Mia's POV"You're his brother?" I asked breathlessly. Was this the same brother that had changed Sol's move so drastically during the meeting that one day? Was it the same one Serin seemed to be not so fond of either? "Why?" the man asked bemused. "Has brother dearest not spoken about little old me?" I knew it was meant to be a joke, but that was exactly it. Sol refused to speak much about his family or lineage beyond the fact that he was a pureblood.I had always assumed it was because not much of his family still lived, but it seemed like that wasn't the case at all. I couldn't help but feel somewhat disheartened that I knew so little about Sol's family life. But then again… He didn't know all that much about mine either. Maybe part of the reason why I never asked him was that I didn't want him to begin asking his own questions in turn.I shook my head. "No, sorry. Sol never really spoke much about you. As a result, I didn't know you were his half-brother, let alone half-
Mia's POV"No." I laughed. I was surprised at myself at how honest the answer was. I actually found myself enjoying Kyrin's presence rather than hating it. Maybe it was because he was half-blood like me. "I am actually enjoying the present company.""Is that so?" He raised his eyebrow as he stared at me. I nodded up to him. Kyrin was much taller than I was, although not as tall as Sol or Serin. I watched him as his eyes lifted from my face for a moment and he focused on something behind me.Before I could look in that direction, he gently pulled on my arm back outside and around the house back into the gardens again. Confused, I asked him, "Where are we going?"He shrugged back at me as he pulled me in deeper. "Thought I'd stay out here with you and bask in the air. It's better than being inside there with those boring purebloods, isn't it?"I nodded my head. I had to agree with him on that. If there was anything I despised more, it was the great pompousness and holier-than-t
Sol's POVIf I had had a heartbeat, I knew it would have stopped dead with the way she looked at me now.It was the same way she looked when she spoke about her father on occasion—the same expression of that first night I had met her when she was being attacked by a filthy vampire. If I could have thrown up all that I had in my stomach, I would have.The way she looked at me, scared and terrified, made me feel sick. I tried to move close to her once Kyrin had left us, but she paid no attention to me. Her eyes were looking at something far off and distant. I knew she wasn't with me anymore. Serin showed up only moments later. The look on his face only affirmed that I had done something bad. I pulled him away from her to give her some space and spoke in a hushed whisper."Stay here," I told him. "Watch Kyrin for me and make sure he doesn't follow us out. Can I get your keys?" My voice was frantic despite the apathy that was slowly creeping in.Cowardly, desperately, I tho
Mia's POVI watched with bated breath as Sol straightened his back and his father, Wrenan Montgomery, walked up to us. A long black cane was beside him as he gave the rouse of an elderly man. But I knew differently. I allowed myself to tap into ever so slightly the vampiric side of myself. Through that, I could sense the raw power that the man before me possessed. He was old, very old. I had thought he was at least twice the age of Sol, but something told me he was much, much older than that."Son," he greeted as he walked up the stairs toward us. "I see you have brought home your little pet." Wrenan, to my dismay, came to stand directly in front of me as he regarded my presence.I knew he could smell the blood pumping in my heart. The flare of his nostrils and wide-open eyes told me as much. Sol didn't so much as shift on his feet. I knew how hard this situation must have been for him."Dad, this is Mia Rivera." He introduced us again for the second time that night. I force
Sol's POV"Can I use your bathroom?" Mia asked before we did anything else. I directed her to my childhood bedroom and the bathroom attached to it. "I'm going to check on something downstairs. Come out when you're done." She waved her hand at me in dismissal. I found myself chuckling on my way down the stairs. The smile on my face was quickly replaced with a deep frown as I noticed the presence of a woman in the living room of my old childhood home. When I walked closer, I realized it was not any woman but my father's sister."Aunt Luna," I greeted in surprise as the woman turned to me. "Sol." She nodded her head in greeting. I moved forward to encase her in a friendly hug. "Where is your father?"I tilted my head at the woman's abrupt way of going about family matters. "You just arrived, won't you have something to–" She waved her hand in front me my face to dismiss me and sat down on one of the large couches. "I have no need. Is your father here or not?""He only
