I walked up to the wall of boxes for the ashes of the dearly departed. I found Solomon’s box and set down the large bouquet of flowers that I just bought below it. I looked at his box for a long time, thinking. I wish that I could just see him one more time! Or at least erase the last time I saw him from my memory!

“I miss you.” I whispered.

Every time I said that I would imagine his voice saying it back to me. I wish that I had someone to share my sadness with but I am the only person that Solomon ever talked to. So, I was his only friend and the only person who loved him.

“Hello, Sarina!” A familiar voice said. It was the man who cleaned the graves in the cemetery where Solomon was. I had come here so many times and had talked to him so much that we were friends.

“Long time no see, Mr. Desar.”

“You usually come here every Saturday. So, why didn’t you visit last weekend?” Mr. Desar asked.

“I moved closer to here last weekend, so I couldn’t come. But I thought I would make up for it by staying the whole day.”

“Well that’s nice. I thought it was a little crazy for you to be walking for a whole day and a half to get here every weekend. So where do you live now? ...Who do you live with?” Mr. Desar asked.

“I now live at the school a few blocks away. I have to say that it is much easier walking for a few blocks and not through a whole state.” I said with a smile.

“I can’t imagine walking that far! I have trouble just walking to my car…Ah, to be young.” Mr. Desar said with a sigh.

“You shouldn’t say those things! You’re young!”

“Yes I am! I may look young but I am old.”

I started to laugh and so did Mr. Desar. “Has anyone come to see Solomon’s grave in the past two weeks?” I asked. I was waiting for him to say ‘no’ like usual.
“Actually, yes.” Mr. Desar said.
“What?! Do you know who it was?” I asked in shock.
“It was a guy. He came here last Saturday. He asked me if I knew if you were coming to the cemetery that day. I told him no. He wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to me. He also told me to give it to you the next time you came.” Mr. Desar said as he handed me a piece of folded paper.
“What did he look like?”
“He was very tall, light skin, shaggy black dyed hair; he had shades on so I couldn’t see his eyes… Do you know him?”
“I don’t think so… Did you read the note?”
“No. The guy said that if I looked at it he would kill me. So I asked him how he would know and he said that he could tell when anyone looked at the contents of the note. Also he said that when he knows that you opened it he would find you to talk more in detail.”
“Hmm…” I said as I looked at the note. I opened it and read.
=============================================
Dear Sarina,
We haven’t seen each other in such a long time! I hope you’re doing well. Lately I have been missing you so I tracked you down. You have moved a lot since the last time we met, so it took me a while. But luckily I found out that you are around here every weekend so I came to see you. But I have been waiting for a while and you haven’t shown up, so I will give this note to the man who works in the cemetery. He said that he knows you and if he is your friend then I think I can trust him. I would like to see you and since you are not here I will meet up with you another day. I know that you go to the school not too far away from the cemetery so, I will be waiting outside the school’s main entrance on Tuesday when you last class is over. I would come earlier than that but I have an important job to do. until then that I can’t miss also, I want to give you some time to sink this in since it is so sudden. I can’t wait to see you on Monday! Have a great day at school!
=============================================
“So, who is it from?” Mr. Desar asked.
“I don’t know. The person didn’t sign it.” I said.
“Did it say anything important?” Mr. Desar asked.
“He said that he is going to meet me outside my school on Friday.” I said.
“You should probably go to your school and get your work done. I will watch over him for you. It is my job.” Mr. Desar said.
“But…”I stared to say.
“He would want you to keep up in school.” Mr. Desar said.
“Thanks,” I said as I set down the piece of paper, took out a pencil, and started to write down my cell phone number. I handed it to him, “Call me at this number if that guy comes back.”
“Sure. I’ll hopefully see you next Saturday!” Mr. Desar said as I started to walk away.
I waved to him and he waved back. So once that was over I walked back to school. When I was in the court yard of the school I saw Nick and Kaci yelling at each other, Ulrick skateboarding with his friends, and Sean doing his homework under a tree. I tried to sneak into the school without any of them noticing but I failed. Nick saw me!
“Sarina! Hey, Sarina! Where have you been?! We’ve been looking for you!” Nick yelled and everyone including Ulrick and Sean looked at me. Sean got there faster than Nick, who was followed by Kaci, who was followed by Ulrick.
“Why are you back? Aren’t you supposed to spend the whole day at Solomon’s grave?” Sean asked quietly.
“There was a change in plans.” I said.
“Hey!” Nick and Kaci yelled at the same time.
“Hello!” I said as I smiled at them.
“Why aren’t you with your Aunt today?” Kaci asked.
“Something came up.” I said with another smile.
“Hey! I tried to find you this morning, but you had already left.” Ulrick said as he pushed through Sean and Nick.
“Sorry! I had to be somewhere early.” I said.
“Are we still up for tomorrow?” Ulrick asked.
Sean and Nick gave him a look of anger but Ulrick didn’t notice because he was staring directly into my eyes with a dazed look.
“Yea! I can’t wait!” I said with enthusiasm.
“Okay! I’ll talk to you in more detail at dinner!” Ulrick said.
“See you then!” I said with a wave. He waved back and smiled.
“Wow! You’re going out with Ulrick!” Kaci said as she pushed Nick and Sean aside.
“Yea. Is that a bad thing?” I asked.
“He is the cutest guy in school! I’m just jealous!” Kaci said.
“You are the luckiest girl ever!” She said as she started to jump up and down. Nick pointed at Kaci with one hand and pointed to his head with the other as he moved his finger in a circular motion to show that he thought she was crazy. Kaci saw what he was doing so she stopped jumping. She grabbed his finger that was pointing at her and turned it so that it was pointing him.
“Wow, Nick! You finally realized that you’re crazy!” Kaci said as she started to laugh. I had to keep myself from laughing.
Sean grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Nick and Kaci. He kept on pulling me until we were under the tree that he had been studying under when I had come back. “Why did you leave Solomon’s grave?” Sean asked.
“Well, my friend that works at the cemetery said that someone had come to the cemetery looking for me last weekend, which was the only weekend that I didn’t go to Solomon’s grave. The person left me a note that shocked me. I didn’t want to be around Solomon’s grave if I wasn’t thinking of Solomon.” I said.
“What was so shocking in the letter?” Sean asked.
“The person said that they knew me but when I found out what the person looked like I couldn’t recall who it was.” I said.
“What did she look like? Was there anything different than most people?” Sean asked trying to help me.
“He was very tall; light skinned, and had black hair.” I said.
“He?!” Sean said in shock.
“Yea. Is there a problem with it being a guy and not a girl?” I asked.
“No, well do you know any guy who has white hair?” He asked.
“No. I don’t know anyone with white hair.” I said.
“That’s odd. Maybe it is someone you know but with a different hair color.” Sean said.
“Yea. But that means anyone who I haven’t been in contact with for a while. That leaves about 4 suspects that are still alive, or at least I think they are.” I said.
Sean looked at me with a concerned look.
“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“Why do you know so many people who are dead?” Sean asked.
“I don’t know. I just do.” I said.
“Sarina! I need to go to town and get some stuff for our room. Do you want to come?” Kaci yelled across the court yard.
“Sure!” I yelled back.
“Well I have to go. I’ll see you later” I said to Sean as I got up. I walked away and went over by Kaci.
I saw Ulrick looking at me so I waved. “I’ll see you at dinner!” I yelled. He waved back with a smile. So, Kaci and I left.
We got a lot in town. Most was for our room to become less of a room and more of a home. We also go some stuff for our classes. Once that was done we went back to school. It took two carts to get all of our stuff back to the school.
Once inside the door of our room we both fell on our beds and started to laugh.
“That was a very productive outing!” Kaci said while whipping away a tear from laughing so hard and she sat up.
“Yea! I don’t think I’ve bought this much stuff all at once before!” I said as I sat up. We both smiled and started to laugh again. There was a knock at the door.
“Come in!” I said while trying not to laugh. Ulrick came in. Kaci was still laughing but stopped when she saw him.
“Hey! What’s so funny?” Ulrick asked.
Kaci and I looked at each other and we both fell back laughing, again! “Sorry!” I said as I got up and wiped my tears away.
“I thought I would walk with you to dinner.” Ulrick said with a smile. I looked at him and smiled back. Kaci looked at me, then Ulrick, then me again.
“Oh-lala!” Kaci said.
“Very funny, Kaci.” I said as I got up.
“Let’s go.” I said as I took Ulrick’s hand and started to walk out of the room. “So where are we going to go tomorrow?” I asked.
“I thought we could go with the flow. You know, look around and see where we want to go. ‘Cause I hate having plans.” Ulrick said.
“That sounds fine.” I said.
“But I will have to cut our time short.” Ulrick said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, I found out that I have a large skateboarding tournament that afternoon. Sorry!” He said.
“It’s okay…Why can’t I go see the competition?” I asked.
“Of course you can come! I just thought you wouldn’t want to go, since you’re probably not really into skateboarding.” Ulrick said.
“I love skateboarding!” I said.
“Do you skateboard?” Ulrick asked.
“Well, I know how to do some stuff but I was never taught how to skateboard.” I said.
“How about I teach you? We can go to the skating park tomorrow.” Ulrick said.
“But won’t it be crowded?” I asked.
“Oh, I forgot about that. But I do know of a place where no one goes to that is great for skateboarding! We can go there!” Ulrick said.
“Okay!” I said as we walked up to the cafeteria door. I started to reach for the door handle when Ulrick grabbed quickly.
“It’s the gentlemen’s job to open the door.” Ulrick said.
“Thank you.” I said as I went through the door that Ulrick had opened for me.
“So are you going in the line?” Ulrick asked.
“I’m not hungry yet. But you go ahead and get food.” I said.
“I’m really not hungry either, so let’s go find a table.” Ulrick said. “So, where do you want to sit?” He asked.
“Umm… we can sit with your friends or with Nick and Kaci or at an empty table. You can choose.” I said.
“My friends are annoying and Nick hates me, so we can sit at an empty table.” Ulrick said.
“Okay.” I said as I followed him to an open table. We sat down across from each other. We talked while everyone else ate. He walked me to my room, we exchanged goodbyes, and he left. The evening wasn’t all that exciting so it seemed fast.
“Who is the person that is coming on Tuesday?” I thought.
I went to the window of our room to look outside so I could get my mind off of the person who wrote the note. I sat down on the ledge.
There was a knock at the door. “Come in!” I yelled towards the door. Sean came in. I sat up in shock.
“Hey!” He said.
“Hi! I wasn’t expecting you!” I said.
“Well I saw that guy that you were with at lunch leaving your room so I thought I would drop in.” Sean said.
“You mean Ulrick?” I asked, still confused.
“Is that his name? I didn’t even know he went to this school until yesterday so I didn’t know his name.” Sean said.
“Really? Well I guess that is understandable since you’re not in my grade.” I said.
“Yea. Um… there’s actually something I want to talk to you about.” Sean said.
“What is it?” I asked he walked over to the window ledge and sat down next to me.
“Do you want to go into town with me, again, on Monday?” Sean asked.
“Well…I would love to but I can’t.” I said.
“Oh. You’re probably too busy with Ulrick, right?” Sean said as he got up and started to walk away.
“No! That’s not it!” I said as I got up and grabbed his shoulder.
“Then why?” He asked.
“Well… you know the person that I got that letter from?” I said.
“Yea. What about it?” Sean asked.
“The person is meeting me on Monday.” I said.
“Are you sure you want to meet up with someone that you don’t even know?” Sean asked.
“I have no choice. The person is coming to the school.” I said.
“But what if it’s someone who wants to hurt you?” He asked.
“Oh, I never thought of that.” I said.
“I’ll come with you. To make sure you don’t get hurt.” Sean said.
“Thanks.” I said. He smiled.
“I’ll meet you here right after I put my books away and we can walk there together.” Sean said.
“Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow, then!” I said.
Kaci opened the door. She looked at Sean and pointed outside the door with an annoyed look on her face. He smiled at me and then walked out of the door.
“Bye-Bye!” She said as she slammed the door.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“I don’t like you being in here with a guy. Especially with an older guy! You never know what will happen.” She said.
“We aren’t like that.” I said.
“Sure.” I said in disbelief.
“I mean it. I don’t like Sean in that way.” I said.
“Then what about Nick or Ulrick?” She asked.
“I don’t like them in that way either.” I said.
“But those guys like you in that way! What is it that is holding you back from liking one of them in that way?” She asked
“I love someone else.” I said.
“Who?” She asked.
“My boyfriend…I mean my old boyfriend… I mean... I don’t know how to explain it!” I said in frustration. Then the words finally came to me! “What I mean is my previous boyfriend.” I said.
“Why did you break up?” She asked.
“He went away.” I said.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“I mean that he passed away a few years ago. And that I still love him even though he’s gone. So I don’t want to like anyone else until I get over him.” I said.
“Oh! I am sorry! I didn’t know it was like that!” She said.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know. So what are you planning to do tomorrow?” I asked, changing the subject quickly.
“I’m going to my uncle’s house. What are you doing?” She asked.
“I’m going to learn how to skateboard and go to Ulrick’s skateboarding tournament.” I said.
“Wow! That sounds like fun!” She said.
“But…” I said.
“But, what?” She asked.
“Do you think Ulrick thinks this is a date?” I asked.
“I don’t think skateboarding lessons is qualified to fit into the dating activity category.” She said.
“That’s true.” I said. Kaci looked at the clock.
“Oh! We need to turn off the lights and get to bed!” She said.
“Why?” I asked.
“The patroller that checks to see if everyone is a sleep is about to come and if we get caught being up we’ll have to talk to the principal!” She said.
“Then, good night!” I said as I went to my dresser and got out my cloths. We both went straight to sleep so we wouldn’t get in trouble.
“Beep!...Beep!...Beep!...Beep!...Beep!” The alarm clock screeched until I turned it off. I got up and put my cloths. I was wearing black loose jeans, a pink tank top, a black sip-up sweatshirt, and black and pink checkered skater shoes. I grabbed some money off of the table, just in case then, I walked down to breakfast and found Kaci and Nick at a table. I sat down next to Nick which, was across from Kaci.
“What’s up with the girly-skater look?” Nick asked.
“Does it look that bad?” I asked.
“No! That’s not what I meant! You really do look great!” Nick said.
“You look good. Are the new cloths for you lesson?” Kaci asked.
“Yea! I hope I don’t make a fool of myself since I only know how to do a few things.” I said.
“Are taking lessons on skateboarding?” Nick asked.
“Yes. I wonder where my teacher is.” I said.
“When is he supposed to be here?” Kaci asked.
“He?!” Nick yelled.
“Yea. Ulrick is teaching her how to skateboard.” Kaci explained.
“There he is. I’ll see you guy later.” I said as I got up and walked over to Ulrick.
“Hey! Are you ready to go?” He asked.
“I have to grab my skateboard outside and then we can go.” I said.
“I do too.” Ulrick said. We went outside and we both grabbed our skateboard.
“Lead the way!” I said.
Ulrick lead me to a skating area that was empty. He taught me how to ride better and do a couple of tricks. We both had a lot of fun! Then we started walking towards the place where Ulrick’s competition was being held.
“What does the bottom of your skateboard look like?” He asked.
“Look.” I said as I flipped over the skateboard that I was holding. The bottom had red flames that started at one end of the board and stretched half way across. Then there was an engraving at the other end. It said “You will never be forgotten”.
“Who wrote that on there?” He asked.
“One of my really close friends.” I said.
“Why? What is its meaning?” Ulrick asked.
“A few years ago I was almost in a really bad accident. It made me start thinking about what would have happened? Would I be forgotten? Would no one remember that I existed? So, my closest friend wrote that on there to make me feel better.” I said.
“Wow. That was really nice of your friend. Do you guy’s still talk?” Ulrick asked.
“No. He passed away a few years ago.” I said.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories for you!”
“It’s fine. I’ve accepted his death and moved on.”
“Oh! We’re here!” Ulrick said as we stopped in front of a huge crowd go people. “Follow me!” Ulrick said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd of people. When we got to the front of the crowd there was a metal chain boundary line. Ulrick went under and told me to go under also. Right when we did two body guards came.
“Behind the chain!” One of them yelled.
“I’m one of the competitors.” Ulrick said as he handed them his form that showed that he was in the competition.
“What about the girl?” The other yelled.
“The registry says that I can bring one person back with me.” Ulrick said.
“Both of you go back there and get ready!” The first one yelled.
Ulrick grabbed my hand and walked over to where the man had instructed them to go.
Ulrick was second up to go. When it was his turn he skated around from one ramp to the next as fast as lightning! Every time he would go up a ramp he would do some kind of trick! For his finish he went up a ramp, did three flips in the air, stuck the landing, and caught his board that went flying through the air!
He came back over where I was and looked very proud of himself!
“You were amazing!” I yelled.
“Thanks! You know. If you keep up your training, you could be doing that by next year.” He said.
“You think so?” I asked.
“Yea!” He said. I hugged him and told him how great he was. Then we went over to a sitting area for the contestants and waited for the final announcement. It came after about thirty minutes.
“Hello everyone! We were so happy that there was such an enthusiastic crowd today! I hope you enjoyed yourselves! The final decision for our winners has been made! Here they are: 3rd place is Dean Surly! 2nd place is Scott Rend! And our 1st place winner is Ulrick Destines!” The announcer said.
“You won 1st place!” I yelled and gave Ulrick a hug!
“Yes!” Ulrick yelled as he put his hand up and made a victory sign.
Once the excitement was over Ulrick and I started walking back to school. On the walk back we talked about his performance and everyone else’s. Ulrick looked happy that he won!
When we reached the school Ulrick and I went to dinner which had just started. I waited as Ulrick got his food like usual and then we walked over to an empty table. He ate while we talked.
After he was done eating he walked me back to my room and we exchanged goodbyes. Kaci came back to the room about twenty minutes later. We both finished our homework for the weekend, talked for a while, and went to bed before the patroller came by.
The next day I couldn’t focus in first, second, third, or fourth period because I couldn’t stop thinking about the note! The only reason I focused in fifth was because Ulrick kept poking me every time I looked out the window and started thinking of the letter.
“Why were you dazing in class?” Ulrick asked once the bell rang.
“Oh, I was just thinking about how much fun we had yesterday!” I lied. He smiled.
“I know we had fun but you need to pay attention or you’ll fall behind!” Ulrick said, kindly. I went back to my room and put away my books. Then it was lunch. I sat with Nick and Kaci.

