Christina managed to float down from her sleeping place between Paul and David, where she had slept with the other vampires for a month now, without falling on her bum.

As every evening, she took her position on a couch that was set apart from the other seating that the male vampires used. Like every evening, she spent her time watching the other vampires closely while holding a book or knitting and pretending to be busy. She wanted to know the nightly habits of the vampires exactly because Christina had a plan.

It was imperative, however, that the rest of the pack didn't find out about her. So she always did what her sires or her father told her without questioning. In the first few nights she had defended herself and behaved stubbornly towards her father and Paul, but she realized very quickly that it did not help her. She had to fit into the group and subordinate herself to the male vampires because they were older and stronger than her.

At first, the other vampires were a bit skeptical, but after two weeks Christina had already managed to gain the full trust of the vampires, even Marko was sure that she was willing to take her place in the family. Christina hadn't known she could be such a good actress.

It didn't really suit her that she was now being forced to fool everyone, but what choice did she have? It had occurred to no one to ask the young woman what she wanted. Her father and his family had forced a life, or rather, an existence on Christina, that she did not want.

Christina knew very well that she could only implement her plan if the vampires were convinced that she had come to terms with her fate, so she put a good face on the matter.

Christina found her father and his gang pretty simple-minded and had expected that it would take much longer to win their trust, but these guys were so convinced of themselves that it almost hurt. She was inwardly amused by their arrogance if they only knew ...

The male vampires in Christina's new family thought they were irresistible, and Christina had indeed observed that not many women were able not to succumb to the vampire's charms. She could understand these women, the vampires were good-looking and could be extremely charming and very generous when they wanted to. If they were less successful with a young lady, the vampires manipulated them, and that almost always worked.

The funny thing was that the vampires had more scruples about killing the ladies, they had fun for a night or a few nights. When the ladies started to bore the vampires they just made the women forget that they had ever met them. Christina was quite astonished about it, she had thought that the vampires were much more cold-blooded.

Paul had explained to her that this behavior was related to the night at Michael's grandfather's house. Nobody wanted to experience something like this again. And, of course, the vampires had to be more cautious anyway because of the technology, like smartphones. You never knew who was nearby and pressed the shutter button to take a great photo. With today's technology, you could also photograph a vampire suckling a victim, and then the hunt for the vampires would be on. Most people were certain that vampires only existed in stories and movies, and it should stay that way.

Obviously David didn't really want to play games like that. He went off, found a suitable victim, satisfied his hunger, and then went about his own plans. David wasn't exactly picky, the only people he would never touch were children. However, he always found a meal in remote places that no one would miss.

David loved to do handicrafts in the workshop. He had bought a BMW that was used by the German Wehrmacht in World War II, which he wanted to restore. Marko, Dwayne, and Laddie were often there to help David.

Paul also held back when it came to the world of women. He took care of Christina every night, showed her all over the city, and showered the young woman with his affection. The tall, blonde vampire was proud that David had entrusted his little girl to him. He liked the young woman very much and was sure that she was his soul mate. She was meant to be with him.

Christina had seen Paul in her dreams even before she had met him for the first time, that had to mean something! He knew very well how difficult Christina was with her immortality and wanted to do everything so that she could become a happy vampire lady.

Christina, however, had her own opinion about the vampires. And she had an opinion of the vampire's lifestyle, that Christina was now forced to get along with.

Christina didn't like to think back to the night Paul and David took her to the cave. She was a bit shocked to see that the place she had discovered some time ago belonged to the vampires. Her father appeased her. It wasn't a big deal that she had penetrated there then, after all, she was part of the family.

Then Dwayne, Marko, and Laddie took Michael and Sam into what was probably the entrance to the old hotel at the time. Christina didn't even notice, because she was standing in front of the bed again and looked at the jacket with the colorful patches. "Who jacket is is this?" She asked. " It is very beautiful!"

Christina got no answer, however, because Sam, who had discovered her, woke up from his shock-like state and tried loudly to free himself from Dwayne's grip. The dark-haired vampire just laughed at him and pushed him onto one of the sofas. Michael didn't say anything and let everything go through without a fight. He didn't seem to have the strength left to defend himself against the vampires. He looked sadly at Christina and sat down next to his brother.

"Michael, I hope you had a good time at our hotel as our guests," said David, grinning. "I can see you guys have recovered from your injuries. I'm sorry my boys and I were a little rude to you." The vampires laughed at Sam and Michael, even Laddie.

