I didn't stop, but I definitely looked back. Not just because I was worried that Brad would come after me but because I was worried that I'd knocked him out. I don't know if that happened. He was on the other side of the caravan. Maybe he was giving up on me and would find another source of blood. I could only hope.

The problem was, I couldn't go back until he was gone. I watched and waited, living in the hope that Anzide would return and find a way to calm Brad down. There was no movement. Brad had not emerged from either side of the caravan.

It was possible that he'd walked to the street and was now on his way to somewhere else. I felt sorry for the victims of vampires but, as always, grateful that it wasn't me. An odd thought occurred to me as I watched the caravan. Brad's speed was incomprehensible. The day that he took down that woman, he had her on the ground and was feeding from her within seconds. She didn't get the chance to scream.

Yet with me, he was somewhat slower. Was that hesitation? Did he know who I was when his mood altered like that? I hoped it was the case.

Feeling agitated, I walked a few steps to the side to see if I could see Brad. When I saw his shoes, I felt relieved and guilty all at once. Thankfully, he was sitting up, leaning against the caravan wall. At least he was okay and, of course, not stalking me. Was it safe enough to return? I highly doubt it.

Hearing a twig snap behind me, I gasped and turned around. I didn't want to say his name out loud, but I desperately wanted to know if it was Niko. Would he approach me if he saw me? I thought he would, but when no one came forward, I felt upset. He was angry at me. I'd destroyed his house and all those memories of his wife and daughter.

To make it worse, I couldn't feel the connection to him. It made me wonder if he'd severed it out of anger. That was fine. I deserved that. I didn't have any rights to this place or his legacy after what I'd done.

Birds squawked in the distance, taking off into the canopy. I gasped and turned to my left, where the sound had come from.

"Hello?" I said.

My voice was timid, even if I was trying to remain calm.

I couldn't feel my connection to Niko. I was stuck in the dangerous forest until Brad calmed down, and I was definitely not alone.

Was it better to face the hungry vampire or the unknown figure in the forest? It could be Drakkus or one of his followers.

Branches shifted to my right. Whoever it was, they were closing in, and they were surrounding me. I had to return to the property. At least I had Harlwood's protection. It wouldn't stop the ravenous vampire, but it would stop whoever was in the forest.

Turning, I thumped into something hard. In the darkness, I couldn't see who it was, but I knew that I was in serious trouble. They'd crept up behind me, and I hadn't heard a single thing.

I screamed, but the cool hand pressed to my mouth, muffling the sound. Coldness swept over me.

As the figure let go of me, I heard the gentle sounds of water lapping at the shoreline.

"Easy does it, Evie," Anzide said softly.

I gasped a soft cry, wrapping my arms around him. He'd dragged us into the portal.

"Why were you in the forest?"

"Brad was hungry and attacked me."

Anzide grumbled something. I leaned back and looked at him curiously.

"That explains why he saw me and took off. I guess he figured that I'd come looking for him once I found out."

"He needs help. Brad said that they all ran away screaming."

Anzide nodded, then crushed me into his body for another hug.

"Was it him in the forest?"

"No. I don't know who it was, but they didn't attack, so I'm led to believe the options are few in number."

Letting go of me, Anzide took my hand. We were taking a slow walk along the beach.

"Will he be okay?"

Anzide shrugged.

"Like I said, newborn vampires are remarkable. He will cope with what he has to do, but the problem is not what he is but who is out there, ready to take him down. I also monitored the other vampires when I was searching for him. They're all on the other side of town at the moment, so hopefully, that will be enough for him."

I nodded, grateful that he would be okay but still worried. He attacked me, but at the end of the day, he was still my uncle. He was still learning how to be a vampire, and we were stuck in this crazy situation where he had no role model, no guide, and no leader. Brad really needed Niko.

"I couldn't feel the connection to Niko."

Anzide pulled me closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"It can happen. If he's sleeping after a feed, it might be so deep that the connection goes down. It feels like it's disconnected, but it's not really."

"So, he wouldn't have disconnected it."

"Not possible."

Anzide pulled back to look at me, offering an uneasy smile.

"Did you think that he'd disconnected intentionally?"

I nodded, feeling the sadness all over again.

"You know, I did say that Niko would not be upset at what happened. He is the kind of vampire that has incredible understanding and can see the truth in many things. Even if you'd done it intentionally, there would be some form of forgiveness within him. I know you're feeling a lot of guilt, but you shouldn't."

I stopped walking. Anzide turned and looked at me.

"Something wrong?"

I twitched a smile as my eyes narrowed.

"You've spoken to him. When were you going to tell me?"

Anzide stared, then sighed.

"How did you know?"

"Because you speak as if you've had conversations with him. No one would know what Niko was like unless they met him. What you've just said, it proves it. Only someone that has spoken to Niko would know how wonderful he is. So come on, when were you going to tell me?"

"It is not safe to speak of him being alive. You know this. What if someone was on the outside of the caravan listening to us?"

"But it's true?"

Anzide nodded, pouting at me.

"Am I forgiven?"

"Only because you're doing everything you can to ensure he is a secret."

With a mighty grin, Anzide wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the sand. I howled with laughter, shrieking a little too. When I stopped and looked down at Anzide, I leaned down and kissed him.

