An hour full of begging Stephan to forgive me later, Ashley opened the curtain. "The werewolves have left. Mostly for good I assume, they were talking about being late for something to do with Finn."

Stephan nodded and smiled at me. I really didn’t care who or what Finn was. All that mattered was that they were gone. The guilt I felt lessened slightly just knowing Grayson was gone.

I was straddling Stephan’s lap. He pulled my face to his by putting both his hands on my neck. The kiss started out innocent enough. He'd always let me set the pace, and it was exactly like always. He had to be careful, like the werewolves, the wrong twitch of his hand and he could kill me.

Stephan had always controlled himself very well, but when I pulled away, he wouldn't let me. When I stopped responding to his kisses, he didn't stop. When I opened my eyes, I saw something in his eyes I'd never seen before, something I knew I should be afraid of. I was scared.  Then there was a sharp pain on my tongue. My yelp was muffled by his mouth. Then I felt my tongue start to burn.

He bit me.

The pack had been right. They were going to be so pissed.

I took his arms off of me then pushed away from him. I ran out of the club, leaving him in shock. I kept my abilities quiet; Stephan didn’t know I had the power to push him away against his will. I never wanted anyone else to know what I could do. I tried to suck out the venom and spit it out while running to my house.

I heard sirens in the distance. They were too late to enforce the laws against Stephan. He had bit me against my will. They should have gotten there before he could bite me.

I knew it would absorb quickly. There’s a lot of space for absorption in the mouth. I knew that a few drops couldn’t change me into a vampire. There was a good amount of venom required to change a person to a vampire.

"Casey-Case." Stephan cooed. "Where are you going, my love?"

"Leave me alone!"I yelled.

"Oh come on, I thought you wanted to be one of us." I could’ve sworn I heard him laughing.

I sucked some more of the venom out and spit it on the ground. It felt like it was working. "You thought wrong."

His laugh echoed off the buildings. "You pulled away so fast that I didn't get to much venom into your bloodstream." I spit some more out. "But I bet it burns as it courses through your veins." He was in front of me, on the boundary of the werewolf district. "Come home with me, love. I can finish what I started quickly."

I shook my head. My tongue felt like it was swelling. The burning sensation took over my entire mouth.

"Who's in there is going to help you with vampire venom running through you?" He chuckled, now directly in front of me. Stephan was very fast. "Your Grayson is already gone. He’s probably furious that you’d choose me over him. And Brian? You've already pissed him off enough tonight."

"Leave me alone!" I screamed and pushed him out of my way with only my mind. He hadn’t expected me to throw him. He handed on his back 30 feet from me.

"That's a pretty useful trick Casey. I didn't know you were so gifted." He smirked as he stood. “There aren’t many families with that trait Casey. I know Connor doesn’t have that ability.”

My whole body was burning now. I felt like I was going to puke. I couldn’t think.

"If you let the venom take its course, you'll be like me when you wake."

I shook my head, "I'll get it all out."

He smirked, "You can try."

When I got to the house, I had to crawl up the stairs. After I locked my bedroom door, I fell onto the ground. The burning intensified as I slowed the spread. I worked every last drop of venom out of my system through 2 painful and exhausting hours. I had to use every ounce of my abilities to work the foreign venom out of my body. I spit the venom onto a towel. What I couldn’t get my body would metabolize. I may get sick as a side effect of the venom. My tongue was swollen from the irritation, but I was still human. I fell asleep after I crawled into my bed.

My skin was crawling.

I would do anything to not become a vampire. My brother would disown me if I were a vampire. The guys I grew up with would hate me.

A knock on my door woke me up at 7 that evening.

"What?" The sound came muffled out of my mouth because of my still swollen tongue.

"You sick?" Brian asked.

"I don't know." I groaned.

"Unlock the door."

That made me panic. Brian was going to freak out. "Why?"

"It smells like you're hiding a vampire in my house."

"I'm not." I was too defensive. I cringed. There was no way he was letting me off the hook now.

"Prove it."

I unlocked the door with a flick of my wrist as I walked into the bathroom. I didn't close the door.

"See no vampire." I said as he walked in.

I flipped on the switch and stopped. There was someone else in my reflection. This woman wasn’t me. Her bone structure was slightly different. Her eyes were lighter. Her hair was shinier. This woman was a much better looking version of me.

"The stink of a vampire's in here. Did it leave already?" Brian was still snooping around in my room.

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I was in shock.

"It's this towel. You let it take a shower or something?"

He stopped when he saw the woman in the mirror. But he wasn't shocked; he was guarded, ready to attack me.

"Who the fuck are you?" He said in a tone I've never heard before.

"I-I- I don't know what happened...." My voice came out of the strange woman’s mouth.

His jaw dropped. "Casey?"

"I'm pretty sure it's me. I mean..." I touched my cheek it was cold to my hand. "You see this too, right?" My swollen tongue made it hard to speak. He had to pay attention to what I was saying, but he understood me.

"Were you bitten?"

I lowered my head and nodded. I could feel the anger radiate through the room.

"So you're one of the fucking vamps now?"

I opened my mouth and looked in the mirror. There were no fangs, but my teeth did look a lot sharper. I shook my head. "No. I think got it all out."

"You can't get all that shit out of your body. It's impossible."

I shook my head. "It's not impossible." I pointed at my reflection, "That's impossible." I put my hands in my hair, "For a dream, it feels pretty real."

Brian grabbed my jaw and forced my mouth open. He grabbed my tongue and inspected it. He would be staring at the huge puncture wound in my tongue from Stephan’s fang. If I were a vampire, it would have healed completely already.

"I'm going to kill that blood sucker."  He growled. He let my head go then felt my skin. "You're not much colder than some humans. You’re mouth is the only thing abnormally cold. Your tongue has a huge puncture and it’s swollen.” He thought out loud in mumbles. “Maybe you really did get all the venom out."

I pointed to the towel.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Brian sounded hurt.

I looked down, ashamed. "I didn't want you to hate me."

He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me into a hug. "Honey. I'll never hate you, no matter how stupid you are sometimes, I'll never hate you."

I smiled slightly; I knew I wasn’t off the hook. I messed up big time and I wasn’t going to live it down any time soon. "I'm sorry."

He nodded and held me a few feet from his body. "You're a fucking knock out now. Holy shit." I smiled slightly, "Looks like the venom did something to you."

I sighed. "Don't tell Conner?" Conner was going to be royally pissed.

He shook his head, "I have to tell Conner." I winced. "I'll lessen the details though."

I nodded, "Thanks."

"I don't want you hanging around those vampires anymore. You need to promise me this since I'm going to be the one shielding you from Conner. I also want you to stop denying you belong to the pack. You're an active member in the pack and you need to get used to it."

"I promise."

He kissed my cheek before walking out of the room. I looked at the stunning woman in my mirror. I could get used to this.