Sean. If it doesn't work the most that will happen is mild indigestion."

"You can't say that for certain."

Sean looked at Serenity, but her back was turned to them as she worked on something else.

"Such a drama queen. Come on Sean, in case you fall over or pass out, or something, I want you sitting."

Sean nodded and followed Elizabeta through a door that slid open and shut as they passed through it and into the room where Elizabeta's desk area was. At least, that is what I was guessing it was on this third time of seeing it.

Sean sat in the provided chair and looked up to see Korbin enter the room. His hair was a tad shorter—I was guessing from getting singed—and I was happy to see the only injury was a light bruise covering his jaw. "Hey, just in time to watch you vomit."

"Ha, ha." Sean didn't think he was funny at all.

"You're as bad as Serenity," Elizabeta said to my cousin.

"Hey, I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Let's hope this works."

Sean nodded as Elizabeta backed up and Korbin propped himself against her cluttered desk. Looking down at the drink he brought it to his lips and caught a whiff just as Elizabeta said not to smell it. Trying to keep his gag reflex down, he thought of me and swallowed the goop which, through him, I could tell tasted like aspirin mixed with syrup thickened by something the consistency of slug excrement.

It was nasty.

Starting to wonder if he was going to vomit like Korbin had suggested, I saw his vision waver as the glass slipped from his hands. There was a commotion around him right before everything went black.

Sitting silent in the darkness of his mind I waited for something, anything to happen. Normally when the dark came I would pop back to myself in my own personal hell, this time: nothing.

"Well, that was stupid."

"Annan?" Sean's voice wasn't all encompassing, it sounded more as though he was near me but I couldn't see him through the nothing.

"Sean? Are you in your own brain now?"

"What? Where are you? I can't see you?"

"Yeah, you're in your own brain now."

"Does that mean I'm dreaming? Shit, I need to wake up, tell them it didn't work. God damn, Annan I wish this wasn't a dream. I wish I could hear your voice and know you're okay."

My eyes rolled in my nonexistent head. "Listen close, this isn't a dream. You know how you saw through my eyes when you were healing?"

"Yes." At least it sounded like he was listening.

"That happens to me every time I get knocked out; I am in your head. Actually, it only happens when he darts me." It wasn't hard to deduce the key to being in Sean's mind was the stuff he put in the darts since I wasn't there when he beat my head in.

"He's darting you!" The rage from Sean was evident even though I couldn't see him.

"Hey, focus. You know very well that's not the worst of what he has done."

There was a pause. "I'm sorry, Annan. You are taking this much better than I am."

Letting out a disgusted laugh, I said, "I've survived through losing my parents, spending years thinking I'm a mutant freak, and finding out I pretty much _am_ a mutant freak. As far as I'm concerned, I can't do anything but keep surviving. I'm just thankful I wasn't conscious when he... you know, did that shit. Now, let's pull this together and formulate a plan so it doesn't happen again."

My sense of urgency seemed to stick as Sean agreed with me.

"We don't have to squander on details since you got them all when you were in my mind," I said as I mulled over what we should figure out in the short time we had, then it hit me. Thinking about everything I had seen in and out of Sean's head, all the pieces seemed to come together.

"Shit, okay Sean. This is what you are going to do. You know the herbs that Cesair collected for testing?"

"Yes, we are still trying to locate who provided them to Mitchell."

"Forget that, do it later it's not important now, finding me is. Take those herbs Cesair found at the portal on pack lands and get Elizabeta to recreate what Mitchell did to somehow follow him through. I'm thinking they can do that right?"

"Maybe, probably."

Not waiting for him to answer further I kept talking, knowing our time was short. "Okay, after you go to the next portal you need to look for the nearest one within driving distance. When you get there, collect the same herbs, and keep portal jumping like I'm sure he did until you find him. It didn't take us long to get here and I know we had to be on the road at least part of the time since I woke up once when he was driving."

There was a few seconds of silence before he said, "Damn, I can't believe none of us thought of that. With a few fixes in the details, if Cesair and the others are able to recreate his spell, that could work." There was a feeling of hope and joy around me. "That is a great plan, Annan. You may have a future in the SIA with that kind of thinking."

As he continued to talk, I decided there would have to be another time to process the idea of being a supernatural secret agent, after all I had to be rescued first.

"Annan, I wish I could see you before I wake up, hold you and know you are okay."

His emotions pulled at my heart and blanketed any thoughts of what he said about working at the SIA. The feelings pouring into me made me think of the short time we had together before I was taken and how I was falling in love with him.

If I could cry, tears would be streaming. Pushing aside the feelings in me, I focused on adding one last thing before I woke, incase my plan didn't work. "Sean, did you learn what his real name is?"

"Randall Smith. Ces is already contacting people to find connections to that name." His voice was hard, each word was coated with anger and I was surprised mine didn't want to surface in the wake of his hate coursing through me.

"Tell her to look in the darker circles, in the supernatural black market if there is one. Find who helped him." There was more I wanted to say about him being contacted by Marcus to find me but as I opened my mouth again the blackness seemed to eat even my sense of being around Sean and I knew my time to wake in hell was upon me.
Chapter 8

### Puppet Master

Not wanting to open my eyes, I moved just my hands to feel the bed under me and, thank god, the pajamas I was wearing before he darted me still on my body. Nothing felt sore or used either. Oh, but for small miracles.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and sat up, trying not to move too fast. The room around the cage had been cleaned and everything was put to rights. It was as if no one trashed the room and then killed a woman in it. When Antonio had come for Chloe I didn't notice any blood around, or smell it for that matter, but the disinfectant smell in the air now said he had to clean up quite a mess.

"I see my girl is up. I'm glad you're not pukin' when you wake now. That added nausea medicine is helping with the drugs."

"You could just not dart me you sicko, and I'm not your girl," I said as I swung my legs off the bed.

He laughed and sat up from his lounged position in the arm chair near the cage, his trusty rifle was at his side. "Now, I went to a lot of trouble to get you, a lot of years waiting."

Shaking my head, remembering what Chloe had told me, I asked, "What, taking me as a baby and raising me was too hard?"

His body shook once as he let out a disgusted laugh. "I didn't want to raise a wife. I let your folks do that for me. I have to say though, after I told Marcus where your real mom and dad were I didn't expect the pack to hide you like that. I just figured he would kill them and be done with it and your family would raise you."

His admission to having a hand at killing parents I never even had a chance to meet twisted at that icy vice he placed around my heart with Tanya's death.

"Though, it's a good thing they did hide you since he was so hell bent on killin' ya as well—you know, as his last revenge to Raven and David. When he came back, not satisfied after years of looking for you himself, I was lucky you were away on that trip so I could direct him right to your house, where your folks would steer him off my trail by telling him you were dead. He must have bought it, because I never saw him again. I still had to wait for my prize though considerin' you were under the watchful eyes of Sean and Korbin at all times."

He kept talking, but his voice faded out as the thunder of my own beating heart filled my ears. He was the one, the reason _both_ sets of parents were dead, it was his fault my life was so fucked. He had been pulling strings and manipulating people all along like some twisted puppet master.

The fury in me refused stay down any longer. Not knowing if he was still talking or not, I screamed at him. "When I get the chance I will rip your heart out, I'll do it with my bare hands you mother fucker!"

His laughter only brought out a crazed one of my own as I continued. "What I don't get is, why? Why would you do all this?"

He leaned forward. "At first it was just a job, find your mom and dad for Marcus. Me being part of the pack helped so that I could give him information as they went on jobs, but when that elf woman got pregnant I waited it out saying they had disappeared, and boy was I lucky I had. When she gave birth to the first female werewolf I knew my intuition to wait was a good one. When I heard you were a girl I knew I had to have you, to have a chance at my own true pack."

He leaned back and my gut twisted. "I had been trying for years before you were born, changing women so they could give me a real werechild, and kept on after you were hidden, just in case. Tanya came closest with the new spells, she might have even given birth with how you helped her change and all without losin' the baby, but that's in the past now. I have you and you're all I need."

He reached for his gun and I knew by the erection pushing at his pants he was going to knock me out and have his way with me again. Scrambling to my feet, I pressed myself to the back of the cage, but there was nowhere to go. I couldn't run, I couldn't hide, I couldn't do a _damn_ thing to protect myself. It seemed as though my second round of rape was upon me when a loud bang sounded from upstairs.

Randall froze and my heart jumped. My mind went to Sean and I wondered if they had already gotten through the portals and were at the top of the stairs, mere seconds from saving me. Letting out a curse, Randall got to his feet and headed for the steps when the door blew off its hinges and came careening down toward him, barley missing the stunned man.

Before he could utter a word, a blur of motion followed the door and in a split second a man and woman had Randall by an arms. The two looked like each other in an eerie way, with their dishwater blond hair, dull brown eyes, and almost matching white shirts and jeans. They were like female and male versions of themselves.

Coming to the front of the cage, I watched as Randall screamed and thrashed against the immovable duo. He cursed at the pair and told them they had no right to hold him in his own home. Wondering if the two were with Sean, and where he was, my question was answered as pair of shiny expensive loafers came down the stairs.

"Darian, Violet, hold Randall a moment for me would you, but don't harm him, I'm sure Annan would like the pleasure."

All I could think as Antonio fished the keys out of Randall's pocket and came to my cage was: Annan would very much like the pleasure.

The door opened and Antonio's gorgeous face showed kindness when he spoke. "I hope you were not harmed in my absence, I wanted to return Chloe home and bring some assistance with me before doing as you wished."

And like that, I was free.

I was free of a crazy man who played a hand at every turn in my life to rip from me almost everything I held dear. With careful steps, I approached Randall, who had been cursing the entire time, until I stood face to face with him.

"You had no right to play god in my life." As the words left my mouth I felt a heat roll inside my body, out through my limbs filling me with something that was more than just anger.

"Fuck, you bitch. I was molding—"

My hand shot out almost without thought, slamming into his face, crushing his jaw and ceasing his words. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the female of the pair's own eyes go round.

"You are no longer allowed to speak." Garbled noises of pain came from the man as his shattered jaw hung loose spilling blood and bits down the front of him. "You are lucky I didn't have time to decide a new way for you to die, so I will just keep with the promise I made you, because believe me" —I let out a short laugh— "whatever I would have came up with, would have been much worse, but first..."

Grabbing his shoulders, I shoved my knee into his groin with a speed and strength I didn't know I held. With that added strength and speed I didn't stop until I heard a crunching noise, which was quickly followed by garbled screams coming from Randall. " _That_ is for Tanya."

Taking a step away from the man, I saw the pair holding him both had surprised eyes on me as he spewed vomit and blood over his hanging jaw. Their shock was hardly noticed, though, as I continued on with Randall's punishment. Rearing back, I shoved my hand in and up his gut in one swift motion pushing through hot meat to where I knew his heart lay on the other side of the ribs. By the looks on the two vampires' faces they were even more shocked by this action than the first, but it was the least I could do considering how he ripped my own heart out.

"And this is for the love in my life you stole from me," I said as I grasped his heart and pulled it out before tossing it to the floor. My eyes didn't leave his as they lost focus with his death. Staring, I watched his life fade out and didn't look away until I knew he would never harm anyone again.

The two let him drop to the floor as Antonio congratulated me from behind but before any of them could react, I seized my opportunity and ran. My legs pumped with a mind of their own as I ran as fast and as hard as I could, not sure if I was able to out run three master level vampires, but damn willing to try.
Chapter 9

### Drunk on Being Bitten

Thanking whatever god there was the house was the same layout as the one I saw in Sean's head, I ran up the stairs and down the hall then out the front door, only to leap off the deck. It wasn't until my feet hit the hard, dry soil that I realized I hadn't taken into consideration the fact that I wasn't wearing any shoes. As I bounded through dry vegetation made up of stumpy palm trees and low shrubs, which looked like Eastern Washington mixed with parts of Hawaii, I started wishing I had on some kind of shoes. My sore feet would soon slow me down. Not to mention, my lack of eating was starting to pull at me as the adrenaline from my rage out on Randall wore off.

Just as I caught sight of a flat path, some road of sorts, through a hedge of scraggly trees and thought I might have a real chance at getting home, I was stopped short by a tailored wall and a vice like grip.

"Annan, you said you wanted to be a part of my family. Why are you running from me? I rescued you just as you asked me to do." Antonio's voice was smooth as silk and held no accusation, he merely sounded curious. But, his voice was not what concerned me. It was his hands, which were cool at first but warmed as he held me, because they were like steel around my wrists and refused to release me.

He held me with a firm yet gentle grip as I turned away from him. "You say you are rescuing me but here you are, not letting me go."

"Annan, you asked for this. You said being with me will be safer for you, but the same can be said for your old family. In my home you will not have to worry about people continually killing your loved ones to get to you." His words chilled my core with their truth. My struggles ceased as I began to listen to his silken voice. "I heard what was spoken before we came down, there is still someone out there who would harm you if he knew you were alive, correct?"

Nodding, I agreed but still didn't like how logical his deduction was. Every fiber of my being wanted to believe he was using some power on me like he had with Chloe, but it was hard to see where the magic lay in him being so damn sensible.

He wrapped an arm around my front, under my breasts, and pulled me lightly against him. "If you are one of mine I can protect you. If we are your family, you will not have to worry about our deaths, or the deaths of those you left behind." His hand brushed aside my hair and I could feel his jaw warm against mine.

The feeling of him touching me, and the allure of his offer of safety for everyone flowed through me and made me want to submit. Not knowing what to do, I said, "I will miss them."

"I will help you forget." His words vibrated along my skin as his scent washed over me pulling at me the way a person's aroma shouldn't. He smelled of a promise of heated nights to come, full of passion and longing.

My body slackened in his hold and just before his teeth sank in I remembered what had happened with Chloe, but it was too late. He pierced my flesh and it was the same as it had been with her, only more intense. Grasping his arm, I drew in a breath as that promise spoken in a scent was kept when my body became enflamed. Every suck, every pull was connected to an entirely different part of my body, and I wanted more.

The fact I had just ran from being held prisoner after killing my captor and stood in a dead woman's pajamas in the hot sun, which beat on some unknown location, was nothing, insignificant, as long as Antonio kept his mouth on me. Everything melted away, all was forgotten.

Another promise kept.

His moan against my neck reverberated through my body and drew his name from my lips. As soon as it left, he stopped, pulled me away and then turned me to face him. There was not a drop of blood on his full lips, which were swollen and moist from sucking at my neck, and all I could think of was how badly I wanted to suckle at them.

Bringing my hand up, I touched his face to do just that, but he grabbed it and stopped me. A look of puzzlement crossed his breathtaking features.

"What are you doing, Annan?"

His question seemed odd, but before I could muster an answer through the haze of orgasmic bliss I was in, my rear was struck with what felt like a bullet, or a strong kick. His silvery-green eyes moved from me to somewhere behind me as I reached back in a languished way and extracted a dart from my ass.

Letting it slip from my fingers, I looked back at Antonio who was yelling at someone in a foreign language, but I was too gone to guess at what it was, as well as too caught up in the sight of Antonio to care. He looked incredible when he was angered; all flustered and raging.

"You're so gorgeous," I said on whisper as my legs gave out.

"It's no matter now."

Antonio held me up and lifted me off my feet to carry me like a new bride... That thought had me giggling. Being darted after being bitten by Antonio was a whole lot like being drunk, at least in my single experience of getting drunk it was. My head lulled to the side as a lazy smile pulled at my lips, but before I could laugh again I was jolted by the sound of an explosion. Wanting to ask what made the noise, I never got a word out as everything around me blurred just before I passed out.

~

"I can see it is still smoldering Korbin, what can we do about it now?"

"Sean, why so loud?" There was no voice of my own and through some fog which clouded my mind I recognized being in Sean's head. "Oh, yeah. Vampire bite, go nigh' nigh'."

Whoa, what was up with that?

Antonio's bite must have lingered when I linked with Sean or something because there was a definite drunk feeling going on. At least my thoughts were not as bad as my attempt at speech.

My vision cleared—well, I could _see_ , clear is a questionable claim—and I was shocked by the sight of Serenity appearing in front of Sean as though she dropped from the sky. "Only one dead male werewolf, there is no sign of Annan or that vampire you spoke of. Maybe her master took Annan and did this."

Her voice trailed off as I looked behind her through Sean's eyes. The effects of the bite wasn't allowing for much multitasking so I was only able to focus on one thing at a time. Everything I wasn't focused on was just blotted out somehow. Either that or seeing the huge smoldering crater was just that interesting. Must be Randall's place and that explosion I heard... Antonio had destroyed it.

"No shit we can't track her like that. Randall has this property so damn warded we wouldn't have even found it if it weren't for the damn smoking hole in the ground. Fuck it. I'm doing it the old fashioned way." Korbin started stripping off his clothes... ack!

Averting my internal eyes, I looked at the ground around Sean's feet instead so I didn't have to see my cousin in the buff. No matter how drunk I was that would not be a nice sight. Sean's thought of Korbin having the right idea passed through my fogged mind along with him figuring they could at least track my scent.

As Sean became more hopeful he began taking his clothes off as well, starting with his shoes, and an odd sensation rolled through him. It felt like stretching you're your muscles before a workout but instead of them going back to a resting position they formed into a different shape. The sensation made my stomach real in my inebriated state and I focused on blotting out his vision as it wavered and changed. When the feeling passed my vision cleared and I saw out of Sean's new eyes. This view was lower to the ground and darting around trees and shrubs as he followed a wolf.

"Sean must be kitty," I tried to say and giggled.

The drunken feeling was getting even worse but the blackness that always came before I woke up seeped in and began stealing me away. At least this time when I woke up it wouldn't be to a crazy rape man, just a sexy vampire... Did I really just think that?
Chapter 10

### This is so Wrong

"I'm glad you are finally waking, Annan." A sweet southern voice let me know I was no longer sleeping before I even knew it myself.

Drawing in a breath, which caused me to sink down in the bed I was on, I opened my eyes half expecting to see a cage around me. Instead, I saw a giant, ornate four-poster bed complete with stark-white luxurious linens. The sheets I felt seconds before seeing were softer than they looked and were a perfect match to the bed. The damn thing didn't need bedding that detracted from the carved mahogany monstrosity that it was.

Sitting up, I took in the rest of the room, which was as bad as the bed. It was all deep wood tones on maroon and gold with some of the gaudiest statues—thank god there were only three—I had ever seen. They were reminiscent of the Venus de Milo in the fact they were marble, nude, and women. Way to play up vampire cliché, Antonio.

Rolling my eyes, I saw Chloe tilt her head as she sat perched on the edge of the bed. She must have been gone a while when I had first met her because, though she was beautiful before, she was downright gorgeous in her oversized peach sweater and black skinny jeans with her hair and makeup done—those pouted lips the color of spilled blood and cornflower eyes framed by just enough charcoal to bring them to life.

"Are you fully awake, Annan?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I'm just enjoying this shit Antonio calls décor." A yawn left me as I scratched my head and she giggled.

"You can decorate your room any way you wish."

There was no way to help the snort that left me. "Right, he can keep his shitty room exactly the way he likes because fist chance I get, I'm out of here."

Chloe's eyes fell, as did her voice. "Antonio had made it seem as though you wanted to come, he had convinced you of it."

Letting out another laugh, I shook my head. "Right, that's why I was darted again."

