"Always." His fingers curl into fists under her touch. "Not even a thousand years is enough to expunge it."

He never escaped the mocking. How many times did he hear that he was a failure? Oh, how his master delighted in reminding him that those scars would always hold him back. Who would love a marred creature like him? Who would respect a vampire who couldn't stand to eat?

"It shames me that I became like him, even a fraction. I told myself I wouldn't." He failed there, too.