My screaming echoed off the walls, covering the sounds of Mama’s sobs. Marcus held me tightly to his chest as I sobbed and Papa knelt by Mama. The footman had run off to fetch the doctor, though we all knew it was too late. Grandmama lay still and lifeless on the floor.

            “She simply fell, my lady,” Grandmama’s maid was saying. “We were on our way up to bed and she just collapsed.”

            The maid left after a moment with the butler, leaving the family to mourn. My screaming had turned to harsh sobs which slowed as Marcus rubbed my back soothingly, whispering in my ear that everything would be fine. Though I drew no attention to it, I could feel his tears drop onto my head.

            We sat like that for what seemed like hours; Papa and Marcus both comforting us girls until the doctor came. “Oh, Caroline,” he whispered, removing his hat and kneeling. “I told her last time I saw her that her heart was weak.”

            “She never said anything,” Mama sniffled.

            “Of course not,” Papa said with a small smile. “Old girl was tough, never showed any weakness.”

            “She learned that from the duke, I imagine,” Mama said softly, and I remembered my conversation with Grandmama.

            “Marcus,” Papa said, “Take your sister up to her room. We’ll all need some sleep.”

            Marcus nodded and picked me up wordlessly. He pressed my face into his shoulder as we passed Grandmama. The footmen were coming to take her to her room, I imagine, before we could have a funeral. More tears fell down my cheeks.

            Marcus sat me on my bed as my maid Molly came and helped me undress for bed. I normally did this by myself, but I couldn’t move my own arms. When I was finally ready, Molly merely pushed me flat and pulled the covers over me best she could.

I stared at the ceiling for many hours. When I finally looked at the small bedside clock, I groaned. It was near three in the morning and I hadn’t been able to shut my eyes. Getting out of bed, I pulled on my wrapper and silently opened the door, looking out into the hallway. I crept as quietly as I could down the hallway.

Marcus was waiting for me before I could even knock. He always knew me better than I did. Together we sat on his bed and I curled into his side. We were both silent for a long time before I finally spoke. “Marcus, Grandmama told me something this morning.” And with that, I shared with him Grandmama’s story.

We never spoke of it again after that night.

Autumn came and surprisingly, Marcus married, not four weeks after meeting Louisa. I was ecstatic to see him so in love, but sad that he moved out of the house. We’d been just down the hall for as long as I could remember. Whenever I hurt myself, he was always a step behind me, as if he always knew what I was feeling.

Winter and Christmas came and went, and soon Angelina and I went to town for our season. Patrick Ashton, the Marquis of Thurston and Downes, asked for her hand in marriage almost immediately, and she accepted.

I received 27 proposals, all turned down by my father who had decided to let me choose. I chose none of them.

One month after Angelina’s wedding; my father was shot to death coming home from visiting our tenants.

Two weeks after that, my mother was killed in a carriage accident. The wheels had been sawed, designed to crack and break when the wheels turned just so.

I stayed with Sarah and Rockhurst. Alex had been visiting with friends when Papa died and had came home immediately. He cancelled his plans and stayed the remaining time, not going to London as normal for the Winter Festival, even though the Thames froze over and everyone flocked in for the “Winter Season”.

He still hadn’t tried to kiss me again. That Christmas, he sat me down and told me he had joined the Embassy and would be going to work with Wellington. I cried endlessly.

He told me it was for me. He needed to be responsible and not the carefree youngest son everyone had made him out to be before he could marry me.

I didn’t speak to him for a week.

Marcus and Louisa had a winter house party that I of course attended, as did Alex and Angelina and her husband. During the party, I discovered Alex was being blackmailed by one of the other guests, a horrible man named Nesterfield that claimed Alex had ravished his daughter, leaving her with child. When she found out, she took her own life. I knew it wasn’t possible as Alex hadn’t left my side in months, but he had a maid that claimed it was true.

Nesterfield agreed to drop the claims if I married him.

I told Alex and he left.

An hour before my dreaded nuptials to Nesterfield, Alex barged into my room and with me in my corset and lace wrapper, asked me to marry him instead as he had gone and gotten a special license as well as his family.

At twilight, in the gazebo in the garden covered by a pure snow, Alex and I married, surrounded by our families.

Nesterfield left, thwarted.

