"I know living with me, ain't always easy. I dam up emotions some men just let flow. But girl when you're not by my side, I feel like part of me has died and I love you more than you'll ever know. More than life, more than I've, ever loved before. It's absurd and beyond words, I couldn't want you more. Even when I pour my heart out to you, I'm not sure it shows. That I love you more than you'll ever know." - Travis Tritt 'More than you'll ever know'

"Huh?" Kaylee's brain seemed to have shut down at his words and all intelligent thought processes had ceased to function.

"What are you doing here?" her grandfathers angry voice interrupted before Damien could reply. Damien stood straight and looked at Charles.

"Leave him alone grandpa." Kaylee said turning to face Charles. "He's here for me."

(You're better off without him, Kaylee, You cannot trust a demon.) Charles said so only Kaylee could hear.

(No offense, grandpa, but this is really none of your business.) Kaylee replied.

(Kaylee, he....)

(Back off grandpa.) Kaylee replied and a growl escaped her lips. She felt Damien move closer to her.

"Kaylee, I do not want that demon in my home." Charles said out loud as he locked eyes with Damien. If Damien felt any hurt or anger at Charles's words it didn't show on his expressionless face.

"Then it's a good damn thing this isn't your house." Jake's voice was low and cold behind Charles and Charles turned quickly. He knew Jake's 'angry' voice when he heard it.

"Demon's can't be trusted, Jake. Do you really want one around your mate and your children? Around your baby?" Jake looked over at Damien and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Damien has been a part of this family for twenty years, we just didn't know it. If he was a threat we would have known about it before now."

"But...." Jake stood at his full height and glared at his father and Kaylee was reminded of why she had always been a little afraid of her uncle. When he was angry, his presence seemed to fill an entire room and the intensity in his golden eyes was enough to scare the bravest of men... or women.

"This is my home. If I say he's welcome then he's welcome."

"Jake, I am older and wiser than you and I am telling you that there is something not right about this demon!"

"A lot of people used to say there was something not right about me too and they considered you to be a lost cause. They were wrong about us... You are wrong about Damien." Jake replied with a growl.

"You never..." Charles started and Kaylee stomped her foot angrily and put her hands on her hips, cutting him off.

"That's enough!" she exclaimed. "Stop talking about Damien as if he isn't standing right here! Thank you, uncle Jake, for standing up for him and, Grandpa, you need to stop being a hypocrite. You keep talking about Damien as if he's some kind of monster but from what I've heard you yourself were a monster for a long damn time!"

"Kaylee Elizabeth Banner!" Rebecca's angry voice exclaimed as she walked into the room.

"I should not have come." Damien said as he moved away from Kaylee. Kaylee turned her head and glared up at him.

"If you leave me again, Damien, you can forget about me." she said, deciding that for once and for all the demon needed to learn that he couldn't just come and go as he pleased. Damien nodded and stood still. He was worried. He had not meant to have the whole family fighting. Jake and Charles were glaring at each other as if ready to kill and Rebecca and Kaylee were standing toe to toe.

In his family, turmoil such as this, always led to bloodshed and pain. He didn't want to cause either of those things but he would not let anyone harm Kaylee. If it came to it he would defend her against anyone in this family that made a move toward her.

"Apologize to your grandfather right now, young lady." Rebecca scolded. Kaylee shook her head.

"Not until he apologizes to Damien. He has no right to say mean things about Damien. Damien helped us when Vanessa was being held by Vincent and he has always been there for me! Do you people realize how many times he has saved my life when I've gotten in too deep?"

"He's a demon, Kaylee! There has to be an ulterior motive!" Charles exclaimed.

"I assure you there is not." Damien spoke up and Charles looked at him.

"I did a little digging on you, Damien. You are a demon prince. Does Kaylee know that? Does Kaylee know that you, your father and your brother are the only true demons left alive? There is a reason the demons were wiped out and that is because they cannot be trusted."

"What's going on?" Angela asked coming down into the living room with Lane, Joey and Kayleb on her heels.

"I don't want a demon in my home!" Charles replied angrily.

"This is not your home and he is welcome to stay." Jake growled.

"I can't believe you, Charles!" Angela scolded as she put her hands on her hips.

"Why not? He is a demon." Lane butted in and soon everyone was arguing at once and Damien stood there in shock as their angry voices filled the living room. He was certain that no one could hear anyone else over their own anger and he was waiting at any moment for someone to snap and attack someone else. There had never been arguments in his own family..... Things were settled in a much more violent manner. If you went against Victor you were tortured and beaten until he was satisfied you would not dare go against him again.

Damien finally could stand no more of the noise and he stepped forward.

"Enough!" he called loudly in a tone that clearly belonged to someone born into nobility. Kaylee was shocked because she had never heard him use that tone before. She was even more shocked when it caused all the loud, arguing voices to stop instantly and look at him.

