Struck by Lightning - The Bond of Mates 2

by believer76

Sequel to Struck by Lightning 1 and involves a romance between Chris and Lyn. Need to Read SBL 1 first in order for it to make any sense.

Struck By Lightning

The Bond of Mates 2

By Claudia L. Thornton

Author's note

This story takes places just a couple of months after Chris and Evelyn have met.

Chris knocked on the door of Lyn's apartment as nervous as hell for he knew that the time had come to tell Lyn that she had been dating not a human man as she had thought but a vampire out of myth and legend.

Chris thought about the last couple of months of his life and knew that the day he had met Lyn had been the day his world had drastically shifted.

Meeting Lyn had been the best thing that had ever happened to him and that included being turned into a vampire. Sure he loved Jasper and Bella and would be forever grateful that they had been there the night he had been hurt so badly by that mugger, but meeting Lyn was like he had come home and he was sure that Jasper and Bella would agree if he told them his thoughts.

The door to Lyn's apartment opened suddenly pulling Chris out of his thoughts. "Hey, there, Chris," said Asher, Lyn's longtime friend and roommate. "Lyn's not quite ready to go yet, but should be soon. In the meantime why don't you come in."

Chris entered the apartment and looked around unnecessarily as he knew every corner and as a vampire he never forgot anything.

"So what time do expect to bring Lyn home tomorrow?" asked Asher who was a handsome man with reddish blond hair and clear blue eyes.

"I'm really not sure what time it will be," said Chris being vague on purpose. "My sister and sister-in-law have something planned although I'm not sure exactly what it is."

That last statement was untrue as of course he knew. It wasn't Bella or Sofia that had planned to bring Lyn over to the Whitlocks house so she could be told about vampires and explain why he had started dating her in the first place and Chris really hated lying to the man as he was a good guy and genuinely cared for Lyn, but it was necessary. Telling Asher that Bella and Sofia had invited Lyn over for a sleepover so they could get to know her a little better was just an excuse so that Asher wouldn't worry about her when she wasn't home by a certain time.

"I'm assuming they'll be doing girl stuff," said Chris. "You know painting their fingernails, doing their hair, that kind of thing."

"I don't want to know," said Asher holding up his hands as if to physically prevent Chris from elaborating further.

Chris laughed at that, "Yeah I agree with you as we are men and we don't have to know what goes into making a girl even more beautiful then she was to begin with to appreciate the results."

"Exactly," Asher agreed with a grin.

Lyn came out of her bedroom then with an overnight bag in her hand dressed casually in jeans and a simple blouse. Lyn was beautiful or at least she was to Chris. Lyn had blondish brown hair that was mostly straight but was curled at the ends and it was just long enough to touch her shoulders and eyes of a brilliant green. She had a pert nose, a round face and a long slender neck that made Chris salivate and want to bite her and give her a mating mark, but could not until after she was changed as the would start her transformation into a vampire.

"Ready to go?" Chris asked his girlfriend as he walked over and took her overnight back from her.

"Yes, I'm ready to go," said Lyn cheerfully never happier then when she was with Chris. She wasn't sure when it had happened but she knew that she loved Chris with every atom of her body and that he felt the same way about her. How she had gotten so lucky after what had happened with her last boyfriend she didn't know but she definitely wasn't going to question it either. Little did she know that her whole life was about to change drastically in just the next few hours.

"Let's go then," said Chris taking Lyn's hand in his free one trying to not show how nervous he was with what he was about to reveal about not just himself but his family.

"I'll see you when you get back," called Asher as he watched the two of them walk out the door hand in hand.

"Bye Ash, see ya," Lyn called before the door of the apartment closed.

"You okay, Chris?" Lyn asked as Chris hadn't said a word since he had helped her into his car.

"I'm fine," Chris assured her seeing to come out of whatever deep thoughts he was thinking and back to reality when Lyn spoke to him.

"You're just kind of quiet is all," said Lyn trying not to appear nervous for if Chris was acting strangely she had every reason to be as nervous as hell.

"Sorry I was just thinking about a few things is all," Chris explained with a small smile.

"About what?" asked Lyn.

"About our future together," Chris answered honestly.

Lyn tried not to gasp at Chris's answer for it was said so matter-of-factly that it took her a moment to absorb it. "What about it?" she finally asked curiously as well as a little nervously.

Chris was silent for so long that Lyn thought for sure that he wasn't going to answer and when he finally spoke quietly but so intensely it made her jump. "Lyn, there are some things you need to know about me and my family before our relationship can go any further. If you can't accept it once you are told then our relationship will be unable to continue."

While what Chris said was technically true what he didn't say was that if she didn't accept that she had been dating a vampire who drank human blood and agree to become one then Jasper would be forced to either change her against her will or to kill her, neither of which he or any of his family wanted as they had all come to love Lyn and also because they knew what it would do to Chris they were forced to end her life. The thing was though that while the rest of the family would miss Lyn if they were forced to kill her, her death wouldn't be the end for them while he on the other hand was a different story altogether. It would almost literally kill him if Lyn died which was almost laughable considering he was immortal, but he also knew with absolute, unshakable certainty that if she was dead he would ask Jasper to kill him for he could not survive without her and would not want to come to that.

"What could be so bad that it would force me to end our relationship?" asked Lyn feeling confused.

"I'll let Jasper explain," said Chris his voice calm while on the inside he was shaking so hard that he was surprised his whole body wasn't as well.

Lyn opened her mouth to ask another question but Chris held up a hand and Lyn's mouth snapped shut before she would utter a sound. "Please, Lyn, don't ask me anymore questions right now. After Jasper has explained our family's secret to you then you can ask me all the questions you want and I will do my best to answer each one as best I can or you can tell me to go to hell."

Lyn stayed silent as she thought about Chris's words for a few minutes. "It must be some big, really serious secret if you are afraid I'm going to tell you to go to hell once you are done with your explanation," said Lyn trying not to let her nervousness which had just increased tenfold.

"It's probably the biggest secret out there," said Chris fervently refusing to say anymore for the rest of the ride.

When they got to the Whitlock house not more than ten minutes later Lyn was as tense as a bow string that was getting ready to be fired and watched as Chris got out of the car and came over to the passenger side to open the door for her just like he always did but Lyn immediately noticed that he seemed to be even more distracted then he had been on the drive here.

"Come on let's go inside," said Chris taking her soft, warm hand in his. He knew to the bottom of his soul that this might be the last time he ever held her hand or kissed her so he was going to enjoy it while he could in case things went south.

The two of them entered the house with Chris holding the door open for Lyn just like he always did and Lyn felt as if she was entering the belly of a beast willingly for some inexplicable reason. Perhaps it was the tension that was radiating from Chris as they walked together to the living room where the rest of the family was waiting or perhaps it was because Chris and his family had some kind of big secret, a secret that was so huge Chris had never said anything about it at all until now. Perhaps the family was in the witness protection program, Lyn speculated silently. But no that couldn't be it for if it had been that Chris wouldn't have been radiating so much nervousness and tension.

"Why don't you both take a seat," said Jasper looking more serious then Lyn had ever seen him as she had been over here a lot in the last couple of months and gotten to know all three members of Chris's family.

"What in the hell is going on? You act as if this secret you have is so highly dangerous that it could cause the world to end," Lyn demanded once she was sitting down Chris beside her. Instead of laughing like she expected them to she saw all four people exchange looks as if silently communicating and then Lyn felt herself calm down for some unexplainable reason when she had been upset and agitated just moments ago.

"In a way you were right when you said we act like we have a highly dangerous secret," Jasper his voice calm but Lyn could tell that he was tense and that his eyes were wary.

"Could you please tell me what is going on? If this secret you have is so dangerous why are you going to tell me?" asked Lyn.

"Chris," was all Jasper had to say in order for Chris to rise from his place beside her on the couch and for him to come kneel in front of her.

"The reason we are willing to tell you our secret is because you have to know," Chris began.

"Why do I have to know?" interrupted Lyn feeling very confused.

"Because you see Lyn, I love you, I have loved you from the first moment I saw you on that park bench and I looked in your eyes. I knew right then that I had to get to know you even though at the time I didn't realize I already loved you and even though I didn't know your name. As I sat on that park bench across from you I was trying to figure out a way to introduce myself and wondering why I was so attracted to you as we hadn't even officially met."

Lyn was stunned by Chris confession that he had loved her from the first moment he had set eyes on her. "What does this have to do with your family's secret?" Lyn finally managed to ask although her voice was choked with emotion.

"Well if you are eventually going to become part of this family then you need to know our family's secret as it will be impossible to keep it from you. Also you will soon understand why it is important that you don't tell anyone and that includes Asher."

"And if I did tell someone?" Lyn demanded not sure she wanted to know the answer as Chris's face was deadly serious which was a look she had never seen him wear before and scared her more than anything else ever had and that included her former boyfriend Gerold.

"Then we would have to kill you and whoever you had told," Jasper spoke up causing Lyn to jump as she had forgotten that there were three other people in the room since she had been totally focused on Chris.

Lyn looked over at Jasper and noticed that his face was grave, his expression neutral and that he had a deadly serious expression in his bluish grey eyes that gave her the screaming willies and made her gulp knowing that Jasper was not joking in the least.

"I'm not sure I want to know if the secret is so deadly that you would have to kill me and anybody I told if I didn't agree to keep it," Lyn said quietly fidgeting nervously.

"If you really mean that then I will have to end our relationship here," said Chris his expression beyond pained, but he was resolute.

"Don't be so hasty, Chris," said Bella gently speaking for the first time since Lyn had entered the living room. "Let's give her a few minutes to process what we have told her before you make any irreversible decisions."

"You're right," Chris acknowledged sending Bella a grateful look. As Lyn looked between the two of them she had the feeling that Bella had just stopped Chris from doing something that he would come to regret but wouldn't be able to reverse and from also breaking her heart even though it was clear that he wouldn't want to. This secret was apparently so important that Chris would have broken up with her in order to keep it even though it was clear just from his expression that it was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do, but would have done anyway.

Lyn took a deep breath and studied the expressions of all four people in the room. All four of them were deadly serious including Sofia who hadn't said a word doing this whole thing but was obviously there in order to support her brother.

"All right I swear I will not say anything to anybody, including Ash," Lyn said having come to a decision. She had decided just in the last few minutes of tense silence that she loved Chris to much to let him go without a fight and she'd be damned if she would let some monstrous secret separate them.

Lyn looked around the room and saw that Chris, Sofia and Bella were still as tense as coiled springs and finally she turned to Jasper last and noticed that he seemed to be studying her intently as if trying to read her very soul. When Jasper finally relaxed the tension went out of the room so fast that it was almost as if somebody had stuck a pin in a balloon and popped it. Apparently Jasper was one in charge and when he had relaxed so had everybody else. Lyn assumed that Jasper had been trying to determine if she was telling the truth by reading her body language and the intonation of her voice and when he had finished doing that he had relaxed which told the rest of the family that she was telling the truth and caused the tension to go out of the room. Well most of the tension anyway as there was still some although it was nothing compared to just a few minutes ago. She could tell by how stiffly and straight backed the family sat that although a great deal of the tension had dissipated some remained still and probably would until they told her their secret

"Tell me Lyn, have you noticed anything odd about Chris in the two months you've known him?" asked Bella calmly. This was apparently Bella's part of the program, Lyn thought a little whimsically.

"What kind of things?" asked Lyn a little confused but willing to play along for the moment.

"You tell me," Bella suggested not giving Lyn any clues into what she was looking for.

Lyn thought about it for a few minutes and started to remember several odd things about Chris that she had pushed into the back of her mind. When they had started to date they held hands everywhere they went and Lyn immediately noticed that no matter what the temperature Chris's hand was always cold and so were his lips and and cheek when they kissed. At the time she had put it down to poor circulation but come to think of it the whole family had the same cold skin and none of them were related by blood except for Chris and Sofia so it couldn't be a family trait. Also when they went out to restaurants Chris didn't hardly eat anything and always left a plateful of food. At the time she had just put it down to the fact that he wasn't hungry or the fact that he just didn't like the food, but come to think of it, it hadn't happened just once or twice but every time they had gone out to eat and yet Chris looked as healthy as a horse nor did he seem to have lost weight. Several more incidents that had seemed only a little weird at the time, like when they had been enjoying a walk in the park after having lunch and Chris had suddenly stiffened for what had seemed no reason, yet when Lyn had questioned him asking what was the matter he had changed the subject aptly and had made her forget all about the incident although she had stored the information in the back of her mind with everything else odd about the man she loved. The strange thing was that each incident taken separately didn't really mean much, but taken all together it added up to quite a nice little mystery.

"I see you have remembered something," Bella suggested speaking for the first time in more then ten minutes.

"Several things actually," Lyn admitted.

Bella raised an eyebrow in silent question and Lyn took that to mean that she was to continue. "Well," Lyn began running a hand through her hair nervously for some reason feeling like she was about to walk even further into the beast's den then she already was.

"I hadn't put it all together before until you made me think about all the odd little things that don't really mean much taken separately."

"Like what?" Bella prodded gently.

"Like the fact that Chris's skin is always cold no matter the temperature and at the time I put it down to poor circulation or some other medical condition..."

"But?" Bella prodded again able to tell that Lyn was very uncomfortable and nervous and didn't really want to continue this line of thought and that was without her husband's talent.

"But then I remembered that all of you have cold skin and since none of you are related by blood except for Chris and Sofia it seems impossible that all of you could have the same kind of medical condition that causes that," Lyn said her brows wrinkling in thought. "Also whenever Chris takes me out to eat somewhere he hardly eats anything at all and always leaves most of his food behind and yet he looks as healthy as a horse and doesn't appear to have lost weight from eating so little at every meal. Come to think of it," Lyn added looking thoughtful, "I haven't ever seen any of you eat either except for the cookies the first time I came to visit and since I've been over here a lot in the last couple of months you would think that I would have seen you all eat something at least once in all that time."

"Is that all you've noticed?" Bella questioned gently.

"Well the one other thing I've noticed is that all of you just don't walk normally across a room you kind of move like you are stalking something."

"And have you come to any conclusions on what all these oddities mean?" asked Sofia speaking for the first time since Lyn had entered the house.

"Not really," Lyn admitted. "I thought maybe all of you were some kind of aliens that just naturally had cold skin, moved like a predator and couldn't eat human food, but when I looked up a list of known alien species none of them that visit earth regularly match the odd things I've noticed about him and about you."

"Have you ever read any kind of legends or myths?" asked Jasper speaking up quite suddenly.

"Sure, who hasn't," Lyn answered wondering what this line of of questioning was leading to.

"What kind of legends have you read about?" asked Sofia.

"Well I read a lot of Greek and Roman mythology when I was ten or eleven," said Lyn but could immediately tell that this was not the answer they were looking for by their expressions which did not change.

"I've read legends about how some Native American tribes believe if you disturb the bones of their dead or desecrate their sacred burial grounds that you will be struck dead or made to pay a hundredfold for disturbing their dead's rest. I've read stories about how some Native American people are shapeshifters and can change into any shape they want at will. I've read myths about werewolves and how some people believe that they are real even if there really isn't any proof of it or about any of the things I've mentioned existing at all except in someone's warped imagination."

Lyn stopped talking as she noticed that Chris's family expressions had gone from unreadable to being readable all in the space of a few seconds when she had mentioned the shapeshifters and werewolves legends which she took to mean she was on the right track, but not quite there yet. Suddenly all the evidence, the odd little things that she had noticed about Chris crystalized in her mind suddenly and she knew with absolute certainty what her boyfriend and his family were. Vampires! She was in a house full of vampires! How she had never realized it before she didn't as all of them had been dropping clues left and right. She started to panic but then suddenly felt calm again as if someone from outside herself was influencing her emotions. Once her emotions settled she began to really think and process all she knew about Chris and his family. One: they had never harmed her and in fact had gone out of their way to make her feel like one of the family. Two: they had had dozens of opportunities to drain her not to mention Asher dry in the last couple of months and yet for some reason they hadn't. Three: the reason Chris never ate much when they went out to dinner or bought popcorn at the movies. Food must taste like shit to him if he and his family drank human blood for a living not to mention she was sure that whatever he ate would have to be brought back up later or would just sit in his stomach like a stone. Four: the reason that Chris and his family moved like predators was because that was what they were. Five: the reason Chris and the rest of the family's skin was always so cold to the touch was because technically they were dead and so wouldn't have any body heat.

The big question though at least in her mind was if she was right and Chris and his family were vampires like in the legends she had read, why didn't they have red eyes or a whitelike pallor to their skin and why had they not killed her and instead had become family to her? Also if they were what she thought they were why had they bothered to tell her their secret which Jasper had been right in saying at the beginning of this conversation that it was likely the biggest secret out there.

"I see you've figured it out," said Jasper calmly as he saw the knowledge in Lyn's eyes.

"I think I have," Lyn answered just a little apprehensively. Okay, scratch that little and add a lot and you would understand exactly how she was feeling at the moment. Her stomach felt as if it had a whole colony of butterflies that had taken up resident and the sweat dripping off her was enough for her to bathe in. "The question remains though if I'm right in what I am thinking you are why have you told me? I would think that keeping what you are and even that you exist a secret would be vital."

"And what do you think we are?" asked Chris speaking for the first time since he had told Lyn he loved her.

"I think you are vampires," Lyn said boldly wondering immediately if she had made a mistake in verifying what they all knew she had figured out.

"Give the lady a prize," said Sofia just a little sarcastically.

"Sofia," said Jasper the tone of his voice immediately making Sofia shut her mouth. "This is not the time or place for sarcasm."

Sofia nodded looking contrite and a little ashamed of herself.

"As to your suspicions as to what we are you would be correct that we are vampires," said Jasper, calmly.

"But..." Lyn stuttered a bit, "from all the legends I've read vampire have red eyes and a whitelike pallor and you have neither."

"Ah," said Jasper understanding where Lyn was coming from. "Well, you see the explanation for that is that sometimes after you are changed into a vampire you develop a talent or a power depending on whatever your strongest trait was as a human. Me, I'm an empath and can feel other peoples emotions and not only feel them but affect them as well."

"It was you that stopped me from panicking a few minutes ago," Lyn said catching on immediately. "And earlier when I said I would keep whatever I was told a secret you were reading my emotions to determine if I was telling the truth or not and when you relaxed everybody else did to."

Jasper nodded in confirmation of Lyn's words looking as proud as any father would of his daughter for figuring it out so fast, but all he said, "Exactly, once you weren't panicking and able to think logically you realized that whether we are vampires or not we aren't going to hurt you which is why I have not had to use my power on you again."

Lyn considered that and tried to figure out whether she should be mad that Jasper had used his power on her or grateful. Finally after thinking about it for a few minutes she decided she should probably be grateful for he had stopped her from panicking and that meant that he had probably stopped her from more than likely doing something stupid as a result as people who were panicked often did stupid things.

"What this is leading to," Jasper continued as soon as he had felt Lyn's emotions even out and settle, "is that Sofia has the power of illusion and while she can't do anything about our cold skin or the way we walk she can change the color of our eyes and give our skin a slight flush which makes us at least look human."

"And at least this means we don't have to wear contacts or sunglasses whenever we go out in public," said Chris.

Lyn absorbed that silently for a moment then asked the question she had been dying to ask all along. "The question remains why tell me at all? Or even why did Chris bother to date me at all."

"I'll take this is you don't mind, Jasper," said Sofia softly.

"Of course, Sofia," said Jasper giving her a smile which told her that she was forgiven for her earlier sarcasm.

"Lyn think about if for a moment," Sofia began rising from where she was sitting and coming to sit of the other side of her. "If you have read all the legends about vampires you probably know that our kind don't need to sleep at all."

"Some of the legends said as much while others said that vampires can turn into bats, sleep in coffins and can't go out in the daytime," Lyn admitted.

"Well some of those legends are obviously untrue," said Sofia, "but the point I was trying to make a minute ago is that our kind doesn't sleep, and doesn't age from the time of the transformation. In other words we are pretty much immortal. Now imagine being immortal and not wasting seven or eight hours every night sleeping what would you do with the time?"

"Try to keep as busy as possible," Lyn admitted.

"Exactly," Sofia said in a tone of approval. "Now you must remember that vampires were once human and just because we are now immortal, drink blood in order to survive, have very enhanced hearing, seeing, smelling and strength capabilities, does not mean that we are not just as capable as a human of falling in love."

Lyn absorbed that for a minute then nodded as it made sense.

"Now, imagine for a moment that now that you are a vampire and that you have certain instincts."

"Such as?" asked Lyn with a raised eyebrow.

"Well normally when one of our kind is around is a human it is very hard to not immediately drain that human dry," said Sofia.

"Then why have you never drained me or Ash for that matter?"

"Because all of us in this room are old enough to have control over our bloodlust," Sofia answered simply. "Vampires must remain nothing more than myths and legends and the human race must never discover that our kind is real as that would be bad for the humans and probably for us as well. Think Salem Witch trials, or the Benderari massacre if a lot of humans found out about our kind."

Lyn thought about that for a few minutes then finally nodded.

"So far whatever humans have come up with weapons wise wasn't meant to harm our kind but that could change if humans discover that our kind exist."

"Sofia," Jasper said softly and Sofia looked at Jasper and nodded going to sit back down after reading his expression.

"Lyn, vampires have been around a long time, much longer then even the legends claim," said Jasper. "In all the centuries our species has existed we have had to learn to blend into society. A lot of our kind are nomads wandering from place to place stealing whatever they need in order to survive. Others of our kind live in covens for mutual protection, but again live outside of society and in the middle of nowhere. There are a very few of our kind however that interact with humans more then is normal for most. We go to the movies, to the mall, to a nightclub and everything else a human does."

"But how is it that no human has ever discovered what you are if what you are telling me is the truth," Lyn questioned having a hard time believing that they could just go to a movie or a mall and people not notice that they were different.

"Lyn unlike you and a very few others most humans avoid our kind whether or not they realize why," Jasper explained gently. "Most of our kind do not develop close friendships with humans and we are mostly solitary by nature although there are exceptions to every rule. Just think how people reacted when you and Chris went to a movie or out to eat."

"Most of them avoided us," Lyn realized.

"Only if I wasn't disguised as a human and that was only if Sofia wasn't here to use her illusions when I had a date," Chris added.

"And even those that had to interact directly with us acted as if they would rather be anywhere else," Lyn finished her train of thought. "Even the waiters and waitress at restaurants got away from us as soon as they could as if they were badly afraid of us even though there was no reason for them to be."

"Exactly and now you know at least in part why our kind has been able to remain myths for the most part."

"But the question remains as to why tell me?"

"Oh for god sakes haven't you figured it out yet," said Sofia sounding exasperated. "I would think it would be obvious that Chris and you are mates."

Jasper immediately shot Sofia a look and she shut her mouth.

"Chris, if you would," said Jasper, his tone calm, but his eyes were worried which made Lyn wonder why Jasper was so worried. Was she worried about her reaction to all this information or was it something else?

"Lyn I was going to do this a little later once you had had time to absorb what you had been told, but because of my sister's big mouth I am going to go ahead and say this now," Chris said calmly shooting his sister a look making her hang her head in shame.

Lyn nodded and waited for Chris to continue, "What Sofia blurted out rather abruptly is also true we are mates. What that means is from the moment I saw you I knew that there would never be anyone else for me even if I searched in every corner of the world."

Lyn was shocked beyond words for a moment even though she knew that she shouldn't be for this whole conversation had been leading up to something big, something that she had somehow instinctively known would change her life drastically if only she was brave enough to step up and take it.

She loved Chris with everything in her and it didn't matter one jot that he was a vampire as she still loved him and always would, but on the other hand what did that really mean for her. Jasper had meant it when he said that he would be forced to kill her if she ever told anyone that they were vampires and that they were real even if it was the last thing in the world that he wanted. Keeping the secrets that vampires were real was so vital that Jasper or any of them would kill in order to protect their secret and somehow that thought didn't disturb her like it probably should have.

"Could you please explain to me what exactly being mates mean and what are the consequences of it?" asked Lyn a little tentatively.

"Jasper you know more about being mates then I do could you please explain it to Lyn as I don't want to mess it up," Chris asked Jasper who nodded.

"Evelyn," Jasper began gravely, "it's like this. There are certain aspects of being a vampire in which we are very like animals. Some animals live on instinct their whole lives in order to survive in the world in which they are born. An animal's instincts to protect their young for example is very strong depending on the species. Well, vampires are the same way especially when it comes to finding one's mate. When a vampire finds their mate and that mate is human the only sure way to know if you have a mating bond is to bleed in front of said vampire. While Chris was very attracted to you from the second he saw you at first he figured it was just an infatuation or a crush, but when you got that bee sting and that single drop of blood welled up Chris realized that he was feeling attracted and very protective of you for a reason. When a human and vampire are supposed to be mates most of the time the vampire doesn't know it as technically you are food and also because a lot of the time the human doesn't bleed in front of a vampire. When a vampire finds a mate whether human or another vampire we feel a powerful tug from within our bodies centering around that person. Also we get the urge to protect that person whether human or vampire with our lives. The more time a mated couple spends around each other the stronger the mating bond becomes until eventually it is almost physically impossible to be very far from your mate at all and if you ever do get more than a couple of hundred miles apart it is like your soul was ripped in two."

Lyn listened to Jasper's explanation her brain trying it's best to process what she had been told.

"Unlike Chris though and as I told Bella a long time ago she had a choice as to whether or not she wanted to be mated to me simply because at that time she was still human."

"What do you mean?" asked Lyn.

"Well when a vampire finds a mate it is irreversible, but if that mate is human then the human has a choice as to whether they want to continue the relationship or to break it off."

"And what will happen to Chris if I did decided I didn't want anything to do with vampires or be the mate of one?" asked Lyn somehow knowing that she wasn't going to like the answer in the least.

All four vampires in the room looked at each other and Lyn looked at all four of them and saw their expressions which were ones of extreme sadness and grief. None of them needed to say anything at all for Lyn to realize that if she told Chris to never come near her again he would continue to live a kind of half life, but only until her death and then he would probably die as well. If the four vampires expressions were any indication at all losing your mate was probably like losing half your soul. Come to think of it the way Jasper had explained it, it sounded like when a vampire found a mate it wasn't just an ordinary love but almost like the souls of vampires who were mates intertwined until you couldn't tell where one person began and the other ended. How she, Evelyn Lisa Alcott had found someone who loved her so much that they would probably put themselves in danger in order to protect her was beyond her, but she certainly wasn't going to run away, not that she would get very far before they found her. Probably not even to the front door, Lyn thought with just a tinge of humor. Sure Chris was a vampire and sure he drank human blood for a living, but Lyn had always been of the mind that you did what you had to do in order to survive as almost any species had strong survival instincts.

"What does that mean for me?" asked Lyn trying to appear calm even though she wasn't.

"It kinda depends," said Chris.

"On what?" asked Lyn her tone curious.

All four vampires in the room looked at each other again and a message seemed to pass between them so silently and swiftly that Lyn began to wonder if perhaps they could read each other's minds.

"Well," Chris began slowly as the other three vampires disappeared into other parts of the house. Lyn was sure that they could still hear every word, but at least this gave them the illusion of privacy. "I was sort of, kind of, hoping that you would agree to marry me. I know that finding out that vampires are real is a lot for you to absorb as I know how I felt when I found out that such creatures existed and weren't just legends, myths or someone's overactive imagination..." Chris continued in a rush as if trying to get the words out before he lost his nerve, "but I love you and I have from the first moment I set eyes on you even before that blasted bee stung you..."

"Chris, shh," said Lyn putting a single finger over his lips in order to get him to stop talking. "I love you to and although I am still trying to absorb the fact that my boyfriend is a bloodsucking vampire out of legend I know how I feel about you. You being a vampire doesn't change the fact that I love you or that I know you are what I have been looking for all my life. So in case you were wondering where this was headed." Lyn added almost shyly which wasn't like her at all, "that was a yes to your rather abrupt proposal of marriage."

Chris's whole face lit up and it was almost like the sun coming out at Lyn's response, "You mean it?"

"Of course I do," said Lyn as stood on her and gave Chris a rather serious kiss that by the time she released him from it so she could breathe it left no doubt in Chris's mind that she had meant what she had said.

"You've just made year," Chris told her as he hugged her as tightly as he dared as he didn't want to crush her.

"Only your year," Lyn teased him.

"Really, you've just made the rest of my existence much more bright."

"So how old are you really?" asked Lyn biting her lips nervously suddenly thinking that he could be five hundred years old.

"Well let's see I was twenty when I was changed and I've been a vampire for twenty-five years so technically I am forty-five years old.

"You are eighteen years older then me," said Lyn looking as if she had just realized that she had just agreed to marry someone who was almost twice her age although she was relieved that it wasn't more than that.

"Technically that is true," Chris agreed as he took Lyn into his arms and held her close to him, "but one thing you probably don't know about vampires is that for most of us change comes slowly which means that however mature I was at the age of twenty is how mature I am now. I won't deny I have changed some in the last twenty-five years, as living a life on the edge of society will do that to you, but not enough to not be your perfect match. Besides to a vampire age doesn't really mean much as we always look the same and also the mating bond never would have formed if we weren't meant for each other."

"But I will continue to age," said Lyn finally saying what had been on her mind for the last few minutes.

"Lyn," said Chris raising her chin so he could look her in the eyes. "I thought you understood that when you agreed to marry me that you would not be staying human."

"You are going to turn me into a vampire?" asked Lyn as for some reason the the idea had never occurred to her that they would be turning her into one of them although she knew it should have as Chris would kill himself when she died.

"Of course, but only if you agree to it for as much as I want to spend the rest of my existence with you I will not force you to go through the process as it is extremely painful."

"But afterwards I would be like you?"

"Yes, exactly like me and we would have centuries to spend together and do anything we want," said Chris. "You don't have to answer me right now since I know you need time to process what you have heard," he added. "So why don't you think about it for at least a day before you give me an answer."

"I don't have to think about it," Lyn told him giving him another kiss. "The answer is yes I will go through the process of becoming a vampire. I love you so much that I can't imagine my life without you in it and I know that if I stayed human and when I eventually died of old age you would find someway to kill yourself."

The look on Chris's face was priceless after he had taken in Lyn's words.

"And yes I am well aware that was never specifically discussed," Lyn added dryly although her expression was pained as she continued, "but the looks on the faces of your family when I asked about it was enough to tell me what would probably happen."

Suddenly there was a laugh that turned into a cough from somewhere and Chris glared in the direction it had come from but didn't say anything.

"Perhaps you should get some sleep, Lyn as I'm sure you are tired and it is getting late," said Chris.

Lyn looked at her watch and realized that it was just after midnight and that this discussion had taken from just after lunch to now and that meant almost twelve hours which seemed incredible to her that so much time could have passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Suddenly the energy seemed to run out of Lyn like water and she could suddenly hardly stay awake.

"Here, let me take you to the guest room," said Chris picking her up and carrying her up the stairs at super speed.

"Stay with me," Lyn mumbled already more than half asleep as she instinctively snuggled up in Chris's arms her head laying against his stone shoulder.

"If that is what you want," Chris said softly turning down the bed and placing Lyn gently under the covers after removing her shoes and socks. Once Lyn's shoes were off Chris took his off as well and climbed into bed beside his mate perfectly content to hold her in his arms for the rest of the night while Lyn snuggled up to him instinctively flinging one arm over him and then tangling their legs together until it was almost impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.

This is heaven, Chris thought as he buried his face in Lyn's neck and breathed in her scent which made his cock instantly stand at full attention. Silently Chris groaned and knew it was going to be a long night but he would have it no other way.

The next morning Lyn woke up slowly, so slowly in fact that she did not immediately realize that there was anybody else in bed with her but once she was awake enough she found that her arm was slung over Chris's body and her legs were intertwined with his so throughly that it was going to take some work in order to separate them.

"Good morning, sweetheart," said Chris looking into her eyes.

Lyn immediately noticed that instead of Chris's eyes being hazel they were ruby red and his skin was as white as marble but for some reason she was not afraid as she knew that Chris would never hurt her. Besides she had seen him with white skin before, but not the ruby red eyes as he had always worn sunglasses, whenever he had had the white skin and Lyn supposed that was because Sofia hadn't been around to cast her illusions, which probably would fade after a while.

"Good morning to you to," said Lyn giving Chris a long lingering kiss that actually left him panting for more.

Lyn giggled at the look in her fiancé's eyes, but then realized that if she didn't get to the bathroom immediately she was going to pee in her panties as she had to go in the worst way. "As much as I would like to continue this, Chris I'm afraid I need to use the bathroom."

Chris looked so sad that Lyn kissed him again but when she broke away she knew as much as she would like to continue kissing her fiancé for the next hour at least she had to get to the bathroom before she had an embarrassing accident. With a sigh of regret Lyn untangled her legs from his by herself as Chris was was being no help at all and she finally got them free a few minutes later.

"I'll meet you downstairs in half an hour," Lyn told him as she rose from the bed and headed for the bathroom so she could relieve herself making sure to take her overnight bag with her.

"So how was your night?" asked Sofia with a smirk as Chris emerged from his bedroom after having taken a quick shower and changed his clothes

Chris's goofy grin was all Sofia needed to know that his night had been just spectacular.

"I'm very happy for you, bro," said Sofia giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, sis, now all I have to do is give her the engagement ring that belonged to our mother."

Chris and Sofia had quite a few things that had belonged to their parents thanks to Jasper's foresight in asking Sofia if there was anything she wanted him to get from their apartment before they set it on fire all those years ago. Not only did Chris have his mother's engagement and wedding rings which he had made sure to keep safe all this time, but he also had some of his father's cufflinks. As for Sofia she had a necklace that was a diamond solitaire that would now be considered an antique and pretty valuable in this day and age and also her father's wedding ring and several bracelets all of which were real gold and gems and not costume jewelry.

"Do you think I'll be as lucky and find my mate someday?" asked Sofia looking a little sad as she knew that now that Chris was engaged and would soon be married their lives were going to change drastically. It wasn't that Sofia didn't like Lyn a lot, but it had always been just her and her brother and now they had to add Lyn to the mix.

"I know things are going to be different now that Lyn and I are going to get married," Chris told her giving her another hug, "but that doesn't mean I won't love you as much as I always have."

"But things will still be different," Sofia said simply looking a little forlorn and as if she had lost her best friend which Chris supposed in a way she had as he was now engaged to be married and once he was the main part of his attention was going to be focused on his wife.

"We'll still do things together," Chris promised his sister giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I knew things were eventually going to change when one of us found our mates," said Sofia with a sigh hugging herself. "I accepted that it wouldn't always be just you and me a long time ago, but that still doesn't make it any easier. I'll get over it and I am genuinely glad to see you so happy."

"I know, sis," Chris agreed with a smile. "Thanks."

A few minutes later Lyn came downstairs having showered and changed into the clothes she had brought from her apartment.

"Ugh, remind me to never sleep in my clothes again as it was very uncomfortable," said Lyn.

"Pretty soon you won't be sleeping at all," Bella joked having come downstairs right behind Lyn who immediately noticed that Bella's eyes had gone from brown to red just like Chris's. "By the way congratulations you two. I'm very happy for you both." Bella gave Lyn a hug being careful to control her strength so that she didn't hurt her.

