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S tephan chewed on the end of his pen as he read through the new client contract for his cybersecurity firm.

Yawning, he stretched, a move that caused his back to crack. Grimacing in pain, Stephan continued to stretch his stiff joints.

With a huff, he dropped the pen on his desk, leaned back, and stared up at the ceiling. The idea of selecting someone to take over for him there was looking better by the day.

Stephan knew nothing about cybersecurity, computers, or even programming. Not to mention, he found it all boring as hell.

Everwood Enterprise had ventured into so many different fields, Stephan was sure he could find one that wouldn’t bore him to death.

Well, he did enjoy financing new projects—something he hadn’t done in years. There was just something about watching a plan come together that was satisfying.

Though, the last project had been a fiasco—fucking Edwin Ebersole. To this day, he still had a strong urge to destroy the man. Stephan wouldn’t, even if he really, really wanted to.

But boy, had Stephan jumped for joy the minute Blue Sky Seaside Resort was up and running.

Financing aside, maybe he should try something new. The publishing branch would be a good choice. Stephan enjoyed reading.

Or maybe his film production company, though the things they filmed were really something . Something he wasn’t interested in, that is. Stephan had been shocked, to say the least, when he found out his parents owned a company that produced porn.

Yeah, he couldn’t see himself working there. Not to mention it was located in Bram—the shifter kingdom—and he had no interest in moving.

Of course, it would probably be best if Stephan didn’t interfere with his other businesses. They already had experienced people watching over them. The problems he may cause by trying to take on a greater role, ownership aside, wouldn’t be worth it.

Stephan’s main involvements focused on his security firm and Everwood Investments, which dealt with a lot of joint ventures—such as the resort—acquisitions, and the buying and selling of assets, etc.

He should definitely get someone to run the firm, and he could focus on investments. Maybe he just needed a pet project. The resort had been a bit of a pet project, one that had become stressful due to the money and people involved.

Considering his substantial wealth, it didn’t need to be profitable. Possibly one that helped others…

Stephan sat up when his phone rang—a phone that was nowhere in sight. He immediately began to rustle through the papers scattered on his desk. Papers, pens, and whatnot fell to the floor in his search.

After letting out a shout of triumph when he found it hidden underneath a pile of documents, Stephan answered without checking who it was. “You’ve reached Stephan Everwood, how may I help you?”

The heavy breathing he heard told him someone was there. However, whoever it was remained silent. “Hello?”

He pulled the phone away from his ear and looked down at the screen. His brows furrowed when he saw Jayden’s name. Was it a butt dial?

Bringing his phone back to his ear, Stephan asked, “Jade, is something wrong?”

When Jayden’s voice came through, it sounded hollow. “ I…I need you… ”

His muscles tightened up, panic filling him as his imagination ran wild. “What happened? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“ I’m sorry ,” Jayden sobbed.

“Jayden, please. Tell me what’s wrong.”

There was no answer, but Stephan could hear Jayden softly weeping. “Jade, don’t cry. Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.”

“ I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I tried…I did, Stephan, but I can’t anymore. I failed…I failed. ”

“Jade, please, tell me what’s wrong.”

“ It’s bad, Stephan. I didn’t mean to go so far, but it’s been so long. So long, and my anger …” Jayden let out a choked laugh. “ I’m sorry. You won’t be able to fix this one. ”

Stephan’s heart sank and then began to race. He knew this day would come. Deep down, Stephan had known it wouldn’t last. “Jayden…where are you?”

Jayden ignored his question, and instead murmured, “ I need your help. There’s a little girl—she needs your help. I can’t do anything, besides ki ? — ”

“Don’t say it aloud,” he rushed to say, his fear skyrocketing at the possibility of their conversation being overheard, even if it was unlikely. “Where are you?”

Stephan listened and winced at the location. “Where in the forest?”

“ There’s still signal out here, so the tracker should work. Find me through it. Just look for a…mess. That’s where I’ll be. ”

“ I t’s right here. Turn here.” Stephan pointed to a sign that said Glayd National Forest . It had taken them thirty minutes to get there, but he wasn’t sure how long it would take to reach Jayden.

Liam steered the car down the gravel road. “Do you know what we’ll be walking in on?”

Stephan sighed. “A dead body… He said it was bad, Liam. I can’t even imagine how it must be for Jade to think that.”

“Whatever happens…or happened, we can get through it,” Liam said softly as he parked.

