And so it was always the hunter, he thought. Always had been the hunter.

“YOU HAVE BEEN CRYING.” Rhapsody’s words were matter-of-fact like they always were when she made the observation. Zari was in the other girl’s room. When Erou had insisted on walking her back, she had found herself blurting out about wanting to visit Rhapsody first. Anything was better than having Erou take her straight to her Master’s rooms. Above all, Erou and Alexandru should not come face to face, especially not today.

At the girl’s words, Zari leaned back to check her reflection on the full-length mirror mounted on the wall, and the red eyes that stared back at her made Zari wince.

“Did Lord Erou make you cry?”

Zari was startled. “You know him?”

“Part of my lessons during home schooling was to know every important member of Chalysian society.”

“You’re amazing,” she told Rhapsody honestly.

“No. I’m just being practical.” The tone was as practical, without any sense of bragging or false modesty.

Zari sighed. “I wish I could be more like you.” If she was, maybe none of this would hurt as much. Something occurred to her, and she asked haltingly, “Have you…have you studied about heartkeeping?” She held her breath.

“Of course.”

“You have?”

“What do you want to know about it?” No curiosity, just a practical offer of help.

Zari beamed. “I think I love you, Rhapsody.”

Slowly, the other girl blinked. “I apologize. I am not a lesbian.”

Zari burst into laughter. “It was just an expression, silly.” She turned to face Rhapsody directly, who was seated in front of the computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she typed her daily letter to her Master – information that Rhapsody had also voluntarily given up. With the other girl, Zari thought with a smile, what you saw was what you really got.

“What is a heartkeeper?”

“The closest term to it would probably be ‘soulmates’. Every creature with demon blood—-”

Zari paled. Demon blood? Lord Alexandru had…demon blood?

“—-is born without a soul. Not having a soul makes it difficult for one to be good. That’s the simplest way to define their challenge. Their only hope of gaining a soul is through a heartkeeper – a person destined to share his or her soul with the one with demon blood.” Rhapsody paused in her typing, looking at Zari as she asked, “Do you wish to know more?”

“Lord Alexandru…he has demon blood?”

“He is half-demon, yes. His father was a demon, his mother a vampire.”

“And all the years he’s lived, he didn’t have a soul?”

Rhapsody hesitated. “I do not like talking about hearsay.”

“I do,” Zari answered promptly.

“What I will tell you has not been confirmed,” Rhapsody warned.

“I still want to hear it.”

The other girl said slowly, “It’s been said…that in his younger days, he had fallen in love with another vampire. And that girl was the one who saved him, her heart acting like his soul.”

Chapter Four

Alexandru watched her prepare to leave. She had come a long way to reach this point in her life. To be strong and independent, to have the power to help others. She was no weakling, this woman of his, but even so, it did not stop worry from darkening his thoughts and making his heart heavy. He said abruptly, “I don’t like you doing this.”

She didn’t look at him, didn’t stop packing her things as she said, “I know. But this is what I’m meant to do.”

“Is it?” Alexandru couldn’t stop himself from asking.

Her hands stilled. The air became cold with her sadness. He almost took the words back but he didn’t because it was what he felt.

Still not turning to look at him, she said softly, “Yes. It is…because I don’t want my life to be defined just by what we feel for each other. I don’t want people to only remember me because of who I am to you.”

“Another demon’s involved in this, am I right?” Sir Richard voiced his speculation reluctantly, and it was clear to see on his face that he already knew the answer to it.

“It’s the only possible way for the victim to get into this place,” Alexandru answered. The two of them were locked inside the headmaster’s office, which was hidden high on the school’s tallest tower. Although most people thought of the chubby vampire as clumsy and harmless, Alexandru knew it was only a façade and that the other man was, in fact, one of the most vigilant protectors the school had on its side.

“Do you think the demon’s acting alone, or is it truly possible that one of my students is involved?”

Alexandru’s gaze returned to the two files on the desk before him. One was the girl everyone called the Madonna and whose Master was a well-respected baron. The other was a mystery and her anonymous Master even more so. Of the two, it was clear who appeared more likely a suspect. Of course, leave it to his pet to befriend that same girl as well.

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