Living with my stepmother and stepsisters was a nightmarish ordeal. I am Aliena Von Anwar Albert, the daughter of Edward Anwar Albert. My father had an affair two years before marrying my mother. After my mother gave birth to me and left, my father married the woman who had given birth to his child two years earlier.

I trembled as a sudden rush of cold air blew past me in the dimly lit room. My pale red eyes darted nervously around the room. I staggered backward, my back colliding with a wooden cupboard. It wasn't the fear of something lurking in the room because there was absolutely nothing there. It was the fear of what awaited me once I ventured outside.

Summoning a modicum of courage, I cautiously made my way to the door. My unsteady feet carried me forward, and my trembling hands reached for the doorknob. But as I touched the cool metal, my resolve wavered, and I retreated, scuttling back to the safety of the cupboard.

Now, all the fears that had been gnawing at me began to manifest. The door creaked open, and a male figure entered the room. My heavy breathing could likely be heard by someone waiting just outside. Instinctively, the male figure turned his head in my direction and twitched his nose. His blood-red eyes were visible in the dimly lit room, with only a small amount of light to illuminate his features.

"Madame wants you downstairs," he croaked, his hoarse voice filling the room, before he turned and disappeared.

I crept to the door with silent, cautious steps and slipped outside. I passed through several doors before a grand staircase came into view. Clutching my nightgown, I began to descend. My eyes darted around, searching for something I couldn't quite define. When I reached the bottom step, I approached a large door nestled in a corner and pulled it open with both hands.

Inside, my stepmother sat gracefully on a beautifully crafted sofa, her legs crossed and a glass of red wine in her hand. Her eyes never left me as the person she had been waiting for finally arrived on the scene. At the other side of the room were three girls, each stunningly beautiful, their red eyes fixated on me with defiance, except for one, the youngest.

I lowered my head and proceeded to the middle of the room, where I knelt. "Mom, the guard said you sent for me," I managed to say, using the term "mom" to address my stepmother, which only seemed to incite her anger further. Her neck snapped in my direction, her foot stomping the ground.

"How dare you!" she roared, the impact of her outburst causing me to shudder. I quickly apologized with teary eyes to prevent further punishment.

"Someone needs to put her in her place," the eldest daughter, Lydia, added angrily. Her mother nodded in approval, and Lydia rose from her seat, drifting toward me.

Lydia crouched down beside me and raised my chin to force me to meet her gaze. Her red auburn hair complemented her striking eyes, and her bold features made her even more beautiful. "She's not your mom," she said with a devilish smile. I knew what was coming next – the same verbal torture with words.

"I know you've been wondering why you never got to see your real mom," Lydia taunted. "But I'll remind you why. It's because you lack the bodily strength of a full-blooded vampire. She couldn't bear to see that she gave birth to a weakling. You are her greatest disappointment."

All of us in the room were vampires, but we weren't born in our kingdom. My abilities were not on par with those of a full-blooded vampire; they were weaker. I endured daily verbal abuse about my supposed shortcomings, especially when my father was not around. They put on a façade of kindness in his presence, but he was blissfully unaware of the snakes he harbored within his own home.

My father showered me with love and attention, which only fueled my step-sisters' jealousy.

"That's not true," I defended before Lydia could say another word.

"Hahaha," Lydia burst into laughter, followed by her mother and then her sister. I shoved Lydia aside and rose to my feet. I looked around the room, where everyone continued to mock me, with the exception of the youngest, Hermia. Her eyes held disgust, but it was not directed at me; it was clear she despised her sisters and mother.

"You are not beautiful, and you can never be," Lydia declared, appearing beside me in an instant. The words swirled around me like a chilling breeze, and I could no longer hold back the tears I had been fighting all day. "I'm sorry," I said with a quivering voice as I struggled to choke down the tears that had risen in my throat. I didn't know why I said it, but I did. That was the verbal abuse I endured every day, the constant reminder that my mom had left me for reasons I couldn't fathom. I refused to believe anything Lydia said because she knew nothing about my mother's true intentions. My mom would never leave me simply because I lacked the full abilities of a vampire.