Christina felt that he had changed a lot. What happened to the warm-hearted man who was once Christina's best friend. The young woman had loved Laddie like a big brother, and now he seemed aloof and distant. His eyes looked cold, and Christina wondered if she radiated that cold too. Maybe that was something that happened automatically when you turned into a vampire. Christina didn't want that, she just wanted to be herself.

It didn't matter what Michael had done to her in the past, she felt sorry for him. She also thought of her younger siblings, what would become of the two now that Michael was in the clutches of the vampires? "What are the two of them doing here?" She finally asked, looking from one vampire to the other.

They eventually stopped laughing and silently looked at the young woman with a serious expression. Finally, David smiled and took Christina's hands in his. "You may not like it, but what happens to them is up to you," he explained. "If you make the right decision for your future, I'll be ready in return to let Michael and Sam go, even if they absolutely don't deserve it. You shouldn't think about it too long though, because my patience is limited and I could change my mind!"

Paul started laughing again. "Come on Christina," he bawled. "I know that you want to stay with me, you can't fool me, I've seen through you long ago! And I also want you to be with me, honestly!"

Christina looked at the tall, blond vampire, embarrassed. She really hated to admit it, but Paul was absolutely right. She was still angry at him and Laddie for tricking her with the wine which was mixed with their blood, but still, she liked Paul much better than it was healthy for her. In fact, she was madly in love with him and she was ashamed of it, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Christina turned to David. "What do you mean?" She asked her father.

David grinned. "How am I supposed to mean that?" He looked at the floor in silence, then stared the young woman straight in the eye. "It's very simple," he revealed. "You will become a full member of our family, and both of them will live. If not ..."

"You are blackmailing me," Christina stated angrily. David grinned. "I wouldn't call it that," he justified himself. "I just want to help you make the right decision, you are my daughter after all."

Michael looked at David with hatred, then turned to his stepdaughter. "Christina, don't do that. You can't trust him, he's lying to you. Sam and I won't get out of here alive no matter what you do!"

Christina glanced at Michael angrily, and suddenly all the hatred for him that had built up over the years rose again. "What do you know," she whispered as she sat up in front of him. "You and you," she said, pointing to Sam and Michael, "and also all other people, even my mother, you've lied to me all my life. Who are you, and where do you get the right from, of all people to portray my father as a liar? After all, he is interested in me! He really wants me. Here I am welcome, and not just tolerated!"

"Christina," Michael began, but he couldn't go on with his speech because Christina lost it completely. She clenched her fists and hit Michael in the face. However, she hadn't expected that as a half-vampire she had much more clout than before. She hit Michael's nose and heard a crack. She had broken her stepfather's nose and while blood was running out of his nose he cried out in pain.

Paul looked at Christina with raised eyebrows. He didn't think she could do that. Then everything happened so quickly that he had no chance of stopping his child. Christina saw the blood that was running from Michael's nose and watched for a second how it dripped onto his shirt. She noticed the smell that the blood carried into her nose. Her face changed and she suddenly felt a sort of hunger that she had not known before.

Sam yelled at her and tried to stop her but it was too late, she was in a blood frenzy, she was hungry and she hated Michael, so she followed her instinct and pounced on him. Her fangs showed their full size for the first time, digging into Michael's neck.

David tried to pull Christina away from Michael laughing, knowing full well that it was no good to make someone from the human family a meal, but even he was inferior to his daughter at that moment. Christina pushed her father away and he flew across the room and crashed into a wall. Dwayne, Marko, and Laddie did nothing. The three vampires were sure that it wasn't very smart to get between a hungry half-vampire and its prey. Even a seasoned, powerful, old vampire was completely powerless against this first bloodlust.

Paul stood there completely overwhelmed and grabbed his hair with both hands. He didn't know what to do to stop Christina. But he knew very well that the young woman would now have to nibble on her feelings of guilt for a long time. It was one thing to kill a stranger, but drain someone out of your family was another thing entirely.

Sam got up from the sofa, completely horrified. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had always liked Christina, she was warm-hearted and good-natured, much too good-natured for this world. She had replaced the mother for her younger siblings, and now this. This bloodthirsty monster that was about to kill Michael had nothing in common with the sweet, innocent, and somewhat naive Christina.

Sam lunged at the young woman at the exact moment when the last spark of life left his brother. That was a big mistake. Paul pulled Sam away from Christina, but she only growled at her Sire and demanded her victim back. Paul finally sighed and let go of Sam again. "You will be very sorry for that by the next night at the latest, little one," whispered the vampire and pushed Sam into Christina's arms, who was still hungry for blood.