Two months later, Alex left for Brussels and Wellington.

Four weeks later I discovered I was increasing.

Three months later, I received word Alex was dead, his body never recovered.

Two months later, Alex returned on the doorstep of his parent’s home as we returned from Anthony’s wedding.

A month later, I delivered our baby, Grace Cavanaugh. She was born too early and died. We had her buried in the Cavanaugh family cemetery and my father-in-law removed our priest when he refused to bury a child on sanctified ground that was not born alive.

Ten months later I was increasing again, with healthy baby girls. Ella and Mercedes were born, the most beautiful babies I’d ever seen. Ella had all of her father’s mahogany and chocolate coloring, Mercedes was a replica of me from the blue violet eyes to the raven ringlets.

A year later Xander was introduced to our family, followed shortly after by Christopher and then Ava. Our little family was happy and grew. Mercedes and Ella both made excellent matches during their first seasons, the next year was Xander and the year after both Ava and Christopher married.

It was after Christopher’s wedding that I was traveling to visit my friend Helene. Alex and I were a bit out of sorts with no children in our home and he was taking the time to reacquaint himself with some of our tenants. The ride was calming and I found my mind drifting as it often did to my husband and my children and my other family.

Suddenly, the horses whinnied in fear and the carriage lurched forward, increasing in speed. I grabbed the sides of the carriage in hopes of stabilizing myself, with little help. I could feel the carriage trying to turn and start to tip.

The next thing I knew I was standing outside, looking at the wreckage. The carriage was smashed into a large outcropping of rocks.

“I’m sorry,” a man beside me said as I turned and gasped. Before me was a tall man with long black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes. His skin looked like the cream settling at the top of the milk buckets with a little translucency. “It was not my intention to spook the horses.”

“Who are you?” I asked curiously. I was wary but not frightened. Something about him triggered something in my mind from long ago.

“My name is Marcus. You may know of me. I live in Italy and am here for a visit.” His eyes searched mine as if looking for confirmation of some sort.

Memories of the day my grandmother died came crashing to the surface. “You’re him. The man that seduced my grandmother.”

He hung his head in shame. “Yes, that is I.”

“You’re my real grandfather?”

His dark eyes lit up a fraction. “Did your grandmother tell you that?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “She told me everything. Including how she thought you were something not of this world. As you’re still around, I suppose I must agree with her.”

“I suppose you must. What did she suspect of my origins?”

“Nothing. Just that there was something about you that was different from any other normal person.”

He paused and looked away. “Isabel, what I tell you now, I have no other choice. Your life will be altered completely from this point on. Do you wish to hear it?”

“Yes,” I said firmly, inwardly thinking ‘What’s the worst that will happen?’

“If you’re certain,” Marcus said. “Very well. My brothers and I are very old. Many things have happened during the years we’ve lived. Hundreds of years have passed, and we’ve seen it all. We’re not human, and not alive, yet not dead. We’re vampires, Isabel. I’ll assume you’ve heard of them?”

I nodded, remembering the old books in our study about the creatures of the night that fed on innocent men and women, drinking their blood and killing them. “Yes, I’ve read some books.”

“Books do us no justice, though they are useful in turning the attention away with the lies. My brothers and I live in Italy, Volterra, to be exact. We have a castle where we live and rule over the vampires of the world, as we are scattered. We are vampire royalty, if you may.” He sighed. “One of our most important duties is to make sure that no humans know about us. Do you understand, Isabel?”

My heart dropped. “You have to kill me?”

“In a way. You are my granddaughter and essentially royalty as well. You have a place in Volterra for as long as you wish it. You may become a vampire, or I must kill you, Isabel. Those are your only options.”

“Very well, I’ll become a vampire.”

I could tell my words surprised him. They surprised me as well, but the words were out of my mouth before I knew it and I knew they were the right thing. “You understand you’ll not see your family?”

“You’ve spied on my family for years, I’m sure I can find a way as well,” I bit out.

“As you wish.” Without warning, he bit me on my wrists and ankles as I fell to the ground. I felt as if I had just walked through a burning house, only to come through perfectly unscathed on the other side. Marcus looked at me in surprise.

“Most transformations last three days, Isabel. You realize yours was only five minutes?”