Mia's POVAngry tears filled my vision as I turned around from the group of Sol and the two women in the living room. I made my way down the familiar passages and halls Sol had just brought me through earlier. The door to the outside thankfully led right into the garden we had been in earlier, and I found myself walking until I eventually broke down. The tears that came from me were not caused by the woman's harsh words—they were hot and angry.I was livid over something, but I wasn't sure what it was. The entire night had quickly turned out to be too much for me, from the scenes at the banquette to the blatant prejudice and racism from the tall black-haired woman I had only just met.Who was she to say such things to me? She didn't even know me. How could she dare say something like that?A part of me realized that she didn't even need a reason to spit those words at me the way she did.The crunching of leaves and twigs behind me alerted me to a presence in the garden wit
Mia's POV"How about we go into town tomorrow night?" Sol asked me as he got into the car from the driver's seat, and I made a noise of unsureness. "Tomorrow night?" I hummed. "I don't know… I have this boss that's got me on a pretty strict work schedule. Although most of the time, he just, you know, drags me to see his childhood home and such." I looked to Sol from the corner of my eye and heard as he barked out laughter at my quick jab. Nodding his head, he pulled out of the driveway and began making our way back home. When I checked my phone, I realized that sunrise was less than three hours away. "Sounds like you have a fun boss." I rolled my eyes at his words. The two of us sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.Sol's phone ringing broke the silence. I watched as he picked it up and answered it. I couldn't tell who it was over the phone or what they were talking about, but once Sol had put down the phone, he let out a large sigh."I have to stop by the offic
Mia's POV"By the way," Sol said as we walked into the mansion and up the stairs to our rooms, "there will be a business party the following night that I'll have to attend."Sol told me as we stopped in front of my bedroom door. I wasn't sure why, but a sudden sadness came over me when I realized he would be gone for the entire night."A business party?" I inquired about it.Sol nodded. "That's what my father wanted to discuss with me. Well, part of it. He decided to hold the party for future investors. It will also attract new clients with the new strategy.""Pure-bloods?" I found myself asking curiously. Sol shook his head as he leaned against my doorframe. "Mostly, but there will be humans and half-bloods as well. The company reaches a large audience. As such, it has to cater toward a larger investment market.""Oh," I said genuinely, "that's interesting. I'd never heard of an organization that integrated all three subcategories of people before. Do they all… You know
Sol's POVOnce I knocked down the heavy iron door of the room, I came face to face with a frightening sight. Mia was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, bound by her ankles and wrists. What set an enraged feeling throughout my body was the sight of Kyrin on his knees before her. His teeth were sunk into her neck. Her blood dripped down from her neck and spilled from his mouth."Kyrin!" I roared at him as I sped toward where he was sitting. Just as I thought he perhaps did not hear me or was too slow to react, he turned around just in time. I had to stop myself from barreling into Mia.Kyrin appeared from behind me and landed a kick to my back, sending me flying. A fight ensued, as it always did. I felt an enraged roar rip through me as I lunged myself at Kyrin. His mouth was dripping with Mia's blood. That fact only urged me to move forward even harder. I felt the crack of his skull beneath my first and his entire body shake and tremble as I got on top of him a
Mia's POVI awoke to chains around me—no, not chains, rope. Harsh, thick rope rubbed against my wrists' soft skin. They felt raw and bruised from the way they had been tied. I blinked my eyes open. The light of the bright lamp beside me lit up the entire area and cast an eerie shadow at the same time. There was no one around me. I could hear the faint dripping of leaking pipes, but no other sound was heard. Suddenly, footsteps echoed across the hard concrete of the floors. I was bound by my wrists and ankles. I was unable to see who was approaching me from behind, but I didn't have to wait long to figure it out.Kyrin Montgomery's face appeared in front of mine. His expression was wide and cynical. Speaking of all the evil things that were to come, he stared at me with eyes red and blazing. A gasp left me as I tried to look away. I tried to break free, but I couldn't. "Now, now," he purred as he rested his hands on either arm of my chair. "There's no need to act like that.
