Author's Note: I am soooo happy with my new direction for Derek and my ideas for him and Chloe. Chlerek fluff is coming, I promise. I gave you a taste last chapter and am hoping to ramp it up a few notches in this chapter or the next. There are lemons on the way, but that comes a little later. :D Anyway, I have gotten positive feedback about the "calling-out-for-Chloe" thing and am loving it. Gives me hope that you readers like the new direction. I hope that ya'll like the story.

P.S.-If Chloe seems really emotional in this chapter at certain points, it's because she feels guilty and she can't stand the idea of Derek being hurt because of her. Oh, and I am writing out Chloe's stutter. I find it annoying and it doesn't fit with my idea for this story. (Hope you readers aren't mad about that.)

Disclaimer: I don not own the Darkest Powers series or the Dark-Hunter series. Those belong to two great geniuses and I am soooooo not them.

Fault and Explanations

Previously

He nodded and walked out, leaving me to ponder why Derek had called out for me and had reacted to my touch like he did.

As I gazed at Derek, still and bleeding, covered in stitches and bandages, I felt the tears start to fall. This is my fault. I fell asleep curled up next to Derek, holding his hand to keep him calmed, crying for what happened and how hurt Derek had gotten.

DPOV

I awoke and was immediately aware of three things. One, I hurt like hell, like someone had hit me with a train…repeatedly. Two, I was on a bed in an unfamiliar room. And three, the most surprising of all, Chloe was snuggled up to my side and I had my arm around her.

I grunted in surprise…which caused Chloe to stir and wake up. She gazed at me blearily and then a grin spread across her face. What the hell?

"You're awake!" She scrambled out of the bed and went to open the door. "Carson! He's awake!"

As she was standing in the doorway, shouting, I was given quite a view. The tee shirt that she was wearing came down to about mid-thigh, showing of her smooth creamy legs. The wolf in me flashed a few…fantasies through my mind, most of them involving her beneath me with those gorgeous legs wrapped around my waist, with me…that's enough of that. The tee looked familiar...like it was mine.

"Umm…Chloe…are you wearing my shirt?"

She blushed as she looked at me. "Yes. I needed something to sleep in. I hope you don't mind." She smiled apologetically.

I loved the idea of her sleeping in my shirt. I just couldn't tell her that. "I don't mind. I was just curious."

I growled as a tall, Native American man walked in. "Who are you?"

"Der, this is Carson. He patched you up last night after we were attacked." When she mentioned the attack, the memories came rushing back, making my breath hitch. Chloe, in danger. Me, being pulled to the ground, unable to keep her safe. Simon and Tori fighting…

"Are you okay, Chloe? Is Simon? Tori?"

She came over to the side of the bed and took my hand. "I'm fine. The others are fine. You were the one that we had to worry about." I could see tears well up in her eyes as she squeezed my hand. "I thought I lost you."

I guess I mean more to her than I thought. I squeezed her hand gently. "I'll be fine." I looked up at Carson as he came over to the bed. He reached toward me and I growled.

"I'm just checking your wounds." For the first time I noticed that my torso was covered in gauze, with patches of blood here and there. I relaxed and let Carson go to work. While Carson was checking a wound on my shoulder, I realized that my face felt a little stiff and sore. I reached up a found more gauze and stitches. Well, shit. What the hell did they do to me?

I had healed enough thatCarson removed the stitches from all of the injuries and left after cleaning them. I got up and went to the bathroom to assess the damage. What I saw wasn't pretty. Angry red gashes covered most of my chest, abdomen, shoulders, and a few on my arms. And last but not least…a slash across my face. It went from the middle of my right brow, down over my eye, curved slightly and ended in the middle of my cheek. I shrugged and went to find some clean clothes. It's not like I was anything special to look at to begin with.

As I came out of the bathroom, Chloe got a good look at the damage done. She looked surprised, then she started to cry. Ummm…What the hell?

"Chloe? What's wrong?"

She looked at me again and started to cry harder. I walked up to her and wrapped her in my arms. She clung to me like a lifeline and continued to sob. I just held her. After a few minutes, she calmed down, taking deep breaths.

"What's wrong, Chlo?"

She leaned back and reached up to my face, tracing the cut. "This is all my fault."

She thought me getting hurt was her fault? "What? No, Chloe. It's not your fault. What happened was not your fault."

