Author's note: Last chapter didn't go how I had originally planned, but I think it'll be better this way. I've read many, many books and fanfictions where the main couple go on a good first date early and well, that's just not how Sherrilyn Kenyon books go, so I want to try to stick to her, I guess you could say, theme? Cause people that read my story are looking for the things they love. So, if I do something opposite from her, well, it just doesn't seem right to me. (Also, I was having issues figuring out just how to do the date. No matter how many times I rewrote it, it didn't seem right.)

Nick stood there, looking in the direction Kim had disappeared over ten minutes ago. For some reason, he was stuck there, unable to chase after her. He had such a urge to keep her protected from his enemies, and yet he had just caused her pain. He had started transforming without even realizing it. The second time since meeting her that it'd happened. What was it that made him so unaware when he was around her?

When a hand reached around his throat, he reacted on instinct. Grabbing the hand, he lifted it high, elbowed the assailant in the ribs, then dropped low to hurl them over his head.

Valerius gracefully landed in a crouch, then stood and turned to face Nick. Nick made a slight snarl. He never could get over his hatred for the Roman, but made no movement towards the ex-Dark-Hunter.

"If I'd been a Daimon, you'd be dead," Valerius said as he dusted off the invisible dirt from his black shirt and trousers. "I thought you were on a date tonight?"

Nick bristled some, "If you were a Daimon, you'd be a stain on my blade." Then, he paused and questioned him with a look, "Who said I was on a date?"

Valerius gave him a blank stare, "Kyrain posted it on the Dark-Hunter site earlier. Wanted us to keep an extra eye out for you since the Daimon's seem to be after your girlfriend." He looked around the area, then arched a well-manicured eyebrow at Nick. "And where is she, exactly?"

"Stupid damn heels..." Kim held herself up on a wall with her hand while she undone the straps holding them on. After removing them, she rubbed her sore feet and straightened up. Kim looked down at the heels and considered leaving them on the street. But they cost too much just to leave them there. Grudgingly, she picked them up by the straps and began walking down the street.

"I can't believe I was starting to fall for him. Not just any demon, but the KING of Demons." She blew her bangs out of her face then looked around. When she took off running earlier, she hadn't really paid attention to where she was going. Which in hindsight, now knowing some of what's out there, wasn't a good idea. Now here she was, feet killing her and blistering, on... What street was she on?

Kim looked around her for a street sign. Any sign. The store front next to her was familiar. 'Southern Candy Makers' was lit up by the street lights. Ok, now she had a clue where she was. She continued past it, wishing it was open so she could grab something to eat. At the next street, she turned left onto Ursulines.

'I should of just call Gabi to come pick me up. Now I'm so close it'd be a waste...' But then, she'd have to explain why the date ended so early. 'Ugh, keeping this secret is gonna cause me alot of issues. I can already see it.'

She walked for a few more minutes before loud rock music caught her attention. A Harley raced past her only to stop down at the end of the block where the music was blasting from. Curious and in hope of food, she walked down to it. She slowed when a blonde giant at the door looked her way, a grim look disappearing immediately.

"Well, hi there!" He looked her up and down with a lecherous grin, "If I wasn't happily taken, you'd be mighty nice to take home, little lady."

She started to snap at him when she noticed something peeking out from under his sleeve. Without thinking, she reached up and slid the cotton up his bicep. He was so surprised by her action, all he could do was stare in curiosity at her, like she was doing the mark on his arm. She looked up at him, then to the door he was guarding.

"You're a Dark-Hunter?"

His eyes grew dark again, "What's a Dark-Hunter?"

She was confused for a moment, then thought about it. 'It's suppose to be a secret, duh. Of course they'd be invasive.' "I only know what Ash, Kyrian, and Nick told me. And Simi, though she was harder to understand."

His blue eyes brightened again, along with the return of the smile. "Well, then, your a part of the club then." He lowered his arm to give her a better look at the double bow and arrow mark. "It's a tattoo, not a brand. I got it to mess with people. I'm Dev, by the way."

She held her hand out for him to shake, "Kim. Aren't you afraid Artemis will see it as hubris?"

