h.e.l.l, he just wanted her.

Knowing that he was close to f.u.c.king this up and making her want to leave for good, he pulled back and- Somehow found himself leaning forward and kissing the tip of her nose. As he pulled back, admittedly not to do the right thing, he realized that she was watching him through half hooded eyes and that her breaths were coming a little faster than normal. Releasing his hold on her hips, he raised his hands and gently cupped her face, barely aware that his hands were trembling as he lightly caressed her cheeks.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he whispered as he ran his thumb over her bottom lip.

"Is this another attempt to get me to stay?" she asked, sounding breathless as she leaned into his touch as though she couldn't help herself.

"G.o.d yes," he whispered, gently pulling her closer as he moved in and pressed a soft kiss against the corner of her mouth.

"What if I don't want to stay?" she asked, reaching up and placing one of her hands over his, curling her fingers around his palm and holding it where it was.

"Do you?" he asked, leaning in and pressing a kiss against her bottom lip, loving the way she shifted on his lap, but loving the little startled gasp she released when she realized that he was hard, even more.

"Want to stay?" she clarified on a s.e.xy little whisper that had his c.o.c.k straining against his jeans to get inside her. Reaching up with her free hand, she ran her fingers through his hair until she had the back of his head cupped in her hand and was able to keep him right where she wanted him. Licking her lips, she leaned in closer until their lips were barely touching and said, "Not on your life, Hoodie."

"Little liar," he said with a chuckle as he dropped his hands away from her face, letting them trail down her sides and hips until he was cupping her bottom.

Leaning back just enough so that he could watch her reaction, he used his hold on her and pulled her closer. The movement caused her to gently grind against his erection. Her lips parted on a soft moan, her hold on him tightened as she arched her back slightly, putting more pressure in that one move that had him running his tongue over his teeth to stop his fangs from dropping.

The scent of her arousal had him biting back a groan even as he gripped her a.s.s and ground her more forcefully against his erection. She was so d.a.m.n wet, he could smell it, could hear it and it was driving him out of his f.u.c.king mind. Every time she moved against him, more of her juices rushed to coat her core, preparing her for his invasion and he'd never smelled anything sweeter.

He groaned long and loud when Cloe took over, hesitantly grinding herself against him at first as though she wasn't quite sure how they'd got to this point, but seemingly helpless to stop. Every time she rubbed against him, her movements became less stiff and more sensual, making his c.o.c.k swell to the point of pain and his breaths come faster.

Cloe wrapped her free arm around his shoulders as she cupped the back of his neck with the other hand, using her hold on him to grind herself against him harder. With each flex of her hips, the scent of her arousal became stronger, her breaths became soft pants as little moans and needy whimpers escaped her. When she licked her lips invitingly, he leaned in and finally covered her lips with his.

The kiss turned hungry and out of control within seconds. He sucked and licked her tongue, not caring that he was probably f.u.c.king this up and should be taking this slower to seduce her properly, to make this good for her. It had been over fifty years since the last time that he'd tried to seduce a woman and it showed.

He couldn't get enough of her, of the way that she tasted, the way she moved against him, the sweet smell of her s.e.x, the feel of her hand running over his bare chest or the way that she held his hair in a death grip as she returned his kiss just as desperately, like she'd die if he didn't f.u.c.k her soon. When she moaned his name, his hips shot up against her, earning a strangled gasp as her head dropped back and she licked her lips in pure pleasure even as she continued to grind against him.

Struggling not to come, he wrapped his arms around her and gritted his teeth as he pressed his forehead against her chest. This was too much. It felt too f.u.c.king good, too f.u.c.king good to have any hopes of staying in control, he realized with a touch of fear. She wrapped her arms around his head, holding him where he was as she continued to ride him, continued to drive him out of his f.u.c.king mind and unfortunately for her, awakening another hunger that he had no hope of controlling........

Not with her.

