"You're seriously going to give him twelve hours? I thought you offering to spend time with me first was so that you could keep me longer. You're not one to be following the rules," Arianna teased. Turner smiled and shrugged.

"I'm just your future keeper," Turner replied. "He's..." Turner didn't finish. Arianna raised her eyebrows questioning him.

"What happened while I was asleep?" Arianna wondered. Turner was keeping something to himself.

"Nothing... everything." Turner brushed off his slight mood and was back to normal.

Arianna prodded further. "Please," she asked. "What's going on that I should know about?"

"There's something going on, and we can't seem to figure it out," he replied. "You know me, I'm the brawn, not the brains. And this time we need more brains to figure it out than we need brawn. I'm not very good at even that." Memories of the attack at the park haunted his mind. "I'm helpless. When you pa.s.sed out after the council meeting, we brought you back to your room for a night. At one point you got up and tried to walk out of the apartment. We found you pa.s.sed out." Turner hesitated. Arianna didn't remember anything of the past few days and a.s.sumed she just spent it in bed. "You were there lying on the ground barely breathing, and I could do nothing. I am useless."

"I'm just a bit under the weather," Arianna added, trying to get Turner off the self-bashing he was doing.

"No, that's not it. Yes, you're sick, but it's more than that." Turner was being elusive.

"How can it be more?" Arianna didn't understand what was bothering him beyond her being sick.

"Just let me explain. I really didn't want to do this to you on your birthday, but you didn't wake up yesterday. I would have told you then." Turner was actually at a loss for words.

"Told me what?" Arianna asked, taking control of the conversation.

"I think you are meant for Devin," Turner replied. He sighed and looked over the city. This was going to be much harder than he thought. "I realized while you were asleep, you belong with Devin. He knows you better than anyone. When we got back to your room, he put you to bed and made plans to come here. I was left to watch you. You started to have a seizure, and there was nothing I could do. Devin came in and the instant he put his arms around you, you stopped. I just saw what I always suspected, you two are connected. There will never be that between us. He won. I'm throwing in the towel," Turner admitted, defeat in his voice over loss of the dream of making Arianna into his own girlfriend. Turner stood, looking at the city and not at Arianna, hunched over, defeated.

"You don't want to be my keeper?" Arianna asked, shocked, as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"No, no, please don't cry. That's not what I'm saying at all." Turner turned quickly at the sound of her sniffles. Turner wiped the tears away. "I'll stand beside you until the day I die. I'll always be here, as your friend, your best friend. Nothing can change that." He hurriedly looked back to the city to avoid her now silent gaze.

Arianna stared at Turner as he looked down at the city. He was right. She loved him, but it was more in a friendship kind of way. He was exciting and unpredictable, and a lot of fun to be around, but she didn't feel for him what she felt for Devin. Turner reached over and took her hand.

He gave her a Turner smile before adding, "I think this is one of the rare times that if I don't return you, he might actually go wolf hunting like he always threatens. We better head back."

Arianna silently followed Turner back to his bike. Turner was lost in his own thoughts, and she didn't want to interrupt them. The ride back to Turner's home was faster than Arianna wanted. She still wasn't sure how much she wanted to see Devin, knowing that he had allowed her to be an experiment. Always a gentleman, Turner walked Arianna to her bedroom door where Devin was waiting inside. Turner leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Happy birthday," he added as Arianna opened the door to her room.

Devin, as usual, sat on the couch reading. He didn't look up as she entered.

"Are you feeling tired?" he asked, setting his reading gla.s.ses down on top of the latest stack. For eighteen, he was much more mature than his age suggested.

Arianna wanted to be mad at him, but, as always, his a.s.sessment was correct. She plopped down on the couch next to him. "A little." She was still mad, just too tired to actually care.

"Do you want to sleep some?"

"No," she replied. Devin waited for her to continue. She stared across the room before looking back at him. "Why?" Was the only word she could squeak out before the tears came. Devin pulled her onto his lap. The feeling of his heart beating calmed her a bit and stopped the tears. Arianna caught her breath again and asked, "Why would you let them experiment on me?"