“In fifth period I couldn’t stay awake because the teacher has a mono tone voice!” Nick said while stretching.

“Yea, I know! I dozed off seven times!” Kaci said. Since I was the only one that didn’t share, they looked at me.

“Were you able to stay awake in class?” Kaci asked me.

“What? Oh! I think I fell asleep a few times.” I said.

“Why do you keep zoning out today?” Kaci asked, concerned.

“I just have a lot to think about.” I said.

“Oh, well try to stay focused in class you’ll be yelled at.” Kaci warned me.

“I will.” I said. So, I tried to focus on what Kaci and Nick were talking about and not focus on the note.
Once lunch was over Kaci and I went to our room, got our books, and went to our last two classes. When the last bell rang Kaci, Nick, and I started talking while walking down the hall.

“Geez! Could we get any more homework?” Nick asked angrily.

“Yea! I know! It’s like the teachers like making us suffer!” Kaci yelled. Then Ulrick walked up.

“Hey!” Ulrick said to me.

“Hi!” Kaci said with a dazed look on her face.

“Hey.” I said back.

“What’s up?” Ulrick asked Nick.

“Not much, just yelling ‘bout the teachers giving us so much work.” Nick said, trying to let Ulrick be part of the conversation.

“Yea. They are really cramming it lately.” Ulrick said.

“How much work did you have at your old school?” Kaci asked.

“A little less than this.” I said.

“Is it okay if I steel Sarina for a second?” Ulrick asked.

“Sure.” Kaci said. Ulrick took my hand and led me to a side of the crowded hallway.

“What are you doing for the rest of the day?” Ulrick asked.

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?” I said.

“I have another competition today and I thought it would be great if you came with.” Ulrick explained.

“Well, I have to meet someone in a little bit but if I can I am able to I would love to go.” I said. Sean walked up and gave Ulrick an angry look.

“We need to go or the person might leave.” Sean said.

“Right!” I said as I started to leave with Sean.

“Who are you going to see?” Ulrick asked as he followed us.

“An old friend.” I said.

“Can I come?” Ulrick asked.

“Sure.” I said, trying not to be rude.

“We need to hurry!” Sean said. The three of us walked quickly down the hall, to my room. I put my books away and we started walking down to the front of the building, when we were stopped by Kaci and Nick. They heard what we were doing and wanted to go along. All five of us walked down to the front of the building.

“Did you figure out who it was?” Sean asked while Ulrick, Kaci, and Nick were talking and couldn’t hear us.

“No. We’ll just have to find out right now.” I said as I opened the door. Everyone was silent. All five of us looked around trying to see who we were looking for.

“What does the person look like?” Ulrick asked.

“The person had black hair.” I said. Everyone looked for someone with black hair.

“Is that the person?” Kaci asked while pointing at a person who was sitting down facing the other way. All you could see over the man’s black coat was his black hair. We all walked over to the person.

“Excuse me. Are you the person who gave the note to my friend in the cemetery?” I asked.

“Yes.” The man said as he turned around. It was a tall, about 20 year old man who was wearing dark jeans, a black shirt, a black jacket, and black shades. I looked at the man for a second and then I stood there in shock. It was Solomon!

“It can’t be! It just can’t be! Solomon’s dead! It must be someone else!” I thought.

“It’s been such a long time! I have missed you so much!” The guy said. I could feel tears running down my face.

“What’s the matter Sarina?” Sean asked.

“This…this…this can’t be!” I whispered.

“Do you know who this person is?” Sean asked.

“Of course she does! But who are you people? Are you Sarina’s friends?” The guy asked.

“Yes we are.” Sean said to the guy. Sean looked at me “Who is this?” He asked me.

“This can’t be! You’re dead! Who are you and why do you look like Solomon?!” I yelled.

The guy hugged me the way that only Solomon did. “I’m Solomon. Can’t you recognize your own lover?” The guy said in a sweet voice.

I pushed the guy away. “You’re dead! You’ve been dead for the past three years! I know you’re dead! I saw you die with my own eyes!” I yelled.

“Are you not happy that I am alive?” The guy asked in a sad voice.

“Of course I’m happy!” I said as I hugged him back.

“Is this guy really your lover?” Kaci asked.

I looked at Solomon and then at Kaci. “Yes,” I said, “Yes he is.”

For the next week Solomon came and got me every day after school. But Sean, Ulrick, and Nick avoided me or ignored me every time I tried to talk to them.

“That was the worst class ever!” I moaned to Kaci as we walked back to our room after 7th period, which is the class that I sit next to Ulrick in.

“Did Ulrick give you the cold shoulder?” She asked.

“Yes!” I moaned.

“Geez! When are they going to get over you not loving them?! They need to grow up!” Kaci said, angrily.

“I hope they don’t hate me.” I said.

“Their just jealous.” Kaci said.

“I guess.” I said.

“Your lovers here!” Kaci said.

“Where?” I asked.

“Over there. Wow! He looks so cute in regular cloths!” Kaci said.

“Do you like my lover?” I asked.

“No. I’m just pointing out that you have a good taste in guys.” Kaci said. She smiled a fake smile.

“Sure.” I said, being sarcastic.

“Sarina!” Solomon called.

“Hey!” I said as we walked up closer.

“Are you ready to go?” Solomon asked.

“Um…I have to change. Then I’ll be ready.” I said.

Solomon’s phone went off. He looked to see who it was.

“I have to take this. I’ll meet you outside.” Solomon said as he left the building. Kaci and I went to our room so I could change.

“So, how did you guys meet?” Kaci asked.

“He saved me from being hit by a car and we’ve been together ever since.” I said.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yea.” I said. I was done getting changed so we went to the front of the school to find Solomon.

“I’ll see you later.” Kaci said as she stopped in the doorway.

“You usually walk with me. What do you have planned for today?” I asked.

“I have to go to the office.” She said.

“Have fun!” I yelled as I walked around trying to find Solomon. Then I saw him! He was being pushed up to a wall by Ulrick and Sean and Nick who stood around him.

“What is this about?!” Solomon yelled.

“It’s about you taking Sarina away from us!” Sean yelled.

“She isn’t your property! It’s not like I’m steeling her!” Solomon yelled. Nick punched him!

“How come you take up all her free time?” Ulrick yelled.

“Because we have always met every day after she got out of school! Isn’t it Sarina’s decision to choose who she likes?!” Solomon yelled.

“What’s going on here?!” I yelled as I ran up behind them.

“Sarina!” All four of them yelled at once!

“What are you three doing to Solomon?!” I yelled. They backed away from him.

“Um… Nothing.” Nick said.

“Then why did you punch Solomon?!” I asked.

“Sarina. Can we deal with this later?” Solomon said.

“Why?” I asked confused.

“Mara has been spotted near here.” Solomon explained.

“If you’re going to find Mara then I’m coming too.” I said.

“No. This time I am pin pointing his position and not attacking him. The chairman will come and get you tomorrow.” Solomon said.

“My cover is unneeded?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes. Those were his orders. You don’t have to pretend you’re a high school student anymore,” Solomon kissed me, “Well, my flight leaves in an hour so I have to go. I will see you tomorrow.”
Solomon left.
“Solomon’s right. I should be the one to choose who I love. But why do you guys ignore me? Just because you’re not my lover doesn’t mean you can’t be my friend.” I said.
I started to walk away but then I turned back to them.
“You guys have really hurt me. And now that I’m leaving there’s no time to go back to the way we were.” I said as I walked up the steps to the entrance of the school and through the doors.
I went to my room. Kaci was still at the office so, I decided to start packing. Kaci came in while I was in the middle of packing.
“What are you doing?” She asked in confusion.
“Packing.” I said.
“Why?” She asked.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.” I explained.
“You are! Why?! What happened?!” Kaci said in shock.
“Solomon told me that we are leaving tomorrow. So, I’m packing.” I said. Kaci looked like she was going to cry.
“How can I help?” She asked as she hugged me.
“Well I’m almost done packing. So all I have to do is go to the office. Do you want to come with me?” I asked.
“Sure.” Kaci said.
I packed the rest of my stuff and we went down to the office. I filled out all of the forms I needed to leave the school. Then we went back to our room. Sean, Nick, and Ulrick were standing at the door.
“Hey. What are you guys doing here?” Kaci asked.
“We wanted to talk to Sarina.” Ulrick said.
“Okay, I’ll be in the room.” Kaci said.
“What is it?” I asked thinking
“We wanted to say we’re sorry.” Sean said.
“I accept your apology.” I said.
“But why is Solomon your lover?” Nick asked.
“I can’t tell you.” I said.
“Then why were you pretending to be a high school student? Aren’t you our age?” Ulrick asked.
“None of your business. Can I go into my room now?” I asked.
“No. Not until you tell us who you really are!” Nick said.
“If I could tell you, I would.” I said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sean asked.
“It means I can’t tell you. Now let me into my room!” I said as I tried to grab the door knob.
“Fine.” The three of them said as they walked away. I went into my room. Kaci was checking my dresser to see if I got all of my stuff.
“Hey!” I said.
“Hi.” Kaci said.
“Did I forget anything?” I asked.
“No. But you didn’t leave anything out to wear tomorrow.” Kaci said. She pointed at the dresser.
“Oh! I didn’t? I meant to leave something out. I guess I’ll have to unpack.” I said as I pulled my suitcase onto the bed. I got out a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt.
There were footsteps at the end of the now silent hallway. We looked at the clock.
“The hall patroller!” Kaci whispered. I ran over and turned off the lights, we ran to our beds and we both pretended to go to sleep.
The patroller opened the door. Then the patroller left.
“That was a close one.” I whispered.
We both laughed quietly.
“Good night.” I said.
“Night.” Kaci said as she turned to face the wall.

“Rrriiiinnnggg…Rrriiiinnnggg…Rrriiiinnnggg!” My phone screeched in the middle of the night.
I sat up and picked up my cell phone off of my dresser quickly so it wouldn’t wake up Kaci.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Is this Sarina.” A man’s voice asked.
“Yes.” I whispered.
“This is the chairman.” The man said.
“Oh! Hello sir! I didn’t recognize your voice!” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” The chairman asked.
“Wait just a minute.” I said as I walked out of the room, down to the door at the end of the hall, and went out of it.
“I can talk regularly now.” I said.
“What was with the whispering?” The chairman asked.
“I didn’t want to wake up my roommate so I went outside.” I said.
“Ah. That’s right you’re still pretending to be a high school student. I forgot.” The chairman said.
“So, what’s up, Mason?” I asked. “Oops! I mean Mr. Chairman. Sorry! I’m not used to you being the new chairman. Since you were one of my students it’s kind of hard to not call you Mason.” I said.
“It’s okay. Anyway, I was calling to see what time I should pick you up from school.” The chairman said.
“Who is coming with you? If there are a lot of people some of the students may become suspicious.” I said.
“It will only be me.” The chairman explained.
“Really? Then I guess you can pick me up right when the last bell rings. It’s at 3p.m.” I said.
“Okay! I’ll see you at three!” The chairman said happily.
I’m happy too. I haven’t see Mason in about 80 years.
“Wow. Seeing him after 80 years. I wonder what he looks like now.” I said out loud since I was alone.
I went back to the room and went to sleep.

