AN Update: I decided to redo some of this chapter and rearrange it a little.

(Chapter 9)

"Shh." Vincent looked back at her and put his index finger to his lips after letting go of Catherine. He continued to hear the approaching footsteps coming closer to the cabin and onto the front porch. Who the hell would be out here this late at night? And why? He needed to make sure it was safe for both of them and check it out. So he carefully moved towards the door telling Catherine. "Wait here."

"Vincent?" Catherine asked again while looking at him curiously as he was heading for the door. She sensed something was going on or he wouldn't just have this concern look on his face. Then just as he opened the door, there stood a young man with short brown hair. He had a hand raised as if to knock on the door.

"Whoa! Hey, I guess you saw me coming." The dude stood there a bit surprised standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, uh..." Vincent and Catherine both exchanged looks to each other, knowing something wasn't right. Who the hell was this guy? "What's going on?"

"I'm really sorry to bother you. It's just…"

"I'm sorry, how did you find this place?" Catherine interrupted the guy, looking at him suspiciously with her eyebrows drawing together.

"Oh well, you see my truck broke down, and I'm completely useless when it comes to this kind of thing- I don't know a lug nut from a..." The guy started to explain.

Vincent stood there watching him carefully, his beast sense took in all the sights and sounds. Noticing the sweat appeared on the guy's forehead and the sound of his heartbeat was off the charts. He could tell this guy wasn't telling the truth, thinking he must be a Murfield agent. He needed to make sure Catherine was safe and get this guy far away from here as soon as possible. So he asked him. "Oh, where's your truck?"

"Not too far from here, I was about to give up when I saw the lights." He explained again nervously.

"Can I, uh, take your car?" Vincent asked, looking over at Catherine to get her approval while heading over to where his jacket laid on the back of the couch.

"Okay, but I'm coming….." Catherine was about to tell him she was coming with him but got cut off by his lips descending onto hers, kissing hers softly on the lips and watched him lift his head to look at her.

"Be right back, okay?" Vincent told her while bending down, placing a hand on her cheek, and quickly kissed her again while reaching for his coat in the back of her.

"Thanks, man. Appreciate it. It's starting to get really cold out here."

"No, I'm coming with you," Catherine muttered to Vincent while taking a look at the stranger that stood in the doorway and then back to him. She was about to follow him, but was stopped by his large frame as he turned to face her. 'it could be a trap….."

"Don't worry, okay?" Vincent kissed her cheek while putting on his jacket and still tried to block her from leaving. He wasn't to have Catherine become injured, not after just recovering and this time he'll do anything to protect her. Even if it means to get this stranger away from the cabin. "I'll be fine."

"Vincent," Catherine stressed to him.

"I'll be right back, okay," Vincent told her before heading out with the guy.

Catherine looked out the window watching on with uncertainty as Vincent left with the guy heading into the direction of the woods. He was acting differently towards her, did he sense something odd about the guy too and was afraid something would happen to her. He should know by now that he didn't need to protect her and just sitting there wasn't opinion for her. Not when he could be out there in danger, especially with Muirfield possibly lurking about. So she went grabbing her coat, putting it on before stepping outside onto the porch. She pulled her coat closer to her body while breathing in the cold night air.

Vincent drove the guy in the direction of where the supposed to be truck was but had a gut feeling something was up. He couldn't shake this feeling that this guy's story wasn't legit after showing up at the cabin. He could hear the guy's heart racing and beads of sweat appeared on his brow. He realized this guy was lying his ass off and needed to get some answers. So he slowed the car down, pulling over to the side of the road and got out. He walked around to the passenger side, opened the car door, and grabbed the dude by his jacket yanking him out of the car. The dude exclaimed, shocked by the sudden change of the situation he started asking. "Hey, what are we doing? The truck's up, Hey!"

"How many?" Vincent inquired while pushing him hard up against the side of the car again using his super speed.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Benny's Garage?" Vincent stated the obvious while throwing open the guys jacket to reveal a tee shirt with the company's logo on the front and then grabbed a hold of one of his hands, continuing saying. "Grease under your nails. If your truck was really broken down, you'd know how to fix it, right?"

"Seriously, man, all I know is that I was supposed to meet my girlfriend an hour ago." The dude commented trying to come up with a believable excuse of why he came to the cabin in the first place. He needed to get Keller away from the cabin so that the woman could take care of the girl and get the job done.

"How many?" Vincent repeated the question while grabbing the guy by his throat. He was getting impatient with the guy's, stalling and lying tactics. He wasn't pleased with the fact this guy had interrupted his time with Catherine either.