"Oh Ari," he said, gently stroking her head, which was now resting against him. Her eyes became heavy as the sound of his heart amplified. Arianna felt the lull of sleep pulling at her, and after being sick so recently, she was too tired to refuse.

SIX.

Arianna lifted her head from Devin's bare chest with a start. He quickly sat up also and looked around the room for danger. He was ready to pounce. In an instant, Devin could go from quietly sleeping to cutting down an unknown enemy. He had trained for years, and it showed in every moment of his life. He was the best guardian she could ever have. He always put her safety first and was the first to stand up and defend her from anything.

"Did you hear something?" he asked.

Arianna never woke unless she sensed something. In the past year, Devin never failed to be one step ahead of her in everything. He knew when she was hungry or needed to feed. He knew when she needed to sleep or needed a break from her new life. He knew everything one moment before she did.

Arianna rubbed her eyes. "Why are we in here?" she asked, looking around the bedroom more. She remembered waking up at the Winter estate, but her last memory was of sitting beside Devin in the front room. Over the last six months, more and more of her memory was gone. It started with only minutes to hours missing, but now, she would wake to now find days were completely gone.

"I thought you were out again, so I decided we could go to bed." Devin relaxed as the sense of danger pa.s.sed.

"Again?" Arianna knew something was missing.

"Like after the last council meeting." Devin pulled on her to get her to lay back down too.

"Oh," Arianna replied. Her face reddened as she looked at her clothes and realized she was now in pajamas.

"Molina changed you for me," Devin replied in response to her embarra.s.sment.

"But I thought I didn't sleep unless with you or Turner. How could she change my clothes without waking me?" Arianna had been having trouble sleeping since the first night she turned. She had too much power, which included super-sensitive hearing that only had gotten better in the past year.

"Lately you've been sleeping very soundly once we get you to sleep," Devin replied.

Silence stretched on as neither talked. Finally Arianna asked, "Is that how you could take my blood to study."

Devin's controlled exterior melted. "Oh, Ari, I'd never do that to you. We used some blood left over from last year after you healed everyone. There was a pitcher that had less than a gla.s.sful left, and we decided it would be a good time to start studying it since everyone else was bound to hear what it did, and how you saved everyone. Have you been thinking that all along?" Arianna didn't meet his eyes but just nodded.

"Why? Do you think I'm such a freak like everyone else? I hear them talk," she added, finally looking up at him. "Everyone, everywhere we go. They all wonder the same thing. How is it possible? She's a freak. How can anyone really be two night humans at once? It isn't natural." Arianna looked back down and started to pick at the lace edging to the shirt she was wearing. Molina must have gone to great lengths to find such a frilly pajama and she mentally made a note that revenge was needed. Molina was one of the very few Arianna had met that truly treated her like a human, not a monster. Even amongst her own kind, the stares could be sometimes unbearable.

Devin reached over and gently cupped her face in his hands and raised her head until her eyes met his own.

"Arianna Caiohme." Devin used her middle name like he was scolding her. "I'll never do, and have never done, anything that would ever physically harm you. I love you and would never let harm come to you." Devin's clear blue eyes stared at her, waiting for her to understand his words.

Arianna's heart raced. She had always felt the love Devin had for her when they were alone, but she had never heard him say the words out loud before. The gentleness in how he held her face was so different than when they were outside the bedroom. Arianna just stared at his intense eyes. Devin had always been true to her even when he had a controlled exterior in public. Arianna wanted to reach over and pull him closer so that she could kiss him. As he stared more, his eyes betrayed that he wanted the same thing. Arianna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He was too mesmerizing sometimes.

"Then why?" Arianna couldn't help but ask the question that still nagged at her. The moment was broken.

Devin ran his hands through his now shortened blond hair and flopped back onto the pillows. He had cut his hair much shorter recently and was a stark contrast to Andrew, who was his exact opposite with longer dark hair. He sighed and this time didn't look at her as he spoke.