Her scent was so much stronger now, thicker, causing his breaths to come a little faster as he desperately searched for a breath of untainted air so that he could clear his head and gain some semblance of control, but with each breath, her scent saturated his lungs. He was losing control, so f.u.c.king fast and heaven help him, but he didn't want to stop it.

"Christofer," she gasped on a strangled moan as she felt her body clamp down, searching for something, anything to hold onto as- Christofer suddenly stood up, which wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that as he did it, he shoved her away, causing her to fall back and land on her a.s.s. Dazed, she sat there trying to figure out what just happened as Christofer finally said the one thing that she'd been waiting all day to hear as he stumbled past her.

"Get the h.e.l.l out of here."

"What are you-"

"Get the f.u.c.k out of here!" he roared, taking her by surprise and causing her to jump back as she struggled to get to her feet to do just that when he suddenly grabbed his stomach.

"f.u.c.k!" he snarled as he stumbled forward a few feet and dropped down on his knees.

Forcing herself to ignore the way that her body still trembled from his touch and the painful ache between her legs, she rushed over to his side as her training kicked in. He was sick, most likely from the diner food that he shouldn't have eaten and he was embarra.s.sed, not that she could blame him. Losing your lunch during a heavy make out session was probably a life-altering event, one that she was secretly relieved that she hadn't been forced to experience.

"Christofer, let me get you a-"

"Run!" he snarled, but that wasn't what had her stumbling to a stop or struggling to take her next breath.

It was the bright red eyes glaring up at her that froze her on the spot and had her heart racing. This couldn't be happening, not now, not again. Swallowing back a scream, she staggered back, her eyes never leaving Christofer's face.

"This can't be happening," she mumbled, barely aware that she'd said the words as she continued to stumble back when her mind was screaming at her to run and get the h.e.l.l out of there.

"f.u.c.king run!" he snapped, giving her a good view of a set of fangs that had her heart pounding in her chest. It also gave her the wakeup call that she needed to make her finally turn around and run away.

Unfortunately, by then it was too late.

Chapter 18.

Williams Mansion "I want a c.o.ke," Izzy sighed pathetically even as she smiled down at the three little boys curled up next to her on the nursery floor, fast asleep.

Her baby boy, Chris Junior, affectionately known as CJ, was curled up next to her on the soft Winnie the Pooh blanket that Madison had laid out earlier. Madison and Ephraim's twin boys Deven and Hunter were fast asleep on her other side, curled up next to each other with a plush Eeyore doll between them. A soft snore drew her attention to the corner of the nursery where Marc was fast asleep with little Jessica in his arms.

She really didn't know what she would do without him. He was such a sweet kid, always helping her, watching after Jessica and the boys without having to be asked. He never complained about Jessica following him everywhere or constantly demanding his attention. No matter what he was doing he would immediately stop when Jessica demanded his attention. It was really sweet....

And something that she needed to put a stop to, soon.

Guilt was tearing Marc apart and no matter what they said or did, he wouldn't let it go. It wasn't his fault, none of it was, but he couldn't see that. He took the blame for her injury, Jessica's scar, what had happened to Joshua, everything. He spent every minute of the day trying to make up for what happened, exhausting himself to the point that he was making himself sick.

They'd all tried to talk to him, to explain to him that none of it was his fault, but he wouldn't listen. He thought he'd failed and he was doing everything that he could to make up for it. He was losing weight, had dark circles beneath his eyes and she couldn't remember the last time that one of the babies had woken up crying, because Marc refused to leave them. They'd barely get the chance to open their mouths to let out a healthy cry and Marc would be there with a bottle and a clean diaper to take care of them and make sure that the adults were able to work and sleep throughout the night, undisturbed.

Ephraim and Chris had banned Marc from the nursery at night, telling him to get some d.a.m.n sleep, but the kid never listened. As soon as his father and brother went off to patrol the town or had a meeting, he would sneak right back in the nursery. He'd give into Jessica's demands and snuggle up with her in the rocking chair or on the floor where he would watch over the younger children for the rest of the night.