"Yes, it was. If I didn't always need protection, you wouldn't have had to face those vampires alone. If I could have helped you, gotten those bastards off of you, you wouldn't have ended up here. We wouldn't have needed to save your life." The tears welled up again. "I wouldn't have almost lost you."

I held her closer to me. "Chloe, you're part of my pack. Aside from Simon, you are by best friend and I would gladly put my life on the line for you again. I chose to get in that fight to protect you. What happened was not your fault."

She hugged me tighter. "Do you really mean that?"

"I mean it, Chloe." I looked down at her. "What happened was not your fault."

She nodded and pulled away from me, wiping her eyes. "Okay. We need to get dressed and go talk to Simone and Xypher and meet up with Simon and Tori."

That stopped me. "Where are Simon and Tori? And who are Simone and Xypher?" I paused and looked around. "And where exactly are we?"

"Simone and Xypher are the two people who saved us last night and brought us here. Simon and Tori are with them. And we are at Sanctuary."

What! "Wha-"

"Before you freak out, I trust them. They saved us and brought you here. The fact that they saved your life made me trust them. Everyone else has been out to kill you and they did the opposite."

That made sense. Everyone else was trying to kill me. "Where are they? And how are we supposed to contact them?"

"They are at Simone's apartment and she gave me her cell phone." She went to get her clothes. "Now get dressed and we'll call them and get out of here and get some answers."

"I would, but someone is wearing my only clean shirt." I smiled at her. Not that I mind.

Chloe blushed and smiled, looking into my eyes. I couldn't look away, and truth be told, I didn't want to. She blushed harder, grabbed her clothes, and all but ran into the bathroom. I smiled even bigger. Well, well. I just may have a chance. Don't know how the hell that happened, but I just may have a chance with Chloe.

Chloe came out a few minutes later. She looked great. She was wearing a pair of black converse high tops with dark skinny jeans that did amazing things to her ass and a tight red, vee neck tee shirt that showed off her curves. Is it just me, or did Chloe grow? The wolf started flashing, shall we say, inappropriate images through my mind. All of them involving Chloe underneath me…that's enough of that.

Chloe threw my t-shirt to me and I started packing up what little we had. "Are you ready, Chlo?"

"Yeah. I just need to call Xypher." I waited impatiently while she called. I wanted to get out of here and go see if Simon, and yes, even Tori, were okay. I also wanted to know what the hell was going on.

A few minutes later, Chloe hung up. "Simone is on her way to pick us up. We're going back to her house to meet up with the others and get some answers. Simone and Xypher have offered to let us stay with her for a while."

I nodded and picked up our belongings, walking to the door. I followed Chloe out of the room into a hallway that led to a set of stairs. I could hear the clanking of bottles on tabletops and the carefree chatter of people. It's a bar. I went down the stairs first, Chloe trailing me. Yup. It was a bar. I could smell weres of all species…and a monkey? Ooookay.

As soon as we hit the last step, a very tall blonde man started towards us. I stepped in front of Chloe and growled as he approached.

"I would rethink that pup." He had the nerve to smile.

I braced myself and growled again. Then I felt a small hand on my arm, and I immediately stopped. I looked down at Chloe standing there, looking at me like I was overreacting to the situation. Maybe I was. But could you blame me? We've been on the run, betrayed by "friends", and attacked multiple times. Sue me for not being trustful.

"Der, it's okay. I'm sure he means no harm." I glanced at the man in question and he was looking between Chloe and I confused. Like she was crazy for interfering, confused as to why she did, and why I had reacted like I did. She stepped forward and extended her hand.

"Hi. I'm Chloe."

The man took her hand and kissed it like some old time romantic and smiled at her. I felt a stab of jealously and possessiveness. Chloe's mine. You cannot have her. Whoa, where the hell did that come from? "I'm Dev. It's a pleasure to meet you Chloe."

Chloe didn't even blink at the gesture. Hah! "Thank you. It's nice to meet you, too."

Dev looked at me. I chose to be me. I stayed quiet. Chloe made a noise, like a strangled cough. She was trying not to laugh. She shook her head and gestured to me. "Dev, this is Derek. Depending on who you are, it's hard to get more than a word out of him." I glanced at her, surprised. She was teasing me. I didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed.

"Well, I know many people that are just like that. I'm used to it." Dev smiled at Chloe. "What are you guys doing down here?"