“Sarina…Sarina…rise and shine sleepy head, it’s time for school.” Kaci said as she shook me.
“What? Why didn’t the alarm go off?” I asked.
“There was a power serge last night so it shut off. I woke up early out of habit. Well, get up! It’s time for breakfast!” Kaci said.
“Alright.” I said.
I got up and got dressed. Except for first period, since I had to sit next to Nick, my first five classes were fine. Then I went to lunch. It was fine. After lunch I went to my last two classes. Seventh period was bad since I had to sit next to Ulrick. For the whole period I ignored Ulrick and starred at the clock.
The bell rang and Kaci came up to me.
“Yes! He’s here!” I yelled as I stated to run out the door.
“Who’s here?” Kaci asked while trying to keep up with me.
“Mason!” I yelled as we got to our room. I ran in as grabbled my stuff. Then I started to run out the door but Kaci stopped me.
“Slow down! Who is Mason?” Kaci asked.
“One of my dearest friends! He’s coming to pick me up!” I said.
“Try to calm yourself down. Then we can walk down to see him.” Kaci said.
“Okay. I’m calm. Let’s go. We don’t want to keep him waiting.” I said. We both started walking down to the entrance but we ran into Sean, Ulrick, and Nick.
“Are you two going to see Solomon?” Nick asked in a rude voice.
“No. But I wanted to say that I’ll miss you three and I wish we could have had more time to become friends again.” I said as I hugged them one at a time.
They stood there in shock.
“I hope to see you again someday,” I turned back to Kaci, “Let’s go. We don’t want to keep Mason waiting.” I said. We started to walk off.
“Wait!” Ulrick said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Is it okay if we watch you go?” Ulrick asked.
“Sure.” I said.
The five of us walked down to the entrance and through the doors. I looked around. Finally I spotted Mason. He was wearing a suit.
“Mason!” I yelled.
Mason turned and looked at me as I ran up. “Sarina!”
I hugged him. Then Sean, Nick, Ulrick, and Kaci walked up. I took a step back from Mason.
“Long time, no see!” Mason said.
“Same to you.” I said.
“Is that everything?” Mason asked while looking at my suitcase.
“Yep. It’s not a lot.” I said.
“Who is this?” Mason asked.
“Oh! This is Sean, Nick, Ulrick, and Kaci. They are my friends at this school.” I explained.
“Nice to meet you.”Mason said with a smile.
“I hope to see you again.” I said to the four of them.
“Well, let’s get going. We don’t want to keep Solomon waiting.” Mason said.
I waved to the four of them and left with Mason.
“Wow! You’ve grown up a lot in the past 80 years.” I said.
“So have you.” Mason said.
“I guess the student has surpassed the teacher.” I said. We both laughed.
“I owe all my success to you. If you hadn’t trained me I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Mason said.
“All teachers hope their students will become successful.” I said.
“I’m glad I got to see you again.” Mason said.
“Me too.” I said.
“Was it hard pretending to be a human?” Mason asked.
“Yea. Humans act a lot different than we do.” I said.
“Did anyone figure out what you were?” Mason asked.
“No. They aren’t very bright. They didn’t even give a second thought to me not eating ever. They actually thought I was human!” I said with a laugh.
“Are vampires really that different from humans?” Mason asked.
“Haven’t you ever been around humans?” I asked.
“Back there was my first time around them.” Mason said.
“Really? Most of my life I’ve been around humans.” I said.
“You really act like a human when you’re around humans, but you act like a vampire when you’re around vampires. How can you do that?” Mason asked.
“I do it naturally. Unlike most vampires, I was raised by humans. So I naturally act like a human in front of humans. But I had to work hard to learn how to act like a vampire in front of vampires.” I said.
“Here we are.” Mason said as we stopped in front of a car. I got into the passenger’s seat and Mason got into the driver’s seat. We started driving in the direction of the airport.
“What age were you supposed to be acting as among those young humans?” Mason asked.
“About 15. They seemed to accept me right when I came into the school.” I explained.
“Well you are a great person. They would be fools if they didn’t accept you. Also, you look so young for your age that you fit right in.” Mason answered.
“Thanks…One thing that concerns me is that you look older than me even though you’re not!” I said.
“All women vampire look younger than the men do. But you look half the age of most women vampires you age! Why is that?” Mason asked.
“Once someone finds out my real age they always ask me that. But, to tell the truth, I don’t really know.” I said.
Mason stopped the car at the entrance to the airport. I got my stuff out of the car and got out.
“You have 45 minutes until your plane leaves. Hellion will be waiting for you when you get off the plain,” Mason said, “By the way, Hellion was very angry that he wasn’t the one picking you up so don’t tell him I did because he would kill me, okay?”
“I won’t tell. I hope to see you again soon!” I said with a wave as I walked into the airport.

I went through security and went to the waiting area for my plain. They finally called my group number and I went on the plain to get my seat. When I got on the plane I found out that headcounters had gotten me one of the best seats on the plane. I sat down in my window seat, waiting to see who would be sitting by me. I waited but no one came.
“There are a few more passengers coming onto the flight so we will be leaving shortly. Please turn off all electronically devices.” The speaker said. I took out my phone and saw there was a voice message. I listened to it before I turned off the phone.
“Hello Sarina. This is number 69 from headcounters. I was instructed to tell you that we have booked both seats in your row and we have put you in first class, as instructed by Hellion. I hope you have a pleasant trip and we hope to see you soon.” The person on the recording said.
I turned off the phone. “Why does he always make sure I get the best of everything?” I thought.
The plane started up. Everyone was silent as the plane took off. The only person who made noise was a little girl crying in the last row of the plane, sitting with her mother. I had heard a little girl coughing before we got on the plane so I suspect the little girl has a cold. The pressure from sitting in the back of the plane and her cold must be making her head and her ears hurt. I feel bad for her. But once we were fully in the air the little girl stopped crying. The plane became silent again.
I was very tired so I went to sleep.
“Madam…madam.” Someone said. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I sat up to see a flight attendant had tapped my shoulder.
“Yes.” I asked.
“The plane is about to land and you don’t want to be asleep during that.” The flight attendant said with a smile.
“Thanks for waking me up.” I said.
“You’re welcome.” She said as she walked away.
I heard the little girl from before wining to her mother.
“Mommy! My ears are going to hurt again! Can we move to the front?” She asked.
I unbuckled my seat belt and went to the back where the little girl was.
“Excuse me. I couldn’t help but over hear what you said about moving to the front. Would you and your mother like to sit in my seats? I have a whole first class row to myself.” I said to the little girl.
“Do you really mean it?!” The little girl said excitedly.
“Of course!” I said nicely.
“Thank you so much!” The little girl said as she hugged me.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” The little girl’s mother asked.
“It’s perfectly fine!” I said nicely.
“Thank you.” The little girl and her mother said as they went to my first class seats. I sat down in the window seat.
The plane went down for a landing and everyone on the plane was silent, including the little girl.
I was the last to get off of the plane. As a result I got to the baggage claim right as the baggage was coming through. I got my bag went outside to try to find Hellion. I saw him and he saw me so he started to walk over to me.
“How was your first class flight?” Hellion asked.
“Fine. But why did you ask headcounters to put me there?” I asked. Solomon smiled kindly. I could see his fangs which bothered me.
“Because you deserve the best treatment.” He said.
“Well, thank y…” I started to say as someone yelled.
“Miss Nicelady! Miss Nicelady!” The little girl from the plane yelled as she ran away from the side of her mother and towards me. She hugged my legs, since that was as high as she could reach since she is a child. “I’m so glad I got to you before you left! I wanted to thank you for giving us your seats before we landed!” She coughed.
“It was my pleasure!” I said as I picked her up and held her.
Her mother walked up.
“Is there any way we can repay you for giving up your seat for us?” Her mother asked.
“I just let you sit in my seat. It really isn’t a big deal. I think you deserved those seats more than I did.” I said kindly.
“Well, thank you.” The mother said as she took her daughter off my hands. “Come on, Rachel. Let’s go find daddy.” The mother said to her daughter as they walked away.
I waved to the little girl and she waved back.
“What are they talking about?” Hellion asked.
“Oh, the little girl had a cold and her head hurt because she was sitting in the last row. So before the plane landed I gave them my seats so the little girl’s head wouldn’t hurt on the way down.” I said.
“That was very nice of you to do that.” Hellion said.
“Well I’m trying to make our race seem nice so humans won’t fear us.” I said.
“Come on,” Hellion said as he put his arm around my waist, “the car is parked over her.”
We walked over to the car. I got in the passenger’s seat and he got in the driver’s seat.
He drove to headcounters and parked in the parking lot for the building. He got out. I got my suitcase from the back of the car and started to open the door but Hellion had opened it, from the outside, before I could. He put out his had to help me out so I accepted it. We walked up the steps to the building. Hellion opened the door for me.
“Ladies first.” He said.
“Thanks.” I answered.
“Hello Ms. True. Hello Vice President Nicksel.” The women at the desk said.
“Good evening!” I said kindly as I walked over to the desk.
“The president wants to see you about something. I will call to tell him you are here.” She said as she as she went to the wall where there was a speaker. “President…Ms. True has come. Should I send her to your office?” She asked.
“Yes, please send only her.” A voice said.
“Please go down to the president’s office, Ms. True. Vice president Nicksel please got to your office. There are some important papers for you to sign.” The woman at the desk said.
I walked up to the top of the staircase and went through the doors to the president’s office. The president was sitting at his desk.
“President, you wanted to see me?” I asked.
“Ah, yes. Hello Ms. True.” The president said.
“Hello, President.” I said.
“Please call me Deathleon,” The president said, “Please take a seat.”
“Okay.” I said as I sat down in a chair.
“So, you have finally reunited with Solomon. Good for you.” Deathleon said.
“Thank you.” I said.
“As you know we have found where Mara is. But I don’t want our precious pure blood to go into a bloody battle, so I have a different mission for you. You will be pretending to be a new student at Keptner High School, located in England. We believe one of Mara’s comrades is one of the students in that school.” Deathleon said.
“When do I leave?” I asked.
“You will be leaving tomorrow at 3 p.m. You may go to your office now.” Deathleon said.
“Thank you.” I said as I left. I walked down to my office.
I walked over to the clock on my office wall to see what time it was. The clock read 11:48p.m.
“I should probably go to sleep,” I thought.
I went over to my desk and got out my blood pills and my sleeping pills. I swallowed them. I walked over to my mattress that was on the other side of the office. I lay down and went to sleep.
“Akina…Akina…Rise and shine!” A happy voice called to me as someone shook me. I sat up and opened my eyes to see Hellion sitting next to me.
“Hello, my lovely princess! How are you this fine morning?” Hellion asked with a fang showing smile.
“Fine. What are you doing here this morning?” I asked.
“You mean this afternoon? It is already 1p.m. Are you feeling well? It’s not like you to sleep in.” Hellion said.
“I feel fine. I guess I’m just tired form my hectic schedule yesterday. Thank you for waking me up.” I said as I hugged him.
“Anything for my princess.” Hellion said as he got up and bowed.
“Please don’t call me that anymore. You are one of the only two people who know who I really am at this place. So please don’t let anyone hear you say that.” I said.
“So you really never did tell Solomon or anyone else that you are the only pure blooded vampire left in the whole world. Or that you are THE princess of ALL vampires.” Hellion asked.
“I can’t bring myself to tell anyone else. It can’t be helped that you and the president know since you have seen my real profile, but I have gotten used to everyone calling me Sarina and treating me like a typical vampire. I don’t know how anyone else would act towards me if they found out.” I said.
“I respect your decision and will obey it.” Hellion said.
“Thank you.” I said.
“Your wish is my command,” Hellion said sarcastically, “I will let you get ready for your trip. I will come to get you at 2:30p.m. Bye!”
Hellion left and I got in the shower. My phone started ringing when I got out.
“Hello?” I said.
“Sarina?” Someone said.
“This is she.” I said.
“Hello this is Mason. I was calling to make sure you got back to headcounters safely.” He said.
“Yes, I did. Thank you for worrying about me!” I said kindly.
“Well I must go. But it was great talking to you.” He said.
“You too! Bye bye!” I said as I hung up the phone.
I dried my hair and got dressed in a green shirt and a dark pair of blue jeans. There was a knock at the door.
“One sec!” I said as I grabbed my suit case. I ran to the door and opened it. Hellion was there.
“Hey! You ready to go?” Hellion asked.
“Yep! Let’s go.” I said.
“So, Sarina, what have you been doing all day?” Hellion asked.
“Got ready, that’s all. What did you do?” I asked.
“I actually ran into an old college.” Hellion said.
“Oh? Who?” I asked.
“If you can believe it, I ran into Prince Sariel in public!” Hellion said. He looked at me with concerned eyes.
“Oh, really. And what did the prince have to say?” I asked, pretending not to care that we were talking about my brother.
