Anastasia

I turned around to my sister after Avery left. Her annoying smirked made me want to slap it off her face.

"I happened to sense something strange here," Alex said with a teasing tone. "What makes you so stupid to turn down my offer? Oh, wait...but I already know—"

"Stop it!" I spat. "It's none of your business."

"It's not?" she said. "Well, then make sure it remains as such with mine as well."

She looked at me like I was still a pathetic little child. I knew Alexandra wasn't someone you wanted to cross. She was stronger and faster than me. It was because she would never think twice about killing people for blood. I loathed her appetite. I loathed it as much as I loathed mine.

"A person is not a doll you can pass around as you please," I said through my clenched teeth.

"If you don't like that, fine, then no one can touch my doll," Alex said with a satisfied grin. "She's mine and mine alone. I'll torture her and I'll feed off her— and if I'm bored enough, I might turn her."

"Don't you dare, Alexandra!" I snarled, stepping up to her again. "She's suffered enough without her family. Can't you stop inflicting pain on someone weaker than you?"

"Because that's who we are, Anastasia," Alex said. "We're the superior ones. Not those filthy humans anymore! We're meant to rule over them now. Stop wasting your time protecting those people. Have you forgotten what they did to our family?"

Her words brought a cold chill to my bones. My thoughts froze as if someone had pushed the shut-button. We hadn't talked about it for a long time. The images of our family— locked up in a small cramped room and humiliated by revolutionary soldiers. The day we were escorted to the field and shot dead in cold blood. It all rushed back into my mind like a fresh current of a raging river. I turned my face away with a flinch.

"It's in the past now," I said at last.

"Yes, the past that still can come alive in my mind," Alexandra said, tapping her temple. "I will make them pay with their blood. Just mark my word."

"Sister..."

But Alexandra already walked away.

~*~

AVERY

I had a nightmare for the first time since I had been here. I kept seeing my father and mother being tossed around in our hiding place. They begged for mercy, but none of those black-coated vampires had ears to listen. I was screaming, but it was like my voice got lost in the wind. I felt as if I was trapped inside a glass box, leaving the horrible scenes undisturbed.

Then I felt someone's hands pulled me into a warm cuddle. My nightmare began to fade. I gripped on to that person, believing it was my mother. I heard her whispering soothingly in my ear. I thought my nightmare had ended. And that I was actually in our hiding place, and all those vampires were nothing but my own imagination.

I opened my heavy eyelids and found two bright golden eyes looking down at me. It took a few seconds until I figured out that my reality was an actual nightmare. It wasn't a dream. The realization shocked me and saddened at the same time. But the sight of the blonde girl distracted me.

"Anastasia!" I said in a croaky voice and sat up. The blonde vampire did the same.

"You were having a nightmare, and I just..." she said but then trailed off.

"Why are you in my room?" I asked, staring at her in confusion.

"I just wanted to see if you're alright," she said. "I'm sorry about what happened with my sister this morning."

Her bright eyes stared at the cut on my neck. There were two raw spots and red bruise that would be healed the next day. It was how vampire bites were. Their saliva contained special chemicals that could heal the wound, leaving no evidence on the victim.

"You don't have to," I said. "It doesn't matter."

"But it does to me," Ana said, looking seriously stressed. She pinched the bridge of her nose and turned back to me again. "Look, Avery, I have to warn you something about Alexandra. She is as cruel as she is beautiful. Whatever she does to you, don't let it control your heart."

"Like that would make any difference," I said. "I'm a slave, remember?"

"No, Avery," she said with a shake of her head. "Don't let that change you. You're not an object."

"That is funny coming out from a vampire like you," I said. "Why are you trying to help me? Don't you want my blood, too?"

Anastasia dropped her gaze and then she stood up. Her blonde hair looked pale gold against the moonlight that peered through my window. She turned back to me again with a saddened face.

"I don't know, Avery. For the first time in my life, you're the only person I want to drink from," she said truthfully. "But that's not why I help you. There's something more—something about you..."

But she didn't finish her sentence. Anastasia then crept onto my bed. I recoiled instinctively, but she raised her hand to soothe me. Then she leaned forward until our faces were almost touching. I could smell her delicious breath in my nostrils. Her golden irises were too deep as if she had seen too much in her life. I stared back into those mesmerizing eyes. They were framed with long thick lashes that curved upward like the tail of a peacock.

"Be still," she whispered. "I need to know something."

And just like that, Ana pressed her soft lips against mine. A burst of shock ran through my whole being like electricity. I went numb from the head down. Her lips were so tender and so smooth. I had to fight the urge to move over them, part those full lips and slip my tongue inside. In fact, I would have done so if I hadn't heard a low hiss coming from her chest. Then her kiss left me.

I felt light-headed and confused.

"I'm sorry," Anastasia said with a wild expression. She turned her face away as if to hide something, but I already knew what it was. Her sharp fangs had already extracted just slightly past her red lips. I realized she was making a great effort even to kiss me.

"Ana.."

"I must go," she said and then left the room in one big blur.

I sat on my bed blinking to myself. Some part of me tried to take in what had just happened between us, but the rest of me still couldn't function yet.