LOGIN“You are an interesting woman,” he says finally, as though he has been collecting sentiments about me like curiosities. “I am not for your amusement,” I say. “Amusement is a generous way of putting it.” He turns his face to me and finally, which is nothing like mercy, he kisses me. It is a small t
“You will come with me tonight,” he says suddenly, and when I look at him the certainty in his eyes is a rope. “Where are we going?” I ask. I do not like the sound of my own voice in the dark halls. “To the club,” he says, as if the clubs he owns are nothing more than rooms he has arranged for his
The dinner goes on without ceremony. I wear a dress that fits like a promise and is less comfortable than anything else I own. The woman who dresses me fusses at the strap and at the hem with an intimacy that is practiced, like a ritual done daily for decades. The room where dinner is served is a pl
“You should not have broken a tray,” he says in that voice that is silk wrapped around steel. It makes everyone quiet because it is a voice that is treated like currency in this house. The words are simple but the way he says them says a thousand more complicated things. He is not angry the way I am
I come back from the memory to find sunlight in my eyes and orange juice dried on the carpet like the outline of a wound. My hands are trembling now for reasons I cannot name. The house clock in the hall ticks the way a heart does when it is being measured. There are noises behind the walls, small h
Oh God, I hate him. He is the center of everything I cannot control in this place. He is the reason doors close and keys rattle and the nights feel like traps. He is the reason my throat tastes like metal at dusk. He is also the reason, absurdly and against my every better judgment, that sometimes
~~AURELIA~~ “I’ve missed you, yunno. I’ve always known you were a menace, but… Bella, you really scared us. You scared me.” I’ve been bound to the bedpost, clad in a green silk nightgown. After my ruckus with Rafaele yesterday, he decided to give me time—in his own words—to prepare for his scruti
~~AUREIAL~~ “I know,” Rafaele said simply without even a trace of hesitation or guilt. The words sank into me like cold metal. “You know that your father was involved in this and you—” My voice cracked before I could finish. I had to stop, to breathe, to keep the tremor in my chest from swallowin
~~PETRONIA~~ The thought of being betrayed by just anyone especially a human can be not so terrifying or on the other hand, not unavoidable. But being betrayed by a vampire, an extraordinary being you’ve spent almost your entire life trying to please is just totally unacceptable and absolutely pai
~~ROMANO~~ “Wait!” Estela roared making the guards hiss with worry from outside the door. My grip on her body didn’t loosen one bit. She should know by now that if she dares signal them to come in, i’ll kill them all. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know. I’ll tell you where your father’s