"Thanks, Bella," said Lyn hugging her back. Lyn realized that her life had changed rather drastically and was going to change even more once she married Chris and was turned into a vampire.

"Good morning everyone. Lyn, I believe we have a few more things to discuss," said Jasper as he came into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a casual short sleeved shirt looking good enough to eat. Jasper was very handsome, but in her rather humble opinion he still didn't hold a candle to her Chris.

"Let me get Lyn some breakfast first, cowboy," Bella suggested. "You have to remember that she is still human and she does need to eat."

"You're right," Jasper acknowledged giving his wife a passionate kiss that made Lyn sigh almost silently for it was very obvious that Jasper and Bella were still very much in love and who knew how long they had been together.

"So Lyn what would you like for breakfast?" asked Bella.

"Oh you don't have to fix breakfast for me," said Lyn a little embarrassed at being waited on hand and foot even though her stomach growled just then reminding her that she hadn't had anything since lunch the day before. "I can fix my own."

"I don't mind at all as I don't often get to cook anymore and I have to admit I miss it sometimes."

"You still cook brownies, cookies and other things for all those shelters around the city," Chris reminded her.

"True enough but this is a little different as Lyn will be becoming part of our family."

"Which I assume is one of the things we need to discuss," said Lyn trying to not let how surprised she was that Bella cooked for all the homeless shelters around the city. She supposed she shouldn't really be surprised as Bella had to have something to do with her time since she didn't sleep or eat and she had also learned just in the couple of months that she had known them that they were some of the nicest, most compassionate people she had ever known and that was saying something as they were vampires.

"It is, but that can wait until after you have eaten something. Besides you won't get many more meals until you are changed so you might as well eat what you want."

Lyn had never considered that, but then she had only known about vampires for less then twenty-four hours so she supposed that wasn't really all that surprising.

"So what can I fix for you?"

"Just some eggs and bacon," said Lyn giving in as she didn't want to insult her host.

"It will be ready in a few minutes," said Bella moving around the kitchen at faster then normal human speed, but not so fast that Lyn couldn't tell what she was doing. "Why don't you sit down at the table and Chris here can keep you company. Besides I don't think you could drag Chris away from you right now even if we broke a vial of fresh blood right in front of his nose," Bella added the humor just brimming in her voice and in her eyes.

"I'll be happy to stay right by her side," said Chris with a very sappy expression.

Lyn tried not to laugh at Chris's expression, she really did, but she didn't succeed and her laughter rang out over the house loud and long sounding so happy and joyful that all the other people in the house smiled and knew in that instant that Lyn was going to add something to their lives

"Seriously though," said Chris his expression retuning to normal although he still radiated happiness. "Lyn I know you accepted my marriage proposal last night, but that was not the way I'd planned to propose to you." Chris dug into his pocket and brought out a ring box before kneeling on one knee in front of Lyn. "I had planned to take you somewhere romantic and propose to you there, but things didn't exactly work out like I had planned as they sometimes don't, but know what I said last night is true and I do love you with all my dead heart and you would honor me by saying yes to becoming my wife." Chris then opened the ring box and Lyn saw a beautiful and old fashioned diamond ring that was at least three carats. "Lyn this ring belonged to my mother and has been in my family for generations and you would honor me if you would wear it."

Lyn cut off Chris's flow of words with a kiss and when they finally broke apart Chris had a goofy grin on his face. "Is that a yes?"

"Of course it is, didn't I say yes last night?"

"Yes well you had a lot to absorb and accept last night to and so I was afraid you would have changed your mind by this morning," said Chris.

"I love the ring, Chris and I am honored that it used to belong to your mother as that means it has more meaning and history then any ring you would buy from a store," said Lyn, as Chris slipped the ring onto her finger where it fit perfectly as if it was made just for her.

Bella who had been forgotten until just then plopped down a plate of food in front of Lyn causing both Chris and Lyn to look up and Lyn to blush.

"There's no reason to blush Lyn," Bella told her soon to be daughter gently. "You will soon find that all of us are very affectionate and that is especially true between mated couples and the first few years are always very...intense."

"Does that mean Jasper and you are..." asked Lyn.

"Oh yes, Jasper and I have been mated for quite a few years now," Bella agreed twisting her wedding band around on her finger in an unconscious gesture, "but we can discuss that at some other time as Jasper is waiting."

Lyn nodded and finished her food quickly even though her stomach was in knots and she was suddenly very nervous for some reason. When she had eaten as much as she could and considering her stomach was rebelling on her she still managed to clean over half her plate before she pushed it away.

"Had enough?" asked Chris.

"It's not a matter of having enough it's a matter of not being able to eat anymore since my stomach is currently tying itself in knots."

"Nervous?" asked Bella the sympathy clear in her eyes.

"Extremely and I don't know why," Lyn answered honestly.

"Fear of the unknown," Bella suggested. "You did just discover vampires were real a little bit less then twenty-four hours ago and though you accepted it a lot easier then most people that doesn't mean that you still know what will happen in the future. A lot of people fear the unknown and that is even more true when you discover that the supernatural is real for the first time. I still remember how I felt when I discovered that vampires were real for the first time..." Bella seemed lost in memories her expression going from happy to sad to furious and then back to happy all in the space of a few heartbeats until suddenly she came out of her thoughts and pulled herself together. "In any case if you are done we should head into the living room."

Lyn nodded, beyond curious as to what Bella had been thinking about to make her expressions change so rapidly, but stayed silent and followed Bella and Chris into the living room where the discussion had taken place the day before.

Once they had all sat down in the living room Chris sitting beside her and Bella sitting beside Jasper the discussion began although Lyn immediately noticed that Sofia was not in evidence.

"Now I know you have some questions and I will answer as best I can," said Jasper, "but some of the things I have to tell you are going to have to wait until after you are a vampire as I don't want to have to repeat myself."

"Why?" asked Lyn as she gazed at Jasper who was the same handsome man that she had known for the last couple of months except that now his eyes were now ruby red and his skin white as Sofia's illusions had been either taken off or faded on their own.

"Because once you are through your transformation into becoming a vampire it is more then likely that you will not remember what I have told you as a lot of memories tend to fade during and for the first year after the transformation. You will be what we call a newborn and newborn vamps aren't exactly known for being rational for at least the first year of their existences sometimes longer."

"Why is that?" asked Lyn, curiously.

"Well, when you are transformed into a vampire your body goes through a lot of changes, but the main thing that causes a newborn to be irrational is that you will go from using just five or ten percent of your brain to using all of it. This increased brain capacity is what causes a newborn to act on instinct for at least the first three months."

Lyn absorbed that and Jasper gave her plenty of time to think about it as he knew that accepting that vampires were real was a lot to take in.

"What other changes can I look forward to?" Lyn asked finally breaking the silence.

"For one thing your skin will harden to the point that not much can penetrate it though there are a couple of exceptions which we can discuss later. For another your sight, hearing and sense of smell will drastically improve to the point that you will be able to see a bird up in the sky as clear as if he was only a few feet from you from over a mile away and you will be able to hear things from a lot further away then a human even if someone is whispering. Smells will also be much stronger."

"You will also be able to leap or jump a lot further then you can now and also run as fast as the wind for as long as you want as you will no longer get out of breath, get a stitch in your side or get tired," Chris added enthusiastically causing Lyn to laugh thinking that Chris vampire or not was just a typical boy when it came to stuff like that.

"True enough," Jasper said with a smile at Chris enthusiasm. "Also as you know you will not age from the time of your transformation and you will look twenty-two forever."

"Twenty-three," Lyn corrected. "My birthday is next month and since I don't think I will be going through the transformation before then I suppose I will look twenty-three forever...like that is really a burden," Lyn added with a bright smile thinking about the fact that her breasts would never start to sag or she would never get wrinkles, white hair, liver spots or any other number of things that came with old age. Also she would never lose her flexibility, or the strength in her limbs, get Alzheimer's or develop arthritis and she would never have to watch her weight to make sure she didn't get fat.

"Twenty-three then," Jasper repeated with a smile seeming to know exactly what Lyn was thinking and it was very possible that he did for Lyn was sure he was at least a hundred years old if not older and with that age came experience. "In any case there are also certain disadvantages and I'm sure you already know at least one of them."

"Having to drink blood in order to survive," said Lyn with a frown wondering how she would feel drinking from what was her own species and having to kill them in order to survive.

"Our family although we do have to drink blood in order to survive does not drain the innocent," said Bella speaking for the first time. "We do not go after children, old folks, or men and woman who are just trying to make an honest living."

"Then who?" asked Lyn frowning as she tried to think about who else there could be to drain.

"Criminals, Lyn," Chris told her gently. "Men and women who have gone out of their way to harm others. Kidnappers, muggers, murders, rapists, forgers, drug dealers, pimps, slavers and people who hurt or exploit children, just to name a few. And yes I am very aware that that they are still human beings, who have souls and therefore have a chance to change their ways, but most of them never take the opportunities presented to them to go straight and we do need to eat," Chris added seeing Lyn's expression. "Over the years my family and I have managed to save more then one poor girl from being raped and murdered by men who don't care who they hurt so long as their bestial urges were satisfied. Also we have saved a lot of children from being beaten, raped, abused or simply exploited in various ways."

"If killing humans disturbs you to much there is another way," Jasper suggested after a moment.

"How? And if there is another way why aren't you using it?"

"You could hunt animals, lions, tigers, bears, cougars, deer and others," Jasper said. "And the reason we don't hunt animals is animal blood is not half as satisfying as human blood," Jasper explained. "Although our kind can drink from animals it is much harder to maintain that diet and not attack someone innocent on accident. I did it for a lot of years and I'll explain why at a later time, but I struggled everyday to not attack an innocent person as the smell of a human's blood is like whatever your favorite food was as human. Not to mention depending on what kind of animal it is or whether or not it is a meat eater or herbivore tastes like shit," said Jasper making a face as he remembered drinking animal blood and what it had tasted like.

"So drinking from humans helps you have better control whenever you go out in public," said Lyn calmly.

"Exactly," said Jasper approvingly. "A scientist who studies the blood of animals and humans would be able to tell that while an animal's blood has what our kind needs in order to survive it is not as complex as human blood. I believe that human blood is so much more filling and satisfying then animals blood simply because vampires were once humans and it was what once ran through our very veins before we were changed."

"But don't you feel guilty for killing what used to be your own kind whether criminals or not?" asked Lyn curiously.

"Not really," Jasper said looking at Chris and Bella, "but then again each of us has been through something that has made us think that way and perhaps if our experiences had been different we would feel guilty about draining humans."

"You have to understand Lyn that most vampires are changed under rather violent circumstances," Chris explained. "For me it was a simple attempt at a robbery as Sofia and I were coming back from the library as we had been studying for exams. This guy comes out of nowhere as we are walking home and threatens to kill us if we don't give him everything valuable we have and that includes the necklace Sofia is wearing that was gift from our parents right before their deaths. Even after we passed everything of value over he was still going to rape my sister and make me watch and then kill us both," Chris explained his expression pained as he remembered. "Anyway back then just like now I would have done anything to protect her as she was the only family I had left and I was also prone to stepping into situations that could easily get me hurt or killed, but that was doubly true when it involved my sister. I lunged at him and for my trouble I was injured so badly, losing so much blood that I never would have made it to the hospital or if I had it was unlikely that the doctors would have been able to save my life.

"Jasper, Bella and my sister and I were already friends at that point and when they both showed up and offered Sofia a way to save my life although they did warn her that the transformation was very painful."

"But how did you know Chris and Sofia were in trouble in the first place?" asked Lyn. "And why did you reveal what you were to them anyway?"

"Because for one thing we had already become very good friends," Bella answered simply. "I was attending the same college as I had never had a chance to go to college as a human since I was changed at eighteen. My control over my bloodlust had always been good on the rare occasions I went out among humans, but this was a way to really test it. Sofia was the one that approached me and asked me if I was okay as I was standing with my back against a tree after the first class of the day was over. I needed to get away from all those humans and not because I was struggling with my bloodlust like you are probably thinking but because a vampire's sense of smell is very acute and I had to get away from the smell of body odor, shampoo, perfume and cologne as it was overwhelming to smell so many strong odors all at the same time. Not to mention the smell was strong enough to knock me out if that was possible for a vampire..." Bella explained before she finished the rest of her story.

"So you and Sofia actually figured out that your friends were vampires and yet you didn't try to tell anybody?" asked Lyn amazed.

"Well not only were they very good friends at that point, also they had never tried to do us harm and they could have on at least a dozen occasions. Beside even if we had said anything to somebody we never would have been believed us anyway and it's very possible that the story would have gotten out and we would have been ridiculed for it. Sofia and I didn't exactly have very many friends back then. Don't ask me why, but the other students tended to avoid us, either that or made fun of us."

"Now as to how we knew that they were in trouble..." Jasper began answering Lyn's other question. "It's like this..." and went onto explain all about his brother Peter and about how he had hunches, that were always right.

"So because you listened to Peter you were able to save Chris's life," said Lyn.

"I always listen when Peter tells me about one of his hunches simply because he is always so accurate that he should have been born a seer. In any case both Bella and I were already very close to the twins and we both felt like we had known them for years instead of just a few months by the time Chris was so mortally wounded."

"Making friends with humans is not really the usual thing for vampire or even going to college, but our family has always been a little different," Bella explained.

"I think I'm beginning to realize that as according to all the stories I've read vampires are mostly solitary creatures who also don't have any consciouses and don't care who they feed from," said Lyn.

"Well legends are legends for a reason," said Chris. "In other words some of our kind do that which is where the legends probably originate but also legends while having a grain of truth to them are also mostly pure fabrication or at the very least get distorted so badly over time that you never know what is the truth and what is not."

"True enough," Lyn admitted smiling a little. "I think that I am going to have to do some serious thinking about whether to drink human blood or animal blood."

"That's fine as it won't really be a pressing concern until right before your transformation so you had better make a decision before then," said Jasper calmly.

Jasper was almost always calm and collected, Lyn noticed, and she had never seen an occasion where he didn't know exactly how to handle any given situation but while he was the leader of his family Bella was the heart as she was almost always kind and went out of her way to help others including the humans that were her food source. It was strange to think that a bunch of vampires were actually more human then a lot of people who were humans themselves.

"Now there is something else all three of us need to discuss with you," said Jasper.

"What's that?" asked Lyn wondering what in the world it could be.

"Well when a new vampire is brought into the coven normally it is that vampire's responsibility to give them enough money to get started in their new life. Technically it was Chris who brought you into the world of the supernatural, but in this case when the time comes to turn you into a vampire it will be me that is going to do it so since I will be the one turning you into a vampire it is therefore my responsibility to make sure that all needs are taken care of."

"Such as?" asked Lyn trying to understand.

"Well it will be both Chris's and my responsibility to make sure that you don't make the humans aware of our existence. Chris's because he is your mate and me because I am the leader of this coven."

"Okay, may I ask why it will be you turning me into a vampire and not Chris?"

"Lyn, I would love nothing more than for you to have my venom running though your veins, but in vampire years I am still considered quite young and I'm afraid that if I get even a little taste of your blood I won't be able to stop draining you until you are dead," said Chris looking grief-stricken at the thought of killing her by accident. "I know that mates are not supposed to be able to harm each other, but I don't want to take the chance that I might kill you by accident. Jasper is much, much older then me and has the experience and control necessary to do the job without killing you."

"How exactly are vampires made?" asked Lyn her expression curious.

"It is almost the same as feeding from a human except that instead of draining you of your blood I will bite you in several different places at the pulse points and inject as much of my venom as possible into your bloodstream at each location. The more of my venom I inject into you the swifter the change will take place."

"And you said it was painful?"

"Let me put it this way, you will wish you were truly dead before it is over," said Chris with a grimace as he remembered his own transformation. "The venom will race through your body bringing your organs to a stand still and hardening your bones and skin until you are almost indestructible. Near the end of the transformation your heart will speed up so much that it is almost as if it is going to burst out of our chest and take flight, but then it will give just a few final beats and go still. Once that happens the transformation is over with but until then you will be screaming so loud that if we weren't out in the middle of nowhere then we would have policeman and maybe a mob at our door wanting to burn us alive."

Lyn grimaced at the thought of the pain that the transformation was going to cause but knew it would be worth it in the end if she got to spend eternity with Chris then man she loved with all of her still beating heart. "So when is this transformation going to take place?" asked Lyn.

"That is up to you to decide," said Bella, "although we can't afford to wait to long."

"Why?" asked Lyn.

"Because of the Volturi," said Chris. "They're like our government and they are very strict about humans knowing about our world. All of us could be in more trouble than you can imagine if they find out that we told a human about our world and didn't either turn them into a vampire immediately or killed them."

"But you knew beforehand," Lyn pointed out.

"That's a little different as Jasper and Bella didn't know that we knew, at least not for sure. If they had been sure that we knew they would have been forced to either kill us or change us. As it was we were changed anyway and not because they were forced to do so, but because they offered us that choice after I was so mortally wounded."

"We do have a little leeway because the two of you are mates and that relationship trumps all others in the vampire world. No it doesn't matter that you are human," Jasper said as Lyn opened her mouth to ask a question. "So long as we change you sometime in the next two or three months and keep our eyes on you in the meantime to make sure that you don't spill the secret then it should be okay."

"I would never—" Lyn began insulted.

"I know and so does everybody else in this family but the Volturi are not the very forgiving sort and the main leader Aro has this power so that all he has to do is touch you to read every single thought and memory that you have ever had," said Jasper

"Luckily they live in Italy and as long as they are not alerted that some human is aware of our existence before you are changed then all will be well," Bella added.

"Well I will need to get my affairs in order," Lyn mused.

"You do realize that you will never see Asher again once you are changed don't you?" asked Bella.

"Why not?" asked Lyn shocked.

"If you think about it for just a moment you will know why not," said Chris.

"Because nobody is allowed to know about the vampire world because you will have to either change them or kill them," said Lyn suddenly coming to the realization that she would never see the man that she had known since earliest childhood again.

"Exactly," said Chris. "I'm really sorry about you not being able to see Asher again as I know you think of him like a brother, but it really is better this way."

"But if I just up and disappear Asher will never give up looking for me," Lyn said. "Asher can be very determined and tenacious," Lyn added smiling a little although she was still sad and upset.

"I'll miss him to you know, as I really like him a lot," Chris said. "And although I will miss him I know that is nothing compared to the grief you will experience since you have known him all your life."

"I suppose it is for the best," Lyn said slowly still looking grief-stricken for as much as she loved Chris she loved Asher too. It was true that she loved Ash, but not in the same way as she loved Chris of course as her feelings for Ash were more sisterly instead of romantic. She tried valiantly not to cry as she thought of never seeing the man she considered her brother again.

"It is for the best even though I know it doesn't feel like that right now," said Bella gently getting up from her place on Jasper's lap and coming over to give Lyn a hug as Chris wiped the tears gently from her face.

"I'm sorry, so, so sorry," said Chris as Lyn cried into his hard stonelike shoulder.

"It's not your fault," said Lyn looking up hearing the pain in Chris's voice. "Fate can be cruel is all. I love you never doubt that, but Ash and I have been friends since I was four years old and he was two."

"I know you are sacrificing a lot so we can be together, but I swear I will love you forever and never make you regret wanting to be with me."

"I don't regret my choice, Chris. I can't say I won't miss Ash a lot because it wouldn't be true, but I can live without him in my life, but I can't live without you."

Chris didn't say anything he didn't need to for as of this moment they each understood the other perfectly.

"I think," Lyn said after a few minutes of silence, "That I would like to get married before you change me so that Ash can walk me down the aisle."

"That's a good idea," said Bella.

"What kind of wedding were you thinking about?" asked Chris.

"Nothing big," said Lyn. "Just you me and whoever you want to invite and Asher to walk me down the aisle."

"What about your family?" asked Jasper.

"I don't really have any close family as both sets of my grandparents are dead and I was an only child."

"What about your mother?" asked Chris.

"She died last year of a heart attack," said Lyn.

"No aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces or nephews?" asked Bella.

"Nope," said Lyn shaking her head. "I did have an aunt and uncle on my father's side but they died when I was seven, car accident."

"So it will just be Asher, Peter, Charlotte, Emmett, Rosalie, Sofia, and Jasper and me," said Bella.

"What about Heidi, Demetri and Jane?" asked Chris.

"Can I ask who all those people are?" asked Lyn.

"Well Peter is the same one we have mentioned before and Charlotte is his mate," said Jasper. "I think of both of them just like you think of Asher. Emmett and Rosalie are also like my brother and sister but I haven't known them for as long as I have Peter and Charlotte and are also mated."

"Heidi, Demetri and Jane are like family to us as well but we don't see them much as they live in Italy and are part of the Volturi guard. We do try to visit them every few years or they come to visit us, but I don't believe we've seen any of them for about ten years," said Bella.

"I don't think inviting Demetri, Jane and Heidi is a good idea," Jasper added.

"Why not?" asked Lyn. "If you trust them not to hurt Asher and me then why not invite them?"

"Because they live and work in Volterra and see the three kings every day so it is a very likely possibility that Aro will touch them at some point and then be aware that a human knows about our world. There is just no point in taking chances and also it could get the three of them into trouble if it was discovered that they had deliberately kept the information about a human being aware of the existence of vampires from the three kings who are Aro, Caius and Marcus," Jasper added for Lyn's benefit.

"I thought you said we had a little leeway," said Lyn confused.

"Technically we do, but you just never know what kind of decision the three of them will make as they are over two thousand years old and sometimes they can make decisions that for their own greedy, selfish reasons. Don't get me wrong for the most part they are very good rulers, just, fair and wise but there is just no point in taking chances."

"If that is what you think is best," said Lyn.

"I do," said Jasper, "but don't worry you will eventually meet the three of them and I'm sure you all will become instant friends just like Bella and I did over a hundred years ago." Lyn didn't react to the Jasper's reference that he had been alive for over a hundred years as she had already suspected as much but internally she was almost literally mind boggled to think of living for so long and still looking like you were no more than twenty-three a hundred of years from now. The human race was much longer lived in this day and age then they had been even fifty years ago and could live to be almost three hundred now so long as their bodies were maintained through exercise, the right diet and a number of other things that needed to be done in order to live for so long. Even if humans were now longer lived it didn't mean that they always looked young, without the wrinkles, white hair and the number of other things that came with old age but once she was turned into a vampire she would stay the same age for the rest of her existence which was a very nice side benefit of the process if you asked her.

"So how long do you think it will take to plan the wedding?" asked Chris.

"Not very long as with so few people I am going to forgo having a wedding reception altogether. There's really no point in having a reception when most of the guests will be vampires and the only two humans that will be present will be the bride and the man who will walk me down the aisle in place of my father."

"And the fewer vampires that Sofia has to hold her illusions on the better as we don't want to overtax her," Bella added.

"It takes a certain amount of power and concentration to use a talent like Sofia's," Jasper explained to Lyn at her confused look. "In other words the more vampires she has to make look human the more chance of her getting hungry enough to attack someone as she will be using a lot of power to maintain so many illusions at the same time. On the other hand it is also good practice as the more you use your talent and test it's limits the more it will grow until you can cover more then just three or four people at the same time."

Lyn nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. I am assuming that you are going to fake my death after I am turned into a vampire so that Ash will not search for me?" asked Lyn changing the subject abruptly as this question had been preying on her mind for the last few minutes.

"Yes, some kind of accident where you and Chris are lost," said Jasper.

"Perhaps something like a boating accident would be best," Bella suggested, "and that way both your bodies could be lost overboard somewhere out in the ocean."

"That's not a bad idea," Jasper admitted.

"Do any of you know the first thing about sailing?" asked Lyn, chuckling, "Because I don't and Ash knows it."

"We'll work something out," Jasper assured her, "but now I think it best if Chris drives you home as Asher will be expecting you at any time now."

"And we can break the news of our engagement to him," Chris suggested smiling so widely that his grin was looked like it was going to split his face literally in two.

"We might want to come up with a romantic story on how you asked me as we can't exactly tell him that we are mates or about vampires," Lyn said her tone dry but she was also smiling.

"How about I took you out on a picnic and I asked you over dessert?" Chris suggested. "We can leave out any details as I'm sure Asher won't want to know all the mushy bits."

"You're right about that," Lyn agreed. "Asher is a pretty romantic guy, but that doesn't mean he wants to hear all the mushy details about how we kissed and all that. He does after all consider me a sister and what brother wants to hear about his sister making out with a man no matter how much he likes him. Before I go I wanted to thank you," Lyn added.

"For what?" asked Jasper with a raised eyebrow

"For making me feel like part of the family from the first moment you met me even though you had to keep yourself disguised almost constantly as I was over here almost everyday. Most people would have gotten annoyed with the whole situation by now, but you were always patient and kind."

"Oh honey all we ever wanted was for Chris to be happy and ever since he met you he practically walks on air," said Bella chuckling coming over to give Lyn a hug.

Chris ducked his head at that embarrassed.

"It wasn't that he wasn't happy before just there is a big difference between being content with your lot in life to being really and truly happy," Jasper added, "which is something I know about and at least it didn't take as long for Chris to find his mate as it took me to find mine." Jasper squeezed Bella's hand in his in a gesture affection and Bella squeezed his back. The gesture was so subtle and if Lyn hadn't been looking for it she never would have seen it, but it made her feel all warm to know she would be joining a family that loved each other so much and would no matter how many centuries they were together.

"Now we can just hope that Sofia finds her mate sometime in the near future as she will pretty soon start feeling like a fifth wheel being the only non-mated vampire in this house and that can be hard," said Bella.

"That's an understatement," said Jasper with a chuckle as he remembered how back when he lived with the Cullens and Rose and Emmett were always being affectionate with each other and even Carlisle and Esme while he and Alice were never that affectionate. That wasn't to say that they hadn't loved each other just that that was worlds apart from the way actual mated couples acted whether they were in a public place or not.

"In any case we are looking forward to having you as part of the family, Lyn," said Jasper and Lyn could tell that he meant it and that he was looking forward to having her as part of his life.

"And I am looking forward to getting to know all of you better as well," said Lyn giving Jasper a hug and a kiss on the cheek not at all afraid of him even now that she knew that he was a vampire for he had never hurt her in the months he had known him so why start?

"We really should go Lyn before Asher begins to worry," said Chris putting an arm around her shoulder, giving her a hug still having a hard time believing that she had accepted that vampires were real with remarkable aplomb and had agreed to marry him and become a vampire herself with almost no hesitation at all.

"He does have my talker number and can call me if he gets that worried," Lyn pointed out.

"Still I should take you home," said Chris ushering Lyn out of the living room and towards the front door.

Lyn and Chris arrived back at Lyn's apartment building and they took the elevator up to Lyn's floor. Since Sofia hadn't been around to make Chris look human Chris was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and under that he had in a pair of contact lenses that made his eyes look kind of a muddy brown but not the hazel Asher was used to seeing so Chris was going to keep his sunglasses on and was not planning on staying once he had delivered Lyn safely to her door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Chris when they had gotten to Lyn's apartment door.

"Aren't you going to come in?" asked Lyn trying to not appear disappointed.

"For a few minutes I guess, but then I need to go and get me something to eat as it's been almost a week since I last ate. I've been eating more often since I met you just to be on the safe side," Chris said dryly. "I'll stay long enough for us to tell Asher about our engagement, but then I really must go."

"If you must." Lyn said trying not to think about the fact that in order for Chris to get himself some dinner he would have to kill a human in order to do so. Even if they were the scum of society didn't they have a right to live so they could have a chance at redemption? But Chris had pointed out earlier that most criminals never took the chance offered them to go straight, which Lyn knew to be true, but still it just seemed wrong to take a human life so causally even if they weren't the most upstanding citizens.

"I know what you are thinking Lyn and we'll talk about it later," said Chris as Lyn took out her keys and opened the door to her apartment.

"Ash?" Lyn called as she and Chris entered the apartment and closed the door behind them. "Ash? You here?" Lyn called.

"Oh Lyn you're back," said Ash coming out of his bedroom where he had been studying as he was attending the nearby college. "Have a good time?"

"The best," Lyn assured him, "and guess what?"

"What?" asked Asher.

Lyn didn't say a word just held up her hand so Asher could see the 1 ½ carat diamond ring that Chris had given her on her finger. "He proposed?" asked Asher seeming a little shocked.

"Of course I did, did you really think I wouldn't?"

"Eventually I suspected you would I just didn't expect it to be quite so soon is all," said Asher recovering. "I thought you might wait a few more months anyway."

"Why?" asked Lyn. "We know we love each other so Chris saw no point in waiting and neither do I for that matter."

"But you've only been dating two months," Asher protested, "how can you be sure you love each other after only two months of dating?"

"Haven't you ever heard of love at first sight?" asked Chris. Asher nodded slowly. "Well that's what happened to me as the minute I set eyes on her I knew that I was in love. Seeing her for the first time was like being struck by a lightning bolt."

Lyn nearly laughed out loud at that as the way the mating bond had been explained to her was exactly like being struck by lightning at least if you were a vampire.

"Well, congratulations," said Asher. "I just didn't expect to lose Lyn quite so soon."

"What makes you think you are going to lose me?" Lyn questioned. "We'll still be friends, just because I'm getting married won't change that."

"But it will be different and you will no longer be living here where I see you every day," said Asher looking a little downcast. "We've seen each other every day since we were children unless one of us was contagious," Asher added half joking running a hand through his red, gold hair, looking melancholy and a little sad. "I knew this would happen one day I just didn't expect it for a few more years is all. I mean you are only twenty-two..."

"Almost twenty-three," Lyn interrupted.

"Alright, fine, almost twenty-three," Asher repeated grinning a little then sobering, "Twenty-three is still a little young to get married, especially in this day and age when you can live to up to three hundred. It's not that I don't like you Chris and in fact I think you are exactly what Lyn needs considering what her last boyfriend..."

"Asher!" Lyn barked not wanting Asher to mention about how she was abused by that asshole she had used to date before Chris.

Asher sent Lyn an apologetic look then continued, "did to her."

"What exactly did her last boyfriend do?" barked Chris suddenly looking like the predator he was, which actually caused Asher to take a step back and pale a little as the man he thought he knew was suddenly radiating pure menace and anger.

"Never you mind," said Lyn firmly while shooting Asher a look that said they would be having words once Chris had left. "Isn't it about time for you to go as didn't you say that you had something you had to do tonight?"

"This isn't over," Chris warned her, but knowing he needed to leave and get himself some dinner before he attacked someone innocent or even worse Lyn or Asher.

"Asher how could you mention Gerold in front of Chris," Chris heard Lyn berating her friend from where he was standing in the shadows across the hall of the closed apartment door.

"Because he needs to know what that stupid, abusive, motherfucker did to you," Asher shouted right back. "You might not want to admit it, but that asshole left you with scars both physically and mentally. He put you in the hospital for god sakes where you very nearly died...and if you had I would have hunted down that shithead myself and killed him whether or not it would have landed me in prison."

"And you saw what happened when you told him," Lyn yelled. "He was ready to go kill him."

"And if Gerold did wind up dead I would not be the one giving Chris's name to the police as a likely suspect and I would in fact probably cheer for the fact that, that abusive fucker got exactly what he deserved and that would be a place in hell which is exactly where he belongs," Asher yelled. "Lyn people like that don't deserve your sympathy," Asher added quietly. "They deserve to get what is coming to them one way or the other whether that is prison or six feet under. I was so happy when you met Chris as I could see immediately that he adored you and that he was nothing at all like that asshole. Before you met Chris though you had not dated in over a year and I feared that you would be to scared to ever date again after what that piece of shit did to you."

"That is in the past, Asher," said Lyn quietly. "I am getting married to a man I love and who treats me like a princess. Gerold is in the past and I never want you to mention him again, is that understood?"

"Yes, but understand this Lyn, if that asshole tries to come back into your life for whatever reason I will not be held responsible for my actions," Asher told her quietly before Chris heard the sound of footsteps walking across the floor and a door close.

Chris came back to himself immediately when it was clear the conversation was over only to find that he had clenched his hand into a fist and looked ready to punch a hole in the wall.

All he wanted to do was hunt that motherfucker down and do more than drain him dry, but since he didn't know his last name or where he hung out it wasn't likely that he would be able to do that unless he could get at least a description and without Lyn finding out as Chris knew she would not approve. As easily as Lyn had accepted that vampires were real he didn't think she really understood that they were also animals down underneath their humans exteriors and animals had instincts some of the strongest being to protect those they loved. He loved Lyn with his whole soul and the more time he spent with her the more he loved her, but he had always been of the opinion that some people deserved to die in the most painful way possible and this Gerold was certainly one of those people.

He put Lyn in the hospital for god sakes...the hospital and she had very nearly died.

Chris hunted down his meal and was more ferocious then usual when draining them dry as that was just the kind of mood he was in. When he was done draining the two humans a few minutes later he felt a little better and also a lot calmer. No matter what Lyn thought though he was going to find a way to get a description of this guy and a list of his usual hangouts and then kill him once he was found, Chris decided as he headed home. No matter what that man Gerold was going to meet his maker sometime very soon if he had any say in the matter.

"How was your hunt?" asked Jasper as soon as Chris had stomped in the door. Chris had called Jasper to let him know that he was going on a quick hunt and would be home in a couple of hours.

"The hunt was fine," said Chris shortly.

"What's go you so agitated?" asked Bella sitting up from where she was laying on the couch her head on Jasper's lap.

Chris told them and finished by saying, "This man Gerold put Lyn in the hospital where she very nearly died." By the time he was done he was growling so ferociously that he was barely able to control himself enough to not put a hole in the wall his earlier calmness from having fed gone. "Lyn didn't want me to know and if Asher hadn't mentioned it I probably never would have."

"I understand your feelings of anger," Jasper said his voice relatively calm although it was clear that he to was furious if the way his body was vibrating was any indication. Of course all the feelings of anger were not Jasper's alone, but Bella's and Chris's to which was why Jasper was vibrating as with all three of them feeling the same thing it was a powerful force and Jasper being an empath meant he could feel what other people were feeling and if he wanted to send it back. It wasn't just that Lyn was part of his family, human or not, but Jasper had also been raised in a time where woman were protected not put in the hospital where they nearly died.

"So how are you going to discover this guy's last name?" asked Bella as angry as the two men although she didn't show it like they did the slight tightening around her eyes and mouth the only visible indication that she was just as upset as they were.

"I don't know," said Chris finally giving into his urge to punch a hole in the wall and put his fist through the plaster behind the couch. He felt better afterwards although he was still furious, but not so mad that he couldn't at least think, "Sorry," Chris said not feeling sorry at all.

"It's okay," Bella assured him. "After all it is fixable and your anger is justified."

"I'll fix it tomorrow," Chris promised.

"Don't worry about that, you just take care of Lyn," Jasper ordered still growling a little as he thought about this man Gerold who had hurt his daughter so badly and no it did not matter one bit that it had happened before Chris had ever met her. If anybody deserved to be the meal for a vampire it was this guy. A guy who would beat up a woman deserved to die.