Her eyes came to mine, they looked pained. "He said Violet did that just as he was going to give you his blood. She mistook you reaching for him as an attack."

Bringing my brows together I tried to remember what had happened. I remembered being darted, but was he about to give me his blood? My internal question caused the event to spring up from my memory. Antonio promising me everything just before he bit me, the drunken state which came afterwards and that drunkenness continuing over into Sean's head when I was passed out. It seemed the story he gave Chloe was a little skewed because me taking his blood was not on the list, and no matter what Violet claimed, I was _not_ in attack mode.

"Violet was probably just jealous because Antonio used his vampire wiles to get in my head and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

It was Chloe's turn to purse her brows. "Vampire wiles? What do you mean by that exactly?"

She stood as I pushed aside the covers and brought my legs to the edge so I could stretch out. They were stiff, as though I had slept much longer than usual. "You know, like how he swayed you to leave without me. He did the same mind mumbo crap on me, kind of like you can do with emotions, only it was to make me all hot for him and think his plan was a good idea."

Chloe stared at me a moment with a confused look on her face as I stood and stretched out some more, reaching high for the ceiling and wondering why I was in an old-lady white, cotton nightgown.

"Annan, Antonio does not possess such powers. He is actually kind of weak for a master vampire."

"He's strong enough to keep you and that Angelic chick from leaving."

Her eyes cast down a moment. "Yes well, that seems to be where his power lies. Unlike most of our kind he cannot manipulate minds. Some masters can sway thoughts, emotions, and the like as well as eventually be able to fly. Antonio has been able to attain flight, but he said that is the most basic of vampire skills, really an extension of our speed and strength. He is saddened by the fact his other powers are lacking, that is why he chooses unique people to turn."

Folding my arms in front of me, I pondered what she said. Flight would explain the blur of motion I saw before I passed out, and how he got Chloe home then returned to Randall's so quick, but the fact it was his only true power still left everything else to question.

"That doesn't make sense though Chloe, why would my brain turn all... stupid if he wasn't doing something to me."

Chloe crossed her arms and looked down as she nibbled her top lip before speaking. "From what I have seen Antonio can be very reasonable, he has wooed many a woman to his bed with his looks and charm alone." Her eyes came back to mine. "He doesn't need any tricks of the mind. It could be you just fell under that natural Antonio spell."

"Did you? Not just when he came and got you, but the first time, when you were turned?"

Chloe's cheeks flushed the faintest of pinks. "When I was turned I was attracted to the life he offered, not him. At that time I was interested in a more robust kind of man and, though Antonio is attractive, I have never found myself drawn to him the way some women are.

"As far as when he came and got me, I understood what he meant when he said, 'all will be well.'" Her slim shoulders rose and then fell. "After spending nearly a century with someone, you get to know their subtle cues, regardless of how you feel about them."

Nodding my head, I had to agree with her. Ash and I were like that. Even though we were only best friends it was more like we were brother and sister and he could literally talk to me with his eyes. He and I had only known each other a little over twenty years, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to know him for almost a hundred.

Yawning again, I said, "Jesus, I'm tired." Shaking off yet another stretch, I looked at Chloe. "Is it from being bitten, like how I get all sexed up, am I tired from that?"

Chloe put her delicate hand to her mouth as she laughed. "I told you Annan, _getting sexed up_ , as you call it, is not normal. I have never heard of that happening to anyone else. The taking of blood can increase arousal, but not induce it."

A snort of a laugh came out of me. "There was no way in hell I was aroused during any of the times I was bitten."

She gave me a smug look. "I figured as much without you saying. Unless that is, you are some kind of secret sexual masochist."

An ash blond brow arced over an azure eye and I had to put my hand to her shoulder as I began to laugh.

"Gross Chloe, no. Oh my god."

"Well, what happened with Antonio, then?"

Pulling my hand away, I looked down at the smaller woman, all icy pales to my warm browns. "This sounds like a long conversation and from the way my skin feels I know I haven't bathed in a while, so I want one of those first."

She gestured with her head and said, "Come on," as she took my hand and led me through a panel in the wall which ended up being a door to a walk through closet. The closet created a pass-through to the bathroom and was filled with clothing even nicer than what I bought myself.

"Who's are all these?" My hand grazed across a fine silk shirt and I pulled it down. It was in my size.

"These are your clothes, Annan."

Putting the shirt back, I swallowed down my pulse which rose over the thought of Antonio really intending on keeping me. Glancing around me I had to wonder how they were able to get a closet full of clothing for me, and— _holy crap,_ look at crystals on those shoes—shoes as well.

"How long was I asleep?" I said as I bent to pick up the Swarovski encrusted heel with some label written in French on the inside.

"Nearly two full days."

The heel fell from my grasp, as did my jaw from my mouth. "Two!?"

Chloe smiled and grabbed my hand, bringing me into the bathroom. My nerves calmed as I took in the huge tub, large enough for six people to easily lounge in and have the water to their necks. Calling it a tub seemed almost wrong, with the seating and the jets it was obviously a custom Jacuzzi made out of marble which pretended to be a bathtub.

Chloe turned on the water and felt the strong flow for temperature as she spoke. "It would be normal for you to rest for a long time after the first blood exchange, but maybe the drugs caused you to sleep for even longer. Whatever the reason, you're right. You haven't bathed in a while so this should help your nerves."

She stood and smiled as she dried her hand on one of the plush towels stacked on the expansive counter top. Watching the water fill the tub at an alarming speed, I took in a deep breath and looked away from it to rest of the white marbled room before looking back to Chloe. No matter what Antonio had planned for me, she had been nothing but sweet and kind since we met.

Holding out my hand to her, she took it and her smile reached her eyes. "Thank you for all your help Chloe. When I get out of here I'll do everything I can to take you with me."

Her smile fell, along with her hand. "That may be somewhat difficult. It took me over eighty years to find an opening and I don't believe Antonio is soon to let another one occur."

Closing my eyes, I tried to swallow down the fear which wanted to build up.

"Don't fret Annan, at least here you will not be raped." Her hand found my shoulder but her touch wasn't reassuring.

Thinking about Sean and how he would not stop, how none of my family would stop until they found me, I let the fear go and laughed. "There is that, but my family won't stop until I am found. If Antonio is smart, he'll let me go. Whatever he said, I didn't take his blood so he has no right over me."

Chloe's face wilted even more as she nodded. "He still has a right over me, Annan. Even if he let you go, I would have to stay."

Not liking the sound of that, or the sadness in her voice, I gave her a hug and let her hold me as the steam filled the small room. Giving her back a small rub I decided to change the subject and have a light-hearted girl moment with her. It had been years, well before my folks had died, but I still knew how to girl it up and with her being a vampire, I had think she wouldn't be the squeamish type.

"Hey, this tub is huge. Why don't you take a bath with me? We'll bubble it up and scrub each other's backs while I bore you with the details on what went down when Antonio got me, and if you like, my life." Pulling away, I flashed her a smile.

Chloe's eyes lit up, and though the idea of bathing with a vampire while trying to gossip like teens seemed foolhardy once spoken out loud, the look in her eyes made any awkwardness which would ensue worth it. It was nice think my invitation would help her to forget how trapped she was in a life she didn't want since that was a little fact I would like to forget myself ... if only for a moment

~

Chloe was kind enough to show me the water closet—a small room holding a toilet—as the tub filled and when I had come back from the Austin-Power's-coming-out-of-deep-freeze like pee I had endured she had already sank herself below the bubbles. For me, hopping in wasn't uncomfortable considering she had already seen me in the nude when Randall raped me. But, as soon as I had thought of why being naked around her wasn't too bad I wanted to forget it and started right in on telling her about the escape and then my childhood.

After a long talk and the promised back scrubbing both she and I were just like high school besties hanging out for the weekend. We even got into a round of teasing like BFF's always do.

Chloe's laughter rang through the bathroom as I splashed at her. "I'm serious, it's not funny."

"Having a man try to woe you time and again even though he is told, time and again, your feelings run along the line of siblings, is very funny."

While we girled-it-up I had told her about my misfortune with guys—just briefly skimming over Sean and what we did since it was so knew and strange to me—and she thought Ashley's unreciprocated desire to be with me, a years long quest, more than hilarious. She giggled once more and dodged my wave of sudsy water with an unnatural speed.

"Hey, stop moving so fast, damn it."

Chloe's bottom lip stuck out, pink with the makeup gone and moist with water. "Awe, you want me to move slow like you Annan?" Her tone was teasing as she began to move in slow motion through the water. "Oh, no. Don't get me," she said in a matching voice.

My hands skimmed the water sending another wave towards her, which she dodged faster than I could have. "Come on, you said you were going to pretend to be me."

"Oh, what and let you drench me like this?"

Before I could react, she sent a wave at me, soaking my entire side and broke out in giggles. Without thought I started laughing myself and shot through the water towards her. "You think that's funny?" I said and started tickling her slick sides under the bubbles.

Her squeals of laughter and pleas for me to stop warmed my heart and did make me forget the circumstances we found ourselves in. It was as though we were just two friends having fun. She slipped out of my hands and under the water only to shoot out in front of me, straddling my lap. As her legs pinned mine together a thought crossed my mind that none of my friends had ever gotten _that_ close to me. You could be certain none of them had ever caused the burning to build low in me the way she had either, guy _or_ girl. Hell, the only time I had ever been turned on by a female was when Chloe bit me.

The laugh which escaped me didn't sound too nervous to my ears. "What are you doing, Chloe?"

"Well, I was going to get you back while I held you still." Her legs gripped tighter. "But..." Her eyes became hooded as her limbs loosened. "With the reaction you are having" —her hand trailed along my collarbone and it was like a spark to my core— "I'm wondering if our playing should be something more."

She leaned forward, her pout of a mouth inches from mine and I didn't know what to do, where to go, if I should shove her off or go with it. All those thoughts ran around my head but my body knew what it wanted. It urged me to let go, to give in and taste her. To have more of Chloe than I already had.

"Chloe, I... I've never been with a woman."

She laughed and her breath was sweet on my lips. "Annan, you said you had only been with Sean. He was the only one worth counting. Maybe there a reason he is the only _man_ you have ever been attracted to."

Her hand dipped below the suds and down my side, grazing my breast and sending a bolt of heat strait to my sex. My body's response must have been answer enough as her delicate lips pressed against mine, and I don't know if it was the soft feel of them moist against my own, or her hand which traveled even further to find where all that heat lived, but I wanted nothing more than to give in to her and the unknown desire she stirred in me.

My mouth parted, as did my legs, and when her hand found my core I moaned through our kiss and brought my own hands to her breasts. I was unsure of what to do but I figured I couldn't lose out by doing to her what I liked to have done to me. As my fingers massaged and pinched at her pink nipples atop her pert breasts, which barely filled my hands, she answered my desire with her own, groaning as our tongues licked and played with each other, tumbling between our lips and in our mouths.

Her fingers drove me on as we kissed, stroking over my kernel before delving through the folds and into me. They pressed on as her thumb found my core and I broke from the kiss, gasping for air, and brought my head to her shoulder as a shudder rolled through my body.

She lightened her touch causing the climax to wane and I opened my eyes to see her taught nipples below me, begging to be tasted. Answering their call, I bent to them and grasped both in my hands, licking one as I teased the other the way Sean had done with me. Chloe cried out my name and her fingers seized inside of me drawing my attention even lower, to where I had yet to venture.

Pulling one hand away, I trailed it down her side to her silken patch under the warm water surrounding us. My mouth suckled one breast then the other, and I wished I could taste both them at the same time—the sensation of her nipples on my tongue was thrilling—as my hand found her core and stroked it to life the way she had mine.

Her own hand faltered again as I found a rhythm between her breasts and her sex. The feeling of her quivering under my touch had me unhinged and I wanted nothing more than to bring her to her own head. My desire, my fulfillment was nothing compared to the need to please Chloe, the sensation drove me on as she bucked and shook against me.

Her hands came out of the water and she grasped my shoulders as she moaned out my name. A sense of satisfaction for bringing her pleasure washed over me, but before I could claim another orgasm from her, she sank her teeth into my shoulder and the bite was more than my already heightened senses could handle. My orgasm struck with a deafening force and I felt my inner muscles contract around nothing as I held the vampire to me while she fed.

Each orgasm was followed by another and came on the wake of every swallow of my blood Chloe had. The fog of my own pleasure coated my being and I mumbled, "don't stop," over and again to her shoulder, wishing the bliss would never end.

Somewhere in the din of my twentieth or thirtieth orgasm I heard the door open and Antonio curse before Chloe was lifted from me. The water sloshed and a quite apology from her filled my ears before being replaced by the sound of retreating footsteps. For some reason, I couldn't get my bearings and every time I tried to sit up, to see what was happening, I slipped and fell back in the soapy water.

A giggle left me, and though the fog lingered I had a notion I was drunk from her bite, either that or I was suffering from severe blood loss, because I was beyond light headed. Water filled my vision as I slipped below the bubbles once more with a laugh.

"Sciocca ragazza! Do you want to drown, Annan?" Antonio pulled me from the water as he had Chloe but instead of setting me down he held me to him similar to the way he had outside Randall's place.

Pressing my hand to his cotton covered chest I watched as the water soaked in and through to his undershirt. The sight of it made me giggle while he carried me like a babe through the closet and to the bed. Something about being nude tickled at the back of my mind, telling me it was important, but I couldn't figure out why so I pushed aside the thought as my backside found the thick duvet. He started spewing off directions in the language he had spoken a moment before, it too seemed familiar, and whoever received the orders was gone before I could see who it was.

"What language is that? It's beautiful." My voice sounded languid, as though it took some effort for the words to form.

"Bella Lupa, it is the language of my home. Italia." His hand was gentle on my face before he brought a thick covering around me that somebody had brought in.

The new blanket was warm, as though it had just been plucked from the dryer, and felt wonderful against my body. My limbs began to relax as a tiredness I didn't want set in through the wavering fog of being bitten.

"I don't want to sleep, I slept too much." The unintended whiny tone of my voice made me giggle again.

Antonio brushed a damp lock off my forehead as his Mediterranean gaze took me in. "You shouldn't have let Chloe feed from you. She has a tendency to... not know her bounds, so you need to be careful around her. I'll talk with her about what happened and make sure it does not happen again."

For some reason what he said brought on a panicked feeling and I sat up and clutched his arm. "Don't, it wasn't her fault. I..."

Biting my lip I looked away from his dazzling features and forgot what I wanted to say. The movement caused a wave of dizziness to hit me and I wobbled against him.

His hands were gentle on my back as he guided me down to the bed. "Chloe knows her struggles, Annan. Regardless of what happened she is at fault for biting you unsupervised. But, now that she has, you need to ingest my blood again."

The words he spoke took longer than they should have to absorb into my mush-brain but once they did I knew something was off about them. "I never took your blood before."

Antonio's smile was soft, as though I was being a silly child. "Annan, you may not remember it but you did ingest my blood after the first bite. It was odd you were able to take my blood after being incapacitated, but I found it quite convenient." He rolled up his sleeve while he spoke.

"The first exchange has occurred and though this time Chloe took from you, a small bite from me followed by a feeding for you will suffice."

Some part of my brain was screaming at me: "No, this is so wrong." But, as he brushed aside my hair, leaned down to me, and I felt his breath against my skin, some other part of my mind, and my body, screamed _yes_ just before his teeth found purchase.

He had told me it would be a small bite and I don't know if it was the crushing awareness throughout my body which caused it to feel prolonged, or if he lied and fed from me longer than he claimed he would, but whatever the reason, I was in heaven for what felt like hours.

At some point my hands found his shoulders and I held him to me groaning his name out as my body was torn apart and rebuilt, becoming a seething mass of need and desire. All I could think was that I wanted him on me, in me, to take me any way he could, but while I declared as much to him he pulled out of my grasp and left me quivering and wanting more.

There was an odd look to his features but it was gone before I could discern what it was through my craving to be touched by him again. Trying not to moan and writhe on the bed, I watched as he bit his wrist and pressed it to my lips, telling me to drink. The call to have any part of him touch me, be a part of me, had consumed my whole existence and I gladly accepted his offering, drinking down the crimson gift.

His blood was so different, sweet like candy. It filled me and made me more than I had been before. Antonio's blood was like consuming raw power. Somewhere through my addict-like taking I heard him moan out my name seconds before he withdrew his wrist.

My hands rushed out to retrieve his arm again, fretting like a child who had her favorite toy removed, but his strength was greater than mine and he held me down with ease.

Ready to yell or scream, do something so I could get what I wanted, my eyes shot to his, but as soon as I saw his beautiful face the lust in me was ignited once more. Without warning, I pressed my mouth to his, wanting to taste those perfect lips. He let my hands slip out of his grasp as he put his own to my shoulders again, easing me back down to the bed.

His own blood was violent streak across his lips and seeing it there shifted something in me and the annoying voice at the back of my mind started saying I should be mortified by the sight. Was I shocked? Yes. Mortified? No.

Licking my own lips, I could taste his blood still there and I tried to think hard on why that should be bad, but I became distracted by Antonio when he disappeared and then reappeared all cleaned up and with a damp towel in his hand.

He wiped off my face and set the stained towel aside before adjusting the blankets around me once more. Frowning at him, I didn't know what to say but I thought something should be said. Too bad I couldn't muster up a coherent thought. What was happening was wrong, some part of me knew that, but I couldn't figure what was so wrong, or why it was wrong.

His hand grazed along my cheek and jaw, bringing my eyes to his again. "You've been through a lot, and when you are more of a right mind we can explore that, but for now you need to rest.

His kiss was soft on my forehead, and he lingered a moment before he shut out the lights and left the room. Try as I might, it was impossible for me to get my head around what had happened and as the last bits of tingling left me, and my body found a sense of normalcy, I drifted off to sleep before a real solid thought could form.
Chapter 11

### Who is Rostom?

It would be nice to say I dreamed sweet dreams and woke not remembering a thing, but that is not what happened. There was a small reprieve that when I did wake no one was in my room, so the embarrassing memories of hand-fucking Chloe then almost fucking Antonio had a chance to beat at the inside of my skull without me trying to hide it from anyone.

The room was still dark and the lack of windows made it impossible to tell what time of day it was, the only light I could see was from the door disguised as a panel in the wall which led to the closet and bathroom beyond. Slinking off the bed, I padded silently across the floor and to the cracked door. The large wood panel didn't make a noise as it shut behind me and I made my way passed the plethora of clothing. As I did, I grabbed a couple items from hangers, as well as a pair of underwear and a bra from a drawer, before I entered the bathroom.

Water sloshed to life in the sink and I tried with all my might to ignore the large, empty tub behind me knowing it would spark memories of what had occurred there. A tall, slender cabinet, breaking up the line of mirrors at their center, held various toiletries and hair accessories. From it, I collected an elastic-band and put my hair in a loose knot then retrieved tooth paste and a toothbrush.

The tub kept flashing in my peripheral vision as I brushed my teeth, and I tried to overlook the deep burning awareness building in me over the remembered sensation of Chloe's body on mine in the water. It was impossible to disregard, though, and it had me worried my new horny nature was something other than me finally coming into my own. Spitting out the toothpaste, I rinsed the brush and set it aside before splashing the cool water on my face. My hand found one of the nearby towels and I patted my cheeks as I shut the water off before turning to the accursed bath.

