"It was wonderful to meet you, Soph," Nathan, the Creative Director at Just Graphics, said with a smile. He stood, offering his hand over the desk. Soph shook it. "I can't believe Paxus ever let you go."

"Thanks for this opportunity, Nathan," she told him. "I think we'll work really well together."

"Consider the job yours, once all that mandatory HR stuff is out of the way of course. My assistant can take you down there after this. They'll show you the contracts, do a quick medical, drug test and so on."

Soph kept the smile plastered on her face, but inside her heart sank. She knew drug tests were part of standard company policy, but she'd hoped that Nathan might forgo it. To be honest, she'd hope the last three companies she'd successfully interviewed with would miraculously forget about it too, but she'd had no such luck.

Nathan's farewell sounded far away as Soph let the young assistant - was Sarah her name? - lead her from the office and down to the corporate level where she was introduced to Matilda from HR.

Matilda talked her through the contract and Soph listened half-heartedly. She wondered in the back of her mind if she'd be able to pass this drug test. She somehow didn't think so. Finally Matilda directed her to a medical clinic next door where a doctor would meet her to perform the medical tests.

Soph considered skipping it and just leaving, but the thought of her dwindling bank account, and the faint hope that she would throw a negative result, had her walking in the door of the clinic.

The doctor took her measurements and her blood pressure, then he offered her a sterilised cup to pee in and ushered her towards a bathroom. When she returned with a sample, the doctor showed her to the waiting room.

She was too nervous to sit and so she paced the room, taking in the stack of old magazines, the potted fern that direly needed a prune, and the few other people waiting patiently for their results. She wondered if they'd also applied for jobs at Just Graphics.

Through the door to the clinic, she noticed the doctor appear and talk to a nurse who briefly picked up the phone. Five minutes later, Matilda the HR person appeared at the desk. She spoke urgently to the nurse, then to the doctor who reappeared from his office. Then all three of them glanced through the door towards her.

Soph's heart sank. Positive. Without waiting for them to approach her, she turned and fled the clinic, striding quickly down the street and around the corner.

Vampire blood thankfully didn't show up as the culprit in the drug tests, but it threw a positive every time. Not that she'd known much about vamp blood before she'd developed her addiction to it, but she could only assume that traces of it had stayed in her system. It'd been months since her last hit... could it possibly stay there forever?

She walked several blocks, then hailed a taxi to take her back to Marco's place, all the while trying not to cry over the shambles her life was in. Fear of not knowing what would happen next was like an iron vice on her insides and had been getting tighter for weeks and she had no one to talk to. How could she possibly explain to Marco and her family that she couldn't get a job because of her addiction? No, she just had to hold the anxiety in and pretend that she didn't really need a job right now anyway, act like she didn't only have a month or two worth of savings left in her account. The moment she walked in the door and saw Marco and Jacob preparing lunch in the kitchen, however, her facade crumbled.

They laughed and chatted together, and their normality was suffocating to watch. Later they'd all eat dinner then probably sit down to watch a family-friendly movie. Marco was planning to propose soon, Luie had spilled the secret. Why had she wanted this?

"Hey, Soph!" Jacob greeted when he saw her.

With a strangled sob, she dropped her bag and slid down the wall of the hallway to the floor. She heard Marco ask his son to give them a minute, then he came and crouched beside her.

"What happened?" he stroked her back. For a time she couldn't speak through her tears.

"I failed the drug test," she finally spat out. Marco's hand stilled on her back. "I failed all the drug tests."

"You're on drugs?" he asked nervously.

"I was addicted to vampire blood." she pulled her knees up to her chest and dropped her head to them. "For some reason it shows up in the drug tests."

"Are you still taking it?" his hand vanished from her back completely and she could imagine him silently wondering what sort of junkie he'd let into his home with his son.

"No. I haven't taken it in months." she tried to compose herself, but only broke down harder. Marco sighed.

"What can I do? What do you want?"

I want Eli.

The thought wasn't unbidden, but it was the first time since her confrontation with Eli at Sinner's that she'd allowed herself to admit it.

"Eli," Marco echoed and with a sinking stomach, Soph realised that she'd actually said the words out loud. "Eli Damiani?"

Soph nodded and her sobs renewed as Marco got up and walked away.

***

"Can I move back in?" Soph stood desolately at the door of her apartment, bag in hand and eyes rimmed red from crying. Her mother frowned at her.

