Chapter 1

It was three in the morning. Only a sliver of moonlight seeped through the iron-barred skylight in the basement.

I got down on my knees on the cold floor, cradling a tiny, warm, and lifeless body in my hands.

Its fingers were still curled together. Its eyes never opened. It never even got a name.

Meanwhile, its father was upstairs in his bedroom, spoon-feeding the blood he'd drained from me to another woman.

"Sebastian..." I called out to him, using the last bit of strength from our bond.

He sensed it.

Then, he severed the connection.

I laughed.

I laughed out loud.

As I laughed, my tears fell onto the small, lifeless body.

I finally learned the cruelest lesson. He wasn't incapable of love. He only didn't love me.

*****

Three days ago, I thought he was my salvation.

The rain was coming down in sheets.

I was trapped in a dark alley, surrounded by a pack of lowly vampires. They caught the scent of demon hunter blood in me, lunging at me like rabid dogs.

I was on the verge of death.

Then he appeared out of nowhere.

I couldn't even see how he moved. I only heard a few agonized screams, and those lowly vampires were reduced to ashes.

A figure crouched down and lifted me from the ground.

His touch was cold, but nothing like those lowly vampires. His coldness was like a midnight lake, so deep and alluring that it made me want to sink into it.

"Don't be afraid," he said.

His voice was low and deep, like the lingering note of a cello.

I looked up and saw his face for the first time. His skin was pale. His eyes were deep and gray-blue. His wet hair was plastered to his forehead.

It was Sebastian, a vampire count and the rising star of the coven.

He was the kind of man I'd always imagined, powerful, aloof, and completely out of reach.

He lowered his head, his lips brushing against my neck. When his fangs pierced my skin, I didn't feel pain but a strange dizziness, as if I were soaking in warm water.

Then, he bit his wrist and let me drink his blood. "Drink," he said.

Deep red liquid trickled into my mouth, and I swallowed instinctively.

In that instant, a connection unlike anything I'd felt sparked between us. I could sense his loneliness, a centuries-old emptiness.

"I'll protect you," he said.

I believed him.

In the days after the Embrace, he settled me in the topmost room of the castle.

The windows were enormous, offering a sweeping view of the entire forest.

He dressed me in the finest silk gowns and had the servants deliver the freshest blood.

Every night, he would come to see me.

He'd sit by my bedside, holding my hand, and we'd communicate through the spiritual bond.

Words weren't necessary. Our emotions flowed between us through the bond.

He told me he'd once trusted someone, a woman, but when she found out he was a vampire, she screamed and ran away.

After that, he never trusted anyone again until he met me.

"You're different," he said through the bond. "You have the power of a demon hunter in your blood, yet you harbor no hatred."

*****

On the third night, he led me up to the rooftop.

The moonlight was gentle and silver.

He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Emily," he murmured, saying my name for the very first time. "I want to forge a blood bond with you, an equal, eternal connection."

I turned to face him.

In the moonlight, his eyes were deep gray. My face was mirrored in them.

"Do you know what that means?" I asked.

"I do. From now on, I'll be able to sense your feelings, and we'll share our strength. Sunlight won't hurt me anymore because you'll be the light that keeps me safe," he replied.

He lowered his head and kissed me. It was light and cold, like a snowflake melting on my lips.

In that kiss, I could sense his solitude, his longing, and the awakening of a heart learning to feel again after centuries.

At that moment, I believed I was the luckiest woman in the world.

I was loved, transformed, and sworn into a blood bond by a vampire count.

It felt like something straight out of a fairy tale.

But fairy tales were all lies.

*****

On the fourth afternoon, I was wandering through the castle when I passed by his study. The door was left slightly ajar.

I heard his voice.

"Her blood type matches," he said. He wasn't addressing me. His voice was so cold that he sounded like a completely different person from the one who had kissed me the night before.

"What are the odds?" another voice asked. It was a woman's, lazy and laced with the arrogance of a superior being.

"Ninety percent," Sebastian replied. "Her demon hunter blood makes her the perfect source of blood."

"Then carry on," the woman said, her voice tinged with a smile. "Let her rest for a few more days. Once the vampire power in her veins settles, we can start drawing her blood."

I froze outside the door. Source of blood? What the hell did that mean?

"She's pregnant," Sebastian suddenly said.

I instinctively clutched my stomach. Pregnant?

"Oh?" the woman asked, her voice tinged with interest. "Is it yours?"

"Yes," Sebastian replied.

There was a brief silence.

"Isn't it great? Pregnancy increases her blood flow and supply. We can take more blood from her," the woman exclaimed.

"I know," Sebastian said.

"Then why are you hesitating?" the woman demanded.

There were several seconds of silence again.

Then Sebastian said, "I was wondering if I should tell her first that the person she loves isn't real."

I stood outside the door, feeling cold all over.

It started from the very core of my heart, as if someone had jammed an icicle inside and was slowly twisting it.

So from the very start, everything was fake.

Our encounter on that rainy night, the whispered reassurance during the Embrace, the kiss on the rooftop, and the promise of a blood bond were all nothing but lies.

I was nothing more than a blood source and a tool to keep Isabella, his blood mate, alive.

That child was an accident that made me, the blood source, supply more.

I turned and walked quietly back to my room.

The moment I closed the door, I leaned against it and slowly slid down to the floor.

I didn't cry. I couldn't shed a tear.

I rested my hands on my belly, where a tiny life was already taking shape. Its father never wanted it to exist, and its mother was merely a vessel.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to it. "Mommy was such a fool. I thought it was real this time."