She was downstairs when her sensitive hearing picked up baby Aria’s cries. She had put her to sleep only an hour ago, but the vampire baby was a big ball of energy and it became extremely difficult to handle her at times. She kept Faith awake all night and didn’t let her get much rest in the daytime either.

“Isn’t she an angel? Doesn’t disturb mommy at all.”

“She’s small at the moment. Wait for a month and you’ll be eating your own words.”

Her heart clenched as Felix’s words came rushing back to her. They hadn’t spent much time together yet he had left a huge impact on her. He refused to remain buried inside the deepest corners of her conscious. It wouldn’t be false to say that his memories were haunting her.

“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word. Papa’s gonna buy you a mocking bird.”

She was barely a foot away from Aria’s room when she heard the lullaby making her come to a halt.

“If that mocking bird won’t sing, papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.”

The voice had her frozen in her place. She couldn’t believe her ears.

“If that diamond ring turns brass, Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass.”

The childish words weren’t syncing well with the deep voice producing them yet their combination had turned out to be surprisingly pleasant to her ears.

“If that glass begins to crack, Papa’s gonna buy you a jumping jack.”

She never thought she would hear him singing, especially something so silly.

“If that jumping jack is broke, Papa’s gonna buy you a velvet cloak.”

Suddenly an image of Ares wearing his beloved black cloak from the medieval times flashed before her eyes. Slowly she felt her imagination getting mixed with reality as the image in her head morphed into a new picture; Medieval era Ares holding little Aria in his huge arms, shielding their cloaked figures away from the glaring sun.

“If that velvet cloak is coarse, Papa’s gonna buy you a rocking horse.”

Trying not to alert him of her presence, she carefully stepped forward to hide behind the door-frame.

“If that rocking horse won’t rock, Papa’s gonna buy you a cuckoo clock.”

Her lips stretched into a small smile as she thought about Ares buying a cuckoo clock for their little daughter. A brooding giant with a cooing artificial bird in his hand, the idea was too adorable to digest.

“If that cuckoo clock won’t tick, Papa’s gonna buy you a walking stick.”

It surprised her to see that he had perfectly memorized the whole rhyme, down to the very last word.

“If that walking stick falls down, you’ll still be the sweetest little baby in the town.”

Her little angel had gone back to sleep. She could guess it by the way her breathing and heart rate had slowed down.

“Faith.”

After hearing him sing so flawlessly his voice had become a hundred times more attractive to her ears.

“You can rest. She’s asleep.”

He said it after a moment following no replies from her side.

It had been a week since the incident in Romania, and she still only talked to him when it was absolutely needed. He, on the other hand, was doing everything in his power to set things right. Every day she’d wake up to see their room filled to the brim with fresh flowers. There would be sticky notes plastered all over the castle with apologies written over them. He read stories and poems to Aria every night and sometimes while doing so, he had tried narrating his side of the story to Faith as well but she didn’t allow him to proceed with it. Each time he started talking about that ominous night his castle caught fire, she would walk out of the room. He hadn’t listened to her so easily and she wasn’t going to let him have this privilege either.

‘Maybe I’m being too hard on him.’

He was about to lower Aria down into her crib when Faith stepped into the room, avoiding making eye contact with him. As she reached his tall built, she stood up on her tip toes to give her daughter a small peck on her forehead.

“Can I get a kiss too, regina mea?”

He said it just as he finished placing baby Aria back in her crib.

‘That damned endearment…’

It was difficult denying a creature who the nature itself had blessed with the art of seduction.

‘Just once then…’

Pressing her lips together, she did a quick contemplation in her head before tilting her head up while standing on her tippy toes. Seeing her reaching above, a loop-sided smile graced his plump lips, making his dimples appear more prominent.

Slowly he lowered his head, trying to meet her halfway. As the tips of their noses caressed each other, she cast a quick glance down on his lips before looking up again to meet his eyes. His lids had lowered down significantly, almost concealing his emerald shaded eyes from her view.

Just as their lips were a hair’s breadth away, she turned her head away the last moment, placing a peck on his right dimple before immediately backing away from him with a determined look on her face.

“That’ll be all for today. I’m going out for some time. Call me if she wakes up,”

Saying that she turned around to leave.

“Have you finally decided on going there?”

She had reached the doorway when she heard his question.

“Yes.”

Keeping her reply short, she hurriedly stepped out of the room.