My pulse caught in my throat but I forced myself to take a step towards it. The marble was cool under my hand and as soon as my fingers touch the polished stone the memory of her lips on mine was almost too much to bear. Of course, what was really surprising was what followed on the heels of that lust: my old friend, anger. Heat of a different kind, blazing from this new issue to deal with, flooded through my body and lifted my fist to smash the edge of the bath.

The marble made an audible splintering noise and my tongue swept across my lips as I pulled my hand up, stunned over the spider-web of cracks left behind. My family had told me my strength would increase as I got closer to my first change—of course I didn't have a clue how close my birthday was anymore—but I had no idea I would get strong enough to crack stone. There wasn't even a bruise to be seen on me. Flexing my fingers, I looked over the digits and wondered if the blood I had taken from Antonio also had something to do with my increase in strength.

The sound of the door opening in the other room pulled my attention away from my new discovery and I finished dressing before whoever it was came looking for me. The bathroom filled with darkness as I flicked the light switch and entered the just as pitch-black closet before listening for who was on the other side of the door. There was no noise to be heard, so I sighed and entered, ready to stand my own and give an earful to whoever was there.

Stepping from the closet, I saw Chloe and another woman waiting for me in the room. Even though both of them were sitting, I could tell the lady was taller than Chloe by far, and probably even me with the heels she was wearing. Her rouge lips pulled into a broad smile. Deep red hair fell around her shoulders and was styled in waves reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe. The thick curls framed her silver eyes and pale face as she sat looking like Hollywood perfection in her kerchief, black blouse, and skinny jeans.

The two ladies said nothing as I shut the door behind me, and didn't appear to have been talking before I came in either. There was a bag by Chloe on the table between her and the mystery woman and from the smell tantalizing my nose and pulling a grumble from my stomach, I knew it had to be food.

"Antonio said you should be waking soon and to have food ready for you. It's only burgers, fries, and a shake but you need more than his blood to survive the turning."

"Well whatever the reason, I'm starving. Gimmie." Snatching the bag from her I plopped on the bed and tore into the first burger. It had probably been days since I had eaten last and the thing tasted so good I devoured it in four bites before grabbing the next.

"Who's she?" I asked, waving the burger in the direction of the other lady, who in my opinion was dressed way too sophisticated to be hanging out in a crazy vampire den.

"This is Angelic. Antonio thought it best if I wasn't alone with you."

My cheeks warmed in response to the pink I saw coat Chloe's and the other woman's smile grew, becoming more of a bearing of teeth than a smile.

"Is he concerned you two will have sex again? Or, is he really worried about Chloe biting you like she did before? After all, that was what Antonio claimed."

Her voice held a hint of the English Isles, but I didn't think to ask on it as the meat of the patty caught at the back of my throat and almost choked me. "I can't believe he told you what happened." Shaking my head I swallowed before speaking again. "I guess there are no secrets in a vampire house." Finishing off the second cheeseburger, I shook my head once more and grabbed the fries and milkshake, which I drank half of before placing between my legs.

"In a house with Angelic, there are none." Chloe's voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear her, especially after the other woman burst out in chortles.

"So true, Chloe dear."

My confusion must have shown as I ate because Chloe's eyes fell on me then away before she explained what she had meant. "Angelic is a clairvoyant, or was before she was turned."

The other woman nodded, her laughter having dissipated into a wide smile. "Now that I am a vampire there is not a single thought hidden from me, and if I wish it I can change the way you think." She sat back, and her smile turned sinister. "I can even sway your deepest beliefs."

A small shudder ran through my body as I finished the last of the fries and picked up the final burger.

"Don't be frightened, though."

"I thought Chloe was the one who could read emotions." An arched brow rose as I questioned her.

She nodded. "Chloe is much more skilled at reading emotions, she can even change them the way I can change thoughts."

My brows drew together. I had known she could read emotions, I didn't know she could change them, but maybe that is why I was able to stay calm around her at Randall's. Biting down on a handful of fries, I listened while she continued.

"But, I still have a sense of a person's emotions, especially the emotions of the living."

The way she spoke of the living sent a chill down my spine. The longer I was around Angelic the more I gathered she was a predator, which was not a comforting thought as I sipped at my strawberry shake. It was one, however, which had her doubled over with laughter and asking Chloe why I didn't think she was a predator when she nearly drained me. Finishing my shake I shook my head and decided someone able to read minds all the time would be hard to get used to.

Angelic didn't comment on my last thought, instead she became silent, stood and went to the door. Before I could ask what she was doing Antonio entered as she left, not giving the man a single glance, and the dueling heats inside me erupted. Part of me wanted to jump on him and tear his clothes off, the other wanted to rip _him_ to shreds.

"I see you have finished eating, Annan... and have dressed yourself." He frowned and it was all I had in me not to throw the bag full of trash I had in my hands at him. "A nightdress would have been better since the next bite is sure to make you drowsy."

When he told me I was to be bitten, yet again, the heat of my anger overwhelmed any lustful feelings and I sprang to my feet and away from the Vampire. "Like hell you are biting me."

His glorious smile fought to bring out my desire for him, but the rage kept it at bay. "Annan, you seemed quite willing yesterday. After two bites you have little right to refuse the rest, besides you have already demonstrated the turn is working. Luckily, the bath tile will be easy to replace."

My urge to pitch something over took my common sense and I threw the bag at Antonio, who swatted it aside without effort. "Screw you Antonio! I was told my strength would increase the closer I came to my birthday anyways, so that proves nothing." There was no way I would let myself believe what he said, even if I had wondered it myself.

"When is your birthday Annan?"

My lips pursed and I clenched my fists, pissed the guy had the gall to take me, to force me to be a Vampire, but knew nothing about me. "December twenty-first," I said through bared teeth.

His smile was knowing as he approached the bed and I couldn't help but back away. My eyes flashed to Chloe but she wouldn't look at either of us. She just kept her gaze on her hands.

"That is a week and a half away." Antonio pulled my attention back to him. "Weres do not exhibit their full strength until the final days before their coming of power birthday. My blood is the only explanation for the increased strength in you this far from your supposed change."

The words he spoke lashed at me and grated on my anger. Reaching out, I grabbed the nearest thing I could touch and threw it at him. In my blind fury my aim was nowhere near the man but he moved faster than I could see and caught the statue I had thrown before it hit the wall.

"I would appreciate it if you did not break my antiques, Annan."

"Well, I would appreciate it if you didn't fucking turn me into a vampire, Antonio!"

His name on my lips pulled at the other warmth in me and my arousal made me shriek out in rage before I hoisted the night stand above my head and pitched it at the Vampire.

Instead of catching it he let it strike the wall where he had been. In my fit I didn't see him move, didn't see him grasp my arms, until it was too late and he had me pinned against the wall. "Let me go you, dick, you fucking dick. I didn't ask for this."

My feet flailed out but he had us on the bed in under a second with me below him. "You did so ask for this. You begged me to take you from Randall, to make you one of mine."

Thrashing under Antonio in a fruitless effort, I screamed at him. "Well I changed my mind, now get off me. I don't want you to bite me, you're just going to take advantage of what it does."

His body moved with unheard laughter. "If I wanted to do that I would have yesterday when you were throwing yourself at me, not now when you are flailing about like a toddler having a tantrum."

Ignoring his response, I wailed and tried with every ounce of strength I had in me to break free, but it was no good.

"Chloe, please come help and subdue Annan. I don't want her hurt."

Frantic laughter left me over what he said as Chloe approached the bed, her eyes full of unshed tears.

"I'm sorry, Annan."

Her hand warmed against my arm and I stopped my futile efforts, but not because of anything Chloe was doing, it was more to try and reason with her.

"Please, Chloe. Don't do it, don't help him change me."

Her blond locks swung around her head as she shook it, which caused her tears to fall. "I'm sorry, I have to."

"Annan, I'm not going to change you. I'm trying to stop that, I'm trying to _turn_ you into a vampire."

Letting out a disgusted laugh, I kept my eyes on Chloe and wondered what she was going to do and when, because my emotions hadn't shifted, I still felt trapped and didn't want the bastard biting me. "Good luck with that one, I'm more Aos Si than anything and I bet you'll have a hard time turning me from that alone."

His hand along my neck felt amazing and sent a heat to my core. Anger wanted to war against my arousal and I blamed the unwanted sensation on Chloe finally altering my feelings. There was no way I was going to admit I was attracted to Antonio in any way on my own ... even though I knew that was a lost battle. Closing my eyes, all I could do was brace for what was to come.

"I have already turned two mages, a clairvoyant, a weretiger, and an empath. I'm sure you will be no different."

There was no time to ask about the weretiger—a piece of information which must have surprised Chloe as much as me since the first thing I saw when my eyes flew open was her shocked visage—because when his teeth pierced my flesh it was just as it had been every other time and I had only a split second to hate it before I was loving every moment.

His grip loosened on me and my arms went around him without a second thought. Why would I want to be anywhere else? Everything I could ever want or need was with Antonio. Riding a wave of pleasure, which carried me to places only found in dreams, I couldn't understand why moments before I was so mad, or why I wanted to leave, or why Chloe had two rivers of tears flowing down her alabaster cheeks as she watched Antonio and me.

He pulled away and I groaned at the loss of him against my skin. Reaching out, I tried to pull him back down but he just chuckled as he unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeve. "No matter what you say, Annan I will not touch you unless you are fully aware and consenting. I am not like Randall, I do not take advantage of women or force myself upon them."

Something about what he said seemed off but I couldn't put my finger on it, nor did I care to. All I could do was relish in him touching me as he moved to the side and cradled my head in his lap before giving me his wrist to drink from. My body remembered what it was like and I devoured his life essence with more hunger than I had the food. Chloe's voice flitted through my revere of his blood but it was hard to focus on what she was saying.

"You never spoke of another child. What happened to the weretiger?"

Antonio removed his arm, which pulled a small whimper from me, and brushed my hair to the side. Relaxing against his palm, I sighed feeling comforted by his simple touch.

"Angelic never told you of Rostom?" What he was saying sounded important and I hoped my mind would remember it as my body drifted into a restful state.

Antonio placed my head on the down pillow as he stood, then tucked the sheet around my body. "I'm surprised in all this time she never told you of him. Of course, she did seem saddened when he chose not to stay."

Sleep nipped at the edges of my consciousness but for some reason I felt as though I needed to hear what he was saying.

"But... I don't understand. Do you only let male's leave? Why have you never let Angelic? What about me? She said I could never go."

Antonio was silent for so long I thought I had fallen asleep, and there's a good chance I had, but right before oblivion took me for good he said, "Maybe leaving Angelic to guide you all these years was a folly idea. Once you can control your hunger, you will be free to go, Chloe dear. Some, unfortunately, will never learn."
Chapter 12

### Chloe, and Sean, and... Oh Boy

After bite number three I could surmise two things. One: They knocked me out better than any drug or being hit in the head, or anything for that matter, had—I didn't have dreams or anything. Two: I liked being knocked out by drugs more because than I knew what Sean was up to. In the past few days, I had been awake no more than a few hours at a time and I was getting tired of the up, bite, sleep, nothing routine already.

Groaning, I rolled over and was happy the clothes I had put on before Antonio made a snack out of me were still in place. What I wasn't happy to see was that they looked like I had slept in them for a whole day. "How long was I out?"

"How did you know I was here?"

Sitting up I let the sheet fall off of me and saw Chloe's features light up as she flicked on a lamp in the corner of the room. "I don't know. Something in me said I wasn't alone, so I spoke without thinking."

Chloe went to the switch by the door and turned it on as well, but used the touch dial to keep it low. "Antonio's probably right, his blood is making you a vampire. The turn is working."

She came back by me and sat in the chair by the bed when I remembered what Antonio had said to her right before I had passed out. "The weretiger! So he wasn't lying?" Pushing aside any fear over him being right about me becoming a vampire—other than no sun for a century it wasn't much different than becoming a wolf—I looked around, but there wasn't anyone else in the room. "Where is Angelic, or the other two? Are you allowed to be alone with me again?" Ignoring the twinge of heat over the thought—a twinge compounded by the sight of her in the subdued lighting—I waited for her to answer.

The smile that touched her lips didn't reach her eyes as she spoke. "I'm trying to prove I can be trusted so Antonio is giving me the opportunity. And no, he did not lie. He had another child, Violet and Darian confirmed what he had said and told me they had never spoke of him before to me because Angelic made sure I did not care for the two them and avoided them at all costs."

Her pale brow drew together before she brought her eyes to mine. "I guess letting my bias cloud my thinking has left me in the dark in many ways. They are actually not so bad, once you get to know them." Her eyes fell again. "Something I never did in all the time I've been here. When I went to ask Angelic, the one person who has been my friend and mentor this whole time, she was angry I even knew of his name and won't speak of him."

Her eyes found mine once more. "From what Violet told me, Angelic had thought Rostom would be her husband, or mate of some kind, and would spend eternity with her. She wanted what she shared with her brother."

It was hard to not let my face sour over the thought of the V.C. Andrews siblings but I tried since apparently they weren't that bad—still gross, though—and listened to Chloe as she continued.

"I'm not happy Angelic lied to me and led me believe for almost a century I was trapped like she is, but she does seem to think being allowed to leave is rare because she has never been able to control her hunger and is known to kill humans without remorse." Her eyes found mine and the pain there tugged at my heart. "The few times I have killed, I was remorse. _There_ , is where the difference lies."

My hand reached out to her and she looked at it a moment before she took it and held it in her lap as she joined me on the bed. Her two smaller hands warmed against my own and I was starting to notice it as a vampire trait, their skin borrowed warmth from the living.

"Chloe, you're not like her and even if you do get out of control occasionally, that will probably change when you are a master. You never know. But I can tell, you and her are _very_ different."

She leaned against my side and I put my other arm around her smaller frame. "Thank you, Annan. I thought after what had happened between us you would want to keep your distance."

Glancing at her out of the corner of my eye I laughed. "You mean us getting frisky in the tub." I shrugged and didn't think about the twist in my gut at my statment as she nodded. "I'm over it," I said, but my body tried to say otherwise.

She pulled away and looked up at me. "Did I take advantage of you the way you said Antonio would?"

The hurt in her eyes pulled at my heart and the twinge in me spread and built on the compassion. "Chloe, you can feel that. I don't know where it came from, but you did not take advantage of it, you just acted on it. Kind of like this."

My fingers found her face a mere second before my lips met hers. She sighed and pressed against me as her hand snaked around my hair. The kiss was deep and full of compassion. Chloe may not have been my love, but I had grown to care for her and if that caring appeared in a lustful form, who was I to deny it? As her teeth nipped at my lip but didn't draw blood I moaned and thought I would never deny such a thing.

Bringing my other hand up under her loose fitting sandy hued blouse I let the silk fabric gather around my arm as I found her breast and teased a nipple through the sheer camisole under the outer shell. Her moan was met by mine as I discovered her taut breasts were free of any bra. There was a moment for me to wonder why I had never wanted a girl before Chloe when the bedroom door opened.

"Mio dio! Can I not leave you two alone for one moment?" Antonio's voice broke my revere and both Chloe and I shifted away from each other.

Looking up, I saw her shy away. Glaring at Antonio his eyes didn't reach mine, they were on his small vampire child. "Chloe, we spoke of this."

Her tear heavy eyes met his. "Antonio, I did not bite her, I swear. I even teased at her lips but didn't draw blood, not once."

Antonio shook his head and came around the side of the bed to us. Drawing my legs up, I scooted away from him and hoped my anger would rise. Of course, the way he brushed a gentle hand over Chloe's cheek before pulling her to her feet for a hug, pulled something deep from within me as well, which had nothing to do with anger.

"Chloe, Chloe. Your hunger does not lie in the blood, though you can be reckless with it." He drew her away but kept his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her. "Though you may have killed in a fit of passion it was the passion and not the kill that drove you to it."

Her face puzzled but I understood what he meant. Her hunger was not the end, the death of the person, the way it was with Angelic. Chloe's hunger was a sexual one.

Realizing what he was getting at, my anger finally made a debut and I got to my knees. "Hey, this wasn't her fault." Antonio released Chloe and both of them looked at me. "I'm the one that made a pass at her this time, not the other way around," I said as I sat back on my heels.

My mouth twisted in a smile as a thought came to me. "What Antonio, are you jealous I'm hot for her without the... you know?" With my hand up like a claw I gnashed my teeth and made a biting sound at him, then laughed.

"Though I'm sure my jealousy would please you, I would have no qualms if you desired the company of Chloe. However, I am concerned your feelings are not genuine due to the fact Chloe has a tendency to bleed her emotions and desires into the one she wants."

My laughter stopped up as I sat on my bottom and crossed my legs. The idea the one person I felt I could trust, who I wanted to take with me when I inevitably returned home, had been deceiving me all along, tore me to my core. Tears began to stream before I knew I was even crying and when I looked up I saw the same rivulets mirrored on Chloe's face.

"Are you making me do this too?" It was all I had in me not to be shrill, or try and smack her, or do some other foolish thing.

She shook her head back and forth a few times. "I never did, I was always forthwith about my ability." She stepped forward with her hand up and I scrambled off the other side of the bed.

Her face was pained as her hand fell. "If there is a chance, Annan, that what Antonio is saying is correct." She looked up at her maker, whose concerned eyes never left his child, before looking back at me. "It was not my intention. When I thought your feelings were reciprocal, I was elated. It pains me to think I sullied any true feelings you had for me with my own desires."

The last of her words came out as choked sobs and I almost took a step forward to comfort her, but I just couldn't be sure if my feelings to do so were my own.

"Antonio is right," she said around her hand. "We shouldn't be left alone together. Not until you can trust me, and I can trust myself." She ran from the room in a blur of sobs and tears.

Even after she was gone I felt crushed and when I remembered who was in the room, who had broken our calm, yet might have saved me from doing something I would never have done on my own, I turned to him to see his saddened eyes on me.

"Some part of me feels you did that on purpose."

Antonio's brows knitted together. "Why would I wish to upset Chloe when her presence makes the blood exchange with you so much easier?"

His statement brought out my anger in a full boil at once and I reached for the nearest thing to me and threw it at him. He caught what ended up being a lamp and inspected the cord, fixing the bend in the plug before setting it aside.

"Please stop trying to destroy my things, Annan."

Grabbing another hideous statue, I threw it so hard it became a streak through the air as I screamed at him.

"Just let me go and I won't destroy all this crap!"

There was another blur of motion and I was on the bed smacking at Antonio as he fought to gain control of my arms and legs. It seemed the additional blood had once more increased my strength because this time I was giving him a run for his money. "Dannati bambina! Hold still."

My arm swung out and he grabbed it pinning it above my head. "Why, so you can force vampirism on me? So you can ruin me even more than Randall wanted to?"

His other hand pinned my left before I could get it free. "Being a vampire is not being ruined, it is a gift. One I'm learning I should give more sparingly." His legs moved over mine, silencing their pathetic struggle. "You asked me to turn you, Annan and once the turn has started it is not advised to stop."

The tears which began when I learned of Chloe's possible betrayal flowed once more. "You could have tried when I asked. You could have let me go home, let me go to my family."

His face was soft as he gazed down at me and I turned my head so as to not look at him. My desire wished to stir when he looked at me that way.