"Dude, I don't." The dude knew by the look on his face that he wasn't playing around, so he answered him. "Three."

"What did they tell you?" Vincent knew that Muirfield must have put this guy up to it. The question was how the hell did they find Catherine and his whereabouts?

"To get you to the truck." The dude confessed nervously.

"And then?" Vincent needed to know more before heading back to the cabin.

"They'd take it from there," The guy paused for a moment trying to regain his composure before commenting to Vincent with a cautionary voice. "That's after she gets rid of your girlfriend."

"What do you mean after she gets rid of my girlfriend?" Vincent asked, drawing his brows together looking at him seriously. What the hell was he talking about? Who was after Catherine and why? So he asked, "Who?"

"I- I don't know her name, some tall chick with fiery red hair…"

"No, Alex," Vincent muttered while his stomach felt rock hard and his heart raced like it was going to nearly explode. He didn't want to believe that his ex was capable of doing something like that, to hurt another human being.

"They were going to give me a thousand bucks." The guy butted into his thoughts. "Told me they were bounty hunters."

"They're not bounty hunters, and they don't like witnesses, so I'd start running," Vincent told the guy as he was about to get in the car, but was blocked off by the guy.

"Oh no man, I need the money." The guy got into his face trying to block him from getting into the car by placing his hand on his chest.

"You really don't want to do that." Vincent's voice became a little deeper, his breathing started to become heavy and his teeth started to become sharper. The dude however wasn't listening as he started pushing him back away from the car. He growled while baring his fangs and letting his eyes glow for a moment. He grabbed the dude by the throat again and started lifting him off the ground. His nostrils flared and veins started pulsing in his temple, letting the guy know he wasn't in the mood to play games.

"Ok man, sorry." The dude gasped for air while looking on with his mouth gaping opening and his eyes bulging wide. What kind of creature was this guy?

"Just get as far away from here as you can." Vincent releases his hold on the frightened guy and steps back, giving him some space.

"What about my truck?" The dude asked not sure what to do next.

"Forget your truck. You need to leave." Vincent ordered the guy before opening the car door to get in. He didn't want to have to wait until something happened to Catherine as he pressed his foot on the gas pedal and floored it with the car. He needed to get back to the cabin and check on Catherine. Make sure Alex didn't do anything stupid and keep her from doing anything she'll regret later.

Alex sat in the car waiting for the perfect moment after watching the guy lure Vincent out of the cabin. She pondered on what to do next as she continued grabbing the gun in her purse. She needed to get rid of the detective, but she didn't want to have to do it at the cabin. Out in the opening made more sense, less obvious and hopefully to get rid of a body. As she was about to exit the car, she watched the detective leave the cabin and started to head for the woods. This would be her only chance to get the man she loves back. She wondered if the reason the detective didn't tell her about Vincent being alive. Was Catherine trying to have her think she was losing her mind by pretending she didn't see Vincent that day in the hospital? Maybe she did that just so she couldn't find out about them.

"Well here goes nothing," Alex mumbled, taking the opportunity she grabbed the gun from her handbag and exited the car.

Walking carefully in a distance behind Catherine, making sure she wasn't spotted yet.

Catherine was about to head in the direction of the men, she could hear the sound of the crunch of twigs underfoot as someone was approaching from behind her. She turned and noticed a very distraught Alex Salter heading towards her. "Alex, What are you doing here?"

"You know, I don't understand how he could do this to me." Alex's voice was confused, lifting the gun in her hand as she approached Catherine.

"Alex?"

"He's been watching over you all those years," Alex blurted, pulling out the gun aiming it at Catherine trying to hold the gun steady while saying. "while I was grieving." She sobbed while coming closer, pointing the gun at her still. "He never once came back to tell me he was alive, because he was off watching another woman."

"Alex, put the gun down," Catherine said cautiously, trying to reason with her. Just as she was about to place her hand on her gun, but realized she didn't have it with her. She was just so used to having with her all the time. She could have kicked herself for not remembering that she was still on the stupid ass suspension due to her injury and what went on before at the hospital.

"You did this." Alex stepped closer to her putting the gun in her face, threatening her. "I was happily engaged and he was supposed to come back to me."

"There was a reason for…..." Catherine wanted to explain the best she could, but was cut off by her.

"Yeah, there was something going on between the both of you." Alex accused her.