"Now go do your chores," my stepmother dismissed me with a dismissive glance. I nodded obediently and hurried away, closing the door behind me. I could still hear the distant laughter and giggles from across the room. But I noticed one person who wasn't laughing, Hermia, the one who treated me like a sister rather than a burden and refrained from taunting or torturing me like the rest.

*****

Somewhere in a dense forest, the usual sounds of nature ceased to exist. The chirping of birds, the scampering of deer, and the rustling of trees all came to a standstill. The presence in the forest was authoritative, compelling, solid, and commanding. Only one entity could have had such an effect: Prince Sebastian.

His raven-black hair appeared as though he had combed it back with his fingers, and his golden red eyes held no trace of emotion as he gazed at a towering tree. He was shrouded in a dangerous aura, yet his ethereal features gave him an almost angelic appearance. A normal human might have fallen in love with his beauty, but they would have fled in terror upon sensing his dark aura.

Suddenly, fast footsteps interrupted his contemplation. "My prince!" a tense voice called out, and in an instant, a figure knelt before him.

"What did you find?" Sebastian's voice sent shivers down the guard's spine.

"The usual," the guard responded.

"Riev," Sebastian called the guard's name and then looked down at him.

"My prince," Riev answered, his gaze averted.

"You have five days, no questions asked." With that, Prince Sebastian whirled around and darted out of the forest like a blur.

Riev, left behind, sighed in exasperation. He needed to prove his worth and obtain the information dear to the Prince, or his head might end up on a platter for his family. He rose from the forest floor, brushed off the sand from his clothing, and raced after the Prince.

The cool night air brushed across his face as the trees swayed in response to his movements. He squinted his eyes against the breeze that whipped through the trees. Riev raced nonstop until he tripped over something, causing him to stop abruptly. Fortunately, he managed to avoid falling.

His heightened sense of smell alerted him to the presence of another. He could hear the heartbeat of someone like him, another vampire.

Riev looked down at the ground and saw someone he recognized, a fellow guard, a vampire like him.

"Charlie!" Riev exclaimed in horror as he knelt down to examine him. Charlie was brutally injured and weakened.

"Ri...ev," Charlie coughed.

"Don't speak for now," Riev hushed him. "I'll get you the treatment you need."

Riev placed Charlie's arm over his shoulder and helped him stand. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Lean on me."

With Charlie's support, Riev began to make his way out of the forest. Seeing Charlie in this condition sent shivers down his spine, as he couldn't help but feel that something was gravely wrong. Charlie had been in the Mundane world for nearly six months, and how he ended up in the middle of the forest was a mystery that troubled Riev.

Back in the royal palace, Prince Sebastian's siblings gathered. "Brother, do you have to be so stoic about it?" Princess Raina asked, while casually inspecting her nails.

"That's just the way he is," Prince Miquel chimed in.

Sebastian remained silent, as was his custom. He rarely spoke to anyone, not even his own siblings. All of his brothers and sisters were present, each engaged in one activity or another. A rumbling noise from outside the room interrupted the quiet atmosphere, and a maid hurried in.

"I apologize for any disturbance, but the king has requested the presence of everyone in the throne room."

"Wow," was all Miquel said as he stood and left the room, followed by the other siblings, except for Sebastian.

Sebastian lingered in the room for a moment longer before finally sauntering out. As he entered the throne room, a hushed silence seemed to envelop the space, as though his presence alone was what everyone had been waiting for.

Every member of the royal family was present, along with Riev and Charlie, who had been settled in the center of the room. When the king noticed that everyone was in place, he began to speak.

"I have called you all here because of a pressing matter. This young man before us has information to share." The king's gaze turned to Charlie. "Please, speak."

Charlie looked around the room, his appearance having improved. "I'll get straight to the point. There's an impending attack, and it's a major one, coming with full force." As he made this announcement, a collective tension settled over those in attendance. "I don't know who they are or what they want, but they are vampires like us, and they are incredibly powerful. They left me to deliver a warning: 'This is just the beginning.'"

The room was left in silence, the weight of Charlie's words hanging heavy in the a