"Simone is picking us up. Carson cleared Derek, so we can leave." Chloe smiled back.

"Well, she just pulled up. If you ever need any help, come here and we'll see what we can do."

Chloe nodded and we went to the front of the bar to meet up with Simone. We only had to wait a few seconds before she walked in. We piled into her car and took off towards her home, which only took about ten minutes.

CPOV

We pulled up in front of some condos and Simone led us to a brown door marked number 23. As soon as Derek and I walked in the door, we were bombarded by Simon and Tori. Simon and Derek hugged tightly and Tori hugged me, which surprised me. Tori and Derek nodded to each other and Simon and I traded hugs.

Simone moved past us and went over to where Xypher was standing. He pulled her to him and kissed her hard. She looks like she's about to start purring in pleasure. Simone had been away from him for only twenty minutes and he's reacting like that? He either really loved her and missed her while she was gone or it was pure torture to be left alone with the bickering duo. I was betting that it was a combination of the two. I wonder what it feels like to be loved that much.

I glanced around the living room. The walls were painted a light red and the carpet was black. There was a red and black sectional that had big brightly colored pillows. The colors were about every color of the rainbow. There was also a dark red love seat with more bright pillows. On the walls, there were gorgeous paintings that matched the bright and dark colors of the room. The room felt rough but there was a gentleness to it that smoothed out some of the edges, seamlessly blending everything together to make it work and look beautiful. It's like Xypher and Simone, rough and gentle.

"How are you feeling, Derek?" Simon inquired.

"Fine." Yup. He was back to normal.

"Hey, Simone? Where can we put our belongings?"

"In Jesse's room. You guys are camping out in the living room."

"Okay." Chloe smiled at her. "Um, where is Jesse's room?"

"Down the hall, first door on the right."

While Derek went to put our things away, we all moved to the kitchen. It was green and blue with a big stainless steel fridge in the corner. With the exception of Xypher, who stood behind Simone, we all sat down at the table. Derek came in and sat down by me, his leg brushing against mine. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he did that on purpose.

Simone looked each of us and took a deep breath. "So, where should I start?"

"Why did you help us?" Derek demanded.

"Because you needed help."

"That's not an answer." Derek glared at her.

Xypher laid a hand on her shoulder, and glared at Derek. If looks could kill, Derek would be six feet under and haunting me. "Coming from Simone, that is an answer. Simone gives without expecting anything in return."

Derek didn't know what to say.

I looked at Simone and Xypher. "Thank you for your help. Thank you for saving my friends and me. And thank you for providing a place for us to stay."

Xypher nodded and Simone smiled. "You're very welcome Chloe." She looked at the others. "Any more questions?"

"What were those things that attacked us?" Tori asked.

"They were Daimons. Vampires of the soul-sucking variety." Simone answered.

Derek turned to look at me. "Chloe, how did you know that they were vampires?"

"I felt a pressure in the back of my skull, like I do when there's a dead body, but it was different. I felt that they were dead but not. Vampire. Or rather a Daimon."

Derek nodded. "That could come in handy if we run into any more. We'll have a little bit of a warning before they attack."

"Simone, are there other types of vampires?"

"Yes. There is the regular blood-sucking kind of vampire. I know one. His name is Valerius. Very polite man. Anything else?"

I looked at the others. Nothing. "No."

Simone smiled. "Okay. I'll start dinner. You guys can go watch some TV."

Xypher whispered to Simone and took off down the hallway, and the others went into the living room.

I had a question that I wanted to ask. "Simone?"

"Yeah, hun?"

"I was curious, how did you and Xypher get together? He seems like a very rough person and you are the opposite." She glanced at me. "If it's okay to ask?"

She smiled. "I don't mind. It's kind of an unbelievable story." She started to make dinner and I hoisted myself up on the counter to listen. "Well, my friend Tate and I had been working a crime scene and I went back to it at night to get another look at it. I wanted to make sure that we had collected everything. I was looking around at the scene when, out of nowhere, I was attacked by Daimons. I was doing my best to fight them off when Xypher appears from the shadows and demands that they open a portal to Kalosis, and when they didn't, he killed some of them. Well, while he was fighting them, one of them placed a bracelet on him and a matching one on me. We later found out that those bracelets meant that we couldn't be more than twenty feet away. So, there I was, bound to a stranger that was an asshole of the greatest measure and being hunted by some demons. To top it all off, Xypher was very bitter over past wrongs and taking it out on everyone. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. Living in that close a proximity to him allowed me to get to know Xypher and see beyond the mean and nasty front he put on. Before that though, I had sensed that he wasn't what he said he was and that he was in pain over something." She looked me in the eye. "On a side note, Chloe, one of the hardest lessons that I ever had to learn was to judge no one until you know their circumstances."

