Chapter 3 3

Seraphina didn't go home. She didn't have a home anymore, not technically. The Honda Civic felt more like a sanctuary than the Vance mansion ever had.

She drove, but not aimlessly. Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she navigated the familiar route to St. Luke's Private Clinic. It was a fortress of glass and steel, a place where the wealthy went to have their ailments pampered away.

She parked two blocks down, pulling a baseball cap low over her eyes and sliding a black mask over her face. She didn't head for the service entrance this time. She knew the shift change schedule by heart; she had memorized it during her countless forced stays.

She waited until a group of residents exited the side door, laughing and checking their pagers. As the heavy door swung shut, she caught it with the toe of her sneaker, slipping into the stairwell before the lock clicked.

She climbed four flights of stairs, her breath hitching not from exertion, but from the phantom pain in her arm where the needles usually went.

The VIP floor was quiet. Plush carpets swallowed the sound of her sneakers. She reached the corner near Suite 402-Caroline's usual suite-and pressed herself against the wall.

She pulled a small, sleek device from her pocket-a directional microphone she had "borrowed" from a PI friend years ago. She pointed it toward the crack beneath the door.

Caroline's voice came through the earpiece, low and conspiratorial.

"I sent it while he was in the bathroom," Caroline was whispering, likely into a phone. A giggle followed. "No, he didn't see. He thinks I'm too weak to lift a spoon, let alone a smartphone. God, seeing him panic is so... validating."

"You're playing with fire," a muffled voice on the other end replied.

"I am the fire," Caroline scoffed. "Once he drags her here and drains her, I'll be 'miraculously cured' again. Dr. Smith knows the drill. He gets his MRI machine, I get my attention, and the blood bag gets drained. Everyone wins."

Seraphina's hand tightened around the device until her knuckles turned white. Three years. Three years of needles. Three years of fainting spells, of eating spinach until she gagged, of being told she was saving a life.

She wasn't saving a life. She was feeding a monster.

She kicked the door open.

It banged against the wall with a gunshot crack. The murmuring inside died instantly.

Caroline was sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed. There was a pizza box open on her lap. A slice of pepperoni was halfway to her mouth. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes bright.

Next to her, on the bedside table, was a bottle of professional-grade theatrical blood and a makeup sponge.

Seraphina stepped inside, pulling off her mask.

Caroline choked. She scrambled to hide the pizza under the sheet, knocking the bottle over. It spilled across the white blanket like a fresh wound.

"Seraphina!" Caroline squeaked. "I... I was just..."

"Eating?" Seraphina finished. She walked to the bed, her movements calm and predatory. "For a dying woman, you have a healthy appetite."

"I needed the strength," Caroline stammered, her eyes darting to the door. "My blood sugar dropped..."

"Cut the crap." Seraphina reached out and snatched the bottle. "Kryolan Stage Blood. 'Realistic flow and drying time.' Is this what you use to cough up into your handkerchiefs?"

"Give that back!" Caroline lunged for it.

Seraphina caught her wrist. Caroline's grip was strong. Surprisingly strong for an invalid.

"Let go of me!" Caroline shrieked. "Help! Nurse! She's hurting me!"

"You want to be a victim so bad?" Seraphina asked, her voice low. "Let me help you with the method acting."

She raised her hand and slapped Caroline across the face.

The sound was sharp, satisfying. Caroline's head snapped to the side. The red handprint bloomed instantly on her pale cheek-real red, not dye.

Caroline froze, stunned into silence. She touched her cheek, her mouth hanging open.

"That," Seraphina said, "was for the time you made me leave my own birthday dinner to give you platelets."

She slapped her again. Backhand. Harder.

"And that," she hissed, leaning over the bed, "was for my husband."

Caroline let out a wail, shrinking back against the pillows. "You're crazy! Julian will kill you!"

"Let him try."

The door flew open behind her.

"What the hell is going on?"

Julian stood there, chest heaving. He took in the scene: Caroline cowering on the bed, sobbing, clutching her face. Seraphina standing over her, hand raised, eyes blazing.

"Julian!" Caroline screamed, extending a trembling hand. "Save me! She's trying to kill me! She broke in and started hitting me!"

Julian's face twisted into a mask of pure fury. He didn't look at the pizza box peeking out from the sheets. He didn't look at the bottle of dye on the floor. He only saw his fragile, sick Caroline being assaulted.

He crossed the room in two strides. He grabbed Seraphina by the shoulders and shoved her away.

"Get off her!" he roared.

Seraphina stumbled back. Her hip slammed into the metal cart holding the heart monitor. Pain shot up her side, sharp and hot. She gasped, grabbing the cart to stay upright.

Julian stood between them, a human shield. He glared at Seraphina with a hatred she had never seen before.

"Are you insane?" he shouted. "She is a sick woman! You come here, refuse to help, and then beat her? What kind of monster are you?"

Seraphina straightened up. She rubbed her bruised hip. She looked at Julian, really looked at him. She saw the fear in his eyes-fear for Caroline.

And just like that, the last thread of love she had for him dissolved. It didn't break; it just evaporated, leaving nothing but cold clarity.

"I'm the monster?" Seraphina asked softly. She let out a short, dry laugh. "Oh, Julian. You have no idea."