Two hundred years, I have roamed this earth learning all that I can and attempting to forget the man who had done this to me. My true name I have kept a secret and have gone by the name Nate. I had been a daughter of a Lord and grown up with a rebellious side even though I had a cancer running though my veins. Back in that era, the eighteen century, we knew not what it was but knew I would not live to see my twenty-second birthday. With my luscious black, ebony silk hair that was curly and bright ever knowing green eyes, I was known as a beauty but no man could match my temper or my pride.

Until the night I had met Dominic Rowan. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. The air around him seemed so exotic and mysterious, I couldn't help but try to learn more about him. He was what most would call handsome but in my eyes, he was beautiful. I fell in love that night and from then on we learned about one another, teasing, taunting, and flirting with each other until we both fell in love. Only to be separated by a twist of fate.

Two hundred years I have run from him and for two hundred years I have loved and hated him. With his enticing blue eyes that seemed to look deep into my soul every time he looked at me, he had the ability to have me do anything he wished of me until that one fateful night. The night, my one and only love, Dominic, had changed me into a vampire. Sealing my fate for the rest of eternity…

:Flash Back:

"I love you, my love." He whispered in my ear as his lips skimmed my neck. I only sighed happily, I was finally married to the man I have loved for the past three years. Now, Twenty-one, we had married and tonight was our wedding night. My hands made their way up into his thick, silk like black hair, as I kissed and nibbled on his ear. We had made loved well into the night. It was like nothing I had ever experienced, yet I had a feeling he had held back. He whispered sweet nothings into my ear until I had fallen asleep.

I awoke with a scream as I felt something bite into my neck, my Dom biting into my neck. He had caught my hands and held me as he sucked the blood from me. I felt myself falling deep into a black abyss, I felt him caress my cheek and whisper into my ear,

"I'm doing this to save you. I can't lose you."

I awoke to a hunger like none other than I had ever felt. My body felt weak and my mouth dry. I opened my eyes to see the room in perfect shape except for the blood. Sitting up, I felt a pounding in my head.

"Natalia?" I whipped around to see Dominic standing in the corner looking haggard and exhausted. The look in his eyes almost made me go to him but I didn't move.

"What have you done?" I whispered harshly, but it came out rather raspy. I felt the two canine teeth against my lip, freezing, I used my tongue to run along them. Fear gripped my soul.

"You were dying." He whispered, his eyes showing his pain and yet still challenging me. I turned my head away and realized that I wasn't breathing. My lungs weren't working and my chest didn't move up and down. He had really changed me into what I had once feared.

"The doctor told me three months ago." He continued on. But he paused, as if listening for something. "I wasn't going to lose you to something that I couldn't fight. It is unfair." He growled out furiously.

"What about I, Dominic? Did I have a choice? This was my life!" I spoke out through gritted teeth before I gripped the edge of the bed. I felt an urge to bite his neck in anger but I knew that was the vampire in me, coming out faster and faster. I wouldn't let it control me though, not without a fight, I had thought. I was stubborn and strong willed, as my father had once said and I plan to remain that way, fighting against the hunger.

Shutting my eyes, I tried to push the urge of hunger and who knows what else to the back of my mind. But my concentration broke when Dominic let out a breath, though I knew that he didn't need to.

"Natalia, why must you be so stubborn?" I turned to look at him, only he wasn't there. Turning my head back, I found his eyes staring at me. Not only did I feel his breath caressing my skin, I could almost see the vein under his skin on his neck. My vision became glossy and seemed to be attracted to that vein.

"Take it, Natalia. Don't fight it. Please." He whispered and that was when I flinched. I had never once heard him say please and this was one of the times I would have referred him not to say it. But I didn't want to become a killer, a monster. The feeling of dread seemed to seek deeper into my body and I felt the salty tears beginning to form in my eyes.
"Please Dominic. Don't make me do this." I begged, "Don't let me hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone. Make it stop." I cried, my hands gripping the bed harder, if that were possible. He gently took my head into his hands and kissed my lips. A long, slow sensual kiss that even in my state, I wanted him.

I heard a crunch just as he pulled away and then came the tang of blood hit my senses hard. I let the salty tears from my eyes fall when he backed away. I quickly jumped up and ran. I could hear him calling me, hear his footsteps behind me.

That night I ran. That night I disappeared from the man I love Loved. That night I found a friend who took care of me and helped me escape…

Now, two hundred and thirty six years later, I could feel him in my mind once more. Every year on the day he had married me, he would come into my mind. Sometimes just a sad whisper, sometimes a hated growl, and sometimes no emotion at all. But either way, I never responded, I only pushed him away and continued what I was doing.

'Natalia… Natalia, when will you ever forgive me?' He whispered but I didn't listen. I looked up to see my friend walking into our large condo. Mack, her real name was McKenna, was a short blonde with the attitude that matched mine. Unlike me, she was a shape shifter of the lioness kind. Her bright blue eyes only added to the beauty that she was. She was the one who had saved me the first night of my change and helped me learn control and to become something safe. I stood up as I caught the scent of a wolf on her, quirking a brow at her, asking its own silent question.

