Gabriel Black's POV

Hearing the shattering of the glass from my French windows and the sound of fear in Aria's voice as she yelled, "Gabriel, run!" Should've been enough, but at my ancient age, few things scare me. But this did.

Another entity was there, like her, yet not. Aria felt emotions and I wasn't sure if this one did or not. I wasn't about to stick around and find out. Going to pick up my phone, I came across Richard who was just coming into the office. "What the fuck, Gabriel?" I just pointed to Aria and her new friend.

"Come and talk with me upfront of the house where we are safer. If that one is anything like Aria was in the beginning..." We both sped across the floors to the foyer and out the front door closing it behind us. "We need to get out of here, and fast."

"I'm not leaving her," Richard said with the kind of conviction a person has when you'd have to kill them first.

"Then you, Richard Weston are a damn fool! You stay here, and she sees you, you break her concentration which can get her or both of you killed. Come with me, and we'll get the vampires and the lycans plus the shapeshifters together to be there as her back up should she need us." He grabbed me by the lapels and slammed my back up against the house

"You want to just walk away after she saved your ass?! Yeah, that's right, I heard her yell for you to run, and she was terrified. Down to the marrow, bone-crunching terror was in her voice. Fine then just get out of here then you fucking could coward." He growled. Damn, fledglings. More trouble than they are worth. He let my lapels go and my feet hit the floor. As soon as they did I was off and running around the edge of the estate. Why Aria decided to save me at that last second, I'll never know...

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Richard Weston's POV

Walking through the shattered glass all over the carpet, I listened to the conversation Aria was having with the other entity.

"...it's time to complete The Merging, live or die, your choice. I'm still with plenty of core power to last at least another million years. But you, my dear, have nearly used your core power and reserves up. The proverbial clock is ticking..."

What is this? Is Aria dying or something? I hurried up and got closer to the door frame so I wouldn't be heard. And what the hell is this Merging? I don't like the sound of that. It reminds me of the old term for sex called: coupling.

Thanks to the reminder from Gabriel, I stayed out of Aria's view. When she struck out at this entity she called Xavier, he deserved it. I wanted to run out there and defend her so badly, but I knew I'd just cause her sorrow and grief by getting myself killed. I wouldn't stand a chance against him, it would be suicide. My fingers gripped the world of the doorframe is hard it began to crack and break in my hands. Hmm... Vampire strength... This can come in handy... Then I heard Aria and the fear in her voice:

"NEVER...'" She had said. What the hell? What as going on?

To which Xavier replied, "Then your precious humans will die."

That sure as hell got my attention. What the hell was happening, what did I miss? Something must have transpired when her molecules shifted and she hit him.

Stiffly, Xavier took a few steps away. "You cannot fight this Aria. It is inevitable. When I return be ready, or I will force the issue if I must. With my core power, you know I'd defeat you easily. Prepare." Taking a few more steps, Xavier disappeared.

When she knew he was gone, Aria knelt on the grass, and covering her face with her hands she began to cry.

Walking over to her, I placed my hand on her shoulder to let her know I was there before I sat down in the soft green grass beside her. "Aria, I caught some of the end of that conversation... What has you crying so hard, honey?" reaching around her shoulders, I pulled her right into my strong embrace.

Wiping at her eyes, I've rested her head against my shoulder. "Remember I told you about the two black holes merging?" At my nod, she sniffled then continued. "That is what I am supposed to do with Xavier to restore my core power. But... I left a few things out when we spoke back then. As you know, this is nothing at all like sex between humans. This is not about procreation. It is about his survival, my survival, the exchange of information gained during our lives, or it can mean the death of one, or both of us." She sighed and closed her eyes.

I was still a bit confused, "Alright, so how does this work exactly?" I was beginning to feel a bit jealous and I didn't like it.

"We both return to our natural forms and pass through one another. The gravitational pull that we each have decides that we pass through and live, or try to pass through, and not being able to connect for core power exchange due to the gravitational pull being off, one of us dies." She paused to let her words sink in, and they did. Dread welled up in the pit of my stomach. "The last one is that if the gravitational pull is perfect, we become one entity. The woman you love would be gone. I was crying for us because we just got started." Holding onto her tightly, I rhythmically stroked her hair.

"Even if you have to go through with this... Merging thing, I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here waiting for you no matter what. Now that I have you, I don't plan on letting you go. That is a part of what love is. Being there for one another." She pulled back a little to look into my eyes, and then she gave me one of her incredibly bright smiles.

"I guess it's also part of being with the only alien on the block, huh?" She took my face in her hands and gave me a gentle kiss that made my heart skip a beat.

As our lips parted, I gazed into her soft brown eyes and grinned."You know, even though he ran away, Gabriel is going to try and bring all of the supernaturals together to back you in a fight against Xavier, if necessary. Or at least it's what he implied."

Pulling back a bit more, her features got serious as she dropped her hands from my face. "I hope not, I don't want anyone getting hurt over me. He'd destroy all of you for just one tiny reason, you know that... Like I would have." She finished in a small voice.

Placing my hands at her waist, I looked at her closely, the full impact of what she means to me, and this merging thing was starting to hit me hard. So, he gets to merge with her the way I only wish I could? No! My mind screamed at me. Though this was not the time or place for it, I was jealous as all hell that this other entity could end up trying to take my woman. This is fucking bullshit! God, fucking damnit! And she's asking me to pretty much just standby... My mind was becoming unreasonable, and I knew it. Fuck! I had thought at one time, maybe it would be best for her to be among her own kind, but not anymore. My heart was breaking a little bit, and I tried not to show it. Aria was going through enough without having to deal with my feelings too. You know, a male pride thing.

Instead, I just puller her body up close to mine in a secure warm embrace, and buried my face in her sun-kissed hair.