“He asked me if I had seen Princess Akina, since I used to be so close to her. I had to tell him that I hadn’t seen her since she ran away. He looked very angry with me since I didn’t give him the answer he wanted. I hate that spoiled brat!” Hellion said.
“How long has the princess been gone?” I asked.
“Two hundred and fifty-eight years.” Hellion replied.
“Then why is he still looking for her?” I asked.
“He supposedly can’t go back to his rightful position in the empire until he finds the princess.” Hellion said.
“But what if she’s dead? Will he ever get his position back?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Don’t even kid about that! If she died the entire vampire world would fall into chaos!” Hellion exclaimed.
“I’ve only met her once, but she seems like the kind of person who wouldn’t die easily.” I said, covering up my identity.
“Yes, you’re right. She is very strong. That’s what I admire about her.” Hellion said with a fang-filled smile.
“I truly think the prince doesn’t deserve to be the king of all vampires! I mean he’s not even a pure blood!” I said.
“Yea, that is true… Here we are.” Hellion said as he opened the door to the car. I got in and he followed.
The driver drove us to the airport. Hellion opened the door for me and I got out. He followed, once again.
We went through security and got on our flight. I became tired on the flight.
“You can rest your head on my shoulder, if you like.” Hellion said.
“Are you sure that’s okay?” I asked.
“It’s my pleasure.” Hellion said.
I laid my head on his shoulder and went to sleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night. My head was still lying on Hellion’s shoulder, but I felt something on my head.
Hellion’s dark black hair was in front of my face so I figured out that his head was lying on mine.
“That’s fine. I am laying on his shoulder so I don’t mind his head laying on mine.” I thought.
Then I noticed that Hellion had set his hand on my hand.
“He still loves me. He told me he did before I ran away from my title, but I told him I only thought of him as a great friend. I guess he still hasn’t gotten over it. Oh well, I can let him hold my hand. It’s no big deal as long as no one else knows.” I thought as I went back to sleep.
I woke up to find myself not on the plane. I was being carried. I looked up to see who it was, it was Hellion!
“Oh! You’re finally awake! You were still asleep when the plane landed so I decided to carry you.” Hellion explained.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked.
“You looked so peaceful. It seems the only time you can be at peace is when you are asleep. I didn’t want to stop you from having happy thoughts.” Hellion said.
“Oh, well thanks for carrying me.” I said.
“Sure.” Hellion said as he put me down. I walked right next to him.
“I don’t remember England looking so big!” I said.
“When was the last time you came here?” Hellion asked.
“I haven’t been here since I was ‘you know who’.” I said.
“Really? I come here every other month.” Hellion said.
“So where is the school?” I asked.
“Right here.” Hellion said as we turned the corner.
The school was very large. It looked like all four buildings had at least 8 levels!
“Wow! It’s huge!” I said.
“Yes, it is. This is the best school in all of England.” Hellion said.
“Really?! It’s such a beautiful school!” I said.
“Well, I’ll call and check up on you sometime during this week.” Hellion said, with a wave, as he walked away.
“Bye!” I said. I walked to the entrance of the school and saw a group of six girls surrounding something. I walked up closer and saw that the six girls were beating up a girl!
“What do you think you’re doing?!” I yelled as I pushed them away from the girl.
“Who do you think you are?! You have no business with this matter!” One of the girls yelled.
“I can’t just stand here and let you beat up someone! No matter what she did you have no right to hurt her!” I yelled as I put my hand out to the girl. “Here. I’ll help you up.”
“Thank you.” The girl said as she took my hand. I helped her up.
“Let’s get out of here before a teacher sees us.” One of the girls said. They left.
I started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” The girl asked.
“Oh, I just think it’s funny that those girls actually thought they could get away with this! I guess they didn’t realize what I did.” I said.
“And what did you realize?” The girl asked.
“There is someone hiding in that bush right there!” I said as I pointed at a bush and started to laugh.
The person came out from their hiding spot and walked over.
“I thought I was well hidden. How did you know I was there?” The person asked.
“I heard you moving.” I said.
“Oh, I guess I’m not really good at this kind of stuff.” The person said with a non fang-filled smile.
“Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Sarina True! It’s nice to meet both of you!” I said with a smile that didn’t show my fangs.
“Nice to meet you too. I am Holly Francis.” The person who had been hiding said.
“And I am Adabelle Dersal. Thank you for helping me.” The girl who was being beat up said.
“It’s nice to meet you both! Um…do you think you could help me?” I asked.
“Sure. What do you need help with?” Adabelle asked.
“I don’t know how to get to the principal’s office. Could you lead me there?” I asked.
“Sure, follow me.” Adabelle said.
I followed her through many halls until she stopped in front of a door.
“You should probably go back to your room. Thanks for bringing me here.” I said.
“I’ll see you around.” She said as she left.
I went into the principal’s office.
“Hello, how may I help you?” The principal asked.
“Hello, I am Sarina True, the new student.” I said.
“Oh! Welcome!” The principal said.
“Here, let me show you to your room.” The principal said as he got out of his chair.
“Thank you.” I said.
I followed him to my room. He opened the door and we went in.
“Your first class starts at 8 and breakfast is served at 7. If you need any help you can ask a student or a teacher or me.” The principal said.
“Thanks you for showing where my room is!” I said.
“Yes, good night.” The principal said as he shut the door behind him. I threw down my suitcase, set my alarm clock, and got out my blood pills and sleeping pills. Then I went to sleep.
“Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…” The alarm clock screeched.
I hit the button on top of it to shut it up and got up. It was Friday and the time was 7:48 a.m. so I had to rush. I put on the uniform that was in my room last night, grabbed my books, put them in my bag, and left the room.
I walked down the stairs that Adabelle had brought me up last night. Then I walked outside and looked around to try to find the gym.
“Sarina! Good morning!” Adabelle yelled. She was with a group of friends that, luckily, weren’t the girl’s from last night.
“Good morning.” I said as she walked up to me.
“Morning! Um… do you know where room 143 is?” I asked.
“No, um… you should ask the front office. It’s the first door in the main building.” Adabelle said.
“Thanks! I’ll go there right now.” I said as I started walking backwards in the direction of the main building. “Thank you!”
“Sarina! Watch out!” Adabelle yelled.
“For what?” I asked as I hit someone! I fell on top of the person! “Oh my! I am so sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going!” I said as I got off of the guy.
“It’s okay.” He said.
“Here, let me help you up.” I said as I put out my hand to him.
“Thanks.” The guy said as I helped him up.
“I am really sorry! Are you okay?! Did I hurt you?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine. Um… I don’t think we’ve met before.” The guy said.
“Oh! How rude of me not to introduce myself! Hello, I am the new student, Sarina True! Nice to meet you!” I said.
“Hi, I am Luke Henson.” He said as we shook each other’s hand.
“Um… if you don’t mind me asking, could you tell me where room 143 is?” I asked.
“That’s my next class. Here, we can walk together.” Luke said as he waved goodbye to a large group of girls.
“Oh! Thank you so much!” I said with a smile without fangs.
“Sure. It’s my pleasure.” Luke said as we started to walk to class.
I waved to Adabelle and we left.
“So where are you from?” Luke asked as a girl waved to him with a love-sick look.
“I used to live in San Jose, California.” I said as he waved back.
“Oh? Then, why did you move here?” Luke asked.
“My dad’s job.” I said as a group of girls waved to Luke.
“That’s cool.” He said as he waved back to them.
“Geez, it seems that every girl we have passed has waved to you with a love-sick look on her face!” I said.
“Yea, I can’t go anywhere near the school without some girl stalking me!” He said with a laugh.
I started to laugh really hard!
“What’s so funny?” He asked.
“Didn’t you know that there is a girl following us right now?” I said with another laugh.
“There is?! Where?!” He asked as he looked around.
“They are behind the wall that we just made a turn at! And I think I know who it is!” I said.
“Really?!” He asked.
“Holly! What are you doing?” I asked.
“Hi! I wasn’t following Luke, I was just seeing if I really was bad at hiding or if last night was just a fluke.” Holly said as she came out of her hiding spot and walked over.
“You are a good hider! Luke didn’t even know you were there!” I said.
“Then how could you tell?” She asked.
“I could hear your heart beating!” I said.
“Wow, you must have really good ears!” Luke said.
“Well, I have to go to class, so I’ll see you at lunch, Sarina!” Holly said as she left.
“Right! We need to get to class too.” Luke said.
We walked into the classroom right as the bell rang.
I walked up to the teacher. He introduced me to the class and he told me where to sit.
The class was boring, as most are, so I didn’t pay attention. Also, I’ve lived for so long and had so many missions as a student that I’ve probably learned this at least 20 times. Finally the bell rang. I left right when it did.
“Wait up, Sarina!” Luke said as he ran towards me. Six girls gave me a rude glare since Luke was talking to me and no them.
“Oh! Sorry, I forgot to wait for you.” I said.
“That’s okay. Hey, can I see your schedule?” Luke asked.
“Sure.” I said as I handed it to him. He scanned it.
“Cool! We have the same 1st, 4th, 6th, and 7th period!” Luke said.
“Really, that’s cool.” I said.
“Well I have to try to find my next class so I’ll see you 4th period!” I said with a wave as I left.
I looked at my schedule and saw that I needed to find room 281. I found the level of the school that had the 200 rooms and I went to the end of the hall. I finally found the room and went in as the bell rang. I went up to the teacher.
The teacher introduced me to the class and gave me a seat next to a window. I went to my seat and the class started.
“Ms. True, have you read this book before? If you haven’t you can go into the hall and read the pages we’ve read.” The teacher asked.
“Yes, I have read the book three times.” I said.
“Okay, then can you answer questions about it?” She asked.
“Sure.” I said.
“What day did Martin Luther King Jr. die?” She asked.
“Martin Luther King Jr. died April 4th, 1968.” I said.
“Very good. Now, Frank, what day did…” The teacher started to say but I stopped listening.
I looked outside for a while. In the middle of class I saw the group of girls from the night before outside. Then I saw Adabelle walk by them! One of the girls grabbed her hair and then they started hitting her!
“Um… Teacher, may I please go to the bathroom?” I asked.
“Sure. But, make it quick.” The teacher said.
“Thank you.” I said as I left the room. I ran down the flight of stairs and scrambled out the door.
“Hey! Leave her alone!” I yelled to the girls.
“What did you say?!” One of them yelled. They let go of Adabelle and turned towards me.
“You heard me! Leave her alone!” I said.
“Fine! We’ll beat you up in her place!” One of the girls said as they all walked over toward me.
One threw a punch at me! I ducked down and it missed me. I jumped back and got away from the girls.
If things couldn’t get any worse, the bell rang and everyone came outside.
“Hey look at that!” A kid yelled and everyone started watching us.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” They chanted over and over again.
I looked over at the crowd. Then one of the girls took advantage of the chance and punched me while I wasn’t looking! I fell into a wall of cement!
“Oh! That had to hurt!” A kid in the crowd yelled.
I got up and I could feel my vampire instincts kicking in! They wanted me to attack and bite the girls! I held back my instincts and defended myself.
“Sarina!” Luke yelled from the sidelines of the area that had become a fighting ring.
One girl ran at me, yelling. I did a front flip over her and stuck the landing. The crowd cheered. One of the girls charged at me like a bull. She tried to punch me and I grabbed her hand. Then I flipped her over me. She hit the ground with a loud thud. The crowd cheered once more. Then a girl grabbed my arms while another girl punched my face consecutively! I kicked both girls away from me. My face started to bleed very badly!
The girl who seemed to be the leader of this pack she ran at me with her fists in front of her. I grabbed one of her fists and spun behind her, which made her arm unable to get away. I wrapped my arm around her neck, not so tight that she couldn’t breathe but tight enough to scare her.
“Help me! Help!” She squealed in fear.
“If you promise to never hurt anyone at this school again, I’ll let you go.” I said.
“Fine! I will never hurt anyone at this school ever again! Please, let me go!” She whined.
“That’s a good girl.” I said as I stepped away from her.
“Let’s get out of here!” She yelled to her lackeys as they ran away. I ran over to Adabelle.
The crowd cheered as the girls ran away.
“Adabelle! Are you okay?!” I asked as I helped her up.
“I’m nowhere near as beat up as you. Thank you for saving me.” She said as she brushed off her skirt.
“Sarina! Are you okay?!” Luke yelled as he ran up to me.
“I’m not dead, so I think I’m fine.” I said.
“You need to go to the nurse.” Luke said.
A teacher ran up and walked over to me.
“Little girl, I just saw what you did.” The teacher said.
“I’m sorry that I became so violent. Please give me my punishment.” I said.
“But you risked your life saving this defenseless girl! Of course I’m not going to punish you! You only hurt those girls in defense of yourself and your friend.” The teacher said.
“Really?! I’m not in trouble?!” I asked.
“Yes. Mr. Henson, please bring this girl to the infirmary.” The teacher said.
“Yes maim.” Luke said.
“I’ll talk to the principal about those girls.” The teacher said.
“Thank you.” I said as I started to follow Luke.
But my blood pressure had become low and I fainted. Everything went dark.

