Holy bananas it's been a while. For that I apologize, my life has been crazy and I needed a break from this story for a little bit. It turned into much longer than I'd intended but now I'm back and we're going to get the ball rolling again. I hope you enjoy.

There was a scream from downstairs.

It was the last of many I had heard over the previous three days. Though Isaac hadn't been home much lately, Sanura said that she had regulated him to the back half of the house, and denied him the use of the upstairs. I found it interesting that she had the power to do so in his house, but I never questioned it. My mind had been on other things.

I'd spent this time upstairs. It sounded horrid, but with the size of this place, it didn't really mean much. I was still free to wander about the extra rooms and lounges. When I was hungry Sanura would bring me food and when I was lonely, she was there to comfort me.

It was strange. I hadn't even realized I was comfortable enough to cry on her shoulder until it had already happened. We were trapped in a house of mourning. Each of us dealing with Josep's death in our own way. I found myself crying less these days though. Perhaps I had simply been through this too often. Maybe I had reached the point when I could only release the sorrow and move on. This was by no means a bad thing. I preferred a few tears to my normal routine of sobbing like a child and locking myself away in a room. I no longer wallowed in my grief, but I felt it. There was a knife of sadness carving a slow path through my body, but I wasn't really sure what would happen when it had made its way through. I didn't know if I would be better, or simply cold.

"This is ridiculous." I grumbled, throwing down a card onto the table between Sanura and I. We'd been playing blackjack in the upstairs lounge that connected her room to the one I'd been using. While she'd assured me Isaac would keep his promise to remain downstairs and away from us, she'd still not wanted to take any chances. She wanted me close by in case she ever needed to intervene, though what she expected him to do, she hadn't said.

"What is?" Sanura asked, passing out the cards and collecting her next win. I suspected her of card counting, but she wouldn't own up to it, she'd been beating me all night.

"Hiding up here, from Isaac."

Her bright green eyes slid up to me over her next hand and she arched a brow. "Are you implying that he isn't a threat?"

"No. But…" I sighed, running a hand through my hair, "It's Isaac. He's been getting better…sort of."

"He's a big baby." She replied snappishly, drawing a card and smacking it down onto the table. "I hate him when he's like this."

"Does it happen that often?"

"He would have lost my friendship a long time ago if it did."

"Well can't you go beat it out of him?" I asked sliding down into my chair and drawing my knees up against the arm. The vampire laughed, sipping at the scotch she'd found in the small bar. Apparently Isaac had all sorts of alcohol stashed about the house. A normal person would think he was a drunk, but Sanura told me it was a way to stave off hunger. It was the same with his cigarettes, which explained why he always had them.

"Normally I would, yes. But when he's like this…" Sanura set down her cards. "It was the same when he found out about Daniel, what he'd done. He's incredibly irritable. He gorges himself, drinks until even he is wasted, and his temper is uncontrollable. He acts like a fledgling again, eating until he's drunk with it, losing himself in anything he can."

"So you're telling me this is how he mourns?"

She nodded, "and it's ridiculous. You're right. Like I said, he's a big baby."

I nodded, taking this in a moment then wrapping my arms around my legs. The infamous Daniel always peeked my interest, his relationship with Isaac even more so. "What did Daniel do to him?" I asked it gently, knowing this was a touchy subject for both of them. Though I was more likely to get the information out of Sanura. "Did he kill someone?"

The vampire frowned at the table a moment, her grip on her cards tightening a bit and rumpling the paper. "Not exactly. It isn't really my place to tell you, kitten, I'm sorry."

"I thought that you were ok with Daniel. Why won't you talk about him?"

"Ok with him." She repeated softly, laughing with a bitter smile at the floor. "That monster is not my friend." Her green eyes snapped to me, hard and serious. "The seer showed you how I was made. He was bored. He wanted something sturdy to bat around its cage for a while, sick of human toys that died too quickly. He does that, you know, he creates vampires, keeps them weak because we heal. Because we can survive so much damage that it is astounding and his games can last for days."

"Daniel made you so that he could hurt you?" I couldn't stop starring at her, in confusion, in shock. "How could that possibly benefit him in the end? What if you attacked him?"

