Chapter Four

The next day at work, Catherine was told that Joe was doing much better and was going to be alright. She also spent a majority of the day trying to place a call to her best friend Jenny, but unfortunately, Jenny was never home. This frustrated Cathy, because she needed to talk to Jenny as soon as possible. It was urgent.

Just after her lunch break, John Moreno called Catherine into his office. He had been to visit Joe and he knew about the book Hanlan had given to Joe just before the explosion.

"I need that book, Cathy," Moreno said. "I think if I look it over, I can make a few leads."

"I'd like to keep the book myself," Catherine replied. "But I can run you off a copy of it."

"Fine. Have it on my desk first thing in the morning."

"No problem."

~*~o~*~

Directly after work, Catherine drove straight to Elliot Burke's office building on the other side of the city. Needless to say, Elliot was surprised to see her. He had not seen or spoken to Cathy in months.

"Elliot, I need your help," she said, taking a seat in a lounge chair inside his huge office on the seventeenth floor.

"What's going on, Cathy?" he asked.

"Someone is trying to kill Joe and Patrick Hanlan turned up dead in that explosion. I need you to check out a few dates for me. You have the access-."

"I don't know, Cathy. I am a very busy man."

"Please, Elliot. I wouldn't ask, but I have no where else to turn," Catherine pleaded.

Elliot sighed heavily. She was just too beautiful. She was breaking down his wall of resistance with her blue-green eyes. "Okay. I'll do it,' he groaned.

Quickly, she pressed the piece of paper into his hand where she had jotted down a few of the dates. "Thanks, Elliot. Call me the minute anything turns up," she said with a bright smile.

Elliot watched her walk from his office with longing. What he wouldn't do to have her back again... but she would never be his. She had made that perfectly clear. He'd have to live without her... and love her from afar.

~*~o~*~

After her visit with Elliot, Catherine went home. She wasn't going to Vincent tonight - she had too much on her mind. She needed time to think; besides she could not bear that haunted look lurking in the depths of Vincent's eyes.

What had caused that look? Catherine thought she knew the answer...

The other night when Catherine entered the cavern, Vincent stood turned away from her. His large body was thrashing in agony as his wails of torment echoed loudly off the walls of the underground chamber.

"Vincent," she called out to him.

Swiftly he turned around, his inch long, pointed fangs protruding from beneath his upper lip. He growled at her, his deep voice ferocious. He regarded Catherine with a look of a wild beast within his eyes.

His stance was threatening, but Catherine showed no fear. Slowly she neared him until she was only a few feet away. *He will not hurt me. He CANNOT hurt me,* she kept saying to herself.

Vincent's head lashed back in an angry snarl as she neared him. He could not see clearly in his intense rage. In his eyes, she was a beautiful specter - beckoning him temptingly. The scent of her perfume was driving him wild. It teased his nostrils with the scent of wild roses.

His tempest rage had began nearly two hours earlier, but it had been building within him for months. He had always been able to stifle it in the past - push it back down and away, but this time it had consumed him - forcing him to see Catherine in his mind, her voice calling out to him seductively as her curvaceous body teased him.

"Vincent, I am here," Catherine said. "Let me help you."

Very slowly, a part of the mist began to fade from Vincent's vision, but still he could not see Catherine as clearly as normal. He began to see Catherine as she really was - concerned and longing to reach out to him with her tender touch.

"Catherine," he choked out, his voice a heated whisper. "I want you."

She saw it then - the wild lust as it exploded his blue eyes. She had seen it before, many times when he held her close in the strength of his arms, but always before he had restrained it. Now he looked unable to hold back his passion. It was overflowing from his every pore.

His large clawed hand reached out toward hers and very slowly her hand moved across the distance between them until he pressed her small hand into his. Then Vincent pulled her in close, so tight against his body. She wrapped her arms around him- loving the strength and the warmth of him. She felt his large hands caressing her back, her hair - his touch flaming.

"Vincent," she whispered against his chest, her voice breathless.

"I have to have you, Catherine," he said, his voice like a deep groan in her ear. "Now."

They did not remove their clothing. Vincent undid his dark-colored pants and he pulled down Catherine's denim jeans. He pushed up her orange sweater, revealing the swell of her breasts, covered only by a lacy bra. For several moments he did nothing but gaze in wonder at Catherine's body, his blue eyes alive with uncontrollable desire.

"I long to touch you..."

She took his hands and placed them upon her breasts. He stroked her tenderly as she trembled beneath him. His breathing was wild, like that of an untamed animal.

Soon his mouth met hers in their first passionate kiss. Vincent had made it clear in the past that they must never kiss this way, for it would make him lose all control.

Vincent did lose control. He made love to Catherine. Not once, but twice. Catherine had never felt so much pain- nor such intense pleasure as she discovered in Vincent's arms that day. Vincent did not make love like a man. He made love like an animal, but Catherine found excitement in it and she experienced great joy in his potent hunger.

After it was over, Vincent seemed drained, as though all of his great strength had been stolen from him. He lay on the cavern floor, his breathing harsh and his expression languid. Catherine bent down to fasten his pants, and then as if in a daze, she eased her own clothing back into place.

"Vincent," she whispered, but he would not answer her. Something had changed within him - he had lost something within the course of their love. That is how Father found them there - Vincent lying with his head on Catherine's lap without even the strength to stand on his own, and Catherine sitting upon the dirt floor, her eyes shining with the emotions of love.

It hurt Catherine deeply that Vincent was unable to recall their lovemaking. She had wanted to tell him, she decided it was best to let him remember those things on his own. She hadn't contemplated a pregnancy - the thought of it had never entered her mind. Now she had mixed feelings about her condition, because she was not certain what Vincent's reaction would be. What if the child was born like himself - disfigured and not quite human, but brilliant and extraordinary? To Catherine, it was of no consequence - she would love the child, despite his or her appearance, just as much as she loved Vincent.

Now she had to summon the courage from within herself to tell Vincent about what took place in the cavern and the consequences of their joining, but her apprehension stopped her from going to him. Her greatest fear was that the news might destroy Vincent and cause harm to the precious love they shared - just as his psychic abilities had recently been destroyed.

With those thoughts bombarding her mind, Catherine stood on her balcony, her heart aching for Vincent. "Ohhh my love," she said quietly as she stared out over the balcony wall at the lights of the city. "What shall I do?"

Only the sound of the wind answered back, blowing in her hair and cooling her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself, going back inside. She was without Vincent tonight... and any night without Vincent was an incredibly lonely one.