"You’re Sylvia." Tess said, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes. And these are my friends."

She turned to the large one, who was rubbing her back. "Holt and..."

She gestured at the one I’d already seen before. "Stephen." He nodded in my direction, only.

Holt looked like a Greek God, all taut sinewy muscle, lean lines, and thick unruly dirty-blond hair. His face was all masculine angles softened by his eyes, which were free of malice.

Stephen...Stephen was hot. There was just no other way to describe him. He would have left Clar’s boyfriend, Kirk easily in the dust at Shadow high. The girls would not have been able to get anything done.

Everything about him screamed sex. From his thick mahogany black waves, to his shiny dark eyes, his pupils seemingly fully dilated with arousal, to way he stood....with a confident masculine grace that would make a girl think he could take her in two strides.

"And you have no need to worry for your charge, there." she said, indicating Will.

"We only hunt non-innocents."

"And you judge this how?" I said, speaking for the first time.

"We have unique talents." she said. She made no indication that she would explain further, but I already knew Steven’s.

"Did your friends know Lawrence, as well?" I asked and Tess flashed her eyes at me, angrily.

"She speaks out of turn. She means no ill-will." She said.

"Of course." Sylvia said, an eyebrow raised.

"She’s yours I take it?" The sentiment was dripping in condescension.

"I made her, but she belongs to none but herself." Thank you, Tess.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Tess asked.

"Of course...I believe you were expecting us. Were you not?"

"Yes...I was expecting you, Sylvia." She said. She somehow indicated her distrust of her group without insulting them. Her years were very clear, now.

"Good. We can help you find the rogue who did this."

She didn’t even bother to turn around. She simply raised her hand slightly and they all departed from her company running and bounding away so quickly, they blurred.

So, Sylvia, the tiniest and most inconspicuous of the bunch, was definitely the leader.

"They will seek out others."

"They won’t find anything." Tess said, shaking her head. "I did the same."

"I have synthetic in my home. I’m willing to share...I think it will be difficult to find non-innocents in this range, Sylvia."

"Not for me." She said, her eyes narrowing. "I can see their sins. And they all have them. some have a small wave, others a tsunami...And it’s hardly ever who you’d think."

She angled her neck a bit looking at Will.

"His is a gentle ebb in the ocean." She said, looking at me.

Will furrowed his brow, looking like she’d insulted his manhood. He’d done few bad things, he thought.

...Still a teenage boy. I smiled.

"Taking on human charges?" Sylvia said, smiling. "Well, that is the oddest thing, I’ve come across in my travels."

She said, but not unkindly.

Tess seemed to relax a bit. "Come to my home and rest. We really must talk more extensively."

Tess flashed her eyes at me and I knew what she wanted.

I got back into the truck. "I’m driving you home, Will."

"What? Don’t I get any say in this? - And did you know that guy?"

"No questions, Will. You may be in danger. We have to exercise caution, understand?"

He was angry, frustrated, everything that was instinct for a human male was being side-tracked.

He had to yield to a girl’s whims, be protected by her.

****

We rode along in silence for awhile, but this time I paid full attention to the road.

"Are you going to tell me how you know that guy?"

"I don’t." I said, not exactly fibbing.

"Well, he seemed to know you...Or at least not be shy about his interest in you. And he is...like you."

I looked at him, my features softening. "I like you, Will."

"Stephen unnerves me." I said returning my attentions to the road.

I didn’t let on what else I’d felt from him, that made me feel that way. The naked unbridled lust. The contempt for Will.

I had hoped he understood that any harm done to Will would kill anything, any kind contact that we might have.

"Yes...but that’s not all he does, is it?" It wasn’t really a question as a demand for confirmation.

I paused. "No."

His hands balled up into fists.

"You needn’t worry about me...I wouldn’t. I feel more for you than you know."

"So, do I. It scares me how much space you take up in my head. I think about you all the time. I’ve wondered if you’ve hypnotized me, or something."

"-I can’t do that, Will."

"But you have." He said, seriously. "That’s what you’ve done...Whether you intended to or not."

I looked at him then and both of our eyes were held captive for a time.

I sighed. "Just stay home. Explain what you can to Clara...Please."

I pulled up to his expansive white adobe home.

He opened the door and hopped out, turning to look at me one last time.

"Be careful." He said, his eyes full of fear for me.

"I will."

****

About four miles from my home, he stood in the middle of the road, blocking my path.

Stephen.

I gripped the steering wheel and watched him walk around to my side of the truck.

I didn’t lower the windshield.

"What do you want?" I asked.

He smiled. "Oh, you already know that, don’t you?"

"I’ve already touched you, after all..." My foot barely touched the gas pedal. I could speed off in a millisecond.

"You’re so sweet. ...Untouched. ...Pure. ...Rare for our kind." He said, inhaling my scent, with a relishing sigh.

"You do this a lot." I said. "I’m some kind of new challenge for you..."

I shook my head at him, like he was despicable, beneath me.

"...For all your years, you’re still a pathetic slut."

He grinned at me now, exposing his even white teeth.

"Aww...You prefer rabbits to wolves?" He said placing a palm on my windshield. "Still I do love your nerve, too much for a human to handle..." He said, coming closer.

"-Shouldn’t you be heeding your mistress?" I asked, not wanting the direction of his thoughts to go anywhere near Will.

"Sylvia, understands my needs. Blood sates one hunger...but not the other."

"I’ll leave you be, for now. I can wait. It makes the conquest all the more satisfying..."

He angled his regard in a more thoroughly appraising way.

"I may even keep you. You are a beauty." he said, stroking the glass as if were my cheek.

"And don’t you worry, your boy will remain unharmed."

He shook his head and met my eyes.

"...Singular. A unique creature even among our own."

He let his gaze drip over me..his lips parted.

"I will have you."

I stepped on the gas pedal and sped off, watching his figure disappear in my mirror.