It was too much for a young child to bear and she was going to put an end to it just as soon as she figured out how to get through to the kid. The problem was, every time that she tried to talk some sense into Marc, he wasn't able to look past her injury to hear what she was saying to him. Most of the time, it would actually make matters worse. He would get a tormented look on his face when her injury made itself known and storm out of the room, only to double his efforts to make it up to her.

What she wouldn't give to hear Marc give one of them a smart-a.s.s remark or find him slacking off and playing video games. She would love to see him- "What the h.e.l.l?" she murmured when an unexpected chime brought her attention back to the laptop perched on her lap.

"You've gotta be kidding me," she mumbled in disbelief as Tattletale opened a file to the left of the screen and then systematically grabbed every file, image and video that it could match to the image that it had found and grabbed from Facebook less than thirty seconds ago.

She watched in disbelief as old grainy images were posted in doc.u.ments only to be cleaned up seconds later. Handwritten script and typed doc.u.ments appeared beneath the pictures in what appeared to be German and a few other languages that she didn't know. Before she could even consider running the doc.u.ments through an interpreter program, Tattletale was translating everything in the blink of an eye even as it continued to search the internet, grabbing government doc.u.ments, personal doc.u.ments, bank account information, immigration doc.u.mentation, only to finally end with another chime as it made its last match against the Sentinel blood supply system, letting her know that there was nothing left to find.

Not that she needed anything more, not with this much information. She hadn't expected to find anything when she'd started her search a few hours ago, mostly because of her father-in-law, who'd never stayed in one area long enough and had constantly changed his name to avoid discovery. She'd a.s.sumed that other Pytes would develop the same habits, to keep people from noticing things like the fact that they didn't age, but apparently there was at least one Pyte who didn't give a d.a.m.n about keeping his ident.i.ty a secret.

Christofer Petersen, better known as, Christofer Herrmann according to the SS file opened on the right side of her screen, didn't appear to be trying to hide what he was at all, she realized. Swallowing back a curse, she picked up her Sentinel phone and swiped her finger across the screen. A split second later she unlocked the phone with a code, praying that it wasn't too late.

Townson, Ma.s.sachusetts "Stop!" Cloe screamed as she struggled to break free, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d wasn't letting her go.

His arms tightened around her, constricting her breathing to small gasps as she struggled to shove him away, but it was impossible. No matter how hard she tried to push him away, there was no give. The grip that he had around her was suffocating her to the point that each hurried breath her body desperately tried to take in pulled in less oxygen. Black spots were already dancing along the edge of her vision, but she wasn't sure if that was because of the constrictive hold that he had on her or the blood that she was losing, the blood that he was taking from her.

She hadn't been given the luxury of confusion or disbelief when he'd attacked her and sank his fangs into her neck. The pain of those sharp teeth tearing through the flesh of her neck hadn't allowed any delusions. The memories of having her back sliced open all those years ago had also taken over, forcing her to acknowledge what was happening to her.

Christofer was the thing nightmares were made of and right now he was gorging on her blood as she struggled to shove him away, but it was no use. The hold he had on her wasn't allowing her to shove him away. He had her arms trapped between their bodies and no amount of screaming, scratching, shoving or trying to yank her arms free worked. She used her legs and tried to move, to kick him, knee him, push off the floor to try and shove him away, but she couldn't move, not with him lying on top of her the way that he was.

"Christofer, stop!" she gasped, struggling in vain to break free from his hold only to have his arms tighten around her to the point that she thought her ribs were going to break and breathing became a thing of the past.

Then it hit her.....

She was about to die.

The realization should have triggered tears, panic, prayers for help, pleading for another chance, making promises to do whatever it took to save herself, but instead all it did was p.i.s.s her right the h.e.l.l off. This had to be a f.u.c.king joke. After everything that she'd gone through this was really how it was going to end?