"I can't." she said softly, her eyes were still on the floor, staring off into things I couldn't see. "He is my sire, Mira. No matter what he may do to me or to those I love, I will always be his to command. That is the way of it, all he must do is insist, and I would kill myself for his pleasure."

"Does Colette have that power over Isaac?" Was that why he had so easily taken his friend to his death, because he wasn't physically capable of doing otherwise? I had been so angry with him at first, and it wasn't even his fault. What's more, he had known this and neglected to tell me, letting me think he was a monster rather than that Colette was forcing him to kill Josep. Suddenly I felt a little guilty, even if we had made up after.

Sanura nodded, "All sires may control their children. It is the reason they make them. Once we are made, our lives are not our own. We in turn make those that we can control. It is a vicious cycle."

I tucked my legs under myself on the cushion, and tried not to sound pushy, but my curiosity was insatiable. "If he made you for…that, then why were you all together for so long? How did you all become companions?"

The vampire sighed, leaning back in her chair and finally looking at me. "At first I was their toy." This made my eyes widen. "Daniel brought me to his villa at the time. He told me that I would die in that place. He had made me immortal, but that would only last as long as he wanted it to. As long as I didn't bore him, he said. He would feed me only when I had reached the point of starvation; make me tear the humans he brought home to shreds for his amusement and Isaac's."

She fixed me with a troubled stare and shook her head. "I was a mother so he only ever brought me children. He is not just a sadist, Mira. That creature takes his only pleasures from breaking the things he collects. He has a way of finding your deepest fears, your insecurities. He puts them on display, hurts you until you will give in to anything for just an hour of peace. I was a headstrong woman even in the beginning. I suppose he thought I would be a challenge. Taking me away from my husband, my children who I loved more than anything, that only made it sweeter to him."

"Isaac was really a part of that?" I asked after a long moment. Sanura nodded, watching me.

"In the first weeks, Daniel kept me to himself. He would…play with me in front of Isaac, but he never let him touch me. Not that he ever tried. When I stopped crying and cursing him, Daniel began to lose interest. He would ask Isaac to punish me for imagined wrongs in his place and though he did, it was never with the same passion." She swirled the amber liquid in her glass a moment and smiled. "I hated him at first, I hated both of them, but I didn't want to die. I begged him to help me. He taught me the things that made the monster happy; the ways to struggle, and when I had gained back his attention, the things I should say. Isaac showed me how to survive, and was the one to suggest I be taken with them to hunt and given a chance as more than a toy. He explained what Daniel would want from me; that I could not hesitate to kill, I could not be merciful. He taught me the cruelty that would keep the monster's interest, and I used it. When he set me free, Daniel gave me a new name. He had always called me kitten before. He said it seemed fitting, but it was a reminder that I could always become his toy again. I tried to go out on my own, Isaac even attempted to help me, but I didn't know how to survive like this. I didn't know how to control myself anymore and I was…" she made a sound of anger in the back of her throat. "Pathetic. I was pathetic and he'd made me so dependent that I went crawling back to him. After that I did everything he wanted of me to keep him happy until I found that I no longer hurt when I killed to feed."

Sanura was quiet a long moment and if I wasn't mistaken I saw the shimmer of what might have been a tear. "What kills me most is that he won. He broke me, made me as horrid as he is. Sometimes I think that's why he does it, hoping that he won't have to life alone with his sins. But that would imply he has a heart, and that is something he has never been accused of."

I sat there a while taking this in, thinking of what it must have been like and not being able to even imagine. Then a thought struck me. "Daniel called you kitten to hurt you. You call me kitten." I murmured.

She smiled sadly then, eyes going down to her hands. "Old habit I suppose. My husband used to call me kitten, it was the reason Daniel used it, to twist a good memory into something painful." She closed her eyes and sighed. "But my husband, when he said it, the word was full of love." She looked back at me then, "I say it with love."

I moved from my seat then to sit next to her on the couch and hug her. I knew it was little comfort, but she accepted it willingly, wrapping her arms around me and stroking back my hair as if she were comforting her child.