I nodded. "I have been on the receiving end of unfair judgment, you know, for my size or that I had a stutter. So I try not to judge people until I get to know them. Simon is as he presents himself. Tori is a great person if she'll let you in. Now, as for Derek, if you can scale the walls, hike the freaking everglades, and stand up to him, he's a really great person and wonderful friend once you get to know him."

She smiled at me. "Good. Now back to the story. Over a short amount of time, I had gotten to know Xypher and I fell in love with him. There was a looming problem though. Xypher had only been let out of Tartarus for a short amount of time, and then he had to go back, unless, he regained his humanity. So, to stop the demons from coming after me anymore, Xypher made a deal with the person who sent the demons. He would die if she left me alone. He did die. Because of his sacrifice, he was let out of hell permanently. I had no idea what had gone on and thought that he was gone forever. So, I made a deal with another demon, a high demon, to get him out of Tartarus. My soul for his freedom. So, when he came back, he found me dead. The high demon that I had bargained with took pity on us and he gave Xypher my soul to do with as he pleased. The price for this was that we owed him a favor. And we've been together ever since."

"Wow. That is some story." By the time she finished her story, dinner was done and it smelled amazing.

"Dinner!" Xypher all but ran into the kitchen. Followed closely by Derek and then the others. I had to stifle a laugh at the first two. Their faces were ones of pure glee over that one word. Dinner.

After everyone had eaten, and Xypher and Derek had eaten enough to feed an army, we all filed into the living room to relax.

As we were all watching a movie, someone knocked on the door. As Xypher opened it, a man walked through the door. He was about 6' 5" and had shoulder length very light blonde hair that was pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of his neck. He was well built and he gave off an aura of "fuck-with-me-and-die", but strangely, I wasn't scared or nervous. I was curious.

"Simone. Xypher. You owe me and I have come to collect." He looked around the living room, studying each of us, landing on me last. Something like recognition flickered on his face. He walked up to me, tilting my face up. I could hear Derek growling. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him start to advance on the man. I held my hand up, silently telling him to stop. He remained where he was but continued to growl. The whole time, the man was studying my face, and I was studying his. He looked familiar somehow and he had unusual eyes. One was a vibrant green and the other was a rich brown. He glanced down and noticed my pendant. He picked it up and studied it. Finally, he stepped back and seemed to be considering something.

I looked around the room at the others, curious as to what was going on. Simone and Xypher were eyeing the man warily, and Derek was fidgeting, glancing at the man with caution. Simon and Tori were almost backed up against the wall in terror. What the hell? Who was this guy?

"What do you want, Jaden?" Xypher demanded.

Jaden turned on Xypher, wrathfully. "Do not take that tone with me." He snarled. He paused, collecting himself. "I was going to send you on an errand run to Tartarus, but I have changed my mind." He glanced at me, then back to Simone and Xypher. "I want you two to teach and protect Chloe."

Now I was confused. What's so special about me? "Um, Jaden is it?" He turned to me. "Why have them protect me?"

His gaze seemed to soften. "I am your father."

"That's impossible. My father is in Buffalo."

"What I speak is true. I gave Jennifer, your mother, the pendant that you now wear around your neck." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and gave it to me. It was a picture of my mother and him, on a beach. "That was taken the weekend of your concievement." I sat down on the couch, clutching the photo. "This means that you are, shall we say, half demon."

I'm half demon. That meant that I wasn't useless anymore. I smiled. I stood up and handed the picture back.

Jaden eyed me. "You're taking this extremely well."

I nodded. "Well, I just found out that I'm half demon, which means that I'm not useless anymore."

Jaden nodded. "Come. Take a walk with me. We have much to discuss."

I nodded and we walked out into the night.

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Review please! I would really appreciate input about my ideas for the story and where I'm taking it. Is there anything that you would like to see that I might be able to incorporate? Review and let me know! Please? Pwetty pwease? With a cherry on top?