"NO!"

Even though his cry nearly shook the room, he knew that it was in vain.

Roman watched, helplessly, as Nadia fell to the floor.

By the time he reached her side, there was already blood pooling around her, soaking her shirt and the carpet beneath. Frantic, desperate, he brought his shaking hands to the wound, fruitlessly trying to apply pressure and stop the flow.

Within seconds, his hands were covered in red and he let out another strangled cry as he watched his daughter's breathing begin to slow.

This couldn't be happening, he thought, his mind racing in panic. Not now. Not his Nadia.

It couldn't possibly end like this.

He was vaguely aware of another figure at his side and he sat by, numbly, as she attempted to sop up some of the blood with a scarf he had left near the front door. It was Olivia, now recovered from her brief incapacitation by the hunters, but Roman was too stunned and distraught to really care.

"Come on, darling. We need to get her somewhere safe. We can't stay here."

Too weak to fight back, he allowed his mother to pull him to his feet as Shelley dashed over to pick up the injured girl. In his peripheral vision, he saw Peter take down the last assassin before running over as well, his warm furry body brushing against Roman's leg.

Letting out a sharp bark, Peter tilted his head towards the safe room at the top of the stairs—the room where Nadia (unbeknownst to her now) had spent the first few months of her life. Although it had not remained her bedroom, Roman had kept the locks in place and now used it for sensitive storage items.

Dazed, he nodded, and the motley group quickly made their way up the stairs, stirred on by the sound of more intruders crashing through the back windows.

Apparently, the fight wasn't over. But there was no way they could continue to wage it now.

Nadia was the priority, and Roman knew that he would not be able to function until she was okay.

Shaking, he used his blood stained hands to punch in the access code and they all burst through the door, closing it quickly behind them. Once the second door was cleared, Shelley placed Nadia on the floor of her old room before proceeding to grab any stray towels or pieces of fabric she could find. Olivia, too, set to work, making a makeshift pillow out of some old clothes and placing it under the girl's head.

As they moved around him, Roman sat in silence, one hand clasped around Nadia's, and the other placed on her clammy forehead. He could still hear a heartbeat, and he could still feel a slight warmth under her skin, but a part of him already knew what was to come.

The wound had been deep, and the blood loss was severe.

"Nadia, please wake up."

His little girl was dying.

"Nadia. You can't go."

They needed to get help.

As he let out a gut wrenching sob, he felt Peter's warm muzzle against his arm. Although he knew it was a gesture of comfort, he jerked away, not wanting any reassuring or pitiful motions. The time for comfort had passed. There was nothing that anyone could do now.

Instinctually, he turned towards the wolf and let out a loud hiss, his deadly teeth flashing dangerously. He could see that Shelley and Olivia had backed away as well. Their ashen faces betraying their own lack of optimism.

Roman could not imagine life without Nadia. He had never wanted to be a father, but after he had let her into his life, there had been no looking back. He loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before—more than Peter, more than Shelley, more than Letha.

She was always his little princess. The light in his otherwise dark existence. The thing that kept him human, even after he had turned.

The cravings, the bloodlust and the death never went away. And he knew they never would. But whenever Nadia smiled, Roman instantly remembered why he carried on.

"My baby," he muttered, his voice cracking with emotion as he ran a hand across her pale face. He cringed at the streak of blood he left behind—a mark left on her otherwise perfect visage. A mark left by him.

He had been foolish, he thought bitterly, to believe that he could keep such a precious thing safe in his twisted world.

Words from long ago suddenly drifted through his mind: God doesn't want you to be happy, Roman.

He had always been cursed. And so was she.

A new, fresh, shiver ran through him.

Everything in the last few minutes had been a blur, and he wished more than anything that he could erase it all from his mind.

But there was one detail that now stood out.

One detail that was more important than all else.

"She was holding the axe." Roman whispered, his mind spinning and his eyes burning with tears. "The axe was in her hand, and that's what did it. Her own hand."

There was a pause as he tried to recall the scene which had unfolded. Maria had tackled him, was ready to strike. Then Nadia had come out of nowhere with his old axe, swinging it at the woman and, in the process, piercing herself with the other sharpened end.

He heard Olivia give a small gasp as she crouched down on the girl's other side. "Roman, do you mean she's…"

"OUT!"

He cut her off in mid-sentence, unable to bare the look of relief and joy on her face. It filled him with rage to see her look down at his dying child like that.

He hated her for it.

The bitch had probably wanted this all along.

"GET OUT!"

