Cassie tried to convince herself that it would be ok if she could just settle down. She labored to keep from purging herself of the snakes slithering through her belly. She wasn't even sure she could vomit anymore.
"Cassie, what happened!?"
She shook her head as she tried to gather her wits. She was shaking like a leaf and it wasn't just from the dream but also the cold that continued to permeate her bones. "Zane," she finally managed to get out.
Devon leapt to his feet and spun to face the room. His lips curled back to reveal his fangs as he backed closer to her. Cassie shook her head, but he couldn't see her. "Where?" he demanded.
Cassie wrapped her hand around his bare leg. "Not here Devon," she whispered. "It was a dream. A nightmare." She shuddered violently, her hand tightened on his leg as she sought some sort of stability in the tumultuous sea that rocked her world. Though his shoulders slumped, he still didn't take his attention away from the room. "Devon please."
His eyes were still a vibrant red, but the fury had eased from his features as he once more focused upon her. She grasped hold of his hand and pulled it against her chest. "It was awful. I don't know how he did it. I think I did it. I think I brought him into my nightmare with your power, but it was almost like a premonition. The children Devon, he's going for the children. He plans to turn them into vampires and have them join his side." She leaned closer to him as she took comfort in the security his presence gave her. "I can't even..."
A loud banging on the door snapped their heads around. "Open up!" Julian commanded. "What's going on!?"
"Is everything ok!?" Luther shouted.
Devon released her hand and rose to her feet. "Hold on!" he yelled as Julian's incessant pounding on the door began to rattle it within its frame.
He pushed the chair out of the way and opened the front door to Julian's loud knocking. "What is going on!?" Julian demanded. "We could hear the commotion from three rooms away!"
Annabelle, Liam, and Joey followed Julian into the room. "We don't know," Devon told him.
"What do you mean you don't know!?" Julian froze as his eyes landed upon Cassie. His face went slack, but his icy gaze leisurely slid over her body. Cassie took a small step back. He hadn't looked at her like that since he'd accepted the fact that she was Devon's. The hungry look in his eyes made her feel as if she were the prey he was going to devour as a muscle jumped in his cheek. Heat flared through her face as she became acutely aware of the fact that all she wore was a baggy t-shirt that didn't quite reach her knees.
Devon stepped swiftly between them, his hands were fisted and his shoulders thrown back as he nudged her toward the bathroom door. The corded muscles in his back and arms stood sharply out against his glistening skin. "Get dressed," he grated through clenched teeth.
She swallowed heavily and quickly nodded before she dashed into the room. Devon grabbed her jeans off the floor and thrust them at her before closing the door. She was only gone for a minute, but everyone else had arrived when she reemerged. Julian kept his attention focused on the floor as Cassie sat on the bed.
"What happened?" Melissa inquired.
"Nightmare. An awful, awful nightmare." Devon's eyes were emerald once more, but his mouth was pursed so firmly that the color had drained from his lips. His attention was still riveted upon Julian; it wouldn't take much for him to go after Julian right now. Cassie swallowed heavily as she turned her attention back to Melissa but kept herself braced to interfere if it became necessary. "Have you ever had prophetic dreams?"
Melissa walked over and sat on the other side of the bed. "Yes, I've had dreams that have come true before. Do you think that's what you had tonight?"
"It was more." Slowly, hesitatingly she told them of her strange dream and how realistic it had been; how cold she had been upon waking.
"I've never had anything like that happen before," Melissa told her.
"I have, once." Devon gave a brief bow of his head in response to her unasked question. She gave only brief details of the dream she had shared with Devon before they were ever even together. She didn't miss the look Julian shot Devon when she told about how Devon's power had ensnared them both in a dream that had also been extremely realistic too.
"So both of your abilities were working as one," Luther tapped his mouth as he paced restlessly. "But why did you seek out Zane?"
"Because I had to know what Zane planned," she whispered.
"And what's that?" Melissa inquired.
"To find the children, to turn them into vampires."
She could have heard a pin drop in the ensuing hush that followed her statement. "What!?" Luther nearly shouted.
"Zane intends to recruit them. He thinks they may be like me and that he'll be able to keep control of them if he is the one that turns them."
There was a series of collective inhalations around the room as the implication of her words sank in. Julian cursed loudly and spun on his heel as he stormed over to the door. "He would be able to control them if he decides to keep hold of their mind through the change, and after," Devon said.
"That's possible?" Chris inquired.
"Yes. We can keep another vampire if we so choose to during the change. We can make them mindless creations that live to do nothing but serve our will."
Chris made a small sound as his gaze slid to Julian. Cassie couldn't look at Julian as he stopped before the window and stared out at the lightening night. He could have done that to her, he could have kept her for himself but he had set her free all the while knowing that he would be letting her go for good. Cassie longed to hug him and ease the loneliness she sensed within him, but it wasn't what he wanted from her and it would only make things worse.
Luther took a deep breath, pulled his glasses off and began to clean them on his shirt. "That sounds like a hideous fate," Melissa muttered as she seized hold of Cassie's hand.
"We have to stop him, we have to get to those children before he does," Dani said.
"Way to state the obvious," Julian muttered.
"There is no way to know what the transition would do to them." Tears swam in Annabelle's sea green eyes as she moved further into the room. "Cassie has come through it well but that doesn't mean every Hunter would, especially a child. I don't even know if a child has been turned before."
Devon shook his head, Julian's muscles rippled as he seized hold of the top of the windowsill. "No one would be foolish enough to do something like that," Devon said.