It all began with a simple phone call one night after dinner. “Damien,” my father hollered up the stairs, “it’s for you. It’s Juliet and she sounds upset.” As I came down the stairs to pick up the phone, I was not happy. I was tired and had looked forward to a nice, quiet evening at home, not another stupid adventure with Juliet.

Thirty minutes later, however, Juliet’s silver Mustang convertible swung into our driveway, and Juliet was leaning on the horn before the car came to a full stop. Grabbing my coat from the couch, I walked out my front door with all the enthusiasm of a man going to stand before a firing squad.

As I stood on the porch the wind blew through my hair. I looked over at Juliet, she was very beautiful. She had light gray eyes, which made her pale face light up. She was wearing a gray dress that fell down to her knee, she was always dressed like a doll. She had a bow tied to her arm and her hair tied in a pony tail with a gray rose on the side of her head. She looked adorable with the bangs falling down her forehead. Juliet and I were best friends ever since kindergarten.
I walked down the steps and opened the door to the car and sat down. As I was putting my seat belt on, Juliet handed me a small red box. I looked at her, and then I looked at the box, then back at her. She was still holding out her hand with the box in it, she tilted her head. I took the box and opened it. Looking up to see her eyes shining with joy. I reached inside and took out a locket.
I examined it for a while, jokingly, I asked her, “You do realize that I’m not a girl.” The joy in her eyes faded and was replaced by sadness; I regretted what I had said.
She slowly looked down then back up at me, looking me right in the eye she said, “I know you’re not a girl. This isn’t for you. I wanted to show you what I found in the attic this morning. It used to belong to Victoria.” I remembered her telling me something about Victoria. She used to be Juliet’s twin sister, and was killed when Juliet was sixteen.
I looked down at the locket, it was aesthetic. The locket had a star shape to it, a silver writing on it saying, ‘together forever’ it also had a bright red rose on it with silver outlining. The locket itself was black, with a silver chain on it. I carefully put it back in the box and closed the lid. Then I gave it back to her. She took it and held it in her hand for a while.
“I don’t think she was killed,” she said. Startled I looked at her.
“I think it was because she was in love with someone.”
“In love with someone?” I echoed. She nodded; started the engine and drove down the dark starry night. The breeze blew through my hair sending goose bumps up my arms; I shivered a little then looked to the right of me out the window. I didn’t feel much like talking since I was so tired so I just sat and watched the tree’s as we drove down the road. I had no Idea where we were going to so I had to ask.
I looked at her and examined her for a while as her pony tail swooshed from side to side and her bangs blew in the air. I asked, “Juliet, where are we heading to tonight?”
I watched her as she giggled a little and said, “It’s a surprise.” And I knew that was all she was going to tell me. ‘Stubborn’ I thought to myself; crossed my arms and turned my head toward the right and watched the leaves blow through the air. The darkness made everything impossible to see. I got bored of starring as nothing; I tilted my head back on the seat and closed my eyes trying to get a little bit of rest, it was going to be a long night.
The car pulled to a stop and I opened my eyes to see where we were. As I opened the door Juliet stopped me. “One sec.” is all she says and rushed out of the car. I looked straight ahead and saw tree’s around us everywhere. ‘Why did she bring me to a forest?’ I think to myself; puzzled, lost and confused I closed my eyes and rub my temples, my head throbbed with pain. I sat waiting for her to return so I bent forward and laid my head on the dash board and closed my eyes.
I heard voices, frightened I looked up to see Juliet walking towards me with another guy. He was very handsome, dressed like he had a funeral to attend to. Something about him was peculiar. I examined him closely; he had gray eyes and black hair falling over his eyes and he was very pale almost like a ghost, but he didn’t look frightening at all. I got out of the car as Juliet walked toward me.
She looked at me and said “Dave, I’d like you to meet Damien.” I took a step forward and shook his hand. He smiled and I smiled back. I looked over at Juliet with a questioning look.
