Venom

One year later

It had been a hard year after the incident, more than two years of my life had been erased because of the government and their plans on using me as a weapon.

Memories of my time there still give me nightmares; I cry for Dax when I'm on my own sometimes. I know it must be hard for Kade to hear about the love I held for another man but he assured me he understands. Kade has his own grief to deal with. Watching the compound where everything happened disappear in an explosion the government had created to hide what had been going on; all traces of vampires who had been created disappeared, including Lucy.

Questions and answers had been left unsaid, we never found out what had happened to Lucy; the government swears they never found her body. Kade and I don't believe them but we don't know how it could've been possible for her not to have perished there. We both still grieve for Lucy, Kade especially; there are nights where I still have to comfort him, the nightmares which taunt his mind leave him in tears in my arms. He had a small headstone made for her so we have a place to go, leave her flowers, and remember her for the kind loving person she was.

Although the city of Eden was still high in crime, slowly the violence began dropping and people started to feel safe once again. Kade managed to get his life back together and reopened the gym he once owned with the help of Mikey and Ben. They kept things on the straight in the eyes of the law, no more illegal gambling or underground fighting. Instead, he taught youngsters how to box and fight, and I was so proud of him.

I was at home getting ready to make my way over to the gym for my first class of the day. Gulping down the last of the coffee which was left in my cup, I put it in the sink to deal with later, although I know it will probably be left until the following morning as Kade told me he was taking me out for dinner tonight, to celebrate our first year of being together. Even with all the heartache, he has had to deal with, he is a huge romantic at heart. He is such an amazing and strong man who I have completely fallen in love with. For all the things I have gone through, I would have never met Kade and I wouldn't be the happiest woman in the world right now. He has helped me tremendously get back to living in the everyday world as a normal human being again. I started teaching classes for self-defense at Kade's gym, teaching others how to defend themselves and it's become a passion I love doing.

I lock the house up and head over to the gym. Walking down the street, I felt as if eyes were watching me. I shrug it off assuming it's probably the government; although I'm no longer a threat, I know they are constantly watching me. Kade meets me with a huge smile on his face and takes me in his arms before capturing my lips savagely and threading his fingers through my hair. I will never get tired of his kisses; they send me into a delirious state and I won't lie, the sex we have is still out of this world.

"Hey Morgan," I greet my self-defense partner before our students arrive for their class today. She was happily tucked in Mikey's arms, pecking his lips before coming over to chat.

"Hey, are you excited for your date tonight!" she asked all giddy.

"Yea, well, I think I'm more excited for the after-party when we get back home...if you know what I mean," I added with a wink.

"Oh, I think you'll be surprised what the dinner part has in store for you!" she said with a sly smirk before busying herself by laying out the gym mats.

The day went by quickly and soon Kade and I were heading out together. His arm hanging over my shoulder and mine wrapped around his waist as we walked down the street, taking in the sun slowly setting. We arrive at Kade's apartment we have shared for a year together and quickly get ready.

Dressing up somehow always reminds me of my time at the compound; getting ready to head out on my missions. I slip on a fancy black dress, curl my hair and dress my face in makeup and red lipstick. I smirked as I looked in the mirror, the reminder of how I looked on the night we met. I stepped out of our bedroom and found Kade all dressed up in a nice pair of jeans and a fancy suit jacket; immediately making my mouth water looking at him.

"Are you sure you want to go out? We could just order in," I said with enticing eyes as I bit my lip dragging my fingers up the collar of his jacket."

"Don't entice me," he lets out a deep growl pulling me close and grazing his hand over my ass.

“I want tonight to be special." His lips met mine and I couldn't suppress the moan from leaving my mouth.

"I think we can make things extra special in the bedroom, no?" I enticed again with a smirk and I saw doubt forming in his mind.

"Fuck it!" he scooped me up and threw me over his arms making his way to the bedroom when a harsh knock on the doors stops him in his tracks.

"Who could that be?" I questioned as he put me down. His protective instincts kicked in and he took my hand, shielding his body in front of me as he cracked the door open.

"Good evening, Mr. Sawyer. We're looking for Miss Scarlet Nash, is she here?"

"Who the fuck is asking?" Kade spat but I placed my hand on his shoulder and forced the door open enough to get a glimpse of who was outside.

A big black male dressed in a black suit wearing sunglasses in the evening told me it was a government agent.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We'd like to bring you into the agency and ask you some questions."

"What for? It's not like you guys answered any of our questions?" Kade spoke angrily.

"Questions about what?" I refocused the conversation.

"We can discuss that at the agency," the agent didn't let up as his face stayed stern.

"She's not going anywhere without me!" Kade chimed in again.

The agent pressed his earpiece and spoke in a mumble to someone on the other end before turning back to Kade.

"Very well, the car is outside." Kade grabbed my jacket and took my hand, holding me close as we locked up and made our way out to the car. The agent stopped him from getting in.

"We need to check you, sir." The agent said as he took Kade's arm and turned him around. Spreading his legs with a kick of his foot, the agent felt up each of Kade's legs working up to his torso. He stopped before he reached his arms where he felt a bulge in Kade's jacket and pulled out a small velvet box and opened it. A dazzling engagement ring sparkles in my eyes and the agent looks up dumbfounded.