"So what's the plan?" asked Bella looking at Jasper.

"Well first off we either need this guy's last name, general description or better yet his scent. It would be nice to have all three as it would make it relatively easy to track him down," said Jasper his military mind clicking rapidly through the possibilities.

"And a list of places he hangs out," Chris added.

"Good idea," Jasper approved sending Chris his pride, which made Chris smile a little before he sobered again.

"When we do this we need to make sure that Lyn doesn't find out as she definitely wouldn't approve and the last thing I need is to have her upset with me," said Chris

"She would forgive you...eventually," said Bella.

"Yes I know, but I'd rather do this in such a way that she never finds out." Chris shook his head as he thought about his mate. "I don't understand why she objects so much to me getting rid of this guy. I mean this guy, Gerold, hurt her so badly that she nearly died and yet as far as I know she never went to the police and all she did was break up with him which means he could come back at any time and try to hurt her again."

"But once she's married to you and a vampire what can he do?" asked Bella.

"Nothing," Chris admitted, "as I know that we can disappear where he will never find us if we have to, although I hate the thought of running away and not giving this guy what he deserves. It scares me to think that if this guy had managed to kill Lyn, I never would have met who I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with and gone through the rest of my existence alone."

"But he didn't," Bella pointed out.

"Sheer dumb luck," Chris and Jasper said together.

"Or perhaps it was fate that Lyn survived," Bella suggested.

"It doesn't really matter how she survived I'm just glad that she did," said Chris.

"You know Lyn could have been taught by her parents that all human life is sacred and that is why she objects so strongly to you getting rid of this Gerold guy and could also be why she didn't want you to know about him at all so that you wouldn't go after him."

"Yeah, but this guy nearly killed her and I would think that she wouldn't object to me killing him and what if she still objects to taking human life, even scum after she is just like us?"

"Then we will teach her to hunt animals," said Jasper simply. "I will not force a specific diet on anyone, like Carlisle did when I was with the Cullens."

"And at least we know about the animal diet unlike when you were first changed," Bella told Jasper. "It is always good to have options and we should thank Carlisle for being able to offer Lyn the choice which we would not be able to do if you had never found Alice or lived with the Cullens."

"That's true and also if I had never lived with the Cullens I never would have met you and been as happy as I've been either so we should be grateful to the Cullens for a lot of things," Jasper agreed giving his wife of a hundred and twenty-five years a kiss on the cheek.

"It doesn't really matter to me what kind of blood she drinks so long as she is happy," said Chris. "I hope though that she doesn't expect me to change my diet because as much as I love her I don't think I'd be willing to do that. If I had started out as a vampire drinking animal blood and I had never had human it would be different, but I didn't."

"She loves you Chris as I can feel love coming very strongly from her whenever you two are together," Jasper assured his son. "I don't think that she will ask you to change your diet just to make her happy."

"I hope you're right," said Chris still looking worried.

"If you truly love someone you love them for the good things about them as well as the faults," Bella said.

"Nobody is perfect after all," Jasper added with a smirk. "I know I am not."

"And neither am I," said Bella.

"Or me," said Chris.

"We all have our faults but then humans do and we were all once human," said Bella.

Several days later, Lyn was busily planning the wedding and although there would not be many people coming there were still a lot of arrangements to be made. Lyn had to decide on flowers, what kind of dress she wanted, decorations and a hundred other small details. When Lyn worried about paying for everything Jasper immediately offered which Lyn was going to refuse until he put his foot down. Normally it was the bride's family that paid for everything when their daughter was getting married, but since Lyn's mother and father were both dead and she couldn't touch the money that Jasper had given her until after she was married... Jasper told her he would pay for everything and not to worry about the cost as all of they had more money then they knew what to do with anyway.

"You're part of my family Evelyn," Jasper explained sounding uncharacteristically gentle. "You became a part of my family the minute you and Chris discovered you were mates, before you even knew it. What that means is in terms of the vampire world anyway is that the leader of the coven is supposed to step up and take care of all the needs of the new member, cover expenses and things like that which would be true even if your parents were still alive."

"But you've already done so much for me," Lyn protested. "You've given me an insane amount of money to get started in my new life...you've treated me like family from the very beginning...you've bought me a car...paid off the rent on my apartment for the next six months so I could quit my job...bought me a whole new wardrobe...set up an account for Ash that activates when he hears of my death so he will be taken care of..."

"Evelyn, I did those things for Bella, Chris and Sofia to," Jasper told her. "Quit worrying about the expense as I've been around since the Civil War and in that amount of time have accumulated more money then I know what to do with and so has everybody else in this family. When you live forever you learn how to invest wisely and well. I have more investments then I know what to do with all of which bring in money."

"I'm not going to talk you out of it am I?" Lyn asked ruefully, but with a smile in orer to soften her words.

"No, so you might as well give up trying," said Jasper with a cocky grin that said he knew that he had won the argument. "The family can tell you that I can be a stubborn son of a bitch and as unmoveable as a mountain when I want to be."

Lyn coughed trying not to laugh, but finally unable to hold it in anymore let her laughter burst forth from where she had been trying to keep it contained.

When Lyn finally was able to quit laughing she got up from her chair in front of Jasper's desk and gave him a hug and a kiss on his cold cheek. "Thank you," she said simply knowing that Jasper would understand exactly what she meant.

"You're more then welcome, honey," said Jasper returning the hug. "I ought to be thanking you, you've made Chris so happy, Sofia has a new sister and Bella and I have a new daughter. Ever since you've joined this family you have added something to our lives."

"You're welcome," said Lyn touched as in her opinion Jasper had done more then he had had to and much more then she was sure his role as coven leader actually dictated. She was sure that setting up an account in the guise of an inheritance for Asher after she supposedly died was above and beyond what he had really had to do, but he had done it because he had known that she had been worried about what would happen to the man that she considered a brother after she was gone especially with the way the economy was. He had also set up an account under Evelyn Swan and another under Evelyn Whitlock and put a billion dollars into each of them. One account was in the Cayman islands and the other in Switzerland and then she had a regular bank account for normal expenditures, none of which she could touch until after she had married Chris.

Lyn was looking forward to marrying Chris although she wasn't looking forward to the process of becoming a vampire as the way it had been described to her was like being burned alive, and having her bones dipped in acid. She also was not looking forward to having to drink blood, but she was willing to do it because she loved Chris. Despite the fact that Chris and his family drank human blood they were all good people and none of them had ridiculed her for her decision to drink animal blood when they had been told.

Even though her last boyfriend Gerold had nearly killed her she still couldn't imagine harming another human being even criminals so she was glad there was an alternative.

"Also you accepted vampires existed much easier then I expected you to," Jasper added after a few seconds of silence.

"You want to know why I accepted the fact that vampires were real so easily?" Lyn guessed.

"I did wonder, but didn't want to pry," said Jasper looking curious. "I figured you would at least faint, either that or try to run screaming from the house. In this day and age vampires are even more makebelieve then they were when I was born."

"The reason I accepted the fact that your family were vampires so easily is because I've been having dreams. Almost every night since I lost my father I've been dreaming of meeting a tall dark haired stranger and that there would be something odd about him, although I didn't know what. My dreams were never clear and always foggy so I never saw a face, but just got an impression the person was male, had a head of dark curls and got a flash of his eyes that went away so fast that I was never able to determine the color. About a month before I met Chris my dreams started to get clearer, so clear in fact that I finally saw the face of the man whom I had been dreaming about since I was fifteen. When I saw Chris for the first time when he entered the park where we first met I knew immediately that he was the man I had been dreaming about although I still didn't know what was so unusual about him except that he was the most handsome man I had ever seen."

Jasper listened attentively to Lyn's story and then immediately speculated that perhaps she was part Irish as some of the Irish were known to have the sight, although they didn't usually come in the form of dreams.

"Why have you not said anything before now?" asked Jasper curiously.

"I was afraid," Lyn admitted.

"Afraid of what?" asked Jasper sending Lyn some calm as she was starting to get agitated.

"Afraid you wouldn't believe me or if you did you would accuse me of trying to get into your family for something nefarious, like marrying Chris not because I love him, but marrying him so I could get my hands on the family's money."

"We would never accuse you of that," Jasper protested looking upset at Lyn's words even if logically he knew she was right. The world was a different place then it was when he was born and much of the human race was now more concerned that their sons or daughters marry someone appropriate then about love. That wasn't true of the whole human race of course but most of the families that were rich thought that way.

"I know that now but look at it from my point of view, back then I didn't know anything about Chris or his family or even if the man in my dreams family had money. Well I didn't know until I saw Chris in the park for the first time and immediately recognized his clothes as not precisely designer, but still of high quality and that meant expensive. I mean what could you have said if you had been a normal human man and I had met your son in the park and then he had come home and claimed to have fallen in love with a perfect stranger that he had just met by chance?"

"I would have probably claimed it was a setup and that you were after the family's money if I was a normal human who was supposedly looking after his son's and the rest of his family's best interest," Jasper admitted.

"And since I didn't know that you were a bunch of vampires or about your abilities at that time what would you have expected me to do but keep silent about my dreams?"

"You were right to be cautious," Jasper admitted. "You do know though that since you were having these dreams as a human that once you are turned into a vampire it will probably turn into some kind of talent although what kind I don't know as there is just no way to predict what direction a talent like that will take."

Lyn nodded thoughtfully not saying anything but seeming deep in thought. "You know I've often thought that since I met Chris that it was fate at work. That because of my dreams I was willing to take a chance on dating who was at that time a total stranger as I've had some bad experiences dating."

That was an understatement, Jasper knew, but didn't say as Lyn was not aware that he knew about the man Gerold who had nearly killed her.

"The human race has digressed in the last several hundred years," Jasper told Lyn seriously. "I'm not saying that violence hasn't always been a part of human nature, but unlike when I was born a lot of humans don't even try to control that part of them. Also more and more humans are being born that turn into, murderers, rapists and the like instead of being honest, and hardworking. In a way though that is good for us as if means our kind will always have plenty of food."

Lyn frowned at the mention of the fact that most vampire's drank human blood as she still didn't see why not all vampires couldn't drink from animals instead of humans.

"Lyn," Jasper began seeing her frown and guessing the reason behind it, "you must understand that it would never occur to most vampires that you even could drink animal blood and survive." Jasper sighed and said, "I wasn't going to tell you this until after you were changed but the only reason I know about the animal blood diet is because I used to be married to another vampire named Alice and she could see the future. It was decades before Bella, her parents or grandparents were even born..." Jasper then went on to tell her all about his life with Alice and the Cullens and then about their deaths at the hands of their own brother and son.

Lyn listened as Jasper told how the Cullens were betrayed by one of their own and the only reason he, Emmett and Rosalie had escaped. He told of the fact that he and his brother and sister had come home to find Bella so badly injured that changing her right then and there was the only way that she would survive at all as she had many internal injuries and also how her spine had been severed from the fall. Jasper's voice shook as he told of how at first he believed Bella to be dead and how devastated he was for that split second until he had heard her groan and realized that she was still breathing and if she was breathing then she was alive.

"So you lived with a bunch of vegetation vampires for a lot of years because you were tired of draining humans and feeling their emotions every time you you had to kill in order to live. Why did you go back to feeding on humans if you felt that way?" asked Lyn ignoring for the moment the fact that the Cullens had been betrayed by one of their own.

"Well at that time it had never occurred to me that I could feed of the the scum of society and not feel guilty about it, until Bella pointed it out to me that is. She was right to as I don't feel the least guilty for feeding off people who hurt others. Humans who hurt or exploit children for instance don't deserve any mercy and don't make me feel the least guilty for ending their selfish, pathetic, little lives."

"But we have laws," Lyn argued.

"And a lot of times these people are never caught or if they are they buy their way out by bribing a cop or a judge. Even if they go to prison most of the time they go right back to their previous lives as soon as they are released so none of my family actually look at it as murder, but as doing the human race a favor by culling out the bad people who are like a disease that would eventually spread until they took over all the healthy parts of the body if left alone and at least my family is selective about who we feed from which cannot be said for some of our kind."

Lyn considered that for a few minutes and decided that Jasper did have a point about there being a lot of evil in the world and that the human justice system was not exactly very effective at dealing with eighty percent of it.

"You're right in the fact that a lot of time our court system isn't as effective as it should be in dealing with criminals," Lyn admitted although she was still unwilling to totally concede the point that Jasper had made about he and his family culling out the bad parts of the human race.

Jasper didn't say anything, but also knew he had planted the seeds that might bear fruit some time in the very near future. He would teach her to hunt animals if that was what she wanted after she was changed but he hoped he wouldn't have to and she would change her mind. Lyn might not as he knew she could be very stubborn about her beliefs, but he still hoped she might, Jasper admitted to himself.

"So the Cullens were betrayed by one of their own?" asked Lyn after a few minutes of silence.

"Ah so you caught onto that? Yes and I'm afraid that Bella and I played a small part in the death of Carlisle, his mate Esme and Alice, but only a very small part," said Jasper.

"What kind of part did you play, in the death of three of your family?" asked Lyn looking quizzical.

"Well Bella was dating Edward at that time as it was before we realized we were mates and Edward never did like me and considered me evil because of my rather violent past, which I will explain at another time. Edward did tend to see things in black and white and considered it a betrayal when Bella and I broke the news that we were mates to him. Bella had been intending to break up with Edward anyway because he treated her like she couldn't even walk across the street by herself and didn't treat her like the intelligent woman she was back then. One of the things that really annoyed her about their relationship was that Edward always did what he thought was best and never listened to her opinion figuring that since he was over a hundred years old that he had a right to make her choices for her. If she didn't agree with him he would dazzle her until she did, which really started to tick her off towards the end of their relationship. Bella didn't like being led around by the nose or told who she could be friends with or where she was allowed to go and Edward even complained about the clothes she wore trying to tell her what she could wear."

"Why, would Edward complain about her clothes or try to control who she could be friends with or where she was allowed to go?" asked Lyn a little confused but then remembered how Gerold had treated her towards the end of their relationship and how he had tried to make her move out of her apartment not wanting her to even be friends with Asher whom she had known since she was small.

"Because he was a controlling son of a bitch that's why," said Jasper, bluntly with a smirk. "He figured that just because she was human she didn't have a right to an opinion and treated her like some kind of goddamn pet. I'm sure you've noticed that none us wear designer clothes and it's not because we can't afford to, but because we've always been causal clothes type people and that goes especially for Bella and I. Neither one of us grew up with much money and even if we have tons of it now we don't see the point of paying hundreds of dollars on a single outfit that is just going to get dirty or torn. Edward on the other hand and Alice as well were all about wearing designer which looked strange in the middle of Forks fucking Washington which was back then a small town. Alice often bought stuff for Bella and forced her to accept it even though back then she had never worn the kind of stuff that Alice was buying her and it made her uncomfortable to boot."

"You're right that doesn't sound like a healthy relationship," said Lyn.

"And it wasn't," said Jasper. "For one thing Edward kept claiming that he and Bella were mates, but if that had been true then he would have wanted to change her into a vampire so they would always be together and yet he refused on several occasions even though Bella told him that was what she wanted. When a vampire finds a mate that is human it is very hard to resist turning that person into a vampire immediately even if the vampire doesn't realize why he is feeling that way."

Lyn remembered back to when she had met Chris in that park and how he had stood stock still as if struggling with himself after that bee had stung her. She could see now that she thought about it that Chris had been waging some kind of inner battle with himself even though she hadn't realized it at the time.

"So Chris..."

"Was waging a battle with his inner demon to not bite you right then and there and luckily he had enough control to win," Jasper answered without her having to finish her question as if he knew exactly what she was going to ask and he probably did, Lyn thought in amusement.

"If he had bitten me in such a public place..." said Lyn stunned by what she had just realized.

"Ah I see you realized what could have happened if Chris had lost control," said Jasper sending her his pride.

"I would be a vampire now and instead of it being my choice it would have been forced upon me which more then likely would have caused me to resent him if not outright hate him," said Lyn.

"You could never hate him, not really and truly because of the bond but sure you could have resented him for a while for being forced into such a situation," said Jasper.

"And you would have been forced to move immediately if Chris had bitten me in such a public place," Lyn realized. "Also I never would have seen Asher again, never would have had a chance to say goodbye."

"To be able to say goodbye to your loved ones is a great gift as most of our kind never had the opportunity since their change was involuntary so you should cherish what time you have left with him as you will never be able to see him again," said Jasper quietly.

"Even if Asher doesn't know I am saying goodbye permanently he will at least have some closure even if nobody ever finds the bodies after you fake our deaths," said Lyn looking sad and upset.

"Exactly," said Jasper.

"I'm glad it happened the way it did, and I got a choice despite all the little problems that have cropped up."

"If it had happened the other way there still would have been problems just different ones," said Jasper.

"True enough," Lyn admitted falling silent for a while seeming deep in thought looking up after a few minutes as if she had just realized something. "You know what I just realized?" asked Lyn.

"What?" asked Jasper.

"The wooden case with the military flag and badge over the fireplace in the living room actually represent Bella's father Charlie. When I first saw that I thought he was just one of the twins relatives that had died in the line of duty since Chris did tell me that his last name was Swan when I met him."

"Well we do change our last names every few years, which is the prudent thing to do even if we live on the edge of society as it keeps the government or anybody else from figuring us out unless one of us makes a mistake and somebody sees it. As you know now Swan was Bella's maiden name before she and I got married and since Bella and I are using Whitlock which is the last name I was born with, Chris and Sofia decided to use Swan with Bella's approval of course. You realize of course that you will have to change your last name as well as soon as you are pronounced lost as someone may still be looking for you."

"Well once I marry Chris won't I just take his last name or whatever surname he is using at the moment anyway?"

"If that's what you want although you of course don't have to," said Jasper. "A lot of woman keep their own last name in this day and age once they marry, especially if they already have a well established career or business under their maiden names."

"True enough," Lyn admitted, "but I'm old fashioned enough to want to take my husband's last name."

"Which will make Chris happy," said Jasper.

"What was Chris's last name when he was human?" asked Lyn.

"It was Sharpe which I'm sure the twins will go back to using for a few years anyway sometime in the future," Jasper answered.

"So Christopher Sharpe," said Lyn trying it out.

"Actually it is Christoph, if you want to get technical," said Jasper. "He only uses Christopher because it is a more common and not at all unusual."

"Christoph," Lyn said trying to place the name.

"Both his and Sofia's names are Greek even if they aren't of Greek descent," said Jasper with a laugh. "Apparently their mother in particular really liked to read Greek legends and myths and so decided to give the twins Greek first names even if Sharpe is mostly Irish and English. Christoph means the same thing as Christopher and the nickname is the same so we mostly just call him Chris."

"So Bella's father was a police officer," said Lyn switching back to the subject of a few minutes ago before they had gotten off track and besides she had been curious about that flag and badge for some time as the flag looked old and faded and the badge tarnished which implied they were quite old.

"Not just any police officer but the police chief of the small Forks department," said Jasper. "I'm afraid I didn't know him except by sight as he never knew I was dating Bella since I was supposed to be away at college at the time. All I really know about him is what Bella has told me over the years. I know he used to like to fish and did it almost every weekend. I know that he was a good man and a good father and loved Bella even if he was one of those guys that had trouble showing his emotions. I know he hated Edward with a passion and was glad when Bella broke up with him. I know that the people of Forks respected and liked him. And I know that he was brave and honorable and that Bella was devastated when he was murdered by a bunch of drugged up and drunk high school boys, but that's really about it."

Jasper and Lyn kept talking for another couple of hours but then she went to find Chris to spend some time with him before she had to head home for the night.

"So where have you been all day?" Chris teased Lyn when she found him in his room laying on the couch that was in place of a bed reading a book.

"You know perfectly well where I've been Christoph," Lyn teased right back getting immense enjoyment out of the fact that Chris looked so shocked at the use of his real first name.

"Jasper told you my real first name," said Chris with a little laugh.

"Yes and also why use Christopher," said Lyn.
"So if Jasper told you my real first name I'm guessing he told you the last name I was born with as well."

"He sure did, Christoph Sharpe," said Lyn who was immensely enjoying Chris's expression. "Of course we talked about a lot of things."

"You must have since you have been closeted in Jasper's study for most of the day and I haven't had any time to spend with my fiancée," said Chris pouting a little.

"Well you have a couple of hours before I have to get home, so let's not waste them," Lyn suggested with a seductive look.

Chris closed his book with a snap and was on his feet in an instant taking Lyn into his arms and kissing her so passionately that she moaned immediately and automatically opened her mouth so that Chris's cold tongue could sweep inside. It was only in the last couple of days that Chris had began to kiss her like this, that is to say with so much passion that it was hard for both of them to stop before they went to far. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to kiss her like that he had told her when she had asked but he had been afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself. Once Lyn had agreed to become his wife though he had kissed her with as yet unseen passion out of sheer joy and had discovered totally by accident that he didn't have any trouble controlling himself like he had feared.

When Chris finally released her knowing that she needed to breathe Lyn was breathing heavily but then again so was he and technically Chris didn't really need to breathe at all.

"Sit down, why don't you," Chris offered with a grin.

Lyn took a seat on the couch and Chris joined her immediately putting an arm around her shoulder. "I can't wait until we get married," said Chris.

"Why?" asked Lyn in a teasing tone.

"Like you don't know," said Chris with a laugh not taking the bait.

"So I can be just like you? Become a vampire?" Lyn suggested.

"Well that and I can't wait to make love to you," said Chris seriously.

"You know that was something I was wondering," said Lyn.

"What's that?" asked Chris suspecting he already knew what was on Lyn's mind.

"Why we haven't made love and we've only just started making out?"

"Well you know why I didn't kiss you like I really wanted to was because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to control myself," said Chris and Lyn nodded. "Well, the same rule applies to making love except even more so."

"What do you mean?" asked Lyn looking adorably confused, Chris thought, although didn't say, giving her a kiss instead.

"Well having sex for vampires is instinctual and as you already know we are at least ten times stronger then a normal human so if we made love there is the very likely possibility I could hurt you totally by accident if I didn't watch my strength every second. Also I am considered quite young in vampire years so I don't have the experience that someone as old as Jasper has."

"So are we going to have to wait until after I am a vampire in order for us to make love?" asked Lyn looking upset not that Chris could blame her.

"Just until our wedding night," said Chris.

"Why then?" asked Lyn.

"Because Jasper has been talking to me about making love to a human as he is the only one in this family who has done it."

"He made love to Bella while she was still human and didn't kill her or at least hurt her very badly?" asked Lyn amazed somehow knowing instinctively how truly hard that was to do.

"Yes he did but Jasper has always had an amazing amount of self-control. I think it is because he was in the military before he was changed and some things just stay with you afterwards. Besides he is also much, much older then me and was even back when he met Bella."

"Why does being older matter?" asked Lyn curiously.

"Because older vampires have better control of their inner demons then most of the younger ones do and have also had time to learn to control their strength even when in the throes of passion," said Chris looking embarrassed as he explained. "So Jasper has been explaining what I should and shouldn't try until after you are unbreakable like me, because Lyn I could easily break you in two if I am not very, very careful. Think of me like Superman who has to control his strength every second of every day even if eventually it becomes instinctive with enough practice so you have to deliberately think about using your full strength in order to do so."

"But if that's the case why can't we make love before our wedding night?" asked Lyn.

"Because even though I can control my strength on an everyday basis without having to really think about it that probably won't be true during sex, especially not the first time," Chris explained. "Every time we make love it will get a little easier for me not to hurt you but I won't dare let down my guard completely. Also we will be using protection until after you are changed."

"Why?" asked Lyn. "It's not like you can get me pregnant."

"Because the way Jasper explained it is that our venom comes out in all our bodily fluids and if it somehow got inside your body and started to change you before we were ready then we would have a very large problem."

Lyn nodded as that made sense.

The two of them stopped talking and just kissed for a few minutes before they reluctantly pulled apart, knowing it was time for Lyn to head home for the night.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Chris as he reluctantly let Lyn go. "Make sure you call me when you get home so I know you are safely in for the night."

"I will," Lyn promised not minding having to call as she knew that Chris loved her and was just concerned for her safety. It was a dangerous world out there so it was the least she could do to help ease his mind until she never again had to leave his side once they were married.

Lyn gave Chris one more kiss and then with visible reluctance got up and walked out the bedroom door, Chris following so he could show her out just like he always did.

"Bye," Lyn called to everyone who were in the den watching some sort of movie.

"Bye, Lyn, we'll see you tomorrow," called Bella as she sat beside Jasper with her head pillowed on his chest.

"Just think, in only a couple of weeks we'll be married," said Chris not able to stop the shit eating grin that almost split his face in two as he walked Lyn to her car and opened the door for her.

"Yes, I can't wait," Lyn assured him giving him one more soft kiss before getting into her car, starting the engine and slowly backing out of the driveway.

Lyn arrived home am hour later and immediately made sure she called Chris on her wrist talker to let him know that she was safe and locked in for the night.

"Ash? You here?" Lyn called checking his bedroom and not finding him. Maybe he had a date, Lyn thought, but if that was the case why didn't he tell me about it so I wouldn't worry? But then she answered her own question, Because I've been so wrapped up with Chris that he hasn't had a chance to tell me. Lyn immediately felt bad and resolved to spend as much time as she possibly could with him until she married Chris in a couple of weeks and they had to fake her and Chris's deaths. Lyn checked the vid screen for messages. Vid screens were a combination of phone, answering machine, TV and the more expensive ones could even be used for home security.

"Lyn, I had a date and won't be home until late, so don't worry about me. I love you," Asher said over the vid screen when Lyn checked for messages. The screen then automatically popped up with the next message and Lyn gasped, then paled as her ex-boyfriend Gerold appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Evelyn, I heard through the grape vine that you're getting married so apparently I didn't teach you a lesson properly. You will break it off or I will go after everyone you love including that guy you are living with and your fiancé. After I am done with them I will come for you and this time I won't just put you in the hospital, I'll kill you. You belong to me Evelyn and you'd better damn well never forget that. You have twenty-four hours to comply or you will regret it and that's just not a threat, but a promise." The screen went blank and Lyn fell to her knees shaking, panicking and scared all rolled into one.

It wasn't Chris she was scared for as she knew that no mere human would be able to harm her vampire fiancé. In fact Gerald had just made a quite possibly fatal error by threatening her as she knew that once Chris learned about this he would track him down and drain him dry. Her pleas would fall on deaf ears once Chris learned that her ex-boyfriend had threatened her and there was no way she could possibly keep it from him. Why she'd ever agreed to date Gerold she didn't know now, but ever since she had broken up with him and he had put her in the hospital she hadn't dated being to scared to as he had threatened her before he had left. He had told her that if she went to the police or even if she started dating again and he heard about he would be back and this time he would finish the job he had started.

Suddenly someone was pounding on the door and Lyn jumped ten feet startled and scared fearing it was Gerold coming to fulfill his threat.

"Lyn? You in there? Don't make me bust down the door," Chris shouted frantically still pounding on the door hard enough that it was starting to splinter under the force.

Lyn slowly exhaled in relief, got to her feet and went to open the door to let Chris in.

"What are doing here?" Lyn asked still shaking from head to toe.

Chris didn't respond, closed the door and took Lyn into his arms and just held her close rubbing her back not saying a word until Lyn finally quit shaking. Finally Lyn looked up from where she'd had her head buried in her fiancé's shoulder.

"I'm glad you are here," said Lyn hugging Chris's stone body as tightly to her as she could.

"What in the hell happened and where in the hell is Asher?" asked Chris still rubbing her back. "I could feel your fear through our bond and I rushed over here, not even stopping to get the car."

"Asher had a date and was already gone when I got home," said Lyn her voice still shaking a little. "I didn't even know he was dating anyone until I listened to his message."

"So what the hell happened to scare you so much? Your fear was so strong that it resonated down our bond and I told the family that you were in some kind of trouble before I ran over here."

"I was listening to messages and apparently the message right after Asher's was from my old boyfriend Gerold..." Lyn then went on to explain about how she had dated this guy for six months and how after a few months he had started get possessive and violent when she wouldn't do what he wanted. "He wanted me to move out and stay away from Asher even though Ash and I were just like brother and sister and neither of us had any romantic feelings for each other. Finally about six months into our relationship I caught him in bed with another woman and that was what made me wake the fuck up and realize that not only was he an abusive asshole, but a cheater as well. I broke up with him even after he promised never to do it again and when I refused to take him back he beat me to within an inch of my life. I spent over a month in the hospital on life support with several broken bones, multiple contusions and internal injuries. After I got out of the hospital I didn't date anyone else until I met you as Gerold had threatened he would put anyone I dated in the hospital."

Chris tried not to growl as he held Lyn as she talked about her last boyfriend. This Gerold had just signed, sealed and hand delivered his own death warrant and Chris was going to do more then drain him dry as he had been planning to do previously he was going to torture him until he begged for mercy and then torture him some more before he finally put him out of his misery.

"Lyn, I won't lie to you, but the truth of the matter is I already knew about Gerold," said Chris looking into his fiancée's eyes.

"How?" asked Lyn knowing Asher wouldn't have said anything after he had promised.

"It was that same night after Asher let slip the fact that your last boyfriend was abusive before you shut him up. After you had shown me out of the apartment and shut the door I stood in the shadows of the hallway and listened to you and Asher argue. You really should learn to keep your voice down, sweetheart as vampires have extremely good hearing and I could hear you and Asher perfectly well through the door even if a human couldn't have. In any case my family and I have been planning on how to deal with this guy for the last few days, but in order to do so we needed at least a description and his last name."

"Oh no Chris, please just leave this alone," Lyn pleaded knowing that her pleas were going to fall on deaf ears as she knew that since Gerold had actually threatened her and would no doubt follow through given the chance that Chris and his family were not going to leave him alive so that he could possibly hurt her. If there was one thing she had discovered in the last few days about the family she was going to marry into was that they didn't take threats against their family lightly and therefore dealt with the situation as swiftly as possible. The minute that Chris had discovered that she was his mate was the minute that the family did everything in it's power to keep her safe and that meant dealing with any threats like Gerold, decisively and fatally.

"There is no way in fucking hell I am going to leave this alone," Chris told Lyn fiercely in a growl that would have scared most people as Chris looked very dangerous and deadly at that moment, but didn't scare her as she knew that Chris would never hurt her. Gerold on the other hand was a different story altogether.

Chris had taken off his sunglasses as soon as he had shut the door of the apartment and Lyn could tell Chris was furious not just by the way he vibrated with suppressed anger, but also by the way his red eyes almost glowed and had taken on a very dangerous, angry glint the color of dried blood.

"I know," said Lyn quietly. "I knew you were going to find Gerold and drain him before the words even left my mouth, but I had to try."

I'll do more than drain him, Chris internally seethed but didn't actually say as it wasn't something that Lyn needed to know. "Lyn one thing you must understand about vampires in general is that as a species we are very unforgiving and that is especially true when someone whether human or vampire threatens our mate," Chris said putting his hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eye. "Most vampires never even find their mates so those few that do are very protective of them. All you ever did to this Gerold was to break up with him after you caught him in bed with another woman and after he started to be very controlling and abusive. He nearly killed you! Beat you to within an inch of your life just for breaking up with him and put you in the hospital for over a month. You did nothing to deserve such treatment, nothing! And in fact no woman deserves to be beaten for anything much less for something as minor as breaking up with a guy that was cheating on her anyway. I mean couples break up for one reason or another every day and none of them get beaten or put in the hospital," said Chris still seething.

"Chris..." Lyn started to say but Chris continued to rant as if he hadn't heard her

"This Gerold is an abusive asshole that deserves what is coming to him. Also it is more than likely that beating you up was not his first offense and it's much more likely that he has made a career of it but since nobody reported him because they were to scared the police haven't been able to do anything or they don't have enough evidence to do anything."

"Chris..." Lyn tried again this time giving him a kiss on the lips in order to get him to stop ranting not that she could really blame him as Lyn could tell that Chris was not only furious, but scared that something would happen to her. This mating bond that they shared was apparently a force to be reckoned with and if only a few vampires ever found their mates no wonder those that did were so overprotective of them. How could you not be protective of someone who was part of you? Someone who was like your air, your very reason to continue existing at all? And she knew that Gerold deserved what was coming to him and if she wanted to marry Chris and become a vampire so she could spend eternity at his side she was going to have to find some way to get used to the idea of drinking blood whether human or animal.

Lyn finally broke the kiss and when she did she noticed that Chris had calmed down considerably as his eyes had finally stopped glowing and gone back to their normal ruby red color.

"Thanks, I needed that," said Chris as he kissed her lightly in thanks.

"You're more then welcome," Lyn assured him blushing.

"I'm glad you're okay, Lyn as I wouldn't be able to live if anything happened to you," Chris said quietly sounding more sober then she had ever heard him to date.

"I know and I feel the same way," Lyn assured him kissing the corner of his mouth.

They sat in silence for a while simply held each other close needing the reassurance that both were alive and weren't going anywhere.

"Can I see this recording?" asked Chris finally.

"Why?" asked Lyn, curiously.

"Well Jasper has taught me how to trace calls and I thought maybe I could trace where the signal came from. If I can do that and if the signal came from a personal vid phone and not one of the public ones then I should be able to determine where this guy lives. Well, unless he thought to route it through different locations, which is illegal by the way, but it's not like this guy is on the right side of the law."

"Sure," Lyn said as she led Chris over to the vid phone and replayed the message for him which made Chris growl again as he listened to Gerold's threats although he also made sure to memorize his face so that he wouldn't kill the wrong person by accident.

"What's Gerold's last name?" asked Chris as he worked his fingers literally a blur on the keys.

"Addison," Lyn answered.

Chris snorted at that. "You would think he had a last name like Bully or Fink or Cheater or something instead of a nice normal last name like Addison."

Lyn laughed at that although she also realized that Chris did have a point. "Yeah, well if he had I probably never would have agreed to go out with him at all."

"Why did you?" asked Chris in a curious tone.

"Well at first he was really nice, it wasn't until after we had been dating awhile that he started to change. It was about halfway through our relationship that he started to get all possessive and started hurting me when I didn't do what he wanted. Why I didn't break up with him then I don't know as logically I knew that once someone starts being violent they aren't just going to stop cold turkey."

"Because the human mind always hopes," Chris told her softly. "Why do women stay with men that beat them day in and day out for many years? Sometimes it is because of hope that it is just a stage the man is going through and even when they are beaten they still hope that their man will get help even when a large percentage of them never do. Sometimes it is because the woman loves or at least believes she loves the man even though he hits her regularly and then sometimes it is because the woman is ashamed believing that she has done something to deserve what her husband, boyfriend or fiancé is doing to her even if it isn't true. The human mind often seeks answers and just as often never finds them."

Lyn listened in awe to Chris who was at that moment sounding like he was three times as old as he looked as he spoke with a wisdom that was far beyond his apparent years. It was true that he didn't look physically over twenty, but Lyn knew that he was over twice that old even if he didn't look it.