He laughed, "Trust me, she doesn't care about me other than I fell in love with one of her Hunters." He sobered a little, "I take it your night hasn't been good to you so far?" He handed her a cloth to wipe some dried blood off her arm.

"You could say that. I had a date go bad. Fast."

"A date?" Dev gave her a look that she didn't understand before he literally took a sniff of her. "Wait, you're Nick's date?"

"How'd you know about that?" She asked, instantly on edge.

"Relax. Acheron came by today and said that he wanted us to keep an ear out for any trouble. Warned us that Nick was on a date with Daimon bait."

Insulted, Kim crossed her arms over her chest with a huff of indignation. "Bait? Ash called me bait?!"

"Geez, calm down. You get riled up easily, don't you? No, that's my words. Sorry. He said that Daimons seemed to be interested in you more than their usual victims. And if we heard any chatter about you, to let him know."

"How would you hear anything? You have friends that are Daimons?"

He looked like he was talking with a small child, which made her angry. "You don't know what this place is, do you?"

She looked up at the sign he pointed to and read it. " 'Sanctuary. Home of the Howlers.' So? Ohhhh." Realizing the double meaning, she looked around her, suddenly anxious. "Are there Daimons inside?"

He shook his head, "No, but there are Apollites." He tilted his head to look at her arm better. "If you were supposed to be on a date with Nick, then why are you here, carrying your heels, with bloody marks on your arms and raw spots on your feet?"

Kim wasn't sure what to say. Did she tell him about her incident with Nick? Did the man know about Nick being a demon? While she wasn't sure about whether she could trust either Nick or Dev, a part of her still didn't want to ruin what ever relationship might the two have.

"We had a disagreement. So, I left and went walking."

He tapped her on the forehead, "You know about Daimons, yet you chose to go walking, alone, at night. You're not too bright, are you?"

Kim swatted his hand away, thouroughly insulted. Having enough with the burly man, she let her tongue loose. "I'm not helpless! I have a pistol strapped to my leg, I know some taijitsu, and I got a blood curdling scream made for horror movies. Just cause I'm a human female doesn't mean a damn thing." She jammed her finger into his tattoo, "So, you can take that macho man shit and shove it up your ass. If I'm smart enough to leave a date that hurts me while saying he'll protect me, I'm smart enough to actually keep myself safe from whatever else goes bump in the night." She huffed and puffed for a minute, the only sound besides the blaring music from the bar.

"Nick did that to you?" he all but growled.

She blanched when she realized what she'd done. So much for not affecting their friendship. "No," she said too quickly, inwardly flinching. She started to walk away but he stopped her.

"Hey, this is important. If Nick hurt you, this is something that we need to know. If the demon side of him is taking over again, that's important info."

Kim just looked down at the ground, not saying anything.

So, Dev decided to get some back up. "Hey, Aimee. Can you come out here for a sec?" He'd barely got the words out before a volumptous blonde came through the saloon-style doors.

"Whatcha need, hun?"

He pointed to Kim, who was still standing with her back to them, eyes trained on the sidewalk. "Meet Nick's date, Kim."

Aimee's face lit up before she looked around for Nick. Her face changed quickly with confused worry. She looked back at Kim and took better notice of her appearance. "What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know. Some how, Nick caused those wounds on her arms while saying he'd protect her. That's all I've gotten really. She won't open up more."

Aimee nodded, then reached over and placed a gentle hand on Kim's shoulder. Kim jerked her shoulder away, but beside that, didn't move. Aimee didn't get upset, she just tried again, this time, walking around the smaller woman to face her. Aimee lifted Kim's face and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's alright, hun. You can tell us what happened. We know about Nick and his demon half. But if he did that," she pointed to the healing puncture wounds, "then we need to know. Cause that ain't like our Nick. And if he was trying to protect you and now your here without him, that makes me worry, cause he can handle himself against almost anything." Kim's stomach decided to growl, making the tense moment slightly less tense. Aimee smiled again, this time, grabbing Kim's hand and tugged her toward the door when Kim didn't pull away. "Come on, you come inside and I'll get some food for you."

Dev remarked to his younger sister, "Good thing Cherise isn't working tonight. Last thing we need is her overhearing that her son might be in some sort of danger."