"Alex, I'm sorry, but I have to go," Catherine announced, tried going past her, but Alex wasn't going to let her go that easy and mimic her step, blocking her. She didn't have time trying to explain what really happened to make Vincent start watching over her. Right now she needed to go to him and stop anything that would happen, even if she wasn't armed. She still knew how to defend herself. She continued trying to reason with her. "He might be in trouble, some guy came to the cabin and he left to help him. It looked as if it could have been a trap." Catherine mentioned as she again tried to get past his ex, but she was having none of it.

"A trap? No." Alex inquired, not believing the detective. How could it be a trap for Vincent? When all she wanted to do was get rid of Catherine, by having the guy distract led him away from the cabin. Then without thinking, she commented. "He seemed totally harmless."

"Wait, how do you know that he was harmless?" Catherine pressed her lips together and her eyebrows were drawn. Something didn't sit right with her, how the hell did Alex know about the guy showing up there, unless. "Alex what did you do?"

"Nothing…." Alex objected. She was about to tell her the plan but then realized that the detective was trying to somehow distract her. "I uh, I saw him approach the cabin as I was pulling up." Alex lied, she didn't need to explain to Catherine that she used him to distract Vincent, so she could kill her.

"I need to go find Vincent, it's urgent." Catherine insisted again.

"No!" Alex exclaimed, she was about to pull the trigger but stopped when she heard footsteps approaching them and then heard his voice.

"Alex! Don't!" Vincent ordered as he began approaching her cautiously telling her. It seemed his ex was on the verge of losing her mind as she kept threatening Catherine while pointing the gun in her face as he came into view.

"Stay out of this Vince." Alex's voice became assertive as her finger slowly pulled back on the trigger. She wasn't about to let Vincent try to distract her. She had to know why he would choose the detective over his own fiancee so she asked. "How could you do this?"

"Alex, don't. This isn't like you, okay." Vincent repeated himself. He couldn't understand where this jealousy was coming from to the point of wanting to kill Catherine.

"I, I loved you." Alex left out a cry as her lower lip trembled and her eyes started to water.

"Alex…."

"They told me you were watching over her over those years since coming back from overseas." She cried again still pointing the gun at Catherine and giving Vincent a scowl.

"Who told you, huh?" Vincent inquired while slowly came and stood in front in between Catherine and his ex. If anything was about to happen he wasn't going to allow another bullet to try and take Catherine as it did at the wedding. He feared the worst knowing that Alex had somehow been involved with Muirfield. They may have come to her and convince her to somehow get rid of Catherine.

"Stop! It's no use. I'm not going to let her take you from me." Alex exclaimed as her eyes became moistened with emotion and were about to pull the trigger more.

"Alex, I can't let you do this," Vincent remarked when he heard the rotation on the metal barrel of the gun and then the clicking sound before it fired. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Catherine and not by the hands of Alex. Using his super-speed Vincent managed to quickly disarm his ex just by grabbing the gun off her just as she pulled the trigger and handed the gun that Alex had to Catherine.

"How, how did you do that?" Alex asked flabbergasted by what just happened.

"There's a reason why I've been in hiding, Alex. I was part of a...experiment in the military."

"Vincent." Catherine's voice was cautionary as she touched his arm trying to get his attention. She couldn't believe that he was going to tell her his secret like that, after everything that has transpired the last couple of days

"It's okay, she needs to know," Vincent muttered to Catherine while looking at her, knowing by the tone of her voice that whatever was about to happen it won't go well. His attention went back to his ex as he was about to explain to her. "Uh... Well, it didn't go as planned, and…"

"So-so what, do you have post-traumatic stress or…" Alex just assumed.

"It-it's more complicated. Um, I am more complicated." Vincent hesitated for a moment trying to find an easier way to explain it. When his sensitive hearing picked up on movement as footsteps approached from the distance. So he decides it was the best time to explain things to her later. "Look, you need to leave."

"Vince?" Alex wasn't sure what was going on, maybe that was why he was distant as well. To assure him that she was there for him like she always was when growing up together. She told him. "I do know people are after you."

Vincent kept hearing the footsteps getting closer and he needed both women in his life to be safe. He knew Catherine could fend for herself, but Alex on the other wasn't that strong. So with a belligerent tone, he told her. "And you need to move on, still."

"What? Are you crazy I'm not going to lose you to…..." Alex's voice was shocked and taken back by Vincent's sudden attitude and then glanced at Catherine, giving her a scowl. "her!"