"You live here too, why would you ask such a question?" she stepped back so Soph could come inside. She dropped her bag by the door and looked around at the relatively tidy living room.

"Where's Diego?" She asked. Zita waved a dismissive hand and went to the balcony where she'd been partway through a coffee and a cigarette.

"I dumped him," Zita said frankly, not seeming bothered that yet another boyfriend was gone. "He was quite immature and a bit of a slob, if I must say."

Soph let out a huff of laughter and dropped into the chair opposite her mother. "How are you so unfazed by men?"

Zita eyed her knowingly, tapping the ash from her cigarette into an almost empty glass of water. "I just haven't found the right man to be fazed about. Is that why you're so upset, Baby? Has Marco broken your heart?"

To be honest, it felt like a weight off her chest to walk away from Marco. He'd been wonderful to her. Too wonderful. The type of man you read about in a women's trash mag. She realised now that she didn't want to settle. She didn't want to suffocate under a nuclear life.

"It's not Marco." Soph sighed, slumping down in her chair and looking over the city. "It's me. I think I made the wrong choice, and now, it's too late to do anything about it."

Zita reached across and patted Soph's hand. "I'm sure if you talk to him, you can make amends, Baby."

Soph wasn't so sure. She knew she'd hurt Eli, and she didn't think he'd be so forgiving. The two women were quiet for a while, then Zita sat up straight, suddenly remembering something. Holding her cigarette between her teeth, she reached into her bra and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to Soph.

"Some man named Cole has dropped in to visit a few times. Wanted to see how you were. This is his number."

***

Soph stared up at the bay front Hamilton mansion and almost lost her nerve. The two story white stone house behind wrought-iron gates almost had her convinced herself that Eli had lied about the basement full of models. Surely he didn't live in a place like this alone.

She'd spent a week sulking in her apartment while her mother had urged her to speak to Eli. She'd stubbornly refused until she'd turned on the TV on Friday night to find the entertainment channel airing the live coverage of the Sinister opening - Eli's third and final club. The man himself had arrived with not one, but two beautiful women on his arms and Soph had felt positively sick with envy as she'd watched them all flirt together in front of the camera before entering the club. She decided that she would try to talk to him, at least once.

She'd spent all day Saturday, and part of the day on Sunday trying to call him. He'd ignored every single attempt. Finally, she'd called Cole, and he'd told her what to do.

She approached the small gate beside the drive - bypassing the intercom - to find it unlocked as arranged. She slipped through it, then hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and started up the winding drive before she could second-guess her decision too much.

The wide double doors that she reached at the front of the house had a doorbell and she rang it before wrapping her arms across her body and shifting from one foot to the other. She expected Cole to answer the door, so when Eli pulled it open, wearing only tracksuit pants and looking dishevelled, she nearly lost her nerve.

"Soph," he sounded surprised, though his expression descended into a scowl. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and leaned against the doorframe, waiting.

"I just wanted to let you know," she began, unable to keep the nerves from her voice, "that Marco and I broke up. I know now that what I think I need can be more harmful than choosing what I want. What I said to you at Sinners was horrible, and I wanted to apologise. I was afraid to admit that I had feelings for you too and took the option of a relationship that I knew, deep down, was doomed to fail. It was within my comfort zone."

"Like, I don't know if I want children, but there are always options, like adoption and that sort of thing. You're a celebrity anyway, no doubt we'd break up after five years and I'd drag you through the courts for half of what you own." she closed her mouth. She knew she was rambling and Eli hadn't said a word. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I was sorry." Hoisting her bag on her shoulder, she turned away. Maybe she could convince her mother to go out to a bar with her that evening to help her drown her sorrows.

"Soph." she glanced back when he said her name, her heart leaping to her throat. He'd uncrossed his arms and his expression had softened. She stopped, turning part way back to face him. He sighed, shaking his head in resignation. "I forgive you."

"You do?" Soph was shocked. She hadn't expected him to forgive her so easily, at least not right away, and she stared at him, unsure of what to do. She hadn't considered any words or actions beyond her apology.

"Do you want to come in?" he offered. She nodded and stepped back towards the door. He didn't move out of the way, however. Instead, he took her wrist and pulled her into an embrace. It was a deliberate, yet tender action, and was different to their previous fiery encounters.

Soph submitted to the embrace, melting against his chest and breathing in the fresh smell of him. For the first time in a while she had no desire to be anywhere except where she was right then.