When the young woman, who was now a newly born vampire, was done with Sam, she simply dropped his bloodless body on the floor. Christina's face was smeared with blood and she looked like she had just stepped out of a horror movie.

She looked around, disoriented, and didn't seem to know where she was anymore. The five vampires looked astonished but fascinated. She had put on a good show for them and proved that there was a lot more to her than to her mother.

David had always wanted something like this from Star but never got it. He would have done anything for her if she had only taken this one last step. Star had left him then and she had betrayed him.

Since that day all those years ago, the last bit of love in David had died, at least that's what he had always thought, but then by chance he found Christina and he realized there was still something else in him. He didn't show this feeling, but he would also give her everything she wanted, she was his weak point just like her mother. Of course, David didn't want the other vampires to know, but they were not stupid and immediately saw through their leader. Each and every one of them was certain that if he were in David's place, he would do the same.

David observed that his daughter was completely exhausted. After looking around, disoriented, she lay down on the bed that was once her mother's sleeping place, took Marko's old jacket in her arms like a cuddly toy, and finally fell asleep.

Paul went to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked at Christina for a moment, then with a smile he took off his jacket and covered her with it. After a few minutes, he got up again and stood in front of David. "Well, Bossman, we didn't plan it that way," he said, putting his hand on David's shoulder. "But what the heck, now she's finally one of us, and these two idiots will never bother us again!"

David nodded with a smile and sat down on one of the couches next to Dwayne. Dwayne looked thoughtfully at David. "It will be very difficult for her now," he noted. "Maybe we should have killed those assholes as soon as we met them. We could have spared your little girl a lot of trouble."

Marko joined the two of them. "Gosh, don't make such a fuss about her," he nagged. "She will overcome it at some point, she has eternity for it. In my eyes, the world is better off without these jerks, but someone has to care for their remains!"

Paul and Laddie looked at each other and stood up. Each grabbed one of the lifeless bodies and they left the cave with the corpses. They were back a few minutes later. "Done," said Paul and sat down on the armrest of Marko's chair. "What do we do now, the night is still young and Christina won't wake up until the next sunset."

The vampires decided to go to a pub in the neighboring town. Before the next morning dawned, they got Christina out of the cave and flew to the workshop to spend the next day there. David and Paul finally managed to place the young woman between them on the iron pole, although she was asleep. Paul held her close. He never wanted to let go of her again.

When evening came again, Christina woke up in Paul's arms. The vampire held her with an iron grip because ar feared that she would fall to the ground otherwise. Christina had no idea how she got there and looked around in amazement.

Marko, Dwayne, and Laddie were still sleeping. David was nowhere to be seen. Paul smiled into her eyes when he noticed how confused the young woman was. "We helped you a little," he explained. "Then your instinct has done the rest. For us, this is the most comfortable way to sleep. Tomorrow morning I'll explain how it works. Then you can do it yourself."

Then he let go of Christina and floated to the ground. "Come on," he said. "Now it's your turn. Don't be afraid, I won't let you fall down." Christina looked down, then up, and she noticed that her feet looked different. They weren't her feet anymore, they looked like the claws of a bat.

She cried out in horror and fell, but then she floated off the ground. Eventually, all her strength left her and she fell again, but Paul kept his promise and caught her. He put her on the floor, grinning.

"What happened to my feet," said Christina simply and looked at Paul questioningly. He laughed. "It's a very small price to pay for all the good things your new life has to offer you," he said soothingly. "You will soon see that I am right, believe me!"

When Christina entered the lounge, David was already sitting on his favorite armchair, absorbed in a book. Next to him on the little table was a cup of coffee and a can of beer.

He put the book aside when he saw Paul and Christina. "There's still fresh coffee if you want some, little one," he said. Then he smiled. "I am really proud of you. You made the right decision, even if you may doubt it in the near future. This life as a vampire has a lot of good things in store for you."

Christina looked at the floor in shame, then took a coffee and sat down thoughtfully at the table. She glanced at the door when Laddie, Dwayne, and Marko entered the room. Marko in particular looked at the young woman very suspiciously, as if he were waiting for something. Christina remembered the night before and was shocked by her own cold-blooded behavior. She had killed her uncle and stepfather. She had made sure that her younger siblings became complete orphans.

This time none of the vampires had urged her to do this, on the contrary, they had tried to stop her, but with no success. It infuriated Christina that she had let herself be carried away into killing Michael and Sam. She realized that she had committed this act alone, but indirectly Paul and Laddie were equally guilty. Because the two had given the young woman vampire blood to drink and thus turned her into a half-vampire.