Obeying, the three others reluctantly backed into the safe room's foyer, leaving father and daughter alone.

Now in silence, Roman allowed another round of sobs to wrack his body.

He was overwhelmed—angry, heartbroken, terrified….

And, he had to admit as his rage towards Olivia abated, he too was slightly relieved. He had never wanted this. Any of this. Especially for his precious little girl.

But the thought of having Nadia in his life in any capacity was better than nothing at all.

Perhaps it was selfish, condemning her to a half-life like his, but he could honestly say that it was better than losing her for good.

It wasn't what he had wanted, but at least he could teach her how to be upir. How to keep things under control and lead some semblance of a normal life.

She could always be at his side.

Roman flinched as he heard her draw a ragged breath. Her skin was so pale now, nearly as pale as his own, and he knew it was only a matter of time.

Despite his better judgement, he crawled behind her, gently cradling her head in his lap as he slowly rocked back and forth.

"Acesta va fi în regulă, draga mea." Roman whispered, placing a kiss on her cold forehead. "It will be okay."

Moments later, her last gentle, human, breath left her and her eyes sprung open in surprise. They were as impossibly blue as they had been when she was an infant, no longer faded with time.

She gasped loudly, sucking loud gulps of air that she didn't really need, before shakily pushing herself into a sitting position. She looked around the room, confused, before Roman placed a gentle hand on her cool cheek.

He could tell already that she was different, and it pained him to know that her life would never be the same. But, even though this day had brought all of his deepest nightmares to pass, the sight of his beautiful daughter still brought him undeniable joy.

"Welcome back, my treasure." He whispered, having no idea that those same words had once been uttered before.

Nadia smiled, her white fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

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The world around her somehow seemed more vibrant than it ever had before.

Nadia could hear her father's heartbeat, and the heartbeats of three other individuals nearby. The room around her was bright and clear, and she could smell the sweet scent of blood.

She looked around the room, trying to make sense of her surroundings and the strange sensations she was feeling.

They were in the safe room she had only been in a few times before, and she reasoned that she must have blacked out in the midst of the fight. Although she probably should have felt weak and shaky, her body was somehow humming with energy. She felt strong. And yet, oddly hungry…

Despite her disorientation, her first reaction as her dad leaned towards her was to smile. She had a vague recollection of a recent injury but she now felt completely fine and she was happy to be somewhere quiet, away from the chaos elsewhere in the house.

Nadia soon noticed, however, that her father's eyes were red with tears and that his hands and arms were completely caked with crimson. He looked like he had been through hell and back and she furrowed her brow in concern.

"Dad, what's wrong?" She asked, suddenly aware of a throbbing tenderness in her gums. "How did we get here?"

"I…you…" Her dad stuttered, his voice raw and shaky. She could not remember ever seeing him quite like this—he looked defeated. Overwhelmed. And it was as if every ounce of strength had been sucked out of him.

His demeanour was nothing like the powerful upir he had been in the foyer—lunging at his enemies to defend his family, prepared to tear them limb to limb.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He finally managed.

Nadia paused for a second, trying to recall what had happened before she had woken up. Judging from her father's expression, it had not been good.

"I was in the dining room." She began slowly, rubbing her forehead with her hand as if to draw out the buried memories. "I found an axe, and I ran into the other room to help you guys fight. That awful woman was about to stab you, so I swung the axe as hard as I could."

Nadia paused for a second, finding it more difficult to recall what had happened next. She had a clear image in her mind of Maria hovering over her father, but she could not, for some reason, recall how things had played out. Clearly, she and her dad were okay, and she could sense Peter and Shelley nearby, which probably meant…

"Did I…kill her?" Nadia asked reluctantly, her eyes widening. Perhaps she had been better with the axe than she had thought. She had certainly intended to get the woman away from her dad, and she had been too scared and full of adrenaline to really think things through. But the notion that she had taken someone's life disturbed her greatly, even if that person had burst into their home and wanted them all destroyed.

"I don't know." Her dad answered softly, his eyes still locked on her as if he was stunned by her mere existence. "We had to get you out of there."

Nadia furrowed her brow again. He was being vague, and she still had no idea why he looked so ragged and distressed.

"Why?" She pressed, feeling slightly annoyed by his short answers. The girl paused for a second, surveying her surroundings and straining to remember any missing details from before her blackout. "I'm fine."

"Nadia—" he said her name softly, almost as if it was a painful word, and she watched as his eyes looked down towards her abdomen.

