Hard to Say I Do, When I Don't

When their lips touched, it was electric. Ember jerked her head back, she could see the hurt in Mason's eyes, but she didn't care.

"No, no, you're one of them!" She talked quietly, half to herself and half to Mason.

"What? One of who?" Mason tried to reach for her, but she cringed away. He dropped his hands in defeat.

"But you're so different ..." Ember trailed off, now only talking to herself, "This shouldn't be happening ..."

"What shouldn't be happening? Talk to me, Ember, make me understand." Mason looked pleadingly into her eyes, but she was far away.

He reached out again and grabbed her shoulders, trying to shake her out of her trance. Ember cried out in pain at his touch, she grabbed at her left shoulder.

"What ...?" She slipped her hand under her shirt and felt a bandage on the back of her left shoulder. Suddenly, it dawned on her. "No," she whispered.

She jumped out of bed, ignoring the pain all over her body, and stood in front of the mirror. She ripped the side of shirt down, exposing the bandage. Ember grabbed the bandage and before Mason could stop her, she ripped it off.

She barely acknowledged the pain, she could only see the large 's' with the smaller, overlapping 'v.' The brand of a vampire slave.