I was in a room that was dark, empty, and lonely. I felt as though I was there for at least a week. Then I heard someone’s voice.
“Princess Akina! Please wake up!” Someone yelled. It sounded like Hellion! But why would I be hearing him?!
I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a white room, a hospital room I think. Hellion was one the side of the bed I was laying in with his head laying on my stomach. I think he was listening to my heart beat! Why was I here? And when did Hellion get here?
“Hellion? What are you doing here?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.
“Princess!” He yelled as he hugged me!
“What’s the matter? Why do you look so sad?” I asked.
“I didn’t think you were going to wake up! I’m so glad you’re okay!” He said as he kept hugging me.
My throat felt like it was burning! I put my hands on my neck.
“What’s the matter?!” He asked frantically.
“My throat. It burns!” I said.
“Here! You may take my blood princess. It would be my honor to let you have some of my blood.” He said.
“No! I don’t want to take anyone’s blood!” I said as I pushed him away. I got off the bed and fell because of my low blood pressure.
“Princess!” Hellion yelled as he helped me up.
“Have they figured out who I am when they tested my blood to see what is wrong with me?” I asked.
“The president told me to erase their memory and I have. They think they have already taken your blood and nothing was wrong. Here, if you won’t take my blood, take these. They will help you get your blood level at least half way to the amount you need.” Hellion said as he handed me 4 blood tablets. I took them quickly.
“Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to go back to America after you helped me here? How did you find out that I was sick?” I asked. Hellion thought for a minute.
“The president told me to stay here since the Prince has been spotted nearby. And the president put me as your first person to call if something were to go wrong, so the school called me down here because you had fainted from lack of blood. What?! Are you unhappy to see me?” He asked.
“No! Of course not! It just surprised me, that’s all.” I said.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in.” Hellion said as he set me back in the bed.
“Is she awake?” Luke asked as he walked in.
“Yes, she just woke up.” Hellion said.
“Hi Luke! Sorry about this! It seems like I’ve made you do everything for me today!” I said kindly.
“You scared me and Adabelle! We thought you were severely hurt!” Luke yelled.
“Oh! I’m sorry!” I said.
“It’s fine. The good thing is you’re okay.” Luke said.
“Yea. I’m perfectly fine!” I said.
“Here, I’ll go get Adabelle!” Luke said as he left.
“What did you do?! Your face is all black and blue!” Hellion asked.
“Oh! That! Well this group of girls was beating up Adabelle so I went to help her and they decided to beat me up instead. I put up a good fight but one cut my face. Nothing big!” I said.
“How dare those girls beat up a princess! They should be killed! Why do you always have to help those weak humans! They should fight their own battles and you should be at your throne, not out helping these humans!” Hellion said.
“I choose to help humans! It’s not their fault that I help them! If you’re going to blame anyone, blame me!” I yelled.
“I could never blame you!” Hellion said.
“Let’s drop this. If we keep this up one of the humans might hear us.” I said.
Then Luke and Adabelle came in.
“Sarina!” Adabelle yelled as she came over and hugged me.
“Your cheek! It’s still bleeding!” I said.
Hellion thought I was going to drink her blood so he stared at us, waiting to see what I would do.
“Here,” I said as I wiped the blood off the scrape, “Hellion get a bandage from that cart next to you and some gauze.” I said.
Hellion handed them to me.
I wiped the blood on my finger off with the gauze and put the bandage on her cut.
“There! As good as new!” I said kindly.
“Thanks!” She said.
“Well you two should head back to school. If you go now, you can make 6th period.” I said.
“Are you sure it’s okay for us to leave?” Adabelle asked.
“Yea! I have Hellion to take care of me!” I said.
“Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow at school.” They said as they left.
“I thought you were going to drink her blood! Your eyes turned blood red when you touched her blood! How can you hold yourself back?!” Hellion asked in amazement.
“Ah! I can’t!” I yelled as I grabbed my neck!
“I can’t watch you in so much pain! Please take my blood!” Hellion said as he pushed me back.
“I will die before I give into this instinct!” I said as I kicked him. But I kicked him took hard! He almost flew back into the wall!
“Akina, calm down!” Hellion yelled as he got back up.
“No! I will not calm down!” I yelled.
“Other people will hear you!” Hellion yelled.
“I don’t care!” I yelled.
“What if those kids didn’t leave?! What if they’re hearing everything we’re saying?” Hellion yelled as he walked over to me. “Let’s drop this. If we keep this up our fighting instincts might kick in.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry; you just wanted to help me.” I said as I hugged him.
“It’s okay.” He said as he hugged me back.
“We should probably get out of here.” I said.
“Yea. But what about your bruises?” He asked.
“Where is a mirror?” I asked.
“Over on the wall. But what are you going to do?” Hellion asked.
“You’ve heard that some vampires have special powers, right?” I asked as I slowly walked over to the mirror.
“Yea, so?” He asked.
“I have 30. Here, hand me that gauze that has Adabelle’s blood on it.” I said.
He handed the gauze to me. I touched my bruises on my face with the gauze and they went away.
“Wow! That’s amazing!” Hellion exclaimed.
“Okay, let’s go!” I said.
We left the hospital and headed in the direction of the school. Hellion put his arm around my waist so I wouldn’t fall and he went slower than usual.
We got to the middle of town within 45 minutes. All of the sudden Hellion picked me up and ran behind a corner.
“What was that for?!” I yelled.
“Shhh!” Hellion whispered as he pointed to a boy walking on the street. I watched the person for a while and then I notice who it was! It was my brother, Prince Sariel!
“What is he doing here?!” I whispered.
“He said he was going to go around the whole world looking for you, so he had to come here at some point.” Hellion whispered.
“How are we going to get to the school?!” I whispered.
“I know!” Hellion said. Then he ran through the back streets for a while until we ended up at the school!
“Thanks. But I can go the rest of the way.” I said.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll carry you to your room.” Hellion said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yea. Let’s go.” Hellion said as he walked towards the school and went up the flight of stairs. Everyone was starting at us. All the girls were pointing and staring because of how beautiful Hellion was, but most vampires are. But, the guys were staring because they thought it was weird to see a man carrying me, a teenage girl, like a damsel in distress that he had just saved.
“Which room number?” He asked.
“Um…385.” I said. Hellion went to the room. He carried me in and shut the door behind us.
“Here you go.” He said as he sat me down.
“Hellion, you need to leave!” I said.
“Why?” He asked, confused.
“Everyone saw you carry me in her! Don’t you think one of them might tell a teacher that a strange man came into my room and didn’t leave for a while?! They might think we are doing something bad!” I said as I pointed towards the door.
“That is true,” Hellion said with a frown, “I’ll leave. I’ll come to get you tomorrow morning.”
“No!’ I yelled.
“What’s the problem?” Hellion asked.
“People will see you at the school and they saw you today! They could come to the same conclusion! I’ll meet you somewhere else!” I said.
“How about we meet at the café a block away.” Hellion suggested.
“Okay, now you need to go!” I said.
Hellion left.
I tried to walk over to the desk where my blood and sleeping pills were, but I fell so I pulled myself across the floor to the desk.
Then I pulled myself back to the bed but my legs wouldn’t let me get up onto the bed!
“Come on legs! Work for me! I have to get up!” I wined.
I stayed like that for a while, trying every few minutes to get myself up. It felt like I was sitting on the floor for a year! There was no noise coming from the hall now so I figured it was about 8p.m.
Then there was a knock at the door.
“Sarina? Are you in there?” Someone asked. It was Luke!
“Oh no! I can’t let Luke know that I’m in such bad health that I can’t even stand! I have to tell him to go away!” I thought.
“Yes, but I’m changing.” I lied.
“Oh! Well, I came down here to see if you were okay. Are you okay?” He asked.
“Yes! I’m fine.” I said.
“Are you done changing? I was thinking we could talk.” Luke said.
“Um…yes.” I said.
“What am I supposed to do now?! I can’t tell him to leave! That would be rude! But I can’t let him come in and see me like this!” I thought as I tried to get on the bed again. But when I fell back, off the side of the bed, I knocked a book off my desk! It hit the ground and made a loud noise! And, as if things couldn’t get any worse, I fell to the floor and also made a loud noise!
“Sarina! Are you okay?!” Luke said as he opened the door and ran in. He saw me on the floor.
“Yes! I’m fine!” I said while trying to hold back my tears from my hurting side, which I had fallen on.
“Here let me help you up!” Luke said as he put his hand out to help me. I accepted it.
“Yes! Now I look like I am fine!” I thought.
He pulled me up and he held me up right as he looked at me, making sure I was okay.
“Thanks for helping me get up.” I said.
“Sure. So is it okay if we talk?” Luke said.
“Sure.” I said.
He let go of me as he sat down on the bed. I luckily grabbed out the dresser in time to catch myself from falling!
“So, what did the doctor say?” He asked.
“That my blood pressure’s a little low, but other than that I’m fine.” I said.
“Here, why don’t you sit next to me? You must be really tired from your hectic day.” Luke said.
“Um…okay.” I said as I tried to walk over there, but I fell!
“Sarina!” Luke said as he picked me up off of the floor and set me on the bed.
I looked at the bottle of blood pills and wished I had them.
“Why did you fall?!” Luke asked.
“My blood pressure’s too low that I can’t stand.” I said.
“What can I do to help?” Luke asked.
“Could you get that red bottle of pills on the desk for me?” I asked. Luke went over and got the pills. I put out my hand to get the bottle but the Luke started to read the bottle! It said things on the bottle about problems vampires might have with the drug! He looked at me confused.
“You’re a …a vampire?!” He said.
“Um…yea. You can run away screaming now that you know.” I said.
“Why would you do that?! I’m a vampire too!” Luke said.
“What?!” I said.
“I’m Prince Sariel’s right hand man! What is your ranking?” Luke asked. I couldn’t believe this!
“He’s working for my brother which means he’s on the hunt for me!” I thought.
“Um… I’m in the detective rank.” I said.
“That is so great! I finally get to associate with another vampire while I’m on my mission!” Luke said.
“What is your mission?” I asked.
“I’m on a search mission for the lost Princess Akina.” Luke said.
“Oh.” I said.
“What is your mission?” He asked.
“I’m here in Britain to find an assassin’s helper that tried to kill Sir Slaymas.” I said lied.
“That’s cool. Well, I should go. I have a date to go to.” Luke said.
“Have fun. But don’t suck your date’s blood.” I warned.
“I know! Don’t act like my mother!” Luke said.
“Yea, yea! Bye!” I said.
Luke left and I went to sleep.
The next morning I got up at 9a.m. and met Hellion at the café down the street.
“Good morning!” I said as I walked up to Hellion and sat in the chair on the other side of the table.
“Hello.” Hellion said.
“Did I make you wait long?” I asked.
“No. I came in only a few minutes ago.” Hellion said.
“Good!” I said with a smile.
“Wow, yours are barely even noticeable! How did you make them look like that?” Hellion asked.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Hellion leaned over the table and whispered, “Your fangs.”
“Oh, that! I made them that way by using these teeth molds that Mason invented, at the Va. Lab, especially for me about 30 years ago.” I said as I showed off my nearly-normal teeth.
“Of course!” Hellion said in frustration.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Mason always does everything he can to make you like him! Why does he make it so obvious that he likes you?!” Hellion asked.
“He doesn’t like me! I’m merely his favorite mentor.” I said.
“Sure! It’s so obvious that he likes you! Can’t you tell?!” Hellion said. I looked at Hellion very angrily. Then I got up out of the chair and walked out the door.
“He is so rude! Of course I know Mason likes me, but he doesn’t have to make a big deal out of it!” I thought.
“Sarina! Wait!” Hellion yelled as he followed me.
“No! You shouldn’t even be here! Why don’t you just leave?!” I said. Hellion grabbed my hand and I pulled it away.
“What do you mean?” Hellion asked.
“Does your fiancé know you’re here, in Britain with another woman?!” I yelled.
“No! I hate her! Why would I tell here where I was?” Hellion said.
“Then why are you engaged to her?” I asked.
“It’s an arranged marriage! I had no say in who I married!” Hellion yelled as he grabbed my hand.
“You’re the prince of the northern Vampire group! Of course you have an arranged marriage to the Eastern Vampire group’s princess! If your parents knew you were here with me they would have me executed!” I said.
Hellion hugged me. I tried to push him away but he hugged me tighter! I was stuck in his grasp!
“If they knew your true identity they would be honored by me staying by your side.” Hellion said.
“I wish there was someone out there that I could be engaged to. I wish there was at least one more person like me. I can’t get married to anyone until that one person shows up.” I said.
“But you’re special because of that.” Hellion said.
“I am the one, the only one. There will never be anyone like me. I will never be allowed to be in love.” I said.
Hellion said nothing, but he did hug me even tighter.
“I have to get back to school. I have work to do.” I said as I pushed Hellion away.
I walked back to the school and went to my room. I turned off both of my cell phones and went to sleep.
I woke up on Sunday and turned on my cell phones to see that Hellion had called me once, Mason had called me two times, and Solomon had called me three times. But there were only three voice messages. I listened to them.
“Hi Sarina, its Hellion. I was calling to see if you were okay. You seemed pretty upset when you left. Call me back when you get this message. Bye.” Then I listened to another message.
“Hello Ms. True, its Mason. I was calling to see how your mission was going. If you need anything call me and I’ll be happy to help. Bye-bye!” I listened to the final voice message.
“Hey Sarina, its Solomon. I thought you might want to know the information I’ve found on Mara and Dean. Also I really wanted to talk to you. So once you get this message please call me back!”
I didn’t really want to talk to anyone but I did want to know what Solomon had found out about Mara and Dean, so I called him back.
“Hello?” Solomon asked as he picked up the phone.
“Hey! I just got your message! So how is the investigation going?” I asked.
“Pretty well. How is your mission going?” Solomon asked.
“Slow, like most. Just because I am a girl they always give me the slow jobs.” I said.
“But most of the girls in our division go on the same missions as me. Why does the president never give you the adventurous jobs?” Solomon asked.
“I really don’t know. I think I’m going to ask him to put me on a better job.” I said.
“Try to get a position near where I am because I really want to see you.” Solomon said.
“I want to be there with you so I won’t take no as an answer!” I said. Solomon laughed.
“I’ve got to go. Mara’s on the move! I’ll call you tomorrow. I love you.” Solomon said.
“I love you too. Bye!” I said as I hung up the phone.
I did my homework, which only wasted 15 minutes. I didn’t have anything to do for the rest of the day so I went outside to take a walk.
I put both of my phones and some money in my pockets of my jeans. Just in case someone needed me or I got thirsty.
I walked down the stairs and went out the door. I started heading to the side walk when someone yelled my name. I turned around to see Adabelle running towards me.
“Hello.” I said.
“Where are you going?” Adabelle asked.
“I’m going to take a walk.” I said.
“Why?” Adabelle asked.
“I have nothing else to do and I want to think. A walk seems the best way.” I said.
“Oh! Well will you be done with your walk in the next three hours?” I asked.
“Probably. Why do you ask?” I asked.
“Um…I was wondering if you’d like to come to lunch with my family and me.” Adabelle said.
“I’d love to go with you.” I said.
“Great! I’ll come pick you up at your room in three hours!” Adabelle said as she started to leave.
“Wait! What’s the occasion?” I asked.
“It’s my little 8 year old sister’s birthday.” Adabelle said.
“Oh! Okay, I’ll see you in three hours!” I said as I walked away.
“What would a little eight year old girl like for a present?” I thought.
My work phone started going off. I answered it.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Sairna, this is the President of InvestigationVam. I wanted to see if you had figured out who was the other vampire at the school yet?” The President said.
“No, sir. I haven’t.” I said.
“Really? That too bad.” The president said.
“Um…Mr. President. I remembered that you had a daughter that had just turned eight a few weeks ago.” I said.
“Yes?” The president said.
“Um…could you tell me what you got her?” I asked.
“Why do you want to know?” The president asked.
“One of the girls from my school invited me to her little sister’s eight year old birthday party and I don’t know what to get her.” I said.
“Oh! Well I got her a high quality doll called the ‘Debbie Doll’. It has been all any young girl has been talking about for months. It is the coolest girl’s toy out there. But, it is very expensive so most parents can buy it.” He said.
“Where could I find one?” I asked.
“At the ‘BEST GIFTS AROUND’ store. “ He said.
“Okay, I’ll try to find one! Thanks Mr. President!” I said as I hung up the phone.
I ran over to a telephone pole that had a phone book in it. I looked inside it and found the store’s address!
I went down two roads and found the store! I went inside and went straight to the counter.
“Excuse me. Do you have the ‘Debbie Doll’?” I asked.
“Yes, we do. But since so many people have tried to steal it we have to keep it behind the counter. Also we must see that you have enough money to buy it before we give you the doll.” The man said.
“Yes. Here’s my card.” I said as I handed him my card.
He scanned it and looked at how much money was in my bank account. He looked amazed to see the number.
“Wow! I would have never expected you to be a billionaire! You’re so young!” The man said.
“So can I get the doll?” I said.
“Yes! Here you are.” The man said as he handed me the doll.
“Do you think you could wrap it up for me so no one knows what it is?” I said.
“Sure.” The man said as he wrapped it up. I got the wrapped doll and my card back. I signed one receipt and left with the other.
“Wow! That one doll coast $15,000!” I thought as I looked at the receipt. I walked back to the school so I could put the doll away.
I walked into the school and up the stair case, then I walked over to my room. Hellion was sitting next to my door!
I pretended he wasn’t there and went to my door and unlocked it with a special key the Principal had given me.
Hellion got up and tried to follow me in but I shut the door behind me very quickly. I locked the door as fast as I could. He knocked on the door but I ignored him.
“Sarina let me in! We need to talk.” Hellion protested.
I didn’t answer him.
I put the doll under my bed and put my cell phone back into my bag. I looked at the clock. I had 15 minutes until Adabelle was supposed to pick me up.
I checked my business e-mail on my laptop and answered to the people who had sent me messages. Then Hellion stopped knocking. I heard him talking to someone.
“Um…excuse me Mr. Nicksel. I need to see Sarina.” Adabelle said.
“She doesn’t seem to be coming out but you can try.” Hellion said.
Adabelle knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Adabelle. It’s time we start heading into town for my sister’s birthday.” Adabelle said.
“One second.” I said as I got the doll, put it in a bag and got my phone, and then I went to the door.
“Sarina why didn’t you…” Hellion started to say.
“Alright let’s go!” I said cheerfully to Adabelle.
“Okay!” Adabelle said as we walked towards the stairs.
“Wait, Sarina! We need to talk!” Hellion said as he followed us.
“Come on Adabelle!” I said as I started to walk faster. So did she.
“Sarina!” Hellion yelled.
“Stay away from me!” I said.
I ran away from him and Adabelle followed me. Then we both stopped.
“Are the two of you fighting?” Adabelle asked.
“I’m trying to prove a point by staying away from him.” I said.
“Oh! Okay, I get it.” She said.
“Which way should we go?” I asked.
“Into town.” Adabelle said as we walked in that direction.

