"My mind won't let me. I can't condemn someone based on what they are. My dad tried to fix me but he couldn't, and that's why I was such a disappointment to him."

"Fix you? You're not broken ..."

"To him I was."

Eli closed his eyes and his chest rose and fell.

"I wish I could be as calm and as forgiving as you," I admitted.

"It's not without effort." He rolled over and rested his head on his hand. "You're talking about Hunter though."

I was? I hadn't intended to, but I guess that's what I was referring to with my comment.

"I just can't stand being near him. It freaks me out."

Eli rose to his feet and extended his arm to me. "Do whatever makes you comfortable but remember he was your friend. He was there for you when I left, when you had no one else. He's probably feeling just as alone as you were, if not worse."

I stared at the ground. Eli was right, he was there for me, but since his transformation I'd been so horrible to him. A warm index finger ran along my jaw line, tilting my face upwards and forcing eye contact.

"Don't forget that although he's a friend, he's still dangerous, Ruby. You're a G.o.ddess and a Heelian, both are irresistible to a vampire ... be careful."

I nodded, but Eli didn't remove his finger from my face. Instead he surveyed my lips and my eyes.

"A penny for your thoughts?" I asked, using his line on him.

His lips curved into a slight smile and he bit his bottom lip in an attempt to hide it. G.o.d I love it when he does that.

"In my day it was customary to ask the father for permission before you court his daughter." Our attention flicked toward the opening to the castle back gardens and a skinny, old man was leaning against a weathered wall.

"Dad?"

The old man took a few steps toward us. They said he was addicted to vampire bites but he looked normal to me. I pictured him skinny with wrinkly, sun-deprived skin. I imagined him all hunched and sickly, like the woman in my cell when I first arrived at Sage Sanctum.

"Your prolonged absence means you forfeited that right a long time ago," Eli stated.

My eyes didn't stray from the man that looked too much like me. Our facial structure was the same, from the high cheek bones and blue eyes down to the full lips and long legs. Mithras's long dark hair was tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck.

"Ahh, little Eli. You're all grown up, I see."

They knew each other? How did Eli know my father when I'd never even met him?

"Perhaps you could give my daughter and I some privacy?"

"Not going to happen," Eli growled defensively.

"If you have to say something to me, then you can say it in front of my guardian angel."

"Oh goody," he mumbled sarcastically. "Lucian wants me to train you on how to control your sun power."

Eli's jaw clenched. He didn't like that idea any more than I did.

"No thanks. I'd much rather fight a vampire with my bare hands or use my elements."

Mithras chuckled. "Stubborn, just like your mother."

He took a few steps closer and Eli stood slightly in front of me, shielding me from the stranger that was my father.

Ugh. What did my mother see in him? I'd known him barely five minutes and I could already say he was ignorant, c.o.c.ky, and bossy.

"I don't think it wise to come between me and my daughter, Mr De Luca."

"He's already told you that you forfeited any parenting rights a long time ago," I stated dully.

His hands began to glow. What was he up to? He pushed his hands towards Eli and a blinding light shot out from his palms. I felt Eli tense as he braced himself for the impact. I didn't know what would happen to Eli but I wasn't going to risk it. I dove in front of him and the light hit me instead. At first it burned and a scream tore free, but when the initial burn was over, my body welcomed the rest, absorbing it like a plant absorbs water.

"Ruby!"

Blinking, I focused on Eli's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders "Are you okay?"

"I - I'm fine."

My eyes flicked over to where Mithras had been standing. He was gone. Slowly my vision began to falter. The sharp lines of the world began to blur.

"What's happening?" I groaned.

Two strong arms wrapped around me but it wasn't enough to pull me away from the approaching darkness.

Possessive and Jealous My head was pounding hard against my skull before I even opened my eyes. When I did, shapes and colors blurred around me. I squinted and slowly things became clearer. I was in a strange room. My eyes focused on a big painting. Immediately I recognized it as one of the Latvian ones Eli had in the living room of his house at Sage. The only place I had seen those types of paintings here was in the sitting room.

"Where am I?" I moaned.

"Wakey, wakey. You're in the sitting room." The cold, empty voice flowed through me, chilling my spine and sending a shiver down it.

"Ruby, are you all right?"

A blurry face loomed over me. I blinked a few times and the blurry lines became visible. Dirty blonde hair dangled just above my face. It was the witch girl.

"I- I think so," I mumbled, sitting up. Her hand rested on my shoulder, preventing me from sitting up fully.

"You need to lie down."

"Where's Eli?" I asked.

"He's upstairs. I heard that you met your father. He's something else, isn't he?" Lucian laughed.

"He's out of control! He tried to hurt Eli but I stopped him."

