CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I stood abruptly, the worn leather of the couch groaning beneath me. The image of Ellie, teeth embedded in Seraphine's neck, flashed in my mind, a searing brand on my consciousness.

Dimitri now held her, his strong arms wrapped around her, a barrier against her own instincts. And gods, she was beautiful. Always beautiful. Her ethereal features, framed by strands of dark hair, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and hunger… it ripped at my soul.

I never wanted this for her. Never. All those nights, watching her from a distance, a silent guardian, a shadow in her periphery. I knew it was wrong, the stalking. But I couldn't help myself. I needed to know her.

I only met my sweet angel two months ago, had a handful of encounters with her before Griffin stole her from us then, right when we find her, he was in the middle of changing her.

Now, here we were. A nightmare made reality. But damn it, we had to embrace it. No other choice. The past weeks were hell. The relentless hunt, the gnawing anxiety, the constant fear that we'd be too late. We tracked down every member of Griffin's pathetic excuse for a family, one by one, leaving no stone unturned until we finally cornered him.

Dimitri and Lucian tore Griffin to shreds. The memory of the sound of ripping flesh, the screams… it was satisfying, yes, but overshadowed by the agonizing sight of Ellie. Dirty, bruised, too thin, and covered in bite marks, she looked like a broken porcelain doll. The sight almost tore me to pieces.

I had been the first to reach her. She was lying on a dirty mattress in that squalid room, blood spilling down her face and out of her mouth. Not her blood. His. Griffin was turning her. There was nothing anyone could do at that point. Griffin had drank her near to death and replaced his life source where hers once was.

We rushed her to Lucian's SUV, adrenaline fueling our desperation. We bypassed the front entrance, sprinting up the fire escape to get to my apartment. Seraphine, bless her heart, immediately took her to the bathroom and bathed her.

She picked out a beautiful pale pink sundress for Ellie to wear. We all sat there, silently, in agonizing vigil, listening to her heart beat slow and eventually stop. That final, faltering beat was too much. It was the sound of my own hope dying.

I needed to get away. I told Seraphine to sit there and wait, to let me know when she 'woke' up, and fled down to Crimson. I dove headfirst into a hunt, anything to distract me from the crushing weight of it all. Then, my phone rang. She was awake. A jolt of hope, fragile and tentative, bloomed in my chest. Now here I was getting her someone to eat.

"Let's get our little angel her first meal," Lucian said, his voice a low rumble.

My jaw tightened. "Angel" was the last word I'd use to describe her right now. But underneath the anger and the fear, a fierce protectiveness roared to life. We would protect her, guide her, save her from this new existence, even if she hated us for it. We would make sure she survived this.

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to tamp down the storm raging inside me. "What are our options?" I asked, my voice curt.

Lucian nodded towards the back room behind the bar. "We have a few donors lined up. Voluntary. We can get her a blood bag from the hospital downtown. Plenty of options."

Voluntary donors. That meant nothing. The hunger would still be there. The primal rage would still be bubbling beneath the surface. But it was a start. It was something to cling to.

"Let's go," I said, pushing past him. "We don't have time to waste."

We stepped outside, the cool night air a welcome contrast to the stifling heat of Crimson. The city sprawled before us, a maze of neon lights and hidden shadows. And somewhere in that maze, my Ellie was fighting a battle she didn't ask for.

And I would be damned if she fought it alone.

The scent of panic had clung to Ellie like a shroud. When Lucian and I returned, burdened with our chosen donors and bags of reserve blood, the tension in the apartment was thick enough to cut with a knife. She was still in Dimitri's grip, but the moment her senses registered the fresh pulse of blood coursing through the humans' veins, her head snapped up.

Lucian, ever the calming influence, settled onto the coffee table directly in front of her. "Ellie, I understand what you are feeling. Let me help you." His voice was a low, soothing purr, a sound that could usually soothe even the beast in the most savage of our kind. Her eyes, though, were wild, darting from Lucian's face to the tempting figures of the humans standing just behind us. It was a desperate, agonizing battle between control and instinct raging in her.

