*WARNING: Contains adult content, rated M for only Adult audiences, explicit language, and sexual content.*

(Chapter 10)

"Good morning." Vincent moaned while waking up and planted soft kisses on the nape of her neck. He could feel the weightlessness and heat that radiated through his chest, still feeling satisfied from last night's activities. Like there's all this new energy just bursting out of him. He didn't anticipate that it was going to be so incredible with her and especially after the last time. Catherine was right that the other woman was definitely not like her and that made him feel closer to her. Someone he could literally be himself and accept everything about him, including his screwed up DNA. He realized now that the difference between being angry and arousal wasn't the same.

Awakening to the feeling of the warmth of Vincent's breath against her neck sent shivers down her spine. His one arm was draped over her waist and heard the sound of Vincent moaning softly as he snuggled more into her body. She couldn't believe that he actually stayed in bed without leaving her. Just like all her past boyfriends, one night of sex and they disappeared the next morning, like she was some plague. Catherine continued smiling after she turned to face him. "Hey, you're here?"

"Uh, yeah. Where else would I be?" Vincent inquired rolling on his back and glanced at her questionably, not sure what she meant. Did she honestly think he was just leaving her like that, especially after last night.

"If you were, like a lot of other guys out there, miles from here." Catherine remarked with a disheartening voice looking away for a moment.

"Come on. No guy in his right mind would.." Vincent commented, he couldn't believe that any guy could just leave her like that; thinking that she wasn't any good in bed. That was not the case with her last night; she made him feel alive and wanted again. Something that he hadn't felt like in a long ass time.

"Yeah, I know how to pick'em." Catherine joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She placed her hand on his muscular chest and caressed it.

"Hey," Vincent placed his index finger under her chin and raised her head, trying to get her attention. He continued, stating the obvious before kissing her lips. "I'm not like other guys, you know."

"I meant that past tense." Catherine admitted with a smile while caressing his left cheek, trying to reassure him and make light of the subject. She wasn't sure why she worried about it, maybe after the previous relationships, she figured it was a recurrence over again. "It's just, um, the last time I really liked a guy, it was a disaster."

"Hm, 'Liked'?" Vincent teased as his eyes lit with a twinkle of mischief. He loved flirting with her and acted like he was jealous.

"Okay, after what we just did last night, you, you really don't need to be fishing for compliments." Catherine taunted, looking up at him and saw the playful expression on his face. Even though she knew, Vincent didn't have anything to worry about her still being hung up on her past boyfriends. She will always want him.

"No, I'm clarifying." Vincent confirmed kissing her. He made clear that he wasn't trying to hunt for flattery. He was just glad that he could still pleasure a woman and that it was her. Something he thought would never happen again.

"Okay," She responded while she looked down at the medium size scar that ran down the right side of his abs and started lightly tracing it with her fingers. Wondering how that came about. "How did you get this?"

"I uh, I was trying to save a civilian by shielding him with my body, but I uh, got caught interfering." Vincent's voice saddened, remembering the head of the bullet piercing the side of his stomach, causing some internal bleeding. He was at the army hospital for a few days hooked up on IV and everything. The doctor's weren't sure if he was going to make it, since he had lost a lot of blood that day.

"Oh, Vincent…"

"It's okay," He sighed while placing his hand over her as she kept touching him there. He continued. "I healed quickly after getting the injections."

"Except for the scar." Catherine noted with sadness in her voice, remembering getting shot and losing a lot of blood. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be here. Now she too had a scar that marked the time he saved her.

"Hey," He intertwined his hands with hers and shared. "I'm just glad I made it out of there alive, you know."

"Me too, especially after the car crash." She mumbled while giving him a half-hearted smile.

"I'm glad you did make it, because I wouldn't know what would happen if you didn't. It was already hard for me to watch you, uh, slip away." Vincent mumbled while caressing her hand in his and bringing them to his lips, kissing the back of her knuckles.