I shrugged and looked around. Things seemed to appear sharper and brighter, I could hear the water from a stream a mile away. Birds were chirping nervously from trees far away. Dimly, I realized my throat ached, but not terribly. “Now what?”

“I’ll take you back to where I’ve been staying and I’ll explain it all. I’m surprised you do not need to drink.”

Suddenly, I froze. “What do you mean, drink? What do I drink?” I was slightly panicked.

“Blood, dear. Human blood.”

“I refuse!” I shouted.

“You may change your mind as your body becomes weaker,” he shrugged, turning away. He ran and I followed, surprised at how I could run so quickly and not hit anything. Within moments we were at an abandoned house in the next county. Marcus sat me down and asked me again if I was thirsty, which I said no. He told me all about Volterra and his brothers; how Aro could read thoughts and memories and how Caius was generally irritable. He told me how his wife had died many years ago and since then, the wives had stayed in a tower and never left. He told me how he’d met my grandmother and felt something, the joy he felt when he first saw my mother, and the confliction he had when he first realized I had non human abilities. Almost a full day had passed and I realized that I had sat perfectly still the entire time. It was a new experience that certainly took some time to get used to.

After a week, my thirst became unbearable and Marcus returned with a large bucket filled with blood. I tried not to allow myself to think of where – or who- it had came from as I drank greedily. Together, we worked on blocking my mind from his brother, Aro. Marcus had discovered that I had several special powers. One day I wanted a book that was across the room. I wished it was closer, and suddenly it was in my hands. A few days later Marcus had left to hunt. I was wondering where he was and talking to him in my head when suddenly he responded. We kept up conversation until he returned. After I fed next, I touched Marcus’s arm to ask him something and I saw pictures flash through my mind of Marcus’s past and future. I saw him standing before crowds and casting votes, speaking with me, and standing before a large group of vampires, looking bored. I pulled away quickly.

When I told him what had happened, he became worried and we worked on controlling these gifts.

I realized months had passed without me being aware. Marcus spoke of going back to Italy, but I feared I could physically not be away from Alex any further than what I was. Marcus had allowed me to sneak out at night and watch over my family. They had grieved, naturally, and still were, but I was happy to see their lives starting again. Alex worried me the most as he constantly had night terrors.

And then it happened. The night before we planned on leaving for Italy, I had stopped at all my family and said my goodbyes. I left Alex for last. I stood in the corner of the room, debating on touching him or not, wanting to touch his skin one last time but knowing I could crush him due to my strength. Marcus had been surprised that the human smell did not affect me much so he allowed me to visit in solitude.

My need to touch my husband one last time won over. As I skimmed my hand over his cheek, Alex suddenly shot up, grabbing my hand. I watched as he flinched from my now cool skin and stared. “Isabel?” His voice held wonder.

I nodded shakily. “I can’t stay, love, I have to leave,” I said quickly.

Alex grabbed me roughly and started to sob. The last time I’d seen him cry was when Grace had died all those years back. “Please, love, please don’t leave me. The only things keeping me alive are the dreams I have of you. Please, don’t leave me again!”

My tears mixed with his as I sank to my knees still wrapped in his arms. Quickly I told him my story of my death and what had happened to make me what I was now. Alex begged me to change him. I was weak, and I missed him, so I bit him as Marcus bit me. He started to hiss in pain and I feared he’d wake the house so I took him in my arms and ran back to Marcus. Marcus looked at me in disappointment for a second before nodding in understanding and told me briefly what would happen as my husband changed. Then he left to fabricate an accident so no one would question what happened. I sat by Alex during his change. When he awoke days later, his thirst was prevalent but he was as appalled as I was by drinking from humans. Once again, Marcus appeared with buckets of blood and none of us asked where it came from.

Once Alex was in control, we left for Italy. Aro was, naturally, interested in this new development. Alex had recently discovered he had quite the power of persuasion. Marcus and Aro got into many fights over where to use us. Marcus refused to have his family participate in the guard. Caius was upset that we refused to drink from humans unless it was brought to us. Aro took it all in with a smile, though he tested both of us continually. I decimated his best guards instantly and then he left me alone. I wanted no part in their little empire. We were set up as royalty, though not allowed to participate in any decisions thus far. It was all status at this point.

And then a man walked in that changed our lives forever.