As her feet once again settled on the ground, she gave me an odd look. Sympathetic. Then a small smile appeared on her lips. Affectionate.

I swallowed hard, wondering what it was that she saw in me. How can you look at me that way, Sofia? I shifted my gaze forward, focused on the trail ahead. Her hold on my hand tightened as we moved forward on a narrow stony path that was much easier to walk on than the slippery boulders we left behind. I could only guess what was going through her mind.

“It would be much easier if you just sped us right to your lighthouse you know,” she whispered. “Since you’re so fond of shortcuts…”

“And miss out on this?”

“This?”

I squeezed her hand, enjoying the warmth it exuded. I then looked at her and gave her a short, pointed nod. “This.”

That smile. That blush. The things you do to me. The things you make me do.

We continued the walk in silence. It didn’t take long for us to reach the lighthouse. The sight of it made me ache with all the memories linked to it.

I woke up clinging to a plank of wood. Recollections of the explosions, the burning fire, the screams and the chaos revisited my mind. The ship was gone. The last thing I remembered was the look of horror in my sister’s eyes before someone knocked me unconscious and threw me overboard.

The sea was much calmer, rocking me in its waves as if it were trying to soothe me for all the lives it swallowed the night before. I gulped at the implication. The night before. I looked at the horizon and shuddered. The sun will rise soon.

I scoped my surroundings and saw it. A lighthouse among jagged boulders. The only shelter that could shield me from the burning sun. It was at least a mile’s swim. I didn’t have much time. I pushed away the plank that was keeping me afloat, hurriedly making my way to the shore. By the time I reached it, the first rays of dawn were beginning to show and I could immediately feel its weakening effect on me.

I was about to speed toward the lighthouse when I heard it. A whimper followed by a loud, chilling growl. Despite my need to immediately find shelter before the sun could rob me of all my defenses, I couldn’t ignore the urge to follow the sound. Behind a large rock was an semi-unconscious woman slowly coming to her senses. Just a few steps away from her was a black panther, ready to devour her.

Instinct took over. I lunged for the beast before it could pounce on the woman. The panther’s teeth sunk into my biceps and tore out my flesh. I screamed in pain. The sun was hampering my abilities to heal. I had to finish the fight soon or I would lose both my life and the stranger’s. Blood flowed from the panther’s teeth as its sharp claws tore through my chest. With a growl of my own, I pushed against its chest and ripped its heart out. Standing over the beast’s lifeless form, I threw its heart onto the ground and faced the stranger.

She stared at me with unveiled hatred – something that surprised me considering I just saved her life. I pushed away any doubts I had regarding her. I didn’t have time to make introductions or figure out why she was looking me with so much anger. The sun was rising and I had to shelter myself with darkness. I sped towards the lighthouse, leaving her by the shore. I soon reached the top of the lighthouse. After pulling heavy drapes over its windows, I sought refuge in the octagonal room’s most shadowy corners.

The wounds the panther inflicted on me still weren’t healing. Blood still covered my clothes and my hands. I trembled as I wondered how long my body would recover from the harm even the smallest of the sun’s rays did to a creature of darkness like me.

I barely heard the footsteps that slowly approached me. Tentative footsteps.

“You’re a vampire,” a sultry, female voice spoke.

“Yes. I am.” I hated to admit the truth. I was a hunter – the best one they ever had. Now, I became their hunted and in their hatred of the creature that I’d become, they destroyed my family.

She stopped in front of me and lifted her hand toward me. She was holding something in her hand. A wooden stake. She placed its pointed end against my heart. I looked up, straight into her eyes. Big brown ones, peering through long thick lashes. She was an exotic beauty, olive-skinned, beautiful heart-shaped face, full lips, long wavy brown hair…

“You’re a hunter.” I said. It was rhetoric. I wondered what was keeping her from driving the stake right through my heart. Was it because I just saved her life from that panther? She didn’t even seem to be grateful for it back at the shore.

“You’re cursed.”

“That I am.” I scoffed.

She pushed the stake forward, just enough to break my skin and draw blood. I saw bewilderment in her eyes.

“You just killed a panther with your bare hands…” she spoke. “What’s keeping you from killing me?”

“I’ve never killed a human being in my life. I’m not about to start today. If your conscience can take ending my life, then go ahead and be done with it.”

I wondered what was keeping her from killing me. Back when I was a hunter, I wouldn’t have given it a moment’s thought before ending a vampire’s life – and I ended many. I saw them as cursed, remorseless, wicked creatures who took life without inhibition – the same way one of their kind took my mother’s life. I saw vampires as immortals dead to their conscience. I never thought they were capable of emotion until I became one of them.

I looked into this young woman’s brown eyes and wondered what all the vampires I murdered felt when they looked into my eyes. Did they feel as I felt at that moment? Did they anticipate the moment the stake would drive through their heart? Were they begging to be freed from their accursed immortality?