"You're right that the human mind often seeks answers," Lyn agreed. "In any case now I have you and if Gerold really believes I will break it off with you just because he threatens to kill me or to hurt you and Asher he has another thing coming. If there's one thing I learned during the time I have been dating you it is not to give into threats, intimidation or to blackmail for if you do then they will keep coming back with more of the same."

"That's true, but we need to at least warn Asher to be careful for unlike me he can be hurt," said Chris.

"As much as I don't want to maybe we should postpone the wedding until after Gerold is dealt with," Lyn suggested reluctantly.

Chris snorted at that and said, "There's no way in hell I'm postponing getting married to the woman I love just because of some two-bit gangster's threats."

"But Chris, Gerold is dangerous," Lyn protested, then added, "and yes I am aware that he isn't dangerous to you or your family, but he is to Asher and to me. Gerold did after all threaten to go after Asher if I don't comply with his demand to cancel the wedding and I can't stand the thought of Asher being hurt and possibly killed by some two-bit hood."

"Why aren't you concerned about yourself?" asked Chris with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I know that you and the rest of the family will do whatever it can to protect me," Lyn said simply.

"You're damn right me and my family will not let anything happen to you," said Chris hugging her close to him but also being careful not to us so much strength that he crushed her.

"But what about Ash?" asked Lyn worried her childhood friend.

"We'll do everything we can to protect your friend without revealing what we are," Chris promised.

"And what if he still gets hurt? I mean you can't watch over him in the daytime," said Lyn who now knew that vampires could only go out in the day if it was rainy or cloudy out as they sparkled in direct sunlight. The only reason that Chris never had trouble going out in the daytime was because he had the power to make it cloudy out no matter where he was, but his power didn't stretch more than a few miles in all directions.

"I don't know, but we'll work something out," Chris promised. "Jasper can probably come up with a plan as he is a strategist and in fact I should call them to let them know that you were okay as they were worried about you to."

Lyn absorbed that and was again thankful to have found Chris who loved her beyond any reasonable measure and of course she felt the same way about him which was why she refused to be scared by Gerold's threats and why she refused to break it off.

"So did you manage to trace the call?" asked Lyn finally as Chris's finger finally quit moving so fast over the keys and finally slowed to a complete stop.

"Yes, but it isn't going to do us much good as it came from a public vid phone outside of a Hannigan's Bar."

"I don't see why not," said Lyn. "You have a picture and it's possible that this bar is a regular hangout for him."

"That's true enough," Chris admitted. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, ask me anything you want and I'll do the best I can to answer it," said Lyn immediately.

"Why is it you have quit objecting to getting rid of this guy? You did after all object rather vehemently when I first got here. I believe your exact words were, "'Oh no Chris, leave it alone.'"

"Before you just wanted to get revenge for what he did to me before we met, but he wasn't a clear and present danger," Lyn explained gently. "As for my words of a few minutes ago I was still trying to come to terms with Gerold's threats and those words just kind of came out automatically before I had a chance to really think about them. Now with this current threat it is clear that he is not going to let me go even though I have not seen or heard from him since he put me in the hospital..." Chris growled at that but Lyn ignored it and continued, "...he has apparently been watching me or more likely has had someone come and check up on me every once in a while who then reports back to him, which is probably why he didn't know I was getting married or even dating anyone until now."

"That's a good hypnosis," Chris agreed, "and if Gerold only had one of his bully boys check up on you periodically that might explain why I never sensed or saw anyone watching you."

"Would you have sensed if anybody was watching me?" asked Lyn with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," said Chris firmly. "Whenever I was with you I made sure my senses were on high alert for any threats. Besides even if I hadn't been on high alert I still would have heard the humans heartbeat and smelled them before they got to close because as to know a vampire's sense of smell and hearing are at least ten times better then a human's."

"So that means that I haven't had anyone watching me constantly," said Lyn a little relieved at that.

"No you haven't," Chris agreed. "Now I really need to call Jasper, Bella and Sofia to let them know that you are okay."

"So what are we going to do to protect Ash?"

"We'll figure something out," Chris promised before he gestured at her to be silent for a minute. "Call Jasper," Chris told his wrist talker.

When Jasper came on a few seconds later and Chris explained the whole situation to him there was a thoughtful silence on the other end.

"We're all glad to hear that Lyn is not hurt," said Jasper finally after a few seconds of thoughtful silence, "and we'll do whatever we can to protect her friend."

"But what if he still gets hurt?" asked Lyn speaking for the first time since Chris had called Jasper.

"Well that would depend on how badly hurt we are talking about," said Jasper not seeming at all startled that Lyn had spoken.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Lyn a little wryly.

"I only meant that if he is only a little hurt something that the hospital can easily deal with then we would take him to there, but if he was as injured as Chris was, although it wouldn't be my first choice, we would change him into a vampire."

Lyn considered that for a moment. She had by now been told the story of how Chris and Sofia were transformed into vampires and that Chris would have died if he hadn't been bitten. Lyn had shuddered at the thought of Chris being really and truly dead because she never would have met him if Jasper and Bella hadn't made friends with the twins twenty-six years ago.

"As much as I will miss Ash once you have faked my death he deserves to have a human life. He deserves to get married someday, have children, watch them grow up, get married and have children of their own," said Lyn firmly, "but on the other hand if it came down to a choice of letting him die or turning him into a vampire I would choose the second option."

"Understood," said Jasper with respect in his voice seeming to understand how hard a decision that had been for Lyn to make.

"We had better go now Jasper I hear Asher coming up the stairs," said Chris his keen vampire hearing having picked up the sound of Asher's footfalls. Since he had been dating Lyn for months now he was familiar with the way Asher's footsteps sounded and could have picked them out from amongst a hundred others. "We can discuss this more when I get home in a little while."

"Okay, we will continue this discussion when you get home," Jasper agreed. "You just take care of Lyn and we'll see you later," he added before signing off.

Chris put his sunglasses back on and not more than a second later both Chris and Lyn heard a key in the lock of the door and it opened to reveal Asher who was whistling cheerfully until he saw Chris and Lyn sitting together on the couch looking serious and worried.

"What has happened?" asked Asher looking shocked at seeing Chris in the apartment at this late hour.

"Gerold," was all Lyn had to say.

"Has he threatened you?" Asher growled sounding as fierce as a wolf protecting its cubs.

"Yes," Lyn answered who was much calmer then she had been then when it had first happened although she was still as furious as hell. How dare Gerold think that he had a right to control her life. How dare he try to threaten to go after the two most important people in her life as a control tactic. She had a right to date or marry anyone she chose without this jerk trying to tell her what to do. So what if they dated previously that didn't give Gerold the right to threaten her. "I came home and when I realized that you weren't here I checked messages and his came on right after yours. Apparently he somehow heard that I was getting married and told me I had better break it off or he would hurt those I loved. He said that I belonged to him and I had better never forget that."

Asher snorted at that. "You no more belong to him then the river belongs to a single person. Maybe if you were married to him it would be different, but even if you were that wouldn't give him the right to try to control your every move or to beat you for any reason. You've dated a lot of people and none of them tried to claim that you belonged to them."

"Yes, well this Gerold is apparently psychotic," said Chris speaking for the first time since Asher had entered the apartment. "Lyn called me after she got the message as she didn't want to disturb you on your date and I rushed right over. We were just talking about how to deal with the situation when you walked in. She even suggested we put the wedding on hold until this guy is dealt with as she didn't want to be responsible for one of us getting hurt. I'm sure you can guess what my response to that was."

"The same response I would have made if it was me," Asher suggested. "I wouldn't let this guy control my life if I was about to get married to someone I loved. Giving into threats and blackmail even once sets a bad precedent."

Chris nodded in agreement.

"But both of you could be hurt," Lyn protested playing a role for Ash's benefit knowing very well that no normal weapon was going to hurt Chris, but Ash didn't know that and besides just because Chris couldn't be hurt didn't mean that Asher couldn't.

"We can take care of ourselves," said both Chris and Asher at the same time causing Lyn to roll her eyes at them. "And if some thugs come up on you in an alleyway or something? What will you do then?"

"We'll just avoid alleyways, which would be the sensible thing to do even when Gerold is out of the way," said Asher.

"Especially at night," Chris added with a grin in Lyn's direction when Asher wasn't looking. Lyn rolled her eyes at him knowing what Chris was grinning about without him even having to say it. She was well aware that her vampire fiancé was practically indestructible and that no mere human thugs were going to hurt him.

"Yes, especially at night," Asher agreed having missed the looks between Chris and Lyn entirely.

"And do you really believe that he could only attack you at night?" asked Lyn exasperated with the pair of them. "Gerold, could break into the apartment when I'm not here you know, or he could have someone attack you while you are walking home from your classes at college and it's not like you can skip them, not if you want to graduate anyway," Lyn pointed out.

"I'll be careful," Asher promised.

"Somehow I have a bad feeling about this," Lyn mumbled so softly that only Chris with his vampire hearing picked up the words.

"Everything will be okay," Chris assured his fiancée giving her a hug.

"I hope you're right," Lyn told him.

Chris reluctantly left Lyn in the hands of her friend and headed home although he was tempted to hang around to make sure nothing happened to his fiancée, he also knew that this Gerold was far more likely to go after him and Asher first then he was Lyn. He would want to scare her into complying with his demands and only when it was obvious that she wasn't going to give in would he try to go after Lyn herself, probably after putting Asher in the hospital and trying to put him there as well. Gerold was going to find however that he wasn't the easy target that Asher was and would probably start getting suspicious when the people he hired to take care of him started disappearing. He would probably not suspect the truth that Chris was a vampire since they were more myths then reality and would more than likely assume that Chris had help in getting rid of the men he'd hired.

They really needed to take care of this guy before the twenty-four deadline was up although there was no guarantee that Gerold would stick to his own ultimatum. Chris made his way home at top speed using the back streets and the only reason he was able to do so without fear of being seen was because it was dark out and everybody was asleep at this time of night, even the bums that lined the alleyways.

Once Chris reached home which of course was out in the countryside and on it's own estate with plenty of acres with surrounding trees and bushes hiding the estate from view. The trees and bushes of course had been left to become a bit overgrown so that it was not obvious that it was the entrance to someone's personal property. The only way onto the property if you were driving was to have a remote as there was a gate at the beginning of the forest which was actually a tree lined drive although you couldn't tell that unless you got past the remote controlled gate. If you didn't have a car however and you were on foot you could actually jump over the gate, but only if you were a vampire since the gate was to high for a human to jump over without mechanical help. Chris jumped over the gate with no trouble and ran up the driveway until he reached the house where he used his key to get in.

"So how are we going to deal with this Gerold guy?" asked Sofia as soon as Chris had entered the den where the other three members of the family were gathered as they had been watching a movie while Chris was occupied.

Sofia had only gotten home in the last hour as she had not been there when Chris had left, which was one of the reasons he had been wearing sunglasses the other being that he hated wearing contacts although he would if he absolutely had to. To him contacts were just an annoying inconvenience as he hated how he could see every tiny, little imperfection in the glass once he put them in and also they were uncomfortable and made him want to constantly blink even when as a vampire he didn't have to.

"I don't know but we had better do something fast before things get out of hand." said Chris. "The twenty-four hour ultimatum is over within about eighteen hours if you count by what time the message was received by Lyn's vid phone. I did manage to trace the call to a public vid phone outside a Hannigan's Bar."

"That's helpful," said Bella her eyes narrowing in thought.

"It could be," Jasper agreed also seeming deep in thought.

"Lyn was the one that pointed out to me that it could be this guy's favorite hangout."

"It sure would be convenient if it was a favorite place of his that he spends his time since it would be relatively easy to make him disappear," said Bella. "Anything can happen when you are coming out of a bar since hooligans tend to hang around places like that. He could be mugged, murdered, or just disappear entirely and no one would be likely to question it if that happened, especially if this Hannigan's Bar is in a bad part of town."

"True," Jasper agreed quietly a calculating look going on behind his red eyes.

"Even if it is a regular hangout there's no guarantee that he goes there every night and we are on a strict time limit," said Chris.

"Well we can at least check it out," said Sofia.

"Yes we can although it would help if we at least had a description of this guy," said Bella.

"Oh that reminds me I found out Gerold last name from Lyn who is no longer objecting to getting rid of him."

All three other vampires looked surprised as they had been sure that Lyn would indeed object to them draining this guy dry and then getting rid of the evidence.

"What changed her mind?" asked Sofia curiously.

"She said that before we were just going to kill him in revenge for what he did to her and that he wasn't a clear and present danger, but ever since she listened to that threatening message she realized that this guy isn't going to let her go even though she hasn't seen hide nor hair of him since he put her in the hospital." All four vampires in the room growled at that including Chris. "We both believe that Gerold has had someone checking up on her periodically, so didn't know that she was dating anyone much less getting married until sometime in the last day or two."

"Which is why he sent that threatening call," said Sofia in realization.

"Exactly," said Chris. "I also know what this guy looks like and I sent a copy of his call to the vid phone here so that we can all know what he looks like."

"That was smart thinking," Jasper approved.

"Thanks," said Chris with a half smile.

"So what are we going to do if he isn't at Hannigan's Bar?" asked Sofia.

"We'll first we need to look up the location of this bar," said Bella.

"I'll do that," Sofia offered who was pretty good at hacking into the datanet when she had to. Datanet was what had replaced the internet years ago although it was very similar except that computers nowadays were much more advanced and hooked into all other computers and in fact there was even a department within the government called comp gard that watched out for people trying to get information from other people's systems illegally but there were ways around that if you knew how.

"Thanks, sis," said Chris giving her a hug.

"You're welcome. So what's this guy's last name?" Chris told her and Sofia gave him another hug before raising from where she had been sitting in one of the comfy chairs that were in the den. "I'll go do that," said Sofia as she headed to the other room where the other vid screen was located. They didn't really need a vid screen per se as the only friends or family they had were all vampires and they could just use their wrist talkers for communication, but since the vid screens were also used for home security and as a TV set they of course had several.

"So what's the plan?" Chris asked Jasper as soon as Sofia had disappeared out the door of the den.

"Well we need a little more information before we can really plan anything, but don't worry Chris we won't let anything happen to Evelyn," said Jasper who could feel the worry radiating off his son.

"I can't help but worry," said Chris. "I wish she would agree to go ahead and become a vampire just so I would know that if this Gerold guy did come after her she would not be hurt by whatever he has planned, but on the other hand I understand her desire to spend as much time as she can with Ash and to have him walk her down the aisle since she will never be able to see him again."

"It'll work out," said Bella giving Chris a hug.

"I hope so," said Chris. "I really do."

It was several days later and they had still not found an opportunity to catch Gerold even though the twenty-four hour time limit had long passed.

There already been several attempts on Chris's life as well as Asher's but since both had been on the lookout neither had come to any harm, well except for Asher who had picked up a few bruises from beating off the thugs that had been sent after him. It turned out much to Chris's surprise that Asher was one hell of a fighter and that he had been taking lessons in jujitsu for several years, but on the other hand the thugs that Gerold had hired didn't have any weapons and used just their fists. After all Gerold didn't want to kill Asher just scare Lyn enough to break off her engagement and make her more compliant to his will. Gerold was smart enough to know that if he killed Asher then Lyn would never stop defying him, but one thing he did not understand was that Lyn was not his and just because they had dated did not mean he owned her.

Normally Lyn would have feared for her life and those of her friends, but thanks to Chris being a vampire she knew that he or his family could not be harmed by mere mortals and in fact even in this age of technology where new weapons were being invented practically every day humans had not yet invented a weapon that could kill a vampire if only because most of the population did not believe that they were real a fact that Lyn always hoped was true. Now all she had to worry about was Asher who was human and therefore could be hurt if Gerold decided he had had enough of trying to just beat up Asher and Chris and start have the men he hired bring knives or guns or even those weapons shaped like guns that were supposed to just stun you but could be rewired and the limiting chip replaced so that instead of stunning you they did you a great deal more damage and if used on you to much could kill you.

"Lyn? You alright?" asked Chris as the two of them sat together on the back porch steps of the Whitlock house in complete silence.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about Ash," said Lyn from where she had her head on Chris's stone shoulder that was somehow the most comfortable place in the world to lay her head. "I mean eventually Gerold is going to get tired of just hiring men to beat you and Ash up when he sees it is not working and start hiring thugs with knives and stunners. What worries me the most is not so much the men with knives because so long as there aren't to many of them Asher can handle them as he has been trained to handle men with knives in his Jujitsu classes but what worries me is the men with stunners."

"Why, does that worry you?" asked Chris.

"Well because I read somewhere that although it takes a real expert those stunners can be turned into a weapon that kills. The chip that limits how much power is used can be taken out and that right there turns it into a weapon that will kill you if you take a direct hit."

"You don't think Gerold will go that far do you?" asked Chris startled at Lyn's revelation but once he had thought about it for a few seconds he realized Lyn was right. Humans whether male or female would do anything to get something that they coveted, especially if they were already greedy to begin with and had criminal tendencies.

"You're right," Chris conceded after a few seconds. "Humans will do anything to get what they want, vampires to actually, and for some reason Gerold is fixated on you."

"Maybe he's one of those guys that don't like it when the girl breaks up with him and he has to be the one to end the relationship?" Lyn suggested.

Chris considered that for a minute then nodded. "It is certainly a possibility. Not that it really matters why he wants you as you weren't his to begin with. You are yourself and free to do as you please."

Before Lyn could respond her wrist talker beeped to let her know that she had a call. "Evelyn Alcott speaking," said Lyn as she didn't recognize the number.

"Miss Alcott, this is Nurse Jenson at Wellington Hospital."

Lyn's heart jumped for there was only one reason that the hospital would be calling and that was because Ash had been hurt.

"Yes, Nurse Jenson?" asked Lyn.

"We have just gotten in a patient by the name of Asher Wescott and he had your number down as the one to contact in an emergency."

Lyn heart started to speed up and she knew deep in her soul that Ash had not gotten away with just bruises this time. "How badly is he hurt Nurse Jenson?" asked Lyn feeling she knew the answer but also needing to hear it for herself.

"His ribs are all caved in on one side and he has multiple stabs from what looks like one of those knives with a serrated edge. He also has a lot of internal injuries and has several first degree burns on one arm."

"Will he survive?" asked Lyn.

"That is yet to be determined but the prognosis doesn't look good and he is still in surgery."

"I'll be there in an hour," said Lyn her voice shaking at the thought of her friend dying.

"I'll go with you," said Chris going into the house briefly to tell the family where they were going and to let Sofia do her illusions.

"Chris if Asher is dying call me and we'll figure out a way to get him out of the hospital so that we can turn him into a vampire," said Jasper. "I did promise Lyn that I wouldn't let him die if I could prevent it."

"Damn Gerold Addison, damn him to hell," Chris snarled spewing a string of other cuss words in several languages before finishing with. "I am going to find him and rip that shithole, bastard, motherfucker to pieces and then burn them preferably while he is still alive to feel the pain."

"Calm down, Chris," said Bella ignoring the language entirely which she knew Esme wouldn't have.

"Would you be calm if someone you cared about was in surgery, possibly dying?" Chris asked Bella with a raised eyebrow already knowing the answer. "I like Asher a lot and see him as at least a very good friend, but what makes it worse in my book is that this guy has caused the woman I love unbearable pain and all because he thinks Lyn belongs to him just because they dated for a few months. He's one those people who even today see women as possessions and don't consider that they have as many rights as men or that they can make their own decisions."

"No, I wouldn't be calm if somebody I loved was laying in the hospital for such a stupid reason," Bella admitted.

"That's an understatement," Jasper chuckled. "You would be wanting to rip whoever the offender was apart and you know it."

"So I would," Bella agreed with a reluctant grin which made her turn from someone who was already a beautiful woman into an even more gorgeous one if that was possible for their was something about her smile that just drew you to her and made you want to automatically smile back.

"I'll call you," Chris promised grabbing his car keys and headed to the car where Lyn was waiting for him.

"Excuse me, the hospital called me saying my friend Asher Wescott was in surgery and that he had been hurt?" Lyn asked the woman at the reception desk. "I'm Evelyn Alcott."

"Ah yes Miss Alcott, your friend is still in surgery, but you can wait in the waiting room which is right down the hall. It might be awhile," said the young pretty nurse sympathetically.

"Thank you," said Lyn managing to be polite even while inside she was seething.

She turned away from the reception desk and Chris who had been waiting a little way back took her arm and guided her gently down the hall. The nurse sighed as she caught sight of Chris and how Lyn leaned into him as if seeking his comfort. If only she could find such a handsome man who cared for her as much as this guy cared for his girlfriend and he was very handsome one would almost say drop dead gorgeous. The nurse sighed again in envy and watched as they both disappeared in the direction of the waiting room.

Chris and Lyn sat down in the waiting room and prepared themselves for a long wait for who knew how long it would before Asher was out of surgery.

"I hope he is going to be ok," said Lyn with a sigh as she listlessly picked up a magazine and started to go through it without really seeing the images or words.

"Well if he is dying, we'll find a way to get him out of here so that Jasper can turn him into one of us," said Chris not saying the word vampire just to be on the safe side. "Jasper told me to call him once we heard whether or not he was going to make it."

"I think I'm beginning to come around to your point of view Chris," Lyn told her fiancé quietly, but seriously.

"You mean...?" asked Chris his whole expression lighting up as he knew that Lyn meant the fact that she was reconsidering her stance on the whole drinking human blood issue as it was the only thing they had ever argued about.

"Yes, I mean that," said Lyn. "All I ever did to this guy was break up with him and yet he puts Ash in the hospital where he might possibly die."

"Not to mention put you in the hospital for over a month just for breaking up with him," Chris observed dryly then added after a moment, "In any case you were right when you said that this guy was going to start hiring thugs to do more then beat us up and I guess he decided to go after Asher first since I'm a little harder to get at. I still can't believe I never considered the possibility that Gerold would start hiring thugs with stunners that had had the limiting chip replaced so that it is a deadly weapon."

"I'm sure you would have thought of the possibility of Gerold hiring men with weapons eventually, but I am sure it is hard to think logically when somebody you love has been threatened."

"You got that right," said Chris hugging Lyn to him.

"Who knew my words of just a couple hours ago would be so prophetic," added Lyn after a few minutes of silence. She shivered wondering if she was somehow making her words come true or if it was just coincidence.

"It will be okay, Lyn," said Chris quietly putting an arm around her shoulder and hugged close being careful with his strength.

"I want this guy, Chris," said Lyn. "Not only do I want him off the street before he can harm someone else I want to be the one to deal with him. He had no right to hire those thugs to go after you or Ash just because I broke up with him for not only being an abusive asshole, but for cheating on me. You would probably be in the hospital with serious injuries to if you were a normal human man. Even Asher's jujitsu wasn't enough to protect him."

"Yeah, but you said he's only been taking them for a couple of years, so that means he is far from being an expert. He was only able to fend off the first few attacks because they didn't overwhelm him with more then two or three thugs or have any weapons besides their fists, but this time Gerold probably hired a lot more when he saw that his first few attempts didn't pan out," Chris suggested. "Add in weapons, especially stunners with the limiting chip removed, and you have a very deadly combination."

"You're right," Lyn agreed, "but I still want this guy and I want him bad."

"Lyn why don't you let me and my family deal with him?" Chris suggested. "I don't want you to have this guys murder on your soul."

"I don't consider it murder," Lyn countered. "I consider it justice, but I suppose I will let you deal with him if..."

"If what?" asked Chris just a little anxiously.

"One I get to watch as you tear him apart. Two I want Gerold to see me and I want him to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that his death is because he decided to go after me and my friends. I want him to realize that if he had just left well enough alone that he would not be meeting his maker at the hands of my vampire fiancé."

"I think I can comply with those requests," said Chris cautiously.

"Why think?" Lyn demanded, but keeping her voice down.

"Because being around an angry vampire as he tears someone into little itsy bitsy pieces is not exactly safe," Chris told her very quietly, "Which is why I need to talk to Jasper first since he would probably know what is safe and what isn't."

"Oh," said Lyn not knowing what else to say to that. It was true that Chris and Asher had been close since the moment they had met. It was almost as if they had known each other in a previous life if such a thing as reincarnation existed. "Okay I'll give you that, but if it is possible I want to watch."

"Okay," Chris agreed then added only halfway joking. "It's not like it will give you nightmares since very soon you won't be able sleep at all."

The two of them continued talking quietly for over an hour as no one came to disturb them and there was no one else in the waiting room but them so they had the room to themselves.

Finally just as Lyn was falling asleep from exhaustion her head pillowed on Chris's shoulder Chris heard footsteps walking purposefully in their direction and he gently nudged her.

"What?" asked Lyn sleepily looking up.

"Someone is heading in this direction. They should be here any minute. Maybe it is the doctor and he has news about Asher."

Lyn blinked a couple of times and yawned. "I know you are tired, sweetheart," said Chris sympathetically, "but we need to hear what the doctor has to say and he should be here any second."

Lyn nodded and began to hear the footsteps that Chris had heard over a minute ago and she again silently marveled at how much better Chris's hearing was compared to hers.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped and Lyn looked at the entrance to the waiting room to see an older man standing there in a white lab coat looking at them silently for a minute before he actually approached them. The man seemed to be steeling himself for what he had to tell them and Chris tensed beside Lyn as he smelled the nervousness just rolling off the man and also the doctor's heart was beating much faster then was normal, which just proved that whatever he had to tell them it wasn't good news.

"I'm looking for anybody who is here for Asher Wescott," the man said.

"That would be us, doctor..." said Lyn.

"Baines," said man answered. "Jason Baines."

"It is nice to meet you Doctor Baines," said Chris shaking the doctor's hand briefly.

"What can you tell us about my friend Ash?" asked Lyn anxiously.

"I'm afraid that his injuries are very serious and he has only a very slim chance of living through the night. He did survive the surgery, but even then we nearly lost him a couple of times. If he lives through the next forty-eight hours then his chances of survival go up although not by very much."

"So what are Asher's chances of surviving if he does live through the next forty-eight hours?" asked Chris.

"No more than twenty percent," Baines answered soberly, "Not only did your friend have his ribs caved in on one side, he has several first degree burns from some kind of laserlike weapon and multiple contusions and internal injuries. Even if he survives he will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

"Only twenty percent?" asked Lyn looking stricken tears starting to leak out of her eyes.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, even with today's technologic advances we can only do so much to keep somebody alive. The human body can only take so many injuries or so much abuse before it just gives up. Some people slip into a coma and just never wake up and some do wake up only to die hours later thanks to complications."

"Do you think it likely that Asher will never come out of his coma?" asked Chris

"Well it really depends on how much a fighter your friend is," said Baines. "If subconsciously he just gives up and doesn't have the will to live then he might never wake up or if he is a fighter then he could wake up at any time."

"Ash isn't one to just give up," said Lyn "He has always been a fighter."

"The brain is strange and even today it is not fully understood how it works. Sometimes it won't allow whoever is in the coma to wake up no matter how strong their will is and then other times it seems like a miracle when they do wake up no matter how many injuries the body of that person has taken. Medical science has advanced a lot over the last a hundred years there is no denying that, but there is still so much that we don't know or don't understand about the mind. You do realize that the longer he stays in his coma the more chance or him never waking up at all?"

"Yes," said Chris, soberly.

"We know," Lyn added sharing a worried look with her fiancé. "So who found Ash and brought him in?" asked Lyn changing the subject.

"I'm not sure if I should give you that information," said Baines looking surprised at the subject switch.

"We just want to thank, whoever it was doctor," Chris assured him adding in his two cents and not seeming surprised at the sudden change in subject. "Most people wouldn't have even called an ambulance and just left whoever it was there to die."

"I'll have the receptionist at the front desk look up the name and give it to you," Baines promised having heard the sincerity in Chris's voice.

"Thanks," said Chris. "Even if our friend dies we believes this person has done something special and should at least be thanked for doing such a good deed."

"When can we see him?" asked Lyn.

"Well visiting hours don't start for a couple of hours but I suppose I can let you two see him for a few minutes in order to say goodbye."

"I refuse to give up on him yet," Lyn told Baines fiercely. "Ash is a fighter. He's been hurt before and always pulled through."

"But I bet he wasn't hurt as bad then as he was now," said Baines.

"No, not even half as bad although he did hit his head once and it put him into a coma for a week," said Lyn.

"Coma's are nothing compared to what his body is going through now. With all his injuries its as if his body is at war with itself, each territory fighting for dominance. I'll leave word with the nurse on duty that you be allowed to see your friend for fifteen minutes only."

"Thanks we appreciate it," said Lyn.

"You're welcome, I'm sorry I couldn't give you better news about your friend," said Baines before he turned and left.

An hour later Lyn crawled into bed in the guest room at the Whitlock house after just getting out of the shower to tired to think anymore and curled up beside Chris who was already there. "Goodnight, Chris," Lyn yawned putting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," said Chris kissing Lyn on the forehead which Lyn didn't even feel as she was already fast asleep.

As Lyn slept Chris simply looked at her and thought about the last few months of his life. He had had more fun in the last few months then he had had in a long time simply because anytime he spent with Lyn was exciting and new and he looked forward to spending the rest of eternity with her. Now though there was this problem with Asher as they needed to figure out some way to get him out of the hospital without being seen. Chris supposed that he would have to use his talent to control the weather to create a storm with lightning and thunder and then hit the breaker box that controlled the lights in the hospital and then be prepared to take Asher out the window which would be a problem as his room was on the fifth floor. They wouldn't have long as the emergency backup would come on almost immediately and they would have perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes tops before someone started a room check. Also with as injured as Asher was they would have to make sure he wouldn't scream which is where Bella's talent to shield and also make it soundproof would come in handy. If they timed it just right they could be gone in just ten or fifteen minutes, but before they did any of this Asher would have to at least wake up first to let everyone know that he was alive and not just an empty shell.

Chris continued to hold Lyn throughout the night and knew that thanks to Gerold Addison the wedding was going to have to be postponed. Also they needed to deal with Addison preferably before Asher woke up as once he was awake and they had kidnapped him from the hospital they would need to leave the area immediately or maybe it would be better to stay for a few days just to make sure that no one was suspicious of them and they did have that root cellar with the secret room that had been soundproofed for the occasional celebrations where they captured humans and fed on one a day for a set number of days which was usually a week. They did other activities to of course, but the capturing of the criminals and then feeding on them were a big part of the celebrations just like a feast with food would be for a human.

Chris sighed silently and held Lyn a little tighter holding her close to him wishing with all his dead heart that he could sleep just to wile away a few hours even though he knew he couldn't.

Chris kissed Lyn softly on the forehead again then closed his eyes so he could at least pretend to sleep for a few hours even while his mind was still active.

Hours later Lyn began to stir pulling Chris from his thoughts and he realized that it was after eight o'clock in the morning and that Lyn had been asleep for over eleven hours. Lyn had been so emotionally rung out that she had gone to bed at nine o'clock last night not even getting up to use the bathroom even once in the middle of the night.

Finally Lyn yawned and opened her eyes just to stare into the mesmerizing red orbs of her fiancé. "Good morning sweetheart," said Chris, giving her a kiss on the lips not caring about the morning breath.

"Morning," said Lyn returning the kiss.

"Why don't you get dressed, we'll get you some breakfast and we can discuss with the rest of the family some of the ideas I came up with for getting Asher out of the hospital."

"Okay," said Lyn leaving the arms of her fiancé reluctantly and heading into the bathroom to use the toilet and to brush her teeth.

When Lyn came downstairs a few minutes later it was to find that Bella had already cooked her sausage and eggs which were her favorites for breakfast which she pretty soon wouldn't be able to eat anymore as she would be a blood drinking vampire.

"Thanks," said Lyn gratefully as she dug into her breakfast.

"You're more than welcome," said Bella with a smile. "I figured you needed it as you had a rough day yesterday."

"That's the understatement of the century," said Lyn between bites of egg and sausage.

"Probably," said Bella with a chuckle.

Once Lyn had finished eating a few minutes later and Bella had cleaned the dish at vampire speed both women headed into the living room where the others were waiting. Once they were seated Jasper opened up the meeting. "Chris was just telling me the idea he had for getting Asher out of the hospital and I believe it is a good one and had come up with a similar idea myself. With a few improvements I believe it is doable."

"So what is this idea?" asked Bella.

"Well first we have make sure Asher is going to wake up because there is no reason to rescue him or bite him of he is still unconscious. I'm actually not sure what kind of effect turning someone who is in a coma into a vampire would have because as far as I know it has never been done. Once we are sure that he will wake up then here is the idea that Chris and I had," said Jasper as he explained about how Chris was going to create a storm and then have lightning hit the breaker box and that would kill the power for the few minutes necessary to do what had to be done in order to get Asher out the window.

"We'll need to set up the room to look like he was kidnapped," said Jasper.

"By who?" asked Lyn.

"Well why not make it Gerold?" asked Jasper. "We are going to kill him anyway and if we do this right we can leave the pieces for the police to find and that way they can't question him as to where Asher is. It would be kind of revenge as he is the one that put Asher in the hospital in the first place."

"I like it," Lyn decided, "but what about when the police come to question me about Asher's disappearance?"

"How good are you at acting?" asked Jasper.

"Not very," said Lyn making a face. "I tried out for several parts in school plays and I always got very minor, non-speaking parts."

"Well then I can take care of that," said Jasper in satisfaction. "I'll simply send you emotions of grief and anger just enough to make them genuine," said Jasper.

"But if we are at Lyn's apartment..." Sofia pointed out.

"We'll all be there in order to comfort Lyn at the disappearance of her friend as that would be the proper thing to do as Chris is getting married to Lyn after all so it would only be right for his family to offer their condolences on Asher's disappearance," said Bella understanding immediately where this was going as she knew how her mate thought and should as they had been married a long time.

"Exactly," said Jasper. "I can also send the cops a very low level of trust, honesty and truthfulness that should be enough to let any suspicions they have die."

"And you can also mention that your ex-boyfriend Gerold has threatened you and also threatened to hurt your friends if you didn't break off the engagement," Chris suggested.

"It's not like you'll be lying because Addison is the reason that Asher is in the hospital to begin with."

"All you really have to do is show them the message and tell them that there have been several attacks on both Chris and Asher but they managed to fend them off until your friend was overwhelmed with more thugs then he could handle on his own," said Bella.

"But they'll ask why we didn't report the threat to them," Lyn pointed out.

"We'll you'll simply tell them that you didn't think the threat was serious and it wasn't until Asher was attacked that first time that you realized the Gerold wasn't going to let you go," said Jasper. "You can also say that you were considering going to the police but never had a chance when you got the call that Asher was in the hospital in intensive care."

"Good ideas," Lyn admitted, "but also we will have to wait until they put him in a private room as breaking him out of ICU would just be to difficult and would likely get you caught."

"We'll give the hospital enough money to make sure he gets a private room," said Chris.

"But won't that make the hospital suspicious if we pay to get him a private room and then he disappears not much later?" asked Lyn worrying about the possibility.

"It might," Jasper admitted, "but on the other hand we can't risk Asher getting put in a room with another patient as they might wake up and see something they shouldn't." Jasper sighed and added, "it's at times like this that I really miss Carlisle and Alice."

"Why?" asked Sofia before Lyn could.