"I'm sorry Sanura. I'm sorry you had to go through any of that."

"Without it I would never have gotten my chance to see the world, the way I'd dreamed. I have lived long enough to do all the things I always wanted to, and find new ones. An unsavory beginning is an acceptable price for what I have gained."

A crash from downstairs stopped our embrace and Sanura sighed heavily, getting up to make herself a new drink, downing the remainder of the first. "I can't deal with his bullshit on an empty stomach. I'm going out for an hour. Stay up here."

I think she just needed to get away from me and the memories I had just stirred up. I didn't mind. I saw her off with a smile and curled up in my spot on the couch. Could I survive something like that? I had been through trauma, yes, but never torture. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live in agony for months. What it must be like to spend every day terrified of what your captor might do next. I shuddered at the thought.

A scream echoed up through the house, followed by a frightened, feminine stream of words. I sat up straight to listen as there was more crashing and another cry. My anger ignited. After hearing what Sanura had been through and knowing that Isaac had been a part of it at all made my fists clench tightly at my sides. I stood quickly and marched to the door, throwing it open and following the sounds of a violent struggle down into the main entrance hall.

I paused halfway down the great staircase and found myself clutching at the banister. I hadn't been close to the twin staircases for these three days, not wanting to deal with Isaac's horrors. I hadn't known what exactly he was doing, but the bodies were a clue. Pale, graying bodies, in various stages of rot, strewn about the marble floor, and some up the staircases. There were about 6 of them, all drained, some intact.

I stepped over a young man who had clearly tried to crawl up the stairs in escape, but his arm had been snapped at the bone and torn away, his throat ripped open and spilling half of his blood into the carpet. The further I got toward the lounge between the staircases, the thicker the fetid stench of rot poured in on me and I was forced to hold my hand over my mouth. Apparently the upstairs rooms were remarkably insulated, I hadn't smelled a thing from there, now I wished I couldn't.

"I promise!" A girl cried out followed by a crash and her scream, "Please I won't tell anyone! I swear, I'll forget you and this place."

I pushed open the door and stood there a moment to take in the scene. There were more bodies in here. 2 men and 3 girls, some on the couches near the fire, some sprawled on the floor. Isaac was crouched down in front of a cowering red head. Her arms were up around her head and she pressed herself into the corner as if she might pass through the wall through sheer force of will. The vampire was smiling, his hands planted against the walls on either side of her to trap her in. From what I could see the room was trashed, and she was covered in bruises and bleeding gashes.

"But I want you to remember me." He said, his voice a menacing mimic of friendship. "Why else would I have kept you for last?"

"You killed her," she hissed. "All these people. What is wrong with you?"

"That is the question, isn't it." I stepped over another corpse to move into the room, arms crossed over my chest, half in irritation, half just to hold myself for comfort.

Isaac had gone very stiff over the girl, but he was smiling wider now and she was staring at me in fear and hope. She wondered if I was here to rescue her, or just another one of the monsters.

"Mira." The vampire purred, standing slowly and turning to face me. The girl immediately crawled off to the couch to hide beside it and away from him, panting in fear.

"You finally came out of hiding. I was beginning to think you would live up there." His eyes scanned slowly over me, but they were black, like a hungry shark's. Empty and heartless. His fangs were out as well, sharp as needles and curved like a snake. He was still wearing his suit, though the jacket was missing. His shirt was black, but I could still see the blood stains on him. The now heavy material clung to his torso accentuating his body, but for once I wasn't interested.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded motioning toward the girl.

Isaac shrugged, moving to the couch beside me and flopping down onto the cushions with a laugh, "Just getting to know Macey and her friend here." He wrapped his arm around the pale body of a dark haired girl. Her corpse was limp in his hold and he shook her once with another intoxicated chuckle. "She didn't have it in her, I'm afraid, so you can't meet her. Lovely girl though, played the violin just like Mace. I offered them lessons. I'm incredible with a violin you know. I don't think I've ever showed you."

"You sound drunk." I stated watching him stretch out on the couch, leaving red stains in the crème fabric.

