Stefan’s POV When I get to the briefing room, Hanna, Max, and Andreas are waiting. As I walk to my seat, Hanna rises from hers. “Gwen is gone,” she tells me. I take my seat. “I know.” All three pairs of eyes in the room follow me, as if awaiting further comment. When I offer none, Hanna adds, “Like she is gone gone. She took her car and I checked her room. Her things are gone.” “Let’s talk about Blackrise.” While Hanna looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head, Levi appears at the door. He is using crutches. While our kind heals fast, fractures take a while. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks as he hobbles into the room. He doesn’t wait for my reply as he walks right past the table and towards the door to my private office. I rise and go to him. After I’ve let us in and closed the door behind me, I ask, “What is it?” “What happened back there?” he asks as he settles in a chair and puts his crutches aside. “What?” If he too wants to interrogate me about Gwen, it’s not
Stefan’s POV When Gwen left, she only took what she had with her when I brought her here. She didn’t take any of her new clothes or the cards I’d given her. Which means she left with no money. She only has her car, which she cannot refuel. Unless she decides to stay nearby for a while, it’s the only thing she can use to get money. Hanna, Max, Andreas, and I split up and check the used car dealerships in town and pawnshops. On my third try, I find what I’m looking for. She indeed pawned her car for cash…but now, I have no idea where to find her. According to the owner, she came by over two hours ago. That’s a lot of time to get far away from here. Without her car, she must have taken a bus. Or a train. “She asked about the farthest bus route,” the owner provides. The farthest. I hope that small detail narrows my search. I contact the others and ask Max to come and get her car back while I head to the bus station. ‘She better still be there,’ Eric growls. I stay silent and f
Stefan’s POV When we…dammit. Now I’m referring to ‘we’? When I get back to the house, everybody is ready to roll. We don’t waste much time. Once they run me through the information they have and the plan, we hit the road. Levi isn’t happy about being left behind. I’m also not thrilled about going into what’s undoubtedly my most important battle yet without one of my best warriors. But his leg is not healed up yet. Mari is coming with us. If it was up to me, I would rather she stayed back at the house, away from danger. But she is the only one who’s familiar with Theodore’s hideout, so we can’t go without her. Also, as a shapeshifter, she can bolster our team in ways we couldn’t. Her unique abilities are why werewolves like Theodore keep shapeshifters–forcefully or otherwise. She can survey places we can’t see and get into nooks and crannies we can’t access, unseen. She is our best chance of infiltrating Theodore’s hideout at such short notice. “Any lead on Gwen?” Hanna asks, mee
Gwen’s POV He is silent for a while. I study his back as I wait for his reply. He is wearing a black long coat over his clothes. It falls off his wide shoulders nicely and reaches the middle of his legs. He is quite tall. His hair falls past the collar of his coat and onto his back like a river of white silk. Nobody mentioned vampires also happen to have better hair. “It’s not the time for that story,” he says finally. From his tone, I can tell it’s not one he is looking forward to telling. “The werewolf. He hurt you.” I’m about to say that no, he didn’t. But I don’t think he is talking about physical injuries. I swallow down the knot forming in my throat. “How do you know that?” He turns and walks back to the bedside. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry, but I saw your memories when I fed you. I don’t understand how he could do that to you.” I recall the things Stefan told me about vampires. About how they can read your mind and control people with their minds. Knowing he w
Gwen’s POV The last thing I expect when Alexander brings me to take a shower is to be led into a bedroom that looks like it belongs in a modern luxurious mansion instead of an ancient castle. It’s nothing like the room I woke up in. A king bed sits in the middle of the room against the far wall, heavy drapery frames the windows, and an expensive Persian rug lies on the floor. The wall is adorned with oriental paintings. Next to the bed on one side is a vanity, and near the window, two armchairs and a table. Alexander stands in the doorway while I survey the room, which is on the third floor of the castle. “Do you like it?” I walk towards the window and peer outside. From here, I can see the beautiful compound outside. I can only imagine how beautiful the sunrise must look from here. “I love it.” He smiles. “I’m happy you do. I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll be in the library.” An hour later, I head back to the library. I walk into the room but don’t see him. I’m about to turn
Stefan’s POV I can’t look away. It’s nothing I want to see. It’s like a train wreck, happening right in front of my eyes and I can’t look away. Levi was right. No. This can’t be right. He bought her, abused her, and kept her imprisoned for years. There’s no way she would be with him willingly. She would never work for him willingly. That’s not the Mari I know. He must be forcing her. I’m sure of it. But the look she gives me when they pull away from each other freezes my heart. It’s cold, searing through me like an ice shard. This is not the Mari I know. She is not the girl I grew up with. Not the woman I saved…or thought I did. Her eyes have only ever been warm when she looked at me. Now, I can’t recognise the look in them. All I know is it’s sending chills down my spine. “What did he do to you?” I ask anyway. Maybe her sudden coldness is just for show. She doesn’t mean to look at me like I’m her prey, finally snagged in her trap. “What has he got over you?” “He is my ma
Five Hundred Years Ago “Ruby! Ruby!” Ruby turned her head at Maeve’s voice, wondering what the ruckus was about. It was a quiet, lazy afternoon. Ruby was sitting in her room by the window, painting a flower she had picked up earlier outside. She had no idea what it was called…she had never seen it before, and that’s why she had felt compelled to pluck one and preserve it on canvas. It had red blooms with black nectaries in the middle. Her door flung open and her maid, also her childhood friend and closest confidant, burst in. Her red curly hair was pulled over one shoulder in a messy braid, tendrils whipping around her face. Her excitement made her face even more animated than it usually was, with her big green eyes popping and her cheeks flushed. “He is here,” she rasped, breathless, before Ruby could ask what the excitement was about. “Who?” Ruby asked, despite the fact that she had a good idea who, and her heart was already pounding in anticipation. There was only one person
Five Hundred Years Ago Ruby did not get back home until the next morning. She knew her father would be worried to death–but she couldn’t have gotten back any sooner. Eric had brought her to a cave deep in the mountains, where nobody would find them. He assured her that the warriors would not flush him out. They were all like him. His entire clan was made up of werewolves. It had shocked her to hear that. But not as much as she was terrified for him. He was not well. When they got to the cave and he shifted back to his human body, he had lain down, his entire body shivering. He was also incredibly hot. Luckily, there was a stream rushing by. She had torn off a piece of her dress and used it to cool his body, soaking it in the stream countless times. That’s what she had done most of the night. He had gone in and out of consciousness many times. She hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. She didn’t ask questions. Partly because he wasn’t in the state for interrogation, and partly becau