"Because Carlisle was a doctor and could have gotten Asher a private room without to much trouble or questions or if not that he could have at least made sure that Asher's bed was over by the window and given any roommate something that would have knocked them out for the duration. And Alice could have looked into the future to make sure that whatever course of action we decided on would work without problems, but since we don't have them we are going to have to do this the hard way."

"You know this might work to our advantage," said Chris. "Think about it if we pay for Asher to have a private room and then he disappears within less than a day the police will likely think that it couldn't have been us because there is no way we would be stupid enough to pay for him to have private room and then kidnap him hours later. The police will question us I'm sure because that is standard procedure, but if Lyn acts all grief-stricken at his disappearance, since she and Asher have been friends since they were children and the rest of us act all upset, but not grief-stricken since we hardly knew him after all then the police will likely take us off their suspects list or at least drop us down to the bottom."

"That's a good idea, Chris and one I hadn't thought off. That is probably exactly what they will think to," said Jasper.

"How do you know?" asked Lyn.

"If you are around long enough Lyn you will find you can read most people even without super vampire hearing, or sense of smell," Jasper told Lyn with a wink. "Human nature doesn't change after all and you will find you can predict what most people will do or think at least ninety-five percent of the time. You know that I've been around a long time and I learned how humans think at least most of the time and then I have an added advantage since I can read people's emotions."

"But the cops could be in that five percent that you can't predict what they will do," Lyn pointed out.

"True enough," Jasper admitted, "but unlikely as most cops seem to think similarly, but we'll be on guard just in case they are in that five percent of humans that are unpredictable. In any case it is the only idea we have that has the most chance of working."

Everyone agreed and discussed it a little more to make sure they had all the details worked out and they each knew what their roles were and so everything would go as smoothly as possible.

Later that day Chris and Lyn walked into the hospital and asked about Asher at the desk that led to ICU.

"Your friend is doing a little better," said the nurse manning the desk after looking at Asher's chart. "He hasn't regained consciousness, but the doctor thinks that he can be moved out of ICU sometime in the next few days as his life signs have stabilized a great deal and in fact I heard the doctor call it a miracle that Mr. Wescott has improved so drastically considering his injuries."

"Thank you," said Lyn gratefully.

"You're welcome," said the nurse with a smile glad for once that she could give someone at least semi good news.

"If possible we would like to arrange for a private room for our friend," Chris added.

"That can be arranged," the nurse said knowing that these people must have money as a private room added quite a lot to the hospital bill.

"Thank you, ma'am," said Chris his smile lighting up his whole face and making the nurse's heart start beating really fast as Chris smile made him if possible even more handsome and attractive then he already was.

Chris had no idea the effect he had on women, Lyn thought in amusement not at all jealous as she knew that Chris's heart, dead or not belonged to her and her alone. All he had to do was flash that devastating smile or even look at another woman and they would try to pick him up. Of course all those women were always turned down as Chris politely told them that he was engaged to be married and before they had been that he was dating someone.

"You have fifteen minutes," said the nurse as she buzzed open the door to the ICU.

The was the rule in ICU, you only got fifteen minutes every hour during visiting times and you had to go through extensive cleansing procedures so you didn't bring germs into a sterile environment. You had to change your clothes into the green surgical garb that had already been sterilized and wear those surgical masks over your mouth as well.

Vampires of course could not get germs since they were technically dead, they couldn't get sick. Chris guessed he could still give a human germs if they were on his clothes so he supposed he would have to put up with the sterilization process as distasteful as that was.

Chris and Lyn finally finished going through the necessary procedures and were allowed into the room where Asher was hooked up to about a dozen different machines and they both sat at his bedside.

"I hate seeing him like this, so lifeless," said Lyn sadly as she took Asher's hand in hers.

"We should be grateful that he didn't have to go on life support since his lungs were't damaged," said Chris. "Or have a feeding tube shoved down his throat."

"But if he doesn't wake up by day three they will have to insert a feeding tube in order to feed him nutrients and water," said Lyn looking sad and upset.

"Try to have faith sweetheart that Asher will wake up and get better," said Chris giving her hand a squeeze.

"It's hard to have a little faith when the man you've known since you were four is lying in hospital bed, with broken bones, internal injuries, burns, a severed spine and multiple contusions."

"Asher will be okay," said Chris trying to sound reassuring.

"And be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life," Lyn practically spat. "I don't consider that okay."

"We should look at the bright side and not be so pessimistic," said Chris. "Asher is doing much better and for as injured as he was..."

"You call being hooked up to half a dozen machines better?" asked Lyn trying to sound calm, but having trouble doing that as she looked at her friend and at all the wires that led from his body to the various machines that surrounded the bed.

"Well considering he was hooked up to at ten when we were here just yesterday then yes I say he was doing better," said Chris taking Lyn's free hand in his.

"He hasn't even woken up yet," said Lyn.

"You have to give him time," said Chris trying his best to comfort his fiancée. "He's only been in here a little more than twenty-four hours."

"But the longer he stays in his coma the more likely it is that he will be brain damaged or have amnesia according to Doctor Baines," said Lyn.

"You need to quit worrying about this," Chris told her rubbing his thumb across Lyn's knuckles. "I know you love Asher like a brother, I'm fond of him myself, but all this worry is wearing on you."

"I'll quit worrying when I know if Ash is going to get better or not," said Lyn playing her part to the hilt. It wasn't that she wasn't deathly worried about Ash, but if anybody was listening to their conversation all they would hear was her talking about being worried about her friend and Chris trying to calm her down.

Suddenly Asher gripped Lyn's hand in a weak squeeze and Lyn reacted instantly and said excitedly, "Ash?"

"Lyn," came Ash's weak and hoarse voice.

"Oh Ash, I'm so happy that you are awake," said Lyn just preventing herself from hugging him as that would not have been a good thing as Asher was still hooked up to half a dozen machines.

"What happened?" asked Asher.

"Don't you remember?" asked Chris worried that Ash might have amnesia.

Ash seemed to be confused for a moment and then his blue eyes cleared. "Yeah I was walking..." cough "...out of the movie theater..." cough "...when I was attacked. There just wasn't..." cough "...three or four thugs this time, but..." cough.

"Some...wa...ter...ple...ase?" Asher requested. Chris reacted instantly and pored Asher a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside table and then helped Asher to take several small sips. "Thanks," said Asher before he continued, "...at least a dozen and there just..." cough "...weren't using their fists, but had knives..." cough "...and what I thought were..." cough "...stunners. I managed to take out..." cough "...five or six of them..." cough "...but then the rest of them ganged up on me and..." cough "...one of them fired that stunner that I managed to mostly..." cough "...avoid but it still hit my arm, knocking me to the ground."

"Don't talk anymore, Ash," Lyn pleaded giving Asher another couple of sips of water from the glass that Chris had handed her. "You need to rest and get better."

Ash continued not seeming to have heard Lyn's words. "Before I could get back to my feet..." cough "...several of them stabbed me with their knives..." cough "...and one of them kicked me several..." cough "...times in the side hard enough..." cough "...that I knew I had at least several broken ribs. After that though..." cough "...I don't really remember anything as I must been..." cough "...unconscious by that point. I don't remember how I got to the hospital at all."

"Someone saw you lying there unconscious and called an ambulance then stayed with you until they came," said Lyn.

"Oh," said Ash his voice even hoarser and softer then before managing not to cough this time. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Just a little over twenty-four hours," Chris answered happy that Ash was awake and didn't seem to have amnesia although he also hated to see his friend in so much pain. Asher was damn lucky to have survived such a vicious attack, Chris knew. An attack that Gerold Addison would pay for not just in blood, but with his life if Chris had any say in the matter.

"It doesn't seem like that long," said Ash suppressing a groan of pain.

Chris immediately noticed and said rising to his feet and heading for the door, "I'll get the nurse to get you something for the pain."

Lyn watched as Chris left the room and then turned back to Asher. "I'm so glad you are awake Ash, I've been so worried about you."

"I'm...so...rry..." cough "...I...wor...ried...you," said Asher.

"Don't talk," Lyn said giving Asher's hand a squeeze, "Just get better."

Asher nodded and relaxed back against his pillow.

Just then Chris came back with a nurse in toe and the nurse had a needle filled with pain medication for Asher.

"I'm glad to see you awake, Mr. Wescott. Your friends have been very worried about you. The doctor will be pleased that you woke up so soon as the odds were that you would be stuck in your coma until you died. You must have quite the will to live to wake up after only a day," the nurse told Asher cheerfully.

"Ash has always been very strong willed," said Lyn with a twitch of her lips.

Ash didn't respond as he had fallen asleep immediately after the nurse had put the pain medication into Asher's IV.

"There that should put him out until morning," said the nurse cheerfully.

"Thanks," said Chris.

"You're welcome," said the nurse. "Shouldn't you be going? Your fifteen minutes were up twenty minutes ago."

"I guess we should," said Chris taking hold of Lyn's arm and leading her out of the room when she seemed reluctant to leave Asher's side. "Come along, sweetheart, we can come back to visit Asher later."

"All right so Asher's awake and doesn't seem to have amnesia," said Jasper.

"No he was coherent and remembered what had happened to him although he coughed every few words through the whole story and seemed to have a little trouble breathing towards the end," said Chris.

"I tried to get him to stop talking and get him to rest, but Ash always was stubborn and he was going to finish what he had to say no matter what," said Lyn her lips twitching, "although he's damn lucky it didn't make his injuries worse."

"So when is he going to be put into a private room?" asked Bella.

"Well if Asher continues to improve over the next day or two, the doctor said that he would be moved to a private room by the end of the week."

"So Friday," said Jasper his military mind clicking over the possibilities.

"We should probably wait at least a couple of days after he is moved to a private room to enact our plan," Chris said. "Give the nurses time to get into a routine."

"And also the hospital isn't as heavily staffed on the weekends, Sunday especially, since a lot of nurses and some of the doctors take at least one day of the weekend off where they are on call, but aren't actually working," said Bella.

"So Sunday would be a good day to enact our plan," said Jasper. "In the meantime though we need to continue looking for Gerold Addison."

"It's as if he has disappeared off the face of the earth," said Chris with a roll of his red eyes. "I've checked his apartment a couple of times and even hung outside Hannigan's Bar watching the people coming and going, but haven't seen hide nor hair of him. Of course I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like finding Addison since I haven't wanted to leave Lyn by herself with this guy still out there. At least I picked up his scent at his apartment and will immediately recognize it when we finally find him."

"It's not just you that is looking for him, Chris," Bella admonished him, "we all have been. This is a family effect as we all want his head."

"I know I didn't mean it like that," said Chris looking ashamed of himself.

"We know you want to be the one to get ahold of this guy since it was your mate who was hurt by his actions, but we all care for Lyn and all want to send this guy to hell where he belongs."

"And that includes me," Lyn piped up from where she had been sitting quietly observing what was soon to be her family.

"Yes, Chris told us that you have changed your opinion about the whole drinking human blood issue," said Jasper calmly, but the respect in his red eyes told Lyn that he knew that it had not been an easy decision for her to make as she had always been taught to respect and revere life, whether human or animal. "Each of us, except for me had something bad happen to them that made them decide to hunt criminals once they were vampires. For me it as different as I was changed against my will and in a different and more primitive time."

"For me the turning point in my thinking was the fact that my father was murdered by a bunch of drugged up and drunk high school boys and not just my father but several of my friends as well," said Bella remembering Jake and Angelia.

"For Sofia and me it was when we were confronted by that guy that thought it would be a good idea to rob a couple of college kids. When he tried to take the necklace that Sofia was wearing that our mother had given her just before she died and I was hurt so gravely trying to not only protect her, but stop this guy from taking it that was the turning point for us," said Chris. "Well you know our story so I won't repeat myself."

"Each of us went through something so life altering that made us decide that feeding off criminals would be doing a kind of public service and make people who are just trying to lead a normal life a little safer," said Bella.

"Yes," said Lyn slowly. "I have come around to your way of thinking as Asher never did anything to Gerold except tell me privately that he didn't like him and that he was to controlling. At that time he didn't know about the fact that Gerold had started hitting me as he always hit me somewhere that wasn't visible, but if he had I guarantee Ash would have done more then try to convince me to break up with him privately. Now just because Gerold thinks I belong to him just because we dated and because I refuse to give in to his threats or be owned like a bloody package, he has begun beating up my friends thinking I will do as he says just so he won't hurt me."

"He apparently doesn't know you very well," said Bella her lips twitching. "He apparently thinks that you are weak willed that you will give into threats and intimidation, when we all know you are a very strong willed person," Bella added gesturing at Jasper and Chris. "Oh you might have been gun shy for awhile, like when you didn't date for over a year until you met Chris, but eventually you would have fought back once you realized that Gerold had no right to control your life."

"That's true," said Chris in agreement pulling Lyn closer to his side. "No weak willed person would have accepted the fact that vampires were real so easily or accepted the whole mates idea without an argument."

"Or not at least fainted or tried to run away," Jasper said his lips twitching at the ridiculousness of that idea at least where it concerned Lyn because as had just been pointed out she was very strong willed and unlikely to faint or run away.

"Like you just said that isn't me even if I did let Gerold scare me into not dating for a while," said Lyn as she to saw the humor in situation despite how serious this discussion was. "Anyway I appreciate that you didn't try to force a decision on me and let me come to it on my own."

"We would never do that," said Jasper with a half smile. "You can't force that kind of decision on anyone. It is the kind of decision that must be made on its own as you decide on what path to follow."

"You think differently then most of our kind and you know it," Bella told him affectionately taking his hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. "Most of our kind don't even know about the animal diet and even if they did they would think we were crazy for even considering feeding off animals when humans are our natural food source and taste much better than animals. It would be like a human denying himself meat or chocolate and eating something he didn't like in order to be healthier," Bella said.

"You know who we have to thank as the reason that we are more a family then a coven," said Jasper. "If not for Carlisle's influence and unending compassion we would not try so hard to at least act somewhat human. You know very well that most of our kind do not live as close to human as we do. They do not go to the mall, or to the movies, or to college and most of all they do not make friends with humans as they are our food source."

"And most of the time it isn't about trying to control their bloodlust long enough to make friends as most older vampires have very good control, its just that most of our kind don't think about making friends even with other vampires much less humans," Bella explained to Lyn.

"You know by now the Whitlocks have always been a little different," Chris told Lyn with a smile. "Anyway we got a little off course in our discussion."

"So we did," agreed Jasper with a half smile amusement in his eyes. "I think that Bella's idea of Sunday would probably work best. I know you said that Asher was a lot better, but even if he lives he will never walk again for even modern medicine can't fix a spine that has been severed."

"Perhaps we should give him the choice as to whether or not become a vampire or not," Lyn suggested.

"Lyn you know our laws, no human is to learn of our existence," said Chris, "and you also know that you do not really count in that since you are my mate," he added when he saw Lyn about to protest.

"I kind of agree with Lyn," said Bella. "I think we should give him a choice. Didn't you say that he had a fever?"

"Yes, and it was pretty high according to Dr. Baines, but not high enough that he wasn't coherent when he was telling us about when he was attacked although come to think of it his eyes did glaze over a couple of times as he was talking."

"Well if he has a fever and it is relatively high then if we do ask him about him becoming a vampire and he refuses he will assume it was a fever dream or that he was hallucinating if he remembers it at all," Bella suggested with a nonchalant shrug. "Also I think it best if it is Chris and Lyn who do the asking since he has never met the rest of us and he knows Chris and considers him a friend."

Jasper considered the implications if Bella's plan didn't work for a few minutes then said, "It is a good plan, but with at least one complication and you know what I am talking about."

"Bella might know what you are talking about, but I don't," said Lyn looking a little put out for being left out of whatever they were talking about.

"Just that if Asher does remember more then we think he will and he figures out that vampires are real and weren't a fever dream or hallucination then we could have real trouble on our hands. Bella is right in the fact that there is at least a ninety percent possibility that Asher won't remember a thing or if he does it will be like it was a distant dream, but on the other hand there is at least a ten percent possibility that his memories will be clear enough to figure out that vampires exist and if we don't change him or kill him then and the Volturi discover what we did it could be big trouble for us and for Asher."

"But isn't it worth the risk?" asked Bella. "You did after all give me the choice on whether or not to become a vampire and I decided to do it so that we could be together, and you also gave the twins that choice."

"But the difference is that all of you already knew about vampires and Asher doesn't," Jasper pointed out.

"The question remains are we willing to take the chance?" asked Lyn looking almost pleading.

Jasper appeared deep in thought and was quiet for so long that Lyn had trouble staying quiet, but she managed it.

"All right," Jasper finally decided. "You can go ahead and do it, but let's just hope that if Asher says no that he thinks it is a fever dream."

"It is only a ten percent possibility that Asher will remember anything at all, except as a dream," Lyn pointed out.

"But it is still a possibility even if it it a very small one," said Jasper with a sigh. "I admit though it makes my conscious feel better to do it this way as I didn't like the thought of just changing him without his permission. I did enough of that back when I was first changed and I always felt guilty for ruining peoples lives that had families jobs and were perfectly healthy before I ran across them. I always suppressed these feelings since back then they weren't part of who I was."

Lyn was really interested to hear about Jasper's past and he had promised to tell her someday after she was changed, but she knew that could mean anywhere from a few months to a century or more. Jasper's past was apparently very violent where he had changed humans into newborns on a regular basis. She would try her best to contain her curiosity though because from the few comments Jasper had his past was obviously very painful for him to talk about and she didn't want to cause him any pain.

"Well talk to him just as soon as he is moved to a private room as ICU is to monitored to risk that kind of conversation," said Chris.

Jasper nodded, "Bella and I will start packing up the house as we won't be able to stay here after Asher has finished changing and we need to bite Lyn at the same time so that Asher isn't attracted to her heartbeat."

Lyn took the thought that she wouldn't be able to marry Chris until after she was a vampire with good grace although she cursed Gerold Addison in her head.

"I know this not the way we planned it," Chris told Lyn sympathetically seeming to understand what she was thinking which was very likely as Chris did know her pretty well, "and believe me I completely understand as I was looking forward to getting married to, but once you have finished changing we will need to leave the area as soon as possible because no one can see Asher when he has disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

"I know, I don't blame any of you since it isn't your fault. I place the blame squarely at the feet of Gerold Addison where it belongs. I hope we can catch him before we have to leave the area for I really, really want this guy."

"So do I," said Chris.

"So are we going to stay long enough to defuse suspicions when Asher disappears?" asked Bella.

"I'm sure that the police will want to at least question Chris and Lyn as they have been seen visiting Asher on a regular basis in ICU."

"You know why not when I supposedly disappear blame it on Gerold? What I mean is say is that Chris can tell the police that he went by my apartment to take me out on a date to cheer me up since my friend is in the hospital and when I didn't answer the door he used his key to get in and found me gone and the apartment ransacked."

"And it could happen after Asher disappears from the hospital, so that Chris has an alibi," Bella suggested.

"But won't the police be suspicious that I was involved in Lyn's disappearance?" asked Chris.

"Probably at first," Jasper admitted, "but if you play your part well enough and with a little help from me we should be able to convince the cops that you had nothing to do with Lyn's disappearance and that you are grieving for your fiancée. Once we are sure that suspicions don't fall on us we can just move away. The timing is going to be tight, but I believe it can be done," said Jasper.

"And if we make an anonymous call after we finish with Addison we can leave evidence that he was behind Lyn's disappearance, but since he will be dead it will be assumed that Lyn is dead as well and that her body will never be discovered," said Chris liking the idea enormously.

"So?" asked Lyn.

"Don't you understand, Lyn it means that no one will be looking for you," explained Chris. "The danger of turning someone into a vampire especially in this day and age is that it is a lot easier to find someone who just wants to disappear for whatever reason or to fake someone's death. With the improvement in technology and as widely spread as it is unless you are an expert at creating a new identity and a paper trail that goes with that identity it is almost impossible to simply vanish."

"I never thought about it that way, but yes, I see what you mean and why you want to blame my disappearance on Gerold," said Lyn, "Since he will already be dead it's not like they will be able to question him, unless they have a weegie board that is."

Everyone snickered at that as weegie boards had been around as games since the nineteen eighties and were supposedly used to contact the spirit world, but didn't actually work.

Before anyone could comment the vid screen rung telling everyone in the house that they had a call in the other room and Bella went to answer it. All the other vampires could hear the conversation on both ends with their advanced hearing without even really straining and what they did hear got all of them excited. Chris made sure he told Lyn what he heard from the phone call since she didn't have a vampire's super sensitive hearing.

When Bella came back it was to find a very excited group. Bella laughed and the sound was musical and like a hundred tiny bells. "I guess you heard, huh?" asked Bella.

"We heard," said Jasper his red eye gleaming excitedly, "Addison has finally been caught."

"And by none other than my sister," said Chris with a grin of pride. "I'm going to owe her big for this. I know I've been distracted for the last few days, but shouldn't I have at least known what she was up to?"

"None of us did," said Bella with a frown. "We knew she has been gone a lot in the last couple of days, but we didn't know that she was searching for Gerold Addison on her own."

"Which she shouldn't have done without informing at least one of us what she was doing just in case she got into trouble," said Jasper. "I'm going to have to talk to her about that."

"But what can possibly harm a vampire?" asked Lyn in confusion.

"It isn't so much that I think she will get hurt, because you are right Lyn that not much can harm us, but the fact that she could get into a situation where somebody, whether a single person or a group figures out what we are and as you know that is a big no, no."

"I see," said Lyn who really did, because Lyn knew that if some human had discovered that vampires were real then Jasper and his family would have been forced to deal with the situation by killing them even if they weren't criminals.

"So what are we going to do with Addison until we are ready to deal with him?" asked Chris.

"Well, why don't we just keep him in the cellar, in that little storage room that we never use, until we are ready to deal with him?" asked Bella. "There's no way he can escape as the door is several inches thick and there is no way that his screams will be heard even if somebody even knew about this place besides us. Oh and we should probably keep him tied up just to be on the safe side."

"Excellent idea," Jasper approved giving his mate a hug and passionate kiss.

"Thanks," said Bella who looked embarrassed even if there was no telltale blush to indicate that she was.

"I'll just go call Sofia and let her know what we decided," said Bella hurrying out of the room Jasper watching her go with a gleam of amusement in his red gaze.

Several hours later Chris, Lyn, and Jasper entered the storage room in the cellar where Gerold Addison was being kept and while Jasper stayed by the storage room door Chris and Lyn went closer to their prisoner. Sofia had been successful in getting Addison here without being seen and Chris knew that he owed his sister big for his capture for Chris had feared that he wouldn't be caught before they had to leave the area and that he would get away with his crimes, but now thanks to Sofia that wasn't going to happen.

"Evelyn?" Gerold asked his tone frightened, as he got a good look at one of the people that had come into the cellar, "What is the meaning of this?" Gerold tried to bluster although he was unsuccessful at hiding his fear for the two vampires in the room could just smell the fear rolling off him and even Lyn could tell that Gerold was afraid of them. As well he should be as they had the advantage since Addison was all tied up, unable to move much and they were free to do with him as they pleased.

"Well, let's see the meaning of this is that thanks to your actions of hiring those thugs to beat up my friends Ash will never walk again and he's damn lucky that he is alive at all so Chris and I thought we ought to find a way to thank you for your kind and generous actions," Lyn spat.

"Evelyn, you belong to me!" Gerold blustered trying not to show how afraid he was.

"I belong to no one, but myself," Lyn told Gerold her green eyes flashing angrily. "Just because we dated does not make me your property and because of your threats I was to afraid to date for over a year until I met Chris and I'll let him tell you exactly what he is going to do to you in revenge for what you did to me. I'm afraid you have bitten off more then you can chew this time as soon you are going to be very, very dead and I am going to enjoy watching every minute as my new family tears you into little, tiny, pieces."

"Evelyn!" Gerold shouted at the top of his lungs with fear in his face and voice. "Let me go!"

"Even if I wanted to just let you go, which I don't by the way, it is out of my hands as you have quite few people more than a little upset with you. Oh, did I mention that my fiancé and his family are vampires and they are going to enjoy tearing you apart?" Lyn told Gerold sweetly almost causally causing Jasper over by the door to laugh.

"Vampires aren't real, you're just trying to scare me," Gerold blustered although inside he was shaking in fear as he knew deep down that he was going to meet his maker sometime in the near future as Evelyn and these people just weren't going to let him go. He also knew that he had gone to far when he had had the thugs he had hired beat up Asher so badly that he had almost died and as it was he would never walk again. He had just been trying to scare Evelyn into breaking off her engagement to this guy, but he was just now beginning to realize that Lyn was made of sterner stuff and also that he did not own her.

"Chris, the floor is yours," Lyn told him.

"Thank you, honey," Chris told Lyn giving her a kiss in full view of their prisoner. Once Chris broke away he walked nearer to Gerold and almost causally picked up a piece of steel pipe that was laying nearby and with Gerold watching bent it in half first then into the shape of a u.

Gerold gulped for bending a piece of steel pipe like that should have been impossible and Chris had done it with no kind of mechanical machine to help.

"Here then is your sentence," Chris began. "For your crimes you will be tortured and then torn into pieces." Chris without pausing went ahead and told Gerold exactly what he and his family were going to do to him and that he would be left in pieces somewhere for somebody to find and that once he had been identified the police would go and search his apartment and find the evidence of his crimes. "It will be assumed that both Lyn and Asher are dead, even if their bodies are never discovered," Chris finished.

"And since you will be dead it is not like they question you to see if you really are guilty," Lyn added.

"Evelyn, think about what you are doing," Gerold pleaded, "this isn't you."

"Correction!" Lyn exclaimed so angrily that Gerold tried to shrink back, but couldn't as he was trussed up like a Christmas turkey and only his mouth was free. Lyn stalked forward and using as much strength as she could slapped Gerold across the cheek hard enough to snap his head back "It wasn't like the old me who would never have thought about harming another human. You should congratulate yourself for that change in me because it is due to your actions that I now believe that scum like you need to be taken off the streets and whether that is to prison or to be the meal for a vampire it matters not. Once I am changed I am going to really enjoy going after humans like you who make a career out of threatening or trying to blackmail people and who think of women as their personal property. When Chris does tear you apart I am going to be here watching and enjoying every minute as he does it."

Lyn stepped back and Chris put his arms around her pulling her into a hug. "You okay, Lyn?" Chris asked her softly.

"I'm fine and if you want the truth, that felt kind of liberating," Lyn told Chris just as softly.

"Well in just a couple of days we'll go make Asher that offer that hopefully he won't say no to," said Chris.

"I hope he agrees to it," Lyn said as she buried her head in Chris's shoulder.

"There's no point in worrying about it right this minute," Chris said. "Maybe we should head back to the house and you could get some sleep because in another few days you won't be able to sleep ever again, but on the upside we get to be together forever."

"I'm not looking forward to the transformation, but I am looking forward to spending the rest of my existence with you," Lyn told him giving him a very heartfelt loving kiss.

"I would think you were insane if you were looking forward to the transformation," Chris joked. "I know though that you have a pretty good head on your shoulders."

"Let's just get out of here and leave Gerold to contemplate his fate and maybe if reincarnation exists he will have learned enough to be a better person when he is born again."

"Jasper believes that reincarnation is real," Chris told her. "He said that the first time he met me and Sofia he felt as if he had known us forever and also that the smell of our blood had no call on him. He said that he has met several people over the years that reminded him of people he had known in the past so strongly that it could have been the same person."

"All done?" asked Jasper who had not heard what Chris and Lyn were talking about as they had both been speaking so softly and were so far away that even his vampire hearing wasn't enough to pick up the words.

"For now," Chris agreed.

"We thought we would give Gerold a few days to think about his fate before we went ahead and did it," said Lyn. "Besides we don't want to do him to much damage until after Chris makes Ash that offer."

"That's good," Jasper approved pulling his new daughter into a hug.

"Thanks," said Lyn blushing a little as she was unused to being shown so much affection as she had been a part of in the last few months. Sure she had loved her parents, but they hadn't been the touchy-feely types.

"So let's head back to the house and plan on how you and Chris are going to convince Asher to become a vampire," said Jasper as the three of them exited the cellar and Jasper made sure to lock the door behind them.

"Yes, we do need to plan, don't we?" said Chris.

"It is always good to have a plan just in case," Lyn agreed as the three of them walked back to the house talking and strategizing softly the whole way.

Two days later Lyn and Chris walked into Asher's private room, the room that he had just been moved to that morning. Asher was doing much better although he still had a bit of a fever it wasn't as high as Chris hoped it would be because in order for them to ask Asher that question his fever needed to be high enough that he wouldn't remember the conversation after he woke up or if he did it would seem to be nothing, but a fever dream.

"I think we are going to have to go back to the old plan," Chris told Lyn softly as he observed Asher and how awake and aware he was. "We should have known that the doctor would never have released him from ICU unless his fever had gone way down and his life signs stayed stable. There is no way that he won't remember if we do ask him that question now."

Lyn sighed and nodded for she knew Chris was right.

"How are you doing Ash?" asked Lyn as she came to sit by his bed.

"Better," Asher told Lyn quietly looking downcast.

Lyn looked into her friend's eyes and noticed that while they still had a little gleam of fever they were much clearer then they had been just yesterday. Chris was right that Asher was to aware and if they did ask him that question and he said no he would remember so she supposed that it was back to the original plan.

"What's wrong Asher?" asked Chris as he came to stand beside Lyn.

"The doctor just informed me this morning about an hour ago that although I am doing much better then he expected my spine has been severed and I will be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life."

"But at least you are alive, Ash! You could be very dead, you know," Lyn scolded him giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"But Lyn how will I take care of myself now that I am going to be stuck in a wheelchair?" asked Asher. "I mean I can't expect you to stick around to take care of me for the rest of my life. I can move my upper body but not anything below the waist."

"Wheelchair bound people learn how to take care of themselves all the time," said Chris, encouragingly.

Before Asher could respond there was a knock on the door and a nurse poked her head in. "It's time for your medication, Mr. Wescott," said the nurse before walking all the way into the room with a needle in one hand and several packages of pills in the other.

"So have you been trying to cheer Mr. Wescott up?" the nurse asked Chris and Lyn. "I'm afraid he's been rather upset and sad since he learned earlier this morning that he won't ever walk again."

"Can you blame him?" Lyn snapped. "I'm sorry," she immediately added at the nurse's expression. "I'm afraid I've been under quite a bit of stress lately and thanks to Ash being in the hospital my wedding has been postponed as I no longer have anyone to walk me down the aisle."

"It's okay," said the nurse with a smile as she administered Asher's medication with cool efficiency. "There you go," said the nurse when she finally finished. "Don't be surprised if he starts saying all kind of things," the nurse Chris and Lyn.

"Why?" asked Chris.

"It's the medicine I just gave him. He will began to sprout whatever comes into his head with absolutely no control from his brain. Patients say all kinds of nonsense so the staff never pays any attention as it is just the medicine talking. There was even this one guy several years ago that talked about being kidnapped by aliens from outer space."

Chris and Lyn laughed at that, but also shared a look that said this could be a good thing.

"Most of the patients don't remember most of what they say either once the medicine wears off," the nurse said before she headed out the door her duties over with for the moment.

"This could be to our advantage," Chris told Lyn softly as they waited for the medicine the nurse had given Asher to take effect.

"You know what they say about great minds thinking alike as I was just about to say the same thing," said Lyn just as softly. "So do you think it is a good idea to talk to Ash when that medicine starts taking effect?"

"It's the best chance we are going to get, so I say we should go for it," Chris said softly.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Asher sleepily with a big goofy grin on his face.

"Oh, nothing much, just wedding plans," Chris lied smoothly.

"Oh," said Asher running a hand across his eyes sleepily. "You know, Chris I always thought you were strange," said Asher candidly the medicine beginning to take effect.

"In what way?" asked Chris his expression merely curious although inside he was excited as this could be his and Lyn's opportunity to mention vampires.

"Well, your skin is always so cold as if you don't have any body heat at all, although I suppose you could explain that away," Asher added thoughtfully.

"What else have you noticed?" asked Chris encouragingly.

"Well, one time you'll show up with perfectly normal looking skin, but the next time you show up with skin as so white it is like it has never been touched by the sun at all...like now."

"And?" asked Chris.

"Well you never seem to eat," said Asher looking directly into Chris's sunglass clad eyes. "The few times that you have stayed for a meal you never seemed to eat more than a few bites and left most of your food behind saying you weren't that hungry. Also you sometimes wear sunglasses indoors, like now, and I've noticed that you don't just walk you seem to stalk across a room...if I didn't know better I would almost say that you weren't human..." Asher trailed off having trouble keeping his eyes open as the medicine began to put him to sleep.

"What do you think I am if I'm not human," asked Chris intently.

"I don't know," Asher admitted. "It's almost as if..." Asher trailed off again.

"As if what?" asked Lyn speaking for the first time since the nurse had left the room.

"As if Chris is not human, but if that is true and he also isn't like any alien I've ever heard about either then..." Asher paused again really struggling to keep his eyes open now.

"Then what do you believe I am?" asked Chris intently knowing they needed to hurry this conversation along as Asher was having more and more trouble staying awake due to the medicine.

"I don't know," said Asher with a huge yawn, "I don't know what you are Chris Swan but you certainly aren't human."

"Tell me do you believe in legends?"

"No really, legends are just legends that might have been true at one time, but now don't mean anything in life today."

"But what if some legends were true?" asked Lyn.

"Like what?"

"Well the legends about vampires for instance?" asked Chris knowing that he didn't have time to beat around the bush.

Asher scoffed at that then yawned so wide that Chris was surprised he didn't dislocate his jaw during the process.

"But what if vampires were real?" Chris insisted his red eyes gleaming behind his sunglasses.

Asher blinked and seemed to wake up a little at the tone and he stared at Chris who quickly took off his sunglasses and so that Asher stared into his red eyes.

"Impossible!" Asher exclaimed sounding more coherent and awake then he had since the nurse had injected him with that medication only fifteen minutes ago. Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by a humongous yawn, but once he finished yawning, Asher said, "Vampires aren't real."

"Want me to prove it," Chris suggested.

"How?" asked Asher.

"Well, how about this," Chris suggested moving faster then the speed of light was suddenly on the other side of Asher's bed holding a pocket knife which he then sliced across his palm. Lyn didn't react to this, but Asher stared at Chris's hand which should have had a long cut and be bleeding, heavily but instead Chris didn't have a scratch and the steel teeth on the blade were all bent and unusable now.

Asher stared at Chris unable to say anything for a moment when he had come back to stand beside Lyn in the blink of an eye.

"I'm hallucinating," Asher muttered rubbing a hand over his tired, fever filled eyes.

"But what if you weren't imagining things?" Chris asked.

"Well," said Asher yawning again. "My first question would be is why would you tell me? And my second question would be what would a vampire be dating or getting married to a human in the first place."

"Well, we came to make you an offer," said Chris.

"What kind of offer?" asked Asher his eyelid beginning to droop despite his best effect to keep them open.

"I'll answer your first question now and answer your second question at a later date," said Chris knowing that Asher was just about out of gas and the medicine was finally forcing him to sleep.

"How would you like to like to be able to walk again?"