"That's because I am drunk." He turned a curious look on another girl who was dead on the floor. "I might even be a little high. I think that one might have been on a substantial dose of something."

"Well I think you've had enough of all of it." I said, looking over the room again in disgust. "And I think you need to let her go."

Isaac let his head fall back against the couch with an irritated growl. "Ugh, are you really going to be as much of a buzz-kill as Sanura? Go back to your land, she-devil, our borders are now closed to you."

With a heavy sigh I moved to the couch to stand over him looking down with an arched brow. "do you really want to stay down here alone?"

"I'm not alone, I've got Masey," He motioned vaguely toward the girl who curled further into herself at the attention. She was watching me closely though, now that I had made it clear I wanted her to get away.

"Macey is going home, Isaac."

The vampire's eyes snapped to mine and he sat up on his elbows. "She can't go home, Mira. She knows what I am, and even if she didn't, she's seen me kill too many people to stay quiet about it."

"That's your fault." I snapped back, but he only stared at me.

"I plan on fixing the situation very soon."

From her place against the wall, Macey let out a quiet sob, covering her face. I clenched my jaw a moment, wanting to beat the vampire, but knowing it would do nothing but rile him up. And so I decided on a new tactic.

"So this is your plan? Keep bringing people back here to kill them? Are you at least going to clean up the house?"

He grinned, lying back down across the couch with an arm over his eyes. "As my father would say, housework is a woman's job. I figure when it gets bad enough you girls will stop waiting on me and clean it up yourselves."

There was a crystal bottle of bourbon sitting on the end table above him. I grabbed it and lobbed the crystal cork at him before emptying the bottle over his head. Isaac jumped into a sitting position with a curse, batting the bottle out of my hand and across the room where it exploded against the wall. Macey screamed at the noise and began a new round of louder sobs that were starting to grade on my patience. I watched the vampire sling bourbon from his hands and hair a moment until he turned his eyes up to me and grabbed my waist.

I let out a startled cry at first, being lifted off my feet and thrown down on the couch. Isaac followed to pin me there, his knee between my legs and a fist on either side of my head. From this new position the girl was behind me and my full attention was on the black-eyed vampire.

"What is your problem?" he demanded, though I simply shrugged.

"I figure it's better than all the other things you're covered in. Hell you're probably a little cleaner now."

"Did you really come down here to yell at me?"

"Mostly, yeah." I shoved him back, happy that he allowed me to sit up a little against the couch arm and glare at him. "I thought I might come down and ask if you're ready to stop throwing this little tantrum and be a big boy again."

Isaac laughed at my boldness and shook his head. "And what do big boys get for their trouble exactly? I've got to be honest, I can't think of anything that would be as fun as all this."

I tilted my head and smiled at my opening, resting my hand against his chest and slowly trailing it down to the waist of his rumbled black slacks. "I don't know about that." For a moment he only stared at me, but then a smile crept across his face and I felt a thrill at having gotten his attention.

He pushed me down on the couch, dipping his head to brush his lips across my throat. It might have even turned me on if I couldn't feel his fangs grazing across the sensitive flesh. It would take so little for him to break the skin with them so sharp and the thought made me shiver.

"Wait, Isaac," I began trailing off when I realized I had nothing to say and my mind was racing too fast to think about it. "I…umm…"

"You umm..." he repeated softly, teasing me and his teeth found the hollow below my ear. Another shiver raced up my spine and he bit down until I tensed up stiffly, chuckling into my hair. The red head I could see against the wall behind me through the reflective surface of the glass trophy case against the far wall. She was crouched down, slowly inching toward the door. And with Isaac now facing her I could understand her nervousness. She found my eyes in the glass and went still, frightened that I would give her away, but I motioned toward the door instead and after a moment of starring at me, she began to inch toward it again.

The vampire kissed my throat, lighting the scar there on fire, "You're shaking." He said slowly. I swallowed hard and tried to keep my voice steady.

"It's just that that feels…intense." I closed my eyes a moment and clutched at the backs of his arms for support.

