As fear began to set in, I felt myself become a prisoner to my own body. I screamed at myself to grab the stake that was rolling away on the floor. But my legs refused to listen.

"Geez, you're so troublesome sometimes." Count Borovsky said in a teasing voice as he took several long strides towards me. "Let's just go home, okay?" He said with a terrifying smile as he outstretched his hand towards me.

Before I could even react, Stefan emerged at lighting speed as he went to grab the Count from behind. But just as I was about to celebrate, I felt my heart sink at the Count's next words. "Don't move."

To my surprise, Stefan complied. I wanted to curse him out right then and there. Why is Stefan going along with Count Borovsky's words???

"Why can't I move?" Stefan angrily probed.

Count Borovsky turned around on his heels as he slowly started to approach Stefan with a mischievous smile. "Why?" He asked rhetorically. "I thought it was a known fact that you can never defy your maker?"

There's no way...

"You? My maker? Don't lie—"

"It's true." Count Borovsky said, cutting off Stefan. "You may not remember me, but I remember you. Why else do you think I've been hunting you for so long?"

"If what you're saying is true, then this makes no sense at all! You were the one to abandon me, so why would you come looking for me after all these years?" Stefan demanded as he tightened his hold on his clenched fists.

"It seems as if your age wasn't the only thing to deteriorate in time." Count Borovsky calmly commented. "You were always a good friend to me. Which is why it came as a great deal of regret that we had to part ways in the end. If only you were more inclined to feed on humans, then perhaps we could have seen eye to eye with each other more often..."

Stefan refusing to feed on humans? I find that hard to believe. I've seen him feed on several people since joining this household! Unless... maybe Stefan really was a different person before he joined the Grigori household and met me?

"I got no satisfaction from feeding on others," Stefan explained. "At least I could experience real emotions like misery when I chose to starve myself."

The Count stared at Stefan blankly as he stroked his chin. "Are you sure you weren't just waiting for another saviour to come along?" The count said in a bored voice. "Like Mrs Grigori?"

Stefan's eyes widened. "Don't you dare speak her name." Stefan remarked coldly.

The count merely scoffed at this as he grinned in amusement. "That woman... Sorina, wasn't it? She was a good mother." Stefan narrowed his eyes as he attempted to lunge forward. "I remember the day she died so vividly..."

As the Count's attention was preoccupied with Stefan, I felt myself filled with the motivation to finally remove myself from the bed. My had finally kicked in. Knowing that it's either now or never, I sneakily grabbed the nearby stake and hid it behind my back.

"You left the house in the dead of the night, perhaps to hunt for more vermin to feed on?" The count remarked. "Sorina must have been so worried about your safety since she followed you out to the forest that night."

It took every fibre of my being to muster enough courage to slowly approach the Count from behind.

"All I wanted was to speak with you once more. But she saw me as some kind of threat." The Count explained. "I have to say, it really was touching to see her try to shield one monster from another."

As the count trailed a slender finger across his lips, he wrinkled his eyes in a taunt. "She didn't taste that good but seeing the look of pure horror on your face was enough to make it worth my troubles."

No... Count Borovsky was the one who killed Sorina? Does that mean the reason he stayed a mute for so long was because...

...

I felt anger swell up inside me. No matter who it is, Bennett will only continue to hurt those around him for as long as he's alive. I can't let this go on anymore. As my emotions reached their boiling point, I raised the stake above me and lunged forward to stake the Count.

"As predictable as always..." The Count sighed as he caught my arm inches away from his face. He looked at me with a bored expression. "You won't catch me with the same trick twice. You should know better by now."

As I gritted my teeth, I tried to contain myself, but the anger just came pouring out. "Maybe you're right, but I'll keep fighting you till I die!" I declared as I kicked the Count in the crotch.

The Count suddenly doubled over in pain as he released me momentarily from his grasp. Not wasting a second, I sprinted towards the attic door. Unlucky for me however, my foot got caught in my dress causing me to fall down the ladder.

"Ouch!" I winced in pain. I didn't let it keep me down for long though, as I got back up on my feet and ran down the hall.

"Catch her." The Count ordered Stefan as he recovered from the blow he had taken. With no other choice, Stefan was forced to comply with his creator's orders.

"NICK!" I screamed as I kept looking back to check whether or not they were hot on my trail. As I started to get out of breath I suddenly collided with an unexpected force.

I was able to sigh in relief once I saw that it was no one I should be worried about. "Where are they?" Nick asked cautiously as he pushed me behind his back.

"T-T-They're following me right now!" I tried to explain between gasping breaths. As I shakily pointed down towards the end of the hall, Stefan turned the corner as he slowly approached us.

"Stefan?" Nick called out in uncertainty. There was no response. As Nick and I started to slowly walk backwards, I stopped in my tracks as soon as I heard someone clear their throat.

As I whipped my head around, I was now back-to-back with Nick, as I stared at Count Borovsky in fear. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." The count said in a cold voice.