Chapter 12

Vasile's POV

I couldn’t stop my body from tightening at her words. My eyes moved over her, searching for any proof that she was lying. But her pulse was even, her skin its normal pale tone. I watched as her bare chest rose and fell rhythmically. Bare chest-she wasn’t wearing the broach. There was no influence over her. This was her, all her.

She’s falling in love with me. I should be happy. That’s what I wanted right?

To draw her in and trap the little mouse like a cat would. Yet now that it was happening, I almost felt dirty. My gaze swung to meet hers. Instead of seeing Cadella in front of me, I saw Sophia. Their expressions were the same, and it made my heart stutter to a stop in my chest.

I was no longer in my classroom with a student that I was planning on luring into a trap that would end her. Instead, I was back in my office over a century ago. The day had been long, too long. Everything was starting to get tense between us and the other races.

The wolves wanted us gone, but we were too strong and outnumbered them too greatly for them to stand a chance at taking us out. However, that didn’t mean they just sat back quietly. No instead they attacked our blood supply.

While that angered us, it wasn’t enough to make us lash back out. There were always more warm bodies to source our blood from. Unfortunately, our lack of reaction only made them push harder.

They started to attack the humans that were more than walking blood bags. They hit the ones we loved and cared about. Ones that some in my clan had taken as spouses, a few were mates. Mates is what we needed to reproduce. They were nearly impossible to find, many in our ranks had gone several centuries looking for the other half of their soul.

That got a reaction from us. But it wasn’t enough to stop them. They didn’t know when to stop. Stressed was an understatement. We were going to have to make a move and make it quick, or we were going to be in the middle of a war.

Closing my eyes I leaned back against my chair, breathing deeply through my nose to try and calm myself. That’s when I when I smelled her. The sweet honeysuckle scent that she carried with her.

Sophia Ellsworth.

The soft click of her heels on the hardwood floor echoed through my office as she approached me. Something that not even Marius had done without hesitation lately. Yet her steps were solid, steady, without hesitation.

“Vasile, my love.” My heart sank at her words.

She’d told me before that she loved me, that I was her everything. But lately it’d been making me more on edge. She didn’t know. And she needed to know.

But would the truth push her away, would I lose her? I had to take the risk. Things were too tense and the more she was around me and my clan the bigger target she became. It would only be a matter of time before someone realized what she was to me.

That she was my biggest weakness.

“Sophia, we need to talk, darling.” I brought her back around my desk and seated her as I leaned back against the front it.

“Oh, is something wrong?” She asked sitting up straighter.

“I need to confess something. Something I should have told you when we first started seeing each other, but I never thought we’d make it this far.” I looked past her to the book lined wall across my officer.

I knew I was being, weak. That it was the coward’s way out not meeting her gaze.

She remained silent, waiting for me to continue.

“I’m not just businessman. I know that the titles have faded for most humans, but for my people they are still very much as powerful as they were centuries ago. I’m Earl of Celtradian, and I’m also the ruler of the blood clan.” Bluntness was my friend. I knew that, but I still winced internally at the sharpness of my words.

“Your people, humans, blood clan. I don’t understand.” She’d stood and approached me.

I couldn’t help but reach for her hand.

“I’m not human. The creatures that you call monsters, that live in the darkness of your worst dreams, your nightmares? They are very real, and I’m one of them. We don’t call ourselves by the same name humans give us, but we’re still very much here. The blood clan would be closest to what you call vampires. We’re a little more civilized and different than the pictures humans paint of us, but we’re real.” I let her hand go, giving her the chance to back up, to put as much space as she needed between us.

I couldn’t blame her if she did.

But Sophia surprised me once again.

No fear sparked in her eyes. No, in fact the way she looked at me was still the same as it had been for the past several months. Still filled with awe and love. Two things I didn’t deserve after lying to her.

“I don’t care.” Her voice was strong and steady.

“What?” My head snapped up as I stared at her in shock.

“I don’t care, Vasile. It doesn’t change anything. I still love you. You still own my heart and soul.” She stepped up next to me, her warmth seeping into my cold body.

“Vasile?” Cadella’s voice broke me from the spell my memory had placed on me.

“I need a moment.” I said as I stood and walked around the desk and podium, putting space between us.

“I-“

“Please, Cadella. I said I need a moment.” She winced at my harsh tone.

A small part of me broke at the expression. I felt like I was being torn in two. I wanted her to love me. That was my plan, but I her confession made me realize that I was at risk. That if I hadn’t started already falling for her, I soon would.

That I couldn’t do.

I was losing focus, like I had with Sophia. Anger simmered in my veins as I realized that Sophia had made me weak. She had made me distracted. Now, history was repeating itself with Cadella.

But what if Sophia wasn’t the betrayer?

I froze at that thought. But that was impossible. I felt her soul in the vines that had bound me in my room. That had weighed me down and tied and me to the bed. She pulsed through them. A constant reminder of what she had done. Of how she had broken me in a way that I would never break again.

The only person it could be was her. She was the reason I’d missed the last century of my life. She was the one that had played a critical role in the death of two of the closest people to me. The two who meant the most to me.

My hand moved through my hair, pulling it as I tried to use the pain to ground me.

“Vasile-“

I glared at her, stopping her from saying anything. Her words, her voice only made me more torn. I needed to focus and regroup myself without her distraction.

Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to go back to that day. Allowed myself to remember the memories I hadn’t allowed myself to relive or to feel since I’d come back a month ago. A fatal mistake.

The metallic scent of blood turned my stomach instead of exciting me. The blood on my hands wasn’t human, it was from two of my clan. My best friend and my sister. Aaron and Cecilia. Two people who were my world, were my only weakness until Sophia came along.

“Where is she?” I hissed as I paced in my bedroom.

Sophia was supposed to be here, but instead no one could find her. She had disappeared just before the exorcists had attacked my clan. Killing so many, including Aaron and Cecilia. I’d held them while they died, their blood stained my skin and clothes.

Marius’s words came to my mind. There was evidence that was linking Sophia to the exorcists, proof that she’d been talking with them, planning with them. I’d ignored it, trusting in her.

My second mistake.

The pain and anger pulsed through me, making it impossible to see, to think.

Opening my eyes, I looked back at Cadella without meeting her heavy gaze. She was still wearing the same lovestruck, serious expression Sophia wore. I was starting to get too close to her. I needed to put more space between us.

Her falling in love with me was the plan. I wanted her to follow me through the gates of hell-because that was where I was going to take her. Cadella was a little mouse that I was trapping. I couldn’t afford to forget that. But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy the ride, enjoy her body but keep my emotions from it. Her love would be her downfall and my rising. It would be the key to my revenge.