"You can't take this the wrong way, but I'm having them study you for the same reasons everyone stares at you. You're different. We can't deny that. But you're not a monster," he quickly added. He finally looked up after admitting the truth. "Ari, I'm worried about you. You hold so much more power than anyone has ever had before. I'm afraid what that power is doing to you physically. Night humans that hold more power always have shorter life-spans, and a lot of them tend to go a bit crazy when the power peaks."

"What do you mean?" His words were laced with concern, and now she was beginning to worry.

Devin reached over and pulled Arianna back down to him. He ran his hands through her hair as he pondered, giving her shivers down her back. Arianna looked at his face, and he was temporarily lost in thought. His face was more beautiful than rugged most of the time. Now, he hadn't shaved for days and looked a bit different. The slight stubble on his face aged him years. Arianna yearned to rub her hand against it, but refrained as he began to speak again.

"Andrew's older brother, Alex, was one of the most powerful baku Randolph had ever seen. When Alex was a teen, he began to come into his power. As he grew more powerful, it was predicted that he would surpa.s.s Gabriel. Your grandfather began to track Alex, fearing what he would unleash if Gabriel couldn't contain him." Devin paused and stared at the ceiling as he absent-mindedly continued to stroke Arianna's head.

"Did you know I actually attended kindergarten at Bradley?" Images of Arianna's elementary school flashed through her mind, the large stone building that she had attended after moving in with her aunt and uncle. "My mother was a teacher, and my father a fireman. We lived over on Elm Street in a little house. We knew nothing of night humans. We were normal, oblivious day humans living a quiet, uneventful life. I had two older brothers and an older sister. I was always picked on for being the youngest, but then again, I always was surrounded by love. We had a happy life." Devin drifted back into thought. Arianna sat quietly and pulled her arms around her knees, not interrupting him as he had never shared his past with her before.

"Your grandfather had been tracking Alex for about two months before he met me. I was at Midland Park with my brothers. We were all playing tag, and of course as the smallest, I couldn't compete. Randolph was there, watching the children play. I found out years later that he would go there as it was neutral ground and your father would take you there to play because it was the park your own father grew up going to as a child. Randolph would go there when he was in town, trying to remember your father and mother as children and hoping to see you. Well, as I lost in the game, I got mad and ran away from my brothers. I ran into your grandfather, who was distracted by watching you. He said something kind to me and patted me on my head, sending me back to my brothers. We think that was what Alex tracked. See, Alex was tracking Randolph as much as Randolph was tracking Alex.

"I returned home that night with my brothers. We had a typical night, ate supper as a family and watched TV together before bed. Everything was normal. That night my life changed. I had a bad dream, which wasn't unusual, but as I shared a room with Sam, I'd just wake up check on him and then go back to bed. So, I cracked my eyes open and looked across the room. Sam was lying in his bed asleep, I thought. I know now that Sam was dead by the time I saw him. So, I closed my eyes. I couldn't fall back asleep, but just laid there instead. I didn't hear him enter the room. He might have been there all along. All I did was feel the sharp pain as he bit down on my arm and then as he was ripped from me. Your terrifying grandfather stood between me and the monster that had just drained my entire family. Alex was subdued and killed. It wasn't Randolph alone, but also Gabriel, that fought Alex. Alex had succ.u.mbed to the power that was building in him."

Arianna didn't speak. What could she say? Sorry that your family is dead. Devin had come to terms with his past long ago. Arianna slowly reached over and took his arm with the long scar down the back of it.

"How could you let me feed off you time and time again after that?" Arianna traced the scar with her finger. She could now see the indent of the puncture wound. She never questioned the scar before as it was only one of many.

"It's different with you." Devin stroked her serious face. "Everything is different with you. That's why I worry. Gabriel and Randolph found a balance with their power. Alex did not. I don't want you to be like Alex. I don't want you to lose who you are. Turns out Alex was a great and loving older brother until he turned. Gabriel didn't believe Randolph that Alex was the monster killing all the day humans until he saw it with his own eyes."

