Due to what he was, he had a stronger allure to women. He was like a Venus flytrap, luring in its prey, moments before snagging it and draining the life from it. Though he did not kill anymore, the powerful lure was still there, ever present, and unable to be turned off. This draw had pulled in a good amount of the female population in town, and had also caused anger and resentment toward Cassie to fester. They wanted what she had, and they did not like the fact that she had it.

And the boys did not like the fact that she had rebuked them all, disdaining their advances over and over, and then accepting his. Their pride had been wounded, their ego’s bashed, and they were not happy about it. Though many of them had never liked him, they had also turned on her now. Anger curdled inside him. He did not care what they thought of him, but she did not deserve their disdain and spite.

His protective urges surged forth. He wanted to take her from here, shelter her from the cold anger that radiated from them. Protect her from the inane cruelty of the foolish human race. However, he knew that he could not. Though his life was not tied up in these people, and this school, hers was. She had to live out this part of her life, had to fulfill her dreams and her hopes, and her future. Unfortunately, he had caused her this pain, and he wanted nothing more than to take her away in order to keep her safe from it.

“Ridiculous,” Chris muttered.

Devon glanced over at him as he pulled Cassie a step closer, wrapping his arms tenderly around her waist. Chris met his gaze, his eyes distant and far older than they had been yesterday. Devon was shocked by the expression in those eyes, and the hopelessness that filled them. He didn’t know what had happened to Chris between yesterday and today to cause such a change, but he was certain that it was far worse than what was going on with the student body now.

Cassie shrugged, her fingers curled into his back. “It’s alright,” she said softly. “Let them believe what they want.”

Melissa sighed heavily and bent into the car to grab her backpack. “They’re a bunch of jealous idiots Cass.”

Cassie bit into her bottom lip; her eyes were troubled as she managed a brief nod. “Well, whatever they are, I don’t care. I never wanted to be homecoming queen anyway.”

“We know.”

Cassie and Melissa exchanged a small smile before Cassie turned to look up at him, her eyes gleaming with a teasing light. “I won’t make you coordinate, but you probably will win king.”

Devon started, his hands tightened upon her. He glanced back to where Marcy still stood, tuning his ears in order to hear what they were saying. He had to sort through all of the background noise before pinpointing the exact conversation. It took him only a second to do this, but no human ever could. It was not within their capabilities. Only one of his kind would be able to pick up the conversation, and Cassie most definitely was not a vampire. The sweet blood pumping through her veins was a constant, tortuous, tempting reminder of that fact.

He glanced back down at her. Her head was resting trustingly against his shoulder, her hand on his waist. She could not have heard that conversation, it was impossible; it was only a coincidence that she had mocked Marcy’s statement.

“Marcy always did want it though,” Melissa said softly.

“Yes,” Chris agreed.

“And now she has it. Good for her, she’ll do better with it than I would.” Cassie uncurled her hand from his waistband as the bell rang loudly, echoing throughout the parking lot. “Time for school.”

He gathered her books from the roof of the car, tucking them beneath his arm as he led her into the large brick building. Students stopped to watch as they passed, they whispered loudly behind their hands. Melissa walked beside her, her shoulders thrown back proudly, her dark eyes raking over the worst offenders. Many of them shrank from her scathing glare.

Cassie walked proudly beside him, her chin thrust defiantly forward. She stared straight ahead, not bothering to look at anyone else. If it weren’t for her death grip upon his hand, he would have thought that none of this affected her at all. But her tight hold, and the small tremor wracking her, told him that she was hurt by the cold hostility of her classmates.

It took all he had not to destroy every one of them.

***

Cassie walked stiffly through the cafeteria. She tried to ignore the whispers and comments that followed her, but most people were not discreet. In fact, she knew that every one of them wanted her to hear what they had to say. And none of it was good.

She had been called every name in the book today, a few of which she had never even heard of. Titters and whispers preceded, and followed, everywhere she went. Though she tried to play it off as if it didn’t bother her, inside she was a mass of raw emotion and seething nerve endings. She had never been hated before; she had never expected to be hated. Disliked, maybe, but not hated.

And she was hated. It beat against her in waves of anger that made her stomach turn, and her body ache. She hadn’t thought that people could turn against someone so quickly, and so effectively. And she didn’t even know what she had done wrong. Mark had attacked her, not the other way around. She had done nothing to merit this treatment, and because of that fact she was swinging between fierce bouts of anger, and trying hard not to cry as she struggled to keep up a nonchalant appearance.

Her hands shook slightly; she had to take a calming breath in order to steady her tray. She was greatly relieved that Chris was already at the table, his distant gaze scanning the crowd. Dropping her tray on the table, she slid limply into the seat beside him. His tray was loaded with mounds of food that he had not touched yet, which was highly unusual for him.

“You look exhausted,” he said softly.

“Rough day,” she muttered, shoving the tray away from her. She wasn’t in the least bit hungry; other than habit she didn’t even know why she had bothered to stand in line.

“And these are the people that you want to stay and protect.”

Her eyes widened at the cynicism, and anger, in his voice. “Chris.” He turned toward her; the bleak look in his eyes was almost more than she could bear. “They need us,” she finished lamely.

“And they are showing you that need now.”

“Chris, you wanted to stay too.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before I saw into what is out there, before I saw into a soul of pure malice and deviance. Before all these people turned against you like a pack of rabid, hungry hyenas.”

She was stunned breathless for a moment, too shocked to move. “You want to leave?” she managed to choke out.