"Ellie," Lucian repeated gently, cupping her face in his hands and forcing her to meet his gaze. Tears welled in her eyes, a stark contrast to the predatory hunger that still burned within them. "That's a good girl. Look at me, angel. Take some slow breaths."

She fought to regulate her breathing, and I saw the familiar softening around her eyes as she focused on Lucian. He had a gift, a way of reaching into the darkest corners of a vampire's mind and pulling them back to the light.

"Seraphine, hand me a cup and a bag." The urgency in Lucian's voice snapped Seraphine into action. She poured the contents of one of the blood bags into the cup, and Ellie strained against Dimitri's hold, her gaze fixed on the crimson liquid.

Lucian held the cup to her lips, and she drained it in a single, desperate gulp. "Another one," he commanded, handing the cup back to Seraphine. This time, as he offered the cup, he coaxed, "That's it, angel, take your time. It's not going anywhere. Taste it. Savor it."

I watched as Ellie's body began to relax, the frantic energy slowly dissipating. She was no longer a creature consumed by hunger; she was a vampire, capable of control, capable of appreciating the life force she consumed.

"More," she pleaded, her eyes locking with Lucian's. He held up a hand. "You must stop when I tell you, do you understand?"

"I don't know if I can," she admitted, her voice trembling. That was my cue.

I stepped forward. "I will help you. Dimitri, put her on your lap for a moment." I positioned myself to Dimitri's left and gestured for one of the donors to come closer. I placed him between myself and Lucian, directly in front of Ellie and Dimitri. Her gaze was instantly drawn to the pulsing vein in his neck.

"Now, Ellie," I instructed, my voice firm but gentle. "You want to bite slow at first. Don't guzzle, take... sips... like this." I grabbed the donor and exposed his neck, pressed my own mouth against his flesh, and took deliberate, measured drinks. Ellie watched, her body strangely still, her breathing calm.

Still feeding, I maneuvered the donor, placing his exposed neck tantalizingly close to Ellie's. She lunged forward, too fast, and Dimitri tightened his grip. "Slow!" Lucian commanded.

She took a steadying breath, then slowly, deliberately, moved her mouth to the donor's neck. Her fangs slid delicately into his flesh, and he let out a low moan. Then, she began to feed, drawing long, fulfilling drinks.

I pulled away from the donor and stepped back, my eyes fixed on Ellie, ready to intervene at the slightest sign of losing control. I had no intention of letting her drain him completely.

Just as I was about to call a halt, Ellie's grip tightened, and she ripped her fangs from his neck, tearing the flesh. Before I could react, I bit into my own wrist and forced my blood into the wound, healing the man.

Lucian dismissed the humans with a wave of his hand, and they scrambled out of the apartment. When they were gone, Lucian told Dimitri to loosen his grip. Ellie sat there, her eyes darting between Lucian and me.

"Better?" Lucian asked softly.

"Better... for now," she admitted, her voice barely a whisper.

The huntress was still there, just hidden beneath a layer of control. We had bought ourselves time, but the beast within Ellie would always be a part of her. It was something we would have to keep fighting until the day she could fully contain it.

The raw honesty in her voice was like a punch to the gut. "Better... for now." The "for now" hung heavy in the air, a constant reminder of the beast she now carried within. We had managed to quiet it, to appease it for a moment, but it was always there, lurking, waiting to resurface.

I watched her, my heart aching. The sundress Seraphine had chosen for her now seemed incongruous, a delicate facade on a predator. The light caught in her dark eyes, but they no longer held the innocent sparkle I remembered. They were haunted, knowing. Knowing what she was, what sheneeded.

"We'll figure this out, Ellie," I said, my voice rough with unspoken promises. Promises I wasn't sure I could keep. "We'll find a way to manage it. We'll get you through this."

A lie. Or, at least, a half-truth. There was no "cure" for what she was. There was no erasing the transformation. But we could find a way to live with it, to control it. To protect her humanity, however fragile it might be. I had to. I'd been watching her, protecting her, from the shadows for so long. I couldn't lose her now, not to this… this damnation.

"How?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "How do you manage to live with this?"

