"I think we've made a terrible mistake," a voice cut through the fog clouding my consciousness. My body felt like lead, my throat parched from screaming.
"I don't care. Do you know what I went through to get her here?" Another voice, tense with anger. "Three of my men died!"
I forced my swollen eyes open a crack. I was lying on a cold stone floor, my wrists raw from the metal shackles. Two vampires stood nearby, arguing in hushed tones they thought I couldn't hear.
"Look at her wounds, Julius. This isn't the woman they described."
"Her face matches the description—black hair, blue eyes, scarred."
"But the rest doesn't. She can't be his concubine. Did you see how she reacted to the Mother Stone? Nothing. And her blood—I tested it while she was unconscious. It's not special."
A heavy silence fell between them. I kept my breathing slow and steady, feigning unconsciousness.
"What do we do now?" the first vampire asked.