Wasting no time, they immediately got out and started into the dense forest. And hours later, they still hadn’t found him.

Stephan growled when a tree branch caught in his hair .

“Having issues, Stephan?” Liam reached over and picked a leaf out of his curly locks.

“Don’t. Just don’t!”

Ignoring Liam, with as much dignity as he could muster, Stephan marched forward, pushing through the brush and trees—only to get snagged by another branch. Swearing, he batted it away in frustration, his shoulders sagging once he was untangled.

“It was foolish of me to think he would stop forever. I should have been looking for a real solution. I asked too much from him.” Stephan bit his bottom lip. “I just wanted to believe that…that…”

“That his urges could be controlled?”

“Yes…”

“I don’t think he can control them. I’m actually surprised he’s held back this long.”

If it wasn’t something he could control, then how could they help him? Stephan should have done more, tried harder to…to what? What was the solution? Was there a way to make this work? There had to be, right? He couldn’t… He couldn't imagine his life without the vampire, so there had to be!

The problem went round and round in his head, as they continued farther into the forest.

About an hour later, a solution came to him. It was so obvious, Stephan couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. Or maybe…he had never tried to find another way.

There would be some issues they’d have to deal with, but…it could work. Probably because of what Jayden hadn’t done during his murder spree. Or rather, who he had gone after. Though, the possibility of it going horribly wrong wa s significant.

He cleared his throat to gain Liam’s attention. “If he ca—” Stephan’s words cut off on a yelp as his foot caught on a rock. Luckily, his godfather grabbed his arm, stopping his fall.

“Are you all right?”

Stabilizing himself, he brushed the man’s hand away and clucked in disgust, while he started forward again. “I am…but you know, I really, really don’t like nature.”

Liam chuckled. “I know. Your mother hated it as well. Your father, however, always lamented the fact that he had no one to go camping with.”

Stephan stopped walking and peered at him. “How come you never went with him?”

Grinning, the man admitted, “Because I hate it, too. It’s too messy for my liking.”

“I see.” Liam’s words put a smile on his face. However, it quickly slipped away. Their current situation was nothing to smile at.

“Anyway…what I was going to say was that if he can’t control it, then maybe there’s a way for him to do it legally.”

Liam’s eyes lit up with understanding. “It may work.”

“It might, but there are a few landmines for us to dodge.” On detecting a familiar scent, he paused and inhaled deeply. “I smell blood.”

Liam nodded. “A lot of blood.”

Up ahead, Stephan could see light breaking through the trees—an outcropping lying just beyond. The closer he got, the stronger the scent of blood. At one point, it overwhelmed his senses.

Breaking through the trees, Stephan gasped, his gaze darting around. It was like a scene from a slasher film—body parts and blood littered everywhere. Whoever the person had been, they’d been torn apart. Violent was the word that came to mind. A violence that he wouldn’t have thought Jayden was capable of before now.

The man tortured, even killed, but it was usually done coldly, calmly. Stephan would go as far as saying Jayden was meticulous, even if he was somewhat messy in his task. The scene before him was nothing like that. It was the aftermath of uncontrollable fury.

Stephan swallowed hard. Had…had he done this? Had he pushed Jade to this? Had Stephan ultimately driven the man to…this?

His gaze flicked around, until he finally spotted Jayden. The vampire was sitting against a tree. Sun shining on him as he stared blankly down at the ground, the man’s hair was slicked back with blood. It coated him almost entirely, aside from a few small stretches of pale bare skin on his face and neck. It didn’t appear as if Jayden had heard them, or anything at all, for that matter.

As Stephan slowly approached, stepping around the carnage, the man’s head snapped up.

“Did you see what I did?” Jayden said, his voice empty, almost a whisper.

“Yes…” Stephan’s voice trailed off, before he cleared his throat and pressed on, “Jade, you mentioned a girl…?”

Jayden lifted his arm and pointed. “Behind that tree.”

Stephan looked back at Liam. The vampire nodded, and started toward where Jayden had indicated.

Reaching Jade, he crouched down and took one of the man’s blood-soaked hands in his.

Jayden jerked away violently, screaming, “Don’t touch me!” Gasping, the vampire ran his fingers through his hair, pulling on the strands. “Oh Gods, just don’t…I don’t want it—ah, to get on you.”