The question wasn't just for me, but it felt like it was. Dimitri, silent and stoic as always, his gaze never leaving Ellie, probably seeing the same inherent goodness I did. Lucian, the charmer, the soother, his face etched with a weariness that belied his easygoing facade, knew that the hunger threatened to consume all of us one day. Then there was me, Kaelen, the stalker. The protector. The one who had watched her from afar, now thrust into the heart of her nightmare. My nightmare, too, now.

Seraphine, the youngest, bless her heart, silently wept nearby. She didn't understand the depths of it, not yet, but she felt Ellie's pain acutely.

I stepped closer, kneeling in front of her, taking her cold hands in mine. "We have each other," I said, meeting her gaze. "We lean on each other. We make mistakes, we learn from them, and we keep going. We don't give up."

It was the truth. Our coven, our makeshift family, was all we had. We were bound by blood, by secrets, and by the constant, gnawing threat of exposure. We had survived centuries by sticking together, by protecting each other. And now, Ellie was one of us. My protectee.

"The hunger," she said, her voice trembling. "It's... it's always there. Even now, after... after that. It's still there."

I squeezed her hands tighter. "It will be. Especially at first. But it will get easier. You'll learn to control it. You'll learn your limits." I hoped. I prayed.

Lucian chimed in, his voice gentle but practical. "We can help with that. We have resources. We have blood banks, donors… we can even teach you to hunt animals, if that's something you'd consider."

The thought of Ellie hunting animals, preying on the innocent, made my stomach churn. It was a far cry from the sunshine she used to embody. But it was an option, a way to survive without taking human life. It was something we had to consider, even if it broke my heart.

"I don't know," she whispered, her eyes wide with fear. "I don't know what I am anymore."

"You're still Ellie," Dimitri said, his voice a low rumble, a rare moment of unsolicited comfort. "You're just... different now. But you're still you."

I knew he was right. But that "different" was a chasm that threatened to swallow her whole. We had to bridge that gap, to help her find her footing on this new, terrifying landscape. My landscape, now.

"We'll help you remember," I said, my voice firm. "We'll help you remember who you are, what you love, what you value. And we'll help you find a way to reconcile that with what you are now."

I stood up, pulling her with me. "Come on," I said. "Let's get you something to eat. Real food. Not just blood."

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded, allowing me to lead her towards the kitchen. I could feel her resistance, the fear, the uncertainty. But beneath it all, I sensed a flicker of hope. A fragile ember that we had to fan into a flame. I would fan that flame.

As I opened the refrigerator, the scent of fresh fruit and vegetables filled the air. It was a mundane, ordinary smell, a reminder of the normal life she had left behind. The life I had always watched her live, from a distance. But it was also a symbol of the life we were trying to salvage. A life where she could still enjoy the simple pleasures, even as she grappled with the darkness that now resided within her.

"What do you want?" I asked, my gaze searching her face. "Anything. We'll get it for you." My eyes took note of the way she hesitated; the way her face strained with the effort of wanting something she knew was normal.

She looked around the kitchen, her eyes lingering on the brightly colored fruits and vegetables. "Strawberries," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I used to love strawberries."

I grabbed a carton of fresh strawberries from the refrigerator and handed them to her. She took one, her fingers trembling, and brought it to her lips.

For a moment, she just held it there, her eyes closed, as if savoring the memory of the taste. Then, she opened her eyes, took a bite, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"It's... it's still good," she said, her voice thick with emotion.

I smiled. "Its a common misconception that Vampires can't eat human food."

Ellie smiles at me as she eats another strawberry. "Can I survive on human food?"

"Unfortunately, human food does not sustain us, but don't fret, little angel, it will help curve your thirst." Lucian assures her.

The tension of this moment had finally disappeared. Ellie was slowly coming to terms with her new reality. She was now a part of our family and as a family we will over come.

And in that moment, I knew that we had a chance. We had a long and difficult road ahead of us, but we had a chance. As long as she could still find joy in the simple things, as long as she could still remember who she was, we could help her navigate this new, terrifying world.

We could help her become the vampire she was meant to be. A vampire who was still Ellie, the sweet, beautiful angel I had been watching from afar. And I would be damned if I let anything, or anyone, take that away from her.