"Yes, I am a demon prince, Charles, or at least I was born as one. I was disowned and kicked out of the family, I guess you could say, almost eight hundred years ago because I refused to kill innocents. I have been alone since. I cared for nothing and no one until I met your granddaughter. I do not want to cause fighting among any of you but if I am being honest, whether you trust me or not and whether you like me or not, does not matter to me at all. Kaylee is the only one that matters to me and I have stayed away from here for nearly twenty years because I knew how you would react to finding out that Kaylee's mate is a demon but I cannot stay away any longer. I do not care what any of you think of me. I have done my fair share of evil things but I can assure you that I will never harm Kaylee or your family." Damien stood there in front of the pack as they all stared at him with mixed emotions on their faces.

Kayleb stepped forward and held out his hand and Damien stared at it for several seconds as if trying to figure out what to do with it. Damien had never 'shook hands' with anyone before. Kaylee was the only person he had made physical contact with in hundreds of years other than Faith and then Vanessa when she had hugged him that night.

Finally he reached out and shook Kayleb's hand and Kayleb grinned.

"My sister loves you and you saved my ass with Vanessa, so that makes you okay with me." Kayleb said. He let go of Damien's hand and stepped away.

"What the hell..." Lane said with a sigh. "We got slayers and vamps in this family we might as well throw a demon in there too." Kaylee smiled at her brother and her uncle.

"I'm not much for speeches. You already know you're welcome here." Jake said.

"I'm going for a run." Charles grumbled and he stalked out of the house. Rebecca looked torn for a moment but then she followed quickly after her mate.

"I'll talk to him." she promised as she walked out the door.

"Where the hell was dad going so pissed off?" Bethany asked as she breezed in the door in a skin tight white dress that showed off her long legs and tan arms. "And what's the demon doing here?" she added.

"He's actually Kaylee's mate." Angela said as Jake, Lane and Kayleb walked out of the house with Jake saying something about working on his motorcycle.

"Really?" Bethany asked looking Damien up and down. Kaitlyn huffed.

"I wish I could find my mate...And I hope he's hot like that." she said. Greg grumbled as he walked in.

"You're only twelve and whenever you do find your mate he won't be hot once I'm through with him..."

"I doubt he'd be afraid of you honey. You're too pretty." Bethany said patting his arm.

"I believe I'll join my fellow males out in the garage." he said and he turned and walked out the door.

"Kaylee, can we talk?" Damien asked and Kaylee quickly nodded.

"Yeah." she said. "Come on to the library." She led him to the library and once there she sat down on one of the long tables.

"Damien, I'm almost afraid to get my hopes up.... When you said you need me and when you told my family that you couldn't stay away any longer... Did you mean all that? Are we going to be a real couple?" Damien walked over and sat down beside her on the table.

"I am yours, Kaylee, if you want me."

"What do you mean, if I want you? Of course I want you." she replied matter of factly.

"You need to know some things about me Kaylee. I really do not care about anyone but you... and perhaps my mother, I do what I can to keep her safe. I do have to kill people to survive. I have to feed off of souls, though unlike my father and brother, I do not torture anyone and I do not harm innocent mortals. There is nothing innocent about the men I take souls from. I have been a loner for eight hundred years and I have no idea how to interact with other people. I do not know how to function within a family and I do not like a lot of noise. If you still want me, I am yours."

Kaylee rose from the table and stood in front to him. She pushed his knees apart so that she could stand between his legs and be closer to him. She put her hands on his cheeks and held his eyes even with hers.

"I love you, Damien. I know that demons have to feed off of mortals. I've always known that and I fell in love with you anyway. And don't worry about feeling awkward in the family. Hunter still walks out when we get too loud and poor Vanessa is still trying to remember everybody's names. Jake is a grouch and threatens to kill everyone when he gets woken up in the mornings and most of the time Lane has at least a fifty/fifty ratio of blood to alcohol in his system. You'll be just fine."

"If you say so." Damien said uncertainly as he laid his hands over hers.

"I don't think I've ever seen you nervous." Kaylee teased. Damien raised his brow.

"I am not nervous. A demon never feels nervous."

"Yes but you are technically only half demon." Kaylee replied and then she growled as her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and saw that it was Chief Michaels.

"Give me just a minute." she said as she turned away from Damien. She walked across the room, growing angry as she talked to the chief but Damien's mind was still on her earlier words. He was half a demon. He had never really thought about that before. He was half his mother as well. Did that mean that these emotions he'd been feeling were real? Was that why he was pretty sure that he loved Kaylee even though demons weren't supposed to feel things like love? Was that why he had always found himself caring for his mother and doing things for Kaylee even though he knew he would be punished for them? Is that what made him different from his father and brother?

"You're going to hate me." Kaylee said as she closed her cell phone and walked back over to him.

"Impossible." he replied as he stood up.

"I don't want to leave but the boss says there was a murder and he needs me...."

"Go. I will be here when you get back."

"Are you sure? Do you really want to be left alone with my family?"

"You yourself said that I will be fine here. I have survived much worse tortures than a few hours alone with your family."

"We'll see if you love me enough to stick around after you spend some time with them....."

'I think I love you more than you'll ever know.' Damien thought but he didn't say that out loud.

"I'll be here." was what he said to her. Kaylee felt her heart do a little flip. Had he just admitted that he loved her?

"I'll hurry as fast as I can." she promised. She laid a gentle kiss to the corner of his lips and then the air shimmered and she was gone.