Thank you to everyone who added this to their favorites and story alerts. As a struggling artist, it's always wonderful to hear positive feedback. As promised, the next installment:

Chapter 2: An Ancient Rivalry

"We?" Chloe asked, looking into his eyes.

He understood what she meant. They were supposed to be sworn enemies not embracing each other on his bed. Kai didn't know why he felt drawn to Chloe, but he couldn't pull away. He didn't let go of her.

"Just tell me what happened."

So Chloe told him. She told him about getting shot and coming back to life just in time to realize Brian had kissed her. She told him how she had held Brian in her arms for what seemed like hours before Amy and Paul rushed in and told her she needed to get out of there. Then she ran to Jasmine's apartment only to find Valentina dead and Jasmine unconscious. She had tried to call Alek a hundred times. Luckily a Mai soldier showed up and whisked Jasmine off to a Mai doctor. Chloe sneaked off to her own house, grabbed a bag full of clothes and other randoms and hopped on the first train out of the city.

She was crying so hard by the time she finished, Kai couldn't hear the part about her puking at the BART station. He pressed his cheek to her forehead and cradled her in his arms.

"I have to get out of town, Kai," she sobbed. "I have to disappear."

"I'm pretty good at disappearing," he told her. "Whatever you decide to do, I'm going with you."

"I can't ask you to do that," she refused. "It's too dangerous."

He gave her a sly smile. "I think I can handle a little bit of danger."

"I'm serious, Kai," she whined. "I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt."

"Chloe. You're not the only one with superhuman powers. Besides, I'm a lot stronger than you. I'm not about to let a sixteen-year-old Mai girl wander around by herself. I can get us out of Oakland, out of the Bay Area, if that's what you want. But I'm not leaving your side; I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Chloe couldn't understand why he was being so nice to her. All she could focus on was the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her body. She knew she shouldn't be able to feel this way about a Jackal. Alek hated her attraction to a human; what would he say if he knew who she was with just then.

"Why do our people hate each other?" she asked softly.

"If I could answer that," he responded, shaking his head. "I don't know. Jealousy I guess. The Mai and the Jackals were both revered in Ancient Egypt. We're descendants of the gods, and neither one of our races wanted to share the glory. We fought against each other, and before we knew it, the humans rejected both of us."

"I don't hate you," she admitted. "I know I'm supposed to, but I can't."

"I could never hate you either Chloe King."

She slowly slid out of his arms and said, "Our ancestors were really stupid."

As she pulled away, Kai saw the blood stain on her shirt again. He grabbed a t-shirt out of one of his drawers and held it up to her.

"Here, you can change into this if you want," he offered. "You might draw less attention to yourself if you're not covered in blood."

She smiled at him and reached for her bag.

"Actually, I've got a change of clothes."

They turned their backs to each other as Chloe stripped off her dirty clothes and slid into new ones. Like Chloe, Kai had supersensitive hearing. He could hear every rustle of her skin against the fabric while she pulled on her jeans. He couldn't help himself; he peaked his head over his shoulder. Her milky white skin looked smooth. His teenage hormones and animal instinct worked against him as he fought to turn his head back around and stay in his place.

"There," she finally said from behind him. "You can turn around now."

"You look nice," came spilling out of his mouth. "I mean—no. I mean you look nice."

"Do you have a mirror?" she asked.

"Yeah above the sink in the bathroom."

He motioned toward a door that was slightly ajar. She let herself in and shut the door behind her. There were mascara tear streaks down her cheeks and her eyes were puffy and red. Chloe ran her face under cold water and patted it dry with a hand towel she hoped was clean. Then she powdered her face and tried to make herself look presentable; she wasn't quite sure why.

When she finally came out, she found Kai stuffing clothes into a bag of his own.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I can keep you hidden here for as long as you want to stay," he explained, "but I want to be ready whenever you decide it's time to leave. After all, we both know you can't stay here forever."

"I was thinking about heading to the airport," she admitted.

"How are you going to pay for a plane ticket?"

"I hadn't really thought about that."

"We can take BART to the Greyhound station," he suggested.

"Wow, you really know your way around," she told him.

"I was raised to know how to take care of myself. Sometimes that included being able to get places on my own."

He finished packing and held up his bag.

"It's up to you Chloe. We can leave now, or we can stay right here. Just tell me when you're ready to go."

He was going to take care of her, Chloe realized. No matter how scared she felt, she wasn't alone. She felt her body relax and exhaustion wash over her.

"All I really want to do right now is sleep."

Kai nodded.

"Feel free," he said. "Why don't you get some rest while I go out and get a few things we'll need to travel. I'll lock the door behind me. No one will find you here. Just promise me one thing, Chloe."

"What's that?"

He looked into her eyes and pleaded, "Just be here when I get back."

"I won't go anywhere."

Chapter 3 to come. Where will Chloe and Kai end up? Leave some reviews and let me know what you all think! :)

Also, I'm going to try to make it a habit of posting on Thursdays. School just started back up again, and my life is hectic. But I'm pretty free on Thursdays. See you all again next week.