Confused, she followed his gaze, noting for the first time since she awoke that her shirt was torn and covered in blood. Lots of blood. It looked as if she had been stabbed but, as she frantically moved her hands towards the area, she found that her skin was unbroken. The only evidence of injury was a small white scar.

She looked back up quickly, only to see Roman's eyes welling with tears once more.

Before she could ask any further questions, he choked out what they both already knew.

"The axe stabbed you as well. You died." He stated, gently placing his hand on her arm. "I'm so sorry."

Nadia froze, her body tingling as she tried to absorb the news. She knew he wasn't lying—his face and the remains of her injury convinced her of that. In the heat of her attack, she had fatally wounded herself.

She had died.

She was dead.

And yet, she was still here.

Suddenly, it all fell into place. That was why everything felt so weird. Why she could not ignore the smell of blood that surrounded her. Why her stomach felt so ravenously empty.

The plethora of new sensations that she had been feeling instantly felt magnified, and she jerked away from her father, bringing a shocked hand to cover her mouth. She could feel the disturbingly pointed incisors which had appeared in her mouth and she skidded further away, not stopping until her back was against the nearest wall.

This couldn't be happening, she thought frantically, trying to process the undeniable truth.

She couldn't be a…

"Nadia, it will be okay." Her dad said gently, looking disturbed by her distress but trying her best to offer a glimmer of reassurance. "I know how hard this is, but I can help you through it."

She shook her head, not wanting to open her mouth and expose the hideous fangs hidden behind her lips.

The woman downstairs had been right—she was a monster.

Part of her always had been…and now, that side had taken over completely.

It seemed so surreal and, three short days ago, she probably wouldn't have believed any of it. But her old life now felt like a distant memory. She had barely come to terms with all that she had learned about her family before being thrown into that dark world herself.

She truly was one of them now, and there would be no turning back.

Her head swirled with a rush of emotions, but even that faded into the distance as she realized what was weighing on her more than everything else.

The all-consuming emptiness of her stomach threatened to overwhelm her and, desperate, starving, she forced herself to look back up at her father.

"I'm hungry." She whispered, her hand still covering her monstrous mouth. She was ashamed to admit it, but too ravenous to hold back. "It hurts."

With a nod, Roman scrambled to his feet, a look of grim determination in his eyes. "I know, princess." He said, his voice full of sympathy and understanding.

Quickly, he went over to a large black cabinet that she had not yet noticed and typed a combination into the keypad. She could not immediately see what he had grabbed from inside the unit, but as he walked back towards her, her eyes widened in realization.

It was a blood bag. Exactly like those she had seen in hospitals.

Part of her was sickened by the sight but, as her body picked up the scent, she knew she would not be able to resist.

"Is it…human?" She choked out as her father knelt before her, the bag in his hand. Her stomach was screaming for it, and she was pretty sure that she already knew the answer.

"Yes." He replied simply, making no attempt to hide the truth.

Though the thought disturbed her, she was unable to resist any longer and she hungrily grabbed the bag, sinking her fangs into the thin plastic to reach the intoxicating substance within.

As soon as the sweet liquid began to slide down her throat the world around her seemed to fade away. For a moment, all she felt was the pure bliss of the delectable fluid.

She drank greedily.

Unashamedly.

No longer caring about her human façade.

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As Roman watched his daughter consume her first meal, he was surprised by his own lack of revulsion.

He had pictured such a scene before, in some of his darker moments, and he had vowed that he would not let such an awful thing come to pass. He had always hated his own insatiable need for blood, and it had disturbed him to think that his daughter might one day be plagued with the same inhuman appetite.

But, while he was undoubtedly ridden with guilt and teeming with regret, as she sunk her lethal fangs into the bag of blood, he was struck by the timelessness of her beauty.

She had always been perfect to him, but now she was raw. Powerful. Stunning.

It was disturbing to admit, and he hated himself for it, but he could not suppress the echo of Olivia's words in his mind. 'You're beautiful, darling.' She had often said, her eyes full of admiration as he took on his true form. 'I'm so proud of you.'

He had never believed her, always dismissing her words as part of some twisted plan to manipulate him.

As he watched his own daughter, however, he began to wonder if he had been too harsh. Despite it all, Nadia truly was a striking sight to behold. And, on some level, things seemed right.

As the last of the liquid was drained, she slowly looked towards him, her eyes full of guilt and disgrace. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her mouth, and he reached towards her before she had time to look away.

"Don't be ashamed, princess." He said and she gently wiped away the small stream of crimson with his thumb. "You'll always be beautiful."

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A/N Any feedback is much appreciated! I hope a few people are still reading.