Nick tried using his scrying powers to find out where Kim had went but for some reason, he couldn't locate her. And that worried him even more. Somthing about her seemed to mess with his powers and he wasn't sure what it was.

After Nick told the Roman who his date was and that they'd had a slight arguement to which she ran off, the Roman actually threatened him to go find her. It seemed the stuffy man who cares for very few people other than his wife and children, knew Kim and has a soft spot for her.

It wasn't like he needed to be threatened to go after Kim. He'd left Valerius and gotten in his car to search for Kim. And now here was, lost on what to do.

Nick couldn't shake what happened with her. First, his wings come out on their own while kissing her and now this. And the guilt. He would never forget the look she gave him. The feel of her blood on his fingers would forever haunt him. He didn't blame her for running. How could he? She was new to his world, still learning what to be scared of and who to trust.

Why was his powers becoming so out of control? Was it really something to do with Kim or did it have to do with the summer solstice in two days?

Sighing, Nick angrily rubbed his face. He was going to have to gather the troops and tell them of this revelation. But not until after he found Kim. Running out of ideas to find Kim, he headed to one place he hoped he could get help. After parking down the street, he all but ran to the front door, hoping Remi wasn't at the door. When he got under the light, he had to duck a punch from Dev.

"What the hell?!" He stepped back out of the bears reach, though really, the man could teleport so there was no 'out of his reach'.

"I'll tell you what. Your date is inside eating with Aimee, skitish as hell of everyone around her. And I'll give you one guess why."

All the blood drained out of Nick's face, though on the insde, he was overjoyed that she was safe. "Kim's inside? Here?"

Dev crossed his huge arms across his equally huge chest. "She came walking up, heels in hand, dried blood down both arms and mascara smeared down her face from where she'd been crying." Nick felt like he'd been shot with a godbolt to the gut. "And then, after discovering who she was and she let slip that you of all people had been the one to hurt her. Boy, Malachai or not, you're lucky I didn't come hunt you down myself. I had to get Aimee to come out here and help me convince her to come inside. And to think, I could smell the guilt on her when she realized she'd told me what happened. Even after you doing that to her, she was trying to protect your secret."

Nick could sense it. Dev was one wrong word from turning grizzly and trying to rip him to pieces. "Dev, please. You have to know I'd never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it. And Kim least of all deserved it."

"Then, what the fuck, Nick? She said you hurt her while trying to protect her. Yet those wounds were obviously from your claws digging into her."

Nick groaned as he realized Kim hadn't given the exact details of their fight to the Bears. Which could be good or bad. "I wasn't trying to protect her. Not exactly. We were on the way to our date and she pointed out that it wasn't wise to be having a date at night when Daimon's could attack. She started questioning me, pointing out that she had read of lots of mythological beings that were evil and she didn't know if I could protect her or her family should something come after them..." Nick ran his hands through his hair, frustrated with himself. "I don't know what came over me, but I grew angry, dangerously angry and protective thinking about someone like they-that-I-shant-name, or Stryker, coming after her. I had grabbed her and told her I would never let anyone hurt her or her son, but my powers surged and I changed. My hands transformed and I'm pretty sure my eyes did, too."

Nick visibly shrunk into himself as he crouched, like standing took too much energy out of him all of a sudden. "I hurt her. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I did and I can't take it back. My powers have been reacting to either her or the coming solstice for some reason. The other day, we were kissing and my wings sprouted, all on their own." He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, "Kim screamed that I was hurting her earlier, which I hadn't even realized, when I was saying I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. I let go of her then and she backed away from me. She had fear in her eyes as she told me that she didn't have to worry about protecting herself from my enemies, but from me."

Nick didn't bother looking up at Dev, he could feel the tension leave between them. But it didn't make him feel any better. He'd had such hopes for the night when he pulled into Kim's drive earlier. Now, he'd be lucky if she ever let him near her again.

Author's Note (again): Real fast, for those who don't get the 'they-I-shant-name' reference, if Nick says Noir or Azura's names, even thinks their names, they can find him and come after him. Also, sorry if it seems like this is being dragged out, but the idea of making one HUGE chapter is daunting at the moment.