I opened my eyes. The first face I saw was the doctor. He was injecting something into my arm.

I was too weak to lift my head and I couldn’t seem to move my limbs. Trying to clear my sore throat so I could talk but all I could do was moan. I tried to remember what happened. Memories began to return. I remembered the pregnancy, then the pain. Then I remembered Silas bringing me to the compound to put me under like the other pregnant Sires. I took a shallow emotional breath.

He had done this to me. My babies. I couldn’t lift my hand to see if my babies were still safe in my stomach. But as I looked down, my stomach was flat. I began to cry. My babies. Tears seeped down my face.

Neither the nurse or the doctor even stopped for a moment to console me in any way, it was a stark reminder of how little I was valued in this world. Where was Silas?

I pressed my eyes tightly closed and then I felt my body relax. The last thing I remember was the doctor’s eyes watching me as I drifted off into unconsciousness.

The next time I surface I was in pain. I moaned and groaned. My body felt like it was being torn apart. This time there was only a nurse.

No words of comfort, nothing. I didn’t know what happened and I wanted someone to tell me. Where was Silas?

I felt so weak I could barely keep my eyes open. When the nurse saw I was awake she did something to the IV and the pain was gone momentarily before I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

It felt like I was in and out for a while before I finally woke up.

This time I was laying on an old mattress in a cell like I had first woken up in after I had been taken. I had no idea where I was. Still groggy it took me a while before I could try and stand but only managed a few steps before my legs shooks to much to go further. I made it back on the mattress, out of breath like I had run a marathon.

Where was I?

I had expected to wake up in the compound in the clinic or at least surround by other sleeping pregnant Sires.

Where was Silas?

My sense of dread grew.

My hand went to my stomach and I began to tear up again. My emotions were all over the place. I still had no idea if they had survived or not.

If I had survived, it had probably taken some sort of miracle. But why on earth would they have put me in a cell? It didn’t make sense.

All I could do was rest on the dirty grey mattress as I waited for someone to come to tell me where I was.

I lay on my side in the fetal position staring at the stone wall trying to piece any memories I had to figure out how I had ended up here. But nothing I could remember revealed anything.

I experienced a rush of emotion at the thought of my babies. Not knowing if they had survived or not was slowly killing me. Surely someone could at least tell me if they had survived. And most importantly where was Silas?

Had he abandoned me? I swallowed hard. It was difficult not to believe it when I was lying in a cell like a prisoner, not recovering in a medical room surrounded my doctors and nurses.

Time ceased to exist. Hunger for blood thrummed through my veins. I began to experience a new kind of pain, a thirst that burned deep inside of me. My limbs shook, my stomach ached. Eventually I began to shake. It was similar to a junkie coming off drugs.

I needed blood. I had never gone this long without blood.

The sound of footsteps made me sit up. Standing was out of the question, I was far too weak.

I wanted answers but the most important thing I needed was blood.

The footsteps halted outside the door and I waited. The door unlocked and swung open.

I didn’t recognize the woman that entered. She was beautiful, her complexion flawless. Shimmering golden eyes, revealed she was a vampire.

“You’re finally awake.” She approached me.

“Who are you?” My throat hurt.

The woman smiled, her ruby lips tipped upward but there was nothing friendly about the action. Her eyes were cold.

I didn’t have a good feeling about any of this. Whatever was going to happen I knew it wasn’t going to be good. Had there been any situation I had woken up in since I had become a Sire been good? No.

“You don’t see the family resemblance?”

I studied her but I had no idea what she was talking about. Looking at her didn’t remind me of anyone. Slowly, I shook my head.

“Thane is my brother,” she revealed, watching closely for my reaction.

Fear gripped me through the pain I was already suffering. This was bad and I was at her mercy but I doubted she would show me any.

“How?” I asked, my throat was so dry it was difficult to swallow.

“How did I get you away from Silas?” Her eyes gleamed with a playfulness but there was nothing playful about her.

I was in so much pain, the thirst was indescribable. She seemed to be enjoying every moment of it.

“Getting you away from him seems a bit of an extreme way of describing taking what was readily available.” She placed a perfectly red painted nail to her mouth. “You had outlived your usefulness Sire.”

The babies. What had happened? I dared not ask her for fear of what she would tell me.

“I couldn’t quite believe my luck when I discovered you were back at the compound. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to right wrong. What happened to my brother…” Her eyes gleamed with hate and I slowly swallowed. “Should never have happened.”

What was there for me to say? Her brother was a lunatic, it was that simple. He was a narcissist who couldn’t stomach that he had lost me to Silas. He had attacked me, he had been the one in the wrong but I bet she didn’t believe that. Like the others vampires, I was sure she put the entire blame on my shoulders.

“What are you going to do… with me?” I asked. I was in so much pain already it was difficult to think of what lay ahead for me.

She smiled. It was evil, pure and simple. “Let’s put it this way. You will spend a long time regretting what happened to my brother. You will pray for death for every moment I make you suffer.”

I didn’t doubt she meant it.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” I asked, not sure I could withstand what she had planned for me.

“Why would I do that? That’s no fun. I want the satisfaction of watching you beg for death. My brother is suffering because of you. You are the reason he was punished.”

“He is the one who attacked me.” I couldn’t help reiterating the truth. A truth no vampire seemed to consider.

She glared at me. “You were supposed to be his. Silas had no business interfering.” She moved closer. “How did you accomplish that?”

I frowned. “What?”

“How did you get Silas to take you?” She studied me.

I didn’t even know the answer myself. “I don’t know.”

She pressed her lips into a tight line. “No matter. He has what he wants.”

I stopped. “What are you talking about?”

“He has his sons.”

Her words filled the emptiness inside my heart and I felt my chest swell. “Sons?”

“Yes. Two healthy sons.”

For a moment my pain was gone and for just a few precious seconds I felt something like happiness and relief. My babies had survived. It was all that mattered. I began to tear up, even when I shouldn’t have shown any weakness in front of my enemy.

“You are of no use to him now.”

He had what he had wanted all along. The joy had experienced only moments ago crashed into despair. He didn’t need me anymore, I had given him what he wanted. I had outlived my usefulness. And now I was the mercy of someone who would ensure I experienced a new level of pain that would make me wish I was dead.