"Oh?" Isaac chuckled softly dipping his head down to nip the flesh of my scar with his teeth. It hummed with electricity as if he'd plucked the string of a guitar, vibrating throughout my body, and I let out a soft sound of surprise and pleasure.

"And that?" he asked against my lips. I tried to kiss him, but he only smiled, pulling back just far enough that I couldn't reach him, though my breath was mingling with his occasional cool exhales. "Was that intense?"

"Mm-hmm." I nodded, wrapping my hands around the back of his neck to pull him down, but he was fighting me. This was frustrating not only because I wanted to kiss him now, but because I feared that he would see the girl at any moment.

So using his immovable self to drag myself up, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him with everything I could muster. Isaac made a soft sound of humor in the back of his throat but I nipped his bottom lip and gained his full attention. His arm slipped around my back, drawing me flush against his body, the other remained braced against the arm of the couch above my head. As he slid me back down onto the cushions, I wrapped my fingers around that arm, enjoying the feel of his bicep beneath the cool skin. His tongue slipped past my teeth and found mine, hungrily demanding that I respond, and I did. My hands went up to his chest, smoothing across the skin once I'd slipped them under his shirt. Over his shoulder I watched Macey pushing the door open and begin to sneak out and finally I felt myself relaxing completely. I smiled against Isaac's mouth, raking one hand of nails down his chest and enjoying the way it made him shudder. The wood behind my head cracked with a loud splintering sound as his grip on the couch arm tightened. I almost felt a swell of pride at this, until I felt him shift.

There was a cry of pain and something hit the floor heavily. Isaac broke our kiss to stare over my shoulder, "You're not going anywhere." He snapped, then turned his black eyes back to me with a charming smile, "And you, you should really work on your distraction techniques." He kissed my cheek and pushed off the couch to move toward the sobbing Macey. Now that I could look at her directly I could see that he'd ripped a chunk of the wood from the couch and thrown it at her, burying it in her right leg. I watched him kneel down and wrench out the wood, tossing it across the floor and watching impassively as she screamed and curled into a feeble ball of wailing.

"I told you you're going to die here. That silly thing can't save you, precious. You're on your own, and you know what?" He leaned in close, grabbing the back of her head by her hair to speak directly to her. "I'm getting hungry again."

"Please don't," she wailed, reaching up to clamp her hands around her throat, "Please don't kill me."

"But I have to." He insisted, wrenching her hands away and holding them together between them at the wrists. "I don't trust you, Mace. It's not your fault, you're a good girl and you would tell everyone about me. It's the right thing to do." He sighed, "It really is a shame though. You were a beautiful violin player."

She screamed when he dragged her close and closed his mouth over her throat. He was much more gentle than I'd anticipated, which is why I found myself staring for so long, but after another of the girl's sobs, I sprang to my feet and grabbed the chunk of sharpened wood Isaac had tossed aside. He didn't notice me in time to stop my burying it in his left shoulder.

The vampire tensed and shoved Macey away, ripping out her throat as he did. He turned to me, black eyes narrowing and I stumbled back a step staring between him and the quickly dying violinist on the floor. It was too late for her, but suddenly I found myself much more interested in my own safety.

"Mira," Isaac began slowly standing and reaching around to grab the wood. "That was very rude."

He ripped the wood out of his shoulder with a grunt and crushed it into splinters after, watching me and working his shoulder. I pressed back against the lounge room door, eyes going wide. I was shaking now at the look he was giving me. Hungry and angry and terrifying.

"You know, I didn't want to tell you before, but you've changed." He stood over the dull-eyed Macey and pushed at her with the toe of his black shoe. Seeing that she was finished, he stepped over the body and moved toward me.

"The dogs were right you know. You're scent, ever since the god took you, it's been different. There's something about it, about you that is so enticing."

"Back off, Isaac." I said opening the lounge door behind me and stumbling out into the main room. He only smiled, following me as I turned and ran.

"I'm hungry again, Mira. It's strange; thinking of you makes me hungry now." I had made it to the front hall and grabbed the railings of the second staircase. Isaac was strolling out of the lounge after me, indifferent to my fear and attempted escape. "When I think of the way you smell…and when you're in the room beside me? Jesus I want to take you right on the first surface I see. I want to ride you until your body crumbles in my hands and drink every last bit of that wonderful blood from your body."