"Annan, I just told you. Once you begin the turn it should not be stop. Your body took to my blood and the turn began with the first exchange. From what you said, and what Chloe confirmed, you desired to be with us. That is the reason I came for you and as I had told you then, the ones you love are safer with you this way, while you are here with me."

His sensible way of speaking seeped through my saddened mind and I had to agree I felt more capable than ever of taking care of myself, and it was true, being away from my family was what was best for them. After all, hadn't they already kept me from them for years because it was what was best for everyone?

Antonio must have known, in his own way, I was succumbing to him because his grip loosened on my arms and he readjusted above me so his legs were no longer pinning mine. To my dismay, though, his movements only brought on another issue in me where he was concerned. The tingle down below came to life.

"If I get off of you, will you run or try to strike at me?" His voice was even and I refused to look at him as I shook my head _no_.

Antonio's movements were slow and calculated as he removed himself from atop me but stayed on the bed. As I sat up, I pulled my legs in and rested my chin on my knees. Keeping my eyes on my bare toes, I refused look at the devastating vampire. Part of me wanted to go along with what he said, but another part wasn't sure if I was ready to let go of my recently discovered family, or Ash and George—all that was left of my old life—or Sean.

"Annan, your situation is... unique."

Antonio sounded as though he was going to be too reasonable so I turned my eyes to a painting of a woman lounging on a chaise, half dressed and full of robust curves, instead of giving in to my desire to look at him.

"Since the plight which brought you to me is the danger you pose to your family." My eyes went to him then, out of curiosity, and I applauded myself for not salivating over the smile he flashed me. "Each of my children had some misfortune which brought them to my doorstep, be it them finding me or me finding them, and the turn helped them through it."

"That brother sister issue didn't seem to sort itself out."

The look on Antonio's face was one of disappointment and I tried not to squirm under it. "On the contrary, Annan. They knew they could not be apart, their physical love was too great, and they also knew they could not breed because the offspring would be an abomination and would have to be killed."

My brows knitted together. The idea the incestuous siblings wanted to be vampires more so they would not breed and less because they wanted an eternity of perversion together, was hard to swallow. But, Chloe had said she shouldn't have discounted them, maybe I shouldn't as well.

"When mages inbreed their children have an uncontrollable power." Antonio continued as I thought on what he said. "If they had bared children together it would not have been the first time it had happened within mage circles. When they asked to be turned, I saw a chance at having children who would have power to protect themselves, who would be able to gain abilities I would never have. Their reason may have seemed flawed to others, but I understood what it means to desire what others say you should not. After all, I lived in time when Italy was governed by such desires." Antonio shook his head and I looked away again, realizing I had been caught up in his story.

"As I was saying, Annan, when the time comes, regardless if you have reached master level or not, if I feel you are able to protect yourself and not bring harm to your family I will allow you to return and visit with them."

His hand found mine and I was thankful he could not feel the need it instilled in me the way Chloe would have been able to. "I'm learning through the mistake of Angelic guiding Chloe, and with letting Chloe begin to guide you, that I should have a stronger hand in my children's lives. For you I intend to do just that."

Opening my mouth, I wanted to say something, to protest him calling me his child, but he kept talking and didn't give me the chance, so I closed it.

"Though I would allow more freedoms with you than I had Chloe or Angelic, you would still be my child and this would be your home."

Deciding not to bitch about the verbiage—after all it was what vampires called the ones they turned—I focused more on the whole of what he was saying. "That's fine and dandy for my new family but what about the people I left behind in my human life? What I am is not secret to my human uncle and I was planning on telling his son next time I saw him. If they know about our world, could I see them too, or is there some vampire law about human interaction I don't know about?"

His hand was gentle as it brushed the side of my cheek and I couldn't resist the urge to look at him any longer. Antonio's smile reached all the way up to his eyes when he flashed it to me. "If they know as you say, and you would not bring harm to them either, then by all means you could visit them. Annan, you are not a prisoner the way Chloe and Angelic would make it seem, and I regret my lack of explanation to Chloe. She had not tried to leave in a very long time so I had assumed she knew her time would come. With all I have learned recently I have spoken with her and she now understands and will no longer try to leave on her own.

"As for my other children, Violet and her brother are allowed to come and go as they please but they have asked me not to sever the bond as their master. I understand their desire to remain with me longer than needed, I too had stayed with my maker far beyond any of my siblings. However, if the time comes they do want me to sever my bond, I will. Just as I had with Rostom, who was also allowed to come and go as he liked. The reason I can do that for them, where I cannot for Angelic and Chloe, is because I am able to trust them."

He dropped his hands and sat back. "I am sad to say, I may never be able to trust Angelic. Had I known her desire for human blood before I turned her, I would have never done so." There was an emotion, something like remorse, which passed over Antonio's features before his eyes focused on mine again. "As for our sweet Chloe, you know well why I am unable to leave her to her own devices, but with time she should be able to gain control over her needs." His hand found my shoulder and his smile warmed. "I'm hoping her desire to be your friend will overshadow her sexual desires and put a new need in her; one to control her hungers and in turn gain her master abilities."

Antonio's hand fell away as I dropped my legs and crossed them. "It would be nice if I could help her that way. I don't like that her emotions were pushed into me, but if she is able to control herself than I would still want to be around her. Even without knowing if I was attracted to her or not on my own, I know I still want to be her friend."

Antonio smiled as he nodded, but as I calmed a thought dawned on me. The situation with Chloe was very similar to the one with Sean, who was half vampire himself. The similarities of never wanting a guy then, bam, wanting him and only him were too close to over look. If he did put his emotions in me though, he wasn't as powerful as Chloe because I didn't agree to be his bonded mate and live happily ever after... however, I did start to warm up to the idea right before Randall grabbed me.

I had to know if my attraction to Sean could have been due to a vampire ability he was unaware of, and who better to ask than a vampire as old as Antonio. Too bad I wasn't going to like the answer, even if I needed to know it. "Can I ask you something?"

Antonio shifted on the bed, bringing one leg up so he could face towards me. "Of course, Annan what is it?"

"If someone is half vampire, are they able to gain the abilities of a vampire but somehow not know it?"

Antonio gave me a questioning look but answered anyways. "Yes. Dhampirs often gain the ability of the parent who was a vampire but don't always know where the ability comes from, or even that they have it. A common example would be humans—who as Dhampirs live a normal human life span. They may believe to be psychic, or empathic, but they are actually Dhampirs. Why do you ask, Annan are you curious about any abilities you might have noticed?"

Not ready to share the part of me I thought to be vamp, my super realistic dreams, I smiled and shook my head. "No, I was curious about something that happened with one of my families pack members. It was a lot like what happened with Chloe."

"A wolf in your pack had a vampire mother and used his empath abilities on you to make you desire him?"

He seemed genuinely curious and I was hoping his relaxed and kind behavior would allow him to receive a different question with ease after this horrible one was flushed out. Of course, once this one was answered I was sure Antonio would be more open to the other question. With what happened between Sean and I, and what I felt when he seemed to be able to sense my uncle's anger but didn't notice it, I was sure I had the answer already, I just needed confirmation.

Looking down at my hands I picked at a string on the blouse I slept in and shook my head. "His mother was a vampire yes, but he wasn't a wolf. He was adopted into the family in a way, thanks to my biological mother. His animal form is a white werepanther." I let out a small laugh. "From what I was told, the fact the pack let him in, is in itself unusual, but like any good Washingtonian, their pretty open minded."

"Is this the Sean fellow back at home you spoke to Chloe of?"

Nodding, I said, "Yeah, though, I didn't really tell her much." My cheeks warmed and I looked back at my hands. "You see, he is the only guy I have ever had sex with, well by choice." Pushing out the memory of what Randall had done, I continued. "Well, I'm wondering if maybe Sean was doing the same thing Chloe had, even if he has no clue he is an empath."

Chewing my bottom lip I looked back at Antonio, who had a puzzled look on his face. "What did Sean look like? Chloe did not say."

Letting go of my lip I pursed my brow, unsure as to what he was getting at. It seemed out of place for an ancient vampire to want to size up the competition, but I didn't try to pass judgment as I gave him the truth. "He's pale, with hair like Chloe's with one blue eye and one yellow."

Shock passed over Antonio's face. "Do you know his age?"

His obvious surprise had me sitting up. "Um, he said eighty-two."

Antonio stood in such an unexpected way it caused me to yelp and scoot back. He didn't move, or pace, but was just still for a long moment, as if deep in thought. I had no idea what was going on but as Antonio looked down at me he sat with human slowness and shook his head.

"I apologize for frightening you, Annan. What you said is surprising to say the least." His eyes came to mine and were full of something I couldn't decipher. "It very well could be Sean's feelings for you, if they are strong enough, did sway your natural attraction for him. Though some of it may have come from within you, I would think he is a handsome man considering both his parents are."

Silence fell in the room.

"What?" I asked a few heartbeats later.

Antonio looked away before speaking. "When I found Chloe she was making reckless decisions."

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I sat back for what sounded like a story I wasn't going to like, and part of me was hating myself for not seeing the obvious from the start.

"She had befriended the local werepanther clan and was using her empath abilities to sway them to like her. Chloe was a strong empath for a human, but she was playing a dangerous game. Angelic had read her when we had gone to the Were bar for business one evening. She told me Chloe wished to live free from her parents and the constraints they put on her life. She had not known the men were Weres, only that they were the roughest company she could find.

"Upon learning her desire for her own life and freedom, and with Angelic's interest in bringing a new sister into the family, I decided to nurture her strong gift by offering her a life with us."

Antonio was silent for nearly half a minute before he brought his gaze back to me. "Part of the reason I distanced myself from Chloe and left Angelic to guiding her was because of my guilt over turning a pregnant woman. I had to force her to give Sean-Paul to his father so that the Were could raise his son. She had tried once to go to him but the werecats would not allow her to see her boy and I was forced to keep her under tighter lock and key. Chloe may not be able to be trusted with others alone due to her desires, but there was a time I could not trust her to run for another reason."

His words hit at my heart making me close my eyes and shake my head. There was a self hate in me building but I knew this was information I had to have, a truth that needed to be known. Pushing aside the accusing finger of guilt for screwing one man who was in love with me only to inadvertently screw his vampire mother—holy shit my life was so much easier when I thought I was a screwed up human—I decided to muster up the courage to say what I had been thinking.

"So, because Sean's mother, Chloe—we can cover how universally messed up that situation is another time—is a strong empath, he most likely gained her ability and the attraction I had for him came from that."

Antonio touched my leg and my eyes were drawn to his. "I can't say for certain Annan, there is a good chance you were simply attracted to Sean. However, being how old he is and the amount of Vampirism that infected him, there is a good chance his abilities are strong, even if he is unaware himself."

He looked quizzical a second before going on. "In fact, if a dhampir is a strong empath and does not know it, he or she will have overwhelming emotions, sometimes even believing themselves to be in love with someone when in a regular human it would come across as something less intense. Casanova was an empathic dhampir and he believed each and every woman he was with was his true love, just as they believed they were his."

Antonio's story had my gullet rising. It seemed there was no real attraction to anyone for me, only induced desires from the opposing party. As he and I sat and spoke and my desire for him waned, I had to begin to consider the idea it too was induced by the heavy desire leaching from Chloe. "Can I ask one last thing?"

"You may, but this new development will have to be sorted out with Chloe soon."

Shaking my head, I laughed. "There isn't much to sort out." Looking at him, I added, "I'll talk to her about it if that's okay but I have one last thing I wish to ask. And, if you agree, I agree not to take off first chance I get."

He was the epitome of all ears as a genuine smile spread across his lips, and oh boy did I try to ignore how it made me feel since I had already written all that off as vampire mumbo jumbo from Chloe. "Whatever you wish, Annan."

"Please let me call Cesair and tell her I am fine and to stop looking for me. I don't want my family to worry any longer. I also want her to know the situation and that if I do become a vampire I am staying."

He raised a brow but I kept talking. "There's still a chance I may not turn and if it seems this isn't working, I want you to agree to let me go home."

I was hoping I wasn't making a huge mistake but I had remembered what Cesair said about my blood being more Aos Si and how all Supes and humans somehow came from them, so I was thinking there was a good chance this would end up being a vampire vacation of strangeness, and nothing more.

Antonio looked as though he was thinking on what I said before he nodded. "For your cooperation I will agree to this, but be warned Annan: This had better not be a ruse to get on the phone and cry for help."

Giving him the scouts signal—Ash was forced for years to join the same way I was forced into the Brownies—I said, "Cross my heart and hope to die," as Antonio stood up.

He reached out for me and I internally cursed at myself for feeling the deep burn over his warming hand in mine when he helped me to my feet. "Just so you know, I fully intend on keeping you from dying, Annan."

Antonio let go of my hand and headed for the door, gesturing for me to follow him through, and I couldn't help but think he was much more pleasant to be around when I wasn't fighting with him. It's true I had no intention of staying with the guy when I lied to him to get out of Randall's, but with what I learned about Sean I wasn't in a hurry to get back anytime soon either.

Whether I became a vampire or not, Sean needed to get that shit under control and I needed to sort out how I really felt about him. Glancing at Antonio as he led me down the stairs and to a part of the house I had yet to see, I knew if what I was trying to ignore in myself around him _was_ something more, than I needed to sort that out as well.

### Chapter 13

The Decision to Stay

"How do you have Cesair's direct line?"

When I had asked to talk to her I thought he would have a way to call the SIA so I could be connected to her, not that he would have her personal number.

"It was given to me by my creator." He glanced at Angelic as she passed by the study and out the front door.

Opening my mouth to comment, I was cut short by him handing me the house phone. "Do not fret, Annan she has wards placed on her so I can find her." My brow pursed at him and it was as though he knew what I was going to ask. "I had not thought Chloe would need them since she is limited to the night. As for Cesair's direct line, Diocles gave me the number when the Ripper indecent occurred."

Antonio spoke as he looked through his rolodex; an archaic piece of office equipment which had me internally laughing at how ridiculous it looked on his mahogany—a popular wood in his home—and leather inlayed desk.

"What do you mean, _Ripper_ incident."

He handed me the number as his lips drew together in a line. "You've heard of the unsolved case of Jack the Ripper correct?"

Nodding, I looked down at the number and couldn't help but remember how Sean had to call first then gave me the phone when I had asked _him_ to talk to Cesair. Not wanting to dwell on the difference in trust, I looked back at Antonio as he spoke.

"Angelic was responsible for the murders, it was her retaliation for Rostom leaving." That sounded like a piece of info Chloe would have been kept in the dark about even when Violet and Darian clued her in on the reality of living with Antonio. I couldn't believe in all those years she didn't just ask the man.

"My maker" —Antonio continued over my own thoughts— "helped me in making sure the human authorities would never link the murders to her. He said we were lucky to not have to involve Cesair that time but we may not be so lucky next time." He shook his head as he sat in the desk's matching chair. "We moved here soon after the incident and he has made sure I have direct contact with her ever since."

Antonio motioned to one of the chairs in front of his desk—waiting as though they were meant for meetings with important people or something—and I sat.

"Why didn't you call her when I told her I knew her?" It was curious how he didn't bother to confirm what I had said if he could call her at anytime.

He shrugged. "There didn't seem to be a need. vampires do not need permission to turn a prospective child, or get references, so the thought had not occurred to me."

As I looked at the card in my hand I couldn't help but think that if he had called her this situation would have turned out vastly different and I might never have known about Sean and his empathic abilities.

"Now, I hope you don't mind if I listen while you speak with her. Remember, I can hear you as well as her so don't try anything sneaky."

My eyes found Antonio's again after I finished dialing and I let out a short laugh. "You don't have anything to worry about."

The look on his face as the phone began to ring told me he felt otherwise.

"Hello?" Cesair's voice was just as it had been when I first heard it, all birdsong and bells wove into speech.

"Okay, don't freak out."

"Annan!"

"Jeez, I said don't freak out."

"I'm sorry, Annan this is most unexpected. Are you well?" Her musical voice dripped with concern.

My eyes flashed to Antonio who lifted a brow at me again. "I am, but I sort of asked to be turned in to a vampire." The end of my sentence almost came out as a question. Since I was unsure how she would handle the news I was unsure how to give it to her.

The other end of the line was silent for far too many seconds, I even saw Antonio shift in his seat and I had to wonder if he knew she could pop where ever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

"I see. It seems keeping you from this world has had unforeseen circumstances. Can I ask, how many times you have exchanged blood?"

"Three. Look" —Antonio shifted in his seat, but I ignored him and continued— "the thing is, I didn't really know what I was doing. Honestly I was lying to the guy just to get away from Randall."

"Did you ever think to simply ask the vampire to save you?"

Cesair's interruption was unexpected and had my eyes traveling to Antonio as I thought. He tilted his head as though he was wondering the same thing. "At the time, I didn't realize that might be an option. There was reason to believe Antonio would be more persuaded by taking me, than helping me. But, with where I'm at now, is there any option, or is he right and nature must take its course?"

Antonio sat forward and seemed as intent on Cesair's answer as I was.

"He is correct. Once the first exchange happens, regardless if you are human or otherwise, you should not stop the transition. This far into the blood exchange, if the turn is going to work then what's done is done." Her words had my pulse wanting to choke me.

"We will know in a few days," Antonio said, and some of the tension in me eased.

"Is the Antonio who may be your master, Antonio Veneziano?"

The last name was new to me but Antonio nodded, confirming her inquiry. "Yes."

Antonio and I were on the edge of our seats waiting for her to continue, to say how she knew who he was. Cesair was a strange woman to be sure and the more I spoke to her—this only being the second time—the more I felt she had a vast expanse of information, but kept much of what she knew to herself.

"Is he a kind master? I know his creator well; he was turned by one of the only born vampires to exist, the _first_ Vampires. Diocles has held up well over the years due to his kindness with his children. Has this behavior been learned by Antonio?"

Looking at Antonio, his eyes spoke something I didn't understand but he sat back, his mask of calm falling into place. "At first I might not have thought so, but it seems the more I learn of him the more I see he is a good guy."

Antonio's smile tugged at my heart in how gentle and real it appeared to be, and I had to look away to focus on what Cesair was saying.

"Well, if you have to become a vampire having a kind creator is preferable because there are those who do not treat their children so well."

"Can't you do something about that? Pop in and smack 'em up side their heads?" My blurt-out had Antonio raising a brow at me again, but it made Cesair laugh.

"Oh granddaughter, I am so pleased your personality has not changed with all you have been through as of late."

My pulse was in my throat once more over the pure amazement which passed over Antonio's features, but before he could ask or I could say a thing, Cesair was speaking again.

"Normally I do not interfere in the different species' cultural traditions, but at times, if the case is severe enough, I will. Such as with some wolf packs who once killed their son's mothers to keep the packs pure. As for harsh masters; as long as they do not harm their children beyond repair I do not take strides to interfere."

My mind wandered over how much punishment a vampire could take before they were considered _beyond repair_.

"You have to understand, Annan, some masters have to take, what may seem to others, unreasonable steps to help their children through the turn and to become independent." A light bell-like laughter filled my ears and broke my thoughts of what those measures might be. "After all, some of those gifts bestowed on the turned could wreck havoc with humans."

Her comment reminded me of my personal experience with one of those particular gifts and the other reason I wanted to talk with her.

"Hey, that reminds me. You know how Sean is half vampire?"

"Yes, this is common knowledge, Annan."

"Yeah, well it's not so common of knowledge that his mother was a super strong empath before she was turned. So I'm wondering: could he gain those abilities himself?"

