PROLOGUE

It was dark, raining but despite all that, it was silent.

All that could be heard was their labored breathing and the sound of water hitting against water.

It was like time had stopped for them, in that alley. Both their eyes were heavy and their bodies were drenched.

His mouth was on her neck, his fangs buried in her skin.

As her taste exploded on his tongue, as whimpers left her lips and she begged him to stop, he willed himself not to close his eyes.

He willed himself not to enjoy the taste of her blood.

It was only a necessity.

A necessity he wished never existed.

He wanted to stop...He so desperately wanted to, but his thirst controlled his body and kept asking for more, it kept asking him to take more even though he knew it would kill her...It would become another stain on his already imperfect coat.

Hearing her whimpers and pleas, he wished he could say those words out loud.

To tell her just how much he regretted his actions.

It wasn't long before the only breathing that could be heard was his.

His eyes darkened as he felt her body go slack and her skin cold.

Even after his fangs left the soft skin of her neck, he held her close. His regret overshadowing the satisfaction of filling his stomach and ending the terrible thirst that had plagued him for days.

He moved away the strands of his wet hair that stuck to his lashes and pushed them back...Revealing his pale skin and dark eyes.

His jaw was clenched, like he was trying to suppress an emotion, one might say it was anger or maybe it was just shame.

Shame at the atrocities he had committed and the fact that he knew this wouldn't be the last time.

He laid her body down, gently on the ground and said a silent prayer for her soul even though he knew no one was listening.

He turned around to leave the dark and empty alley. There was a curfew so no one was out of their houses tonight.

Except her…

He looked down at her now lifeless body and skin that was now as pale as snow, a large comparison from what she had looked like when he had first spotted her silhouette, warmth and curiosity radiated off of her and the beat of her heart called to him.

It gave him a rush that he hadn't felt in days or rather a rush he tried hard not to feel.

But there she stood, in her strange clothes, looking around like she didn't know where she was or how she got there.

He should've asked her name.

He wiped his lips and gave one last look at her body.

He should've asked her if she was okay.

He should've have asked her why she looked so confused and if she needed help.

That was the kind of man he was...The kind of man he was supposed to be, the kind of man he was raised to be but yet—

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into the dark. He wasn't a monster, he was a man with manners…used to be a man. He so desperately wished he could take back his actions, he wished he never came across her, he wished he never fed from her.

Her death now made his guilt heavier, he found it hard to move his body at the thought that tomorrow her family would start worrying about her well being.

As he took his first steps out of the alley, he heard a gasp.

At first he thought he was mistaken and that it might be the wind and the rain in his ears but as much as he hated it, his curse came with a few perks that he considered gifts and one was the ability to hear things beyond human comprehension. From the smallest of whispers to the small thuds of heartbeats.

Which was what he heard at that moment.

Another gasp,

Then two more beats,

Another gasp and then the heartbeat became faster and then there was a long groan of pain.

He turned around and looked at the body he had left behind in shock, sure enough, she was moving or rather, it was moving.

He was so sure that he felt the life leave her body, her eyes lose its color yet there she was, trying to turn, using her right hand to lift herself up.

Then there was a humorless chuckle.

"Can this day get any bloody worse?"

Her voice was soft, different.

He couldn't move his feet, he wasn't sure what action to take but then, she raised her head and her gaze met with his. He could not make out her figure clearly through the heavy rain but he could see those eyes.

Blue.

They were blue.