"How?" asked Asher perking up at Chris's words hope in his blue eyes.

"My family and I are willing to transform you into what we are," said Chris not saying the word vampire. "The transformation into one of our kind will heal all injuries including those to your spine. You will be immortal, not much will be able to hurt you, and you won't age after the transformation is complete. You will also have much better sight, hearing, sense of smell and be stronger then twenty men. Lyn will be going through the transformation as well so she and I can always be together."

"Your whole family are vampires," asked Asher another yawning cracking his jaw.

"Yes," Chris answered calmly. "We need your answer before you fall asleep for we will not make this offer again and you will more than likely not remember this conversation except as a dream."

"You said that Lyn will be going through the transformation as well?" Asher questioned yawning again although Chris did notice that his eyes held a gleam of interest.

"Yes, I have agreed to being turned into a vampire, so that Chris and I will always be together," Lyn said. "I made the decision on my own and it was not forced on me in any way. Despite Chris and his family being vampires they are more honest, compassionate and truthful then a lot of humans I have met."

"Okay," Asher yawned without arguing seeming to accept the idea of becoming a vampire easily, but of course it could have just been the medicine talking not that it really mattered. "How will you get me out of here though in order to turn me into one of you since I am assuming that you can't do it here."

"You leave the details to us," Chris told Asher pulling the sheet up to under his chin. "You go to sleep now and we'll see you later. I'm looking forward to spending the next few centuries with you, my friend."

Asher didn't answer as he had finally allowed himself to succumb to the medicine that was in his blood. Lyn tenderly kissed Asher on the forehead noticing that he looked much younger when he slept and that the lines of pain that had been etched into his face had smoothed out as well. When she finally turned away from the bed and towards the door she couldn't help the tears of relief in her eyes.

The two if them sat by their friend's bedside for another hour talking quietly as they listened to the things Asher talked about in his sleep.

An hour later the two of them left the hospital hand in hand and once the two of them got into the car, Lyn hugged Chris in relief and told him softly, "Thank goodness, he agreed. I couldn't stand the thought of Asher just dying or being confined to a wheelchair for basically no reason at all. I mean if everything with Gerold hadn't happened and Ash hadn't been put in the hospital by a bunch of hired thugs I would have been sad to leave him behind when your family faked my death, but at least I would have known that he was alive, healthy and might someday get married and have kids. This though was just one man's attempt to get what he wanted not caring who got hurt along the way and then not getting anything in the end except his death."

"Yes I agree," said Chris as he put an arm around Lyn's shoulder. "If we had faked your death and Asher was still able to walk and lead a normal life then we both might have been sad, but at least we would have known that he would eventually have been okay and maybe found himself a girl, but if we had still decided to fake your death with Asher in the hospital and unable to get around on his own, it would have felt like..." Chris paused and tried to think of a good comparison.

"Abandoning him in his hour of need," Lyn suggested. "Like letting him try to get along on his own when he didn't even have the use of his legs like he used to."

"Exactly, I mean I'm sure when you have been able to walk all your life going from being able to use your legs to being wheelchair bound is like trying to fight against the tide in order to get to shore if a human was stuck in the middle of the ocean."

The rest of the drive back home was done in silence as both Chris and Lyn thought about what life was going to be like once Lyn was changed and about Asher who would be joining their family rather unexpectedly, but not unwelcome.

"So you went ahead a talked to him even though his fever was way down," said Jasper calmly, but with a tone of disapproval.

"Yes sir, but the medicine the nurse gave him should have the same effect. I'll be very surprised if he remembers we were even there at all much less the conversation," said Chris hanging his head at Jasper's tone of disapproval.

"We felt like it was our only opportunity to ask him without him remembering, because we should have known that the doctor never would have let him out of ICU until his fever had gone way down," Lyn added looking a little ashamed of herself, but also a little defiant, "and he did say yes once he heard that I was going to go through the transformation as well."

"You still took a chance and did so without consulting anyone else," said Jasper his arms crossed as he looked sternly at Chris and Lyn.

"We felt like we didn't have time to consult anyone else as next time the medicine might not have the same effect or that the doctor could have taken him off it and put him on something else," said Chris. "We thought that this was our best and perhaps our only opportunity."

Bella who had been silent up until now calmly stroked Jasper's arm and said softly, "Jasper, honey, don't be to hard on them. They were right that it might have been their only chance to talk to Asher when he probably won't remember and they are also right that they didn't have time to discuss it with anyone. Both of them are grownups and they made, I believe, a very responsible decision under the circumstances. Besides it worked didn't it? Asher said yes and that is all that matters."

Jasper sighed and everyone on the room seemed to relax once he did. "All right fine, Bella's right that you did the best you could under the circumstances," Jasper admitted grudgingly.

"We wouldn't have said anything at all if we had believed that he would remember anything," said Chris.

"I know, I know," said Jasper running a hand through his hair in a very humanlike gesture.

"You should have heard some of the stuff he was spouting in his sleep as we sat there," Lyn giggled her tension dissipating and told of the things they had heard as they sat there talking.

"Aliens? Asher was dreaming about being experimented on by aliens?" asked Bella with a laugh.

"That's not as unlikely nowadays as it was a hundred years ago since there are a lot of alien species out there and we haven't even met a quarter of them yet," said Jasper also chuckling.

"True enough," said Lyn laughing as she thought about some of the things her friend had said while under influence of the drug. "I could tease him about what he said for years if I really wanted to."

"So could I," said Chris chuckling hugging Lyn to him.

Sunday night came quickly and before the Whitlocks knew it was time to put their plan of getting Asher out of the hospital and making it look like he was kidnapped right out of the hospital into action.

Chris used his powers to start a storm that only grew as they drove to the hospital and by the time they actually got there it was raining sheets so that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face and the thunder booming sounded like it was directly in the car with them. Lightning flashed looking like it was tearing the sky apart every time it did. Finally when they arrived at the hospital and drove around to where the breaker box was Chris used power to hit it with a thick bolt of lightning which instantly made the power go out and the emergency lights come.

"Let's get to it," said Jasper as he listened to what was happening inside the building with his vampire hearing and how everybody was panicking saying the storm had just come out of nowhere. "Chris, Bella you will need to go get Asher out of the room. Chris because he knows you and will not panic or yell alerting people to our presence if he sees you and Bella because you can put one of your soundproof shields around him. Also Chris will be able to carry Asher down on his back. You better get going, you don't have long before they begin a room check."

The two chosen people nodded and knew that Jasper would be following them so he could ransack the room and make it appear as though Asher had been kidnapped.

"Let's get going," said Chris as he and Bella raced to the side of the hospital where Asher's room was and began to climb using just their hands and feet to get a good grip in the stone, which for a vampire had plenty of places to grip onto without the use of climbing equipment.

It hardly took anytime at all for them to reach the fifth floor and Asher's room, which luckily for them had a large window which they smashed to smithereens with no trouble at all and it just wasn't glass that went flying, but the wood of the frame as they didn't have time to be subtle.

When Chris and Bella climbed in through the window Asher who had been awakened by the sound of splintering wood and breaking glass stared at them in astonishment.

"Chris?" Asher questioned more awake then Chris had seen him since he had been in the hospital.

"Shh," Chris told Asher softly. "Bella and I have come to get you out of here just like Lyn and I promised."

"I thought that conversation was just a dream, you mean you really are a vampire?" asked Asher his expression transforming from astonishment at their entrance, to hope, then relief that the conversation had been real after all instead of a dream like he had originally thought.

"Yes, I am," Chris said, "Now I am going to put you on my back and I want you to hold onto my neck and no matter what you do don't let go, okay?"

Asher nodded looking excited now as he came to realize that he would be able to walk again after his transformation and spend the next few centuries with a man he considered a brother and a woman he thought of as a sister.

"Try not to make a sound now as we don't want to get caught," Chris told Asher quietly. "We want this to look like a kidnapping."

"Okay," said Asher quietly without arguing.

Chris lifted Asher off the bed and being careful of his injuries swung him onto his back while Bella silently put her soundproof shield around him so that if he cried out in pain he would not be heard and then both walked quickly to the window Chris letting Bella go first before he followed.

Once the two of them were gone Jasper who had been silently waiting just off to the side of the window quickly climbed up and into the room messing it up, overturning the bed and sweeping things off the nightstand to make it look as if the room was ransacked and that Asher had been kidnapped. Messing up the room took less then a minute and it wasn't long until Jasper was out the window again and climbing down the side of the building.

Once the car was on it's way Asher who was in incredible pain was able to cry out as Bella had lowered her shield as soon as they were away from the hospital.

"I'm really sorry about this Ash," Lyn told her friend as she gave his hand a squeeze and tried to ignore his cries of agony.

"I'm afraid we don't dare give you anything for it either as it would take time to work itself out of your system and none of us are sure exactly what kind of effect that the drugs would have on your body along with the venom that will transform you into a vampire. Not to mention that not a single one of us has ever been through medical training so we wouldn't know what drug to give you or the amount," Jasper added speaking for the first time. "I'm Jasper Whitlock by the way the leader of our little family of vampires. The lady beside me is my wife Bella and of course you know Chris and Lyn. The only one who isn't here that you will meet in just a few minutes is Chris's twin sister Sofia."

"Despite the circumstances it's nice to meet you," said Asher trying to suppress a groan of pain as the car went over a bump in the road and jostled his injuries.

"And it is a pleasure to meet you," said Jasper keeping his hands on the steering wheel. "Lyn talks about you often."

Lyn blushed at that as she supposed she did talk about Asher a lot probably because he was her very best friend in the whole world. Sure she had some casual friends, but nobody she would have missed like she would have missed Asher.

"Does she?" asked Asher amused despite being in such pain.

"I'm afraid I do," said Lyn blushing again. "You are my best, best friend in the world."

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words," Jasper quoted softly. "Those words were said by Donna Roberts and if you want to know more about her you can ask me later, but now is not the time."

"It fits even if I don't know who Donna Roberts is," said Lyn.

"Not surprising since she was born and died long before you were even a gleam in your daddy's eye or even before your grandparents were born," said Jasper. "In any case here's the plan. We are taking you back to our place where both you and Lyn will be bitten at the same time. We have a soundproof room that you will stay doing your transformation as turning into a vampire is very painful and you will scream for the entire three days of it.

"Three days?" asked Asher looking apprehensive at being in that much pain for that long.

"Sorry, but there is no other way," Bella told him sympathetically as she remembered her own transformation.

"In any case we expect to be visited by the police as Chris and Lyn have been seen visiting you at the hospital and that's the reason we are going to say that Chris went by Lyn's apartment to take her out on a date only to find it ransacked, which Sofia and Chris took care of just yesterday. Chris knows his role and is going to act all broken up and heartbroken at the disappearance of his fiancée. All this is going to be blamed on Gerold Addison who's at fault anyway as if he hadn't threatened Lyn in the first place none of this would have been necessary. The only thing the police will discover is the body of the man all torn apart and since the police can't question the dead..."

"But what about Addison..." asked Asher trailing off with a scream of pain as they hit another bump in the road.

"Don't worry, Addison has been caught and is all trussed up like a turkey in our cellar," said Chris speaking for the first time since they had gotten in the car. "We can also thank my sister for his capture."

"Also I made sure to tell Sofia and Chris the things that either of us would hate to lose and where to find them and they got them from the apartment yesterday before they ransacked the place," Lyn added. "I knew all of the things you would want to keep since we've been friends forever."

"Thanks, Lyn," said Asher gratefully even as he let out another whimper of pain.

"We're almost there, Asher," Chris told him soothingly.

"Chris, why is it you always call me Asher, instead of Ash like Lyn?" asked Asher.

"I don't know," said Chris thoughtfully. "I guess because you never told me I could."

"Well I would prefer if you called me Ash and that goes for all of you. I have no idea what my mother was thinking when she named me Asher as it is not a very common name today."

"Why would you want a common name and be like every Tom, Dick, and Harry?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow.

"Asher is a biblical name that means happy or blessed and was also the name of Jacob's eighth son from the bible," said Chris. "I would think you would be happy to be named something so unusual instead of something that a million other boys are named."

"You would hate Asher to if you were picked on all the way from preschool to the end of high school just because your name was so uncommon."

"I was picked on to you know," Chris said softly. "The name I was born with is Christoph which is just Greek for Christopher, but as we both know kids can be cruel if they think you are unusual or weird in the slightest and sometimes just your name is enough to do it. It's one of the reasons I go by Chris since most of people assume it is short for either Christopher or Christian and I just don't bother to correct that assumption."

Before Asher could respond Jasper said quietly, "We're here. Chris you know what to do. Call me when you are ready."

Chris nodded and gently moved Asher's legs that were over his lap so he could get out of the car. Asher whimpered at the sudden movement as a sharp pain went through his side and his burnt arm was jostled.

"In three days it will all be over and we will both be vampires," Lyn told him as she gently stroked Asher's brow soothingly. "I won't lie and say it will be a pleasant experience because we both know it will not be, but once we are done with our transformation almost nothing will be able to hurt us, at least physically."

Asher didn't respond and Lyn noticed that he was unconscious due to the pain of his injuries.

"Here," Chris said as he very gently pulled Ash out of the car and then carried him in his arms to the cellar door. "Would you mind?" Chris asked his fiancée softly. "The key is in my right pants pocket."

Lyn nodded and dug into Chris's pocket to find the key to the cellar door and then used it to unlock and push it open.

"Thanks," said Chris as he carefully carried Asher down the stairs Lyn following after she had flipped on the light switch. As they descended the cellar stairs Lyn thought about Gerold who was still tied up and in a little storage room that was part of the cellar. Her new family made sure Gerold got water every day, which Lyn felt was more than he really deserved, and since he didn't have his hands free held the cup to his lips for him and let him sip it. On the other hand Gerold had not been fed at all during the entire three days since his capture, for while a human can live without food for varying lengths of time depending on how much body fat a person has, they can't live without water for more than a week.

"There's a remote in my shirt pocket," Chris told Lyn softly. "Get it and push the top right button."

Lyn did as she was told and was amazed as a secret door in the wall opened up. As soon as the door opened up all the way Chris went into the room and gently laid Asher on one of the twin cots that had been placed there.

"What in the world do you use this room for Chris?" asked Lyn looking around, noticing that there was an old, but still functional toilet in one corner.

"I'll tell you later," said Chris, "but now as much as I hate to ask you this I need you to remove your clothes."

"Why?" asked Lyn blushing a brilliant shade of red.

"Because Jasper needs to have access to your body as he will have to bite you in several different places in order to inject as much venom as he can into your bloodstream. The more venom he injects into you the swifter the transformation will take place. He will need to bite you on your neck, wrist and ankles right on the pulse points so that the venom will go through your body faster then if he didn't bite you there. Believe me I wish I had the confidence that I could inject you with my venom without killing you as I would much rather you bear my marks and have my venom running through your veins for the rest of our existences then Jasper, but I have never tried to turn another person into a vampire and I don't want my first try to be on you and then find out I am unable to stop draining your blood until you are dead."

Chris turned away and began to remove Asher's hospital gown so that Jasper could have access to his body. "You ready?" Chris asked Lyn not turning around.

"Yes," said Lyn. "And I don't mind if you see my body for after all we are soon going to be married and I'm not some shy little girl."

Chris listened to Lyn's heart but it didn't speed up in the slightest indicating she was apprehensive so he turned around and couldn't help but stare at his mate's beautiful body.

"You can quit drooling, I'm not a super model or anything," said Lyn when Chris continued to stare and figuratively drool.

"In my opinion super models work so hard at being beautiful that most of them come off as artificial and some men might go for that, but I don't. You on the other hand don't have to work at being beautiful because you already are," Chris told her coming back to himself.

Lyn blushed at Chris's words knowing that he was being sincere and that he really did love looking at her body. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but now I had better call Jasper to let him know that we are ready."

Chris quickly took out his phone and dialed a number and when it was answered on the first ring all he had to say was, "We're ready," before ending the call.

Not more then a second later Jasper arrived. "All right, I am going to bite Asher first, since the sooner we change him the better as he is the one with all the injuries. That he survived the surgery and was doing well enough for the doctor to take him out of intensive care says just how tough he really is."

Without another word Jasper leaned down and bit into Asher's neck replacing some of the blood with his venom, doing the same to Asher's wrist and ankles before standing back up.

"Chris I want you to be the one to inject your venom into Lyn," Jasper told him, seriously.

"But Jasper, I could kill her," cried Chris looking upset. "You know I won't be able to live without her if I do drain her."

"I have a plan for that," Jasper assured him sending his son some calm. "I am going to watch as you inject Lyn in the same key places that I bit you when you were first changed and if you start to get out of control and look as if you are draining her I am going to send you so much pain you will wish you were actually dead until you release her. I will finish up if that happens. I won't let you kill Lyn, I promise," Jasper added placing a hand on his son's shoulder and sending him his confidence. "Remember as soon as you bite her take no more then five mouthfuls of blood and replace it with as much venom as you can."

Chris gulped and sent up a silent prayer that he would be able to do this.

"You can do this, Chris," Lyn told him giving his stone hand a squeeze. "I have faith in you and I trust you."

Chris nodded and bent down to give Lyn a soft, tender kiss on the lips before he pulled away and did as Jasper had instructed him to do and bit into Lyn's neck right over the pulse point, He silently counted in his head and when he had taken five mouthfuls he injected as much of his venom as he possibly could into her bloodstream.

As soon as Lyn's blood touched his tongue his demon roared and wanted him to drain her dry, but Chris resisted with more will power then he thought he had. No! She is our mate, Chris told his demon silently. Do you want to kill our one chance at happiness and love?

Yes! His demon responded. Who cares about happiness or love when her blood tastes so exquisitely delicious?

If we kill her then we die as well for no vampire who has lost a mate has lived long with their death. Do you want this to be the end of our existences?

The demon part of him subsided at that as it didn't want to permanently die anymore then the human part of Chris did.

Chris pulled away from Lyn's neck relieved that he had been able to resist draining her so far.

"See I told you, you could do it," Jasper encouraged. "Now her wrists and ankles."

Chris nodded and silently prayed to whoever was listening that he would be able to finish what he had started. Lyn was already screaming at the top of her lungs as the venom Chris had already injected into her bloodstream was beginning to take effect.

Asher to was screaming as Jasper's venom raced through his system and had been for the last several minutes as he had been bitten first.

Chris bit into Lyn's left wrist again right over the pulse point, took five gulps of blood and injected as much of his venom as he possibly could before releasing her wrist and moving to do the other wrist and then each of her ankles before standing up relieved that he had been able to do it without draining Lyn dry.

"See, I knew you could do it," said Jasper slapping Chris on the back.

"You took an awfully big chance, you know," said Chris as calmly as he could for although he was proud of himself for not draining Lyn dry he was furious that Jasper would risk her life that way.

"It wasn't as big of a chance as you think," Jasper told Chris calmly not unaware at how angry and betrayed Chris was feeling, but choosing to ignore it.

"What do you mean?" asked Chris raising an eyebrow in curiosity some of the feelings of anger and betrayal fading.

"Well when I changed Bella all those years ago I didn't have as much trouble resisting the call of her blood as I thought I would, especially considering her blood was all over her and the ground." Jasper shuddered as he remembered that horrible time. "Before Bella I hadn't changed anyone in decades, not since the southern wars, so you would think with me being so out of practice I would have trouble resisting draining her dry, but I didn't. I believe and I think that has been proven since you were able to resist draining Lyn dry, that it has to do with the mate bond."

"I don't know about that," said Chris. "I had to argue with my demon for a minute in order to stop him from taking over and draining Lyn dry."

"But you did and you didn't have to much trouble wrestling him into submission did you?"

"Come to think of it, not really," said Chris.

"I think your demon was testing, you trying to see if you resist the taste of Lyn's blood and once you refused to drain her dry it gave up because it knew very well that if Lyn dies, so do you and if you die so does he."

"Did you go through the same thing?" asked Chris.

"Not really, but I had been around for over a hundred and sixty years before I met Bella and I had already known her for six months previous to finding out we were mates and after we did discover it we dated for a few months, so I had better control of my demon. By the time I was forced to change Bella sooner then I expected the major already loved her and so wouldn't have thought of draining her dry as he knew if he did it would be the end for him."

Chris nodded as he knew all about the major and how Jasper had survived the southern wars so it only made sense that the major would be very protective of his mate as Bella would have been his one chance at happiness and love after being in such a hellhole for so long. Not to mention Jasper had been over five times older then him at that time and so he would have had better control over his demon and would be able to resist draining someone dry if he wanted to, especially if it was someone he loved.

"I would never have let you harm Lyn, Chris," Jasper assured him, "I would never have even suggested it if I hadn't been almost positive that you could do it."

Chris slumped feeling suddenly very tired, "I'm glad you were right."

"Why don't we head back to the house and get into some clean clothes. I'm sure the cops will be here some time in the next day or so to question you."

"I think I'll stay here with Lyn if you don't mind. If you could bring me some clean clothes I would appreciate it. You can call me if the cops do show up and I will come back to the house before they even get to the door since you will have to remotely release the gate before they can enter."

"Very well," Jasper agreed knowing exactly how Chris felt as he had not once left Bella's side until she had finished changing.

It was just thirty-seven hours later when Chris's phone buzzed and he read the text message Jasper had sent.

"Cops will be here in two minutes come back to the house. Make sure you close door to secret room and lock cellar door."

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chris promised both Lyn and Asher even though he still wasn't sure if they could hear or understand him or not. Chris had spent the last thirty-seven hours talking and telling both Lyn and Asher stories about his past and also what he could remember from his human life which was a great deal since he had gone through the change voluntarily.

Chris made sure he did as instructed and closed the door to the secret room and locked the cellar door before he raised back to the house at vampire speed.

"Now you know the part you are supposed to play, right?" asked Bella as soon as Chris had entered the house.

"Yes," said Chris "I am to play the grieving fiancé who went by Lyn's apartment Saturday to take her out of a date only to find the place ransacked and her missing."

"Good I will help you look all broken up," Jasper assured Chris already starting to use his power to send out grief, anger and other other emotions that were associated with grieving.

"It will be okay, Chris, you'll see," Sofia said giving her brother a quick hug.

Everybody in the room, started to look sad and upset and just as they had set the proper atmosphere the doorbell rung.

Jasper immediately rose from his position beside Bella and went to answer the door.

"Come on in officers," said Jasper looking grief-stricken. "My brother is in the living room waiting for you."

"Nice place you have here," said the officer who was apparently in charge looking around. "We had trouble finding it as it is out in the middle of nowhere."

"Thanks," said Jasper simply. "We like our privacy. If you will follow me."

Jasper led the way into the living room where everybody else was waiting. "Chris the police are here to see you. Gentleman this is my wife Bella, and my adoptive brother and sister Chris and Sofia."

"It's about Lyn isn't it and about the fact she is missing?" asked Chris looking as grief-stricken as it was possible to look his hazel eyes having dark circles under them as if from lack of sleep and his shoulders were drooped dejectedly as if he had the weight of the world on them. All the other members of the family looked the same thanks to Sofia's illusions and Jasper's emotions of grief that he was sending out to his family.

"Yes, when was the last time you saw her?" asked the tall, blond haired man who seemed to be in charge.

"Friday when we went to visit Asher in the hospital," Chris lied smoothly. "I did go by her apartment Saturday as we had a date planned, but when she didn't answer her door I used the key she had given me to get in. When I opened the door I found the place ransacked and Lyn gone."

"Did you report it?" asked the second policeman.

"Of course I did, but they told me that she had to be missing for twenty-four hours before they could do anything, even though I told them that her apartment looked as if it had been hit by a tornado." Chris actually had gone to Lyn's apartment on Saturday before they had kidnapped Asher from the hospital so somebody would see him discover that her place was a mess and she was gone. He had than gone by the nearest police station to report it and they had told him that they couldn't do anything for twenty-four hours.

The two policemen were suspicious of Chris that much was obvious, but Jasper had been sending out a steady, low level stream of trust and honesty to the two men along with the grief to his family and so the cops were leaning towards believing that Chris had nothing to do with it.

"Did you know that Asher Wescott has also disappeared?" asked the cop in charge watching Chris closely for his reaction.

"I've been so broken over Lyn's disappearance that I have not been to the hospital to see Ash since it happened. Ash would be really upset if he learned of Lyn's disappearance and he couldn't do anything to help find her as they have been friends since childhood, so no I did not know that he had disappeared from the hospital," Chris answered looking as if learning about Asher's disappearance from the hospital was one to many shocks on top of his fiancée's disappearance just a little over a day ago and was almost more than he could take before he had a nervous break down.

"It's a strange coincidence that that both Evelyn Alcott and Asher Wescott have disappeared within twenty-four hours of each other," said the second policeman.

"You should probably go see Gerold Addison about that," Chris answered. "He and Lyn dated for a while over a year ago and when he found out she was getting married he threatened her and told her that if she didn't break it off he would start going after her friends. I'm afraid Ash was the first causality to that threat. I believe the message said something along the lines of she was his and she better not forget it."

The two officers looked at each other obviously interested at this as it was not a piece of information they had been aware of.

"And how did Miss Alcott respond to the threat and why didn't she report it?"

"Lyn said there was no way in hell that she was not getting married to the man she loved just because of some threat. As to why she didn't report it...well at first she didn't believe Addison would actually follow through on his threat. She thought he was just trying to scare her into breaking it off, but Lyn doesn't scare easily. It wasn't until the twenty-four deadline was over with and Asher was attacked that she started to believe that Gerold was indeed serious," Chris explained. "She never had a chance to report it though as it wasn't more then a couple of days later that the hospital called Lyn's wrist talker and told her that Asher had been severely injured and was in surgery."

Chris told the rest of his story his voice grief-stricken and it was half an hour later when the two cops had asked all their questions.

Thanks to Jasper's constant use of his empathic talent the two cops believed Chris and felt that at this time anyway he wasn't a suspect as Chris appeared to be a genuine grieving fiancé who was grief-stricken at the disappearance of the woman he had been about to marry. Besides why would he kidnap a woman who had already agreed to marry him anyway?

"That's all the questions we have at this time," the first cop said. "We will check out your story and start looking for Gerold Addison."

"I'm sure you still find his threatening message on Lyn's vid screen," said Chris. "I do have a key to her apartment and can let you in if you want."

"That's a generous offer," said the second cop.

"We'll think about it," added the first cop.

The two cops turned to leave and Jasper rose to escort them out the door.

Once they were gone, everyone relaxed and Sofia removed her illusions that not only made everyone look human, but had also aged Jasper and Bella until they had looked about thirty instead of their real ages so that the cops wouldn't question how two people who looked so young could own such a nice place.

A few minutes later Jasper came back and everybody relaxed knowing that the cops were really gone.

"I'm going back to be with Lyn and Ash," said Chris as he rose from where he had been sitting no longer looking like the grief-stricken fiancé.

"And Bella, Sofia and I will bring back some criminals from town for Ash, Lyn and you to feed on once they are finished with their transformations," said Jasper. "I know very well that you will not want to go into town and hunt until Lyn can go with you as that is just the way mated couples are."

"Thanks, Jasper," said Chris gratefully as he knew he needed to feed as he had not done so in a week because he had been so worried about Ash and always at Lyn's side in case Gerold tried to attack her.

"You're more than welcome," Jasper assured his son.

"Are you going to give them the same choice that you gave Chris and me?" asked Sofia.

"Of course," Jasper assured her, "but Lyn at least will want to feed of criminals if she remembers the reason she changed her opinion on the matter at all after she has finished transforming into a vampire."

"I believe she will remember," said Chris as he turned and headed out the back door and to the cellar were the secret room was.

Less than two days later Chris heard Asher's heart start speeding up as if it was frantically trying to beat its way out of his chest and then just seconds later start to slow down where it gave just a couple of final beats and then stopped completely.

Chris quickly and quietly sent a text to Bella telling her that Asher was done with his transformation.

"Ash, buddy are you okay?" asked Chris walking slowly over to Asher's cot that was on the other side of the room.

Asher's eyes snapped opened and he stared at Chris for a minute as if trying to remember who he was.

"Don't you remember me? I'm Chris, your friend," said Chris knowing better then to come any closer.

"Chris?" Asher finally questioned his newly red eyes looking around the room as he spoke. "Where am I? Why can I see so much better? And why do you look so different?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Chris. "You were gravely injured and the doctor told you that you would never walk again so my family and I offered you a chance to become a vampire."

Asher thought about it for a minute then slowly nodded as he did seem to remember, Chris offering to turn him into a vampire.

"The reason I look different is you are just seeing what I really look like out of your new vampire eyes, which are much better than your weak human ones."

"Where's Lyn?" asked Asher suddenly remembering his best friend.

"She's right over there and it sounds like she is about done changing to," said Chris as he listened to Lyn's heartbeat start to slow down and then stop. "You stay here and let me check on her.

Chris sped across the room to where Lyn was lying on the bed not moving. "Lyn?" asked Chris coming to stand at the side of her bed.

Lyn opened her newly red eyes at the sound of the somewhat familiar and yet also somewhat strange voice.

Finally her eyes fell on Chris and she immediately felt an almost magnetic pull in his direction the second their eyes met. This was Chris, her fiancé, Lyn remembered suddenly. Chris was a vampire and she remembered that she had agreed to also be tuned into one because she and him were mates meant to be together. She stared at Chris and immediately noticed that he was even more handsome then she remembered from when she had been human, but then her weak human eyes would not have been able to see his true beauty.

"Lyn?" asked Chris and Lyn immediately noticed that even his voice had changed as it was more rich and textured then she remembered it to be.

"Chris?" said Lyn finally speaking for the first time she she had woken up as a vampire.

Chris's eyes lit up and he smiled brilliantly. At the sound of his name and he began to hope that Lyn remembered him. "You remember me then?" asked Chris trying not to sound to hopeful.

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?" asked Lyn confused. "You are the love of my life, my fiancé and we were supposed to be married before all this happened."

"That's right," said Chris stepping closer. Lyn stood up all in one motion and was immediately in Chris's arms giving him a passion filled kiss. By the time they broke apart it was several minutes later and Chris looked happier then he had been in days as he had watched the love of his existence scream in pain from the venom racing through her system.

"Asher come over here," Chris said quietly and watched in amusement as Asher was almost instantly at his side as he had used vampire speed to come to this side of the room without thinking about it. "Now I have a question for both of you and then we will go have you a meal," said Chris.

At the mention of the word meal almost at the same instant both Asher's and Lyn's hands went to their throats as they finally noticed the terrible burning.

"What's the question?" asked Lyn her voice lower and more textured then she remembered it to be.

"Do you want to feed off humans or animals?" asked Chris. "If you want to feed off humans, all criminals of course, then Jasper has brought you some that are right outside this room, but if you want to feed off animals then Jasper will teach you to hunt in the forest that is nearby."

Both Asher and Lyn thought about it for a moment then Asher asked, "If I feel to guilty for feeding off humans, even criminals I can switch right?"

"Of course, you can," Chris assured him, "but remember it was a man who might never have been labeled a criminal that put you in the hospital for no other reason then he wanted Lyn for himself even when she didn't belong to him. I've also been told although I haven't experienced this for myself that drinking animal blood is not as satisfying as drinking human and this is especially true if you have ever drunk human blood. Just remember that these men and women are criminals, people who take advantage of children, murderers, people who sell drugs, pimps, whores, humans who con older people out of their life savings, that type of person."

"I'm going to try human blood," Asher decided. "If I feel to guilty for draining a human, even if they are criminals I can switch."

"Me to," said Lyn remembering she had reached that decision before she was even changed.

"Good," said Chris. "If you will follow me," he added taking a remote out of his pocket and pushing a button to open the door to the secret room.

Immediately after the door slid open Asher and Lyn heard about a dozen human heartbeats beating in fear as they knew they were about to meet their deaths and both also smelled the blood as it ran through their veins that made Lyn and Asher speed out of the room and grab the first humans that were closer to the door biting into their necks in less then a second not even giving the humans time to scream while the others shrank back in fear knowing that they could be next.

Chris stood back and silently watched as the two newborns drained their first humans and when they were done almost at the same time they let the empty corpses drop to the ground where they stood and immediately went after two more humans and drained them without pause.

Once Lyn had drained her third human she came over where Chris was standing and Chris immediately pulled her to him and gave her a kiss licking just a little blood off her bottom lip. "Feeling better?"

"Much," Lyn agreed as they watched Asher drain his fourth and last person. "So what are you going to do with these remaining people?"

"Well, I'll drink at least one as I haven't had time to hunt in the last few days, since I've been down here watching you and Asher go through the transformation as for the rest of them well I'm sure that Bella, Jasper or Sofia will be happy to drain them."

"So what do you do with the corpses?" asked Asher curiously as he came over after draining his fourth human.

"Well as it happens we have an incinerator that will turn the bodies into very fine ash so we don't even have to worry about burying them."

"Convenient," Lyn commented.

"And impressive," Asher added.

"Yes, well that's true, but Jasper and Bella have both commented more than once that back when they were first turned they didn't have incinerators that were so effective and in Jasper's case trash incinerators hadn't even been invented yet."

"Please, why can't you just let us go," one women pleaded looking distraught.

"Sorry, no can do," Chris told her without a hint of mercy in his voice or his eyes. "Even if we wanted to we cannot just let you go. Come with me and concentrate on moving at human speed until it becomes second nature," he added to Lynn and Asher as he made sure to close the door to the secret room before leading the way to the cellar door making sure that none of the humans had followed them.

Once the three of them were out of the cellar and Chris had locked the door, he turned to Lyn and Ash, "Before we go into the house there is something we need to talk about."

"Such as?" asked Asher speaking before Lyn could.

"Well, Jasper asked me to warn you about him," Chris began. "He has a lot of scars and although you aren't acting like typical newborns, you still have a newborn's instincts."

"What do our instincts have to do with anything?" asked Lyn curiously.

"You see it is very hard to actually injure one of our kind as our skin will break the strongest blade known to man and even lasers or any other human invented weapons can't harm us. In fact there are only three things that can leave scars on one of us and two of those is another vampire's fingernails and teeth. Jasper was made into a vampire to fight in some of the bloodiest battles known to our kind and he has many, many scars. Once you see him for the first time with your new improved sight you will immediately see some of his scars and your newborn instincts will be telling you to either fight or flee and that Jasper is dangerous. While it is true that he is dangerous to his enemies, he is not dangerous to people he considers family and that now includes the two of you. Ash, you especially will have to fight your instincts as you didn't know Jasper prior to your meeting him in the car while Lyn probably won't have as much trouble."

"Our instincts will eventually die down right?" asked Asher.

"Of course, once your first year is over and you aren't a newborn anymore you will have better control of your instincts."

"Why didn't I notice his scars as a human?" asked Lyn.

"Because they are very, very, faint and your human eyes were to weak to see them unless he had stood in a brightly lit room or in direct sunlight."

"What do they look like?" asked Asher.

"They are small, white crescent shaped marks that stand out to our kinds eyesight like a red flag in front of a bull. If you are ready to see him I will call Jasper and let him know we are coming," said Chris.

Both Lyn and Asher looked apprehensive, but nodded so Chris made the call.