"Stop it." I snapped but he was ignoring me. Before I could make it up the stairs and to my respective border, Isaac grabbed my arm and wrenched me back down. I fell to the hard marble floor with a curse, and quickly scurried away, but found myself pressed up against the wall. Isaac moved at a slow deliberate pace then, sliding down onto one knee and reaching out to touch my face, though I tried to turn away.

"The wolves aren't the only ones that go a little crazy for your scent, Mira. I never told you because I knew it would only make you scared of me again. I know why those wolves attacked you. I feel it. You're different, you smell like everything I've ever dreamed of tasting, Sanura feels it too." He leaned down to breathe deep in my hair and smiled against my throat when he nuzzled against it. "I want to fuck you and eat you. Sometimes I imagine the ways I might do it, sneaking into your room while you're sleeping, or simply taking you, it's not as if you could fight me off."

I shoved at him with an angry cry but he didn't budge and only laughed at me.

"See?" I felt his cool breath on my neck, his hands wrapping around my wrists and pinning them to the wall to keep me still. He was warmer than he should have been with the blood of a dozen different victims in him. There were tears in my eyes now, but he didn't seem to care, he was crazed now with bloodlust and I was only making it worse. "Is it the God's blood inside you now? Is that why you taste like sunlight? What would happen if I drained you, I wonder?" he pulled back to search my eyes with a smile, licking his lips in anticipation, "Would that power pass to me?"

"Isaac let go, you're hurting me."

"It's what I'm good at." He replied simply, gathering my wrists in one hand between us so that he could sweep the long hair from my shoulder, running his finger up the column of my throat.

The vampire dipped his head down again, kissing the spot he intended to bite softly and leaving behind a whisper of heated excitement. A reaction that came solely from my scar. He was playing on them again, to distract me or keep me still, I wasn't sure, but I could feel it at my throat and wrist, a pulse that shuddered down to my core against my will.

"You should have listened to Sanura you know, stayed away from me." He murmured against my skin, while I panted in fear, trembling in his hold. "I don't want to kill you Mira. I like you. I just can't control myself anymore, and you smell so good."

"Isaac stop." I said, my voice weak and frightened now, "Please don't."

"Hush." He whispered, kissing my throat again and grazing his fangs along the sensitive flesh, "It won't hurt for long. I can even make you like it. You know that."

"No." I squeaked, trying to sink down away from him, but he lifted me up and pinned me against the wall again, and I felt the first prick of his fangs.

"Just a taste, Mira. Just let me have a little. I'll do my best to stop."

I felt his fingers on my side, trailing down to the hem of my shirt and slipping beneath the thin material. I whimpered, not meaning to, but unable to stop the fear that he might do more than just kill me. After hearing about his days with Daniel the psychopath, I really didn't know what to expect from him anymore.

Isaac's fingers brushed across my stomach and the slashes that Tate the werewolf had given me, but when he touched them he went still. The vampire frowned, lifting my gathered wrists above my head to hold me still while he grabbed the front of my shirt and ripped it down the middle.

"What are you doing?" I demanded in outrage and fear, but Isaac onl stared at the wounds, drawing his finger along the sensitive edge.

"You're healing." He said softly, tilting his head to inspect them further.

"Of course I am. Now let me g-"

"No." his voice snapped out and he narrowed his eyes. "It's only been a few days and already the wounds have closed. Your skin is yellowed with bruising but that shouldn't have started for at least another week." His black eyes lifted to mine and he smiled a slow and frightening smile. "You're healing faster than you should Mira. Why didn't you tell me the god gave you power like this?"

I frowned, eyes wide. His grip on my wrists had tightened and he was leaning in close to me again, making me nervous. "I didn't know." I said truthfully, and he chuckled.

"Of course you didn't. You don't know much of anything, do you?"

"Isaac…"

"No matter, I'm curious what will happen when I feast on you." He grinned, "Care to find out?"

"Isaac, stop it."