"You could have gotten yourself killed, or worse, you could have ruined the plans I had for you, and over a silly guardian angel."

"You talk as if they're worth nothing."

Lucian smiled at me, exposing the very tips of his fangs.

"That's a whole new topic you aren't going to want to get into right now."

Slowly I sat up.

"Anna, give us a moment."

Without hesitating she walked out the door, closing it behind her. I didn't like being alone with Lucian. I could tell he was frustrated with me. He adjusted his long black robe and sat beside me. Subtly, I hugged myself.

"Did you know that I was married a long time ago?"

I kept my eyes on the floor. I tried to imagine him happy and in love but I couldn't. When I looked at his face I couldn't see that. Whatever humanity he had was gone.

"But she was taken from me ..."

"By a vampire?"

It just doesn't make sense, why would he become a vampire if his wife was killed by one?

"No. By a guardian angel." His black eyes glazed over like he was reliving some sick past memory.

"Guardian angels don't kill G.o.ddesses," I stated.

"No, they don't. She wasn't killed, she fell in love."

I swallowed hard. His wife fell in love with a guardian angel and left him. The pieces of the puzzle I'd been trying to complete since I first arrived at Sage were slowly being pieced together.

"That's why you made G.o.ddess and guardian angel relationships forbidden," I whispered to myself.

"Well, I can be a very possessive and jealous man."

I ignored the fact that his statement sounded like a threat.

"What happened to them?" I asked hesitantly.

"I was turned into a vampire and I hunted them." He smiled to himself, like he was proud. "Now ask yourself, is it worth it?"

I pondered whether to choose my next words carefully or to just say what I feel.

"I think you can't choose who you love. I also think there's nothing wrong with loving someone who isn't the same as you."

"You're brave," a voice behind us scoffed. It was a familiar voice, even though it was decidedly cold. I ignored it.

"I also think it would be foolish for one man to think he has control over something so big."

Lucian's c.o.c.ky smile straightened into an impa.s.sive line. He closed the distance between us before I could blink. He wrapped his long cold fingers around my throat and I gasped for air. Hunter dashed over to us and tried to pull Lucian off me but Lucian shoved him across the room and into the wall. Hunter growled loudly and Lucian hissed back before setting his sights back on me.

"Just because I'm using you doesn't mean you're my only option. You're plan A. If this fails I have a plan B, C, D, E, and I'm sure you know how the rest of the alphabet goes."

A coughed spluttered out of my throat and he let me go. Lucian rose from his seat and walked over to Hunter.

"If you so much as raise an eyebrow at me again I will end you as quickly as I created you. Do you understand?"

Hunter nodded sheepishly and Lucian exited the room. Hunter zipped over to me, his cool fingers nipped my skin as he tucked a dark lock of hair out of my face. I was too dazed to recoil from his touch.

"Can I take you to your room?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to go to my room. I need air, I need to breathe. I feel so imprisoned here."

"I know just the place."

Hunter took me by my wrist. I tried hard to picture him as the boy I cared about before his changes but it wasn't working. Gently I pulled from his grasp.

"I'll come with you but please don't push anything. I'm not ready to reconnect with you on the level we used to share."

His lips twitched into a smile. "I'm happy with that."

In the moonlight I could see the red tinge of the maple trees that lined the walkway by the eastern garden. By now all warmth had left the air, leaving nothing but a cool chill behind. When the wind blew, a few leaves glided down onto the gra.s.s like drops of blood. How could a place that was supposed to be so terrible be so serene? This place is meant to be h.e.l.l on earth, isn't it?

A cold breeze brushed gently against the tress, making the leaves shiver under the glowing moon. I resisted the urge to hug myself in fear of it making me appear weak.

"Look, Ruby, I never intended on this happening. I -"

"I know," I interrupted. "It isn't your fault. It's just a shock to my system, you know... I thought you were dead but here you are, still technically dead but at least you're okay."

He smiled and leaned against a slightly rotten fence post.

"A smart girl once said, what's wrong with caring for someone who isn't the same as you?"

For a moment I didn't recognize my own words, they sounded foreign to me.

"Yeah... bu - I -" I exhaled in defeat.

I did truly believe we don't get to choose who we love, our heart chooses for us. Why has mine chosen two? That isn't fair for anyone.

"You're a vampire, Eli is a guardian angel ... I'll be forever alone."

"I know Eli would give everything up to be with you and so would I."

I remembered the night Eli told me he wouldn't run away with me, for my own safety.

"I don't want to have this conversation right now," I groaned, my head pounding hard against the back of my skull. "A relationship with anyone is the last thing on my mind right now ..."

Hunter took a few steps toward me; I felt my muscles tense instantly.

"Your heart is racing, it's slightly distracting."