MARIA "Is someone there?" Maria called out after a few seconds of trying to convince herself that the voice was real. If the voice wasn't real, then that meant she'd started hearing things, which meant that she was going crazy and she didn't believe that. At least not yet. "Yes," came the voice again. It was soft and feminine with a lilting accent. Out of nowhere, Maria wondered if the girl could sing. It would be a wonderful thing to hear—and watch. Speaking of..."Where are you?" Maria asked the girl—it was definitely a girl—and she moved over to the gate, gripping the iron bars and craning her neck as she tried to look down the long dark corridor if the girl was standing out there. She wasn't. "In the cell next to yours," she spoke again, that lilting accent sounding both strange and oddly welcome to Maria's ears. "I saw them bring you in but held back from talking to you because, well, I didn't want to spook you." If she continued talking for an hour more, Maria was positive

BRAN Bran walked down the long corridor to Corey's private room, a thought running through his mind over and over like a record on loop, until it pushed out all his other thoughts and it was the only thing he could think of. When he reached the door, he pushed it open and barged in without knocking, announcing, "I'm going to get her back."The occupants of the room froze, shocked by his sudden presence and manner, and stared at him with similar expressions of shock mixed with wariness on their faces. Corey snapped to his feet, his eyes widening with surprise before he quickly masked his expression and with his eyes never leaving Bran, said, "I'll have to cut this meeting short. We'll continue later."The men nodded and hastily rushed out of the room, one of them reaching for a sheet of paper but Corey told him to leave it and he nodded sharply, hurrying out. "What the hell, Bran?" Corey asked, pushing away from the table and running his hand through his hair roughly. It was then t

MARIAMaria shifted on the bed, pulled out of sleep by a terrible nightmare. She'd dreamt that her father, furious that she'd left him, had taken his anger out on her mother by torturing her endlessly until her mother had given up. Dead. Sitting up, she pushed her hair back from her face with shaky hands, dimly registering the sheets falling to her thighs because her nerves were frayed, her thoughts and feelings all over the place from the activities of the day—and the past week if she was being completely honest. From being captured by her father—she was not going to dwell on how ironic that was—to discovering that the girl in the cell next to her's was the vampire's sister—who she now knew his name was Bran—to being freed by said vampire, then to his sister being taken from him again. Honestly, she felt bad for him.So bloody guilty because it was all her fault and she should be the one paying for it. Not his sister.It was her that had killed the vampire king and queen. It was h

BRAN"That's not news, Maria, and that's not what I'm asking.""I'll get there," the words came out hard and clipped, yet her tone was soft, cautious. "Can you just let me talk?"Bran bit his tongue and told himself to shut the hell up and let her talk now that she was willing to.But she was sitting on the other side of the room, far from him, and she looked so small, so vulnerable with her hands clasped on her thighs like that and he felt this strange urge to protect her even though there was nothing to protect her from. "Okay, back to what I was saying..." Maria sighed and with her eyes fixed on her hands, started talking. "As you well know, my father is hated by a lot of people because of his abusive use of power. I really can't say how it started, I suppose he's always had a thing for being evil, but anyway, he wanted to expand far outside the realm of Sorceri. He already had lands, countless possessions, but his greed made him want more and when he goes after something, he does

MARIA"His Majesty said that you can go for a walk today if you want to."Maria stared open-mouthed at her maid, Olivia, finding it hard to believe the words that had just left her mouth. "A walk?""Yes," she nodded. "However, you can't extend past these walls, but the compound is huge and I believe you'll find more than enough room to stretch your legs."Maria still couldn't believe it. "I'm finally being let out of this room?" Disbelief and shock were obvious in her voice and she wouldn't be able to mask them even if she tried—which she didn't. "I don't believe it. Why would he let me out?""Maybe because there's still a collar around your neck? Where could you go?" Olivia deadpanned and Maria cut a glare her way. Mirth danced in the woman's eyes. "You're probably shocked because you haven't heard the last part yet—I and two other guards are going to accompany you."Still, Maria thought, it was a far cry from the literal captive she'd been as at yesterday. "It's still so strange t