Alisa - Her apartmentBrowsing channels at 4 AM is a bad idea. Only subpar porn and disgusting talk shows switch before my eyes. I shouldn’t have bought a new TV after Laura smashed the previous one.Oh, Laura... Where are you now? What happened to you? I can't think of any other method to track you down. I tried everything I could think of. I wish I knew where to start looking for you.I lean forward over the coffee table, one hand rubbing my temple and the other tapping on the wooden surface. A creaking sound notifies me barely a fraction of a second before the table buckles beneath the pressure of my nails.“Ahh,” I scream my frustration in the stale air of the living room.Oh, the irony of being extremely powerful and yet feeling completely powerless. My palm lingers above the emptiness where my coffee table previously stood. I'm upset about the loss of the said piece of furniture, but I'm not sure why. I didn't even like that hideous chunk of wood.I stare blankly at the remains

Laura - Council’s headquarters“Where—” My voice breaks. My mouth is too dry to speak. The brightness blinds me as two strigois carry me outside of my cell. It can't be the sun since my skin isn't heated. My eyes have become used to the darkness of the cage, and even the faintest light blinds me.The sound of people talking echoes as we walk through the corridors. I don't even know where they're taking me.My two guides stop, and I along with them. A soft touch takes the place of their hands on my back. “I got her.” Alisa’s voice is more demanding than I am used to hearing her. “You’re dismissed.”As footsteps depart, I look to the side and see Alisa’s face in a haze. My sight slowly clears, and I glimpse her lips stretching in a smirk.She sits next to me in the backseat of a car and instructs the driver to take off. She hands me a bottle of water, and I drink it all. The cool liquid soothes my parched mouth.Alisa sighs, arranging her hair. "It's so hard to keep you out of trouble

Paul - In the park“Attacking the blood traders was only a ruse to provide the fake Ion Corvin with a reason to give in. Max couldn’t simply let Laura go. We had to ensure everyone believed the deal was in their best interest.” I pause for a moment, staring at Alisa. She blinks but doesn't say anything.She is still standing in front of us, her arms folded over her chest. Her eyes narrow slightly, her mouth pursed. She doesn’t look happy.“Continue,” she orders. “How did you switch the real Ion Corvin with the fake one?”Her eyes move on to Max. He winks at her, and she immediately returns her attention to me. Her glare chills me to the bone. If I had any doubts before, now I’m confident she’ll be able to keep all the strigois in check. She’s a force of nature, just like Laura. “Alisa, can we do this somewhere more private?” I pause, glancing at a young couple walking by. “These are delicate matters and shouldn’t be discussed in the park.”“You picked this spot and this bench to me

Paul - At home The house I grew up in was always a little too quiet for my liking. Now, the same house is shifting from a place of memories into a cradle for Laura and me. She has brought most of her things to the house. Unwrapping the last of the boxes, she stares at a small album. She opens it and pulls out a picture. I wrap my arms around her from behind, resting my chin on her shoulder. Out of habit, I sniff her hair, inhaling her scent. “Why do you keep smelling my hair?” she asks, still looking at the photo. I lightly touch my lips to the spot where her neck meets her collarbone.“It is said that when two people are fated mates, their scent is like a fingerprint, a unique signature only the other can notice.” I pause to take another sniff. “For me, you smell like lilac flowers in the spring, and it’s driving me crazy.”I nuzzle her neck, breathing in her scent and letting it fill my lungs. Laura doesn’t answer. She sighs, and her fingers shake over a black and white photog

Laura - HomeFearing I could drop the puppy from my shaky hands, I slowly set him down on the floor. He immediately starts whimpering and wagging his tail, but I'm too scared to pick him up. I back away slowly, watching him from the corner of my eye as he scrambles to his feet. My legs feel like jelly, and I sit on the couch's edge. Several decades have passed since I've last seen Iustin, my maker. The night I met him was the night I died—the night I became a strigoi. I look at my shaking hands, remembering those times.He was the one who turned me into one of them, holding my dead body in his arms for three days and three nights, keeping my soul trapped inside and forbidding it from going to the other side. For a long time, I thought he lied to me about the process until I did the same to Alisa and turned her into a strigoi as well. He helped me escape the strigoi Council's tight grip, and I owe him my life if my life counts for anything. Iustin covered up my ability to read minds