She couldn't believe that she'd survived h.e.l.l, lost her family, struggled to survive, lived her life always watching over her shoulder, careful about who she let get close to her only to be attacked and killed by the only man that she had stupidly allowed herself to believe made her feel safe and protected. It was just so G.o.dd.a.m.n wrong, her mind registered as she bit down hard on his bare shoulder and dug her nails as far as she could in his chest, needing the action to get through the next few seconds when the b.a.s.t.a.r.d violently shook his head, tearing into her throat.

She ignored the agonizing pain, the blood pouring down her throat forcing her to swallow or choke, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d on top of her, and the fact that she was going to die. She put every last ounce of energy that she had into biting down harder and digging her nails in as far as they would go, deciding that if she was going to die like this that she would inflict as much damage as she could to the a.s.shole on top of her. Right now she hated him more than anything, even the monsters that had killed her family, because he'd made her feel safe and it had all been a lie, an illusion that she'd foolishly believed when she'd known better.

Now she was paying the price.

Why hadn't she left the first night when he'd made it more than obvious that he hadn't wanted her there? She should have just called up the agency, arranged to have someone replace her and found another job. It would have been quick and painless for everyone involved. For any other job she would have done just that, but there was something about Christofer that had grabbed her attention and held it.

At the beginning she'd told herself that she was staying to help Marta, but that had been a lie. She hadn't stayed because of Marta no matter how much she liked the older woman or how much she wanted to help her. She'd stayed because of the man that she'd met in the pharmacy, the one that had made her smile, eased the fear that ruled her life.

She'd stayed for herself.

She'd been drawn to him from the start-even when he'd been a jerk, she'd still craved being around him. She'd wanted more of it, needed it and she'd been willing to tell herself a thousand and one lies in order to get it. Needing someone, anyone, was dangerous and something that she'd never allowed herself until the day that she'd walked into that pharmacy and sat by a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.

A choked cry escaped her as she felt his teeth tear through her throat. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut as she used every last ounce of energy that she had to dig her nails further into his skin and bite down harder on his shoulder, hoping, h.e.l.l praying, that he choked on her blood. If he thought that she was going to go quietly then he was wrong.

She might be quickly fading away, but she wasn't going to go easily. She was going to keep this up until she pa.s.sed out or he realized that he was hurting her and released her.

Then she was going to kill him.

She might not have been able to stop the monsters that had killed her family from hurting someone ever again, but if she got the chance, she would do that with this monster. She'd end this here and now if she was given a chance, but as her energy began to drain, her hands trembled and the effort to bite down became too much, she realized that she wasn't about to get that chance.

Her eyes flickered open as her body went boneless. She stared aimlessly ahead, barely seeing the ceiling hovering several feet above her. The sounds of Christofer growling as well as the sounds of her choppy breaths coming too quickly slowly muted out until all she could hear was a soft humming noise. The pain of having her throat torn open evaporated, leaving her feeling oddly numb and tired.

"Cloe?" the choked whisper drew her attention to the beautiful blue eyes staring down at her in horror. "Oh.........G.o.d........."

It was funny, she thought as everything slowly faded away, all the times she'd thought about dying and how it would happen, she'd been right.

She'd always been destined to die in the arms of a monster.

Chapter 19.

"Don't f.u.c.king die on me, mein Schatz," he whispered harshly, shifting his attention from the blood soaked towel he had pressed against the side of Cloe's neck to the alarm clock by his bed.

"Come on......come on!" he growled, waiting impatiently for another minute to go by and when it did, he couldn't help but sag with relief.

"Thank f.u.c.king G.o.d," he mumbled, pressing a quick kiss against Cloe's cold forehead as he placed her on his bed, gently laying her down as he stood.