We got to the party just in time. It seemed as though all the 8 year olds in the city were there! And for ever child there was a parent. Good thing the party was outside, because I don’t think everyone could fit into any building.
Adabelle grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd. She said hello to everyone we past. Finally, she stopped walking.
“Hello mom. Hello dad.” Adabelle said.
“Hello sweetheart!” They both said.
“Mom and Dad I’d like you to meet my new friend Sarina. She just started attending my school.” Adabelle said.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sarina!” The mother said.
“It’s nice to meet you too.” I said.
“Where did you move from?” The father asked.
“From America.” I said.
“Wow! That’s a big move!” The mother said.
“Indeed!” Agreed the father.
“My father’s job moves us from different countries a lot.” I said.
“Have you ever lived in Brazil?” The mother asked.
“Three time.” I said.
“We’ve always wanted to go there! Is it beautiful?” She asked.
“Yes. I really liked the food there. It’s so much different than other countries food.” I said.
“It is, isn’t it?” The mother said.
“So where is the birthday girl?” I asked.
“Here, I’ll introduce you to her.” Adabelle said as she dragged me away. I looked back at the parents.
“It was nice talking to you!” I said.
Adabelle swerved through the mob of people. Then she stopped in front of a girl.
“Hey, little sister! I want to introduce you to someone!” Adabelle said as she picked up the girl.
“Hello!” The little girl said to me.
“This is Sarina. She is one of my friends from school.” Adabelle said. I smiled at the girl in the princess outfit.
“Well hi there! Happy birthday!” I said.
“Thank you!” The little girl said proudly.
“This is my little sister, Yue.” Adabelle said.
“Hello princess Yue. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” I said.
“Oh! Your hair is so pretty!” She said.
“Why thank you!” I said.
“Are you having fun?” Adabelle asked Yue.
“Yea! Except Sally got the ‘Betty doll’ and she won’t stop showing it off and everyone is paying attention to her and not me!” Yue said.
“What is the ‘Betty doll’? I asked.
“It’s the second coolest doll out there and the second most expensive! It costs $10,000! Not very many people can get it because of its large cost.” Adabelle explained.
“Oh! Then what is this ‘Debbie doll’? I heard a group of little girls talking about it on our way to your parents.” I said.
“The ‘Debbie doll’ is the best present out there but no one can afford it. My parents tried to buy it but it was too much money.” Adabelle said.
“I wish I had a ‘Debbie doll’! Then everyone would pay attention to me and not Sally! Maybe someone got it for me!” Yue said.
“Don’t get your hopes up. That doll is way too expensive for anyone here to buy.” Adabelle warned.
“I’m so glad I called the president!” I thought as I looked at the wrapped doll in my bag.
“Speaking of gifts, when are you going to open them?” I asked.
“After cake which, is right about now.” Adabelle said.
“Let’s go!” Yue said as Adabelle put the wiggly girl down.
Yue came over to me and signaled that she wanted me to pick her up by holding her arms up in my direction. I picked her up and held her with one hand as I held my bag with the other. We walked over to the table that had the cake on it.
Adabelle’s parents called everyone over to the cake, then they sang happy birthday to Yue.
I mouthed the words because my vampire singing voice would hypnotize everyone into a trance, this is one of the special abilities of pure-bloods. That’s why I never sing.
Once the song was over Yue blew out her candles on her cake. Everyone was handed a slice of cake. Then, everyone moved over to the table with the presents on it.
I walked off and threw away my cake in a trashcan. When I got back Yue had already opened half of the mound of presents. When she saw me walk back over to the crowd she jumped off the table.
She ran over to me and grabbed my hand.
“I want you to help me open the presents!” She said.
“Why me?” I asked.
“So I can show everyone that I have a friend that is a big person! That will direct all the attention away from Sally and give it all to me!” She said as she led me to the table.
She got back on the table and I helped her open presents. When all the presents were opened Yue looked around.
“Is there any presents that I haven’t opened?” She asked.
No one spoke.
“Um…I forgot to give you mine. But this gift is very special so you must be careful opening it.” I warned.
“I will!” She said as she curiously started to open the wrapping paper. Once that was off she slowly slid the lid off the box. She eagerly looked inside but once she saw what was in it she froze and didn’t move.
“What’s the matter?” Adabelle asked.
“Oh my gosh!” Yue yelled at the top of her lungs!
“What did you get?” Her mother asked.
“Sarina got me a ‘Debbie doll’!” Yue yelled as she took the doll out and snuggled it.
The whole mob of people gasped in shock!
“Sarina! How…how could you afford the ‘Debbie doll’?!” Adabelle exclaimed.
“My father told me to get this for you. Is it a bad present?” I asked in confusion.
“It’s the best present ever! Thank you!” Yue yelled as she set down the doll and hugged me.
“You’re welcome.” I said.
Everyone crowed around Yue to see the doll. I didn’t want to get caught in the mob so I walked away. Adabelle came over to me.
“That was the best present! Thank you for giving it to her.” Adabelle said.
“You’re welcome. Is it okay if I take a walk? I think the sugar from the cake is giving me a headache.” I said.
“Sure. I’ll see you later.” Adabelle said as she walked away.
I walked around the town for a while. But then I got the feeling that someone was following me! So I became alert to other peoples actions. The feeling wouldn’t go away so I walked back to the park where the party was being held and sat under a tree. It was far enough away that I couldn’t hear all the noise so it was peaceful.
“Sarina.” Someone whispered from an alley on the other side of the street.
“Great! Now your imagining voices!” I thought.
“Sarina.” Someone said again, but this time the voice sounded closer! I started to panic!
I stood up and looked around the tree to see if one of the kids was playing a trick on me. Then someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw a person pull me closer to it! Then the person kissed me! I opened my eyes to see Solomon looking at me! Then he stopped kissing me.
“Surprise!” Solomon said in a happy voice.
“You scared me!” I yelled.
“But are you happy to see me?” He asked.
“Of course I am!” I said as I hugged him.
“I wanted to see you so I took a flight here. I couldn’t bare living another day without seeing your face.” He said.
“I missed you so much!” I said.
“Let’s go somewhere that we can be alone.” Solomon said.
“I have to get back or Yue will freak out. Could you wait for 30 minutes?” I asked.
“Sure.” Solomon said.
I walked back over to the party and talked to Yue. After 20 minutes I said my goodbyes to everyone and told Adabelle I’d see her tomorrow. Then I left.
I looked around for Solomon when Hellion ran up to me.
“Sarina, we need to talk.” He said.
“No!” I yelled as I ran away.
I ran to the tree from earlier and saw Solomon!
“Solomon!” I yelled as I ran to him. I grabbed his arm like an abandoned child.
Hellion looked very surprised to see Solomon.
“Why are you here?” Hellion asked rudely.
“I came to see Sarina. But the real question is why are you chasing her?” Solomon answered as rudely back.
“It’s none of your business!” Hellion yelled at the top of his lungs.
“I have nothing to talk to you about. Now that you’ve yelled and attracted attention, I think it is time for you to leave!” I said.
“I’m not leaving without Sarina! So if you don’t want even more attention you better come with me.” Hellion ordered.
I looked over to the party to see everyone looking at us. They looked very concerned. Then I looked at Yue. She looked very scared. But she ran over to me, with the doll in her arms.
“Sarina! Why is this scary man yelling at you?” She asked.
“Don’t worry Princess Yue! This man isn’t scary. He is only angry at me.” I explained in a calm, kind voice.
“It doesn’t matter how mad you get! You should never yell!” Yue said with a firm voice to Hellion. He looked even madder and I knew he would yell at her and she would probably cry so I stepped in.
“Thank you for sticking up for me, your majesty. But it isn’t necessary! I’m going to have a talk with the scary man and get everything settled, so why don’t you go back to your party and have fun?” I said kindly as I took Yue’s free hand and led her over to the party.
She tugged my hand and I kneeled down. She kissed me on the cheek and hugged me.
“Thank you for coming! I’ll miss you!” The little girl said.
“It was my pleasure, princess! I’ll see you soon!” I said as I walked back over to Hellion.
“Don’t yell at her!” Yue called to Hellion as the party started up again. I grabbed Hellions hand very tightly that it hurt him.
“What were you thinking?!” I whispered very angrily.
The three of us walked over to an alley, across the street from the park. I threw Hellion against the wall. Solomon stood next to me.
“What do you think you’re doing here?!” I asked angrily.
“We need to talk about what happened this morning.” Hellion said.
“No, we don’t. We already discussed it. Didn’t you get what I was saying?!” I asked.
“No.” Hellion said.
“I meant for you to back off Mason because we are only teacher and student and we’ll never be anything more! Also, I don’t feel right with you being here. I think your family and fiancé are probably worried about you. I think it’s time you go back to your palace.” I said.
“Wait! Hellion is a prince?!” Solomon exclaimed.
“Yes, he is the price of the Northern Vampire group.” I said.
“Really? I didn’t know that!” Solomon said.
“Oh! But you know about Sarina’s secret, right?” Hellion asked.
“Shut up, Hellion!” I scolded.
“You can tell my secret, but I can’t tell yours? That doesn’t seem very fair now does it, Solomon?” Hellion asked. He was baiting Solomon.
“Your secret isn’t as important to keep! If you tell I will never speak to you again!” I warned.
“But isn’t it mean to keep a secret from Solomon? You really should tell him, Sarina.” Hellion said.
“He’s right! I want to know! If you can tell Hellion then you certainly can tell your lover!” Solomon said.
“Solomon!” I yelled.
“What? Didn’t you tell Hellion that we were lovers yet? I know he has a crush on you but he would have found out at some point!” Solomon said. Hellion looked angry.
“Since you told me Sarina’s secret, I’ll tell you her other secret. It will surly make you want to rethink making her your lover.” Hellion said as he stood up.
“Don’t say it! Someone else could hear you!” I yelled as I tried to get in between Hellion and Solomon.
“Fine! Then you whisper it in his ear! If you don’t I’ll yell it!” Hellion said. I walked up to Solomon and kissed him on the cheek.
“Remember I love you no matter what the secret is.” I said.
“I will still love you too.” Solomon said.
Hellion laughed. “I doubt that.”
“I am truly Princess Akina, the pure-blood vampire princess.” I whispered into Solomon’s ear.
I backed away from Solomon, just in case he ran away. I wouldn’t stop him. He stood there quietly.
“What? But you don’t look anything like her.” Solomon said.
“But she is.” Hellion said happily.
“How come Hellion knows that you are her?” Solomon asked.
“I helped her escape the empire 258 years ago.” Hellion said.
“Yes. He was staying at the place and saw me escaping so he helped me.” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Solomon asked.
“I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. I was scared you would leave me, but now I know it was worse to keep it from you than telling you.” I said sadly.
“But why did you leave the empire?” Solomon asked curiously.
“My brother was planning to murder me, so I fled the empire out of fear. That is why he wants me back in the empire so badly. He wants no one else to kill me because he wants to kill me himself.” I explained.
“Why does he want to kill you?” Solomon asked.
“He hates me because I am a better fit for the position of ruler of all vampires.” I said.
“But you’re his sister! Shouldn’t he love you more than the position of ruler?!” Solomon yelled.
“But I’m not his real sister. I am his half sister.” I said.
“What?” Hellion and Solomon asked at the same time.
“Why didn’t you tell me of this?” Hellion asked.
“I haven’t told anyone. Only my mother, brother, father, and I know. We haven’t told a single sole of this.” I said.
“Who isn’t your real parent?” Solomon asked.
“My mother is my real mother, but my true father was killed by the king when I was born.” I said.
“Was your mother having an affair with your real father?” Hellion asked eagerly.
“No, she was actually married to my real father, but the king forced her to have my brother. Once my brother was born she was named queen but she still loved my real father, so she secretly met with him every few months and in the end they had me.” I said.
“Why did the king force your mother to bare him a child?” Solomon asked.
“He wanted the smartest and most beautiful woman of all of us to be his queen, so he chose my mother. Then he threatened to kill my father if she didn’t have my brother.” I said.
“But why did the king not kill you too?” Hellion asked.
“He had always wanted a girl, so he let me live and become his fake daughter just so he could marry me to a prince.” I said.
“Who was the prince you were supposed to marry?” Solomon asked curiously.
“I don’t know.” I said as I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Luke.
“Hi Sarina. What are you doing here?” He asked.
“I’m talking to my friends. What about you?” I asked.
“I was trying to find you when I heard your voice over here.” He said kindly.
“Why were you trying to find me?” I asked.
“You know the thing we talked about that we have in common yesterday?” He asked.
“Yea. What about it?” I asked.
“Well do these people know about us? Because it’s hard to talk in code.” Luke said.
“Yea, they know. They are vampires too.” I said.
“Oh? It’s good to meet other vampires.” Luke said.
“You’re a vampire?” Hellion asked.
“Yep. What rank are you two?” Luke asked.
“We are both detective ranks. And yourself?” Hellion said.
“Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to Sarina about.” He said.
“What do you want to talk about it?” I asked.
“Well the Prince is in town and I can’t have him stay in my room. It is very small. So I was wondering if you could keep him in your room.”
“Why can’t he get a hotel?” I asked.
“There are some people who are helping his sister stay away from him and they are trying to kill him, so he needs to keep a low profile for a while. Please say yes! I have nowhere else I can think of.” He said.
“Sure. I’ll let him stay in my room. But how long will he be here for?” I asked.
“At most a week. But thank you for helping me!” He said.
“It’s my pleasure.” I said.
“Well I have to go meet him now, so I will bring him to your room in about an hour.” He said.
“Okay. Bye.” I said and he left.
“The prince?! Does he mean your brother?!” Solomon asked.
“Yea. Luke is the right hand man of my brother, but I can’t let them know I’m myself, so I’ll really have to pretend like I am the opposite of me this week.” I said.
“But you look nothing like you did before; he won’t be able to tell.” Solomon said.
“But if we start talking and get to the subject of Akina he will know I am on the side that I am truly on.” I said.
“So what? A lot of vampires are on the princess’s side.” Hellion pointed out.
“But if the prince hears me talking so strongly on my side he will get suspicious and think I am myself or one of my close followers. Either way he will hate me.” I said.
“It’s fine if he thinks you are one of the princess’s followers, we just don’t want him to know you are you.” Hellion said.
“I have to go hide all things that say my true name on them, so I have to go.” I said.
“Wait!” Hellion said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Give me the necklace of the princess. If he sees it around your neck he will surely try to kill you.” Hellion said.
“No. I have an idea that will get me out of this whole mess, but I need my necklace to make it happen.” I said. Then I walked back to the school grounds and went up to my room. I cleaned up my room and hid all of my important or stuff that said my true identity on it in the dark corner of the closet in the room. Then I lay on the bed for a few hours. I slept until there was a knock at the door; my alarm said it was 12 a.m. I went over and opened the door. My brother, Luke, and another person with a hat on were standing in the hall.
“Come on in.” I whispered. They came in and they sat down on the floor. I shut the door and joined them.
“Thanks for doing this for me, Sarina. You’re a good friend.” Luke said. But when he said my name the man in a hat fidgeted.
“It’s my pleasure to help the beloved prince. I’m glad I could help you.” I said with a smile and the man twitched again.
“It’s nice to meet you Sarina.” My brother said.
“It’s an honor to meet you, prince.”
“Thank you for letting us stay with you.”
“Us?”
“Yes. The prince’s bodyguard will be staying here too. Is that okay?” Luke asked.
“The more, the merrier. But may I know the name of the majesty’s bodyguard?” I asked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I am Ulrick Kasui. Thank you for letting us stay here.” The person said as he took off his hat and I recognized him! It was Ulrick from my old school!
“Act cool, Sarina! Don’t draw attention to yourself!” I thought.
“I’m happy to. Mr. Kasui.” I said.
“You can call me Ulrick.” He said.
“Okay.” I said with a smile. “Luke, you should get back to your room.”
“Yes. But there has been a change in plans Sarina. Ulrick will be the only one staying with you. The prince will be staying with me.”
“Oh? Okay.” I said. Then Luke and brother left my room. Ulrick and I were still on the floor sitting in an awkward silence.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked.
“About what?”
“You just got up and left me! If you had told me you were a vampire and that’s why you were coming here I would have tried to come with you!”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, playing dumb.
“Sarina! Don’t you recognize me?!” Ulrick yelled.
“No. I haven’t ever met you before.”
“It’s me! Ulrick! From Mellor academy!”
“I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong person. I’ve never gone to a school called Mellor.” I lied.
“Don’t try to play dumb Sarina! I know it’s you!” He yelled.
“Can you please keep your voice down? I don’t want anyone to wake up.” I said.
“No! I won’t until you admit you know me!” he yelled.
“Fine! I know you! Now lower your voice!” I whispered.
“Then why did you deny that you knew me?!” He whispered.
“I was hoping you didn’t remember me. It would have been better for the both of us if you didn’t.” I said as I sat on my bed.
“How would it help us?” He asked.
“Our lives wouldn’t be as complicated. Seeing someone who knows me will make my job even harder to fulfill.” I said.
“But didn’t you miss me? I missed you.” He said.
“No. I didn’t want to ever see you, Sean, or Nick ever again.” I lied and he looked sad.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” He said sadly.
“We should sleep. You can take the bed.” I said.
“Where are you going to sleep?” He asked.
“I don’t need to sleep anymore. Now I need to work.” I said. He got under the covers of the bed and watched me walk over to my desk that had my laptop on it. “Goodnight.” I said.
“Goodnight.” He said as I sat down in my chair by the desk. I logged into my email and noticed I had 3 new messages. I opened the oldest one first.
From: Hellion Nicksel
Subject: Necklace
Hey. Wat was your plan that you had to use the necklace for? Can I help in any way? How is it going so far? Let me know.