"I know." Catherine responded, she was glad she did make it out of there alive and that Vincent didn't stop wanting to be with her, even though Catherine had her doubts when his ex showed up. Until that incredible kiss he gave and the way he made love to her was off the charts. Making her heart race quicker.

"Are you okay?" Vincent questioned with concern, he looked at her again, hearing her pulse pick up a little. Either something was bothering her or she was excited again, just like he was now.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm okay if you're okay." Vincent stroked her cheek with his thumb, Knowing he wasn't going to hurt her. He admitted. "I just….I didn't want to hurt you, you know."

"Like I told you, before that first night we met in the woods, I knew that you would never hurt me, honey..." Catherine reminded him, she needed to change her mind from the past and focus on the present now. She envisioned the kiss that they shared last night and the sex they had been incredible again. So she continued maintaining eye contact with him and smiled coy. "I'm more than okay and last night was….."

"Spectacular." Vincent proclaimed with a husky voice as he finished for her.

"I was going to say, great …" Catherine replied, playing with his chest and running her hand across it. "I just, uh, I can't actually believe that we did it."

"Yeah,"

"I'm only saying it because I wasn't sure if we could, but…" Catherine returned the smile as her eyes sparkled, pleased with the fact that they can make love without any beast issues. She found it sexy the way his eyes glowed yellow, enjoying the physical excitement that Vincent gave her when he's in that moment, feeling ultra-awake, rejuvenated by the adrenaline and intimacy.

"Well, we can." Vincent acknowledged with a smile, showing those adorable dimples of his and groaning a bit before pulling her closer to him. He leaned over towards her and brushed his lips against hers.

"Yes, we can." Catherine agreed, returning the smile and then her mind went to the other woman that almost caused him the 'beast' out before. Was she important at a time, like Alex was? So she interrupted him. "Vincent."

"Mmmm." Vincent muttered, kissing the side of her neck again, smelling that sweet jasmine scent.

"The other woman was she um…" Catherine stammered, groaning while she felt his lips trail further down her neck to the top of her breasts before stopping.

"She was uh, not important. Not like you." Vincent told her as he looked up at her, seeing the wrinkles appeared on her brow and wanted to assure her that he wasn't close to the woman; before giving her an intense expression.

"Stop looking at me like that." Catherine teased as a rosy tint appeared on her cheeks. She remembered that same look when he held her against him the previous night.

"How am I looking at you?" Vincent gloated, still taking in her beauty, before giving her a kiss.

"Like I never want to leave this bed." Catherine declared, digging her fingers into his hair and returned the kiss, exciting a moan.

"Good." Vincent groaned, letting his fingers trace every curve of that beautiful body of hers, before caressing the soft skin of her inner thigh parting the curls there and started massaging her little nub. He teased her. "So does this mean I'm your boyfriend now?"

"Vincent." Catherine moaned while feeling him sliding another finger inside, penetrating her, before thrusting it in and out repeatedly.

"I always had these intense feelings for you, Catherine." Vincent confessed husky while slipping his tongue inside that sweet mouth and mated with hers as they continued kissing. He constantly thrust two of his fingers inside, and hearing those sweet sighs was driving him insane. Withdrawing his tongue from inside of her mouth and kissing his way down to her chest. Sucking those small breasts into his mouth and taunting the pink morsels. Making them feel like little pebbles as they harden.

"Me too." Catherine sighed, letting out a groan while arching her back a little, running her fingers through his hair as he continued savoring her breasts with his mouth and tongue. He kept making love to her with his fingers. Only he could appease her like that and she started purring beneath his touch.

"I can't get enough of you. You always made me feel alive and wanted again." Vincent muttered, maneuvering his body over Catherine's as they kept kissing, pulling her closer to his body letting her feel his hard cock. He pressed his weight against her and the wanting became reality again. He then replaced his fingers with his harder arousal, plunging into her glistening moistness and moved together, simultaneously. Their breathes became warm and erratic as he joined his body to hers once again and thrusting wildly inside, an onslaught of raw physical desire as they came together explosively.