"You don't want me to become a monster?" Arianna asked.

"I don't want you to lose what is you." He looked away. He continued to stroke the back of her head but didn't continue talking.

"You're not finished, are you?" Arianna felt the worry pour off him. "What else are they researching?"

"The lab is researching the strength and healing effects of your blood, but." He paused and thought more before continuing. "I have two people I really trust looking into more."

"What more?" Arianna reached up and touched his face to get him to continue. Devin had been worrying about too much alone.

"Your peculiar feeding habits," Devin said as she began to blush. Once Arianna had turned into a night human, she could only drink the blood from a few people, Devin included. Nothing seemed odd to her about it as many night humans took a day human keeper to drink blood from, but she had put up with endless teasing from Molina over her pickiness. Even when she was desperate to feed, she refused to drink from anyone but Devin and Turner.

"So I'm picky. What does that have to do with my blood?" Arianna still knew too little of the night human world.

"You already know this. When in night human form, any blood should satisfy your craving. It doesn't work that way for you." Devin turned back to lazily combing his fingers through her hair.

"But it's not a problem. I have both you and Turner, and if needed Gabriel and Andrew. That's four people. I'm not that much of a monster." Arianna tried to reason through everything.

"No, you're not. But by being close to you, all four of us are targets. If anyone really knew the truth, they could easily keep you hostage by your need for us, and our blood." Devin still oozed worry.

"But I don't refuse blood from an IV," she replied.

"Mentally, no. But it seems your refusal may be more than mental. I don't think your blood accepts the IV blood. At least that's what they've told me." The gravity of his last statement set in. The four people she trusted the most held the key to her own survival.

"Is that why there's this legend, and I need five keepers? There's something truly different about me?" Arianna added it all together.

"I don't know." Devin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Arianna leaned into him. All traces of worry were completely gone and replaced by his love.

SEVEN.

Arianna and her crew returned home to her aunt and uncle's diner early Friday morning. It was a late return, since she spent her birthday in Tricity, but a necessary one since she had yet another party to attend, this one being thrown by her uncle Gabriel. They had arrived home liked planned, and it would be an immediate trip to Gabriel's house to get ready. Gabriel ruled in place of her for the baku family while she was gone or dealing with the everyday events of the dearg-dul clan. Arianna was thankful they didn't expect her to completely take over like the Randolph estate had after her grandfather's death the previous year. Arianna left her guards in the car as she ran back inside the diner to say hi to her guardians before heading to her uncle's house.

"Auntie," Arianna called into the kitchen between the people running around.

"She's out front," Lou replied from behind the large stoves. "I'll keep some leftovers in the fridge for you. Who knows if they will actually have any decent food at that dinner? Baku may win the 'I have more muscles than you contest,' but they can't ever seem to throw a good party." Lou winked at her before she pa.s.sed through to the front of the store. Lou had been running the kitchen at the diner as long as she could remember. It turns out that the lithe, long-haired, tattooed man was placed there on purpose by her grandfather, since Lou was also a dearg-dul and part of the Randolph clan. Thankfully, Lou was there the past year when everything exploded, since it literally exploded at the diner when her enemies tried to blow up her family. Lou had been the one to recognize the scent of the leaking gas and got everyone to safety.

"Hi, Uncle Dean," Arianna said, pa.s.sing her sandy-haired uncle who was halfway inside the latest machine he had bought, getting it ready to start making some new delicacy for the diner. Arianna had yet to get a tour of all the new kitchen equipment. She didn't know how to use most of the old equipment since she always worked in the front of the diner; she definitely didn't know how to use all the new, shiny equipment in the rebuilt diner.

"Ari? Back already? I thought the party would last longer." Dean was always distracted these days. Luckily, they didn't mind taking money from Arianna for the past year since she inherited the whole Randolph estate, but they were happy to be self-sufficient once again nonetheless.