"My, your adventure has garnered you some information your family, nor I, could have provided. Yes, granddaughter" —Antonio's eyes flinched at the word— "even if Sean's mother was human she would have the possibility of passing that trait on to Sean. The fact she was a Vampire, and he was born well after her turn began, he would most defiantly inherit her ability. Can I ask how you learned of this?"

"That is a very long story; suffice it to say I befriended his mom but in meeting her I found out something worrisome about Sean."

"Oh, what could that be?" She sounded genuinely concerned, the way a grandmother should.

"It seems his mother is still working on controlling herself and one issue she has is pushing her feelings into the person she is attracted to." I left it at that, not wanting to spill on how I discovered the problem in the first place.

"Hmm, I can see why you would be concerned if Sean was a strong empath too. I will discuss this with him and begin his training immediately. As for his mother, I can offer the same to her if Antonio wishes."

"Violet and Darian are helping her," Antonio said.

"He has two of his other children on the job, but thanks for offering. So, um, now you can see why I might want to chill my heels for a while, don't you?"

"I can, and I assume you called me to negate speaking with him yourself, which means I should be informing your family, and him, about your situation."

Drawing in a breath through my teeth I exhaled and said, "Can you?"

"And, I take it you staying with Antonio is _your_ choice."

Antonio seemed uneasy and stood. "Yeah, at least until I get this vampire thing sorted out. And, I still have to talk to Chloe about her son. I just recently learned that myself."

"Alright, Annan you sound sure. I will have you know; though I normally stay out of vampire culture you are my granddaughter so for you I will make an exception. All you have to do is call me and I will be right there to get you."

Her warm words combined with her trusting me to make my own decisions, had tears stinging my eyes. "Thank you Cesair. I really appreciate this. I'm sure you can reach me at the number I called you on, any time."

Cesair's twinkling laugh filled my ears. "Oh, Annan. Now that I know where you are I can see you whenever I wish."

And with that the line went dead, but by the look on Antonio's face the conversation was far from over.

"Granddaughter? It seems you are not quick to share some information about yourself, Annan." Antonio was upset, but a mild upset at best.

"Hey, I'm not really her granddaughter. She just adopted and raised my biological mother; who I never met. Heck, I've only met Cesair once and that is when I found out she raised the mom I didn't know." For the life of me, I could not figure out why I gave a shit if he was pissed at me or not.

He stopped pacing his study and looked at me. "When you asked to talk to the head of the SIA I thought it was your Aos Si connection with her and so she could stop the investigation. Not to tell your grandma where you were!"

At last my own irritation sprang up. "You very well know I grew up with humans. The only non-humans I know are my family, Sean, and Cesair. It's not my fault you didn't ask why I chose her, though the reason should be obvious now."

He let out a short laugh of disgust and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up. It was all I had in me to ignore how his flustered appearance made him even more attractive. "If I had asked, would you have told me the truth? You admitted to her you lied to me to get me to take you from Randall, and if you were wondering, I would have called and reported Randall once I saw what he was doing."

He shook his head as he kept pacing and talking. "And, the only reason I did see what he was doing to you was because I insisted on getting Chloe from her cell in person when I smelled the blood in his home. I do not approve of such things. Why do you think he hid that woman's body before I got there?"

"Yeah, well you liked him well enough to do business with him."

He stepped up to me, his face inches from mine. "The only time I have had to use his services was to find Chloe. That was twice, and the first time he did not have a basement set up for his sick fantasy." He stepped away from me in such a fast motion I wobbled on my feet. "Had I known the kind of man he was, I would have never asked him to collect Chloe."

The tension in the room dropped as he leaned an arm against one of the many filled bookcases lining the back wall. "Though, Annan you should be grateful I did hire him." He turned to face me and his eyes were serious. "If I had not, you would still be there."

Swallowing over a lump of fear thinking about what _that_ would have been like, I looked down at the dark hard wood floor with its large Persian rug of reds and golds. It wouldn't have done any good to tell him that even if he hadn't been there, Sean would have still saved because if that had happened I would have found myself in whole other world of horror: being magically forced into loving someone without knowing it.

Instead of thanking him for either rescue, intended or not, I said, "I hadn't thought about it like that, but you didn't think about the fact I have only just _started_ trusting you so telling you every detail, details I forget since they are so new to me, was not high on my priority list. I told her I was staying and I can't help if she decides to pop over here at a moment's notice to see how I am."

His brow pursed and I stepped forward, closing some of the distance between us, but stopping short, unsure of why I wanted to go to him in the first place. "If it makes any difference, I don't think she will do that."

His eyes soften and stayed on mine a moment, stirring the kind of feeling in me Chloe and Sean had, but this time I knew there was no magic involved. It was just Antonio and me, nothing more.

"I apologize, Annan. You are right, this transition has been hard on you and I was already under a lot of stress when Chloe had left. It was wrong of me to automatically assume you would be deceptive, even if your initial intent with me was. The years of handling Angelic and Chloe have made me guarded in this respect."

His smile brought more life to the sensation building inside me. "Of course, I only have myself to blame for Chloe's behavior. My hope for Angelic to grow through teaching a younger vampire had most undesirable effects."

"Yeah, but if Chloe wouldn't have ran then you would have never saved me." The words tumbled out of my mouth and were spoken before I knew what I was saying.

A quite laugh left Antonio. "So now I saved you? Annan, you are a woman of contradictions."

Believing he was leaning in to place his lips on mine, I was disappointed when they met my forehead instead. He looked down at me and said, "You should get something to eat before we have the next blood exchange."

There was no choice but to ignore any fear wanting to rear up over the vampire turning thing and follow Antonio as he left his study and headed for the unused kitchen. Like it or not, I had made my decision. Here's hoping it was the right one.

### Chapter 14

### What Party?

A scattering of images flew past my eyes. It was something like I had never experienced before, and for a moment I thought I was hallucinating until I realized it was some odd kind of dream. Not odd like being in Sean's mind, odd in that it was like watching snips of different shows, as though I was turning the channel on an all encompassing TV, lingering for a second or two on one station or another only to change it again.

Watching the flip show, each snapshot, or small play-by, was one I had never seen before. People, and creatures, I had never known. Such as a woman with eyes like molten rubies—they seemed like liquid gems the way Cesair's gilded eyes seemed like liquid gold when I had first met her—and hair which had some quality to it that made it shift with hues of burgundy and plum in the deep brunette as she moved. Her gown accented the color in her hair and eyes by being laced with rubies, so many she glinted like the fire in the chandelier high above.

Before I could question the actual candles in the hanging crystal monster the scene changed again. Another time, another party, another unknown, well dressed patron smiling and laughing. After a moment I realized the flip show was of different points in history, and some of the scenes over lapped one another, but every single one held not a person I knew until I saw a delicate woman with blond ringlets piled high on her head turn around. She wore a short, pearlescent, lace dress and fake, white feathered wings. Her face was covered in a mask that matched those wings, but I still recognize Chloe instantly. Coils bobbed around her pale face as her head lowered and she pulled the mask away.

Her eyes were hard and pink rimmed from crying but before I could see who she was looking at the dream faded and was gone. As my own eyes opened, I saw the bed I fell asleep in around me, the stupid nightgown Antonio insisted I were on me, and the man himself lounged back in a chair, with clasped hands on stretched out legs, near the bed.

Pushing down any lusty thoughts over remembering how nice he was about me trying to coax more out of him during the blood exchange the night before, I puzzled over how he seemed to be sleeping, though I wasn't sure if vampires could sleep or not. The back of the chair was high enough his head had support while it was nestled against the rust toned leather. He looked like a peaceful wet dream sitting waiting for me to wake. His long dark lashes like were fans over his cheekbones, lips just barley parted, and his shirt was loose at the collar exposing a hint of pale chest.

With my eyes on that V of exposed fleshed I rolled to my side and marveled over how his breathing was far too shallow to keep a human alive. It had me curious if it was some remembered body function vampires didn't actually need or if the need was merely for less breaths.

"Is there something interesting about my shirt, Annan?"

Antonio's voice surprised me and I let out a little yelp as he sat forward. Sitting up myself, I smiled and hoped my cheeks weren't as red as they felt. "Sorry, I was watching you breath while you slept."

Bringing my eyes to him, I saw a look I was starting to think as "classic Antonio," one brow raised in question.

"Not like that," I said, stretching out and pulling the blankets back. "I was curious about how little you seemed to breathe."

Antonio stood and returned the chair to its place along the wall. "We don't need to breathe, but it feels normal to do so, and it helps us to appear more human. As for the sleep, we don't sleep, Annan. We can but it is more of the mind taking a break and less of what the living do. In this instance, I was not asleep."

Standing up I said, "You could have fooled me."

He chuckled. "I was in deep thought over tonight's party and the guests who may come."

His words had me thinking of the dream—hey wait, I had a dream after the vampire bite thing... weird. It was odd he was thinking about a party when I was dreaming about parities... wait just _another_ moment. "What party?"

His smile was light as he went to the closet. "There was a party planned well before you came to live with us." Ignoring the jump my pulse made over the permanence in his voice when referring to me, I kept listening as we entered the closet. "Every fifty years or so, I like to host a small party, sometimes not so small, and invite my friends and business contacts. It is an open invitation event, so at times it can be quite large. This year it should be a modest turn out, maybe a hundred guests will be in attendance."

My fear shifted, it was the damn pack meeting thing all over again. "A hundred is not a small turn out!"

He turned back to me with a garment bag and the crystal heels I had seen the other day in his hands. "We have had four times that in years past and often I do not know all in attendance. This is how I create contacts in our world, Annan. With how you were behaving when you arrived I had thought to lock you in your room but now that you have agreed to cooperate, and have been doing just that, I see no reason you cannot attend, unless of course you do not wish to."

Looking at the things in his hands, and knowing I was going to have been tucked away like a bratty kid before, I decided the party wouldn't be too bad. Heck, the people—or whatever—would be there for Antonio, not me, and I had gone to the Marine Ball with Ash before so I knew a huge party of people I didn't know wasn't too hard to get through. Besides, this time there would be a chance to meet some kind of creature I never knew existed. That alone was worth getting excited over.

"Okay. It might be fun." Bringing my eyes to his, I saw something like approval.

Antonio hung the bag on a hook in the back of the open panel door and set the shoes on the chair he had been sitting in. "When we had bought clothing for you I had a dress purchased for an occasion such as this, I had not assumed it would be worn so soon, though." He unzipped the bag and looked back at me as he held out the sheer black dress.

It matched the crystal encrusted shoes in that the dress too seemed to have some tiny crystals, or possibly diamonds, laced in the fabric. They gave the dress a glittering effect.

"Whoa, I have never worn anything like that before."

He turned the dress showing the open back. It swooped down so low the top of my rear may show when it was on my body. The only thing holding the two sides of the fabric together seemed to be crisscrossing strands laced with the same tiny stones along the rest of the fabric, only with more abundance, making them shimmer like spider webs misted with morning dew.

"If it will make you uncomfortable you can choose a different gown, though Chloe was sure you would love this one."

"No, that will be fine." My eyes went to his as he turned to me from placing the gown back in its protective bag. "What time will the party be at... uh, and what time is it now?"

"The party is not for a few hours. Decorators, caterers, and other necessary staff are already showing up and preparing. Annan" —he placed a hand on my shoulder stopping me from thinking about some kind of network of party planners for the supernatural community— "I know you weren't ready yesterday, but this would be a good time to discuss what you learned about Sean-Paul. Chloe has been saddened by the loss of your trust and her spirits would pick up if she heard the good news. It would be wonderful if she could enjoy this party, unlike the first one she had attended."

Biting my lip, I looked away from the man. Telling Chloe about her son was important but the subject felt more uncomfortable as it settled and I was still concerned about her influence on my emotions.

"What about her desire issue?" I said after a heartbeat.

"Violet and Darian made a charm to block her abilities so she will no longer cause you to desire her, unless it is your own wish to do so. Violet has also begun working with Chloe on blocking her feelings from you, but without knowing the ability personally it has been difficult."

Nodding my head, I imagined how hard it could be to teach someone how to control a gift you didn't possess but felt alright in going around Chloe since she had a charm to help her reign in all that power.

Antonio's hand fell away as I agreed. "Before I talk to her though, I want to wash and dress. This" —his lips pulled into a smile as I motioned to the night dress on my body— "is horrid and the sooner I get out of it the better."

He let out a small laugh as he stepped from me and to the door. "Go ahead and wash up. I'll meet you in the kitchen with Chloe before leaving you to your task."

"Uh." My non-word had Antonio stopping with a brow raised in question. "Is there a different bathroom? I want a shower, not a luxuriating bath" Thumbing behind me towards the bathroom I said, "Don't get me wrong, that thing is nice and all but it's not very practical for everyday use."

Antonio shook his head and chuckled. "Had I known you preferred showers to baths I would not have given you my room." My brows came together but he only laughed again. "Gather the clothing you need and follow me, Annan."

Stepping into the closet, I snatched some undergarments, a teal shirt, and skinny jeans before following him out of the room and passed the sitting area by the stairs. Antonio entered the room next to it and across from Chloe's. As I followed him in, I saw it was more modest in its décor than the bedroom I had been sleeping in. Everything was still antique, but the items were more a collection through time instead of vampire chic.

There was no way to stop the laugh that came out of me. "This would have been _way_ better." Pointing to the plain metal framed bed, looking as though it sprang from the turn of the twentieth century, I said, "I would much rather sleep in that than the one you have me sleeping in."

Antonio chuckled once more as he opened the obvious door to the normal looking bathroom, done in white and black accented tiles.

"I was attempting to make you as comfortable as possible. I had thought my bed would be better than this one, considering the mattress on mine is of better quality."

Pulling my eyes away from a painting above the bed of a woman in a garden with elves around her, I brought my gaze to his as I moved around him to enter the bathroom. Ignoring the tug in my heart—I prayed my cheeks didn't flare—I went to the cabinet in the back wall to get what I assumed was in them, a towel.

As he spoke again, I placed my clothes on the counter and was happy to see my assumption was right. There were towels in the cabinet, which meant I didn't have to look like an idiot rummaging through a cupboard full of his personal items.

"Of course, I also chose to give you my room due to the fact it is the most secure in the house." There was a hint of humor in his voice.

Glancing back at him for a moment I saw a sly smile in place and turned away before my heart rolled once more. "Well, now that you know I'm not going to be taking off, we can switch if you want. This room will be fine." Refusing to look at him while I spoke, I busied myself with turning on the water and adjusting the temperature. It was better to do that than to brood on how I wanted to nibble on his amused lips.

"If you would prefer to have this room, it is yours. I will transfer your things, but for now, I will leave you to get ready. You can meet Chloe in the kitchen when you are finished, she is there assisting with the caterers."

Nodding my head, I didn't look back at him as he closed the door but the small movement of wind caused by its closing brought his scent of spices and man to me and stirred my desire for him. Shaking my head, I let out a small laugh. It seemed I finally wanted someone without any mumbo-jumbo to muck it up but, of course, _I_ had to muck it up all on my own by falling for a man who wanted to change me... or as he called it _turn_ me.

Turning or changing, or whatever else was happening to me, there was one thing for certain, my life was so much easier when I didn't know for sure I was some freak and only _thought_ I was one. Standing, I pulled the nightgown over my head and tossed it at the door as I let out a disgusted laugh. It wasn't the first time I had the thought my life was better off before Korbin and Sean collected me, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last, but I let it all go as I entered the glassed in shower and let the hot water fall on me.

Regardless if I was better off before they got me or not—and considering what may happen on my birthday, I probably wouldn't have been—I was where I was and I could either be pissy about it or let it happen and see where it takes me. Thinking about Antonio's smile before he left, and my natural desire for him, I couldn't help but ponder what it would be like to just let that heat build and then find out where _that_ took me.

Chuckling to myself, I shook my head. No one said I couldn't have a little fun while I waited to see if I became a vampire. Even if I didn't turn in a week, where was the harm in letting my desire for Antonio reign free during that time? Hell, if I did do that, it could end up being one fucking awesome ass week.

### Chapter 15

### And Now to Tell Chloe

Coming out of the bathroom, feeling better than I had since before I was taken, I toweled off my hair and kicked the bathroom door shut behind me when I smashed into something, or should I say someone since the thing let out a small chuckle and caught me before I fell on my ass.

"Annan, you should watch where you are walking."

Pulling the towel away, I looked up at Antonio through a sheet of damp hair. He had my arms in his hands and was only a breath away, but all I could do was stare, slack-jawed like a moron. My admission to myself to have fun for the week and let my desire build jabbed at me and made me feel like an idiot for even thinking it.

Antonio let his hands fall before he brushed my hair out of my face. "Chloe is down in the kitchen with the caterers. Why don't you go get some food and have that talk with her. Afterwards, you can help with the staff as they arrive to set up. Chloe will show you what to do."

All I could do was nod as I walked away and tossed the damp towel over the foot of the bed. When I exited the room I noticed that Antonio had made good on his word. The bed held all of his clothing, waiting to be transferred to the other room, as well as the toiletries he had gotten for me from the other bathroom, ready for their new home. The vampire himself closed the newly stocked closet and turned to gather his things, using a speed that was unsettling to watch.

Looking away from him and his task, I stepped out of the room and turned the corner, trying very hard not to think on how moronic I acted. Yeah, great plan. Just lust all over him and get some vampire dick. What an idiot!

"You, shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Annan. You wouldn't be the first woman to lust all over Antonio."

Angelic's voice, and laughter, was like nails on a chalkboard that rattled down my spine. Glaring back at her, any retort I wanted to say was halted as soon as I saw her standing in her doorway down the hall. Her green satin dress covered her from knee to cleavage as though it was painted on. But her striking figure was not what stopped up my words, it was how she stood with her hand on her hip and a quirk in her smile. Her whole stance screamed, "I'm better than you, more than you, and I'll eat you alive," and it was scary as shit. Choosing to ignore her, I turned back to the stairs and picked up my step, as well as closed off my thoughts, before heading to the relative safety of Chloe below.

~

"I'm glad our friendship was not damaged by my unintended emotional influence."

Chloe had apologized so many times it became a background noise as I ate and watched the caterers work. There wasn't anything too exciting to see, other than one woman with green skin and leaves in her hair who specialized in vegan cuisine. Everyone else looked fairly normal, even though the whole lot was supposed to be a mix of Weres and fae. The green woman was the only Fae not using a glamour charm to hide their appearance, so other than watching their magical cooking abilities, they were all a pretty boring bunch.

The food on the other hand... Biting off the last bit of some dish I couldn't pronounce covered in things I never knew existed I pushed my plate away only to have it snatched up by someone. Man, having servants around was something I could get used to. Internally, I rolled my eyes over the thought. I'd always had enough money to afford servants, or a mansion, but my parents lived simply so I did too after they passed.

Forgetting servants and my lack of using them, I turned to Chloe with a soft smile and said, "Chloe, this whole world is so new and different I can't get mad just because some mystical woo-woo BS mucks things up."

Thinking for a moment as she sat waiting for me to continue, I decided it would be best to not tell her I was surprised to find that I did have some attraction to her still. The whole, her being Sean's mom thing kind of put a damper on that. Hiding my thoughts by sipping on some fizzy strawberry thing, I set the glass back down before starting again.