Christina stared indignantly at Paul and Laddie. "You made a monster of me," she whispered. "I didn't want that! I'm so tired of being used and disappointed by everyone!" She wanted to run out of the room to be alone, but Marko held her back. "You know what, Christina, we're sick of your whining," moaned Marko. "Since you've been here, you've been causing nothing but trouble! You killed them both, we tried to stop you, have you already forgotten? That Sam and Michael are dead is your fault, not ours!"

Christina looked up at Marko and slapped his hand from her arm. "You set me up! You gave me your blood to drink without my permission! And you, you pretended to be interested in me, do you remember? It wasn't that long ago!"

Marko started to laugh. "Yeah sure, and you bought it from me, right? I absolutely don't like it when a woman howls something to me all night long. Finally, understand that Paul and Laddie gave you the most precious gift in the world. You are immortal. You're free from all human constraints. It's just fun being a vampire, most of the time!"

Christina stared at Marko in disbelief. "Fun? You're totally nuts! What's fun about it when you have to kill people to survive? That's not what I mean by fun," the young woman replied. "I just wanted to start over in this city, and now I am at your mercy. Just leave me alone, I will renounce your company!"

Christina withdrew to the room in which she had slept during her time as a half-vampire and initially did not let anyone near her. Marko looked after her, annoyed, and winced a little when she slammed the door behind her. "If she continues to be like that and when she doesn't stop to drive everybody mad, you have to come up with something, Paul," he demanded. "Otherwise I'll destroy her. Otherwise, she will bring trouble to us, and she will destroy our family, I won't accept that!" With these words, Marko left the workshop and drove off on his motorcycle.

David looked after Marko with raised eyebrows. He sighed. "Marko is right, it can't go on like this, we have to do something. She needs to go by our rules," he demanded.

Paul gave David a serious look. "You are expecting far too much from the girl," he finally remarked. "Can't you see that she's completely overwhelmed with the situation? She just needs some time. Her whole life has changed dramatically in the past few weeks, but she'll cope with that if we help her. It won't be necessary to punish her. I'll cope with it! "

Dwayne and Laddie nodded. David shrugged. "Since when have you had so much wisdom, Paul? I don't care how you do it, but I will not accept that my daughter brings strife into our family. So make sure that she submits, after all, she is your fledgling! Laddie can not help a lot, he is still a baby vampire himself!"

Paul nodded and sat down on Christina's sofa with a thoughtful expression. He thought about it for a few minutes, then grinned a bit stupidly. Of course, what did he have to do to make Christina open up and listen to him? Paul started giggling, which got Dwayne's attention. He guessed Paul's thoughts and shook his head. "Good luck then," Dwayne remarked dryly.

Paul was sure his idea would work and that he would have fun with it. Christina would stay in her room for now and it looked like she wasn't planning to sleep where the rest of the family spent the day at the moment. She couldn't lock the door because Laddie had lost the key some time ago. So Paul could join her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

Christina would only notice this when the next night fell and she woke up. Then Paul had to be very convincing, otherwise, his plan could backfire, and he definitely didn't want to risk that. But what was he worried about? He was the young woman's sire, so she would hardly be able to resist him.

He knew that he was about to abuse his power, but the tall, blond vampire saw no other option. And apart from that, his lady would also enjoy it. If it went all right, he might be able to mate with her, she would be his forever. At the time, that was exactly Paul's greatest wish. His idea would work, it just had to, because Paul had absolutely no desire for a permanently ill temperedMarko!

A few nights later the time had come. Christina's hunger came to his aid. The young woman actually managed not to leave her room for a few nights. Even David was a little worried. However, this behavior was not unusual for a newborn vampire. It often happened that they initially revolted against their immortal family, but as a rule that was over when the thirst for blood became unbearable, and now Christina needed to feed.

He thought for a moment about taking the young woman out hunting for the first time, but then he had a better, much easier idea. Christina stood in the doorway and looked into the room. She didn't look that good. Her skin was quite gray and her cheeks were sunken.

David wanted to say something to his daughter, but Paul got ahead of him. "You look very hungry," he remarked. Christina sighed and then nodded. The look on her face indicated that she didn't like to admit that. "Okay," Paul continued, grabbing Christina's hand and pulling her out of the room behind him. "We're going for a ride," he said, leading her to his motorcycle.

