Author's Note: Hello! I am loving how this story may turn out. I'm not sure what exactly the danger will be, but it will hopefully be amazing. Like I promised earlier, this will be smutty goodness. :D I apologize if the characters are OOC. I don't have a lot to work with, considering that I had three books to get to know Chloe and them and only a book for each set of characters from the Dark-Hunter/Dream-Hunter series (I haven't read all the books yet). Here's what's going on. Since you all (readers who are familiar with my work) know that I hate Aunt Lauren. So… she's dead. Don't worry, Chloe isn't upset about this. She felt betrayed and hated her Aunt. Don't question it, it just works for this story. She died during the breakout from the EG headquarters. Chloe and gang escaped, but they never found Kit. They are going to be looking for him within this story. Oh yeah, and Chloe and Derek didn't share the kiss at the end of The Reckoning (you'll see why). They are really close friends basically, and they still do the "staring contests". Plus, Derek never got the note from Simon. There never was a note. Don't worry. This is a Chlerek story, like I said earlier, a smutty Chlerek story.

P.S.-Chloe doesn't stutter in this story. I found it kind of annoying and don't want to write it in. =)

Sooooo…Hope you all like it. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong, nor do I own the Dark-Hunter/Dream-Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Marked Mates

Decisions and Road Trips

CPOV

We were at the library, looking at the information that Tori had found at the headquarters. It contained information on all the experiments and it also held a few surprises. It stated that Tori and Simon were half brother and sister. That went over fairly well. Simon just nodded and said something along the lines of "knew it" and Tori looked horrified then she accepted it and moved on to the other information. It also gave a clue as to where Kit was hiding. The Edison Group was under the impression that he was somewhere in New Orleans.

"New Orleans?" Derek asked. "Why would he be there?"

I knew the answer. New Orleans was a topic covered by Diriel, the demon from the EG headquarters. "Ummm…Because New Orleans is a supernatural hotspot." Everyone turned to stare at me.

"How do you know that?" Tori inquired.

"Well, at the lab, there was a demon, and since I'm a necromancer, we, um, we talked…about a lot of things." Everyone was staring at me, wide-eyed. "She helped me to cause the distraction to get out of my cell. She said that New Orleans was big hotspot for the supernatural and that there was a place called Sanctuary. It's a place that's neutral. Everyone who goes there is under the protection of Nicolette Peltier. Oh ,and she's a werebear. The front part is a biker bar and upstairs and behind it, is a supernatural hospital of sorts."

"Oooooooookay." Simon breathed. "I guess we know where to start the search for dad."

Derek rubbed the back of his neck, which did interesting things, like make his muscles get bigger and his shirt to ride up a little, exposing a little of his eight pack.

I started to stare. Luckily I was brought out of my trance by his next statement. "I guess we're going to New Orleans."

"How?" Tori the party-pooper.

I had an idea. "Okay, here's what we can do. We'll get as much money out of my account as possible. We'll go around to different ATMs and pull out money. When we have enough, we'll catch a bus on the other side of town. We'll go down to New Orleans and we'll go from there."

"Sounds good." Approval from Derek. Wow. Maybe I was getting through to him.

"How much do you think that we'll need?" Simon asked.

"No clue, but we need to start collecting."

We went around to all the ATMs we could find. In the end we ended up with five thousand dollars. We bought our tickets and boarded the bus. I ended up sitting next to Derek, and I wasn't complaining. We had gotten close, really close. We had dealt with so much together. I wanted more, but I wasn't sure if he wanted the same thing. Oh, well…for now. I fell asleep against his shoulder, smiling, knowing that I was safe for the time being.

I woke up and saw that it was early morning. I was in no hurry to move, so I just sat there and relaxed, enjoying Derek's warmth…around my shoulders. What the… I realized that I was practically glued to his side with his arm around my shoulders. I looked up and realized that he was asleep. Finally! He had been pushing himself to stay awake for the past few days and he was so tired. I smiled. He looked so peaceful. The ever present scowl was replaced by a look of utter contentment. Huh. Did I do that? Probably not, but it was a nice thought. I looked across the aisle, to where Simon and Tori sat. They were sound asleep, leaning on each other, snoring. I smiled again and snuggled in to Derek, going to sleep.

I woke up sometime later, sitting up and stretching, causing Derek's arm to fall off my shoulders. I glanced over at Simon and Tori. They were still sleeping and snoring. I glanced over at Derek…who was blushing.

"Derek? You okay?"

"Sorry." Now I was confused.

"For what?"

"Ummm, my arm…around you. Sorry."

"Why are you sorry for that?"

"You were cold, so I put my arm around you to keep to warmer, but I didn't ask if that was okay first."

I chuckled. "Thank you."

Now it was his turn to be confused. "What?"

"Derek, it's fine. I was cold and you were helping out a friend. Thank you." I leaned over and kissed his cheek. When I pulled back, he wore a surprised expression, then he smiled and shifted in the seat to get more comfortable.

"So…" We filled the time by talking and enjoying each others company, laughing and goofing around.

It took us three days to get to New Orleans, most of which was used to catch up on missed sleep.

When we arrived in New Orleans it was past eleven at night. We were walking down to street, when we passed an alley. As we were walking by, someone stepped out in front of us. Derek growled and took a defensive stance.

The man was tall and he had an aura about him that screamed danger. Chloe felt a pressure in the back of her skull, similar to what she felt when there was a body somewhere near by, but it was different. The man was dead and yet he wasn't. Then it clicked. Vampire.

"Well, well, well." He sneered. "A werewolf, a witch, a sorcerer, and…a necromancer. Tasty." This situation went from really bad to horrific.

Three others stepped out of the alley, flanking the man. "Time for dinner boys."

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Review please. Pretty please.

I may update again tonight. I'm sorry the chapter was so short. I just thought that it was a good place to leave off so that the chapter wouldn't end up being horrendously long. Lots of things in store for the next chapter.