"I know it's hard for you to use that charm since it not only blocks out you pushing your emotions into someone, but it also keeps you from sensing others emotions, so you just using it shows me how good of a friend you are."

Putting my hand on hers in her lap, I gave her a small smile. Violet said she could fix the charm so Chloe wasn't left completely without her ability, but that it would take time.

She gave my fingers a light squeeze. "Annan, I would sever my empathic abilities if it meant keeping you in my life. Ever since I have been turned, it's been hard to feel at peace with what I have become. Having you here has helped more than one could expect."

Gulp. It seemed it was time to tell her about her son before she started professing her allegiance to me or something. Looking around at the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, I felt it was not the best place for the conversation we were about to have, though.

"Is there somewhere quieter we can go, now that I'm done eating? There is something I kind of want to talk to you about."

Chloe looked curious but only nodded and hopped off her stool, which matched the one I was on, as well as the other four under the edge of the large center island. Antonio's kitchen was giant, I had wondered at its size when we used it the previous night but seeing all the caterers utilizing every inch around me, I understood why it was so large. The fact it looked much like a restaurant kitchen, and not one you would find in a home, made sense too.

She led me out of the kitchen and down the long hallway that had wainscoting flowing its length and chandeliers with subdued lighting high above us thanks to the cathedral ceiling. Antonio's home was antique, like most of his furnishings, and was built during a time when proper form was to have doors on all rooms. So, even though the hall was expansive, when all the doors were shut it made it feel closed in.

"We can use the parlor, but I need you to make sure the blinds to the solarium are closed before I enter," she said as we approached a door at the end of the hall which was just off the stairs.

She stood at the foot of the stairs as I pushed open the double doors. The blinds to the solarium were indeed open letting in a flood of light that assaulted my eyes. Faster than I had ever moved before I entered the room and shut the doors behind me, fearing Chloe might be hurt by the rays. Either the vampire blood in me was having some effect, or being inside a curtained off or windowless room for days on end was messing with my eyes, because the sun was almost unbearable as I neared the large windows.

Shading my vision, I couldn't help but at least try to take in the grand enclosed garden beyond the glass. There was a twinge of desire to go out and feel the rays on my skin as my eyes began to water. Looking away, I found the cord to the large curtain and pulled them, shutting out the light. Pushing aside the sadness over the fact there was a good chance I wouldn't be able to bathe in the sun for a long time, I secured all the rich black velvet curtains and called to Chloe.

Joining her in the sitting area—the room was divided between a baby grand near the solarium and a sitting area around a large hearth—I sat in one of the gold and black velvet antique chairs. The more I saw of Antonio's home the more I realized he had a running theme with his choice of decoration. How one man could have so much rich woods and velvet fabric was beyond me.

"What was it you wanted to say, Annan?" Forgetting my stupid query, I looked at Chloe who was picture perfect in her black leggings and white sweater, one leg tucked under her bottom as she sat.

Taking in a deep breath, I figured it was time to get on with it. "This is really hard for me to tell you, and even starting there sounds bad. I don't want you to freak out but I have something important I want to say."

Pausing a moment, Chloe said, "I can say, you have peeked my interest, though your apprehension does worry me."

Moving from the chair across from her to the couch, I patted it and she joined me. Gathering her hands in mine between us, I looked her in her sky-blue eyes before beginning again.

"Chloe, I don't want you to worry about our friendship, but things will be a little different between us now." She nodded so I went on. "You know how I told you about Sean." She nodded again. "Well, I recently learned that Sean is actually your Sean, Sean-Paul."

Her hands pulled from mine and she was on her feet in such a way I did not see her until she stopped by the fireplace. Standing myself I stayed where I was, but wasn't sure what to think about her reaction.

"How are you sure?" She didn't look at me or say anymore.

"When I was speaking to Antonio about what happened with between us, I realized it was too similar to what happened with Sean and I so I asked and he recognized the similarity to him and your son. Chloe, the Sean I know is half werepanther half vampire and has one yellow eye... and one the same as his mother's."

Chloe finally turned to me and her cheeks were stained with her makeup as her tears ran. "Was he... how is he? Is he happy?"

Sitting back down, I motioned for her to come back to me, which she did at a normal speed. She sat as I began to speak and tell her about her son who, though I only knew a short time, I knew volumes more than she did.

### Chapter 16

### Turn, Turn, Turn

It was hard not to frown at Chloe and sound like an old bitty, but damn it I was going to try. "Seriously, don't you think that's a little _too_ revealing?" Darn, fail.

Chloe turned from the mirror to face me. Her dress made mine look modest in comparison. The back swung so low the barest hint of crack showed, displaying to the world she was wearing no panties, but that wasn't as bad as how low it was cut in the front. It was surprising the top of her soft curls weren't peaking out to greet everybody.

"I believe it shows just the right amount." Her tone of voice said she was serious and didn't care for my mom-like one.

"Nuh-uh. Not working for me."

She stuck out one her red painted bottom lip. "But this white will look so striking next to your black dress. Such a similar cut and style." She twirled and I could tell there would be vag flashing at some point since her dress was actually cut very different than mine. Whereas mine went to the floor all around, perfectly tailored so that a peak of crystal encrusted shoe poked out only now and then, Chloe's dress was a mid-thigh in the front and swooped down to mid-calf in the back.

"Nope. Not happening."

She crossed her arms over her barely covered breasts and gave me a perfect pout face, one to rival my own, and I thought I may be losing the fight when my lip quirked at remembering how thrilled Chloe was when she saw I was wearing the dress Antonio had shown me.

"Okay, fine. If you insist on wearing that then I'm going back to my room and changing in a pant suit. There has to be something like that in there."

Her pout turned to shock. "Why would you do such a thing?"

Shrugging, I said, "Well if you insist on looking like a high class hooker, than I need to tone it down to balance all that out."

Not sure if it was the hooker comment or my threat of wearing Hilary Clintonesk clothing, and not caring either way, she said fine like a snotty child and returned to her closet.

There was no way to hide my chuckles as I followed her in. We had dressed in her room, decorated just as Southern-bell as she sounded, and she kept changing clothes until she had ended on the sheer white thing posing as a dress.

Grabbing one of the discards as she stripped, I said, "What was so wrong with this?"

She looked back at me, totally nude except the heels she had to have—think hooker, peek-toe ruby slippers—and turned up her nose. "I don't like how long it is."

Holding up the small black dress I remembered it had hit her at the knee. "Too long? How much vagina are you wanting to show tonight?" Her mouth made a little "O" but I kept talking. "And, by the way, put on some damn underwear, at least a thong. Seriously Chloe, if you hide the bits in the right way it will make you _more_ alluring."

"That's funny coming from someone whose breasts may fall out at any moment," she said as she rummaged through hangers.

"Ha, ha. While you were showering I had Violet put a spell on the dress so it will stay in place." Once I had put the dress on I saw the folly in its minimal design and sucked up my ick over the other Vampire to ask if she could help. She was happy to help but we didn't chat it up or bond. She just mumbled over a disk of wood smaller and thinner than a dime before sewing it to the tag in the dress.

Chloe turned back to me—a sheer white V of fabric covered her vagina, _thank god_ —and said, "Well, couldn't I just do the same with the dress I want to were?"

Laughing, I said, "Nice try," before looking through her vast stock of clothing.

Her closet held so many clothes I wondered if we would make it to the party in time. There was almost a moment where I was ready to give up and let her wear the damn dress when I heard her huff and say fine before returning to her search.

Smiling to myself, I figured being a little late with a better dressed Chloe was better than being on time with one I would have to worry about all night. Starting to hunt in earnest, I was happy I could help her, even if she didn't think I was helping.

~

The party was like nothing I had ever experienced. Chloe stayed close by at the beginning of the night, and I'm happy to say we were only a few minutes late but early compared to some attendees. After a few hours, though, she set her eyes on some guy and wandered off, her silk dress in a white like the one I vetoed was almost more provocative as her pale toes surrounded by rubies peeked out now and again. She settled in on talking to the handsome... I was guessing vampire, and stayed that way for almost an hour before I decided I could lay off on guard duty.

Her charm was in place and had worked wonders all night, but she was still a little horny vixen and had me worried she would sex the hell out of some poor person, or thing, or whatever. Antonio had said there would be humans in attendance, but I couldn't tell who was what unless the thing was something obviously not human. Like some guy with blue hair and matching eyes that made me think of the ocean, which was fitting since Chloe said he was a Merperson.

Yeah, I know, like a real mermaid... or would that be merman?

She told me they can assume human form on the full moon, but not at any other time, so Antonio always holds his parties on a full moon night.

Having the party on the night of a full moon was no issue for Weres. I already knew that without being told by her or Antonio. Sure, they had to change on a full moon night but not for long. My family had said some Weres prefer to party and if you go to raves or clubs on full moon nights they are packed more than any other, for that reason alone. As Korbin had said, "Why do you think there are so many problems on nights of the full moon," before laughing uproariously at his own joke.

Thinking of my found then lost family had me sighing and turning to the bar I was sitting at. Antonio had opened up his dining room to the adjacent ball room and the dining section was set up with scattered tables, the buffet, and the bar while the ballroom side was being used as dancing/mingling area. In short, the two rooms served as a club for the paranormal.

"Can I get ya' something, Annan?"

Looking up at the bar keep, I knew not to be surprised when his Irish-accented self spoke with familiarity. Antonio had said he informed all the help of our names so that we could move around the house as we needed and get whatever we desired. He also let them know so security knew who was allowed to leave and who was not. You can imagine what category I fell in.

Reading the tall blond guys name tag I looked up to his slate colored eyes and said, "No thanks, Finn. Alcohol doesn't do a thing for me."

Finn laughed as he began pouring a drink and passed it to me. "This is'nah normal alcohol and by your vibrations I can tell ya' need a drink."

Raising a brow at him he just nodded at the slender wine glass filled with a golden liquid and set the bottle on the bar. The bottle had a dusty label on it that was tattered at the edges and written in a language I had never seen consisting of strange shapes and symbols. Picking up the glass I sniffed it and he laughed again.

Ignoring his laughter, and the looks from the people at the bar near me, I inhaled the aroma. It reminded me of honey and berries and some other spices I couldn't place. Taking a sip I let it roll across my tongue and was surprised at how good it was.

Finn laughed once more as I down the glass. He filled it as soon as I set it on the wooden bar.

"I take it ya' never had Faerie wine before."

Drinking the second glass just as fast, I shook my head. The flavors of the drink seemed to change with each swallow and each was better than the last. Finn filled my glass again and said a word of warning around subdued laughter. Rolling my eyes, I turned and watched the party some more as I drank the third glass a little slower than the first two, which were rolling around in my gut and head in a strange and unfamiliar way. Not unpleasant, just odd.

Breathing deep, I leaned back against the bar and sipped my Faerie wine. If I didn't turn vamp and was able to go home I knew I was going to have to find out where to get some of the stuff. I bet Cesair would know. Thinking about Ces and my family pulled at my heart again so I downed the third glass and asked Finn fill it.

He shook his head and made some comment on how I had to slow down but filled my glass anyways. Deciding I had enough of his dad like tone, I mean come on he's the one who gave me the damn wine in the first place, I took my drink and walked away from the bar to mingle amongst the party guests.

Walking around the party goers, I sipped my wine and listened to snips of conversation as I passed the various people ... or whatever they were. Nothing stood out as interesting until I heard words which sounded like they had music in the syllables as the person spoke. Seeking out who the voice belonged to I locked on to a woman with hair that seemed to shimmer with burgundy and plum.

She was the same woman from my dream.

Stepping up to her, one of her companions saw me first and smiled which brought her attention to me.

Her eyes were just as they had been in my dream, molten ruby irises swirling around their pupils, and her burgundy shaded lips pulled into a smile as she saw me.

"Oh, my well, if it isn't, Annan."

My wine soaked brain took in her slender hand as she put it out between us. Her manicured nails were a plum color that was so dark at first glance I thought they were black like her dress. Taking her hand in mine I felt a pulse of something as our skin touched and when I looked at her unsettling gaze something crossed there before disappearing just as fast.

She took her hand back and the way she held it told me she would wash it as soon as she had the chance, and I couldn't tell if it was my natural snippy behavior thinking that, or the wine. Either way, I decided to ignore my assumption and flash her a smile.

"You know my name but I have yet to hear yours?" Good god, hanging out with Antonio was wearing off, that sounded so pretentious.

"Oh, where are my manners. My name is Eevul." She said her name as though it was important, but I had no clue what it meant. "Well, Annan. I hear you are the newest addition to Antonio's home and that there is Aos Si blood in you."

My head began to swim but I answered her as best I could. "Yeah. My mother was half Aos Si but Ces says my blood shows a stronger Aos Si side, but with the whole vampire wolf thingy it's not surprising." My words had gone from snooty to back-alley hobo in a handful of seconds.

Some look crossed Eevul's face making me think my intoxicated state was putting her off, but she kept talking to me anyways and soon my mush brain forgot her sign of displeasure.

"When you say Ces do you mean Cesair?"

"Yeah, you know her? She's like my grandma." The woman took a step back and I had a second to wonder why I was being so open with a total stranger... and why the hell I was talking to her anyways? The damn wine was really doing a number on me.

She looked as though she wanted to say something, as though a thought was brewing in her swirling depths, but before she could say anything my fogged brain reminded me why I sought her out.

"Hey, I had a dream about you."

There was a flash of something like fright before she fixed her face to a mask of clam.

"Oh, really. What was the dream of?"

It took me a moment to remember, but I managed.

"It was short... but you were at a party, like this. Only, it was a long time ago. Your dress was way bigger." I brought my arms out to the sides as if to emphasize how large the dress was.

Her perfect brows pulled together as she tilted her head and took me in, but then her face smoothed into a look of perfect calm seconds before she smiled.

"Dear Annan, Antonio's efforts in making you his child do seem to be working. You dreamt of me at the last party I attended. And yes, my dress was much larger then, as was the style at that time."

My wavered thoughts took a while to register what she said, but she kept right on speaking, not giving me a chance to process.

"You have a lovely evening, I'm sure I will see you at his next party since you have such a close bond with you maker already."

She turned back to her male companions, who spoke to each other but never once tried to join in on our conversation as we talked, and disregarded me. Looking at her back, her words finally sank in and I didn't care one bit that she treated me with such disdain. It was fine, I hardly noticed. I was too caught up in what she had said. The dream I had of the different parties, the dream she was in, meant I was connected to Antonio. How else would I know of his past?

My heart began hammering behind my chest so I downed my drink and set the glass on a side table before heading for the ballroom door. The party suddenly seemed too loud and had too many people in it, and all I wanted was to find Chloe and cry all over her shoulder.

"Annan, there you are."

Closing my eyes, I groaned to myself. Angelic was _not_ the person I wanted to see while drunk and on my way to a meltdown.

Turning to face her, it was all I had in me not to snap out, "What?"

"Have you been drinking Faerie wine?" She laughed, but my eyes were not on her, they were on the man next to her whose hand she held.

His coffee-bean colored eyes were on me as well, but for some reason it seemed as though he wasn't actually seeing me. It was like he was looking through me.

"This is my friend Sebastian," she said after her chortles were finished. "He's a vampire, like what you'll become."

My wine soaked mind tried to focus, but it felt as though my brain was being massaged from the inside.

"He was wondering how you like it here. I told him that he shouldn't be so shy and just ask you. Right, Sebastian?"

My brain continued to fog over and I wondered if I would get out of the ballroom before I passed out. It was hard to hear what Sebastian was saying and for some reason he sounded like a robot.

"Yes, how is your life here with Antonio. Is he treating you well?"

His words were accented in some way, maybe British, but the robot like way he spoke made it hard to tell. Opening my mouth to answer, words starting coming out of me but I couldn't hear what I was saying. A wave of nausea rolled through my body as I fought to speak even though I was speaking and as the last word tumbled out I backed away not sure what had happened.

It seemed the wine messed me up worse than I had thought. There was a moment to be irritated with myself that I hadn't listen to Finn's warning before some of the fog lifted and I remembered what I had been doing when Angelic had stopped me.

Turning back to the exit, I didn't bother to return the goodbye Angelic gave me, or ponder on the wine's fluctuating affects. As I shut the door behind me, continuing my search for Chloe, I entered the quieter hall and proceeded for the next closest room: Antonio's office. The knowledge that I was actually becoming a vampire beat at the back of my head, no matter how sloshed my brain had become from the wine, and all I wanted was to find Chloe and boo-hoo to her about my revelation.

Opening the door to Antonio's office, I called out Chloe's name only to see Antonio with a black haired woman backed up to the edge of his desk. Her legs were spread over the corner. He stood between them and fed from her olive toned neck causing a small moan to escape her full, parted lips. His hand toyed with one of her large breasts, larger than mine by far, but my entrance interrupted them, and he had a moment of looking surprised before his face returned to normal and a smile spread across his lips.

"Oh, what is she next in line in case I don't pan out?" My words fell out without thought and sounded choked as I began to cry. "Well, don't worry. The turn is working, that Aos Si bitch at the party informed me of that."

As the woman in Antonio's arms began to laugh and call me a child, or his child, I'm not sure, I shut the doors and stormed down the hall, now balling along with being fearful of my future as a vampire. Searching through the kitchen, I didn't see Chloe among throngs of caterers, busy dishing food and cleaning everything.

Leaving the chaos of the kitchen behind, I decided to look for her once again in the dining room, but she was nowhere to be seen. However, I did see Antonio talking to Eevul. My gut churned at seeing him and the dark beauty he had in his office with him by his side. Turning towards the bar before he spotted me I asked Finn for a whole bottle of Faerie wine. When he tried to protest I told him to stuff it and snatched the bottle from him anyways. He called out something to me as I uncorked it and left the dining room once more.

Looking at the exit to my right far down the hall, I scowled at the security posted by the door and headed left instead. The doors to the parlor, and solarium beyond, were closed off to all but those who lived with Antonio, so I was hoping Chloe had stole away to the silence of one of the rooms since she was nowhere else to be found.

Shutting the door behind me, I whispered Chloe's name and took a drink of wine. The room was dark but my eyes were sharper than I remembered and there was more than enough light for me to see. Swallowing back the tears that wanted to spring again, I called out to Chloe once more and tried not to think on why my vision was better. Scanning the room, I saw the solarium door was ajar and letting the light in that allowed me to see.

Creeping to the door, I swallowed down more wine and entered the room. The metal frame clicked close behind me and I sucked in a breath, surprised at how warm the enclosed garden was. It was like being back in a tropical jungle. Taking in another deep breath, I let it out and took long pull on the bottle in my hand. Ahead of me through the hibiscus and palm, as well as hoards of other plants I didn't know, I could see the flicker of a fire and hear the whisper of someone speaking.

Kicking off my heels, I padded down the pavers and enjoyed the feel of the moss between the stones as I took my time making my way to Chloe, or whoever was ahead. The thought it might not be her stopped me short and I started slinking along, listening as best I could to who was just ahead. There was a soft woman's voice that sounded like Chloe's but along with it was a male I didn't recognize. Not sure if it was Chloe, or maybe Violet and Darian—yuck—I peeked around a large leaf and saw Chloe's pale back free of her dress as a man kissed down her front.