“Oh sorry,” she said looking back at me apologetically.
“Dave is my step brother.”
Then she looked over at Dave and said “So will you take us there?”
He looked back and tilted his head thinking for a minute and said “hmm…I don’t know I’m not sure. I mean I can take you but it’s really dangerous there. And I can’t risk having you hurt, dad would kill me.”
That made her frown and said, “Dad won’t say anything.” I looked at her and then at Dave.
Confused I asked her “take us where?” she looked at me and said, “I want him to take us to the Kingdom Of Thornz cuz I have no idea how to get there.”
My eyes widened, “are you crazy!?!”
She looked at me frowning even more and said “no.” she crossed her arms and turned her back towards us. We couldn’t go to the Kingdom Of Thornz, as I child I had heard many stories about that place of people disappearing and never returning.
I took a step forward; towards her “well…” I tried to come up with a reason to stall then thought hard of what to say, “Why do you want to go to the Kingdom Of Thornz?”
She turned towards me and said “It’s because I wanna know what actually happened to Victoria,” she gave me a look of concern and went on.
“So I’m going to the Kingdom Of Thornz to ask Scarlet what had really happened to Victoria. I’m sure she’ll tell us, mama told me she was killed by a vampire hunter named Austin, but that’s all she ever told me. I’m so sick and tired of not knowing anything at all!” she said with true anger.
“I feel like a part of me is missing. The room feels really empty without her” I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. She looked at me and then sighed, relived that she was calm I took her hand and squeezed it. She smiled and I smiled back, there was a moment of silence.
Then she says “I wanna get revenge from the killer. I mean I never really got to know Victoria, sixteen years isn’t enough.” Sadness filled her eyes, for a second there I thought she was going to cry but she turned her head to the side trying to mask her emotions. I looked over at Dave who just stood there taking no interest in what was going on, that troubled me.
Puzzled I asked her “so you want to go there to find out where Austin is?”
She nodded, “yep that’s pretty much it.” That didn’t sound so pleasant to me.
“YOU’RE GOING TO KILL THE HUNTER!?!?!” again she nodded. Anger filled me, I let go of her hand and took a step back.
She turned towards me and said “calm down Damien it’s not like I didn’t have it all planned out.” That angered me even more.
“PLANNED OUT?” I shouted.
“Yes,” she nodded.
“We can poison his drink, or I can shoot him with my gun.”
I looked at her frowning, then at Dave who just stood with an apathetic look on his face staring at the two of us waiting for an answer.
I sighed and said, “I can’t let you get hurt Juliet.” She took my hand and gave me a smile reassuring me that everything will be okay. I shook my head disagreeing.
“I’ll be okay Damien, calm down.”
“How can I calm down when you’re going to hunt down Austin, he’ll kill you, That’s his job! He’s a vampire hunter and you’re a vampire.”
“He won’t kill me,” she looked away.
“At least that’s what I think.”
I had lost the battle she was going to kill the hunter whether I stopped her or not, she had too much anger in her for the loss of her sister.
“Fine I’m only doing this for you though.” She jumped up and down in joy and hugged me really tightly. Then she stepped back and went over to Dave and handed him the keys. Dave went and sat in the driver’s seat while Juliet sat in the middle and me on the other end.
As the car drove through the woods I saw a house with a Greek revival look to it. I had a sudden epiphany. That house belonged to Juliet, thus it looked to familiar. Here in the Kingdom Of Villaney everyone built their houses in forests, only because in danger of being exposed to vampire hunters. Juliet and I are both purebloods, which means our fathers own their own kingdoms. Juliet was born into the Villaney family. She doesn’t choose to live in the castle with her mom and dad, instead Juliet, her step brother and his wife live in the house we had passed a few minutes ago. And as for me well, I was born into the Zakrit family; my father owns a kingdom in the country Zakriton. Which is far from here, Mom and I live here in Villaney only because dad thought it would be dangerous for me and mom to be living there in fear of being hunted down by vampire hunters. I love visiting dad, he tells me that one day I’ll own the Kingdom Of Zakrit and like any other boy, I get really excited and make lists of what I’ll do when I’m the king.
