Sadness showed in the Ageless’ eyes. “This must be done. I’m sorry.” The Ageless turned toward Corrine. “I know you risked everything for her, but you and I both know that this is the price that must be paid. Cruor demands her. Cruor will get her. It’s the only way to keep the balance.”

“This is unfair. And you know it,” Corrine pleaded even as she clutched my daughter in her hands. “Sofia had nothing to do with what happened.”

“And yet she is the price they demand, the price we are going to give.” The Ageless turned her eyes toward me. “I trust that she will someday be back in your arms.”

“No. Please,” I pleaded even as I sensed my body heating up. I began to fear that I would burn my own wife to ashes, but there would be no time for that. The witch was about to rip my heart away from me.

It took less than the blink of an eye—just a snap of her fingers. And both the witch and Sofia were gone.

“No!” I screamed out. As if she knew what had just happened, our daughter cried right along with me.

The fire was building up inside me and I knew there was nothing I would be able to do to control it. I was in more pain than I ever was before. I turned desperate eyes toward Corrine. “Get away. Get as far away as you possibly can.” I looked at the child she was holding. “I’m not about to lose her too.”

Corrine ran as far away from the cabin as possible. I held the fire back as long as I could, but what was to happen was inevitable. The ground shook when a loud explosion burst from inside the small hut, incinerating everything within half a mile.

To have held Sofia in my arms only to have her ripped away from me was the farthest thing from justice. As the fire came out of me, all I could think about were the few words Sofia was able to utter to me.

Derek, where were you?

Epilogue: Sofia

When I woke up, my head was pounding and my heart was thumping so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Every tooth ached terribly. I felt cold—colder than I’d ever felt before.

I shuffled out of the bed and stood to my feet. My knees almost buckled beneath me. I held on to one of the posts of the bed for support. I looked around me. My surroundings were unfamiliar. Everything was white. The floor, the walls, the ceilings, everything.

I’ve gone mad. Or perhaps I'm dreaming. I tried to recall what had happened to me and my mind came up with a huge blank. Instead, I felt a shower of kisses on my temple, strong arms wrapping around my frame. The strange sensations came with a sense of comfort that left me unnerved even as a flash of bright blue eyes came through my thoughts.

I jumped from where I was standing when a baritone voice assured me, “Everything’s going to be all right, Sofia.”

The words came like an embrace. A promise I had to hold on to.

Sofia. That’s my name. I was certain of it. I looked around me in search of some assurance of who I was. I couldn’t remember. I had no idea who I was. All I knew was that the name was mine. Those kisses were mine. Those eyes were mine.

Right about then, a loud whoosh caught my attention. I turned toward the sound and a door opened where I’d thought there was only a wide white wall.

A young woman dressed in a white gown entered the room. She held a tray on her hands. In the middle of the tray was a glass of blood. The bright red color was a stark contrast to the bare white surroundings.

My eyes immediately focused on the glass and the strangest sensation came over me. Hunger… hunger unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It took over my senses. Is this what Derek used to feel whenever he looked at me?

I wondered at the strange thought. Who’s Derek? Is he the man with the blue eyes? The man from whom those kisses came, whose arms wrapped around me and whose voice reassured me? A wave of affection swept over me for this stranger whom I was sure I loved with every fiber of my being.

“What’s going through your mind, Sofia?”

I was right. Sofia. That’s my name. “A man,” I admitted, even if I had no idea who the woman standing before me was. Brown hair. Beautiful. Darkness evident in her eyes.

“A man? Who?”

“I don’t remember,” I lied for reasons I couldn’t fathom. Why can’t I just tell her I’m thinking about Derek, whoever he is? I stared at the blood.

“Do you remember me?” She seemed annoyed that I wasn’t even looking at her. “Stop staring at the blood, Sofia. Look at me. Do you remember who I am?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t.”

“I’m Clara. Now do you remember?”

I tried to recall, but I remembered nothing. I found myself drawn to the blood. I swallowed hard at the sight of it. I wanted it. I craved it. I had to have it. I took a step forward and reached for it.

Clara stepped back and pulled the tray away from me. “Not yet, Sofia. Not until you answer my questions.”

“Do you remember who I am?”

I shook my head. “No. Can I have a drink now? Please?”

She appeared pleased this time. “Yes. Have a sip. But just one sip.”

She handed the glass over to me and I took a sip. My eyes lit up at how invigorating the blood was coursing through my veins. I gasped when Clara pulled the glass away from my lips.

“Now let’s talk about that man you remember. What does he look like?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Don’t lie to me, Sofia. I’ll never give you any more blood if you lie to me.”

I swallowed hard. I wanted that blood.

“That man is keeping you from all the blood you want, Sofia. All you have to do is give me his name and the blood is yours.”

Something raged within me, and I was so desperate for the blood that I almost said the name out loud. Derek. But I couldn’t. I simply couldn’t.

But I still wanted that blood and there was only one person keeping me away from it. It wasn’t Derek. It was Clara.

I glared at her and before I could even make sense of what was happening, I was holding her heart in my hands and staring at her motionless body on the ground. The glass of blood was secure in my other hand. I smiled, not feeling an ounce of remorse over what I’d just done.

Then I drank the glass of blood—every drop of it. The blood caused memories to come over me like a flood. Memories I couldn’t make sense of, random images of a life that I wasn’t sure was mine.

When I swallowed the last of the blood, a wave of shame and guilt washed over me. What is happening to me? I staggered toward a full-length mirror placed on one side of the room. I looked at my countenance. I was white as a sheet, almost as if I had no blood inside me. I was cold. I looked at my aching teeth and gasped when I saw fangs.

How?

Something inside told me that this wasn’t supposed to be, that this simply couldn’t be. But when claws suddenly appeared from my fingers, I knew the reality of it all. I could no longer deny it.

I knew it was impossible, but there it was.

I had turned into a vampire.