"Oh great you too!" Stepping out from behind the leaf, I had no idea why I was shouting at her, or why the sight of the dishwater blond man at her breasts brought on such anger. "I can't believe this. I'm falling apart and all I find is Angelic being a bitch, Antonio munching on some whore, and you fucking a guy in the garden! I'm done. This is messed up." My rage sounded foolish to me but for some reason I couldn't help but blurt everything out.

Stomping past them, I moved deeper into the garden and toward the sound of water. Tipping back the wine, I finished the last of it and dropped the bottle, not caring if it was picked up or not. The sound of water led me to a pool that looked more like a natural spring, complete with a waterfall. Pulling up my dress, I sat on the edge and put my legs in, letting my tears fall down my cheeks to drop into the water below.

It wasn't hard to discern the wine made me an emotional wreck, but it didn't matter. At that moment I couldn't decided if I wanted to be sad about being a vampire, sad about missing my family, or sad about betrayals I knew weren't real. For some reason the last one hurt the most. Kicking at the water I started to become angry at myself, but it dissipated as I wondered why I hadn't been angrier before.

Sucking in a deep breath, I let it out as my legs slowed in the water. So many things were happening to me, maybe being a vampire dampened all that anger, or maybe just knowing I was not a freak human fixed the anger. Though there was those spikes at Randall's...

"Annan?" Chloe's voice sounded apprehensive so I called back to her and she came around the corner. "I'm sorry, Annan. I didn't expect anyone to come here. I sent Fredrick away and told him we could meet another time."

Shaking my head, I began to cry again as Chloe joined me at the side of the pool. "No, I'm sorry Chloe. I had no right to yell at you like that. I guess I shouldn't have drank over a bottle of Faerie wine."

"Oh, my goodness. I'm surprised you are still speaking." Her shock sounded genuine and had me wondering about the wine.

"Oh, I'm all fucked up, and it will get worse since I just finished half of a bottle in one go just a bit ago." Wiping at my eyes, I let out a short laugh.

"I knew you had some wine, I found and disposed of your discarded bottle, I'm just surprised you drank so much." She didn't touch me or look at me, just kept her voice calm and even.

"Thanks, that was an ass move to drop it like that, but I was having a fit."

"Why, might I ask?"

Her question brought my revelation to the fore and my tears started up again. "I was upset for learning the turn is working and that I am becoming a vampire."

She put her arm around my shoulder, which was a little awkward due to our difference in height. "Annan, that isn't so bad. We'll be together and I'll be here to help you through the turn."

My sobs sounded choked. "I know, but I had thought... if it didn't work I was going to see if you could come with me, could move to Pack Lands when you become your own master. You know, so you could be close to Sean."

"Antonio has already said we could visit and I could get to know him. I can wait to move closer until you have gained your master status as well, it's only another hundred years."

Her statement had me crying even more and she pulled her legs from the water to get on her knees so she could hold me.

"Come on Annan, why don't we go upstairs. I believe you will be needing to rest off some of that wine soon."

Nodding my head, I let her help me stand and lead me out of the solarium and parlor beyond. Thankfully, Antonio was nowhere to be seen as we made our way up the stairs and to Chloe's room—I guess my fit wasn't enough to warrant his concern after all.

### Chapter 17

### A Little Girl Time... and Hentai?

As the Faerie wine soaked into every part of my body Chloe and I watched different shows on her huge TV/computer monitor. She had said there was no point in having both since everything she wanted to watch was online. She showed me some of the old movies, like from her time old movies, and I showed her something she had no idea she would like: Anime.

"I told you, you would love this," I said around a bite of French-fry. She had gone down and gotten food for me, saying I needed to have more than just wine in my belly, and a change of clothes from my room. Not wanting one of the stupid nightgowns Antonio had gotten me I told her to just grab a cami and a pair of non-butt-crack underwear. So, as we watched shows, chatted, and I ate we both looked like a couple of high school chicks ready to break out in a pillow fight at any moment.

"It is rather engrossing," she said as an episode of some harem style anime ended.

"Well, if you like that you'll love this." The giggle that left me was on the side of sinister, something like "he, he, he, he, hee." Chloe had yet to see one form of anime I knew she would love, you know, with her sex issue and all.

Stuffing the last of the fries in my mouth, I flopped over and started punching the letters on the keyboard. It took longer than it should have and I had to say each letter out loud as I hit them. Chloe was snickering behind me while I scrolled down the list of options until I found the one I wanted.

"What is hentai?" Chloe asked and I let out the sinister giggle again.

"Oh, you'll see," I said and sat up as the video started playing. "The best one's are in Japanese so you'll have to read the subtitles."

Chloe just gave me a sideways look as the animated show began. By the time the characters boobs were flopping out of her shirt while she squealed something or another—I was way too drunk to read subtitles—Chloe let out a small gasp.

"I take it this is not like other anime."

Laughing I said, "Nope. This was what I would watch to take care of myself." In fact, as the guy ripped the girl's panties off I could feel the tingle building down below.

"Annan, I had no idea your tastes were so interesting." Chloe's eyes were glued to the screen as the animated penis pushed into the girls folds. Her legs were bent at an odd angle and if she were a real person her spine would be snapped as he thrust into her over and again. The unrealistic quality of hentai is what drew me to it.

"Yeah, just wait until it gets to the chick-on chick scene. One of the girls has something you won't believe."

We both stared at the screen as the scenes played out, including some tentacle action that had Chloe giggling in their absurdity, until the one with the girls came on. Our poor heroine was tied down in some kind of dungeon like room as the bad lady teased her and worked her body into a frenzy. At last, the scene came when the woman's penis erupted from her body and Chloe put her hand to her mouth and whispered, "oh, my," as the penis bearing woman began to fuck the girl in a rough manner.

"Annan, if this is the kind of thing that would turn you on, I'm surprised you never tried sex with a girl before me." Chloe started laughing and leaned over her bed.

She grabbed a box under the head, tucked away against the bottom of the night stand, and set it between us as the hentai continued on and poked at my arousal. Chloe opened the box and that arousal snapped to attention. It was full of dildos, and vibrators, and other toys I wasn't sure what they were for. She pulled one such apparatus up and placed a dildo in the provided ring and I realized what it was.

"Annan, have you ever thought of having a woman use one of these on you?"

Staring at the large phallus in her hands, I licked my lips and shook my head. Never once had I thought I would enjoy being taken by a woman the way a man could, but as she held the device in her hand and the slaps and moans of sex played on the TV behind us all I could think was that it was exactly what I wanted.

Taking the thing from Chloe, she brought her eyes back to the screen as I looked over the purple monster in my hand. It was much larger than it needed to be and seemed to call to me, dare me to try and take it all. There was a tickling at the back of my mind that I should not give in to its call, that I should put it back where it goes and pretend like I hadn't seen it, but for the life of me I could not get through my wine soaked brain to figure out why I shouldn't want to try the thing out.

Setting the dildo down, I put my hand on the inner thigh of Chloe's cocked leg. Her eyes came to mine as I trailed my hand up towards her boy shorts and what hid behind them.

"Annan, I thought we could not do this kind of thing anymore." Her voice was tight and told me she wanted nothing more than what I was doing.

"Why was that again?" I said as I fingered the edge of her underwear, teasing the soft hairs beyond.

She drew in a breath. "Because I am Sean's mother."

Oh, right. That _._ "Well, we both know I'm turning now so why would I choose him over you." My voice was thick, like the Faerie wine tasted, and my eyes were hooded as I took her in.

My fingers slipped past the fabric to graze along her sensitive skin and the sight of her biting her bottom lip as she closed her eyes was sweet. When she opened them again, they met mine.

"Are you sure this is not just the wine in you."

Scooting closer, I pushed my fingers a little further up, entering her, as I brought my lips to her hers.

"When I told you about Sean I was still attracted to you, even with the charm. Now that I'm staying, I can see what my attraction is about." My fingers teased her most delicate area as my words teased her ears.

What I said must have been enough because she turned and pressed her lips to mine. Opening to her, I let her tongue slide in as I kept my hand rubbing along the inside and outside of her sex.

She moaned my name into my mouth and I broke away from the kiss to trail along her jaw and down her body. Pulling my hand from her, she let out a gasp and then another as I bit her breast through the fabric of her top. Her hands knotted in my hair as I suckled her breast through the sheer blue camisole before pushing my hands under it to seize her taught nipples.

Chloe lifted up and let me bring the shirt above her head and off, to be tossed to the side before I removed my own. The motion made the wine rear its ugly head and I almost wobbled but she decided at that moment to take her turn and get a taste of me. The smaller woman laid me back across her comforter before pulling my panties off and doing the same with hers. In mere seconds she was between my legs examine my sex. Just the feeling of her touching my body alone was enough to draw a moan of pleasure out of me.

Looking down, her eyes meet mine as she brought her mouth to my aching core. The feel of her soft lips against mine down below was mind blowing, and her skill was enough to drive me over the edge in no time at all.

Sitting up from between my legs, she licked her lips and smiled at me. "Ever since you gave me the pleasure of orgasm, I've been waiting to return the favor."

Bringing her down to me, I kissed her with the musky taste of myself on her lips. Her fingers began to stroke my used flesh as I drank down my own essence from her and I started to shiver under her light touch. She pulled away and looked at me with an unexpected heat.

"Do you want me to use my strap-on, Annan?"

Her question had me shuddering and I nodded thinking of how amazing it would feel to have Chloe use her huge dildo on me. Faster than I thought possible, she had it on and ready for use. There was even lube in her hands as she stroked the rubber member and my pussy at the same time, readying them for each other.

Drawing in a breath, I reveled at the sensation of her entering me. The feeling was so like when I would pleasure myself, but so much more with being able to watch such a beautiful creature above me. She began a steady rhythm as though she could feel through the rubber cock and knew exactly what I needed. She didn't once act as though the motion was work, only kept her eyes on me while she drove me to the edge of ecstasy and beyond.

"Annan, oh Annan. I wish I could feel you in every way." Her voice pulled at me and I wanted the same thing, but there was something I felt I should fear from it.

"Yes, Chloe yes. Do it, do what you need to."

Through my orgasmic bliss I saw her looking down at me. "Are you sure, I will put it back on as soon as we are done."

For a second I didn't know what she was talking about but as soon as she removed the necklace from around her neck I was hit with an overwhelming urge to please Chloe, more so than I had felt before, but as she began moving inside of me again it was as though my pleasure became hers, and I knew what she wanted.

Letting her take me, letting her please me, I rode the waves of my own pleasure as well as what she was feeding me as she came over and again from the orgasms she gave me. With her power in full swing it truly was as though she was feeling what I felt while she fucked me with a rubber dick and I understood where her addiction came from. Because, oh my fucking god, screwing her was better than anything I had ever felt in my entire life.

### Chapter 18

### Is This Seduction?

My head felt strange and as soon as I opened my eyes I remembered why, the Faerie wine. There was the sound of a shower coming from the adjacent bathroom and as I sat up I realized the Faerie wine wasn't out of my system, in fact it must not have been too long after Chloe and I screwed because the idea of it didn't bother me... much.

Knowing I would be bother at some point, maybe, I got out of her bed and told her I was going to my bed to sleep off my drunk. She said she would see me in the morning as I put my top and undies back on before shambling out of her room.

Padding down the hall back to my own room, ready for sleep in the huge bed, I tried not to make a sound. The lights were off as I entered and slipped between the thick duvet and the sheet when I bumped up against someone.

"Annan, it seems you have forgotten where your bedroom is, or did you intend to visit me?" Antonio's voice pulled at my used body and I had to swallow passed my pulse and remind myself of what I saw earlier in the night.

"Sorry, I forgot. I'm surprised I didn't interrupt you again," I said as I began to slide for the edge.

He pulled me to him and ran a hand through my hair, speeding up my heart rate even more. "I had thought about it, after all Clarisse did offer" —Clarisse, I hated the name already— "but I decided it was best to decline her invitation."

"I don't know why you would do that." My voice was but a mumble and sounded pouty.

Antonio chuckled and ran his hand along my arm. "Don't play coy, Annan. Did you ever think to ask me why I was taking blood from Clarisse?"

Mumbling again, I said, "no."

"It was a blood exchange to seal a bond for a business agreement. Sometimes vampire politics can have strange rituals, as seen by an outsider. She might have offered herself for my bed, but it was more out of respect than desire."

Vampire stuff sounded complicated and my still fogged brain didn't want to think on it, but was happy he wasn't trying to hump the lady.

"Is that why you went with Chloe?" He didn't sound angry but I still stiffened next to him, suddenly aware of how close we were.

"What do you mean?"

"I have already told you not to play coy. I can smell Chloe on you."

_Gross._ "It was just something that happened." My mumble was back. God, why did it make me sound like a child?

"Were you influenced in any way?" His voice was even as he held me to him and waited for an answer.

"No, not really. I think the wine might have helped, but I didn't do it because of Chloe's gift. I even let her take her charm off at one point, after it started, and she put it right back on in the end. It just made it more... intense." For some reason I felt as though I was confessing something.

"I see. Do you wish to be with Chloe, or was that a little... girl time?" Antonio chuckled lightly and I had to wonder if he was having fun at my expense.

"Well I don't plan on marrying her, if that's what you mean."

He chuckled again and said, "Would you mind taking a bath with me? That is, if you are planning on sleeping in my bed."

Mulling over his question, I wondered if I should go for it or tell him off and leave, after all I did accidentally go in the wrong room. Or, maybe it was somehow intentional and I was right where I wanted to be? Well, accident or not I agreed and followed him as he slipped from his bed and entered his closet to access the washroom beyond.

~

Steam filled Antonio's bathroom as water roared into the tub. It felt odd sitting on the edge while he poured various salts and soaps of some kind in. He said they would help to extract the toxins from the wine that were still making me feel inebriated. Whatever they were for, they made the air smell wonderful as it surrounded me. While the water ran, I had a moment to notice the tile I had cracked was fixed and it made me feel bad for breaking it in the first place.

"You can get in if you like." Antonio's voice drew me from my thoughts and my pulse decided it wanted to kick up once more.

Not sure why I was feeling like an embarrassed teen around the man who turned me into a vampire—I mean I did just get done screwing a chick not more than an hour ago—I stripped off my shirt and underwear and entered the bath. As soon as the water surrounded me I felt shades better, and less uncomfortable.

Sitting back against the edge, I closed my eyes and let the warm water carry me away. The water move around me causing my lids to fly open, and I was greeted with the sight of a fully nude Antonio standing before me.

My cheeks flushed as he lowered himself in the tub but I committed the sight of him to memory, thick and uncircumcised with a cropping of dark hair around his base.

"Let me wash your back," he said and held up a large natural sponge he had gathered from the cabinet.

Nodding to him, I turned around and moved my hair out of the way. It felt wonderful to have him pamper me in such a way and there was a twinge of guilt over knowing Sean would do the same, even Chloe. Trying not to think on how aggravating being sexually active was, I just enjoyed the feel of the sponge lightly caressing my skin.

"Eevul told me about the conversation you two had."

Sighing, I had to figure my peace wouldn't last. "Yeah. She's convinced the dream she was in came from you so that means I'm turning for sure.

He moved down my arm, picking it up to wash its length. "It does seem this dream came from me. Have you had dreams that were insightful in nature before?"

His question had me thinking about the dreams I had right before Randall grabbed me, as well as all the ones I've had throughout my life. "Yes. I guess that is the ability I will gain then, huh?"

"If the turn works, Annan."

Looking back to face him I said, "What?"

He smiled. "You might have had that dream simply because we shared blood. Though, I would like to believe you will be my child, it is still too soon to know if the turn is taking or not."

He brushed aside a lock of hair which freed itself from my ear, and I leaned in to kiss him. Instead of meeting my lips he grazed my cheek and stopped at my ear. "If the time comes where we make love, I do not want you under the influence of anything."

My heart dropped as he turned me back around to finish washing my other arm. He had no plans at seducing me by inviting me into his bath, not unless his seduction was a slow and frustrating one. Biting my lip I thought on how different it was being around him. Sean was obsessively in love with me, Chloe in lust, and Antonio... I had no idea what to think about him.

### Chapter 19

### Angelic Gets Her Wish

"Annan!" Sean's voice sounded far away, almost dreamy.

What a strange dream.

"This isn't a dream, wake up!" That had my eyes open.

Looking around in the dimness of the room, I could see that I was still where I had fallen asleep—in Antonio's bed. After the bath we had gone to bed and he said I should sleep to get the rest of the wine out of my system. Looking over at him he looked as though he was sleeping himself, even though he said he didn't.

"Annan, are you awake yet?" Sean's voice was somewhat louder than it had been before.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" I thought at him. He had to be close, otherwise I wouldn't hear him.

"We're here to rescue you. Are you okay?"

"What? What the hell are you talking about? I told Cesair to tell you all I am fine. I'm fine, now beat it before you cause a problem." For some reason it felt as though my thoughts did not get to him. "Sean?" There was no answer.

"Shit," I said out loud. "Antonio, I—"

"Master we have a problem." Darian's presence in the doorway was unexpected and I almost let out a scream as I pulled the sheet around me, but Antonio just got out of bed.

His boxers were in place as he walked up to the shorter vampire. "What is it?"

"Someone has entered the property using magic to hide their presence, but Violet and I know when are wards are breached."

"Uh." My almost statement was not heard as Antonio directed his child what to do.

"Take your sister and find out who it is, try not to use lethal force, and bring them to me."

Darian was gone in an instant and Antonio was in his closet just as fast. Both of them were too swift for me to form a thought, let alone get a word in.

"Um, Antonio?"

He tossed me one of his shirts which I pulled over my head as he came out in jeans and a white t-shirt of his own.

"I have to tell you—" Once again I was interrupted, this time by Angelic. "Oh, for Christ's sake we know someone is here now can I talk?"

There was venom in her eyes as she shot past her master and too me. "No," she said as she grabbed me by my arm and pulled me behind her, past Antonio, who screamed out her name, past Chloe's room, and down the stairs toward the front door.

She was unbelievably fast as she wrenched me along behind her, but I was able to keep my footing as we exited the house and I saw the outside of it for the first time. It was as huge as you would expect and done in brick and rod iron. She continued her unearthly pace beyond the house as I screamed at her and smacked at her hand. At last, I was able to hook a leg under hers and trip her in her run which sent us both to the dirt and leaf strewn ground.

As soon as we hit the earth, she lost her hold on me and I sprang to my feet. Letting my legs do what they do best, I started running with a speed I never had before. The tall pines passed faster than I could see as the grass caught between my bare toes while I sprinted back towards the house. I had no idea what Angelic wanted with me, but it couldn't be good.

As I ran, it was comforting to note my eyes had adjusted during Angelic's attempt to drag me away from Antonio's, and now in the shaded early morning rays they didn't burn at all the way they had when I looked in the solarium. My small bit of excitement was cut short, though, by a red headed demon as she grabbed my arm once again.

"Oh, come now. You shouldn't run away from you rescuer."

"Are you insane?" Okay, that seemed like a rhetorical question. "You know damn well I don't need rescuing." Reaching back my other arm I tried to hit her, but she caught it without effort and smiled.

"Poor, Annan you must have Stockholm syndrome. Don't worry, I helped out and your friends should be here shortly."

My eyes narrowed at her. "What did you do?"

Before she could answer, Antonio was behind her. "Angelic, let her go this instant."

Angelic's grip loosened and her hand fell, even though I could see she strained to not obey. Rubbing my arm I went to Antonio as he continued to speak to his child.