I decided to reply back to his questions, so I hit the reply button.

To: Hellion Nicksel
Subject: Necklace.
I don’t need your help. Just leave this to me and I’ll tell you how it’s going in a week. It’s going diffierent than I anticipated but it will work out in the end.

I sent the email to Hellion, then I opened the second message.

From: Solomon Utashi
Subject: None
Has ‘you know who’ gottoen there yet? How are you handeling it?

I decided to reply to Solomon, so I pressed the reply button.

To: Solomon Utashi
Subject: None
Yes. He has gotten here and so has Ulrick, the guy you met in America that went to my school and was one of my friends.

I pressed send and opened the third message.

From: Chairman
Subject: Assighnment
How has England been? Is the assighnment going well?

I replied to Mason’s message.

To: Chairman
Subject: Assighnment
Everything is going fine! I’m doing well and getting adjusted to the new life style. How has the company been since I left? Good I hope!

My phone started to ring, so I put it on speaker.
“Hello?” I asked quietly and Ulrick stared at me again.
“Sarina? It’s Solomon.” He said and Ulrick noticed his name from when he had punched him.
“Hey. What’s up?” I asked as I looked for any new e-mails.
“I just got your message. So the prince has gotten there with one of your friends that Mason told me about?” Solomon asked.
“Yea. So?”
“Are you okay? Mason said it seemed dificult to leave those people.”
“Perfectly fine. I don’t need those people and never did.” I lied.
“Sorry I took you from that good place.” He said with a sigh.
“It’s fine. I would leave anyone if it meant being with you.” I said with a smile towards my computer.
“I know and I am the same.” He said with a smile.
“So have you talked to Mason lately?”
“Yea. Just a while ago. He said that Mara hasn’t left England, so we should stay put.” He replied.
“Did he give any other orders?”
“Yea. He’s got a new job for Hellion near his home town, so he will be leaving soon.” Solomon said.
“Good. I want that ass hole gone. He’s getting on my last nerve.”
“Well I have to go, I’m going to search the town today.” He said.
“Come by the school later.” I said.
“Sure. I’ll come at 6. I’ll see you then.” He said.
“Okay. Love you. Bye.” I said.
“Love you too.” He said and then I hung up the phone.
Ulrick was still looking at me as I closed my phone and then my laptop.
“So your still seeing that guy?” He asked.
“I would never not be seeing him. He is my lover.” I said with a yawn. “And I would never leave him just like he would never leave me.”
“What do you like so much about him? He seems stupid.” Ulrick said.
“He’s much brighter than you or anyone else.” I said with a smirk.
“Is he a vampire?”
“Yea. He is a detective just like me and Mason; the guy who picked me up the day I left.
“Then who is Hellion?”
“You must know of him, his full name is Hellion Nicksel.”
“You mean the prince?!” He exclaimed.
“That’s the one.”
“He visited the Prince a few weeks ago, is he in town?”
“He will be gone by tomorrow.”
“Are you sending him away? But you don’t have that kind of power.”
I nodded as I swerved in my chair, “But I am one of my companies best detectives so the president will move him away if he is interfering with my work and right now he is.”
“But couldn’t he deny the request of your boss since he is a prince.”
I looked to the ceiling, “If he does that his father will be brought into the mix and I may be sentenced to death, but Hellion would never put my life in jepurdy regardless of what went wrong.”
“Why would you be sentensed to death?”
I pulled my legs against my chest and sighed, “I have been accused of having affair with an engaged prince. That is certainly grounds for execution in our society.”
“Did you have an affair with him?”
I looked to my legs, “Don’t get yourself worried about that, kid, just go to sleep.”
“I’m not a kid.” He mumbled as he turned over on the bed.
“Compared to me you are.” I thought but kept it to myself and started reading some documents I was sent. I yawned and tried to get up but fell without making a noise. I lay on the ground of my room but looked up about an hour later when the door opened.
“Sarnia!” Luke gasped as he hurried over to me, “Are you alright?”
I smiled to him as Ulrick got up but he froze when I placed my cold hand on Luke’s cheek, “I’m fine, just weak.”
“Ulrick, grab that bottle up there!” Luke demanded and Ulrick quickly acted. When Luke got the bottle he unscrewed the cap and put a few of the red pills into my mouth. I swollowed and shivered as I felt my body ache with the pains of withdrawl, “You don’t look so good, Sarina. How long has it been since you got a meal from the source?”
I slowly got out of his lap and steched my arms, “I’ve stopped counting the years.”
“Could you estimate?”
I looked to him and then looked out of the window, “Its getting to be around 300 years since my last meal.”
“But doctors say to not go for more than a year without a meal, how have you held up for so long?”
I went over to my desk and shut my computer, “You’re not the first to ask me that. Truthfully, I have no idea, but I’ve been told its because I am too stubborn and hate to feed.”
“So you haven’t fed for most of your life?” Ulrick asked and I burst into laughter.
“Certainly not.”
“Then how old are you?”
I smiled towards the two boys, “I believe I am 28 years younger than our all mighty prince.”
“That means you are about 1000 years old!”
I sighed, “Probably.”
The door flew open and an angry prince husstled over to me before thrusting a picture in my face, “I knew you looked familiar!” He hollered and I took the picture from him. It was the one I had wished to keep with me when I left home, but couldn’t. The picture was of me as I stood while laughing and my best friend, Sarina True, hugged me and laughed also. I smiled towards the prince.
“It took you longer than I expected, your highness.”
He grabbed my shirt and pulled me off of the ground. I tried not to choke, “Where is she! Where is Akina!” He pushed me against the nearest wall with all of his strenght and I just smiled more, “Tell me! Where did you and that rascal take my sister! Where is she hiding?”
I coughed up blood and the other two men of the room stared in horror but were confused when I started laughing as tears finally fell from my eyes, “Well you’re as strong as ever I see.” I joked and he punched me across the face but froze as I pulled down on my shirt to show the necklace of Akina, the bond between vampires and humans. I coughed up blood as he let go of me.
“We have nothing to fight over anymore, Prince Sariel,” I whispered as I brushed the blood off of my chin, “Its been almost 8 years since she died right in front of me.”
He watched me, “Then where is her body?”
I looked up as my phone buzzed but I did not move to answer it, “Once I am able to capture her killer I will ask him where it is and bring it to your home.”
“Who killed her?”
I watched as my hands shook, “Just go back to the castle your highness.”
He grabbed my shirt again, “Tell me!”
I slapped his hand away from him, “You won, Prince Sariel! You can take the throne so just leave us alone!” I stared at him, “I think, at the very least, I should be able to bury my best friend’s body!”
“You…!”
I covered my eyes with my hands, “Stop pretending you actually wanted to get your sister back, Prince Sariel! I went through all of this with her so I know the truth!”
He pulled his fingers through his hair with frustration, “Then why did you offer to help me out? If you hate me, why?”
I watched him, “Because she told me not to blame you for this. She told me as she was dying to forgive you just as she wanted me to,” I put my hand over the necklace, “I did it for her and for a fellow vampire who was sucked into your lies of kindness.”
Someone knocked on the door and we all looked to the door as Hellion came into the room but froze when he saw me crying on the floor with blood seeping out of my mouth as my brother stood above me, “What the hell is going on here?”
I used my chair to help stand and looked to him, “It’s alright, Hellion.”
“Prince Nicksel, what are you doing here?” My brother asked and Hellion’s eyes turned red.
He started to move, “Touch him and you will die!” I hollered and everyone looked to me with shock, “You are going to attack a prince while two of his guards, who are armed, stand near?”
“Well you didn’t answer your phone so I got worried and thought we could talk a little.”
I went over to my dresser and took out my uniform, “I can’t talk right now. I need to get to classes because I am leaving tonight.”
“Leaving?” Luke asked as he came closer to me but kept an eye on Hellion, “Where to?”
“I just got word from a comrad that Akina’s killer is in England,” I replied, “I’m going to go out and investigate.”
Hellion rushed over to me, “You can’t be serious! The boss would never put you on investigative duty for such a harmful criminal.”
I opened the bottle of blood pills and put a few more in my mouth and swallowed, “Of course not. I am doing this because I want to.”
“You are of no condition to fight! After your last encounter with them you never fully recovered from your wounds!” He watched me but I did not move, “Solomon wouldn’t want you to go.”
I nodded, “You’re right, but Akina was and is the only thing more important to me than Solomon,” I grabbed my necklace, “And I will not give up the opertunity to get revenge for her murder.”
“You are going for my sister’s killer?” My brother asked and I looked to his angry face, “I will assist you.”
I shook my head, “This man is one of the most dangerous people alive. If he could take down your sister, who was much stronger than you when referring to her power, what makes you think you can take him down? You will just get in my way.”
“I am much stronger than I used to be, Sarina. When you were still part of the royal family in Europe, I was nowhere near reaching my full potential in power.”
I smiled towards him, “Fine, you may come, but I will not protect you. Akina may have asked me to forgive you but she never asked for me to save you. You must rely on the two men you have with you for that.”
“Deal.”
Hellion grabbed my arm, “I can’t let you do this, Sarina.”
I kissed his lips and then moved away from him, “Consider that my goodbye, Prince Hellion. I want you gone by noon today or I will tell your fiance know what you have been up to.”
He stormed out of the room and I looked to my brother, “Since I am no longer a royal family member, Prince Sariel, I do not believe you should be in my room while I change. I would appreciate it if you would take your guards and leave.” When my brother, Luke, and Ulrick left I quickly changed and headed off to class.

When classes ended I was happy to get a call from Solomon. He said he had booked a reservation at a restaurant and was coming to pick me up. I quickly changed into a short black dress, black high heels, and swalled a few blood pills before leaving my room. When I went down the staircase I was startled to see my brother, Luke, and Ulrick all standing outside talking. They immediately felt my presence and Luke waved. I walked over with a smile, “Good evening.”

“Wow! Why are you all dressed up?” Luke asked.

I let out a small laugh, “I’m going on a date.”

“With who?”

“My lover,” I replied, “Our work makes it so we rarely get to see each other and he happens to be in England right now so we decided to meet up.”

“Solomon is in town?” Ulrick asked and I nodded but then smiled in an almost evil way to my brother.

“I will be back by ten, Prince Sariel, so I expect you and your two guards to be ready to go. Be sure to be at your peak of power when we leave.” I said before I turned around as I felt Solomon’s presence. I quickly ran over to him and kissed him passionately, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in a tux.” I joked and he used his fingers to lift my face towards his.

“Are you trying to tempt me with such attire, my love?”

I smiled and took his hand in mine, “That was the plan.”

He pulled me closer to his body, “Well you certainly outdid yourself in succeeding.” He gave a side glance towards the three men watching us, “We should go or we will miss our reservation.” He commented and I quickly followed him away to his car.


I came into my room at school and quickly changed into a stelth suit I had gotten from the company and then hurried back outside. I waited outside until I heard the three men coming down the staircase and stood to greet them, “Are you ready to go?”

My brother seemed shocked when he saw my eyes, “Your eyes… they are the deepest red I have ever seen.”

I smiled, “My body is reacting very strongly to my meal. I guess it is because it is the first one I have had in over 300 years.” I then walked away and the three men followed me. I got into my car, Luke got into the passanger’s seat, and my brother got in the back seat along with Ulrick. I started driving to where Mara was.

“So what is the plan?”

I did not turn to Luke, “We are going to infiltrate their hideout. I want the three of you to take down anyone who gets in my way and I will kill the target.”

“What makes you think you can take down this man, who my sister could not even kill, on your own?” My brother asked.

I sighed, “Akina bit me before she died and gave me some of her powers,” Everyone seemed to stopped what they were doing, “But they only take over when I have a meal, that’s why I rarely feed.”

My brother watched the back of my head, “Why did you give up your whole life to follow my sister?”

I turned a corner, “I never wanted to be a princess and I cetainly did not want to stay as your fiance and become a queen, Prince Sariel. The only thing I have ever wanted to do with my life is protect the only two things dear to me, which is your sister and the only other I have allowed to take my blood. I decided thatmy little sister was a better choice for my family’s throne and changed my last name. As you probably remember, I came to your home to train as a guard because I wanted to become your sister’s right hand knight. When everything went wrong and Akina comfronted me with the idea of leaving your home I told her I would follow her wherever she chose to go,” I stopped at a red light, “When she chose to leave I protected her everyday of my life until I lost her eight years ago,” My grip tightened on the steering wheel as the light turned green and I started moving again, “That man took her from me along with the other two who had become her soldiers. At one instant my life was full but the moment Akina died everything shattered. I lost her and the only other I had come to love in life in a split second.” I stopped the car in the parking lot of an apartment complex and quickly got out of the car. I went to the back of my car as the men started getting out. I hid away a pistol, multiple sets of bullets and a few knives in my suit. I looked over to the three men as they got their guns loaded. I walked over to Luke and he looked to me with an almost longing gaze. I pointed to the building a few miles away that was abandoned, “That is where they are hiding. I want the three of you to stay outside of the building at all times and under no circumstances will you come inside, is that understood?”

