Where there’s a way in, there must be a way out.

I was so wrong. After what felt like hours of staggering through the dark trees, with the rubber slippers blistering my feet and getting completely battered by the sharp twigs and stones, every muscle in my body aching and scratches all over my body due to branches I hit or bushes I stumbled into considering the severe lack of lighting, I finally reached a clearing leading out of what almost seemed like an endless forest.

But what I saw made my heart sink. It was a wall so tall and seemingly so thick, I was surprised no one’s ever noticed the Blood Shade on a map before. This will give the Wall of China a run for its money. I frowned. How I planned to get past that wall, I had no clue, and the fact that I had no idea whatsoever what was on the other side of it didn’t help either.

I bit my lip, unsure of what to do. I just sank to the ground to my knees, fighting the urge to break down and cry. There was no way I could climb this wall. I could barely even stand up. I was beginning to grow desperate. The thought of returning and facing the consequences of my botched escape was playing tricks on my mind. I was overwhelmed inside by more fears and doubts than I knew how to handle.

Suddenly, I heard a twig snap behind me.

“Well, what do we have here?” Spoke a voice that was a tad too high-pitched for a man.

“Looks like dinner to me,” a deeper, huskier voice replied.

My fists clenched. I was suddenly so aware of how many scratches I had and how blood was oozing through those scrapes. I’d practically turned myself into bait for these creatures.

“What are you doing way out here by the fortress during a night so dark?” Pitchy, with the high-pitched voice, asked.

“Taking a walk. My master said I could,” I bluffed. I could feel my face turning red.

“Really now?” This time, it was Husky speaking. “Did he also ask you to get yourself all bloody and ready to become his breakfast while you’re at it?”

I could feel them drawing closer from behind me. I slowly turned so I could face them. Based on the clothes they were wearing – black garb with red crests worn by the guards escorting us the night before - I assumed both of them were guards, assigned to keep watch of the fortress.

“Who’s your master, lovely little thing?”

Pitchy was right beside me now. He held a clump of my hair within his fingers and took a good long sniff of it.

I was about to tell them that Derek Novak owned me and harming me would be a big mistake, but was interrupted by Husky before I could speak.

“Who cares?” he spoke up. “Anyone who walks past the forest and reaches the fortress is under our mercy. I’m sure her master will thank us for teaching the insolent slave a lesson.” His finger traced one of the scratches on my legs, drawing blood with his protruding claw. He took a whiff of the blood and smiled before tasting it. He smiled.

“Sweet.”

It was Pitchy who seemed apprehensive. “Perhaps we shouldn’t touch her. We don’t know who owns her.” Still, his eyes were on me, his free hand running the length of my arm.

Husky showed no indication of stopping his taste tests of the blood coming out of the scrapes on my body.

I stood there, trying to recall whatever it was I learned from the self-defense lessons Ben had convinced me to take part in. I had no idea if they would work against vampires, but I figured it was worth a shot – if only just to stun them so I could make a run for it. It was wishful thinking, but it was the best I had. I bent down on the ground and swung a leg beneath Husky, making him topple to the ground. I took advantage of Pitchy’s surprise and pushed him away before I began running back to the forest. I barely even took three strides, before both managed to catch up with me, pushing me to the ground.

Pitchy held my arms down, while Husky bent on the ground to hold my feet down.

“That was a big mistake, sugar,” Husky grinned.

Both their fangs came out and I was sure I was about to lose all sanity, considering that it was the third time in the past twenty-four hours that vampires had threatened to suck my blood.

I saw no hope whatsoever and just shut my eyes as both were about to bite. I was expecting to scream in pain upon feeling their fangs dig into whichever part of my body they decided to sink their teeth into.

But, instead, I felt their grip on my wrists and legs suddenly loosen.

I opened my eyes and blinked several times, still trying to get used to seeing in the dark. My eyes lit up when I saw both guards on the ground with Derek looming over them. The moon shone down on him in the clearing. Each of his hands were pinning them to position by their necks.