Sol's POV"Did you know?" Those were the first words my father spoke to me on the phone call that changed everything. Of course, at that time, no, I didn't know. Nor would I have known unless he had told me in the coming moments of what he had learned. There was a rage in my father's voice, the likes of which I had never heard of before. It was like when he would scold Kyrin or me when either of us had done something particularly disgraceful, in his eyes, to the family name. I wasn't aware of how spot-on I was with that prediction then, but I was sure to find out. "Good evening, Father," I greeted him. "Know what?""Don't play coy with me, boy." Irritation quickly began to grow in me. Mia was missing from her own home with signs of struggle very evident at the scene where she was last found. I had no time to play games with my father or try to understand his twisted way of getting around things. "I assure you," I knew he realized I didn't by the way I spoke to him
Sol's POVSerin, Sarah, and I all made out way back inside the house. It was a lot colder than what we were used to. Despite the air not having a physical effect on me, I still moved to light the fire, knowing Sarah and Mia would appreciate the warmth. The night was colder than usual. The season was colder than it had been in the previous months. "Are you good?" I heard Serin ask his wife and watched as he draped a blanket over her shoulders. She was shivering slightly from the cold outside she had been in for so long. A part of me wanted to go back to Mia and bring her inside, but I knew she wouldn't want to leave her friend's side so quickly and for the last time. "I'll make some tea," I offered the human woman in front of me. She gave me a thankful smile. Her eyes were bloodshot and teary. She was Kaya's friend too. I supposed it was never easy for humans to lose someone they loved. For vampires, it was less… emotional. For us, it was just another stage in our life. We
Mia's POVSol's strong arms were wrapped around me as I watched Bristol flee. I growled from frustration and sank my teeth into him in my enraged state, trying to do anything to make him let me go and chase after my father. When my sharp teeth broke the skin on his neck, he only tightened his arms around me. His rich blood rushed into my mouth and invaded my senses, overwhelming my blood that I had taken in earlier and consuming me. I felt every single droplet of his blood that rushed down my throat as I swallowed it down in gulps. I could not stop as I drank from him and felt my mind slowly begin to soften and calm down. A particular type of haziness enveloped me, and I felt my body grow weak in his arms. My hands clutched onto the thickness of his arms, dragging him closer to me so that I could get a better taste of him. "Sh, sh," I heard Sol's voice hum as he stroked my hair. "It's okay, it's okay." He let me drink from him for as long as I pleased. Only after some mor
Mia's POVIt was a harrowing thing, fighting off the teeth and claws of someone who once was your best friend. I saw the look in Kaya's eyes just before she attacked me, swirling red with a bloodlust that even I could not manage. I knew my blood had the same effect on her as it did all other vampires. It was a sort of primal desire to just feast. Although my blood didn't smell like that to me, if the evidence of the events throughout my life said anything, it was that. Her jaws made a loud snapping sound as she shut them just inches from the skin of my neck. I managed to kick my leg up in time to catch her in the torso. She was knocked back for a moment, a wheezing breath leaving her before she realized she no longer needed air to breathe. It was insane. Watching Kaya come to terms with being a vampire and having her attack me as though she had been one all her life was something I found hard to comprehend. Just as I turned to run, Kaya grabbed at my arm and sunk her claw
Mia's POVEverything seemed hopeless at that point. Kaya's face was contorted into something different, something ravaged and savage all at once. Dark lines decorated her once the clear face. Her eyes were a searing red, something that bore into me wholly and completed. She stared at me, but it was like she was staring through me rather than at me. I remembered calling out to her, whispering her name in a shocking sort of trance, "Kaya, Kaya, Kaya," like a lament of some sort. But she couldn't hear me. She was too far gone from me now, in the thrall of a man who had enslaved me for the first half of my life. Like me then, like her now. "What did you do to her?" I ground out. A rage enveloped me where grief first made home, and the two danced inside of me to a beautiful anthem. The anthem's name was revenge. I wanted to hurt him in all the brutal and honest ways I knew how to."Can't you see for yourself?" He patted the top of Kaya's hair. The strawberry blonde locks loo
Mia's POV"What do you mean she's missing?" I managed to choke out through the ringing in my ears. The police officer was telling me something, something important, but I couldn't hear him. It was like a buzzing and a haze was covering my senses all at once. I couldn't get myself to fully understand the situation in front of me. Sol was the first one to notice this change. He was in front of me in a split second, knees bent in the same position I was on the floor. When did I get to the floor? Either way, I was here now. My legs felt too weak to stand up. I gripped onto Sol's hand as I forced my brain to fight through the muddled haze it was in. I came just in time to hear the police tell me they had found her phone on the corner side, just where she was supposed to get the candles. It wasn't even twenty minutes away from us. "Okay," I said once the officer had completed his rundown. "Is there anything else you can tell me?""Unfortunately, not. Due to the cases of mi
Mia's POVLaughs filled the air as the doorbell rang, indicating the last of the guests had finally arrived. Kaya was the first one here, apart from Sol and I, who had already been at my new house since the night before. He had taken a keen interest in sleeping in my new bedroom. In his words, he was making sure everything went smoothly for my first day. The house itself was surprisingly light-tight, shocking both Sol and me. But he quickly explained that it must have been because many of the houses in this part of the town were allocated to old vampire families. My family must have purchased it from one ages ago. It was a miracle in and of itself that the technology seemed to hold and gave me no little amount of anxiety for Sol's safety during the day. But all seemed well by the time the following night followed. I opened the door to see Serin and Sarah there, wide smiles and love-struck eyes as they stared at me. I engulfed them both, happy that they made it and were sa