"I thought that you were supposed to take care of Ms. Chandler." Claire complained as she stood on the porch of the Salter's cabin. She arrived there after getting the frantic call from his ex, telling her about the change of plans. She had hoped by now that Alex had gotten rid of the detective.

"You have to understand...this-this is the first time I ever did something like this." Alex tried to explain, she never killed anyone let alone a cop.

"If you want him then you'll have to get rid of her." Claire told her while extending her hand, sat inside a black cylinder shaped object with a red push button on top. She continued. "Here, you might need this."

"What-what is it?" Alex inquired, taking the object from Claire, looking on with her eyebrows furrowing.

"Protection, It's a panic button. In case something goes wrong. You don't know how he's going to react."

"React?" Alex asked, pulling back slightly. She wasn't sure what the woman was trying to tell her. She knew Vincent from their childhood, he never would hurt her or anyone.

"He hasn't told you about his time in Afghanistan, did he?" Claire answered, thinking maybe if she hinted at the possibility of her ex 'having a mental breakdown' then that could help with getting rid of the detective easier and capture him.

"What do you mean?" Alex puzzled, still confused as she looked at her with her eyebrows drawn. What was this woman trying to imply? "I know about his work in Special-Ops and that people have it out for him."

"That's the mental state that he's in." Claire answered, trying to sound convincing enough.

"So-so, does he have post-traumatic stress or something?" Alex speculated. Maybe he had some mental problems being in the army.

"The worst case of it and the group I represent can help, they feel responsible for his condition and the hell he's been through." Claire lied as she paused for a moment, letting that part sink and hoping this would convince Vincent's ex to help them catch him. So she continued. "And we want to heal him. Fix the mistakes that we've made. To make him 'normal' again."

"I don't know." Alex hesitated in an uncertain tone, she slightly shook her head and stepped back. Not sure what to do, if the woman was telling her the truth then she would want to help him.

"It's only a matter of time before you don't even recognize Vincent. Unless you help us." Claire responded and watched Alex for a moment before getting a hesitant nod from her. Knowing it worked a smug smile slowly appeared on her face, now what was left was to capture the creature.


"It's been a while for me to be outdoors like this, you know." Vincent shared, leaning back on his arms; his legs stretched out on the blanket. The sun started to settle in the sky. As the night was clear and the temperature cooled.

"Yeah, Heather and I used to go camping at Moose Pine a little ways from here." Catherine responded as she sat next to him, started to recall the time her sister had gotten so homesick and she had to play 'mom'. And then added. "I had to tuck her in every night and read her bedtime stories in order for her to fall asleep."

"Well, my brother's and I would, uh, tell ghost stories around our campsite and it nearly scared the crap out of JT." Vincent shared, remembering the few times that he and his brothers went camping when they were younger with their father and JT. The time their father would tell them about a story he heard of 'some friends one night, they were sitting around the fire when someone, or something, started throwing rocks at their tent from somewhere in the darkness. Initially, they thought it was a group of pranksters from a neighboring camp. When they took a look around the camp, there was no sign of anyone but them. A few hours later, they heard a piercing scream.' And he then added. "That's when Daniel would jump up behind him yelling Boo!"

"So that must have been a sight to see." Catherine giggled, imagining what it would look like scaring the crap out of JT. Kind of like the time she unexpectedly sneaked into the warehouse before going to her father's engagement party.

"Oh it was quite a sight to see, believe me." Vincent laughed, remembering JT screaming and then retreating into the fetal position in one of the folding chairs they brought to the trip.

"I'm glad I came." Catherine admitted with a smile, leaning towards him and gazed at him.

"Me too." Vincent smiled back, remembering the spot that he saw earlier while gathering the wood, the perfect place for what he had in store for them later.