"Ooh, congratulations." He closed the box and handed it to Kade.

"You mother fucker! I didn't get to ask her yet!" He looked so enraged the surprise had been spoiled but it just made me laugh. The agent gestured for us to climb in the backseat and closed the door behind us.

"Kade," I said softly, taking his hand and he turned to me.

"Baby, I know our relationship hasn’t been a normal one but I wouldn't have it any other way; except that if I knew how much I'd love you, I'd have asked the government for you to try to kill me a long time ago." I giggled at his humor and I saw the agent's eyes lift and look at us through the rearview mirror.

Kade softly took my chin and brought my head back to him. "I fucking love you, Scarlet, and I don't want to spend a single day without you. And even though this wasn't the place I wanted to do this," he pulled out the ring again and took my hand. "Will you marry me?"

I sucked in my lip with the overwhelming feeling of joyous tears filling my throat.

"Yes! Absolutely yes! I love you, Kade!" I exclaimed with the giddiest smile plastered on my face. He slipped the ring on my finger that shined through the darkness of the car ride and pulled my head on for a kiss. I didn't care if the agent was watching, I wanted to make the most of this memory. I moved my body on top of Kade, straddling him, and deepened our kiss. Nibbling his lower lip with my fangs and sending my tongue down his throat, claiming him as mine, forever. I felt his erection rise under his pants and I sunk my hips lower into him, grinding my core against him. I heard his moans from deep in his chest and his hands squeezed my ass, I knew he was trying to hang on and not lose control as was I.

"We're here," the agent interrupted us, clearing his throat. He stepped out and opened up our backseat door, ushering us through the doors of a compound that looked similar to the one I came from. As we passed by rooms I was happy to see computers lined up with people who were monitoring surveillance footage. Anything was better than seeing exam rooms and labs. We stopped outside a door until the agent opened it; looking exactly like a debriefing room with a screen the size of a wall.

"Ahh, Scarlet Nash! I'm so happy to finally meet your acquaintance and put your face to the picture on your file!" A tall man dressed in an agent’s suit came forward to shake my hand.

"File?" I questioned, reluctant to shake his hand.

"Forgive me. My name is Val Roberson. I'm the lead agent taking over this sector of the government."

"You need to give us more than that, Val! We were left without any answers! Your people came in and blew everything up to cover their asses!" Kade chimed in pushing his body in front of mine.

"This is my...fiancé, as of ten minutes ago, Kade Sawyer."

"Ahh," Roberson nodded with raised eyebrows at Kade's obvious resentment. "Well, Mr. Sawyer, you are correct. Although it wasn't my people, it was a government sector associated with Doctor Jenkins's experiments. They were alerted once Jenkins triggered the code red emergency button and authorized to get rid of all evidence."

Roberson turned around and came back with a tablet in his hands as his fingers were busy at work.

"My job is to recover all the subjects from Jenkins experiments. It turns out a lot of people taken for his trials did have families and loved ones who have been looking for them. We have matched a lot of them with our missing persons' cases." He handed me the tablet and Kade and I scrolled through. About twenty or so subjects that I recognized were matched to pictures people had reported for missing person case.

"Wow, they did all have families," I whispered to myself solemnly as I noticed some of the subjects had an X through their file picture which meant they didn't make it out of the compound alive. I came across Dax's picture that had an X marked through it and his picture was linked to a missing person's case, which meant he left behind someone. Kade rested his hand on my back to comfort me as I brushed my fingers across his picture. I wanted to press the file to the missing person, I wanted to see who had been looking for him but Roberson took back his tablet.

"As you can see, we've been busy at work. But some of the subjects don't have missing persons and we can't seem to place them. Then we were sent some alarming footage just the other day." He presses the tablet and gestures for us to look at the giant screen against the wall.

It's security footage from a street corner camera. In the distance we see a male and female leave a building that resembles a bar of some kind. The woman had a small frame and long dark flowing hair. She was clearly handsy with the male but he seemed to enjoy it as his hand was grabbing her ass. Just as they passed the building, they came to an alley and she pushed him in and slammed him against the brick wall.

It's a tactic that I have seen and done too many times to count. Goosebumps ignited on my skin and I squeezed my hand around Kade's questioning how it was even possible we could have missed giving one the antivenom. I watched her sink her teeth in his neck and his body slowly slide down the side of the building. She wiped her mouth and casually stepped out of the alleyway, her head slightly turned in the direction of the security cameras. Roberson paused the surveillance and fiddled with the tablet as he zoomed in on her face.

"My question to you is, do you know who this subject is?"

My mind froze in shock and disbelief as my mouth dropped open while no words came out.

Staring back at me from the video was jet black hair against a pale face and unmistakable haunting blood-red orbs.

"How is that possible!" Kade mumbled out just as shocked as I was staring at the screen.

"So you two do know who this subject is then?" Roberson asked again and Kade slightly nodded with a frozen neck.

"That's my sister. That's Lucy Sawyer."

Well, what do you think of that? Thank you so much for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it as much as Mel C. Clair and I had writing it. Please check out some of her other amazing stories she has on here. We would love to hear your feedback in a review as it helps us greatly. Much love and you all.