"Return to the house. You will stay in your room while we deal with the intruders."

"Yes, master," she said through gritted teeth and I understood why she ran after she grabbed me.

If Antonio was able to give a command to his child, that child had to follow through, even if he or she didn't want to. The prospect of being one of those children had me worried, but I knew I would gain my freedom someday, unlike the blood thirsty Angelic, so I let it fade.

Relieved to see her returning to the house, I turned to Antonio to tell him what I knew so he could call back Darian and Violet. His smile was warm as he touched my shoulders but right as I opened my mouth to tell him who was there the vampire Angelic had introduced as Sebastian materialized behind him and threw one of those glow stick things at Antonio's back.

Time seemed to slow as I screamed out _no_ and the small cylinder hit Antonio. When it did, there was a wrenching through my gut, like someone was trying to remove my insides through my bellybutton, and when I looked up I saw the same pained expression on Antonio's face that had to be on mine. A screaming rent the air and I looked behind me to see Angelic doubled over holding her stomach as well. Whatever was happening, it was happening to all of us, which meant I truly was becoming one of his.

Antonio was on his knees as the pain subsided and I heard a roll of laughter come from behind me. My almost master met my eyes and his eyes swam as mine spilled over. It was in that moment I knew his bond was broken and that laughter behind us was coming from the one person who wanted that more than any of us.

"Angelic, what have you done?" Antonio got to his feet in a calculated way. "Return to the house."

"No." The one word was so flippant, so disobedient, as though she had waited her whole life to say it. "Thanks, Sebastian you did exactly what I needed." With that, Angelic was gone.

Antonio let out a roar of fury but didn't chase after her. Instead he turned on the stunned vampire behind him.

"What did you do?"

Running up to Antonio, I grabbed his hand before he smashed the other vampires face. "It wasn't his fault. I think Angelic implanted something in his mind so he would do this. So he could come with Sean to save me."

His face melted from anger to confusion and his hand dropped. "How do you know this?"

Looking down I said, "I heard Sean in my mind when I woke this morning, but I think Angelic blocked him. She probably didn't know we could communicate that way."

Bringing my eyes to his, I could see he was back to anger. "Well that makes two of us." He turned away from me and I stepped back, hurt by his accusing glare.

"As for you," he said to Sebastian.

Sebastian held up his hands. "Hey, don't be blaming me. I get the job of coming here to your little soiree last night, so as to see if this little wolfy here is stayin' of her own free will. And when I meet her, thanks to that red head who tittered off, she goes on about how you are forcing her to become a vampire and all that. It was my rightly duty to report back to Ces and let her know what I learned."

He sounded nothing like he had when I met him but there was no time to question it as Antonio's eyes fell on me once more.

Holding up my hands I said, "Hey, now wait a moment. When I met him I was drunk as hell and upset. I don't even know what I said." My interaction with him flitted through my memory. "In fact, I remember trying to speak but not being able to, even though it felt like I was speaking."

"Merda!" Antonio screamed and began pacing. I had no idea what the word meant but it sounded like a cuss word to me.

"Well, now, you are more fit than I remember last night. Though considering the circumstances I can't say I blame myself."

Looking over at Sebastian, I was mortified. "Are you hitting on me?"

Antonio was right there, the smaller mans shirt fisted in his hands. "Leave Annan alone."

Sebastian put his hands up. "I would be having a talk with her kitty friend there if you're going to be making a claim on her."

Turning around to where Sebastian was pointing I saw Sean standing with Darian and Violet. The two vampires went to the lost master with tears streaming down their faces. Antonio let go of Sebastian and comforted both of them the way a beloved father would. He spoke in Italian, low and soft, I imagine reassuring them of their place in his home and his life—no magic could break the bond they had—and I couldn't help but cry. Sean came to me and my heart hardened as I smacked away his hand and ran past him, and back to Antonio's.

### Chapter 20

Hey Jealousy

Chloe's eyes looked as though they were going to flood once again. She was doing a piss poor job of hiding her emotions, big surprise for an empath.

"I know Chloe, but this is not the time." We were in the parlor as Sean, Cesair, and Sebastian sorted out what to do about Angelic.

What I was told by Ces when she arrived was that she wanted to be sure, without being too intrusive, that I was here because I wanted it to be so. Antonio's party, I guess, was common knowledge because she knew about it but thought sending in Sebastian would be better than attending herself, since he was an unbiased party. Unfortunately, he was also ignorant to the abilities of Antonio's children. Ces didn't want to alert Antonio's maker of her plans to inquire on his vampire child so she hadn't called him about it and I didn't tell her anything about the vamps when we spoke, so together they ended up giving Angelic the perfect opportunity to find her freedom.

Once Sebastian was convinced by what Angelic fed him he returned back to the SIA and it was a matter of waiting for the potion that severed Antonio's bond from his children, one I felt break and knew what it was when it happened. Chloe felt it too and was a mess when I got back to the house, but that was nothing compared to trying to keep her away from Sean, who was still unaware of who she was. Which was information Cesair was leaving up to us to share with him.

"When can we tell him, then?"

Chewing on my lip I mulled over her question. There was still no definitive plan as to what was going to happen. Antonio knew he had to go after Angelic and Sebastian opted to help. It turned out that if Antonio had been forthwith about the Ripper incident—which Sebastian had looked into while working in the UK branch of the agency—Angelic would have been on file, not put to death like Antonio thought, and much of what happened could have been avoided.

Of course, if that had happened I might have never met him since the murders are what prompted him to move to America. My heart pulled at the thought of never knowing Antonio and I put a hand to my belly remembering the great sense of loss I felt when the bond to him was broken.

"Annan?"

Looking at Chloe, I smiled. "Sorry, my mind keeps wandering. We'll just have to wait until we see what they say. If you come back with me we can tell him when we are back on Pack Lands."

She looked mildly panicked over my simple plan. "How long will that take?"

Gathering her hands, I gave them a tender squeeze. "It will be fine and think about it like this, if he gets to know you a little first he may be more open to accepting you when we tell him."

Her eyes wavered. "You mean there is a chance he may reject me."

"Oh, Chloe." I pulled her in for a hug and held her as she cried when the door to the parlor opened.

Her breath caught and I didn't need to look over to know Sean stood in the doorway. "Antonio wants to see you two."

He turned away and walked back down the hall. Sean was not happy by my less than enthusiastic reunion with him, but I could care less. Let him be a pouty baby about it. Chloe stayed tucked under my arm as we went into Antonio's office. Darian held Violet much the way I held Chloe and it wasn't hard to give them a sympathetic smile to them as they passed. Violet put a hand on my shoulder and nodded to me as they left the room and I almost gave her a hug. They knew the hurt and loss I felt more than I did and in that we had found a connection.

"Annan, I wish to leave Chloe in your care?"

My eyes pulled away from the brother and sister as they left and found Antonio sitting behind his desk. Ces was in one of the chairs in front of it with Sean beside her in the other. Her eyes were kind and forgiving as she looked at me but Sean kept his on the bookshelf, or the wall, it was hard to tell.

"What if I turn, though, how can a younger vampire take care of an older one?"

Antonio's eyes fell. "Cesair says you will not turn now, due to the bond being severed."

My eyes went round and Cesair looked even more apologetic.

"We will run tests when we get back to the SIA, but this has never been attempted before and the intent was to keep you from turning as well as to free Angelic and the others, who we believed to be captive at the time."

Nodding, I felt even more saddened, yet also relieved. "I don't know how I can take care of her, but I'll look out for Chloe. She can live with me. If Sean doesn't want us at his place I'll either stay in Puyallup or find a different house on Pack Lands, which may be better for Chloe."

Antonio nodded and smiled. "Just you thinking of the best location for her to live shows me I can trust you to help her."

Thinking about the previous night and how I got her to not be such a slut with her clothing I accepted the complement and thanked him.

"You don't have to leave my house. That's unnecessary. Your friend can stay in the other room."

We all looked at Sean, but he might as well been talking to the bookshelf for as much attention he paid us while he spoke.

Chloe made a small noise by me and I gave her a squeeze, reminding her it was not the time or place to announce she was more than just my friend... and not in the fact that the two of us had sex.

Oh god, now I had to deal with _that_ issue.

Pushing the thought out of my head, I agreed to go help Chloe pack while Antonio finished plans with Cesair on how to begin searching for Angelic. Chloe couldn't keep her eyes off her son, who stood and walked out of the room, but he didn't look at her once. As we made our way down the hall I saw him go for the front door.

"Hey, watch it. You don't want to torch Chloe. Just wait until we are upstairs before opening that. God!" There was no way to keep the exasperation out of my voice.

"Looks like Antonio picked the perfect babysitter after all." Sean sounded like I had never heard him before. He was jealous, but for the life of me I couldn't tell if it was for Antonio or Chloe. In either case, I guess he had a right to be.

~

Everyone—except Chloe, who had to stay out of the sun—helped load up the van Sebastian had rented and by the time dusk had fallen all the stuff Chloe wanted to bring was packed away. Cesair said the rental was needed since we had to drive to the nearest portal now that we were moving more than just me. The original plan was for me to ride on Sean's back and to relative safety while the second wave of SIA came in to free everyone else from the tyranny that was Antonio. Okay, so I glamorized her explanation some, but that was how I felt when they told me what was going on.

"As soon as I have time, I will come and visit but I trust Annan to look out for you and help you fight your urges." Antonio pulled Chloe in for a hug. It was nice to see her hug him back, her opinion of her creator had changed so much in the short time since I had met her.

She got in the van as Antonio came to me. "Please keep her, and everyone else, safe." He didn't have to elaborate for me to know what he was talking about.

"I will." It felt as though eyes were boring holes in the back of my head but I didn't dare look back to see the jealousy that had to be on Sean's face.

Antonio brought his hands to my shoulders and drew me to him. "Had this not occurred, Annan... had our bond not been broken."

His sentence was left unfinished as he brought his lips to mine for the first time. The kiss was chaste compared to what I tried so many other times, but it was also something so much more.

"I will return to you as well," he said to my lips, voicing what the kiss had already told me.

Stepping away from me, he began barking orders to Sebastian and his severed children, and the hunt for Angelic began. Turning to the van I got in and shut the door behind me, preparing for a different kind of battle all together. From the seething look on Sean's face as he stared out the windshield, I had a moment to be remorse that all Antonio had to face was a blood thirsty Vampire pissed at him for trapping her for hundreds of years.

As Sean's glare shot at me before returning to the front, I buckled up in the back and hoped his eyes stayed on the road. Yeah, a crazy vampire was way preferable to a jealous, empathic werepanther any day of the week.

###

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Read ahead for a preview of the next book in the Annan Werewolf Series: Changes.

### Chapter 01 of Changes

Chloe's eyes caught mine as I put on the last of my mascara. "It's been two days, Annan."

She had sounded just as desperate when she reminded me it had been a day since we'd been on Pack Lands, my family's home and the heart of the Snoqualmie Werewolf pack.

Putting my makeup away, I closed the drawer and looked down at the small blond vampire. Her lip quivered and her cornflower gaze looked as though it would spill over at any moment. Sighing, I pulled her in for a hug. She had been pestering me as I got ready and though it was early in the morning, no light entered our shared bathroom in Sean's home.

After we had gotten back, I was glad to see my Aunt Gale was happy to accommodate our visitor by blacking out all the windows in the other guest room. It was perfect for Chloe since the Jack-and-Jill bathroom connected her room to the one I had been staying in. Cesair was nice enough to let my family know about Chloe joining me, as well as her aversion to the sun—being a vampire under a hundred and all—and reassured them she was no harm to anyone on Pack Lands, without letting them know her huge secret.

Her secret was, the son she had abandoned over eighty years ago had lived with my family for most of his life and was the same man whose house we were now staying in. He was a half vampire half werepanther with duel colored eyes—it took forever to get used to looking at his sunflower and sky-blue gaze—who was an empath, which made him a little moody due to my encounter with Chloe's maker.

Without getting into any details, meeting Antonio proved to me I was not Sean's chosen mate, as had he assumed since I was a teen. In other words, since I had been back he had been a jealous, moody son of bitch and making him more irritable was not high on my list.

Pulling out of the hug, I said, "Chloe, it's been more like a day and a half, considering it was almost midnight when we got here."

Shaking my head at her, I opened the second drawer and took out a band so I could pull my hair into a loose ponytail, which I looped again to make a half-hazard knot of thick brunette waves at the back of my head. Brining my emerald eyes to hers, I smiled and put my hands on her small shoulders again.

"We changed the pack meet to tonight so you could come. I figured it would be the perfect time to tell him. Everyone will be in a good mood and Elizabeta said she would bring some Faerie wine."

Chloe's brows drew together as she dropped her head, her platinum hair falling over one eye. "It's just so hard. Every time I see him I..." Her southern bell voice hitched at the end and I could tell, without the empathetic power's she and her son shared, she was about to cry.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, I drew her face up and gave her a hug. It was hard to ignore the build of desire which came from pressing against Chloe's small form and I was glad she wore a charm to block her from sensing such things in me. Letting Chloe cry, I smiled and was happy I could at least ignore the feelings I had for her—It was hard enough to deal with my attraction to her irritating son—and just be her friend. If she knew of the need she kindled in me she wouldn't be able to control her own need, one involving sex and more sex. She craved it even more than blood when in the heat of passion.

Chloe pulled from the hug and wiped her eyes. "I know you are doing your best, Annan and I know he has been difficult with having to deal with abilities he never knew he had, but it's still hard for me to not tell him how much I care for him, and how I have always loved him."

_Yeah_... Sean hadn't found out he was an empath until I was at Antonio's home and far from Sean and his "love me" vibe he was accidently pumping into me—which wasn't as bad as the lust vibe Chloe gave off, _whoa-boy_ there. Once he learned he had the ability he began working on controlling it. Of course, he also learned how to be a grumpy ass face in the process. Letting him know the mother who gave him up—in his mind—was staying under his roof had the potential to make him explosive.

"I think once he gets over Antonio he won't be so bad."

Chloe let out a small laugh. "I'm not sure he will ever be over him, Annan." Her eyes met mine as her smile grew. "Not unless you have gotten over Antonio yourself, that is."

Turning away from her, I let out a short laugh and adjusted the towel hanging on the rod, even though they didn't need it. "Ha, well. Only time will tell."

There was a moment for me to wonder if she was going to comment on how my heart wanted to beat out of my chest just at the mere mention of the sexy vampire's name, but she didn't. Her empathic abilities didn't need to be turned on to know my pulse had kicked up a notch.

"I trust you'll know when the time is right, after all you have gotten to know Sean somewhat better than I have."

The laugh in her voice was evident and I was glad Chloe changed the subject the way a good friend would. Taking in a deep breath, I turned and smiled at her, pushing all thoughts of Antonio aside.

"I hate to leave you."

Chloe smiled. "It's okay, Annan. I'll watch something on my computer or have some down time."

Nodding at her, I gave her another small hug. My family was expecting me at their house. They wanted me to join them in preparing for the pack meeting that night. The twins were supposed to head out for provisions and I was supposed to help Korbin and Sean set up the building my family called The Lodge, which was still a mystery to me. The one day I had gotten to see Pack Lands, in its snow-coated glory, my family had left The Lodge out, saying I would see it the day of the pack meet. Too bad that night a crazy man kidnapped me.

Pulling out of the hug, I had to reconsider my _too bad_ thought. If Randall hadn't taken me, then I wouldn't have met Chloe... or Antonio. Shaking off the thoughts of Antonio, and how he had saved me from that crazy man, I stepped away from Chloe and to my bedroom door.

Before I had gone into the restroom, I was sure to close my blinds—even though the clouds had been thick and the sky overcast—because I wanted to be sure there was no chance at burning Chloe alive. Though it had only been close to two days since we had left Antonio's shadow shrouded home, we had both been careful of her not getting in the sun. It was easy to admit being proud of how carful I had been. Part of me hoped Antonio would be proud too.

Pursing my brow, I tried not to think of Antonio, _again_ , and thought instead of what the day held as I opened my bedroom door.

The sun must have broken through the clouds as I had gotten ready. My blinds, which were _not_ closed all the way, allowed the full morning light in, hitting everything in swaths of brightness.

"Shit!"

Dashing over my unkempt bed, I pulled the cord to close the shades. Only, I wasn't quite used to the added strength I had gained from multiple doses of vampire blood, and what I thought was a small tug ended up tearing the cord and ripping the blinds right from the wood it was screwed into, which doused my room in even more accursed light.

"Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!"

My bedroom door flew open and I looked over too see Sean, his hair wasn't styled but still looked sexy as hell, all bed-worn and messy as his eyes blazed around the room.

"What, what happened?"

Realizing why he was there, I held up the blinds by the mangled cord.

"God damn it, Annan." He calmed himself and ran a hand through the blond hair he had inherited from his mother.

Thinking of her, I looked back to the bathroom and saw I had left the door open. Jumping over the bed, again, I went to slam it shut when I saw Chloe's pale hand in a sliver of light.

"Oh, Chloe no."

To my horror, she stepped out, and into the sun, it seemed slower than she really needed to move. Putting a hand to my mouth, I stepped back and bumped into Sean, who didn't move, but instead put his hands to my arms, as I watched Chloe lift her arms in the bright light of the day and look at them in amazement. Tears ran rivulets down her face and I couldn't help but cry myself and take a step away from Sean's light grasp to pick the smaller woman up in a hug.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." I couldn't seem to say anything else so I stopped talking all together as I sat her back on her feet once more and swiped at my cheeks.

"I'll leave you two alone." Sean's voice pulled me out of my revere of seeing Chloe in the sun for the first time and I turned back to the man, not wanting him to miss this momentous occasion, even if he didn't know who Chloe really was.

"Don't go Sean. This is exciting, you should be here too." There was a smile on my lips but there was no happiness on Sean's face as he looked from my eyes to Chloe behind me, then our hands, before coming back to my gaze.

"I really don't feel right, this is your moment with her, but Chloe is welcome to go with us to Mike and Gale's. I'm sure your family would be happy to have her."

Chloe's hand tensed in mine as Sean left the room and when I turned back to her—her face lit by the sun with her hair like a halo on one side—I saw tears running down her cheeks again, but this time I could tell they weren't from happiness.

"Oh, Chloe. Come on. This isn't a time to be sad."

Turning her back towards the bathroom, I began guiding the small vampire through it and to her room telling her we should get her dressed in something nice, maybe something Will—my cousin who I noticed checking her out when she was around—would like, and tried hard to take her mind off her jerk of a son.

Sure I shouldn't have been mad at Sean since he didn't know he was being a dick, but you could have also told me I shouldn't have been mad at him back when he didn't know he was inadvertently making me fall in love with him. It wouldn't have made a difference, though; I was downright pissed when I found that bit of information out.

He was just lucky this time I was distracted by Chloe's new found master status—getting to walk in the sun meant a vampire has gained their master abilities—otherwise I would have stewed and been just as pissed at him for being mean to Chloe.

You never know, I might even decide to never sleep with him again or something.

Thinking on how that scenario would go down while Chloe held up a snug angora sweater, I smiled at her and internally snickered at myself. Who was I kidding? Even if Sean was being an ass I would totally screw him again... and that alone was a whole other problem I needed to deal with.

###

Please purchase _Changes_ to discover what happens to Annan.