"Yes. I was with my Wolfe friend. Unlike you my dear friend, I like sex. I like to enjoy the thrills, though not all of them are worth it." Even over the years of trying to teach her tact, she had never learned it. I sighed heavily and went to the kitchen. I pressed play on the music stereo I had placed in there when I was in need of one. I had never taken a liking to most music. The only stuff I liked was soft and soothing or hard and rocking. Two complete opposites.

"Has he tried contacting you?" Mack called from the living room, her voice a little higher than usual due to the television being turned on. I mentally answered with a no. The mental, psychic ability had come to me naturally but took me three years to learn. I even was gifted with the ghosting ability, traveling quickly across the ground only leaving a puff of smoke behind me. That had been a talent I had stumbled across when I ran from… Him. I could barely utter his name and he would hear me.

I spent much of my time over the many years wondering what had happened. Nothing had come until a woman, one of intense beauty, entered my hiding spot. She just swept right past the door and stared down at me with her deep obsidian eyes. Her black hair fell down her back in cascades.

"So you are the vampire pressing my limits. I am impressed." Her voice, a soft lull, much like the whisper of the night time breeze. "So what is it you ask of me?"

"Why were … us creatures created?" I whispered, the hatred I felt slowly seeping through me. The woman looked down at me and smiled slowly, revealing an enticing smile

"You were betrayed. I see. Then I forgive you for your insolence. My poor daughter," I stared up at her. "you really are a lost thing. Come with me." She brought her hand down to me and I took it, much to my surprise.

We walked down the pathway toward the river.

"Natalia, you are a daughter of the night. A creature that I have created." I stopped to stare at her. "I was once a victim like you and I vowed to never let someone have that control on me. So I created, well, vampires. And other nightly creatures of which you know of. Though most of these creatures do not impress me much and go with their tedious ways. You, my daughter, are different. You fit the night time but yet you hide from it." She looked at me, her eyes looking deep inside me.

"I will not change you back. But I will also not let you kill yourself. You will be marked as mine. In a way that no other vampire has. You will be my daughter." She placed an hand on my cheek and I felt myself slipping away, hearing her voice whispering in my ear.

"You will be powerful, beautiful, strong, and intelligent. You will be the best of my warriors. You will be my daughter…"

I woke later to see that I was truly marked. Some ways were barely seen but others were very obvious. My eyes held a steel gray flickers within them while a small tattoo was placed on my lower back. A crescent moon with the nighttime thorns wrapping itself around. On my hip was imprinted, 'The True One'. There was also a difference in my body. I could feel my muscles rippling and my body cursing with a new 'something inside of me. It was the ability to transport from one place to another in a blink of an eye, to track anyone or anything, to walk amongst the humans in the day time when it was cloudy, and the ability to hide my feelings within me.

I hide from human contact and have never tried interaction with any other creatures except for Mack. I turned to work in the kitchen when I felt the familiar buzzing in my head. I ignored it and heard Mack jump up and growl.

"We have company, Nate." I moved from the kitchen to the living room in the blink of an eye and stood in the shadows near the door. Mack took her stance in front of it and we both waited until the door burst open. Three men, dressed in black, all stepped in and stared at Mack.

"Where is the vampire, lion?" The tallest of the three men questioned, his voice very deep and low.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" She grinned, ferociously. I put on a deathly grin and stepped from the shadows behind them, slowly closing the door, causing the three men to turn and stare at me. I could feel their confusion edging off them at seeing me.

"Oh boys. Don't you see? I am not your normal vamp." I whispered seductively, walking up beside them before grabbing two of the men by the neck and bashing their heads together. They feel to the floor in a heap. The last, the tallest, stared at me before putting up a hand.

"Wait! We just came to deliver a message for you." I stopped and waited, Mack moved up behind him, keeping an eye on his movements. I could smell the blood emanating from him. He handed me a letter and I growled when I saw the familiar hand writing. I opened it and quickly read through the letter.

Natalia,

I have something you want. Come to me if you want her back.

Dominic

P.S. I do so hope you didn't kill my men.

Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. The only thing he could have that I would ever want back was a living creature that I have watched over. My panther, Nyx, was a creature of which I had come to protect. I had saved her mother only to have her have a baby and die on me. She had gone off hunting the other night and never returned. And now I know where she was lying. Probably trying to eat and claw at whoever came near her.

My glare focused on the only conscious man in the room.

"Well? How do I get to this god forsaken place my stupid, ass of a husband resides at?" I growled, much like that of a very angry Nyx. He nodded once, and headed toward the door.

"Mack, come." I ordered, following the man. He hesitated but knew not to test me. Mack grinned and jumped over the unconscious men. Her footsteps were light and gay as she followed behind my weightless, soundless walk.