Two minutes later Chris opened the door of the house and headed to the living room where the other three members of the family were waiting. Chris let Lyn and Asher enter first and stood behind them as they surveyed the room intently their new vampire eyes taking in all the details before landing on the three people standing over by the couch.

Both Lyn and Asher were immediately struck by how beautiful they all were, but Lyn especially was struck at how much different the three of them looked to her now that she was a vampire. She had already thought that Sofia and Bella were two of the most gorgeous women she had ever seen, but now to her new vampire eyesight they were even more lovely then they had been before.

Lyn looked over and Jasper and thought that he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, but he didn't hold a candle to her Chris. As Lyn started to walk forward she began to notice that Chris had been right when he had said that Jasper had a lot of scars as she could see the ones that weren't covered by his clothing and they were making her newborn instincts go haywire as they tried to tell her to either fight or flee and that Jasper was dangerous and not to be trusted. While it was true that he was dangerous to his enemies he was not dangerous to anybody else and that especially included those he took into his home and considered family.

Lyn looked behind her when she heard Chris trying to talk to Asher who's newborn instincts were apparently even stronger then her own.

Lyn ignored Asher for the moment and went forward to greet the rest of the family who had been standing silently and Jasper especially seemed to be on the alert for an attack.

"Bella! Sofia!" Lyn said as she reached the two women and gave them hugs at, which she immediately noticed that they winced from.

"Be careful with your strength, as you are going to be a a lot stronger then us for the next year," Bella said as she hugged Lyn back.

"Why is that?" asked Lyn curiosity coloring her words.

"Because right now you are a newborn and as one you have not only venom in your system but most of your own blood as well. The combination of the two makes new vampires stronger for the first year of their existences, but after that your strength should fade to normal."

"You are going to have to be even more careful not to crush things, then you will when you are not so strong anymore," Jasper told Lyn getting his own hug and a kiss on the cheek which was now warm instead of stone cold like before and that had to be because she was now a vampire like him and therefore had the same skin temperature.

"Crush things?" asked Lyn when Jasper released her.

"Yes, right now you can quite literally crush things into powder if you don't constantly think about the amount of strength you are using. Even after your newborn year is over and you get a handle on your strength if you really wanted to you can crush most everyday objects into powder. Also it helps that you were in good physical shape before you were changed as that means that you will be just a little stronger then somebody who wasn't."

"How do vampires go everyday of their existences and not leave a trail of destruction in their wake if we are that much stronger?"

"Well think of us like a Superman," Sofia suggested remembering well when Bella had made that comparison when Chris and her had been first changed. "Superman would crush every day objects to powder the minute he picked them up if he didn't have control over his strength, every second of every day. That kind of strength that he has must become instinctive or he would quite literally leave a trail of destruction in his wake wherever he walked. In other words he has to actually think about using his full strength when he wants to and the same will be true of you and Asher."

"That's a good comparison," Lyn admitted.

"It should be since it is the same same one Bella used when Chris and I first became vampires," said Sofia with a smirk looking over a Bella who swatted her on the arm and in which Sofia pretended that it had actually hurt her.

"I better go help, Chris get Ash calmed down," Lyn said as she finally noticed that Chris and Asher had not yet joined them and her fiancé was having trouble getting Ash to cooperate.

"I'm not really surprised he is acting like this," said Jasper calmly. "While he seems more coherent then most newborns his instincts must be going haywire and although logically Asher knows that I am not going to hurt him his instincts are telling him that I am an enemy and that he needs to either fight or run away. Also it doesn't help that like all the other humans I have changed in the last hundred and twenty-five he didn't know me prior to his transformation. It has been proven that that makes a big difference."

"So you are saying that if like me, Chris, Sofia and Bella had known you for a while beforehand he would be able to ignore his instincts a lot easier like I am doing," said Lyn.

"Exactly," said Jasper with a nod of respect at Lyn as he began to walk slowly over to where Chris was trying to control Asher by holding him around the middle and talking softly to him. That Asher was not trying very hard to break away said something about how much he trusted Chris for if he had really wanted to with him being a newborn and therefore much stronger he would have broken out of Chris's hold easily and been halfway to the front gate before they could have caught up with him.

Jasper walked to where he was still several feet away as he started to send out calm to Asher, which immediately made him stop struggling within Chris grip and relax.

"Thanks," said Chris gratefully. "No matter how much I assured him that you wouldn't hurt him his newborn instincts were stronger then what I was saying."

"Which isn't really that surprising since as I was just telling Lyn, Ash didn't know any of us except you prior to his transformation and so he is acting more like a typical newborn who is unable to ignore his instincts as their was no time to build a relationship with him before he was changed."

"I wish that he could have at least met you a few times before he was changed, but how were we supposed to know that changing him would be necessary?" asked Chris.

"What did you do with Gerold?" asked Lyn suddenly remembering that they had him prisoner somewhere.

"He is still tied up like a Christmas turkey down in a storage room that is part of the cellar," said Jasper with a smirk having not one ounce of sympathy for the man since he had created the whole situation where it was necessary to change Asher in the first place.

"Not only that, but he has not been fed and only given enough water to keep him alive since he was captured," Chris added.

"What's the point of feeding him when he will soon be very dead," Bella added coming over and putting her arms around Jasper's shoulders giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"And we need to enact that part of the plan as soon as possible so that we can move to another location."

"And we will, but I think we ought to give it a couple of days first," said Jasper. "After all we don't want the police knocking on our door for a second time."

"Why are we moving?" asked Asher who was standing as far away from Jasper as he could get and still be in the room. Jasper didn't comment as he knew that Asher's newborn instincts would fade to where they were manageable in time.

"Because, Asher, you and Lyn don't need to be seen around this area as both of you are supposed to be missing and are presumed dead. We don't want people to know that you are still alive...well relatively anyway...and we definitely don't want the humans to discover that vampires are real as that would be very bad."

Asher seemed to consider this for a minute then nodded.

"So where will we be going?" asked Lyn, curiously.

"We decided to go to the house in Chicago, as it is known for it's cloudy days and during the spring there is a lot of rain as it is the city's wet season. We won't have much trouble getting out and doing things since they don't have as many sunny days," said Sofia.

"Why can't we go out on sunny days? Do vampires turn to ash or something?" asked Asher.

"Because we sparkle in the sunlight. It looks like a million tiny diamonds are embedded in our skin so we only go out at night or when it is cloudy or rainy out," Chris told him. "We can't exactly let the humans see us sparkle now can we?"

"No I suppose not," said Asher looking startled by Chris's explanation.

Two days later

Jasper entered the basement and opened the door to the storage room immediately hearing the very weak heartbeat of Gerold Addison pick up in fear. Addison had not been fed even once in more than a week and he had lost quite a bit of weight. He had gone from a fairly robust man to someone who was now almost all skin and bones as he must have lost at least thirty pounds or more. Jasper held his breath as he entered the room because he could smell where Addison had been forced to go in his pants again and again, some of which had leaked out onto the floor as they had not untied him at all since his capture.

"Please, let me go," Gerold pleaded his voice sounding extremely thin and weak as he had not been fed in a week and had been mostly left alone to ponder his fate which he had brought on himself. "I'll give you anything you want...anything."

"We have all that we need and wouldn't accept any amount of money or other things from you. What you did to Lyn and to Asher is despicable and my family and I enjoy getting rid of pieces of scum like you," Jasper told him no mercy in his red eyes or in his voice. "You hired a bunch of thugs to put a man in the hospital, when he had done nothing to you. What makes it even worse is that if he didn't have such a strong will to live he would have died and as it was he never would have walked again if not for the fact that he was turned into a vampire. As for what you did to Lyn that is even worse. When I was born women in general were treated much better than they are today, but the point I'm trying to make is that you hit Lyn just because she didn't agree with you or because you were having a bad day. No one has a right to abuse someone and you definitely didn't have the right to injure Lyn so severely that she was in the hospital for over a month and very nearly died just because she broke up with you because you were an abusive, cheating asshole. Lyn was never your property as she is her own person that has a right to make her own decisions."

Jasper fell silent and picked Gerold up without another word and took him upstairs.

The six vampires silently gathered outside in a circle and the newest two had trouble not attacking Gerald as they had only been vampires for a grand total of two days, but thanks to Chris and Sofia holding them back and both of them holding their breathes they managed to control themselves although they could have broken away had they really wanted to.

"Please let me go," Addison pleaded looking around at the six vampires that surrounded him his voice weak rubbing his writs to get the circulation back as he was finally sitting up for the first time in a week as he had finally been untied.

"And why would we do that?" Bella inquired sounding merely curious. "You would think you would expect some form of retribution for being the kind of person you are, even if you didn't pay for your crimes until after you were dead."

"You went after my brother and tried to put him in the hospital, which would have happened if he wasn't indestructible and you did put Ash there. And why I ask you? All because you thought you owned another human being," said Sofia, shaking her head. "Even if we were inclined to we couldn't just let you go."

"You deserve everything we are about to do to you and more so you should be happy that we don't want to leave to many marks on you so we are just going to pull you apart and then leave you somewhere for the police to find," Lyn told him growling fiercely at him looking as if she wanted to tear him apart with her bear hands, but was being held back by Chris.

"Yes, I agree," Asher added. "You put me in the hospital where I was lucky to wake up at all and for what? It was all because you were obsessed with Evelyn and wanted to own her like some kind of fucking possession," Asher told Gerold fiercely just managing to fight the urge to kick him in the side.

"Enough of this," Jasper finally ordered. "Let's just finish this so we can finish moving."

The other's nodded and one by one they slowly pulled Gerold's limbs off as he cried and screamed in pain, blood flowing from his wounds like water so that it wasn't long until his whimpering screams stopped as he died, not only from blood loss, but from the pain of having his limbs pulled from his body.

"Well that settles that," said Jasper in satisfaction as he kicked the remains of Gerold Addison's body as Lyn had pulled off his head, twisting it on his neck like she was unscrewing the lid off a medicine bottle until the bones cracked, and his head came loose the snapping of bones and cartilage sounding very loud in the silence.

"Now all we have to do is place him somewhere and then call in that anonymous tip," said Lyn feeling nothing, but disgust as she surveyed what remained of her former boyfriend.

"I'll do that," said Jasper. "The rest of you need to finish packing up what you want to take with us."

"Yes sir," said Chris with a mock salute barely avoiding Jasper's playful swipe.

"Lyn, there are a couple of things we need to discuss," said Chris on a sunny Saturday about a month after they had come to the house in Chicago.

"Such as?" asked Lyn

"Well...why don't we go outside and I'll tell you," said Chris trying not to appear nervous.

The two of them walked in silence to their favorite tree which was far enough away from the house that no one could see them or hear what they were saying.

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Lyn as Chris sat with his back against the tree Lyn on his lap.

"Well, there's just some things I need to explain to you that will happen the first time we are intimate with each other."

"I wondered why we were waiting," said Lyn, "as I'm having trouble keeping my hands off you."

"Me too," Chris assured her. "The main reason though is that I thought you needed time to adjust to being a vampire, before we made love for the first time. Being turned into a vampire brings about many changes, as I'm sure you have noticed and you needed time to adjust to that. You've been doing so well though that I thought it was time to bring this subject up."

"If we don't make love soon I'm going to die of sexual frustration," Lyn told him only partly joking.

Chris groaned in agreement and Lyn grinned a little knowing that he was suffering just as much as her. "Well after we have this conversation we can probably make love for the first time tonight, but if we do I guarantee no one is going to see us at all until you need to feed again as once I start I'm not going to want to stop."

"I feel the same way," Lyn assured him giving him a soft kiss on the lips that quickly grew passionate.

"As much as I want to continue this we have a couple of things to discuss first," said Chris as his already half hard cock stood at full attention pushing against the fabric of his jeans making him groan in embarrassment and frustration.

"Well," said Lyn with a mischievous smirk as she observed her fiancé's reaction to their passionate kiss. "I'm looking forward to taking this," Lyn said grabbing Chris's cock through the fabric of his jeans, "and sucking on it while you whither underneath me and then come in my mouth where I will then swallow every drop of your delicious nectar and be begging for more."

Chris groaned, the desire in his red eyes obvious for all to see if anybody else had been there, but Lyn. "We're getting off track, here and we really need to have this discussion, but we can do that, although if we didn't need to I would take you right here and fuck you for days on end."

"I'm looking forward to it, but perhaps we should stop teasing each other or we will never have this discussion," Lyn said before giving him another kiss and snuggling even further into his lap.

"You're right," said Chris and he put his arms around Lyn and hugged her close to him.

"Anyway the thing I wanted to discuss with you, that I never got a chance to while you were human has to do with the fact that when we make love for the first time my inner demon will want to mark you and yours will want to do the same."

"What exactly does this marking involve?" asked Lyn a little apprehensively.

"Nothing complicated," said Chris. "The way that Jasper explained it to me is that even though vampires are intelligent beings just like humans we are more animals down underneath that intelligence. In a lot of animal species it is instinctive to mark your mate so that others will know that he or she is taken. What this involves is that while we are making love, sometime doing it our demons will demand that we bite each other leaving a crescent shaped mark usually at the juncture between the neck and shoulder although not always. Think of it as a permanent hickey mark instead of one that will fade over time. When we do mark each other we will be bonded mates while right now while we are mates we have not made it official and the bond is incomplete."

Lyn absorbed this for a few minutes and Chris gave her plenty of time to think about it as he knew how he would have more than likely reacted if someone had just told him this kind of thing out of the blue.

"It seems so animalistic, to want to bite you while we are making love," said Lyn not sure if she liked the idea of acting just because her instincts told her to. On the other hand she loved Chris and knew the minute she had agreed to become a vampire was the minute that she had agreed to accept everything that went with it. It wasn't just about her much improved brain capacity or the fact that she was now at least ten times stronger then any normal human or the fact that she could now hear, see and smell much, much better, which she knew that certain types of animals could do. It wasn't even the fact that she had to now drink blood in order to survive, but biting Chris doing lovemaking just because her instincts told her to seemed...she wasn't sure of the word or why she objected so much to this particular trait of the vampire species, but she did.

"I don't know why this particular thing about vampires bothers me so much," said Lyn after a long silence.

"Because you don't control it," Chris suggested. "The other traits that come from being a vampire are under your control, but this trait is instinctive and therefore not under your conscious control."

Lyn considered that for a long moment then nodded, "You're right, I've always been one of those people that likes to be in control of whatever situation I am involved in and that is especially true after what happened with Gerold before I met you, I've never been one to just follow my instincts without at least thinking it through first."

"Well, think of it like this," Chris suggested. "Once you mark me and I mark you it will be very similar to getting married and it will let others of our species know that we are taken. It is one of the few vampires laws that anybody who messes with a mated couple and tries to come between them, even if that bond has yet to be fully activated can go to the Volturi and let them name a punishment for the offence or name one yourself and there is at least a chance that they will grant it. That particular law is not as set in stone and doesn't mean instant death like the others do although you can of course request that death be the punishment for the offence."

Lyn considered that for a moment when Chris spoke again, "Also you must consider the fact that it will eventually happen anyway with or without your consent and also the longer you put it off the more dangerous is is."

"In what way?" asked Lyn, curiously.

"Well the way it was explained to me is that if a mated couple puts off marking each other for to long it can have some serious repercussions and eventually drive us both insane. The reason that is, is because mated couple's are two halves of the same soul, in other words soulmates and to not acknowledge that connection or allow nature to take it's course is asking for some serious trouble somewhere down the road." Chris looked into Lyn's eyes now and rubbed his thumb over her cheek tenderly and when he spoke again his voice was soft and more intense then Lyn had ever heard it. "You must understand that this is just part of who we are. It is part of a vampire's nature to want to claim their mate and to mark them so that others will know not to mess with them. Jasper has told me that this instinct only appears if you have found your true mate and not just someone you are spending a few decades or centuries with. I love you Lyn and I want to mark you so bad to let other vampires know that you are already claimed and that they can expect retaliation if they go after you."

Lyn gave in after that knowing that Chris was right and it was just part of being a vampire that she would just have to learn to accept it. Lyn liked being in control all the time, and that had been especially true in the last year or so, but maybe Chris was the one person where she didn't have to be in control at all times and could let her instincts take over.

"You're right," said Lyn finally, "but know this. I was not objecting because I don't love you with all of my unbeating heart, but because ever since Gerald I have always liked being the one in control."

"I wish I had found you before he did and then you wouldn't be afraid to not be in control," Chris muttered sourly wishing he could have tortured Gerold a little more, but they hadn't wanted to leave to many wounds on him when Jasper had left his body parts somewhere for someone to discover.

"Let's not even think about Addison, I'm sorry I even brought him up."

"Anyway there is one other thing we need to talk about," said Chris.

"What?" asked Lyn.

"This urge to mark each other will not be a one time thing. It will not happen every time we make love, since I plan on keeping you in bed as much as possible for at least the next year that is good, but it will still happen fairly frequently. Marking your mate depends on circumstances after that first time."

"Like?"

"Well like if you had been in some kind of danger for whatever reason, my demon would want me to mark you, to make damn sure I knew you were still here and vice versa of course."

Lyn was silent as she absorbed that and then she suddenly turned and started nibbling on Chris's neck that instead of being as hard as stone or cold felt like the softest velvet imaginable and warm to her touch, but only because now her skin was the same temperature. "Then let's get started shall we?" asked Lyn as she continued nibbling on Chris's neck making him not only groan, but start to pant little snarls escaping.

"Let's take up to our room and our nice big bed shall we? Just don't expect to be getting up any time soon."

"Like I'll let you get up once we get started as I have been wanting you just as bad as you've been wanting me for a couple of months now," Lyn assured him as she continued to nibble on his neck.

Chris groaned, and rose to his feet with Lyn in his arms and started running towards the house. "I guess it's a good thing that you just fed yesterday so we don't have to leave the bed for at least the next three days," Chris said as he entered the house and headed up to their bedroom the rest of the family just laughing at them from where they were sitting watching a movie in the den.

"Well we won't see them much for the next few months," said Bella with a smirk as she watched Chris carrying Lyn up the stairs and out of sight. She remembered how it was when she and Jasper were first mated and how they had barely been able to keep their hands off each other. If it hadn't been for the whole Edward situation she was sure that she and Jasper wouldn't have left the bed except to feed for at least a year.

"Probably not," Jasper agreed as he put an arm around his wife's shoulders.

Asher who was sitting in the chair farthest from Jasper didn't say anything, but looked a little pensive and sad.

Asher still didn't trust Jasper, or at least his instincts were telling him not to trust him and although he was often in the room he never got close and stayed as far away as possible.

It was possible that he was wishing for a mate of his own or it could have just been that he missed Lyn and Chris as the two of them were almost always together even more then when he and Lyn had been human and before either knew that vampires were real.

It had been explained to him that for the first couple of years a mated couple weren't going to pay much attention to anything except each other as the bond needed time to deepen and mature, but that he, Lyn and Chris would still spend time together just not as much as he was used to.

Chris and Lyn stared at each other once they had entered their bedroom and shut the door. One great thing about this house, actually all the houses that they owned was that Jasper had insisted that all the bedrooms be redone and soundproofing be added. Unlike when he had lived with the Cullens he did not want to be forced to hear people making love all the time. It had been expensive, but Bella agreed that now that it wasn't just the two them and since Chris had finally found a mate they did not want to hear someone they considered their son making love and Chris agreed that he didn't want to hear his 'parents' anymore then they wanted to hear him.

"Come on, there's no reason to be nervous," Chris told Lyn softly. "We'll just take it slow and just do what comes naturally to us."

Lyn nodded knowing Chris was right. Neither of them after all were virgins as Chris knew all about her few relationships before Gerold and she knew all about the girls he vaguely remembered dating when he had been human, not there had been many for either of them.

Chris led Lyn over to the bed and both slowly started removing their clothes and when they were done they stared at each other drinking in the others bodies both almost salivating.

Finally after what seemed like forever the both moved towards each other and began kissing almost frantically their need for each other suddenly so great that they were having trouble keeping their hands off each other. Both of them felt that this urgency was their demons urging them on. The vampire part of both of them were growling and urging them to bite each other as they were tired of waiting to be claimed.

"Are you ready?" Chris asked Lyn able to smell that she was already wet and ready for him. He wanted to make sure though that she wasn't just physically ready, but mentally as well as no matter what his demon wanted he was not going to force himself on Lyn if she said she wasn't ready to go further.

"Yes, I want you to claim me to let other's know that I am yours and yours alone," Lyn gasped as her arousal dripped down her legs. It was true that they hadn't done much more then kiss, but it was the kind of kissing that quickly led to other things and the fact that both had been waiting for so long also had something to do with why they were both so urgent now.

Chris growled and slowly pushed his throbbing cock into Lyn's dripping wet pussy and waited a moment for her to used to his intrusion. Lyn could feel her walls stretching in order to accommodate Chris's penis as he was quite long and thick and she was much smaller.

"You are so wet, so tight," Chris groaned in pleasure as he felt Lyn's wall tightening around his cock.

After a moment he began pulling out and then pushing himself back in again going faster an faster with each thrust while also sucking and licking on one of her nipples at the same time. Lyn groaned her fingers tangled in Chris's hair and slowly began to fuck Chris back lifting up her hips so that he could go deeper. While Chris was busy fucking her driving her crazy with need, desire and lust Lyn started kissing along his chest using her tongue to do wicked things to him and slowly moving down to his navel which she slowly stuck her tongue in and licked causing Chris to almost come off the bed from the sensation. "Damn!"

Lyn moved slowly down Chris's chest and kissed and nibbled her way over to one of his hipbones. Chris purred as he started speeding up his thrusts and after only a couple of more he came deep inside of her while he bit down on the side of her neck marking her as his for all time Lyn doing the same thing to him. Both of them released each other at the same time and waited for the pain from them marking each other to subside for a moment.

"Well, you are mine now," said Chris with a pleased smirk as he gazed at Lyn's mark radiating satisfaction.

"I've always been yours from the moment we met," Lyn assured him laying her head on his chest with a soft purr. "This just makes it official."

Chris held her tightly for a few minutes and Lyn was content to just snuggle in his arms.

"You were right by the way," said Lyn after a few minutes of silence as it took a while for the little aftershocks of pleasure to stop.

"About what?" asked Chris as he raised his head and gently began to kiss along Lyn's neck on the opposite side from where his mating mark was.

"About the fact that claiming your mate is instinctive," said Lyn who seemed pensive for a moment. "When my inner demon demanded I claim you it also felt natural and not strange at all."

"To me too," said Chris. "I believe it is just the way our species is. All species have their idiosyncrasies, but now I believe we can shelf this discussion for the moment as

didn't you promise to do something with my cock while we were having that conversation outside not to long ago?" asked Chris his shyness totally gone.

"So I did," Lyn murmured taking her fiancé's cock in her hand. "I've been looking forward to it actually as ever since I met you I thought that such a big guy had to have a big cock and I was looking forward to sucking on it and making you writher in ecstasy beneath me while calling my name as you come in my mouth."

Chris panted as Lyn spoke and she hadn't actually done anything yet.

Finally Lyn took part of Chris's cock into her mouth and began to suck softly causing Chris to snarl and twist the sheets in his hands so roughly that they were ripped to shreds.

Lyn looked into Chris's eyes and saw that they were glazed over with passion. Lyn pulled most of Chris's cock out of her mouth and gently tongued the slit where liquid was already gathered and then took his cock into her mouth again except this time she took it a whole lot deeper causing Chris to keep repeating her name over and over again as he felt Lyn's warm, wet mouth slide up and down his cock with her hot little tongue running up and down it's length, causing him to snarl and growl until just a few seconds later he came in her mouth. Lyn swallowed every salty drop of Chris's seed thinking it was the best thing she had ever tasted. When Chris's cock finally went limp Lyn released it where it almost immediately stood at attention again.

"Damn! I have never felt like this with anyone," said Chris when he finally came down from his orgasm several minutes later even though his body was still feeling little aftershocks of pleasure.

"We're just getting started," Lyn assured Chris giving him a hard kiss unaware that Bella had said something very similar the first time she and Jasper had made love over a century ago.

Chris made no objections as he would be crazy to object when Lyn was looking at him with her bright red eyes that were slowly darkening to the normal ruby red like he was a fine meal that she would just love to consume.

In less then a second Chris had flipped them to where he was on top and Lyn was on the bottom and he immediately started kiss along Lyn neck on the side where his mating mark was. He licked the mark causing Lyn to groan and then moved down her neck on started licking and nibbling his way down to her breasts where once he reached them he licked around one nipple leaving little trails of sensation before actually taking the nipple into his mouth and sucking on it causing Lyn to whimper and wither underneath Chris as he continued to treat Lyn's breast like they were a favorite type of food.

Finally Chris started to move down chest kissing, licking and nibbling his way down to her pussy that was already dripping for him and shoved his penis into his mate's tight, wet opening where it didn't take more than a couple of thrusts for him to release his seed into her and once his cock was empty he collapsed on top of her knowing he wouldn't hurt her.

It took a few minutes as both of them just lay there for a while, but finally Lyn started kissing and licking along Chris's hipbone moving her way up to his thigh causing Chris to purr as his mate continued her attentions seeming determined to kiss every inch of exposed skin not that Chris was going to object as he wasn't stupid and this was how they spent the next couple of days making love and talking in between.

"Well here they are finally back in the real world," Sofia teased. "We didn't think we would see you for at least the next month or so."

"And you probably wouldn't have if not for the fact that both of us are thirsty," Chris told his sister and Sofia finally noticed that both Chris's and Lyn's eyes were pitch-black from hunger.

"And you can be assured that as soon as we are done feeding you are not going to see us again until we need to eat again," Lyn told Sofia with a grin not at all embarrassed causing Jasper to cough in order to cover up a laugh at Lyn's words.

"Congratulations," said Jasper as he noticed the new mating marks that were highly visible on the sides of both Chris's and Lyn's neck

"Yes congratulations," said Sofia finally noticed the white crescent shaped marks on the side of her brother's neck and Lyn's to.

"Thanks," said Chris with a wide grin pulling Lyn to his side not minding the mark at all as he was fucking proud to wear Lyn's mark on him and to let other vampires know that he was taken.

"There are some humans waiting on you to feed on down in that secret room that Lyn and Ash did their transformation in," said Jasper tossing Chris the remote as Lyn's fine motor skills were not quite up to snuff yet and she would have ended up smashing it to smithereens. "Bella and I went into town just yesterday and got both of you some criminals to feed off of while Sofia stayed here with Asher."

"Where is Ash, by the way?" asked Lyn suddenly feeling guilty for not paying as much attention to her best friend in the last month as she should be.

"I think he is up in his room reading or something isn't he?" Bella asked Jasper.

"I think so," said Jasper.

"I've been spending a lot of time with him," Sofia added. "Since we are both still single it seems kind of mandatory that we spend time together. I don't really mind as Ash is an interesting guy and we are becoming good friends."

"Thanks sis," said Chris giving her a kiss on the cheek, "but now I believe it is dinner time for Lyn and me. Until she is able to go into the city and hunt for herself we have to depend on other people to bring us a meal."

"It's not that we don't appreciate it, but I'm really looking forward to where Chris and I can hunt together."

"No insult taken," Jasper assured Lyn as he gave her a hug. "Bella and I have always enjoyed hunting together to. I think it has to do with being mates as it is not the usual thing for vampires to hunt together."

Chris and Lyn nodded and then turned and headed outside to the root cellar where the secret room was and where they would find themselves a meal.

It was just two months later and all the vampires in the house were sitting in the living room playing a board game in order to spend time together, which they tried to do at least once a week whether it was a game, a movie or something else just so they could spend time together as a family. It was something that had been instituted after the twins had been changed into vampires by Jasper as he felt it would draw the four of them closer together and truly make them a real family which it had. Now the two new vampires Lyn and Asher were also part of that and they all had fun on those nights talking and laughing and having a good time. Asher of course, sat as far away from Jasper as he could as his instincts were still telling him that Jasper was dangerous even if in his head he knew better. Jasper didn't take offense as he knew that Asher's instincts would die down in time.

"It's your turn, Ash," Chris told his friend with a laugh and Asher immediately rolled the dice, being careful not to crush them into powder and then moved eight spaces on the board in the direction of the finish line.

Suddenly all the vampires in the room paused and listened intently.

"Man this place is out in the middle of nowhere," said a male gruff male voice.

"Shh! You idiot. Do you want to wake the whole house?"

"It's the middle of the night, surely everybody is in bed by now," another previously unheard male voice protested.

"Haven't you ever heard of light sleepers, bozo," the voice of the man who seemed to be in charge said and suddenly there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a man's yowl.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Shh! Idiot! You've probably woken up the whole house with all the noise you are making."

"Why'd we come out here just to rob someone? We could have done that in town and wouldn't have had to transport the stolen goods so far," asked a fourth as of yet unheard voice.

"Because I've been hearing stories about this place for years. People say that the people who live here are almost never seen in town and that this place has changed hands multiple times over the last few decades. They say that the people who own the place now is the great-grandson of the original owner and that the family who lives here likes their privacy, which is why they live out here in the middle of nowhere. There are a lot of conflicting stories told about this house, but one thing that always remains the same and that is that the people who own it are rich and have many valuables worth a lot of money. "

"Are you sure that it isn't ghosts that live in this house?" asked the fourth man suspiciously. "I mean who else likes to live out in the middle of nowhere? Even if it's not haunted these people could be murderers, druggies, rapist or any number of very violent people who will not appreciate having their privacy invaded."

"Or they could be a nice, normal family that just like their privacy," the second voice pointed out his contempt for the superstitions of the fourth man obvious in his voice.

"Shut up, all of you," the leader ordered abruptly his voice filled authority and cold menace that caused the other three men to instantly shut their traps. "With all the noise you lot are making I'm surprised you haven't woken up the whole house and they haven't come after us with a gun or stunners."

"So what do we do with the people in this house? It isn't as if they are just going to let us rob them. We've always robbed people who weren't home before," asked the second male voice tentatively as if he didn't want to bring the leader's wrath down on his head.

"We kill them of course, we can't afford to leave any witnesses and then let them go to the police. We'd more than likely end up in jail if we left anybody alive in the house. Now enough talking let's get on with it."

"But I'm not a murderer," the third voice protested. "Robbing someone fine, but to murder someone, much less several someones is serious and carries a sentence of life in prison for first degree and five to ten for manslaughter, per offense."

"Then you can back out now and that will leave more for the rest of us," said the leader menacingly. "But if you do decide to back out, just know that you won't live long if you decide to go to the cops and even if you keep your mouth shut I'll make sure that you never get another decent job in this town."

"All right fine," the third man finally give in reluctantly. "Let's get this over with."

The leader turned back to the door and all the vampire's that were sitting in the living room listening to the conversation heard the sound of the front door being jimmied open and of the wire to the alarm being cut.

"What do you want to do Jasper?" asked Chris not looking at all worried about his life or the life of anybody in the room as he was a vampire and so was everybody else, which meant that they couldn't be harmed by mere human weaponry.

"Turn off the lights," Jasper ordered quietly, but calmly. "Humans don't see very well in the dark without infrared goggles, but we do."

"So what's the plan?" asked Lyn who was having trouble controlling herself with so many human heartbeats so near, not to mention the smell of their blood.

"Let's wait until they get fully into the house, before we do anything," Jasper decided. "It's not that we couldn't catch them if they ran, but this will make it easier and have them all in one place."

"And then?" Sofia asked in anticipation knowing what was coming.

"Well it isn't as if we can let them live," said Bella with an evil smirk. "For not only are they criminals, which is after all what we feed off of, they are the ones who decided it would be a good idea to break into our home. Besides they will discover in a very short period of time that we aren't human and as I just said we can't allow them to live once they know that. Besides they are criminals and deserve what they are about to get."

"Chris I want you and Sofia to go stand near the door as they should finish picking the lock any second now. When they are all inside I want you to take out the last two as silently as you can while Bella and I will handle the leader and the other man."

"And Ash and me?" asked Lyn.

"You two just stay put as neither one of you has enough control to not kill them immediately. As soon as we have them we're going to take them down to the root cellar and then you and Ash and can have them for snacks."

"And what about the rest of you? Don't you want a share?" asked Asher.

"There's only four of them and you and Lyn are the two newest vampires in this house and since you are only a few months old and can't go into town yet to hunt up your own dinner I am giving them to you."

"That's very generous of you," said Lyn.

"I'm just looking after the needs of my family," said Jasper calmly giving Lyn a wink just as the front door opened and the four men stepped inside finding the house dark just like they expected.

"Fred, you and Dylan head upstairs and take care of any occupants while Andy and I start casing the joint."

The leader waited for a few seconds from a response from his men and when he didn't get it he looked around him frantically as if finally sensing something was wrong.

"Fred? Andy? Dylan? Where are you guys, this is no time for jokes!" the leader whispered/shouted his voice beginning to sound frantic with fear as he realized that his three compatriots had disappeared from right behind him without a sound, which should have been impossible.

Suddenly the lights snapped on and the leader of the thieves found himself staring at a tall man with long blond hair and eyes as red as fresh blood.

The leader just had time to take in these details of the blond haired man's face before he felt himself grabbed and picked up as if he weighed no more then a feather and carried into another room all without the blond haired man saying a word.

"Who are you?"

"Why don't you know that we, my family and I are the owners of this house that you just tried to rob, which was a very bad idea on your part and you will live just long enough to regret it," Jasper said his voice soft and deadly serious as he threw the leader hard enough that he skidded for several feet once he hit the floor and only stopped moving when he hit the couch.

"What are you?" asked the man Dylan quivering in fear knowing that he had made a fatal mistake in agreeing to come with Colin in order to rob this place. These people, or whatever they were, even the females had picked him and his friends up with what looked like no trouble as none of them were even breathing hard or even sweating. The females especially should not have been able to pick any of them up as he and his three friends were at least a hundred pound heavier then them if not more. The dark haired female that had carried him in here had done it though and it had seemed as easy for her as picking up a sack of potatoes would be and she had been none to gentle about putting him back on the floor either as she had just dropped him beside his buddies without saying a word and was now standing guard over them.

"Why sir, we are vampires," Bella said mockingly coming forward and putting an arm around Jasper's shoulders.

"Chris, Sofia, each of you carry one of them down to the cellar," Jasper ordered calmly. "Bella and I will get the other two. Leave the leader for me."

"What are you going to do with us," asked Andy scuttling backwards until was back was against the couch frantically.

"What do you think we are going to do with you?" asked Sofia picking Andy up and slinging him over her shoulder with no trouble at all despite the fact that Andy had to be at least a hundred pounds heavier then her if not a hundred and fifty. "You broke into our home with the intent to rob us and if we had been human we would more than likely be dead, murdered in our beds. What would you do in the same situation? Don't answer that as I know what you would do and that is murder the thieves in order to protect those you loved," Sofia added. "You and your compatriots made a fatal decision to break into our home and if you and your friends had gone into an honest line of work you would be alive when the sun rises in a couple of hours."

"Please spare me!" Andy pleaded.

"Sorry, no can do," Sofia told him carrying him at a fast walk towards the cellar. "Even if I wanted to spare your life, which I don't, Jasper is the leader of the family and what he says goes."