"No, I haven't gone yet. Is Aunt Lilly up front?" Arianna tried to look into the machine to see what Dean was so intently studying.

"Yes, at the register, I think." Dean ducked back into the machine.

Arianna maneuvered through the waitresses and up to the register. When in front of the diner, her aunt was the picture of perfection. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a bun with not a wisp free. Her ap.r.o.n was spotless. Everything about her appearance bespoke a woman in complete control. She smiled as Ari approached. Even her smile didn't show any sense of lost control. Aunt Lilly was perfection, and it was great to see her back to normal.

"Heading over to Gabriel's now?" Arianna could still catch a hint of malice in Lilly's statement even though her perfect smile didn't waver. Lilly had grown up amongst the dearg-dul night humans, and just like the most of them, she was still having a hard time completely trusting the baku. Arianna's mother had been a dearg-dul and Lilly's best friend. Lilly couldn't accept Travis Grace when they were alive, and didn't approve of their marriage, but she loved Arianna like her own child every day of her life.

"Yep," Arianna reached over and swiped a cookie out of the dessert case.

"And then you'll be back here for only two more days, not three like normal?" The schedule was all thrown off with her birthday celebration.

"Yep." Arianna munched on the cookie. Aunt Lilly helped a customer. Arianna waited, knowing she only had a few more moments left before she would actually have to leave. To her, Lilly was the definition of normalcy and comfort. In Arianna's new night human world, sometimes she just needed normal.

"Did you have a nice birthday?" Lilly asked, turning back to Arianna.

"You mean after the council meeting, where they bombarded me again about finding more keepers?" Arianna replied.

"Again?" Lilly reached over and tucked a piece of Arianna's hair out of her face.

"And they think I should get a fiancee," Arianna added, waiting for a reaction to mess up that perfect exterior. Arianna loved her aunt more than anything, but it was always fun to try to do things to get her to be less perfect. Lilly smiled at the approaching customers and helped them with her perfect smile.

"Now that's a topic I didn't expect to approach for at least a few more years. I thought taking Turner as your keeper would be enough to keep everyone off the subject of marriage." Lilly was calm about the situation.

"A few more years?" Arianna was shocked. "I want to go to college, be a young adult in the world, not married. I just want them to stop, and here you agree with them." Lilly began to laugh as she played Arianna as much as Arianna played her. As her real smiled faded back into her fake smile, Lilly sighed.

"I agree. Why can't they just let you be a kid for a little bit? Oh, and on that, thought," Lilly reached under the counter.

"I'm not a kid," Arianna pouted.

"No, you're not," Lilly replied, handing Arianna a small wrapped package. "Happy birthday, sweetie. Hope this one was better than the last."

Arianna took the box and kissed her aunt's cheek. "Thanks," she replied before opening the box. The wrapping came off easily and Arianna dug in the packing chips. At the bottom of the box was a keychain with one car key on it. "A car?" Arianna began jumping up and down. "You really got me a car?" She ran over and hugged her aunt again.

"Hey, some of us need to breathe," Lilly complained. Arianna loosened her grip, but kept smiling at her aunt. "Now you can't drive it until you pa.s.s your test, but it'll be parked out back until then." Arianna nodded. She turned to leave, but ran back over to give her aunt another hug. Lilly patted her back and returned to helping another customer. It was one year ago that her aunt had planned to be Arianna's sacrifice in the dearg-dul changing ceremony. As Arianna began to walk away, Lilly called out to her. "You better go upstairs before heading to the party. Someone has been waiting to talk to you."

Arianna walked back through the diner, stopping to hug Dean and thank him also. Mary Ellen or Tish, whoever stopped by, could wait a few minutes to celebrate with her.

"It's nothing too fancy. I've spent a few hours fixing it up so it should run perfect. But you still can't be running around without anyone knowing, okay kiddo?" Dean said before pushing her on her way through the diner's crowd. "Now, have a lovely time with your uncle." Dean had taken to the baku much better than Lilly had.