His hard gaze scanned the cafeteria one more time. Finally, his shoulders slumped as he shook his head. “No, I don’t want to leave. I don’t understand what is going on with everyone, but we have to protect them. I know that, I’m just aggravated with these idiots.” He turned back to her, his hand clasped hers tightly. His action caused the buzz in the cafeteria to increase, becoming a dull roar in her ears that was impossible to ignore. “But I also caught a glimpse of what that monster is out there Cass, and all it wants is to play with us, torture us, and then kill us. There is no stopping that kind of determination.”

A chill swept down her back, her hand tightened around his. She could feel the fear that ran through him. What he had seen last night had changed him. It had permeated his bones, seeped into his soul. Her hand tightened around his, trying to give him strength as she sought desperately to ease the pain he radiated.

“We can,” she said more firmly than she actually felt. “Together, we can do anything Chris. We have survived so much, we can, we will, survive this.”

“When did you become the optimistic one?” His smile was wan, but she saw an easing in his eyes that relaxed her slightly. She laughed softly as she leaned against his side.

“How many men does she want?”

Cassie turned at the nasty hiss, her gaze locked fiercely with Marcy’s. Deliberately, defiantly, she lifted Chris’s hand and squeezed it harder. She turned slowly back around, trying to control the anger humming through her body as she focused on Chris again.

“Sure you want to stick around?” Chris’s eyebrows were raised inquisitively, a teasing light reappeared in his sapphire eyes. No matter how awful this day had been for her that gleam in his eyes made it all worth it.

“I’m sure,” Cassie replied, grinning brightly.

“Jerks,” Melissa muttered slamming her tray on the table. “Bunch of idiotic, useless, jerks!”

Cassie and Chris grinned at each other before turning toward Melissa. Her jaw was locked tight; her eyes spit black fire as she glared around the cafeteria. “Tell us how you really feel,” Chris said, issuing the first laugh Cassie had heard from him all day.

Cassie chuckled along with him, squeezing his hand tighter. He was going to be alright, she was certain of that now. Whatever he had experienced last night had rattled him greatly, but he was going to be alright. His spirit was too strong to be beaten down for long. Devon was suddenly behind her, his hands gently grasped her shoulders. Relief poured through her, her tense shoulders sagged as he gently massaged her. She turned toward him as he bent over her, brushing a quick kiss on her cheek. His breath was sweet and tantalizing; it warmed her to the tips of her toes.

His eyes darted to the hand tightly entwined with Chris’s on top of the table. Lifting a questioning eyebrow, he turned toward Chris. Cassie stiffened slightly, unsure how Devon would handle her connection with Chris. He knew that they were friends, but he probably didn’t realize just how good of friends they were, or how strong the bond between them was.

“Trying to steal my girl?” he inquired, his tone far lighter than Cassie had expected from him.

Chris grinned back at him, snorting slightly as he shook back his shaggy blond hair. “No worries there she’s too much of a pain in the ass for my liking.”

Cassie shot him a fierce look as he released her hand. He grinned back at her before eagerly pulling his tray over to attack his tuna fish sandwich. Devon chuckled softly as he slid into the seat beside her, turning sideways to face her. A dull flush of excitement crept through her as he leaned toward her, his closeness causing her body to heat.

“How are you doing?” he asked softly, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck to massage her gently.

It took her a few moments to answer, as the thump of her heart made speaking difficult. “Fine,” she murmured.

And she was surprised to realize that with Chris’s smile, Melissa’s unwavering loyalty, and his solid presence, she was fine. Nothing else mattered, not the cruel whispers, not the waves of anger and hatred, not even the monster that lurked within their town. As long as she had these three standing beside her, she could survive anything.

She hoped.

CHAPTER 20

Cassie’s stomach curdled as if she had eaten something rotten. A ball of nausea had wedged itself into her throat, choking her. She leaned over the counter, breathing heavily, her gaze locked upon the large headline before her.

THIRTEENTH PERSON REPORTED MISSING FROM HYANNIS.

Her blood pumped heavily in her veins, feeling almost painful as it lumbered through her system as she read the article. The woman had gone missing from a bar on Main Street; no one had seen her since. And they probably wouldn’t again, Cassie realized with a sinking sensation in her stomach.

It was smart, whatever was out there it was smart. It was definitely covering its tracks. And it was their fault that it was still out there killing, destroying innocent people, and their families. It was her, Chris, and Melissa’s responsibility as Hunter’s to protect the innocent, and they were failing miserably at the task. Thirteen was far too many people, and these were only the ones that had been reported, and weren’t already reported as dead. There were probably even more that had gone unreported, that had no one out there to love and miss them.

Her hands trembled as she closed the paper, her gaze darted to the bright day beyond the kitchen windows. The bright sunlight was completely out of place with the emotions rolling through her. It should be dark out, cold, foreboding. It should match the hollow chill that had encased her from head to toe.

Taking a step away from the counter, she began to move slowly from the room when something about the article clicked into her mind. Turning slowly back, her throat went dry; her heart seemed to stop beating as her legs became suddenly shaky, wooden. She reached out quickly, grasping hold of the counter before she fell to the ground.

She inhaled great, heaping gulps of air in an attempt to ease the shaking that wracked painfully through her bones. She was trembling so hard that the teeth rattled in her head. Her gaze went slowly back to the paper. It now seemed malevolent to her, awful, wrong, out of place in what used to be the warm comfort of her kitchen.