The car pulls to a stop and I look around, seeing a large mid-evil castle. It was built out of dark gray stones and a dark red drape hung down the entrance of the castle. I turned to Juliet begging her to change her mind, but her eyes were glued to the entrance filled with too much excitement. I sighed knowing that she wasn’t going to change her mind. I opened the door to the car and stepped out. I waited for Juliet to slide out and then I slammed the door shut. It was freezing outside; I pulled my jacket close to me and walked hand in hand into the castle with Juliet.

Candles floated in the air on the side of the path like magic but it didn’t surprise me I was use to it, there was a red carpet rolled out all the way down the dark hall. The castle itself was all gray and dark, creeping with evil. I shivered; then looked over at Juliet. Her eyes searched the place from one corner to another. Dave hadn’t bother coming in, his wife waited for him at home so he left. We kept walking down the hall, it seemed like it had no endpoint. We walked a few more inches and there was a large room with two thrones in front of us. We walked towards them and I saw Scarlet. She had red hair that fell only up to her shoulders. She also had ruby red eyes that would frighten any human, and a black dress that fell down all the way to the floor and spread out. To the side of her sat Akem. He had dark brown hair and was wearing a coat with dress pants all in black. And a white dress shirt showed from under his coat. He too had red eyes but his eyes were a darker shade of red.
“Hello Scarlet,” Juliet said stepping forward. Scarlet got up and rushed towards Juliet to hug her. They were best friends, Scarlet was two years older than Juliet so that made her eighteen. And seventeen was the eligible age to gain the throne.
“What brings you here, Juliet?” she says looking at her.
“I wanna know where Austin lives.” Scarlet’s eyes widened.
“Why do you wanna know where Austin lives?” she said in a whispered tone.
“I want revenge,” Juliet replied. She turned towards me with a worried look Then turned to Scarlet again.
“I want revenge from him for killing Victoria.” Scarlet took a step back and turned to look at Akem. There was a dramatic type of atmosphere in the room. He shook his head; got up and walked to Scarlet and Juliet.
“Juliet you should know that Victoria didn’t die because of Austin,” Said Akem. Scarlet turned towards him with a frown on her face.
“Hush up Akem, don’t tell her that!” Juliet looked at her then a frown appeared on her face as well.
“WHY NOT?” Juliet shouted.
“Don’t yell Juliet,” Scarlet said turning towards her again.
“Truth be told, Victoria wasn’t murdered.” Scarlet said. Juliet’s eyes widened, I stood there watching all this quietly.
“What do you mean she wasn’t murdered? Mom told me that Austin the vampire hunter was the one who had killed her. I even went to her funeral, I saw them burying her ashes.” Tears streamed down her face, I walked to Juliet and put my arms around her.
“Well she wasn’t and those ashes could’ve been fake for all you know, she ran away with Austin. He’s not a vampire hunter he was her lover and a Demon as well. Which is why she had ran away with him. Demons are a threat to all vampires and your parents just didn’t approve. So she ran because she wanted to be her lover.”
“Can you tell us where she is?” she turned looked at Scarlet waiting for an answer. Scarlet bit her lip and looked over at Akem. He looked back and tilted his head, it looked as if they were exchanging thoughts. She nodded and turned to Juliet again. Akem reached in his pocket and took out a folded paper and took a pen out of his chest pocket, then wrote down something and handed it to Scarlet. Scarlet took it and thought twice before giving it to Juliet.
“I’m only doing this because you’re my best friend and I can bear to see you hurt.” Then Scarlet gave her the paper and hugged her.
“Take care Juliet.” She said smiling.
