He’d never felt anything like this. Every movement only made it worse. Every second ticked by with an excruciating slowness as he fought against his prison. Eternity seemed to have passed before he finally broke free of it. Wheezing and vomiting earth, he found himself climbing out of a grave that bore a single name and date.

ESPERETTA D. 1476

Confused, he looked down at his hands, only they weren’t his. They were feminine and they were torn and ravaged from the digging. They were Esperetta’s.

Still coughing, he tried to move free of the grave, but the weight of his dress pulled him back toward the coffin. Afraid of falling, he kicked his feet, tearing the hem, and used his trembling arms to get his weight out of the grave.

And as he lay on the ground, trying to remove the taste of dirt from his mouth, his thoughts whirled.

What had happened?

We’ll be together, Esperetta. Trust me. When you awaken, I’ll be there by your side. We shall go to Paris, just the two of us, and start our lives over. No one will ever know who we are.

Only they weren’t together. There was no sign of Velkan now. Panic set in as Esperetta looked about the cold, desolate cemetery. Where could he be?

A wave of terror went through her as she feared for him. Surely he wasn’t dead. Not her Velkan. He’d always been so strong. So fierce.

“Please,” she begged as tears gathered in her eyes. She had to find him. The last thing she wanted was to live without him. He meant everything to her.

Unsure of where to go, she headed through the cold darkness toward the town lights, desperate for him. It wasn’t until she’d reached the street that she realized she wasn’t far from her father’s home.

Why was she here? She’d taken her serum far away from this place.

With Velkan.

With nowhere else to go, she headed for her father’s palace. But she never reached the doors. Before she could do more than slip inside the gate, she’d heard the sound of swords clashing.

And then she’d heard her father cry out.

Without a clear thought, she’d run toward the sound only to skid to a stop as she saw her father lying dead at Velkan’s feet. Her mouth worked a soundless scream as she watched her husband kick at her father’s body and curse him. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst came from the single sword stroke that separated her father’s head from his body.

The cold satisfaction on Velkan’s face burned her eyes as he gripped her father’s head by the hair and pulled it up from the ground. “Death to the house of Dracul. May you all burn in hell.” Those words rang in her head.