Kevin stretched his arms over his head and groaned with pleasure. He hadn't been able to sleep as soundly in longer than he cared to remember. Usually his dreams, or rather nightmares, kept his sleeping patterns to mere naps. Any longer resulted in mental torture; the reliving of the day he died and became a monster.

Changed at the age of twenty-seven, the prime of his life, after a brutal attack by some sort of creature. It had leapt from the shadows at the back of the tavern where he spent the night being amused by the pretty new entertainment. It had approached him as he lay dying in the gutter and forced its bleeding wrist to his mouth. The next thing he remembered was waking in a wooden box. It took him what felt like an eternity to dig his way from his own grave.

The nightmare always began with the same image: the face of the fiend who attacked him, staring back in the mirror. Mary, his beloved little sister, weeping at the graveside as he emerged from the soil; her running in terror as he gave chase; seeking sanctuary in the church, cowering at the alter in prayer with God to save her from the devil pursuing her. That devil didn't hesitate in draining her, taking the life of his sister in an attack as brutal as the one he himself had suffered.

Bloodlust, a need for the life-force flowing only in the living, and he hadn't cared whose it was. Standing over the desiccated corpse of his beloved Mary, he swore to find the monster that infected him and end its existence. Devon found him soon after and gave him shelter; taught him how to hunt and how to control the beast that took his sister's life. Somehow though, the face of the brute had morphed into a twisted version of the vampire he considered his sire: Devon.

During the last decade, Devon had become power hungry, enlisting the help of a tyrant to gain control of a pride of mountain lions. Kidnapping the young witch Adie, was the final step in a plan to take over a neighbouring territory and increase his worth in the vampiric community. A territory Devon assured him belonged to Alexander; the monster he claimed had turned him.

As Kevin lay and considered his present predicament, the monster's face flashed across his vision, disappearing back into the shadows a moment later. He shook it off as an illusion, a distant memory.

He sat up to survey the room. Light spilled in through the open door from the hallway, accompanied by mumbling voices echoing from the front of the house. He got up to investigate; something within the tone of the voices seemed to indicate a problem.

Nicolas opened the front door and strode purposely down the hall toward Devon's rooms. He stopped when Kevin caught his arm.

"What's going on?" Kevin asked.

"I don't have time right now, Kevin," Nicolas replied, pushing past him and stepping into Devon's bedroom. "Damn! Have you seen Devon this evening?"

"No, I've just got up. What's going on out there?" he insisted.

"The lions are having a celebration in honour of Vince being overthrown."

"Overthrown as in no longer the alpha?"

"As in dead. Come morning they'll all leave. I have to find Devon and warn him that he doesn't have control of them anymore."

"I haven't seen him since... since..." Kevin frowned. "I don't remember."

"Devon damn near killed you, how you don't remember that is beyond me. If Adie hadn't intervened he would have."

"What? Why the hell would he try to kill me? He's my friend."

Nicolas laughed. "Friend? Ha! Only as long as he can use you, the moment you challenged him your usefulness ceased."

"But he promised to help..."

"Are you so naïve to believe his promises?"

"He swore to help me find the monster that changed me."

"You still believe he found you in a gutter? Get real and use your head, Kevin. Who would gain from you being a vampire?"

"I don't know, but I saw the monster that attacked me that night, its image haunts my dreams. I'd know it if I ever see it again."

"You'd know the image planted, but not the vampire responsible. I've said enough. I have to go."

Kevin grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. "Wait, are you saying Devon made me?"

Nicolas glanced up and down the hall, leaning in close to Kevin's ear. "Devon attacked you outside a tavern and drained you. He fed you his blood, and on the night you woke, he lured your sister to your graveside and watched you kill her in the church."

Kevin paled and stood, stupefied, as Nicolas recounted the tale he'd never dared share with anyone. His words sunk in. It all made perfect sense, except for what Devon would gain from turning him. As nothing but the middle class son of the town banker, he had nothing to offer him.

Kevin sank to the floor as realization finally struck; it wasn't him that Devon had wanted, but his father. He became bargaining chip for his father's influence in the community. Feeling a fool for believing the lies Devon had spun about his father and the heavy hand with which his father did business - foreclosing on so many of his neighbours leaving them bankrupt and homeless - Devon had been conveniently waiting on the side lines to buy those territories at a bargain price.

He wept for his sister, for his father and finally for himself.

Adie found him sitting alone in the narrow hall and knelt in front of him. She gathered him in her arms until he cried himself dry.

"How could I be so stupid?" he asked. Around hiccupping sobs, he told her what he'd learned.

"There's no point in blaming yourself for something outside your control," Adie consoled. "Things have been set in motion that will put an end to his games once and for all." She pulled him close. "I promise you'll have your revenge, but you have to be patient for the plans to unfold. Can you do that for me?"

Footsteps slapped against the wood floor signifying that they were no longer alone. Krystal aided one of Devon's human snacks. Walking sluggishly, she struggled to support the weight of the young, human girl at her side.

Both Adie and Kevin leapt to their feet to help her.

"What happened to her?" Adie asked, hooking the girls arm over her shoulder.

Krystal led them along the hall to the stairs. "Up here please."

Kevin swept the girl off her feet and carried her to the upper rooms, laying her on the first bed he came to. Blue lips and delicate veins on her eyelids stood in sharp contrast against her pale skin, confirming Kevin's suspicions. Her heartbeat was barely perceptible to his hearing. He turned to face Krystal as she stepped into the room with Adie at her back. "Devon drained her, didn't he?"

Nodding in reply, Krystal went to the cupboard in the bathroom and withdrew a small brown bottle. "Eliza gave us a potion to help us recover from the excessive feeding. This is the first we've needed it since you arrived." She tipped the bottle to the girl's lips. Nothing came out. "Damn, there's none left." She sagged onto the bed, weeping. "I'm so sorry, Anabel."

Placing her hands on Anabel's chest, Adie fed healing energy into her. After a few moments, she smiled reassuringly. "She'll be a little weak. Let her rest for a bit, she'll be okay."

"Oh my God, really? Are you sure?" Krystal asked. "I don't want to leave her, but the Master wants me back to help him dress."

Adie smiled. "Trust me, she'll be up and around in a few hours. Go sort the old cretin... Oh!" Adie added as Krystal reached the top of the stairs. "If he asks, tell him we're waiting in the car."

"I will. Thank you!"

"Nicolas was looking for him earlier to tell him that Vince is dead and the pride is leaving. Is that part of the plan?" Kevin asked, once Krystal was out of earshot.

Adie sniggered. "Yes, and it's coming together very nicely."

"But won't he suspect something if Nicolas tells him that Vince is dead."

"Don't worry about Nicolas, I've already had a word with him. Things are all set."