“You too Scarlet and thank you so very much!” Juliet said smiling back, and then she took my hand and pulled me out of the castle. She opened the paper and saw the address it said ‘ 42379 Demonzvill Dr.’
“That’s not far from here,” I said looking at her. And she nodded back.
“Let’s go!” so we walked hand in hand down the path. We came across a house painted black. It looked like a Victorian style house. I looked at the address written on the paper and then the address on the house. We had the right address. I looked over at Juliet and smiled, I too was excited. We walked down the pathway to the house and stood in front of the door.
“Are you excited?” I asked her looking at the door. She took a deep breath in and nodded smiling widely. I knocked on the door and waited, I had butterflies in my stomach; I was really nervous. Meeting a demon was dangerous and I didn’t think it was a good idea but Juliet was too anxious to see Victoria so I had come along to make sure Juliet doesn’t get hurt. I heard footsteps and I stepped back a little. The door opened and a butler stood in front of us.
“May I help you?” he said with a deep voice. He had gray hair and a white mustache. He reminded me of my great-great uncle Ernesto.
Juliet spoke up, “yes. Does Victoria live here?” the butler studied her for a while, I found that awfully strange.
“Yes, yes she does indeed live here.” He replied back after a while.
“Well can I come in?” she asked.
“And who are you two?” he asked.
“I’m Juliet her sister and this is Damien, he’s with me.”
“Her sister?” he asked confused. She nodded.
“Yes Juliet, her twin sister. How many times do I have to repeat myself?” she said frustrated.
“Very well,” he said narrowing his eyes. And stepped aside to let us in. we walked in and the door shut behind us. The house looked very modern from the inside the walls were painted white and the furniture was white, the decorations were black and red.
“Please wait here.” He said and disappeared into a hallway. Juliet sat on the couch and I sat next to her. She looked frightened so I put my hand over hers and gave her a smile reassuring her that everything will be alright. A few minutes later a girl in a white Victorian gown appeared in front of us. She had black gloves on and her hair was tied into a bun with curled bangs hanging down on the sides of her face. She looked exactly like Juliet except her eyes were a darker shade of gray. I slowly looked over at Juliet and saw a tear run down her face; she slowly stood up and took a step forward towards Victoria.
“Is that you Juliet?” Victoria asked in a whispered tone. Juliet nodded and hugged her. Tears ran down Victoria’s face as well.
“I can’t believe it’s you Juliet! How’d you get here, did mom and dad come?” she had a billion questions, she asked them in a rushed and excited tone.
“Mom and dad told me you were dead.” Juliet replied in an angered tone.
“THEY WHAT?” Victoria yelled.
“But Scarlet told me everything; she told me how you fell in love with Austin and ran away with him.” She looked over at Victoria. I heard footsteps behind me so I turned, and saw a man. He had blond hair and light blue eyes, he was kind of tan. He walked over to Victoria.
“Who are these people?” he asked; showing no emotion at all. She turned towards him wiping her tears and smiled. Austin, I’d like you to meet Juliet.
“Hello Juliet,” he looked over at Juliet and smiled. She smiled back.
“You look very much like Victoria.” He said looking over at Victoria and back at Juliet. Juliet laughed a little and then nodded. Then took my hand and leaned against my shoulder a little.
He turned towards me and said “and you are?”
“I’m Damien, Juliet’s friend.” I replied.
“Oh,” is all he said and smiled at me.
“Well make yourself at home.” He said turning towards the two of us. We all sat down and Austin sat across from us. We all exchanged a little bit of conversation here and there, The butler brought us all drinks I took one and Juliet took one. I took a sip and suddenly felt dizzy I saw the glass fall out of Juliet’s hand and she fell to the ground. Everything went blurry blackness closed in all around me and then suddenly everything went black, I couldn’t see anything. I tried breathing but it felt like someone was trying to strangle me. I gasped for air but didn’t get anything, then I heard a scream and silence…