Stephan grabbed his hand firmly this time. “Jade, it’s dry. It won’t get on me. Even if it did, it would be okay.” Gently, he coaxed, “Jayden, what happened?”

The vampire stayed silent at first, before finally saying, “I had to get away…the city. It was too much. I wanted to be alone… That’s all I wanted. And usually, it’s fine. But—ha, it wasn’t this time. He was here. The little girl was here…and the screaming, she was screaming. I had to help. I wanted to do it your way. I wanted to be good.” Jayden shook his head. “But I couldn’t. He showed me that. He told me the truth. We couldn’t hold back anymore.”

He frowned as he tried to make sense of Jayden’s words. As far as he knew, besides Liam and himself, the man didn’t have any other friends, or even acquaintances. But also, no one else was there…

“Who…who told you? Who are you talking about?”

“My monster.” Jayden laughed and tapped the side of his head. “He’s in here. I saw him, heard him. He’s real, Stephan. He’s real. He’s me. Ha—I knew I was crazy, that I was a monster. I just hadn’t realized he was me, yet not. He told me to tell you he’s sorry, that he couldn’t hold back anymore.”

Eyes widening, Stephan clutched at his chest, his heart stuttering for just a moment. Breathlessly, he asked, “Y-you heard him?”

Jayden nodded.

His head swayed, his body rocking as guilt slammed into him. Had he done this?

Stephan had heard of it happening, of inner entities being created in paranormals during times of great trauma or stress—there were even documented cases.

But had…Stephan done this ? Had he backed Jayden so far into a corner that he just split? Or was it that his meddling had brought forward a part of Jayden that had been hiding?

By the Gods, what had he done?! Instead of putting him back together, Stephan had just broken off another piece!

He knew Jayden couldn’t stop. He knew it! But in his denial, in his push to make Jayden ‘normal’, he had ignored the reality that was slapping him in the face. He’d ignored what Jade had been trying to tell him. Stephan had ignored the very reason why Jayden did what he did.

It wasn’t out of a need for justice, it was out of a need, period. The young child Stephan met all those years ago hadn’t seen anything wrong with what he was doing, because it was something he needed to do.

Stephan had beaten his own rage. He had locked it away, refused to acknowledge it. But Jayden’s had consumed him—become him. It would never go away. Stephan should have been looking for a solution that would work for Jayden, instead of one that worked for him .

But he had been selfish. So fucking selfish. He’d forced Jayden to swallow his rage, leaving him with no way to release it.

“I’m sorry, Jayden. I sh-shouldn’t have pushed you so hard. I did this…and I’m s-so sorry.”

Jayden sputtered. “Wh-what the hell are you talking about?!”

“I pushed for the impossible. I should have looked for a solution that worked for you.”

The vampire’s eyes widened. “Stephan, this isn’t your fault! None of this is. It’s me! I’m a monster!” He slapped his chest. “While I never meant to go this far, I feel nothing when I look at it. No horror, no disgust, no regret at all. The only thing I regret is upsetting you and letting you down. Do you know what I’m thinking right now, Stephan?”

“No…” he rasped softly.

“I’m thinking about the mess I made. That next time, I’ll have to take more care. And, I’m telling you now, there will be a next time.”

“I know.” Stephan released Jayden’s hand and stood up. “But I’ll fix this, an?—”

“FIX WHAT?!” Jayden bellowed. “Look around you, Stephan! There’s nothing here you can fix!”

Determination filled him. He could fix this. He could do it. While piecing together a body would be hard—not to mention something Stephan had never tried before—he just knew, if it was for Jayden, he could do it. And he would…he would fix everything. Stephan would make it right.

“I can do it…and then I’ll fix the mess I made. Bring the pieces over,” Stephan demanded.

Jayden stared for a moment, looking as lost as he felt, before slowly pushing to his feet to do as he was told. Once every piece of the person had been collected, with all the energy he could muster, Stephan did the seemingly impossible—he put the dead man back together. Broken bones cracked and popped back into place, tendons, fat, and tissue reconnected, and blood gathered, taking shape even before there were veins and skin there to hold it.

The longer the process went on, the more lightheaded Stephan began to feel. He swayed, black spots bubbling at the edges of his vision .

It took the last of his energy to finish his task. And then his world tilted, closing off around him.

“Stephan!” He heard Jayden cry out in panic.

There was a brief flash of pain as he hit the ground, but then there was nothing.