“Has either one of you tasted her blood?” Derek demanded, the tone of his voice nothing short of menacing.

From behind, the way his shoulders rose with every breath and the way his muscles bulged, told me how he was desperately trying to maintain a grip over his temper.

“Your highness, I-I… I didn’t mean to…” Husky was shaking so badly I could barely make out the words. “I didn’t know…”

What happened next was unlike anything I’d witnessed before. Derek let go of Husky’s neck and without a single moment’s hesitation, dug his claws into Husky’s chest. I could practically hear the sound of flesh breaking as Derek pulled out Husky’s bloody, still beating, heart. My knees weakened and I found myself falling to the ground. I never imagined – even for once in my life – that I would ever see someone literally rip another person’s heart out. I couldn’t even stand watching gory films. Having to see something like that in person felt like far more than I could handle.

Derek now focused on Pitchy who was spitting out profuse apologies. “Be silent.”

Pitchy lost no time in shutting his mouth and sparing us the annoying sound of his voice.

“Never touch what’s mine. Sofia Claremont is mine. Whoever harms her answers to me. Understood?” Derek growled.

Pitchy nodded. “Of course, y-your M-Majesty.”

Derek let go of Pitchy’s throat and the guard lost no time in scampering away from the prince. Derek tossed the then very much dead heart he was holding with his right hand and threw it to the ground. He then wiped Husky’s blood off his hands using the dead guard’s shirt. He rose to his full height and turned, his eyes settling on me. I thought of backing away from him, but saw its futility. He was glaring at me and I found myself fearing his anger.

“Get up, Sofia.”

I lost no time in rising to my feet. I was fully expecting to experience some form of pain. Instead, I found him looking at the length of my legs, concerned by the scratches he saw there. He brought out a dagger he had hidden up his sleeve. I stared at it, wondering if he was going to use it to teach me a lesson of sorts. Instead, he cut through his palm with it.

Despite my fear of him, I stepped forward, momentarily concerned.

“What are you doing?” My eyes were glued to the deep red blood now spilling from his palm – his blood.

“You shouldn’t have done what you did,” was all the response that I got. He lifted his palm, directing it toward my mouth. “Drink.”

My eyes grew wide open as I stared at his bloody palm. I gulped, disgusted.

“I can’t!”

“You will. It will heal your scrapes,” he insisted. “Marching you back to the Residences with all those bloody scratches will only make you a walking target for every vampire we pass by.”

I gave him an incredulous look, wondering if he too wanted to drink my blood at that moment. Tears were beginning to moisten my eyes, but I knew from the look on his face that we weren’t going to leave that spot until I did what he was telling me to do.

“Drink, Sofia,” he repeated – more sternly this time, impatience obvious in the tone of his voice. “My palm will heal in just a couple of seconds. I don’t want to have to cut myself again.”

I once again looked at his palm, unable to believe what I was about to do. I held his wrist with one hand, his fingers with the other. I noticed how his jaw twitched the moment I touched him. I gulped before doing the unthinkable – I began sucking the blood off his palm until his self-inflicted gash closed. I stepped back, the strange taste of his blood overwhelming my taste buds.

“Good,” he said and wiped off the thick red liquid dripping from the corners of my mouth.

I checked the gashes I had on my legs. Just like he said, all of them had gone. I didn’t know whether to be relieved. I still could not wrap my mind around the fact that I just drank blood, a vampire’s blood. I didn’t even think they had their own blood. I was aware of how badly I was trembling.

Derek inched closer to me and brushed his thumb against my cheekbone. “Are you alright?”

I stood, unmoving, my eyes drawn to the guard’s corpse on the ground.

“You killed him,” I said, betraying how stunned I felt. “Just like that… He’s dead.”

Derek heaved a deep sigh, a stoic expression coming over his chiseled face.

“I had to make an example of him. The other guard will make it known to the entire coven that you are not to be harmed because of what I did. You’re safer that way. Besides, he’d tasted your blood. He had to die.”