"You are crazy showing up here and trying to kill Catherine." Vincent roared at his ex now as his eyes changed color. He didn't want to happen to do this now, not in front of Alex, but he was upset at her trying to kill Catherine for her own selfish needs and this was the only thing he could come with.

"Vince?!" Alex looked on with shock as she never saw him act this way towards her.

"Why are you acting so weird?" Catherine wondered as she too never saw him so unraveled before like something was really bothering him. She put her hand on his arm trying to get him from beasting out more, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. She remembered the only other time she ever saw him like this was when Muirfield agents just showed up after the subway incident and when she went to the warehouse afterward to warn him. He tried to frighten her off, away from the warehouse back then, when she was getting too close. Was he trying to do the same thing with his ex?

"No, I'm not leaving." Alex insisted on it as she tried approaching him.

"You need to go now." Vincent's voice became more assertive. He needed her to go and get away from here before something happened to her, but Alex just stood there hesitating on how to react and it was getting too dangerous now. At the moment he was a little annoyed by her, so the best way he knew how to handle the situation was to frighten her off. The same way he did with Catherine when she showed up at the warehouse after the subway thing. He looked down at his hands and noticed the veins in his hands darken. Letting his frustration slip through just a little by roaring at her. "Go!"

"No." Alex let out a scream as her lips trembled from seeing her ex transform into something horrible. She started backing away from him scared, shaking her head as if in denial as what she just saw and started to run back in the direction of her car.

Vincent started heading carefully deeper into the woods with his newfound ability. The glow of his eyes adjusted to the darkness as he moved about with Catherine following not too far behind. He approached one of the trees gently pulling her towards him and stood behind it. He didn't want his ex seeing what he had become, but he had to frighten her off for her own safety. Just like he still didn't want anything to happen to Catherine. So he told her, sounding concerned. "You shouldn't be here either, Catherine, it's dangerous."

"I wasn't just going to leave you to handle it by yourself," Catherine responded while turning to look up at him with concern in her eyes.

"I know, but I'm trying to keep it away from you too."

"Keep it away from me," Catherine sigh heavy, here he goes again trying to protect her again, regardless of how many times she had tried to tell him in the past.

"Yes." Vincent looked down at her with his eyebrows drawn together and stood closer to her. He didn't want to think about the outcome or to have the same nightmare he had before to repeat itself again. With emotional, he said to her. "You know. If I didn't show up the other day when Connor threatened to uh kill you, then what?"

"Vincent, I don't want you to feel guilty about that."

"I didn't want the same thing to happen at your dad's wedding to… " Vincent paused while hearing movement in the woods and still hearing the footsteps approaching closer than they were a few minutes ago.

"What?" Catherine looked up with her eyebrows furrow when noticing Vincent was again distracted like he was earlier. "What is it?"

"They're here," Vincent told her in a low voice while still hearing the footsteps getting closer and with his night vision kicking in again, he saw the silhouettes of three figures heading their way.

"How do you…..?"

"I can see in the dark now." He answered her while keeping an eye on the approaching figures.

"See in the dark?" Catherine looked up at him confused, she wasn't sure what he meant. How the hell can he see that good in the dark?

"It was my DNA that mutated, not me," Vincent informed her since the talk they had at her dad's wedding didn't go so well. Especially after she had just found out he was mutating and probably becoming more animal-like. He was afraid that she might not accept all of him, thankfully that wasn't the case.

"Okay," Catherine was a little taken back by what he told her, the only way he could have seen anything in the dark would be if he had some kind of night vision. As a precaution she took off the safety lock on the gun and cocked it, she had to get ready in case something would happen. So she asked. "Well, how many?"

"Three. Come on." Vincent said while grabbing her hand. It didn't take long for the Muirfield agents to make their way over to where he led Catherine behind some boulders and started shooting at them. He watched as she stood up, firing back at the agent and missed. When one of the agents hid behind the tree, then he returned the fire and missed too. She quickly ducked down beside him to avoid getting shot at. At that time another agent showed up firing, only to have the bullets ricochet off the rocks they hid behind for cover. Then there was a moment of silence as both of them exchanged looks trying to figure out what to do next. That's when Vincent then heard the pin being pulled and the grenade was thrown behind them. This caused him to go into a panic mode as he needed to protect the woman he loved. So his quick instinct kicked in as he covered Catherine's body with his yelling to her to get down just before the bomb went off.

To be continued….

Author's Note: I wanted to thank everyone for the kind reviews and don't worry Vincent and Catherine's relationship is about to get more serious in the next upcoming chapters. Please leave a review to let me know how you guys are liking it so far.