"This was so sweet of you." Catherine expressed while kissing him, knowing how Vincent likes to show his romantic side when he can. She was surprised by what he had in store for them earlier. The throw blanket that was folded over the back of the couch from the cabin was laid out, a wicker basket sat off on the side and a lantern. She was taken back by Vincent's gesture, showing her what he made them before leaving the warehouse yesterday. "You made your favorite sandwiches turkey and avocado for us."

"Yeah, I know, it's not a, uh, rooftop picnic, but this is better than nothing." Vincent replied, blushing a bit, recalling making them before leaving the warehouse yesterday.

"It's perfect." Catherine replied as she leaned over and started tracing the indentation where the scar was on his cheek with her fingers, wondering how that came about. Inquiring. "So, when did you get this?"

"Hmm, uh, well, I got it when saving your mom." Vincent told her as he leaned in to her touch.

"Saving my mother?" Catherine puzzled as she drew her brows together, not understanding what he meant. He didn't get there fast enough to save her that night.

"It was when I was in Afghanistan, one of the Colonels was about to kill her," Vincent paused, seeing the concern on Catherine's face.

"You, you never mentioned that before."

"I didn't remember it until JT gave me a cocktail of some endorphins and lorazepam. We figured the lorazepam, uh, allowed me to remember things I'd forgotten back then." He explained to her, remembering that horrible day. When Catherine's mother wanted to fix the side effects, the army wanted to terminate their own men and she warned them that the world would find out about them sooner or later.

"Vincent.…." Catherine could see the regret on his face.

"They were starting to eliminate everyone in my unit and your mother was trying to reason with them, but they didn't want to listen and were about to attack her." Vincent hesitated again, looking at the flickering flame from the gas lantern. He added with a sigh. "I just wish I'd saved her that night, but by the time I, uh, got there it was too late."

"Hey, it's okay I don't blame you." Catherine said while caressing his cheek again. If it wasn't for her being so careless then her mother would have been still alive. She continued. "I shouldn't of left that stupid vanity mirror open…."

"Catherine, I told you it wasn't your fault, babe." Vincent responded, he didn't want her to still take the blame for it. She didn't know what her mother got herself into working for Muirfield. He wanted to change the subject, squeezing Catherine's hand in his and continued. "We've lived with enough guilt already. Besides I, uh, I need to tell you something."

"Okay,"

"That night in the woods when I looked into your eyes, I just knew you were the one for me." Vincent confessed, drawing close to her and caressing her cheek with his thumb.

"I'm grateful that you did save me that night, Vincent." Catherine replied as her smile reached her eyes.

"And I'm glad you weren't the reason for the blackouts." He whispered, leaning his forehead against her for a moment and then his lips hovered over hers. Thinking back on how JT and him just assumed that Catherine was the blame for them. He was so relieved that they didn't have to stay away from each other.

"So am I." Catherine confessed as her lips barely brushed against him. She could feel his kiss lingering on her lips, before he became tense.

"Vincent?" Catherine questioned as she looked up at him cautiously, not sure what's going on.


"You know, I don't understand how you could do this to me." Alex bawled, still confused by his choice of picking the detective over her. Seeing them cuddling on the blanket and Vincent was about to kiss her.

"Alex, what's going on?" Vincent wondered sitting up and seeing his ex fiancee standing over them with a gun. Catherine and him then stood up together, knowing something wasn't right. What the hell was his ex doing here? The question was how the hell did she find Catherine and his whereabouts?

"How could you do this to me?" Alex repeated the question, she had to know why he would choose Catherine over his 'own' fiancee. What was so special about the detective? "Didn't you want to go back in time to the way we used to be?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did, but a lot has changed." Vincent answered his ex. The injections that turned him into a monster from his own government. That made him "faked' his 'own' death so he could go hide somewhere in an old warehouse with his best friend. And save the woman that he grown to love.