Her room would have been a better choice, but the rest of the pack made no move to leave their hiding place anytime soon. He wanted to be alone with Christina and not expose her to the others with his plan, because that would only worsen the tense mood.

About five minutes later Paul was sitting with his fledgling in a small clearing in the middle of the woods, not far from where Christina had first met Dwayne. He listened for a moment and then knew for sure that there was no one around but him and Christina. He took off his jacket and shirt and pulled Christina onto his lap. She looked at him uncertainly but didn't fight back. Paul slit his chest with his fingernail and offered Christina to drink from him. "Come on, don't be so shy," he said finally smiling and smeared some of his blood on her lips with his index finger. "You have to hurry, the wound is already starting to close again!" The vampire did not need to repeat this request. She pounced on him, her face transformed, and drank.

Paul watched her grinning and was already looking forward to what would follow. He didn't need to seduce her as he had planned, because that would inevitably turn out the other way around. Paul's plan worked and he was relieved.

Christina attacked him again when her thirst was quenched. She was now hungry for something else that Paul had to offer. After that, the tense situation in the pack was gone.

At first, she always went hunting alone with Paul, but at some point, David wanted to hunt with the entire pack. The six vampires drove two places further because there was a gothic festival taking place there, like every year.

The vampires knew full well that some of the festival-goers preferred to pitch their tents in remote locations rather than in the designated space. The vampires looked for these young people and quickly found them. The male vampires fooled the young people for a while and scared them, then they struck.

At first, Christina just watched. She felt sorry for the people. They were young adults, no older than their mid-twenties. They weren't better or worse than anyone else, they didn't deserve such a horrific ending. She hated herself for it, but her thirst for blood triumphed over her guilty conscience.

When Paul handed her a young man with a slit throat, Christina couldn't hold back. The next night she asked Paul and David to go hunting alone once. She wanted to get along with feeding on her own, at least that was the reason she told her sire and her father. In fact, she was up to something completely different.

Christina was overjoyed when the two vampires complied with her request. Little did she know that David was sending Paul after her to watch her. He wanted to know exactly what his child was really up to. Well, when Christina returned to the workshop shortly before the next daybreak, David confronted her with Paul's observations.

"I hope you have now understood that you cannot feed on animal blood," he confronted her. Christina bowed her head, embarrassed because her father was absolutely right. The blood of animals tasted hideous and did not quench her thirst completely, and she felt caught.

"I really don't know what to do with your silly ideas," David said. But then something happened that no one had expected. Paul was already standing next to his mate to stop David if that should be necessary. Marko positioned himself on her other side and Christina looked at him astonished. Marko smiled and put his arm around the young woman's shoulders. "Come on David," he said. "She has done well lately, you don't have to be so hard on her!"

David raised his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief. Where had the Marko gone, who was always pissed off by Christina? "Has she already wrapped you around her finger like her sire?", asked the leader.

Marko laughed. "Paul can't help it, she's just his mate. Think about how patient you were with her mother, and with her it was all a wasted effort," explained Marko. "Well, I'm a little embarrassed, oh no, actually I'm not embarrassed. At the beginning of my career as a vampire, I also tried to keep myself afloat with animal blood, not just once. It wasn't a particularly good experience, but I have something helped when food became scarce."

David bowed his head but looked his daughter in the eye anyway. "All right, let's forget that slip," he said finally. "Sit down, we have something to talk about!" He looked at Christina in silence for a moment. "You know that the door from our hiding place is secured by a code that we can use with an app on our smartphones to open the door, right?"

Christina nodded. "Yes, I've seen that many times with Paul. He explained everything to me," she replied.

"Okay," said David. "You're the only one who can't get out of here on your own. We have decided that you should now also get a smartphone with the app and the code. Marko is right, you have integrated yourself really well into our family, and we want that reward."

Smiling, David pulled a brand new smartphone from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him. He looked seriously at Christina. "It's a vote of confidence on our part," he said. "I really hope we don't make a mistake with that!"

Christina looked from her father to the smartphone and back again. She realized that the little device was her way to freedom. That was the moment when she began to forge her plan. It was a while longer before she could put it into practice, and she had to be careful and not rush anything. She also knew that she only had one chance to go for it. She had to be careful that the other vampires didn't get her thoughts. If her plan went wrong, her father would never give his permission for her to leave the hiding place on her own, and Paul would watch over her every night.

Paul was Christina's weakness and several times she was on the verge of simply forgetting about her plan. She loved him, yes she loved him with all her heart. She also knew exactly how much she was going to hurt him, but she had no choice. She had never asked for this life, she didn't want it. She didn't want to kill, and she didn't want to be immortal either.

