EIGHTEEN

There were no Ferals in the house waiting to jump out and get him. But a desperate woman with a gun did make an appearance. Again Kyle found himself grateful for his Vampire strength and agility that allowed him to dodge her bullets and tackle her to the floor.

Despite his advantages, Kyle knew he'd never get used to having the barrel of a gun pointed at his head. It got his blood pumping in a bad way. He took it as an insult, and he wasn't gentle when he threw Charity under him, twisted her arm until she turned on her stomach, and then secured her hands with the handcuffs he'd been given earlier.

She screamed and wriggled like a mad woman. He didn't care.

Two men in uniform took her out of his hands. Kyle didn't watch as she was dragged out of the house by the uniformed officers, but he could still hear banging and kicking until she was out of the house.

He ran down to the basement where he knew Evey and her captor were waiting for him.

He ran down the feeble wooden steps, kicked in the door and stopped dead. Thick, tall cages lined the walls. Some had chains in them and other contained dried blood. Evey waited in one of those cages, patiently holding Claire by the neck and against the bars of her cage.

His face dropped and she smiled a bit at his shock. "Took you long enough."

Mike rushed in after Kyle. He stopped to gape at the sight for a split second before taking Claire from Evey and forcing her to open the cage before arresting her.

Kyle took the time to inspect the cages briefly before leaving to give the photographers and other specialists their space to work the scene.

The things were made custom, he could tell by the sloppy wielding work of the bars. A chill spidered down his back that had nothing to do with the dampness in the air.

The cages were made to hold people, strong people. Kyle stood in the torture chamber where so many Vampires lost their minds, where Charles Clayton was held until deemed worthless and thrown away, like his daughter.

Thoughts and emotions that weren't his rushed him and swelled inside of his head. Painful cries and memories that made him ache inside.

He turned for the door but stopped. The emotions he experienced did not belong to Jackie. He was sure she was the only one he could read yet these emotions felt as real as anything that came from her.

Gradually they calmed themselves and disappeared. Kyle was left feeling saddened that they were gone.

He ran back upstairs, through the halls and out the front door. He sucked in a fresh breath of air when he stepped out of the house. Freedom swept over him, rushed him like the emotions he felt in the basement, and he couldn't get enough of it.

He'd been in and out, hadn't experienced the horror that Jackie had surely gone through but the house restricted him, made it hard to breath. He was glad to be out of the place that had held so much suffering for the people Claire and her mother kidnapped and killed.

A firm hand gripped his shoulder. He turned and saw Carter. "You alright?"

He shook his head. "Down there … I felt—"

He nodded. "It happens sometimes. Poltergeists."

Kyle gaped at him and turned back to the door at the end of the hallway, leading to the basement. "You mean there's ghosts down there?"

Carter shook his head. "Tourists. Yes, when people die like that then their spirits stay in that spot."

The idea that people could be trapped like that even after their death horrified him. "So then, what are they going to do now?"

Carter smiled, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to have a haunted basement to deal with. "We've got someone coming to take care of the stragglers. But after what happened today, having their killers arrested and taken away, I wouldn't be surprised if most of them went to the other side on their own."

Kyle recalled feeling something like that when he stood down there. He nodded his head.

"I think someone wants to see you."

Kyle spun and saw Jackie hop from out of a squad car and run to him. He didn't care that she hadn't already left to answer questions or warm up someplace safer because he just wanted her to be there. He opened his arms when she ran to him and closed them so tightly around her he knew he would never let her go.

She babbled words of relief and worry into his chest but he didn't hear a word she said. All he could think about were his own worries, about how he thought he would never see her again.

Nervous laughter bubbled out of his throat. "When I found out you were gone. I was so scared."

She looked up at him and he stared into her eyes and saw his reflection there and knew that she was where he needed to be. "I love you."

Her eyes brightened and he feared she would cry. She grabbed him by the ears and kissed him instead, kissed him without the worry that he might need his strength. Kissed him like she knew she belonged with him too. He felt himself melt back into a human but paid no mind to the change.

She must have felt the change too because she pulled her lips away when he finished, though their faces stayed close. "I love you too." She burst out laughing. "Oh my God, I actually love you!"

He forcefully pulled her mouth to his again. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and the blanket fell away from her. They pulled apart and both bent down to grab it, still laughing like giddy teenagers, and he wrapped it snuggly around her again, tucking a few strands of her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"Does this mean that now that you're done protecting me, and since you found my sister, that you're not going to use the excuse that we can't be together because it's unprofessional?"

A silent laugh shook the top of his chest. "No."

"Good." She leaned in so that he could hold her again.

"It's snowing. Heavy." He said, watching the police working through the falling cotton balls. No one approached and asked them to go away with them to answer questions. He figured he owed Carter for that.

"I know. I think it's kind of romantic."

They were outside the house she'd been held hostage in, where numerous people had died. "What's so romantic about it?"

She looked him in the eye. "What's not romantic about kissing in the snow?"

He wasn't certain how to answer that considering his experiences with romance, so he shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, Gorgeous. It's ... it has its appeal."

She leaned back into him. Content with his answer. "See? That wasn't so hard."

He felt her emotions shift, and the change startled him considering their happy reunion a few seconds ago. "What's wrong?"

She chewed her bottom lip. "I know you can't be cured."