"I, I loved you," Alex sobbed as her lower lip trembled and her eyes started to water. "...we were engaged once."

"I know, okay, but I am a completely different person now." Vincent said, slowly approached her as she kept threatening Catherine, pointing the gun in her face. She was on the verge of losing her mind. He couldn't understand where this jealousy was coming from to the point of wanting to kill her. "This isn't like you."

"Alex, put the gun down." Catherine advised her, trying to reason with her as well. She was about to place her hand on her gun, but realized she didn't have it with her. Realizing that she was still suspended and on medical leave.

"No. I knew there was something going on between you two." Alex accused Vincent, giving him a scowl and sniffled. "She told me you have been watching over her over those years since coming back from overseas, while I was grieving."

"Who?" Catherine inquired, could have it been Muirfield that was behind all this?

"She didn't give me a name." Alex answered, still pointing the gun at Catherine. "She just wanted me to see what was really going on."

"Okay, just let me explain." Vincent uttered as he stood in between Catherine and his ex. If anything was about to happen he wasn't going to allow another bullet to try and take Catherine as it did at the wedding. He feared the worst knowing that Alex had somehow been involved with Muirfield. They may have come to her and convinced her to somehow get rid of Catherine.

"I'm not going to let her take you from me." Alex wept as her eyes became moistened with emotion and shook the gun at the detective.

"Alex…." Vincent stressed.

"Put the gun down." Catherine cautioned, while she was about to approach her slowly and hoped to save her from doing something she'll regret later.

"Alex, please." Vincent begged his ex, he didn't want her to live with the guilt of killing someone. He remembered the oath they took when working at the hospital before and hinted. "We're supposed to save people, uh, not kill them, remember."

"No! Stay out of this Vince!" Alex demanded, she wasn't about to let Vincent try to distract her from what she was about to do. She needed to get rid of the detective.

"Come on, Alex, put it down." Catherine pleaded, trying to persuade her. The same ex that was taking care of her in the hospital and the one that wanted to kill her. She didn't think the nurse was capable of something like this. "Somewhere deep down you must know that they're using you."

Still pointing the gun at Catherine. Alex slowly pulled back on the trigger. Shouting. "You're just getting in the way!"

"No! I can't let you do this, Alex." Vincent responded when he heard the rotation on the metal barrel of the gun and then the clicking sound before it would fire. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Catherine and not by the hands of his ex. Using his super-speed he managed to quickly disarm Alex just as she pulled the trigger and grabbed the gun off her; handing it to Catherine. Just as the bullet fired in the air.

"How, how did you do that?" Alex stammered flabbergasted by what had just happened. She looked on with shock, moving as fast as he did.

"There's a reason, why I've been in hiding, Alex. I was part of a...experiment in the military."

"Vincent." Catherine's voice was cautionary as she touched his arm trying to get his attention. She couldn't believe that he was going to tell her his secret like that, after everything that has transpired the last couple of days.

"It's okay," Vincent muttered to Catherine, looking at her, knowing that whatever was about to happen wasn't going to well. His attention went back to his ex as he continued. "Uh... Well, it didn't go as planned, and…"

"Vince?"

"Someone may have come to you and said they can help, but do you really think I would live my life like this if I had any option?" Vincent hesitated, his sensitive hearing picked up on movement approaching, footsteps from the distance. So he decided it was the best time to explain things to her later. "You need to get out of here right now."

"Are you crazy?" Alex responded, taken back by Vincent's sudden attitude and then glanced at Catherine, giving her a scowl and saying. "I'm not going to lose you to…'HER'"

"And you are crazy showing up here and trying to kill Catherine. You need to move on!" Vincent roared at his ex now, his eyes changed color. Now he was a little annoyed by Alex as his voice became more assertive. He kept hearing the footsteps getting closer and he needed both women in his life to be safe. He knew Catherine could fend for herself, but Alex on the other hand wasn't that strong. His best bet right now was to get his ex to safety and scare her off. He needed her to go and get away from here before something happened to her, but Alex just stood there hesitating on how to react and it was getting too dangerous now. So the best way he knew how to handle the situation was to frighten her off, the same way he did with Catherine when she showed up at the warehouse after the subway thing. He looked down at his hands and noticed the veins in his hands darkened. Letting his frustration slip through just a little by roaring at her. "Go!"

