Chapter 4
Four
SOPHIE
Imove from the small room in the basement of my father’s home to an ample suite on the second floor.
This place is new—new to me, that is—and I don’t recognize anything.
Father told me we relocated from London to Salem, Massachusetts, while I was in hibernation, but he evaded the question about the exact date of our migration.
He doesn’t want me to know how long I’ve been sleeping, which makes me think it’s been a long while.
But I won’t get the information from him, that much I know.
My new bedroom has been decorated exactly how it had been before.
The same dark wood furniture, the same four-poster bed with a canopy, a pink duvet with ruffles, and several pillows propped against the headboard.
I remember I used to love everything I see before my eyes, but now all those romantic frills and colors are making me gag.
I pull up the chair in front of the vanity desk and stare at my reflection in the mirror.
I still look sickly pale with dark circles under my eyes.
I’ll need a few more feedings to look healthier.
But it’s not only my skin tone that’s displeasing, it’s my long, dirty-blonde hair too.
Everything about my appearance makes me look fragile and weak.
A flash of memory crosses in front of my eyes. I hear an ugly, taunting laughter, then feel putrid breath blowing on my face. My hair is undone, and a lock is used around my neck to choke me. I close my eyes, shaking from head to toe. Was I attacked? Was that the reason I went into hibernation?
The memory recedes to a dark corner in my mind, but the dread remains like an oil stain on my soul. A shiver runs down my spine, giving me goose bumps. Hastily, I undo my braids, yanking at the strands of hair, mindless of the pain. Then I proceed to brush my hair roughly.
“What has your hair done to you, darling?” a familiar voice asks from behind me.
I swivel in my chair and see my best friend leisurely lying on my bed.
“Tish!” I jump from my seat and run to her.
Tish leaps off the bed and, purring, rubs her black fur against my legs. “Hello, Sophie.”
I bend over and pick her up, something she hates, but I don’t care. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I don’t believe you. You didn’t even ask for me.”
“My brain was scrambled. It still is.” I set her down before she decides to scratch me.
“Excuses, excuses. As your bloody familiar, I should have been the first thing on your mind.”
Tish can be so dramatic, but her over-the-top personality balances mine. As someone who can’t feel much, I live vicariously through Tish’s colorful experiences.
“I killed someone today,” I say.
She glances at me, and I swear I can see a lift of her nonexistent eyebrow. “Already?”
I return to the vanity desk and resume brushing my hair. “It was the mage my father hired to wake me.”
“What did he do?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I caught bloodlust straight away, and he wasn’t fast enough to protect his neck.”
“Yikes. Good thing I wasn’t around.”
I smirk. “It isn’t like I’d attack you.”
“Well, I don’t know. Vampires in bloodlust are crazy and nasty. Hard pass.”
I frown. Hard pass. It must be a new turn of phrase. “Tish… how long was I gone?”
Tish leaps onto my lap, then moves to the desk. “Your father didn’t tell you?”
“No. He’s been evasive about it.”
“I can’t be certain exactly. It’s hard to keep track of time when I’m stuck in this form.”
“I promise I’ll find a way to unhex you.”
“You have other problems on your plate. Don’t worry about me.” She licks her paw.
I’d probably feel guilty if I could feel the emotion, but it’s all a big void inside me. I’ve always tried my best to mimic reactions from social cues, but with Tish, I don’t bother. She knows who I am. “What year is it?”
“Not sure. Why don’t you check on your phone?”
“Phone?” I search through all the memories that I received from the blood I drank and see the small device that people use to call others. The last time I was awake, the telephone had been invented, but very few people had access to it.
“Are you going through your newly downloaded database?” Tish asks.
Downloaded. That’s also a new term to me. “Uh… I suppose so. Father didn’t give me a phone.”
“What? That’s absurd. Hold on.”
She runs out of my bedroom faster than I can blink.
When she doesn’t return right away, I continue to peruse my new room.
The first thing I inspect is my wardrobe.
I’m sure fashion has changed a lot. But to my disappointment, the wardrobe only has one long dress with a high collar that looks more like sleepwear than anything else.
Maybe it is sleepwear. Why wasn’t I provided new clothes?
“I’m baaack,” Tish announces. There’s a phone on the floor right in front of her.
“Whose phone is that?”
“Yours. Your father had it in his office. I suppose he forgot to give it to you.”
“He forgot more than that. Look at this.” I point at the almost empty wardrobe.
“Oh dear. That’s the only dress he gave you?” She moves closer. “Is that even a dress?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” I pull the lapels of my silk robe closer together. “Do you think maybe Father doesn’t intend to let me out of the house yet?”
“Hmm… the conflict between Raphael’s and Tatiana’s forces has escalated. Maybe your father is afraid to let you out before you’re fully briefed on everything.”
I shake my head. “No, it doesn’t make sense. He already gave me a mission.”
“Oh, do tell.”
“He wants me to infiltrate Lucca’s inner circle and kill him.”
Tish snorts. “Right. Like the notorious dark prince is letting anyone near him these days.”
“I’m not worried about that just yet.” I grab the phone Tish brought and instinctively press the home button, making the screen light up. Thank fuck for blood memories.
I click on the calendar icon and feel my legs go weak. “Bloody hell! I’ve been hibernating for 109 years!”
“Yeah, that tracks. We migrated to the US the following year on the Titanic. That was an eventful trip. But I’ll tell you all about it later.”
I search my new memories, and my eyes widen. “That ship sank! How did Father manage to get me out while I was deadweight?”
“We were lucky that the Titanic hit the iceberg at night, and we were rescued from the lifeboats before dawn.”
I pinch my eyebrows together. “Yes, very lucky. I just don’t understand why I went into hibernation then. I had just woken up a year before.”
Tish tilts her head. “You don’t remember anything before that?”
Anguish squeezes my heart so tight, I can barely breathe. I may not feel emotion, but somehow, what happened to me is able to draw these visceral reactions from me. “No.”
She sighs. “You were brutally attacked. When your father found you, he thought you were dead. I didn’t see you, but I was told there was so much blood, they thought you had lost your heart.”
My stomach coils violently, and I fear I might be sick. “Was I… raped?”
Tish seems to freeze for a moment, and her cat eyes widen. “What makes you ask that? Do you think you were?”
I close my eyes, fighting the tears that are gathering in them. “I… I’m not sure. Even though I don’t remember, I feel tainted somehow.”
“Boone was the one who found you.”
My spine goes rigid in an instant, my body chilling to the bone. “What?”
“He said Raphael’s soldiers did that to you, and your father believed him.”
“But you didn’t?”
“I’m not blinded by hatred like your father. Your attack did not fit with any other attacks from Raphael’s forces. They were all about killing fast, not torture.”
I run a shaky hand through my hair. “Do you think maybe Boone might have been responsible?”
“He was a creep for sure, but I don’t believe he’d attack you. It doesn’t make sense. But maybe he was covering for someone else.”
“Well, he’s dead now, so we can’t ask him.” I square my shoulders and try to return to my normal, emotionless state.
“You might remember who did it eventually.”
“Or maybe I don’t want to remember.” I stare at my phone’s screen and, wanting to change the subject, say, “There are barely any apps on here.”
One of Tish’s best qualities is that she knows how to read the room.
She immediately jumps on the new topic of conversation in a much lighter tone of voice.
“Oh, good. You already know what apps are. There are a few that you must download immediately. Pinterest, and the clock app. Especially the clock app.”
“What’s so special about the clock app?”
“Sophie, I’m about to introduce you to the joy of thirst traps.”