I kept up with Annika, impressed by her speed. However, it held nothing on mine, and I had to focus on running slowly as to not give away the fact that I wasn’t human.

As we ran, I questioned my decision to go with her. It hadn’t been an easy decision to make. Because if the vampire guards had found me, they might have revealed who I was.

What I was.

Once Annika knew I wasn’t human, she would never look at me the same again. And the way she’d looked at me while we’d been dancing—with interest, and perhaps even intrigue—I didn’t want to lose that. At least not yet.

So I went with her.

She navigated the alleyways so fluidly—like a choreographed dance. I supposed it was the gymnast in her. Finally, we rounded a corner, and she stopped at a wooden building with a sign above the door that said The Tavern.

“This is your secret place?” I asked. “A bar?”

“Above the bar.” She looked up at the highest window. “But if anyone sees us come in the front door, they’ll ask about you. So… how good are you at climbing?”

“Up there?” I glanced worriedly at the window. Not because I thought I couldn’t do it—as a vampire, climbing the wall would be easy—but because I was worried about her.

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Have you ever done this before?” I asked.

“A few times.” She shrugged. “It’s pretty easy to climb, as long as you know the right places to hold onto.”

“You first,” I told her—because while she seemed confident, I wanted to be there to catch her if she fell. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“All right.” She smiled and bounded toward the side of the building, placing her hands and feet in each spot with ease as she made her way up the side. She looked like Rapunzel climbing up her tower.

I held my breath, sure she was about to make a wrong move. But she made it up so gracefully that if she’d said she was a vampire, I would have believed her.

Once at the top, she opened the window and hoisted herself inside. “Come on,” she called out, her hair blowing in the wind. “I’ll guide you if you get stuck.”

“I won’t get stuck.” I smirked, ready for the challenge, and rushed toward the building. My abilities would have easily allowed myself to jump from the ground to the window, but I went at the same pace she’d climbed. Anything else would have been a dead giveaway that I wasn’t who I’d claimed to be.

“Wow,” she said as I made my way inside the cramped attic. “That was impressive.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be a problem.” I looked out the window as she closed it, making sure the vampire guards hadn’t followed us.

The streets were clear.

Confident that we’d gotten away, I relaxed and looked around the room. When I’d first seen the lone window on the top of the building, I’d assumed it was going to be a dusty old attic. And while it was an attic—the low ceilings nearly brushed the top of my head—it had been transformed into a cozy book nook. There was a shelf packed with books—both new and old—and blankets strewn about to create a spot for reading.

“Where does that look out to?” I glanced at the window on the opposite side, which was blocked by curtains.

Annika smiled—so big that it reached her eyes. “Come,” she said, making her way to the other end of the room. “I’ll show you.”

She opened the curtains, revealing an incredible view of the palace on the mountain.

My prison.

“It’s beautiful.” Her eyes shined as she gazed up at it. “Don’t you think?”

“It’s full of vampires,” I said sharply.

“You hate them,” she observed, turning to look at me.

“Yes.” I didn’t need to think about my answer. I hated vampires—and I hated that I was one of them. “Don’t you?”

“I hate that they killed my family,” she said, sounding stronger than ever. “I hate that they’re keeping me prisoner here. But more than I hate them, I hate being weak. I hate being human.”

“What?” I knew I must be looking at her like she was crazy, but I didn’t care. Because what she’d said was crazy. “If you hate being human, what would you rather be?”

“A vampire,” she said simply.

“No.” I shook my head and backed away, flashes of the faces of all the people I’d killed rushing through my mind. “The vampires are killers. Murderers. Why would you want to be like them?”

Like me, I thought, although of course I didn’t say it out loud.

“First of all, most of them can control their urges,” she said, as if she’d done full research on the topic. “They drink the blood we donate instead of killing humans.”

“Controlling those urges isn’t as easy as you make it sound,” I muttered.

“Really?” She tilted her head, watching me closely. “How would you know?”

I wracked my mind for an explanation that wouldn’t give away my secret. “Don’t you know about that vampire who got loose last year and killed all those villagers?” I asked. “I know you must know—everyone knows. It’s why they needed to go on all those scouting missions to bring back new humans for the village. It’s why they took you.”

“And you,” she said, reminding me of the story I’d told her earlier when we were dancing.

“Why would you want to become a creature like that?” I asked.

“Most of them aren’t like that.” She straightened, looking fully convinced. “That vampire who rampaged the village was killed by order of the queen.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help but chuckle. If only she knew…

“Yes,” she said. “But that’s not the point.”

“Then tell me,” I asked. “What is your point?”

She glanced back up at the palace, took a deep breath, and turned back to me. “As humans, we’ll always be weak compared to the supernaturals,” she said, clenching her fists by her sides. “We have no chance against them. We’ll always be slaves to the vampires. But if I were one of them, I would be free.” Her eyes were so full of fire and determination—I knew she believed it.

And on a certain level, she was right. The vampires would never let her leave the Vale. She would be a blood slave until she died.

She also had no chance of becoming a vampire, since each person turned in North America had to be approved by Laila. Any vampires turned without her approval were killed.

Human blood slaves were considered the lowest of the low. They were farm animals—a food source.

Laila never had, and never would, consider one of them worthy of becoming a vampire. Which was a good thing, because I hated the thought of Annika risking her life to become a monster.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. “Are you realizing that I’m right? That becoming a vampire is the only way for us to ever be truly free?”

“It’s irrelevant,” I said. “They would never turn you. Or any of us, for that matter.”

“I know,” she said, and then she turned back to gaze at the palace. “But it doesn’t hurt to dream.”

Looking at her now—at this seemingly delicate human girl who had somehow managed to stay strong despite what she’d been through at the hands of the vampires—I realized that there was nothing more I wanted than to step closer to her, look into her eyes again, and kiss her.

If I’d been human—if I were Jake and not Jacen, and if the story I’d told her had been true—I would have done exactly that.

But it did hurt to dream. Because I would never be human. And if I kissed her, I feared I might lose control and crave a taste of her blood. I would stop myself from draining her—I trusted my control enough to risk coming out here tonight—but then she would know that everything I’d told her so far had been a lie.

No matter how much I admired her strength, resilience, and hope, and no matter how much I wanted to get to know her better, the two of us had no future. By being here with her, I was living in a fantasyland as much as she was every time she gazed up at the palace and dreamed of becoming a vampire.

Maybe in another life we would have worked out. But not in this one.

There was only one honorable thing I could do at this point—compel her to forget me. I hated the thought of it, but it would be best for both of us. Because coming here with her—trusting her and starting to build a connection with her—was a mistake.

“Annika,” I said her name slowly, savoring each syllable as I spoke it.

“What?” She turned to me, her eyes full of hope.

She was looking at me the way I’d hoped she would when I’d first spotted her in the square, and the trust in her eyes took my breath away.

“You’re going to forget you ever met me,” I said calmly, feeling the magic of compulsion in my voice as I spoke. “Tonight, you were dancing with your friends when the vampire guards showed up. You got scared and ran back here—alone—and fell asleep reading.” I reached for a book sitting on top of the shelves—a bookmark stuck out from it, so I assumed it was the one she was currently reading—and handed it to her.

She didn’t take it.

“What?” She backed away, her forehead creased with hurt, her fists clenched by her sides. “Why do you want me to pretend we never met?”