Sliding my arms around his neck, I kept him close while enjoying the passionate embrace. It was moments like this one that made life so much better.

Returning to the caravan was done with a lot of trepidation. I feared that Brad hadn't fed and was still desperate to sink his fangs into me. He wasn't the same person that he was a week ago, and that saddened me quite a lot.

Anzide said that Brad had taken off when he returned. It was possible that Brad was still out there. Maybe he'd found a poor, unsuspecting victim to murder.

It was midnight when we returned. The street was quiet, and there were no lights on in the neighbor's houses. It was strange to live in a town that shut down completely like Hades did. Even in the dullest towns that Brad and I had ventured to, someone was always awake. But not Hades.

I thought that it was like Hades had a switch, and once it was flicked, everything was off. Although, I seriously doubt that the vampires remained inside at night. They seemed to do as they pleased, regardless of what anyone else might want.

As for Brad, he was near the door to the caravan, snoring. Anzide looked at me with a slight smirk. Flat on his back with arms flailed out, Brad was out of it. And, he looked fed.

Anzide nudged Brad's leg with his boot, waiting for him to wake. With a snort, Brad woke up. It looked as if it had been a rough night.

"Your behavior tonight was appalling. I hope now that you've fed, you're aware of the situation that you put your niece in and how it could have easily become dangerous for her. To escape you, she fled into the forest, and there was someone out there. It was not a friend, and I think that my return was the only reason that she is still here."

Holding open the door, Anzide waited for Brad to pass through. They both gave me a grim look. Yep, things were not good.

I was about to enter the caravan when I stopped and looked at Brad as he slumped into the seat at the dining table. He was better than this. No matter what, he was always my protector, yet in this one instance, he'd changed.

Slowly my gaze turned from the morose figure, that was likely to be internally chastising himself harshly to the divine creature beside me. Anzide's head tipped slightly, waiting for the insightfulness to spring from me.

"The demon put a spell over him."

He said nothing for a moment, then nodded.

"Good call. That's," Anzide sighed as he leaned on the door frame. "Yeah, it's not impossible. In fact, I'd say that it is highly likely if Hannah is the demon on Drakkus's payroll."

With a flick of his head, Anzide urged me into the caravan. Things wouldn't be great, this conversation was going to be difficult, but it would be okay. We would learn from the events of today and take them onboard, learn from them and create something better.

Anzide sat opposite Brad while I raided the cupboard for things to eat. I don't know why but I felt hungry. I felt hungry after going into the portal last time but didn't think much of it because I hadn't eaten in a while anyway.

Remaining at the counter, I snacked on a small packet of biscuits. My orange juice poured, and the scent lingered and made me salivate for a taste. Ignoring the conversation, I tossed the packet of biscuits aside and drank until there was nothing left.

When I was done, I realized that I was being watched.

"Thirsty?"

"Just a little."

Anzide said nothing else in response, just watching me with a plain face.

"So, I think we can agree that you won't go near Hannah again, right?"

"Yeah."

Brad sounded defeated, but there was no anger to be seen. I think the actions of today have soured the mood.

"You can't help it when she's doing things like this," I offered.

That made Brad perk up and look at me. Previously he'd favored the table with his sadness.

"How so?"

"If Hannah is affecting your mood, altering your hunger, of course you won't have any control over it. How do we know that she's not putting spells over you?"

Brad shrugged.

"For all we know, she could be making it specific to me. You know, attack Evie and drink her blood."

"Yeah, I guess."

Sitting down next to Anzide, I shifted so that I was facing him.

"What's the range of a demon spell?"

"It can depend on things like wind, interference, and distraction. In a place like this, if she were in the forest and it was quiet like it is now, I'd say the fence line would be enough."

"Would the caravan make any difference?"

"It wouldn't work. She'd have to make direct contact. It means that she's either done it the last time they saw each other or she's done it when he wasn't aware she was around. It's possible that she changed form to avoid detection. This means that we can't trust anyone, and now, we're at risk of upsetting Harlwood. If he turns up, Brad cannot go near him until the spell residue has left. He stinks of demons."

I couldn't smell anything different about him, but to be fair, I hardly knew a thing about this world.

"Why can't we just go to Harlwood and tell him what's happening? If we say that we think that she's done these things, but we're not certain, surely he could figure it out and tell us."

"If this was just a clear cut case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably. The issue is that he's entered her space enough to catch her attention. They're dating. It might have ended, but it happened. Am I right, Brad?"

The sheepish gaze lowered to the table as he murmured something.

"Damn, you're nasty," I crooned.

"Please, like you're any different, banging a Nephilim," Brad grumbled. "But in regards to Hannah, no, we haven't."

"Porked it?"

"Evie," Brad hissed.

He was blushing, which was a little amusing. I tried not to tease Brad too often, but sometimes, it was far too easy.

"Which is just as well. Being an immortal, you can't fraternize with an Eternal and she would know that. Regardless, you still stink of her. She would have known that another demon was making a play for becoming Evie's soul feeder. Her aim would be to enrage the demon enough that he tells Evie to take a hike. Then she can stroll in and offer a little insight into her life, and if things turn bad with Drakkus, she's got another vampire family to move on to. Approaching Harlwood is your only option, but I don't know if it's going to turn out the way that you want it to."