The women gasped in surprise, jerking away from the embrace of her lover. Her eyes widened upon him, her mouth dropping as she gaped at him. “Devon!”
Devon nodded to her. “Jane.”
He turned slowly, his eyes scanning over his brother. Robert had always been bigger than him, thicker through the shoulders, and broader in the chest. But either because of what Devon had become, or just the normal process of adulthood and genetics, Devon was now slightly taller than Robert, and broader in the back and shoulders. Robert looked anything but happy to see Devon as he studied him with open disdain, and his arms folded firmly over his chest.
“Devon, is that really you?” Jane whispered. Her hand was over her mouth now, her eyes wide as she scanned him rapidly. Her surprise turned swiftly to keen interest and desire. Jane, the neighbor’s daughter and Devon had once had a fling, but apparently she had moved onto his brother when Devon had left.
“We had thought you dead,” Robert said softly.
Devon’s mouth curved into a harsh smile. “Not even death could keep me down,” he told him, trying hard not to laugh at the confused look on Robert and Jane’s faces.
Robert shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “What are you doing here?”
Devon shrugged, holding his hands out before him. “I just wished to see my loving family once more.”
Jane glanced at Robert, her eyes widened with fear as her survival instincts finally surged up to bury her shock over seeing Devon again. Her head turned swiftly back and forth between them as she sensed the hostility and growing animosity there. “Will you be staying?” Robert inquired, ever the gentleman.
“No.”
“Will you see father?”
“No.”
Robert frowned in confusion. He expected Devon to be here for something, money, vengeance, shelter, anything. But the fact that Devon was here for nothing was one that Robert could not grasp, Robert was all about greed and self satisfaction. “Where have you been?” Jane asked softly.
Devon shrugged as he slid his hands into his pockets, his mouth curved in a cruel smile. “To hell and back, but I greatly enjoyed the trip.”
Jane’s eyes widened even more; she took a step back from him. Robert’s eyes were narrowed, questioning. He didn’t understand this man before him, didn’t know where this new Devon had come from, or what had helped to create him, but there was a power surrounding him that Robert greatly wanted, admired, and envied.
“I must be going now,” Devon told them, offering his brother a sly smile as he tilted his head to the side.
“Will we see you again?” Jane asked eagerly.
Devon shook his head. “No. I will not be returning here. I wish you both a good life.”
“Wait! Devon wait!” He turned slightly back at Jane’s hurried cry. “Where will you be going?”
Devon couldn’t stop the large grin that flashed over his face. “That’s the beauty of it. I’ll go wherever the world, and time, can take me.”
They both looked completely confused, but he expected them to be. Unlike him, they didn’t have eternity to travel the world, to experience the wonder of life, and especially the wonder of death. Devon slipped swiftly away, unaware of the fact that Elizabeth had followed him to the manor, that she had spied upon him, and been witness to the dislike amongst the brothers.
He didn’t know that she would approach Robert that night, and as vengeance for Devon leaving her, she would also change Robert and set him lose upon the world. Set him lose upon Devon.
Cassie clung tighter to him as his fingers twined through her hair. His memories poured rapidly into her, it was as if he was trying to purge himself of everything as rapidly as he could. Trying to purge himself of all the horror, fear, and hatred that had plagued his young life, and his later years.
After his change, Robert had slaughtered all of the servants at the manor, and their father. He had then burnt the home to the ground, effectively severing all of his ties with a life that had been kind to him, but that he had despised all the same. Devon had not known of Robert’s change, or the slaughter, until fifty years later when they had run across each other again in Venice.
Though Devon had been beyond stunned to see his brother alive, and untouched by age, Robert had been prepared for the meeting, looking forward to it. He had in fact been searching for Devon for a very long time. Robert had been the obviously favored child of their father, the only one that mattered, and he had also inherited his father’s vicious streak and ingrained hatred for Devon. Even at his cruelest, Devon did not have the depth of hatred, rage, and psychosis inside of him that Robert possessed, and always would. Robert may not have been beaten throughout his childhood, but he had longed to be the one doing the beating.
When he had come across Devon though, Robert had expected to come across the weaker brother that Devon had once been. He had expected to find the beaten and broken adolescent that had fled their family estate the first chance he’d gotten. Robert had expected to come across a man that he could torture and manipulate and brutalize to his endless pleasure, before finally destroying him.
He had been sadly mistaken. Though Devon only had eight years on Robert as a vampire, he was inherently stronger, faster, and far more cruel and vicious than Robert had ever fathomed. Robert had tracked Devon down in order to abuse him; he had not expected to be the one getting beaten. He had not expected to find his weak younger brother far stronger than he was.
And his hated for Devon grew even more after the encounter. He hated Devon for possessing a strength and confidence that Robert would never know.
And when Julian entered the picture, Robert became even more infuriated and volatile. There had been no stopping Julian and Devon together, there was no way that Robert could get to Devon. No way to destroy his younger brother like he had always wanted to do.
Until now.
And now, Robert knew that the one way to destroy his brother was to destroy Cassie, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that was done.
Cassie pulled away from Devon, gasping in a breath of air as the pulsation of memories pounding against her ceased. Gasping in air as she tried to breathe around the tight constriction in her chest. Tears burned her eyes, her heart ached for Devon. Ached for the innocent boy he had once been, for the man that boy had been turned into, for the monster the man had become, and for the man who lay beneath her now, terrified that he was going to lose her.
“Devon.”
He brushed the tears from her cheeks, wiped his blood from her mouth. “I won’t let him hurt you.”