He shook his head, knowing her guilt stemmed from the fact that her own sister was the one to lay the curse on him. "Don't even worry about that. As long as I'm going to bed with you every night then it hardly matters, doesn't it?"

She breathed a sigh and he knew he'd just lifted a heavy weight from her shoulders. He also "We're probably going to have to answer a few questions, then your mother's going to want to make sure you're alright, and that's going to take some time, but right now I just need to take you home and have you to myself."

She gave him a wicked grin. She knew exactly what he meant. "By all means, don't let me stop you."

000

The door to her apartment slammed open and Kyle rushed blindly into the dark space with his package in his arms and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. He didn't stop until they hit a wall. Jackie gasped and he used the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth, turning her gasp into an immediate sigh.

Her fingers threatened his hair and fisted a huge and painful handful of the stuff. He opened his eyes long enough to rush into her bedroom, not bothering to kick the door shut behind him as he all but fell onto the bed with her beneath him.

Jackie's bubbled laughter as they bounced to a stop on top of her sheets prompted his own. He'd never laughed in bed with anyone before, and he couldn't wait to find out what other firsts a true relationship with his Soul Mate could offer.

Soul Mate.

That's what she was. And she was his. Tonight he'd make sure of it.

He lifted her shirt above her head and threw it away to some unknown spot in the room. He didn't bother with her bra yet. He massaged her breast through the material. She arched tight like a bow.

He wanted to give her only a taste of what he could do for her. He wanted her to beg him for it.

000

"You're such a tease." She puffed, glaring through the fog of lust. She didn't want him to touch her through her bra, she wanted his skin on hers, his hands on her breasts doing exactly what he was doing now.

She grabbed his hand and tried to force him to do just that but he pulled away. He waved a finger at her next. "Ah, ah."

"Tease." She said again.

"My poor girl." He purred, though his purr abruptly stopped when she lifted her knee between his legs. His eyes widened and body stiffened in mild panic before she rubbed her leg gently up and down that spot.

His eyes slid shut and he sucked in a breath.

His fists clenched in her sheets and she smiled before stopping.

"Teasing isn't very nice, is it?" She asked.

He struggled with his belt. "You're right. What was I thinking?"

She helped him out of it and shoved her hands down his jeans to help ease them off of his hips. The boxers were the only things left that separated them.

She leaned back against the bed and, with as much force as possible without hurting her, pulled her belt out of the loops in her jeans, threw it away, and tugged her own pants down her hips.

He held firm while he studied her. For a second she wondered what was there that was worth staring at like that, but when she lifted her arms to cover herself he grabbed her by the wrists and pressed them into the mattress."You really are gorgeous, Gorgeous."

For once, she didn't bother thinking twice about his choice in nickname.

She helped him to remove the remainder of his clothes with clumsy speed while he didn't bother with her bra hook and lifted the whole thing above her head and threw it away with her belt. She saw just how excited he was to have her standing proudly between his legs, and she ached to have him. To have the pulsing between her legs eased.

She never ached to have any man before in her life. The realization made what she was about to do all the more exciting.

Kyle rested his hand on her knee, slid it down to her thigh, parting her legs and allowing him entrance.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this." He rasped.

Jackie thought back to all the erotic thoughts he sent her since they met, and she grinned and kissed him. "I have an idea."

She locked eyes with him and kept them there when he hit home.

000

Jackie Leaned into Kyle's shoulder as they walked down the porch steps of Kyle's mother's house. Tom had also been there and very friendly to his new sister-in-law.

Meeting the woman who was able to let Kyle live a normal life without the worry of having him sucking at someone's neck had been a big deal to Kyle's family. Though, since his mother didn't know why Kyle left town to begin with up until a few days ago, the fact that Vampires even existed was still a shock to her system.

Still, she took it well.

Jackie sighed heavily. "I'm so glad that's over."

"Thanks." He nudged her.

She nudged him back. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but I was still nervous. Your mom and brother are really nice."

He nodded, back straight and posture perfect. "As I said they would be. Mom really likes you, but now she's trying to convince me that you and I should move out of Griffon City and be closer to her."

"It's not that long of a commute." Jackie said without thinking.

She stopped herself and looked up at him. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

He kissed her hair. "Don't worry. I think it's better if I stay in the city where no one will look twice at me at night for having overly long canines. I can't exactly open up my own agency in New York and expect to be home every night before dark."

She threaded her fingers through his. It was true. He couldn't open his own agency in a normal city and expect people to not look at him sideways if his fangs poked out during the times when she couldn't lock lips with him or if he became a pale grey color. But she knew that because of the help he provided to Mike, his agency, the one he already opened and the first one in Griffon City, would be a good one.

She grabbed his chin and turned him to face her. Despite her ability to ease his curse and his own words, she knew that he would still have trouble being away from his family, not getting a say in where he was going to live. "We'll just have to make sure that it doesn't happen so much."

His smile touched his eyes. "Whatever you say, Gorgeous."

They got into Kyle's truck, and he waited a beat before starting the engine. "So, I know your mother's still giving you the special treatment. Want to head back home or stay and see more of New York?"

Jackie rolled her eyes up and tapped her chin playfully. "Mmm, I think I'll hang around here with you for a little while longer."

THE END

A.N: Thank you to everyone who read this story. I posted it because I wanted to see if it would be interesting enough to keep people interested to read to the end, so if you made it here then I guess I did my job.