Andy whimpered pounding his fists as hard as he could against Sofia's back, which was hard enough that it would have knocked a human over especially if they weren't expecting it. Sofia ignored Andy's fists hitting her back like she didn't feel anything at all except love taps and not the frantic ponding of a man who is desperate to escape his situation because he is about to meet his maker decades earlier then planned.

"You and your friends brought this on yourselves," Sofia told Andy without an ounce of sympathy in her voice.

Sofia reached the cellar door just a couple of minutes later and entered not bothering to flip on the lights as she could see just perfectly in the dark.

"Here's part of your dinner," Sofia said quietly as she reached the bottom of the stairs and dropped Andy onto the stone floor of the cellar.

"Thanks, Sofia," said Ash having a little trouble controlling himself even though he'd already had the man Chris had been carrying as was evidenced by his corpse that had been flung carelessly over into a corner and had limbs going in directions that they were not meant to.

"You're welcome," said Sofia with a smile. "Where's Lyn?"

"She said that I could have the first two and that she'd eat after I was done," said Asher. "She seems to have better control over her thirst then I do."

"That's only natural as she knew about vampires before she was changed and you didn't. It's been proven that knowing beforehand does make a difference."

"You're right," Asher acknowledged.

"Well I'll leave you to your meal and I'll see you back at the house when you're done. Oh and one other thing, make sure you remember to burn the bodies in the trash incinerator and also make sure there is no evidence like blood spatters after you are done," said Sofia, giving Asher a hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning and heading up the cellar stairs without a backwards glance after hearing Asher's soft acknowledgement.

"Well that takes care of that," said Jasper radiating satisfaction an hour later. "The bodies have been disposed of and what little blood there was has been cleaned up."

"You know, I've been wondering what the leader was talking about when he said that there were stories about this place. How can there be stories?" asked Asher curiously.

"Curiosity is a very strong human trait, Ash," Jasper told his son gently, "and because of the fact that we keep to ourselves, and are rarely seen in town makes people curious about us, which in turns makes them come up with stories about the people who live here. We live just outside the city, but really aren't part of the community at all so naturally it causes people to talk about us which creates rumors and stories that over the years get exaggerated."

"I see," said Asher in understanding.

"And the fact that we only live somewhere for a few years before moving on just makes people even more curious about us and makes them speculate even more," Bella added. "To most people we are strange and mysterious and could be a band of thieves out to rob and murder them in their beds or a family of aliens that doesn't want to be discovered. I've even heard some rumors where we are a family of mad scientist that experiments on living people just so we can find a way to take over the world."

Everybody laughed at that one. "That's just stupid," Lyn said still laughing so hard that she was leaning into Chris's side in order to maintain her balance. If she had been human she would have been clutching her sides in pain and out of breath.

"It is part of human nature to create stories about things they do not understand and because we keep to ourselves and have no close friends in the city it is just fodder for gossip which in turn creates those rumors and stories," said Sofia.

"I know that, but that doesn't make it any less stupid," said Lyn who had finally been able to quit laughing.

"True enough," said Chris pulling Lyn into his side and kept his arm around her shoulders.

"Well, shall we get back to our game or do something else?" asked Bella.

All the vampires decided that they would get back to their game and that they could do things as couples or by themselves a little later that this was the time to spend together as a family.

Six months later

Asher's newborn instincts had died down enough that he no longer stood or sat as far from Jasper as he could and had even apologized for his initial reaction which Jasper had accepted saying he hadn't take offence as it was how most newborns reacted to seeing his scars for the first time.

"So when are you going to teach us to hunt on our own?" Lyn asked Jasper looking interested.

"Not for another few months at least," Jasper told her, calmly. "First we need to setup a test to make sure you can be around humans safely without attacking them. The twins went through the same thing just so you know. I took them one at a time into town and since my talent is so useful for controlling newborns I wouldn't have had any trouble subduing them, before they would break off the car door and go after all that blood they smelled. With you it might be a little easier," Jasper added.

"Why?" asked Lyn.

"Because you and Chris are mated and have confirmed that bond by biting each other. When you are mated especially for the first couple of years your attention tends to be solely focused on the one you are mated to and other things don't matter or at least not as much."

"So in other words because my attention would be focused on Chris I would ignore all the humans surrounding me."

"Something, like that yes," Jasper agreed. "I found that out by accident by the way as I took Bella to this nightclub not very long after she had been changed and she didn't attack any of the humans there except the ones she eventually drained. I know I took a chance, but I had a theory that it would work because Bella had known about vampires for almost a year before she was changed and also because we were mated as I had noticed that whenever we were together her attention seemed to be focused almost solely on me. I think the same method will work for you, although not Asher."

"But don't I need to learn to go out around humans without Chris there?" asked Lyn.

"And you eventually will," Jasper assured her, "after all just look at Bella and how well she does around humans without me around."

"True enough," Lyn said.

"Actually I could probably take you and Chris for a drive into town sometime in the next couple of days and it would more than likely go well, but that would hardly be fair to Asher as I am definitely not going to risk taking him into town for at least another six months as he is like most newborns. If he had known about vampires before being changed and had accepted that they were real like Bella, Chris, Sofia and you did it would be different..."

"But since you had no idea that changing him would be necessary you didn't even meet him beforehand," Lyn said finishing Jasper's train of thought.

"That's it exactly," Jasper agreed. "He's almost exactly like a human who is changed against their will just like most of our kind the only difference being was that we did give him a choice on whether or not to become one of our kind or not while most vampires were never given that choice."

Both Jasper and Lyn sat there for a few minutes and then Lyn decided she was going to go find Asher and see if he minded if she went through her test a few months early.

Two days later Chris, Lyn and Jasper were in the car and heading into Chicago months ahead of schedule as Asher had come to Jasper and told him that he didn't mind if Lyn went ahead with her test to see if she could be around humans safely and that he wouldn't take offense just because he was stuck at the house for another few months. Jasper had studied Asher's expression and also checked his emotions, but all they told him was that Asher really didn't mind and he knew he was more like a typical newborn then Lyn was as she had known about vampires beforehand even if it was for less then a month so they had planned everything out in advance and were on their way.

"Okay, we are approaching the outskirts of Chicago," said Jasper quietly by way of warning the couple in the backseat who weren't paying attention to anything except each other, which Jasper could understand as he and Bella were the same way even now over a hundred years later. Lyn gulped and nodded looking incredibly nervous, which neither man could blame her for in the slightest as each remembered their own test that they had gone through to make sure they could control themselves around humans.

"It will be okay Lyn," Chris told his mate giving her a hug from where he was sitting across from her.

"I hope you're right," said Lyn not at all as confident as Chris was that she could do this and not break the car door off its hinges and attack the first human she smelled. Well, she had managed not to attack Gerold Addison, with Chris's help and at the time she had been only a couple of days old, but this was a different situation altogether as it wouldn't be just one human this time, but lots of them all congregated together.

Jasper silently sent Lyn his confidence in her and she gave him an appreciative smile thanking him.

"We should be coming up on where a lot of humans will be congregated this time of day in just another minute," Jasper warned Lyn and true to his words just a minute later they entered an area where they were a lot of shops and were almost immediately surrounded by traffic. It wasn't that there hadn't been traffic before, but it was nothing compared to what they encountered now as they were now wedged in on all sides by cars and were moving slowly, almost inching forward.

"Open your window and take a deep breath," Jasper instructed Lyn calmly. "Chris, be ready to subdue her if you have to."

Chris grinned a little at that for the only way he could subdue her considering she was stronger then him was to kiss her silly in order to distract her and he would be perfectly happy to do that as he loved kissing Lyn and would rather do that then just about anything else, except perhaps fuck Lyn senseless which they had been doing almost constantly over the last few months and let her do the same.

"Chris, pay attention," said Jasper dryly as he noticed his son's rather goofy grin.

Chris sobered instantly and nodded going on alert, his muscles subtly tensing as he prepared himself to grab Lyn if he had to.

Lyn looked at Chris and when he nodded she pressed a button in order to let the window down. The window began to automatically go down after Lyn pushed the button without her having to hold it and it was only a few seconds later that hundreds of scents reached her nose. Not only did she smell all that luscious human blood, but also the smells of the city, like smog, gas, car exhaust and also sweat, perfume and human body odor.

Lyn took a deep breath and took in all the scents that made up a city, but although she smelled all those other scents it was the human blood that got her attention and had her salivating.

"Remember, Lyn, you can resist all that blood that you smell," Chris said, speaking for the first time in over five minutes as he saw Lyn struggling to resist the smell of so many humans blood. "I have faith in you."

Lyn looked at Chris and could see the absolute conviction in his eyes as well as his faith in her.

Lyn straightened her shoulders in a very humanlike gesture and seemed to struggle with herself and her inner demon for a few minutes, before she relaxed seeming to have brought herself under control although Jasper kept a mental eye on her emotions just to make sure that she wasn't preparing to leap out of the car.

"How are you doing?" Jasper asked Lyn as he expertly maneuvered the car through traffic.

"Okay," Lyn answered. "I'm trying not to breath to much. I realize I will have to breathe some, like I am doing now, if I wish to ever get a handle on my bloodlust, but it's hard as even now my demon is screaming at me to set it free so it can feed on all that delicious blood she smells."

"You're certainly doing better then I did when Jasper first brought me into the city. I had to really struggle with my demon in order to not tear the car door off its hinges and attack the hundreds of human scents it smelled. By the time I was done struggling with my inner vampire I was so thirsty that Jasper had to take me hunting as battling my demon apparently took a lot of energy. He wasn't planning on having to do that for several more months, once I had a better handle on my bloodlust."

"I didn't really have any choice as Chris's eyes were black from hunger and I was almost positive that I didn't have a enough time to take him home and then come back and get him a meal. If we had done it that way Chris would have broken away from Bella and Sofia and more than likely run into town and drained the first human he saw thereby revealing our presence and also the fact that vampires were real."

"And we couldn't have that now could we?" asked Chris dryly as he held Lyn's hand in his.

"No, we certainly couldn't have that," said Lyn as she continued to breathe in all those delicious scents of human blood. All her demon really wanted to do was tear the car door off its hinges and drain every human in the area dry, but Lyn resisted with a stubbornness and a will power she didn't even know she possessed as she didn't want to disappoint either Chris or Jasper, but especially her fiancé whom she loved with her whole soul and yes she still believed she had a soul despite the fact that she was now a vampire that drank blood in order to survive. If she didn't have a soul how could she love? Or how would she even know what love was? And yes she was aware that she had once been human and that as a human she had known love, but if now as a vampire she didn't have a soul how come she could still feel guilty or compassionate and why care about who she drained if she was a monster?

I will not drain all these innocent people just so you can have a feast as not only would that disappoint our mate, but also reveal the vampire race to the world. Besides just because I now have to drink blood for a living does not mean that I will feed off people who are just trying to live a normal life and have never done anything to deserve being murdered. I will not have those deaths on my conscious.

But you drain criminals, her inner demon wheedled.

And you just said the magic word, criminals, Lyn pointed out. Humans who deserve to be the meals of a vampire as they hurt others.

You didn't used to think like that, her inner demon argued.

No I did not and you are lucky I changed my mind or we would not be having this conversation as I would be feeding off animals instead and I can still make that decision you know, so I suggest you don't push it.

Her inner demon hung her head and gave up the argument as he could tell the human part of Lyn was serious.

"You okay, Lyn?" asked Chris the concern in his eyes there for all to see.

"I'm fine," Lyn assured him.

"You've just been silent for quite a while now," said Chris in concern.

"Just thinking is all," Lyn told him not saying that he had been in a fight with her demon who had been trying to convince her to unlock her cage and attack all the humans that surrounded them.

Chris looked unconvinced and a little worried so Lyn finally leaned over kissing him on the cheek silently thanking him for his concern "I love you," Lyn said simply, but the emotion behind the words was strong and heartfelt.

"Well, good, because I love you to," said Chris with a grin.

Jasper who had been silent in the front seat driving grinned a little as the emotions coming from Chris and Lyn love was of course the strongest, although he also felt apprehension and worry coming from Lyn and concern coming from Chris.

"All joking aside how are you really doing Lyn?" Jasper asked.

Lyn considered how to answer Jasper's question for a minute then said, "All things considered I am doing alright. I'm not saying I'm not struggling to not leap out of this car and attack the closest human, but with Chris here to distract me I am doing better than I expected to do."

"Nice to know I am good for something," Chris pretended to grumble, while giving Lyn's hand an affectionate squeeze.

"You're good for a lot of things," Lyn assured Chris giving him a kiss. "For hugging and kissing and..." Lyn whispered something in Chris's ear so lowly that Jasper couldn't hear what was said, but by the way Chris reacted just a second later he could give it a good guess.

"Evelyn!" Chris shouted and Jasper got the distinct impression that Chris would be blushing a bright red if he had been able to.

"Did I say something amusing?" asked Lyn trying to look all innocent and failing miserably as she laughed heartily at her fiancé's reaction.

"You know perfectly well what you said," Chris mock grumbled though he still looked a little embarrassed.

"So are we going to go straight home after we finally get out of this traffic?" asked Lyn curiously.

"Well that depends on you," said Jasper.

"Why does it depend on me?" asked Lyn, curiously.

"Well, I thought if you did okay in the middle of traffic with hundreds of humans surrounding you that I might teach you how to hunt, unless you don't feel as if you are ready."

"Really?" asked Lyn looking intrigued.

"Yes, but the question of the moment is do you feel as if you can control yourself if I take you somewhere and show you how to hunt criminals and other scum of society or do you just want to head home? Think about it and let me know if you believe you can or can't control yourself. If you believe you can then we'll go hunt or if you think you've had enough for one day then we'll head home."

Lyn considered her response carefully for a minute and made sure to check that all that human blood she smelled right outside of the car window was not going to cause her to get out of control and attack someone in full view of a dozen people or more. She had no desire to harm someone innocent or reveal the vampire race to the world.

"I believe I'll be okay," said Lyn cautiously. "I'm still struggling a little to ignore that smell of blood that is coming from all the humans that surround us at the moment, but I think I can control the urge to drain anyone."

"None of those humans have actually gotten into your personal space though," Chris pointed out. "Ignoring the smell of human blood right now is a lot easier then when they get a lot closer not realizing the danger they are in."

"I think I'll be fine," said Lyn. "Besides I'll never learn to be around humans unless I try, right?"

Chris still looked concerned, but nodded.

"That's right," Jasper agreed with a smile into the rearview mirror. "You're doing very well actually and in fact all the ones I have changed that knew about the vampire world beforehand have done well. In the past during the southern wars when I changed humans to vampires, most of them didn't have the amount of control that you have shown even after their newborn year was over. If they survived their newborn year, which I am sad to say most did not as Maria did not see any reason to keep most of them around after their strength waned, unless they had some kind of useful talent like mine." The sadness in Jasper's voice was very evident and since both Lyn and Asher had heard his story just a week or so ago Lyn could sympathize as she now knew that he had been forced along with Peter, whom she had never met, to do most of the culling as he had never had any choice in the matter if he wanted to survive that is.

Jasper had also told them that while he had come to grips with his past years ago it did not mean that he did not regret that he had been forced to do things that would give him nightmares if he had actually been able to sleep.

"So where are we going to go to hunt?" asked Lyn changing the subject.

"Well I thought we could go to a bar that is a known hangout for all sorts of minor criminals. I did the same thing with Bella a lot sooner then I am doing with you, but if you aren't sure if you can handle being around so many humans as the club is bound to be packed then let me know now."

"I think I can handle it," said Lyn who had just eaten yesterday although that didn't mean that she couldn't feed again even if she didn't absolutely have to just yet.

"Alright then, but I think it is a good idea if both Chris and I keep a close eye on you just in case," said Jasper. "I don't believe you are quite ready to wander off on your own."

"Probably not," Lyn agreed calmly.

"I'll be glad to keep an eye on her," Chris said looking Lyn up and down while playfully leering at her.

"I'll just bet you don't mind," Jasper chuckled while Lyn glared playfully at the two men knowing they were just teasing, but feeling insulted nonetheless.

Chris put an arm around Lyn's shoulders and hugged her close by way of apology and Lyn relaxed knowing she was a little on edge. She knew she was going to have to get used to this kind of playful banter and that neither had really meant anything offensive by it. They only teased her because they loved her and intellectually she knew that so she tried not to take offense when they did tease her although it was still a little embarrassing.

They arrived at the bar a few minutes later and Lyn was immediately hit with the smell of not only blood, which was nearly overpowering by itself, but also the smell of body odor, perfume, beer and food. Lyn reeled back as the scents hit her full force after she had barely stepped in the front door. Lyn saw red for just a moment as her demon tried to take over and get her to go after all these humans that smelled so appetizing and were packed so closely together that it would be a massacre in seconds. Lyn fought her demon for just a second and managed just barely to force it back into it's cage and lock the door with a mental key. The vampire part of her growled and threatened retribution when she got free, but when the human part of Lyn refused to give in sighed in resignation and sulked.

"You okay?" Chris asked her so quietly that there was no way that any human could have heard him, especially not wit the way the music was pounding so loudly within the building that the noise actually spilled outside without even having to open the door.

"I'm fine," said Lyn giving him a small smile. Chris still looked a little worried so Lyn gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Let's go hunting, shall we?"

"Okay," Chris agreed seeming relieved that Lyn really seemed to be okay.

The three of them got a table and ordered drinks that they had no intention of actually drinking, but it would have looked weird if they hadn't ordered anything and they were trying to keep a low profile and not attract attention to themselves.

Lyn looked covertly around the room as she had been instructed on the way over her and tried to decide on who she wanted to lure out to the alley for her dinner.

Jasper and Chris had already taken turns explaining about the way that humans were up to no good acted. That was another good reason the have someone who was experienced at knowing what was normal innocent human behavior and what was not as Lyn definitely didn't want to kill some innocent person by mistake although she admitted that it wasn't very likely to find someone without some kind of criminal record in a place like this. The place practically reeked of evil that seemed to ooze out of the very walls and was probably only detectable to someone with a fantastically acute sense of smell like a vampires. All right so maybe it was her imagination that the place reeked of evil, but there was still something about it that made all her senses go on full alert. Maybe it was the low lighting, lighting so low that it would be very hard to see more then a foot in front of you if you were human or maybe it was the fact that the barman watched people suspiciously as he supposedly cleaned glasses or maybe it was just the fact that certain people in expensive suits sat in dark corners sipping drinks and observed the floor at the same time as if looking for their next victim. Not only did such expensive suits really stand out in such dim and dingy surroundings, but the men wearing them weren't exactly being subtle.

"Why don't we go and get ourselves some dinner?" Chris suggested and Lyn nodded.

"I'll wait here until you get back, so nobody takes our table," said Jasper calmly.

Chris nodded and he took his fiancée's arm and led her into the crowd.

"Hey, handsome," said an unfamiliar voice and Chris felt someone's arms come around his shoulders. "Can I buy you a drink?" It was half an hour later and Lyn was in the bathroom powdering her nose having already had her dinner out back in the alley as had Chris and now Jasper was hunting up his own meal, which was why he was sitting here alone pretending to be sipping a drink when it was really being spilled a little at a time onto the already filthy floor.

"You will release me right this minute, whoever you are," said Chris turning around in the unfamiliar arms to find himself facing a beautiful woman with red wavy hair and startling grey eyes which didn't look right with her red hair, who couldn't be more than twenty-one and therefore barely of legal age to drink. The woman's scent washed over him and he had to restrain himself from draining her dry right there in a very busy bar. "Don't make me ask you again," Chris said when the woman didn't move.

Chris raised his arms and removed the woman's arms from around his neck. "I'm usually not rude, but you need to go find someone who is available as I am engaged to be married and my fiancée will be back from powdering her nose any second now."

"Oh her," the woman scoffed drunkenly. "She's pretty enough, I suppose, if you like the girl next door type. I'm a much better choice for someone as handsome as you." The truth was that the woman thought that Lyn was absolutely gorgeous and one of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, not that that was going to stop her from trying to pick Chris up.

"Go away," Chris finally told the woman rudely having grown tired of being polite. "I'm not interested in a whore like you who practically throws herself in front of a man in order to get his attention. Lyn runs circles around you and you will never speak of her so rudely again. Now go and pester someone else, I'm not interested."

The young woman didn't move seeming either to shocked at Chris for turning her down or to drunk to comprehend his words.

"You heard my fiancé, you overbearing, pushy, bitch! He told you he wasn't interested and what did you do take that as a sign that he is playing hard to get. Some men just aren't interested in you and your rather meager charms, so go away, before I punch you in your fat nose like you deserve for trying to steal someone else's man.

"Pfft, don't you trust your man?" the red haired female said to drunk to recognize the danger she was in.

"Actually I do, but that doesn't mean I am not going to defend him from other women who make unwanted and unappreciated advances on him. I heard him tell you quite clearly that he wasn't interested and that he was engaged to be married and then I believe I heard you tell him that oh her, she's pretty enough, I suppose, if you like the girl next door type. I'm a much better choice for someone as handsome as you." Lyn repeated word for word looking about as agitated and angry as it was possible to be.

The woman looked surprised that Lyn knew her exact words. Lyn smirked which was an unusual expression for her as she was usually pretty good-natured and said, "I have excellent hearing, so I heard every insulting word that came out of your mouth and how Chris was trying to be polite and how he lost his temper. You ought to be proud of yourself because it takes a lot to make Chris lose it like that as he is usually pretty even tempered. Now why don't you go away?"

"I'll go away when he tell me to to," said the woman.

"I'll already told to several times already," said Chris with a roll of his hazel eyes.

The woman didn't listen and tried to cozy up to Chris again, but this time Lyn finally lost her temper and shoved the woman away from her fiancé. "Are you so drunk that you can't take no I'm not interested as an answer or to stupid?" asked Lyn mostly rhetorically. "Go pester somewhere else."

"Can we head home now," Chris asked Jasper in a voice so soft that only another vampire could possibly have picked it up in the rather noisy crowded bar.

"Yes, you are beginning to attract attention, which none of us need," Jasper answered in the same tone of voice.

"I know, but it isn't as if I asked for it. I was just sitting at our table minding my own business, waiting for Lyn to finish powdering her nose so that maybe we could dance for a song or two before we headed home, but that isn't going to happen now." Chris tried not to sound disappointed that he wouldn't have an excuse to hold Lyn close to him as they danced, but the fact was he was very disappointed as he had been looking forward to being able to hold his fiancée tight with her head on his shoulder as they danced.

"I know it isn't really your fault, but that doesn't mean it isn't inconvenient."

Chris didn't have time to reply as suddenly he heard the sound of a stone fist hitting flesh. Chris turned around just in tome to see the red haired woman go down and people start to pay even more attention to them then before.

"Hey now! That's enough!" called the bartender finally deciding it was time to intervene before the situation that had had been developing over the last few minutes got out of hand anymore then it already was. The red haired woman had deserved that punch, the bartender admitted silently as he made his way through the crowd. He had been watching the scene unfold from his place at the bar for the last few minutes and it had been obvious that the man sitting at that table just wasn't interested in the red haired woman. The way the guy's girlfriend had rushed to the dark haired man's defense had been rather refreshing and that punch had been rather sweet. The bartender had thought that he was going to have to interfere sooner and throw the drunk red haired woman out of the bar as well as the man and his girl just to keep a fight from breaking out, but the brown haired woman had solved that problem for him by knocking the red haired woman unconscious with a single, power packed punch. The bartender wasn't sure how the brown haired lady had knock the red haired woman out as she didn't look as if she had enough muscles to punch someone out with only one punch, but looks could be deceiving and apparently the brown haired lady worked out regularly to be able to do that.

"Lyn!" Chris exclaimed not sure whether to be proud of his fiancée for defending him or worried about the consequences.

"Oh don't worry I pulled my punch at the last second," said Lyn casually not looking at all ashamed of herself for knocking the other woman unconscious with a single punch.

"You could have killed her you know," Chris told her lowly enough that only another vampire could possibly have understood her.

"If you ask me she's damn lucky I remembered to pull my punch at the last second or she would be dead," said Lyn in the same low voice. "She's also damn lucky I didn't decide to lure her somewhere and make a meal off her.

Chris sighed, but was more proud of his mate then upset and he would make sure she knew it once they were home. "Let's go home, before someone calls the cops."

"That's unlikely in a place like this," said Lyn, "but you're right we should be careful and get out of here just to be on the safe side."

Lyn walked over to Chris and took his hand and both of them headed towards the exit with Jasper following them silently.

Several hours later Jasper, Chris and Lyn arrived home and entered the house.

"How did the hunt go?" asked Asher as soon as the front door had closed.

"We had a couple of close calls," said Lyn still looking a little downcast.

"I thought you did very well," Jasper told her giving her a hug. "You can't expect to perfect your control overnight and you did manage to avoid biting that woman."

"What woman?" asked Bella coming into the den and sitting om Jasper's lap.

"Well, Jasper took us to this bar that is a known hangout for all sorts of minor criminals and this woman who looked like she couldn't have been more than twenty-one tried to cosy up to Chris even after he told her he was engaged to be married and that he wasn't interested she still persisted," said Lyn still growling a little and looking truly dangerous as she thought of the woman who had looked barely old enough to drink in the first place went after her man.

"She was as drunk as a skunk and didn't seem to have the sense that God gave her," Chris added pulling Lyn close to him his touch immediately soothing her demon and making her a bit calmer. "I did try to extract myself from her, but she kept being very persistent until Lyn finally lost her temper and nearly bit her in a room full of people, but slugged her at the last second instead."

"She's lucky I remembered to pull my punch at the last second or she would be very dead from having her face all smashed in. She also damn lucky I didn't decide to feed off her just for going after my man."

Bella nodded knowingly as the same thing had happened to her and to Jasper more than once over the years.

"I'm afraid you are going to have to get used to that happening sweetie," Bella told Lyn sympathetically, "as it is a natural part of being a vampire I'm afraid. Being so attractive as to lure your prey so you can feed off them is just natural for our kind."

"I thought most humans avoided us," said Lyn looking confused.

"That's true, unless we deliberately try to turn on the charm in order to lure our prey into a trap in order to feed off them," Bella agreed, "but this young woman on the other hand you said was beyond drunk and being so also tends to lower normal inhibitions so that she wouldn't have sensed the predator in Chris or in you."

Lyn nodded after having absorbed that as it made sense. Alcohol was well known to make humans do stupid things, especially if you had enough of it in your system. "And we were in disguise, so I guess that also helped for her to not sense that we were predators," Lyn added.

"Exactly," Bella agreed.

"You don't have to worry about me going off with another woman as no one else could hold a candle to you," Chris assured her yet again as he had been doing ever since the incident.

"I know that in my head, but it doesn't mean it doesn't annoy me all the same."

"Is it really any different then if Chris was human?" asked Asher. "I'm sure he was just as handsome before he was a vampire and that woman tried to ask him out on dates."

"From what I can remember of my human life most of the college students avoided Sofia and me although I've never figured out why. I'm not saying that some girls didn't ask me out, but they were few and far between. I suppose it didn't help that I was shy around girls back then."

"You shy?" asked Asher disbelief color his tone. "I have a hard time believing that."

"Yes, we'll that was then this is now," said Chris. "I suppose my parents deaths affected me. I never had anyone to give me the speech or advice about woman before since they died before I was old enough to even think about such things, let alone have my father give me the talk. Anyway it doesn't matter how many woman try to pick me up I will never even look at another one the same way I do you," Chris told Lyn sincerely.

Lyn sighed and nodded, but knew it would probably always annoy her to have some woman try to pick Chris up even when it was obvious he was taken and married.

"Don't think it won't annoy me sometime in the future when some handsome man tries to pick you up and trust me it will happen. We'll both just have to learn to put up with it just like every vampire who interacts with humans does."

"That's the truth," Bella snorted. "I've lost count of the number of times that women have tried to pick Jasper despite the fact that they should have avoided him. It was if they didn't have the sense God gave a turkey and didn't seem to sense that he was a predator or if they did they didn't care."

"Not to change the subject or anything, but when are you and Chris getting married, since the previous plans were interrupted?" asked Asher.

"We thought in another few months, although we could get married tomorrow if we really wanted to as their will no humans at the ceremony," said Chris.

"But what about a priest to marry you?" asked Asher in surprise.

"We've got that covered," Jasper assured Asher. "My sister Charlotte will do the honors and in fact I had asked her before all the things happened with Gerold if she would mind performing the ceremony. She officiated at mine and Bella's wedding as well."

"But your sister isn't a priest is she?" asked Asher.

"No, but she did get ordained online for Bella's and my wedding so the marriage will be legal."

"But that was over a hundred and twenty-six years ago so is her license still valid?" asked Asher.

"Yes and besides I am sure she can get ordained again if she has to if she hasn't already done so," said Jasper. "It is the way that vampires do things if they even bother to get married at all and before the internet was invented it was much harder to get married because finding a priest that wasn't afraid of us was so difficult. Carlisle and Esme married long before the internet was invented and so did, Rosalie and Emmett."

"And let's not forget you and Alice," Bella added long since past being jealous of the fact that Jasper had been married before as he was her's now and that was all that mattered.

"No let's not forget Alice and I," said Jasper with a chuckle. "In any case to change the subject Asher, there is something that Bella and I wanted to discuss with you."

Chris and Lyn remained silent knowing immediately where this was going.

"What's that?" asked Asher looking just a little curious.

"Well, as I explained to the twins and Lyn at the time they were changed and in Lyn's case before she was changed, when someone is turned into a vampire it is the obligation and responsibility of that vampire's creator to make sure they are taken care of. It is not

just his responsibility to make sure the new vampire knows how to defend themselves, but also to make sure that he has control over his bloodlust for whenever he ventures around humans. Last, but not least it is his responsibility to make sure the new vampire has enough money to get started in their new life so I have opened up three accounts in the name of Asher Whitlock. One account is in the Cayman islands, another in Switzerland and then one at a local bank for regular expenditures."

"How much money are we talking about?" asked Asher finally.

"Two billion dollars," Bella told him calmly.

Asher absorbed that for a minutes, then asked, "Why so much?" asked Asher seeming to take the news better than the twins, Bella or Lyn had.

Jasper looked surprised that Asher had reacted so calmly, but said after a few seconds of silence said, "Simply because everything is more expensive with today's economy then it was when I was born or even when Bella was and vampires live forever. I will also, a little later, teach you how to invest so that you never run out of money."

"Okay," Asher agreed.

Jasper was again surprised at how calmly Asher was taking the news that he now had more money then he had ever had before, but apparently Asher was a different breed then the others and didn't seem to have any of the hangups that a lot of people had about money.

"I appreciate you looking after me, changing me into a vampire, taking me in and now giving me more money then I know what to do with."

"You're taking this a lot more calmly then I expected you to," said Jasper.

"Why?" asked Asher curiously.

"Because we didn't react very well when we were told," Chris told him grimacing as he remembered. "To be given so much money and not having worked for it seemed somehow dishonest."

"But you are a vampire and it's not like you can work for a living and even if we don't need to eat we do need clothes, a place to live and since we don't sleep things to keep us busy, so why not accept the money that is offered? It isn't as if we can go out and get a job and I'm assuming that Jasper and Bella have plenty or they would not have given any of us so much."

"None of us thought of that at the time," Chris admitted with a laugh as he knew Asher was very right.

"You're right Ash, we do have more money then we know what to do with," said Bella. "Not only does Jasper have lots of investments, most of which make a ton of money, so do I and so does everybody else in this family except for you and Lyn and soon both of you will to."

"It is necessary to have money unless you want to live like a nomad, never staying in one place for more then a few days, always on the move, stealing whatever you need or want," said Lyn making a face as she imagined what kind of life that would be like. If you were a nomad that usually meant traveling by yourself or at most with one or two other vampires always constantly on the move and also being lonely with lack of other people to talk to.

"I tried living like a nomad a long time ago and it was very lonely which is why I am glad Alice was waiting for me in that diner," Jasper admitted.

"We might be vampires, but we were all once human and humans need companionship, so they don't get lonely which means that vampires do to," Bella said as she snuggled closer to Jasper.

The other's absorbed that but didn't asked questions as it wouldn't be fair to dredge up painful memories just for the sake of their curiosity.

They five of them continued to talk for a while before heading out to do their own activities.

The wedding had been small and simple, but beautiful, which caused Lyn a momentary pain as she had always dreamed of a big wedding with Asher walking her down the aisle since her father had died when she was fifteen. She also had to admit that she didn't have very many friends, except for Ash. She didn't mention her disappointment to Chris or to anyone else as she didn't want to upset him or her new family and she also knew that it really couldn't be helped with her now being a vampire.

Besides despite the big wedding she had always dreamed of she also knew that she wasn't one of those people that made friends easily so small had really been best.

And anyway she loved Chris to much to complain about something like that so the wedding ceremony just a week ago had been very small and private.

"Ready to go?" asked Chris coming into their bedroom. He and Lyn were getting ready to go on their honeymoon and both of them were looking forward to it.

Lyn had been doing so well when Jasper took her out among humans that it had been decided that it was safe enough for her and Chris to go to Jamaica for their honeymoon. Lyn had always dreamed of going someday and Chris was more than happy to help her fulfill that wish, even if he had already been fifteen years ago.

"Yes," said Lyn eagerly as she spun around and kissed Chris passionately.

They had only been married for a week, but what a week it had been. She had finished her newborn year with flying colors just yesterday and although she still had to be careful around humans she could now go out in public. Besides with Chris around to distract her it would be a piece of cake as Bella had been right when she said that whenever your mate was around all your attention tended to be focused on them so that you didn't even register all the delicious scents of blood surrounding you.

"Let's get going then," said Chris as soon as they broke apart. "Our shuttle should be ready as I have already called the shuttleport to have our shuttle prepared."

"You know how to fly a shuttle?" asked Lyn in shock.

"Yep! And so does everyone else in this family except for you and Asher."

Lyn shook her head and asked, "Why do you own your own shuttle anyway? I would think it would be cheaper just to fly commercial, even first class."

"If you think about what you just said for a moment I am sure you can figure out why we have our own, private shuttle," said Chris.

Lyn thought about it and then mentally kicked herself as she realised at least one of the reasons that they didn't fly commercially. If being around a lot of humans was hard on her and she was relatively new to the life of a vampire then she imagined it would be equally as hard on one of their kind to be packed in like sardines with dozens of humans so close and getting into their personal space. "Yes, I see what you mean." Lyn admitted. "And I suppose it is nice to have your own private shuttle so you don't have to worry about wearing contacts."

"And also commercial shuttles smell nasty and so we don't have to worry about that since we have our own," Chris added. "Also we don't have to worry about acting human, pretending to eat, sleep or use the bathroom if it is a long flight."

"I see," said Lyn as she gave Chris another heartstopping kiss before picking up her suitcase and heading towards the door. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes," Chris agreed picking up his own suitcase once he had recovered from the kiss. "Next stop Jamaica."

"I can't wait," said Lyn as she and Chris headed down the stairs and after saying goodbye to the rest of the family headed out the front door and to the start of a new life as a married couple.