She realized now she had been mistaken in her thinking. They may be more civil than most vampires, but they were not tamed. They were wild, fierce, and right now they were both on edge, dark, and deadly. Cassie swallowed heavily; her gaze slowly went back to Devon. He remained unmoving, his jaw locked tight, and his eyes as hard as steel. She wanted her Devon back; she wanted the warm loving man that she knew so well.
But he was not there. Not right now anyway and she was frightened he may never be there again.
A lump clogged her throat, tears burned her eyes. She bent her head as she fought hard against the panic trying to swamp her. “Done?” Devon asked quietly.
Julian shrugged. “For now.”
“Is he alive?” Luther inquired.
Julian quirked an eyebrow, but there was no amusement on his features. “As much as I would like to, I wouldn’t kill a man tied to a chair. I would give him a fair chance at escaping first. Well, as fair as it could be anyway.”
“I see,” Luther said, but there was a hint of disappointment in his voice that surprised her.
“What did you learn?”
Julian glanced at Devon. Cassie’s hands fisted harder, the panic inside of her was beginning to turn into full fledged terror. Julian’s ice colored eyes met hers; the sympathy in them caused her to take a step back. No matter what had happened between them, to them, he had never pitied her. He had never looked at her like that. Whatever he had learned had been awful, and she knew instantly that she was not going to like it one bit. She took another step back, bumping into the wall of feed they had placed before the broken window.
Melissa placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her as her breathing became shallower, more frantic. “It will be ok,” Melissa whispered.
Cassie nodded her agreement, but she did not agree. It was not going to be ok, she knew that. She had seen that awful look in Julian’s eyes; she had felt his uncertainty, his hesitance. No, it was definitely not going to be ok, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it. “What were they trying to do to me?” she asked softly.
Julian met her gaze again. Devon finally moved. He came swiftly toward her, his lean body moving with exceptional ease as he skirted the bags of feed. She stared helplessly up at him as he stopped before her, his eyes warming slightly. She knew that he needed her understanding, and though she was lost and confused by what was happening with him, she could never deny him anything that he needed.
Her hand slid into his, the perfect rightness of his skin against hers caused a sigh of relief to escape. She clung to him, wrapping her other hand around his as she stepped closer, pressing tight to his arm. She could sense a cold detachedness about him still but his hand tightened upon hers as he pulled her closer.
“Julian?” Cassie breathed, trying hard not to lose control.
Julian looked to Devon, who pulled her closer against him. His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand rested lightly on her hip, gently stroking her through her layers of clothes. “You were their project,” Julian said softly. “Their pet project.”
His gaze moved slowly to Dani, who had backed herself into the shadows. “They were trying to turn you into a living vampire.”
Cassie started, horror curdled through her. Devon’s hand tightened upon her waist as he pulled her closer. “What do you mean?” Chris asked, his voice a low growl.
Julian’s gaze remained locked upon her, sympathy radiated from him, but he would not take it easy on her. He would be brutally honest, even if she didn’t want to hear it.
“They wanted to see what would happen, how much blood it would take, and if they could turn Cassie into a vampire while still keeping her human.”
There was a moment of stunned silence. “Is that even possible?” Melissa demanded. “And why?”
Julian turned slightly toward her. “I don’t know if it is possible, or not. I don’t believe it is, but I don’t know. It’s never been tried before, I’ve never even heard of anything like it, or known anyone that would even want to attempt it. Every vampire has had to die in order to be reborn. They wanted to try and keep Cassie human, try and have her turn without her death. They wanted to see what she might be capable of, and they wanted to be able to control her. And if it worked, they wanted to see if it would be possible to do it to others while keeping them under the thumb of The Commission.”
Cassie swallowed heavily, though she was wearing heavy clothes, she was suddenly freezing cold. “It’s why they devised all of those tortures, why they gave you my blood. They wanted to see what you could and could not handle, and they also wanted to see if one of them would push you into making the change into a human vampire. What they wanted from you Cassie was to see how long it would take before you snapped and changed, or before you died, and either way they planned on you becoming a vampire.”
She shuddered, pressing closer to Devon as a fierce shaking racked through her. “Ok, alright,” she whispered. “So that is why I’m different now. Why I feel different, why I’m stronger.”
“It is why you are stronger, but not why you feel different. You feel different because you are different. The vampire blood, my blood has changed your basic DNA. As has Devon’s.” Everyone glanced at them, their eyebrows drawing tightly together in surprise. Cassie chose to ignore them. “Our blood may eventually leave your system, but not without changing you on some basic level first. That is how the Hunter’s were eventually made after all, and in you, it is still making those changes.”
Cassie was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. “So what am I now?”
Julian shook his head. “I don’t know Cassie, neither does he.”
Sheets of ice crept down her back, causing her to shiver as her thoughts turned back toward the man in the other room. “Who is he?” she whispered.
Julian slipped his hands into his pockets. “His name’s Patrick Woodard. He became the head of The Commission after The Slaughter. He was afraid, and rightly so, that we would kill him when we discovered him, so he lied and claimed to be your father in the hope that we would keep him alive.”
“I’ve heard of him,” Luther said softly. “He was higher up in The Commission even before everything happened. I didn’t know he had survived.”
“Unfortunately,” Chris muttered.
“The children?” Cassie whispered.
“Are at another facility in Canada. I can find them when the time comes,” Julian answered.