DAMON had stopped talking when he heard something. It was Katherine. It had been a couple of weeks ago since I brought her here. She seemed to be crying again in her room upstairs. The baby was getting stronger each day and it was draining all of her energy. The physical pain and the emotional trauma she had gone through were also taking a toll on both her sanity and her body.Worse, the nutrients her body was getting from the human food that she takes was barely enough for her and the baby. What the baby needed was… blood. Lots of it. Or else, this pregnancy would end up destroying her body and her mind from the pain. It would kill her. And perhaps, at the back of her mind, she knew what she needed. However, she was fighting it.I wanted to find a Mage to lift the spell from the ring to help Katherine recover but finding a Mage would take time. They were antagonistic towards the Vampires because of the Rogues. It would be hard to strike a deal with them. And in Katherine’s condition,

BEING sad was better than being empty. I once heard Madam Dela Torre spoke those words one cold evening to the younger Hunters as she spent another night without her husband. She said that when you are sad, at least you feel something.I still think she was wrong. Wasn’t being sad just as worse? Sadness could be very suffocating. It was like there was a dagger stuck in my chest and I couldn’t pull it out. Each time I try, the dagger just goes deeper inside me.Christmas was making me remember how much I had lost over the past years and how little I had gained. It was making me remember how lucky other humans were. Only those who could afford freedom could celebrate this occasion. Now that I could somehow afford it, I had nobody to share it with.I stopped the car for a while to compose myself. After sometime, I felt guilty when I held my belly. How stupid of me. How could I forget? My daughter was with me. A faint smile curled my lips. Same time next year, she is going to be with me.

Present Time“THANK YOU for doing this for your fans, Mr. Collins. I’m sure their Christmas became merry because of you.”My mind had drifted back to the present after hearing the disk jockey’s words. She got it wrong. I did not do this for other people. Who gave a damn about other humans? The worldwide advertisements, the greetings, the interviews, were all made just for one person.But I didn’t try correcting the DJ who was smiling so sweetly at me. After I shook hands with her, I left.I was near the exit when she caught onto me.“Please wait, Mr. Collins!” she said while panting as she grabbed my arm.When my jaw clenched, Emmet saw it and immediately took the woman’s hand from my arm. He put himself between us and politely said, “Mr. Collins do not like it whenever a woman suddenly grabs him like that, Ms. Gomez. My boss is a very busy man. He only indulged specific people for this. He cannot be bothered to do anything more than that. If you wish to talk to him, I suggest you set

(Jonathan)‘I WILL be honest with you, Vampire. This woman is not going to live long. No matter how strong she is, with her abilities still sealed, she would die before or after she give birth. Even if you make her drain all of your blood, it will not be enough for the baby. She would soon end up feeding on her mother’s blood and energy. It is in her nature. Katherine is a human. Carrying the child of the Vampire King is something humans could never handle.’Those were Isadora’s first observation upon seeing Katherine weeks ago. The Mage had lived up to her reputation seeing as how she was able to quickly discover who Katherine was and who was the father of her baby only by holding her hands.When His Majesty grabbed my shoulder as if he was trying to see right through me, I forced myself to remain steady. If His Majesty was betrayed, he would never forgive. That’s who he was. Even if I was away, I kept hearing news about him and the massive changes he had brought in the city. If he w

Seven years later…“MOMMY?”I stopped the car in front of the school gate and turned to Mira, my daughter. She was my miracle and so I named her after that although Jonathan and I often call her by her nickname.I caught her staring at the kids who were accompanied by their parents. Today was their first day of school. And just like before, it was just the two of us. Jonathan volunteered to drive us, but I refused because I didn’t want Mira to get too used with his presence during important days like this.One day, Jonathan would have a family of his own, too. He could move out of Itbayat and live somewhere far. I didn’t want to tie him with us. That was the reason why I decided to move out of his house when Mira was three. I didn’t want my daughter to keep hoping that there would be a chance for me and her Uncle Jonathan to be together. I know that behind my back, she was targeting him as her potential ‘Daddy&rs