"No!" Alex screamed as her lips trembled from seeing her ex transform into some horrible creature. She started backing away from him, shaking her head as if in denial of what she just saw and that's when she remembered the panic button the woman gave her and started pressing it as she quickly backed away.


"Shouldn't we be going after Alex, what if….." Catherine trailed off, she was more concerned about his ex blurting out what she just saw. She had never seen him so unraveled before, like something was really bothering him. She put her hand on his arm trying to get him from 'beasting' out more, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. The only other time she ever saw him like this was when Muirfield agents just showed up after the subway incident and when she went to the warehouse afterward to warn him. He tried to frighten her off, away from the warehouse back then, when she was getting too close. Was he trying to do the same thing with his ex? Then she looked up with her eyebrows furrowed when noticing Vincent was again distracted like he was earlier. "What is it?"

"They're here," Vincent whispered, letting the glow of his eyes adjust to the darkness as he approached one of the trees gently pulling her towards him and stood behind it with her. He continued to hear movement in the woods, the footsteps approaching closer than they were a few minutes ago and he saw the silhouettes of three figures heading their way.

"How do you know…..?"

"I can see in the dark now." He answered her while keeping an eye on the approaching figures and their weapons. That could only mean one thing: 'Muirfield'.

"You can see in the dark?" Catherine pondered, looking up at him confused. She wasn't sure what he meant. How the hell can he see that good in the dark?

"It was my DNA mutating, not me," Vincent informed her, since the talk they had at her dad's wedding didn't go so well. Thanks to Evan telling her that he was mutating and probably becoming more animal-like. He was frustrated with the fact that she was willing to believe Evan over JT findings and that was the reason he left the wedding that night.

"Okay," Catherine commented, taken back by what he told her, apparently what Evan told her about Vincent transforming into some horrible creature wasn't true. The only thing that physically changed was his vision and nothing more. As a precaution she took off the safety lock on the gun and cocked it, she had to get ready in case something would happen. "Well, how many?"

"Three. Come on." Vincent informed her while grabbing her hand and went to hide behind some boulders. They heard the bullets ricochet off the rocks and it didn't take long for the Muirfield agents to make their way over to where he led Catherine. Vincent watched as she stood up, firing back at the first agent, but missed and the second agent hid behind the tree, returning fire and failing. Then there was a moment of silence as they exchanged looks trying to figure out what to do next. He then heard the pin being pulled and the grenade was thrown behind them, causing him to go into panic mode as he needed to protect the woman he loved. Quickly his instincts kicked in as he covered Catherine's body with his, yelling to her to 'get down' just before the bomb went off. He felt the explosion as the grenade went off and was thrust back by the force of the explosion. It took a moment before he got back on his feet, looking down, he noticed she was barely moving on the ground and the sound of her heart was becoming slower; so was her breathing. Vincent began to fear that something had happened to her. If those Muirfield bastards did anything to hurt her more, they were about to pay dearly.

"Catherine! Catherine-" Vincent shouted just as he was about to check on her he felt something hit the right side of him, then felt the numbness take over as he lost his balance and fell back onto the ground again. He couldn't believe Alex had betrayed him like this as he began to lose consciousness.

To be continued…

Author Note: Sorry for the long wait continuation on this story too, but like I mentioned before I had a lot going on in real life that needed attention at the time. Thank you for the reviews and keep them coming. Let me know how you're liking the story so far. I'm also working on Chapter 5 "Subliminal" so, still hanging in there, good people.