Marko and Dwayne had assured her weeks ago that her feelings of guilt were going to be less and that one day they would go away altogether, but in her case, it wasn't that way. The opposite was the case, from victim to victim her feelings of guilt grew worse and she got the impression that the thirst for blood was all that kept her going.

Paul always managed to get her out of her gloomy mood for a while, but that never lasted long. It was very common that she slept in her room with Paul instead of sleeping through the day with the rest of the family hanging on the iron bar.

Tonight she would put her plan into practice. It wouldn't seem strange to anyone if she withdrew with Paul. Then all she had to do was wait for him to fall asleep and she had to somehow manage to stay awake herself. She wanted it badly, and in fact, her excitement that morning was so great that she stayed up longer, like Paul.

Carefully she got out of bed and opened one of the drawers. She had put a letter in there that was meant for Paul. She was cheating on him, and at least he should know why she was doing it.

Paul awoke a few minutes later to a burning pain all over his body. It was a pain similar to what he had felt when Sam's dog had pushed him into the tub in Michael's grandfather's house.

Screaming and totally shocked, he jumped out of bed. The place next to him was empty and he heard Laddie was also screaming. What was going on here, where was Christina?

He noticed the letter and picked it up. The pain passed slowly and Laddie also seemed to calm down. With the unopened letter in hand, he ran into the room where the vampires usually slept.

"Where's Christina?" He yelled. "Christina is gone, where is she?" Laddie sat on the floor, completely disturbed, mumbling something to himself. Marko sat next to him and tried to calm him down.

The vampires' internal clock confirmed that it was still daylight. They had no idea why they were all awake at the same time. Dwayne saw the letter Paul had crumpled in his hand. "What's that?" he asked. Paul stared at the letter in complete confusion and shrugged. He shook his head and pressed the letter into Dwayne's hand.

Dwayne tore it open and smoothed it out to read it. "Oh shit," he said over and over again, completely stunned. David was now under control again. "What's going on here he asked. Dwayne passed the letter to David and helplessly grabbed his hair with both hands.

David sat on the floor and stared at the wall. Then he began to read:

"Paul,

when you read these lines, I will no longer exist. Perhaps you do not understand my plot,

but I have not been able to cope with this new life. You all told me that my guilt would go

away, but it didn't. It got worse and worse for me, and in the end, I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm very sorry I tricked you for weeks. However, my feelings for you have always been real. I love you

with all my heart and when the sun is about to burn my body to ashes, I will see your smiling

face in front of me.

You have been a lovingly mate to me for the past few weeks and I have

enjoyed every minute with you.

Daddy, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I love you very

much and would have liked to have met you sooner.

Perhaps things would have turned out

differently then. You are a great family, the best I ever had.

I am glad, that I met you guys, but still, I'm not meant for your lifestyle.

I'm sorry that I caused so much trouble, I didn't mean that.

I hope to get to a place where I can finally find my peace. But no matter where that is,

I will look down at you with a smile and take care of you. I love you all very much.

Take good care of yourself!

Christina "

Paul finally understood what David had been reading. He didn't think about it but ran to the door to get outside.

"Shit," Marko just shouted and jumped up to follow Paul. "Shit, Paul, stay here," Dwayne yelled. "You can't go outside, it's still bright day!"

Paul didn't listen, however. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he could still save Christina. What kind of man would he be if he didn't at least try to?

David finally had enough. The grief for his daughter tore his heart apart, but he was responsible here. He would be strong for his boys as it always was. He glanced over at Paul for a moment. He was at the door before Paul could get there and knocked Paul down.

Dwayne, Marko, and Laddie took care of the tall, blonde vampire. David withdrew into Christina's room. He wanted to be alone, he had to think about everything.

When the sun went down the next evening, Paul was the first to wake up. He didn't hesitate for a second, he packed a small bag, took a small can from the kitchen, and left the workshop.

It was not difficult to find Christina's ashes because they were hidden under her clothes. He stuffed Christina's shirt, in which her scent was still hanging, in his pocket, and collected her ashes as best he could. He let it trickle into the can. He carefully closed the can and put it in his jacket pocket.

Then he neatly folded up the rest of Christina's clothes and put the pile on the table in front of the workshop. Paul took one last look at the gate, then sat on his motorcycle and drove off into the evening.

He had lost his mate. He needed some time to himself, his brothers would understand. They knew that Paul would come back one day because this was his home.

End