She was deathly pale, her heartbeat was sluggish, he'd taken too much blood and her throat had been viciously ripped open, but he couldn't help but feel relieved. Somehow she'd made it to the ten-minute mark after consuming his blood, something that had never happened before. Whenever he'd been forced to watch as some unsuspecting volunteer received his blood he'd always kept his attention on the large clock hanging on the wall across from his cage, counting down the minutes as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

Before the clock managed to tick off ten minutes, the foolish volunteer who had been lured to his doom with promises of immortality and unimaginable power had been screaming in pain, begging for help and eventually praying for death. While the doctors had stood around, taking notes and clearly frustrated that their plans had failed again, he'd sat in his cage, torn between relief and horror that people reacted so violently to his blood. Those experiments had made it impossible to deny what the doctors had claimed the moment that he'd opened his eyes to find himself locked up in a small metal cage and chained to the bars.

He was a monster.

He was also a freak accident, one that couldn't seem to be repeated no matter what they tried. The only thing that they'd managed to reproduce was a horrifying death. This time shouldn't have been any different, but somehow Cloe had managed to escape the violent death that his blood should have delivered.

Not that he was going to complain. She had a chance and he was going to make sure that she took it. He didn't care what he had to do to make it happen. After rushing to the bathroom to grab a small stack of facecloths, he shoved his keys in his pocket, replaced the blood soaked towel with the small pile of facecloths and gently picked Cloe up. He was careful not to shift the cloths away from her wound that was barely bleeding any longer, not a good sign, but for the moment he ignored the implications and moved his a.s.s.

He headed for the back door, shifted her in his arms and opened the door, praying that he was able to- "I have your........," Seth started to say as soon as Christofer yanked the door open only to let his words trail off as his gaze fell to the bleeding woman in his arms before shifting back up to his face. Seth closed his eyes in resignation and shook his head with a sigh as he murmured, "Please tell me that you really didn't mark that b.i.t.c.h."

"Whoa!" Seth snapped, holding his hands up in surrender as he backed away quickly only to manage to stumble over the coolers that he'd stacked near the backdoor.

"What did you just call her?" Christofer demanded between clenched teeth as he descended on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, barely aware that the monster inside of him was struggling to take over and rip the vampire's throat out.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Seth rushed to explain, getting back to his feet and moving to put some distance between them.

"Then what did you mean?" Christofer snapped, moving to go after him when the sound of a small groan drew his attention back to the woman in his arms, reminding him that he had more important matters to deal with than a p.r.i.c.k with a death wish.

"Where the h.e.l.l are you going?" Seth demanded, moving quickly to his side, deciding that a peek at Cloe was worth the risk of having his throat torn out.

"To the hospital," he gritted out, praying that the precious seconds that he'd just wasted wouldn't- "You can't do that," Seth snapped, quickly moving in front of him to block his path.

"Watch me," Christofer said, stepping past the vampire and heading for his truck.

"No," Seth said, once again blocking his path, his hands held up, but this time to stop Christofer, "I mean you really can't do that."

"She's dying," Christofer bit out, losing the tenuous hold he had on his patience as he tried to move past the determined vampire only to once again find his path blocked off.

"Then let her," Seth said, shooting nervous glances around the poorly lit yard.

Let her die?

Not f.u.c.king happening.

He'd been forced to watch a lot of people die over the years and he wasn't about to add Cloe to their ranks. She deserved better than this and he would do whatever it took to make sure that she got it. He'd royally f.u.c.ked up, lost control and he'd be d.a.m.ned if Cloe was going to pay for that. He'd promised himself that he was going to take care of her and that was exactly what he was going to- "She's been f.u.c.king marked!" Seth shouted, placing his hands on Christofer's arms where they cradled Cloe and shoved him back.

"I don't have f.u.c.king time for this!" Christofer shouted back, the sounds of Cloe's heartbeat slowing down even further, making it harder with each pa.s.sing second not to give into the monster inside of him, but he fought it with everything that he had.