"The Night I Chose Freedom"

And then I left him behind, taking long strides to get away from him and the stench of Hell as fast as I could. I turned at the foyer and raced along the carpeted marble stairs to the third floor, then made for the south wing. Servants waited at the head of every level, hands folded, heads bowed.

Vampires. All of them. Slaves to my father, but still vampires.

"Mistress," Helene murmured and stepped forward. "May I assist you tonight?"

It was never a question. It was a plea.

I gave a nod and listened to the soft thud of her footsteps behind me as I strode into my wing and made for my bedroom. My bathroom was on one side, an expansive robe crammed with Prada and Gucci, and a glass cupboard for every expensive handbag in the world.

It was a wardrobe to make a Sheik's daughter weep with envy.

And a wardrobe that would feed the entire homeless population a thousand times over.

But still it wasn't enough according to my parents.

There was always one more dress, one more handbag...one more token of just how perfect we were supposed to look.

I reached behind my back for the zipper and strode toward the ornate dresser and matching seat.

"Mistress." Helene's fingers gently replaced my own, working the pearl buttons first before her deft hands worked the hidden zipper, and I stepped out of the Oscar de la Renta masterpiece designed especially for this night.

"I shouldn't have provoked them tonight," I murmured and lifted my gaze to Helene's careful expression. "I embarrassed them."

"Your parents love you, Mistress."

It was the only answer l'd get, even if it was wrong. For once l wish I had someone to give it to me straight, to shove when I pushed. Someone who didn't care that my father was the equivalent to the head of the Vampire mob. But someone saw me, the real me. I lifted my hand and fingered the hand-stitched ornate brasserie—and not all this.

The dress slipped free and crumpled to the floor at my feet. I stepped out in nothing but silk underwear and then sat at the stool, reaching down to unhook the clasp on my heels.

"Would Mistress like her goat's milk bath tonight?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you. Not tonight."

Helene bent and plucked my dress from the floor and then disappeared into the wardrobe.

Overhead lights sparkled just like the stars at midnight. Dad had them mapped out, each tiny light sparkling for me. It'd been a gift when I turned ninety-nine.

I couldn't wait for the day I turned a hundred; it'd be the party of a lifetime.

It'd take another four hundred years until I hit the prime of my life.

Then I'd be unstoppable.

I slid my heels from my feet and massaged my arches. Faint laughter echoed all the way to my wing from outside.

I'd not hear from them tonight.

I unhooked my bra and slid my fingers into the edge of my panties as Helene walked from the wardrobe. There wasn't a blink as I stepped free and strode toward the bed, naked.

She'd seen me this way ever since | was born.

A tiny ache burned across the inside of my upper arm as I grasped the negligee draped over the end of my bed. A small bruise was already rising to the surface. Three small marks in the shape of Thorin's fingers.

The bastard was lucky I didn't nail his ass to the damn wall with a cross. I wonder what Daddy dearest would say if he saw these. I doubted Thorin would be his favorite for long.

But the marks would be gone in the morning.

Along with the memory of every embarrassing thing I said tonight.

Just like it always was.

Helene picked up my panties and bra as I slipped on the negligee and crawled into the fresh silk sheets. I slid a hand under the pillow next to mine and pulled out the white tablet.

I didn't want to be out there with their hierarchy and greed. I wanted to be with friends.

I hit the button, and the screen came to life. My fingers danced across the glass, and then the cheeky smile from Luke Perry appeared.

"Oh, Dylan, why can't you be real?" I whispered as Helene dimmed the lights and slipped from my bedroom.

Crystal glasses clinked before a faint scream echoed for a second and then was cut short.

Looked like they finally had enough of Glorian's five carat ring and her broke ass betraying family. But I didn't care, not when I stared into Dylan's eyes and lost myself in Beverly Hills 90210.

"Are you proud of yourself, Morwenna?"

I winced at the sound of my name when Dad used it like that. "It depends, should I be, Daddy?"

He lifted his gaze from his desk and seized mine. He was pissed, more than normal. "You embarrassed your mother last night. Hermond is a powerful ally we desperately need."

There was an edge in his voice, one I hadn't heard before. A flare of concern cut through my center. "Daddy...is everything okay?"

He smiled, but it was a forced smile. He was never fake with me. "We are, but we can't afford another stunt like last night, do you understand me?

We have to be careful and always watch each other's backs. It's why I was hoping not to have to entertain...

He cast a quick gaze to an envelope in the middle of his desk. It was the fifth time he looked at the damn thing.

"Daddy?"

Gold sparkled as he reached across the desk. The soft, filtered ray of sunlight hit his hand. There was a small sizzle and the faint stench of burning flesh before the power of his ring held the danger of the sun at bay.

The rings on our hands meant we could be out during the day, but it didn't always stop the burn, not when we were tired...or when we were sick...and Dad didn't look tired.

Fear gripped me like a fist, fingers clenching tight like steel bands across my chest. "Daddy, are you sick?"

There wasn't even a second before he answered, a fraction of a second really, but for the most powerful, most influential Vampire in the city and my father--it was far too long.

"No, I'm fine. But I need to talk to you. We have a responsibility as Livingstone's, one that unfortunately has landed on your young shoulders."

"I'm not that young," I muttered.

He just chuckled and shook his head. "Nevertheless, we have to show the rest of the world we take the pact seriously- even if it's on the surface. I was hoping to keep this from our door. Hell knows I didn't want this for you, but it seems after last night's antics, there's no room to ignore the command of my superiors. 

You embarrassed me last night, and not only that, but you also brought the entire clan under scrutiny. So, my hand's been forced on this one. There's a school for the children of the most influential immortal families."

He didn't want this for me?

Lightning coursed through my chest.

The undead muscle in my chest gave a small throb.

"A school where we as a family will be watched. Every word and every action will be weighed and measured by those far more powerful than me. You'll have to leave us for a while at least. You'll have to leave Thorin and all the things you love...

His voice melted into nothing.

All I could see was a school where I was Brenda...and I had a chance at being normal.

"l'Il do it!"

Dad flinched and stilled, mouth agape, halfway through a sentence where he'd have to talk me into leaving this life behind. 

"You'll do it? Don't you want to take some time to think about it at least?"

I cut my gaze to the envelope, catching the elegant crawl on the front, and shook my head.

"What's to think about? You need me to do this, right?"

He gave a slow nod as though he was suddenly unsure of all this.

My Dad.

My powerful, deadly as fuck Dad... was unsure about sending his little girl to a school full of strangers. I gave him the sweetest smile I could and inwardly screamed with excitement. "I'll be a good girl... promise.

Make friends and not enemies

Darkness permeated every inch of the family armored limousine.