But he wasn't listening anymore, not that he had been at all. The vampire leaned down, pinning my wrists against the wall when I started to struggle, though I could have never broken free of his hold unless he wanted me to. He seemed to have finished playing with me now, and his black eyes were focused on my throat. I screamed when he forced my head to the side, ignoring the soft hushes he murmured against me when he'd leaned in to kiss my trembling flesh. I couldn't help thinking that I'd overestimated my ability to control the vampire, or the idea that I could at all. Now with his brain working like a starving animal's he was beyond my reasoning, and therefore I was screwed.

It hurt at first when he bit me, and I cried out against him, though he clamped his hand down over my mouth when I did. It didn't stop me from crying out though. He'd ripped down into the very muscle of my throat, rolling the tendons and shooting fire down into my body. My racing heart only pumped my blood to him faster as I struggled weakly against him and made the vampire groan softly in pleasure against me.

He stopped to smile down at me, my blood staining his teeth bright red and uncovered my mouth to grasp my jaw and hold my face still. "You taste divine, little girl. Would you like to see?"

He didn't give me a chance to answer before he'd leaned down and kissed me. He filled my mouth with my own blood and I gagged on the thick warm liquid, trying again to shove at him or beat him away, but he was immovable and only laughed at my attempts.

"I can almost feel the god's presence in your blood, Mira. I can taste his power in you." He nuzzled against my throat again, drawing his tongue over the wound to catch the blood that was trailing from it. I could see the strain of red in the torn material of my shirt now, and wondered if he'd torn out my throat as well, and how long I had before I died of blood loss.

When he bit me again, I only had the strength to let out a soft snivel. A whimper of fear and pain that he simply drank down with everything else and smiled at hatefully. His teeth clamped down harder in his growing fervor, making me groan and cry out each time he jerked at my flesh, tearing into me and forcing more blood to spill out into his mouth. It was getting colder now, and the feeling of him presse against me was warmer than it should have been. I told myself that this meant I had lost more blood than I should have. That I was dying.

"Isaac…" I managed to get out with a shaky breath. He didn't stop eating.

"Mmhmm?"

"You…you have to…ahh, stop." I closed my eyes tightly at the pain as he ripped deeper into my throat, "Please stop."

"I'm sorry Mira." He said softly, pausing in his feast to kiss my cheek and leave behind a bloody lip print, "I told you I could only try. I can't stop."

"You will." The voice was a boom that echoed throughout the entire main hall and made Isaac stiffen above me. Before he could turn to see the speaker however, he was being wrenched away from me. I watched the vampire as he flew back across the room and smashed into the wall above the staircase, cracking the wood with his impact. He fell down against the stairs with a loud thump and rolled down the rest of the way to the marble floors with a groan, pushing himself onto his back.

My eyes followed this before slowly lifting up to the god who stood above me with a furious scowl. He reached down and grabbed the ruined edges of my shirt to lift me up to my feet, prodding at the huge opening in my neck and growling deep in the back of his throat. I didn't know how to react. He was here, away from Windsor forest and right here in Isaac's manor! What the hell was going on?

"Can you speak?" he asked me after he'd laid his hand across the room and filled it with healing warmth. It burned a moment and o swallowed against the pain, but nodded. "Did it attack you?"

I was exhausted now and found myself nodding. Cernnunos nodded once in response and set me gently down on the staircase turning to the vampire who had just begun to push himself off the floor, spitting blood onto the marble with a soft curse.

"Then it will suffer." Cern said and suddenly he was across the room and grabbing Isaac by the throat, lifting him off the floor. I could only watch as he lifted him high into the air and slammed him back down into the marble, cracking the stone with the vampire's body.

"Oh shit." I said softly when I realized that Cern was just getting started.

Originally, I had planned for this entire encounter to be one chapter, but when I got to this point and saw how long it was already, I decided to break it in half and give you the next bit later. The next chapter will have the questions and answers you've all been wondering about. Cern will tell Mira a few of the things she's ready to know and Isaac…well…you'll see.

I feel like Josep's death unhinged him a little more than anyone anticipated. He's going to be a little off now. A little more like the Isaac you all met in the beginning.