“Derek will wake up soon. The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll all be.”

“I’m your brother too. Why do you constantly choose him over me?”

“Despite what you think, it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s my twin. It has everything to do with who you are and who he is. I love you, brother, but you must accept that you weren’t meant to rule.” Her words were spoken gently, but firmly, an unmistakable hint of affection coming with every utterance.

I could see the pain in Lucas’s eyes at the bold statements coming from his own sister. At that point, I knew I must have truly gone mad, because I actually felt sorry for him. I knew what he felt, what it was like to have no one on your side. I didn’t think anyone deserved to feel that way.

He quickly reminded me, however, that he was my tormentor and made me completely reconsider my stand in the matter. Whatever anger or sadness he felt, he took out on me. He clamped one hand over my neck, constricting my breathing. A claw protruded from the thumb he had over my lips and he began pressing the end of it over my mouth. I couldn’t help but whimper as his sharp nail drew a small line of blood over my sensitive lower lip.

“Lucas! Stop it!” Vivienne once again raised her voice in reprimand.

He let go of me, allowing me to gasp for breath. He backed away and stared down at me like I was the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen in his life.

“I’m just trying to help you wake your beloved Derek up, Vivienne. Take this little minx to him and make her kiss the Sleeping Beauty. The taste of her blood just might wake the prince up.”

He began to head for the door, but stopped to glare at his sister before completely heading off.

“Isn’t that how you think all this is going to play out when he wakes up? Just like a fairy tale?”

I can’t express how relieved I felt when he finally left the room. The words exchanged by the siblings remained in my head, but I was too overcome by emotion to even attempt to make sense out of them. My knees were shaking so I gave in and sank to the ground before finally looking up to see what exactly Vivienne looked like.

If I thought Lucas could be beautiful, Vivienne was even more stunning to behold. She was a couple of inches shorter than her brother, but had the same dark hair and pale complexion. Her eyes, however, were different. Against the light in the room, her eyes almost looked violet, with hints of deep purple.

She was eyeing me warily, as if I was a heavy burden that she had to bear.

“Thank you,” I told her, genuinely meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.

There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.

“Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You’re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”

Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only myself to rely on. That, I thought, was the most frightening aspect of my predicament. After all, how could I rely on someone whom I couldn’t trust?

CHAPTER 4: DEREK

The moment my eyes shot open, I could hear everything, smell everything, feel everything within at least a quarter mile radius around me. I was sure that the sensation alone would bring my body into complete shock, until my vision settled on a familiar face. The woman I had trusted enough to provide my escape from everything.

“Cora?”

It was strange. The last thing I remembered was Cora’s face as I’d faded off into slumber. It felt like I had only slept for a few moments before being jolted awake. I wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell. Looking at the witch, I couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible that she looked younger. I found my answer when the buxom beauty with light brown skin and long, cascading locks of chestnut hair shook her head.

“I’m not Cora. I’m Corrine.”

I lifted myself up from the slab of stone that served as my resting place…for how long, I could only muse. I took in my surroundings - I was in a candlelit hall with marble floors and giant pillars. The first word that came to mind when I surveyed the place was sanctuary.

I eyed the young woman I was alone in the room with, wary of her intentions. It took a moment for her strange clothes to register. I became aware of how I was dressed and realized that perhaps more time had passed than I initially thought. At that point, it didn’t really matter.

The bottom line was that I wasn’t supposed to wake up. Ever.

Contemptuous that I would wake when I so explicitly asked to be given an escape from which I would never wake, I shouted a command as prince of the Blood Shade.

“I want to see Cora. Bring her to me.”

I hated the authoritative tone my voice naturally took on. Who was I to issue commands? I was no prince – much less the savior Vivienne painted me to be.

The prophecy she spoke soon after we were turned into vampires immediately haunted me as I recalled it.

The younger will rule above father and brother and his reign alone can provide his kind true sanctuary.

I still remember the look on Vivienne’s face when she uttered those words. More than that, I saw the expressions of my father and brother. Resentment.

I snapped myself out of the bout of nostalgia I was sinking into and raised a brow at the woman before me. Why isn’t she moving? I was surprised by my own indignation at the idea of her not immediately jumping on my order.

Despite my misgivings about ruling, I wasn’t used to others not obeying me. After a hundred years of fighting for survival and leading my coven to the Blood Shade, I’d grown accustomed to being revered and followed. I wasn’t sure I liked that about myself, but it was what it was.

“Would you like us to dig her grave up, your highness? I doubt her corpse will do much good to clarify whatever questions you have in mind.”

I grimaced. Your highness. A reminder of the day my father took to heart the coven’s silly notion to establish himself as king of the Blood Shade. However, the title did not bother me as much as the news of Cora’s demise and this young woman’s manner of addressing me. I swallowed hard as I grabbed the edges of the stone slab I was then sitting on.

The sensations coursing through my veins made it clear exactly what my body was crying for at the moment. Blood. I was famished for blood. Another bitter reminder of the past I meant to escape when I gave the witch permission to put a sleeping curse on me.

Desperate to divert my thoughts to other matters, I shifted my gaze toward Corrine.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the witch of the Blood Shade, descendant of the great witch, Cora.”

I paused, keeping my eyes on her. That information alone commanded my respect. No wonder she speaks to me as she does. If she was Cora’s descendent, it was better to keep her as ally rather than foe. I heaved a sigh, not quite sure I wanted to hear the answer to my next question.

“What century is it?”

“The twenty-first.”

I removed my gaze from her as I let that information register. Four hundred years. I escaped for four hundred years.

Corrine began circling me like a damned vulture. I could sense her distrust. She was scrutinizing me, perhaps wondering what my awakening meant for the Blood Shade.

I wanted to tell her that it meant nothing, because I fully intended to escape from it all over again. But there were so many questions running through my mind, although I was uncertain if I really wanted to hear the answers to them.

“Why am I awake?”

“It’s simply time.”

I clenched my fists. “Time for what?”

“For Derek Novak to stop acting like a coward and face what he was meant to do. Rule.”

My jaw tightened, my teeth gritted. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“Neither did any of us, but if his highness is entertaining any notions of going back to his dreamy reprieve, then I suggest you forget them now, Prince. Until you’ve played your part, there’s no means of escape. Cora made certain of that.”

“What do you mean…”

Before I could finish my question, the double doors made of fine acacia swung open and my older brother, Lucas, and my twin sister, Vivienne, strode into the chamber.

Lucas gave me a curt nod. I nodded back. That was the closest we ever got to showing each other brotherly affection.

Vivienne, on the other hand, threw her arms around my neck, whispering how glad she was that I was finally awake.

I couldn’t keep myself from telling her exactly what I felt. “That makes one of us.”

And then it happened. I could feel my gut clench in an excruciating twist. The smell was overwhelming – practically intoxicating. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but wonder whose idea it was to bring about this sort of cruelty upon my wake.

As my sister stepped aside to allow me full view, I remembered everything. I remembered why it was so important for me to stay asleep.

Five beautiful young women – innocents – no older than I was when I became a vampire, stood before me. I could sense their fear and the predator in me was desperate for release. I hated myself for it, but I wanted nothing more than to suck every last drop of blood out of every single one of them.