“Ah, it’s been so long, pet.”

She was back there.  Back in that room.  That dark, dark room, where she couldn’t see or smell or hear anything beyond the click of heels and the scent of parchment and roses.  Which she knew was on purpose.  Vampires were silent by nature.  Their shoes didn’t typically make noise.

“Y-you’re dead,” she said, shaking her head.  She felt the cold metal around her neck pressing into her skin as she shook it.  The choke collar.

“Not.  Quite.  Yet.”  The voice was sing-song.  The lilt of the tone was dangerous and cold, like the edge of a blade.

She felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes.  “I-I saw it.  I saw how you looked before you—”

“Well, yes.  That bitch did a real number on me.  I can’t reach any of my children.  Not a single one.

“Except for you.  I will always be able to find you.  Our bond is unbreakable.”

Lunette bolted up, gasping for air.  Tears fell down her face as she moved.

She turned around, frantically searching her bedroom.  Where?  Where was Ilona?  Where had she gone?

But Lunette was alone.  The room was empty.  The window was open, but there was a six-hundred-foot drop into the ocean below.  There were rocks and shallows down there.  Even a vampire couldn’t survive that drop.

The room was filled with the scent of brine.  No parchment.  No roses.  No blood.

But Lunette could feel her.  She could feel the pull of Ilona’s emotions. 

She had always felt them stronger than anyone else.  She had always been able to feel Ilona, even from miles away.  She always knew when Ilona was angry or horny or anything else.  Lunette felt her like a parasite eating away inside of her.

But the past few weeks, Lunette had been free of her.  She had been free of the constant pressure of her sire.  She had been free, for once.

She brought her knees to her chest, hugging them.  “No,” she sobbed, her voice breaking.

Ilona may not have been anywhere close to the power she had once had.  But it didn’t matter. 

Because she could still get into Lunette’s head.

Lunette would never be free.

She wept.