Using her vampire speed, she was out of the castle in no time, hiking her way down towards the town.

She loved the feeling of wind rustling through her hair, clinging to her skin as she sprinted through the trees. It provided her with a thrill when the fallen leaves made crunching sounds beneath her feet as her immense speed left them scattered behind her.

She had reached almost the end of the trail when her vampire senses detected a rapidly beating heart combined with a strong metallic stench lingering in the air.

‘’Blood?’

The notion alarmed her as she turned towards the source of the sound.

‘No, not a vampire.’

The heartbeat was increasing progressively. It was irregular, probably belonging to an injured person.

‘Should I help?’

As she moved the branches away from her path, following the low thumping sounds, she eventually found herself standing at the side of a road, coming face to face with a wrecked car turned over in the middle of it.

.

Someone was on the driver’s seat, hanging upside down. She could only see their hand hanging out of the window with something gripped in it. Looking closely she realized it was a phone.

‘They must’ve tried calling 112.’

The air around her had become thick with the stifling smell of blood, making it hard for her to continue breathing.

‘I’ve lived without blood all my life. I can do that now too.’

Henry and Ares had taught her well on controlling her hunger. Being part-human made it easier too.

‘Let’s just focus on helping the person.’

Stopping near the driver seat, she gritted her teeth before bending down to grip the side of the door and ripping it away from the rest of the vehicle.

The scene that was revealed after that was too grotesque. A young girl, probably in her early twenties, was slumped on the driver’s seat in a puddle of her own blood. There were multiple cuts and abrasions on her body. Her blonde hair had turned red and sticky with blood. Her face was turned away from Faith but the rapid moment of her chest and the distended veins of her neck were enough to inform Faith that the girl was facing trouble while breathing.

“God…”

Carefully dragging the girl out of the wrecked vehicle she placed her on the side of the road.

“Argh…”

The girl hadn’t lost consciousness. She was half awake while moaning in pain.

“Hey, are you alright? Where does it hurt?”

Her question was met with no answers. The girl seemed to be too overwhelmed with pain. It felt as if she was unable to breathe.

“Tsk.”

Clicking her tongue, she passed a hand through her hair in frustration.

Crouching down next to the girl’s limp figure, she started scanning the girl’s body for the source of her disturbed breathing.

She was a petite girl. Her legs, clad in shorts, were free of any major injury, spare for some scattered cuts and lacerations. An oversized hoodie was covering her torso, and Faith had to lift it to get it out of the way.

‘What even…’

Her eyes turned to slits as she saw the way the girl’s chest was moving. She was no doctor but the way the girl’s chest moved was definitely not how a normal chest was supposed to move during breathing.

As Faith gingerly touched the girl’s chest, the girl let out a muffled scream, making the frown already etched on Faith’s forehead deepen.

‘Should I…’

As she was contemplating her next move in her head, the girl turned her face in towards Faith, staring at her with fat drops of water rolling down the corner of her big blue eyes. She was mumbling something in a low voice.

“Say that again.”

Lowering her ear to the girl’s lips, she tried straining her ears to hear her words better yet she couldn’t understand her words at all.

Scrambling to her feet again, Faith once again cast a quick glance over the girl’s weird looking chest.

The girl looked like she’d lose consciousness any moment.

‘I’ll never hear the end of it from Henry.’

“Well, fuck it.”

Without wasting another moment, she tore the skin on her wrist using her elongated fangs before placing her bloodied wrist on the girl’s open mouth. She watched as girl’s eyes widened with horror as Faith’s blood dribbled down her throat but as the seconds continued ticking by, she stopped struggling altogether. A fair share had gone down the girl’s belly.

‘She must’ve started feeling a bit better.’

The girl’s breathing was returning back to normal.

As she was observing the unnamed girl, trying to find the improvement in her condition, she heard sirens in the background.

‘So she was successful in calling for help.’

Slowly, she sat near the girl who was still looking terrified of her but had made no move to step away.

“Forget about everything that happened after I came to you. You got out of the car on your own. The car door got detached during the accident.”

The girl’s stare was fixated on Faith’s dilating and contracting pupils. She was clinging onto every word that came out of Faith’s mouth and as soon as Faith finished compelling her, the girl’s face got wiped off of every expression.

“They’re near.”

Fixing the girl’s hoodie, she scurried to hide behind the thick belt of trees, leaving only after she saw the girl being taken away by paramedics.

“Ugh… I’m so getting an earful from Henry.”