“Yes.” My brother replied.

“Now if I am not out of the building by midnight I want the three of you to take my car and go back to the school. Wait for me there.” I handed my keys to Luke.

“You make it sound like you’re not going to come back with us.”

I looked over to Ulrick and then looked to the building, “There’s a high chance I won’t return, but this is my choice. I chose to fight and I choose to die if I must. Good luck.” I sprinted off without a moment to spare and started off towards the building. When I got to the building I was comfronted by five men that I quickly killed before getting inside and stopping. I grabbed my necklace and focused my mind on changing back to my true form. My body shape became thinner built and taller before my hair changed into its midnight black hue with a slight trace of blue in it. I walked into the main part of the building and saw my target. Mara sat in a chair across the abandoned fleamarket building but smiled towards me and quickly put up his hand. His men that were on either side of me stopped immediately from their attack and we all watched as he started over towards me. His right hand man, Logan, walked behind him but stopped at his side when Mara finished walking. Mara held his arms out to either side of his body.

“Ah! Princess Akina! I’m so pleased you could join us!” He joked with a very happy voice, “I was wondering when you were going to come to us! But who would have guessed you would stoop so low as to asking your brother for help!”

“I have not come to kill you today, Mara, just tell me where Sarina’s remains are and I will be on my way.”

“You! I certainly cannot believe you came all this way without wanting to fight! Such a dissapointment…” He said with a sigh, “But I’m afraid I cannot give you what you want.”

“Why not?” I asked as my hands turned into fists, “What do you want? Moneey? Power? Just name your prince and I will get it.”

He snickered but looked over as the doors behind me opened, “Oh it seems you brother and two other comrads have finally decided to join us!” He smiled towards my brother, “It is good to see you again, my prince. It has been too long!”

“Mara?” Brother asked as he, Ulrick, and Luke were brought close to my side, “You are the one who killed my sister?”

Mara tilted his head slightly, “I’m sorry, Prince Sariel, but I have no idea what you are speaking of.”

Brother seemed angry, “We came here in search of the man who killed my sister! Sarina brought us here to take revenge!”

Mara chuckled and then walked over to me. He took my hand in his and kissed it, “My, you certainly have screwed up his view on this incident, haven’t you my dear?” Mara held tightly onto my hand as he turned towards my brother, “I’m sorry to announce this, but this woman has not told you the truth of what is going on.”

“What do you mean, Mara?”

“Alongside Sarina, I helped my princess escape due to the fact that I would do anything for her. I would never even dream of killing your sister.”

“Then where is my sister!”
Mara turned me towards the three men, “Right next to you,” Mara laughed once more, “It seems our little princess has altered a tale of our history to make you believe I killed her instead of who I actually killed.”

“Then who did you kill?”

“Sarina of course. I believe it was eight years ago.”

I pulled my hand from his graps, “Where is Sarina?” I demanded and he smiled towards me.

“I’m sorry, Akina, but as I said before I do not intend to let you near that woman ever again.”

I felt tears threaten to fall, “When you killed Sarina you said you were doing it because she was corrupting my mind, but now she’s dead! She can’t do that anymore so I don’t understand why you won’t give her back to me!” I put my hands over my eyes to hide my tear, “I don’t want to fight! I just want to put my best friend’s body to peace! Please Mara! If you care about me then let me do this!”

He put his hand on my cheek and wiped away a tear, “I’m sorry, my love, but I can’t do that. Just her body will bring back corruption to your mind. Just forget about her and stay with me.”

I shoved him away from me, “I will not stay with you, Mara! I hate you more than even the king!”

He chuckled slightly, “That boy, he is still corrupting you isn’t he?” He asked and took a step closer to me, “It seems erasing his memory and making him forget you was not enough. I set up everything so you would think you lost Solomon and Sarina all at once and that fool somehow regained his memories.”

My brother struggled in his holder’s grasp so we both looked to him, “I can assure you, Solomon is not dead! He was with her just before we came here!”

Mara’s eyes glowed as he yanked me off of the ground and looked at my neck. He let out a sigh of relief, “For a moment there I though you had made the blood pact with him,” He pulled me against his body, “I am the only person left with your blood pact, so don’t think about making any other man your knight.”

“What are you saying?” Brother asked and Mara looked to him, “You took my sister’s blood!”

Mara smiled towards brother, “I am not the only one, Sarina did also. That is the only reason she became strong enough to protect your precious sister from harm for so long,” He let out a small laugh, “Speaking of which, it seems your little sis is at full power. I suppose I should fix that.” He leaned me back and put his fangs towards my neck.


Princess Akina suddenly stabbed Mara as he tried to drink her blood and as she got out of his grasp I watched her morph back into Sarina True. She suddely laughed and her eyes grew a deeper crimson while she pulled out a knife. She positioned herself in an attack stance and looked over to Mara, “Let’s have a go at it like old times, Mara! What do you say?”

Mara watched her, “If you insist, I will fight you, but do not expect me to go easy on you.”

She seemed to be enjoying herself more, “If you did that, I couldn’t have any fun!”She sprint at him and they started moving at such high speeds, all my prince, Ulrick, or I could make out was moving blurs. Finally Sarina pinned Mara against the ground as he fought to keep her knife from his face.

“Your skills certainly have approved, Akina!”

He shoved her away and she skid across the ground but never fell off of her feet, “You still haven’t figured it out yet?” She said with anger, “I am not Akina!”

He frowned, “Of course you are.”

She let out a laugh that sent chills up my spine while she stood regularly and put her hand on her hip, “How can I be over here…”

“If I’m right here?” Someone added and I watched as two very delicate arms warp around Mara’s neck as a woman leaned against him after she had come out of the floor. It was almost as if she was one with the floor and morphed out of it. He suddenly froze in horror, “The one you have been fighting is no other than Sarina.”

Sarina smiled towards the woman, “You finally decided to reveal yourself, Akina?”

The girl let out a very airy giggle before turning her head towards Sarina without letting go of Mara, “I wanted to join in on the fun before you killed him.”

Sarina sighed, “It is not smart to get that close to the prey, my friend. He is armed.”

“But he could never even touch me!” She laughed before becoming serious and looking to Mara, “Where is the body?”

A sudden smile came from Mara and I watched as a knife came through the woman’s chest. She took a few step away and a bullet came from a man on the sidelines. The whole top part of her body lerched back due to the impact of the bullet but she suddenly laughed before standing up straighed. She let out a small whine as she looked down to the rip Mara had put in her clothes, “Now my clothes are ruined!”

“Akina!” Mara hissed as he searched around the room, “Stop making me fight your memories!”

Something suddenly moved in the rafters above everyone and Princess Akina spontaneously dropped from above and landed next to the woman who had come out of the floor. The woman hung on the princess’s arm, “That mean man ruined my clothes!” She whined and the princess brushed hair out of the woman’s face.

“I was not expecting him to figure it out yet otherwise I would not have sent you to fight, “The princess looked over to Mara, “I had assumed you would have figured it out before I had to bring out myself since I could never possibly fight as well as Sarina can.”

He smiled slightly, “Well you are not the first person to attack me with their memories.”

She looked over to Sarina, “But unlike others, it is not possible to kill my recreations. They are immortal.”

“That’s not possible!” He hissed, “You cannot just create organisms out of sheer will!”

“Then how could I still be here, meanie?” The woman asked as she held onto the princess more.

The princess sighed, “I thought if I brought out myself as a child you would finally reaize that your opponent is not me,” She looked back to Mara, “Just tell us where the body is and this will stop. You cannot win against me anymore, Mara. My hatred towards you has created powers within me I didn’t even think were possible.”

Oddly, the young woman hanging off of the princess hopped away from her and ran over to us. She came in front of the prince and let out a small laugh, “Big sis never told me she was going to bring big brother!” She turned towards the princess, “Can I play with big brother while you take care of that meanie?”

The princess shook her head, “Maybe later, but for now you must leave him alone.”

The young woman suddenly kissed the prince’s cheek before running back over to the princess’s side and hanging off of her again, “Big sis, can I kill this man now?”

The princess shook her head again, “We can’t kill him just yet, little one. Have patience, the time will come for his demise once we are finished using him,” The princess’s glance went to Sarina, “Take him down, my knight, but please do not kill him.”

“Got it.” Sarina replied before she started off after Mara again. They seemed to flash around the room in a very high speed fight but everyone seemed to freeze when Mara suddely got a hold of the princess and held a knife at her throat. I was startled when the princess put her hand over his that held the knife.

“Do it, Mara. Slice off my head and send me to the next world so I can be at Sarina’s side. Take me out of this world where I am the only of my kind and give me a new place to call home.”

He seemed to shake but was as startled as I when the princess pulled the knife across her own neck. Blood seeped out as she slipped out of his graps and slumpped to the ground. Mara flew to her and checked her pulse as the prince started to shake next to me, “Akina! Wake up, Akina!” Mara kept yelling but I looked over when laughing started coming from the young woman near him. She laughed in an evil way as Sarina started laughing too.

“As if you would actually kill Akina!” Sarina joked, “You could never kill her so she did it for you!”

Mara sprinted over to her and pulled her off the ground by her clothes, “How can you laugh at a time like this?”

Sarina seemed to become very serious suddenly, “Think about it, Mara, how could the little princess and me still be here if Akina had killed herself?”

“You really went and did it this time, didn’t you my child?” Someone asked and I quickly looked back to see Princess Akina crouching above her own dead body while holding her hand out to herself that lay while bleeding, “Your acting was enough to send even our brother to tears.”

The dead Akina suddenly took the hand of the Princess that stood and she helped her other self up before she smiled, “I thought I would give Mara an understanding of what he was threatening.”

Princess Akina brushed some of her other self’s hair out of her face with a sad expression, “You have suffered enough, my child. You can go back to sleep now.” Everyone watched as the two princesses hugged each other and the one who had just been lying dead seemed to almost morph back into the princess’s body. The dead princess was gone suddenly and the young woman ran over with a smile.

“That was funny, big sis! They actually believed that was you!”

The real princess Akina patted the top of the girl’s head, “Well she was me right after Sarina died,” The princess looked over to Mara as he watched her in horror, “That creature you just let kill herself was none other than me after you took Sarina away. Do you now understand what you have created? You helped me create a memory that could even bleed on its own.”

“That’s not possible!”

“Then what do you consider all of this as? A dream? An illusion? No, Mara, this is nightmares brought to reality.”

“Are you mad!” Mara’s right hand man hollered and everyone seemed to stop, including Mara, Sarina, and the princess, “The only way you could achieve this much power is to give up some of your life force!”

The young woman seemed outraged as she hurried over to Mara’s right hand man, “You don’t know anything so do not speak as if you do!” She hollered, “What is the advantage of having more years to live if they are only filled with sorrow?” She started to cry but never lost her anger, “We have no one left! Big brother hates us, Solomon loves Sarina, and our best friend is dead! All we have left to do is bury our one and only friend before we go!” She started shaking, “Tomorrow big sister turns 1000 years old! We don’t want to live another thousand years with no one at our side because we have had enough loneliness and pain!” She turned towards the princess who was walking towards us but even Mara gasped when the princess slapped the young woman across the face.

“Be silent, you insolent child!” She hissed but then suddenly was gone. We all searched around the room with our eyes to find her but I quickly noticed her standing on the far side of Mara, “Restrain him, my knights.” She whispered and then closed her eyes. When they opened Two people came from the floor, just as they young woman had, and the two men quickly grabbed one of Mara’s arms each. I quickly recognized that the two men must have been Mara and Solomon from when they were younger by their faces. She turned to Sarina, “Go take care of that child and Logan while I deal with this man.” Sarina hurried over to the young woman as Akina walked directly in front of Mara.

“What is the meaning of this, Akina?”

She sighed and looked over to my prince that was near me, “I’m running out of time. I need to finish this game of cat and mouse now before I am stopped once more.”

“Stopped? By who?”

She looked back to Mara but then to the floor, “By my only remaining guard.”

He smiled slightly, “You are afraid Solomon will figure out his true past and realize he does not love you, but he loves the dead Sarina?”

She took a step closer and wrapped her arms around his neck with a smile, “You certainly are a smart boy,” She stood on her toes, “Now lets see what you know,” Her fangs sank into Mara’s neck as his eyes widened and he tried to struggle. The princess removed her fangs after a moment and took a few steps away from Mara before looking over to Sarina, “I’m still not done using this man, Sarina, so do not kill him just yet.” Sarina nodded before hustling over to Mara. She started beating him up while the two men held him still. Princess Akina’s attention went to the young woman, “Logan is of no use anymore, my child, so you may play with him.”

She smiled, “Yay!” Before I knew anything her arms had morphed into swords and chopped the poor man apart. Akina took a gun out of her suit and held it towards my prince but when she shot three times the bullets never hit him. Instead the three men holding us dropped dead, but were replaced by three people who morphed from the floor.



I walked over to where my brother, Ulrick, and Luke were being held by those I controlled and smiled before kissing my brother’s cheek. Blood that had been on my lips from Mara now stayed on brother’s cheek as a mark, “I hope the three of you don’t mind, but I need you to come with me for a little while,” I turned to my side as myself as a child came over with a smile. She hugged me and slowly returned to my body before the Mara and Solomon of my memories came to my side and became part of me once more.

“Did you get the information from Mara that you needed, Akina?” Sarina asked as she put her hand on my shoulder.

“He gave me much more information that I thought he contained,” I smiled up to her, “Including a few things about my father I was never told.”

“We should get going. Solomon is very close.”

“Yes, lets go.” I said and everyone followed me, including the three men who were being forced. We got in my car and I quickly started driving to where Mara’s memory told me to go.

“I understand why you chose the queen to keep the prince still, but who are those other two, Akina?”

She sighed, “Humans I met recently. The brown haired woman, Kaci, was very hospitable towards me while I was on my last mission in the states and the blonde haired woman, Adabelle, is very hospitable in the place I am staying right now.”

“You have always been very fond of human women, haven’t you? But I can understand why since you darling little half sister was a pure human just like your father.”

My grip on the steering wheel tightened, “Possibly,” I replied, “Is Solomon still on our trail?”

She shook her head, “Right now he is investigating the old building we were in.”

“And he cannot find Mara?”

“Yes, he cannot detect the barrier you have put around him to make him invisible.”

“Good. I still need him. He has become a very large advantage for me.”

“But he is still a threat towards your well being, Akina. Why couldn’t I just kill him?”

“He does not deserve death, Sarina, that is too good for him. He deserves to cry over the death of the only woman he has ever loved.”

“So you plan to die in front of him?”

“Yes,” I stopped the car and quickly rushed out as Sarina followed me. When I came upon the grave in the middle of the cemetary that Mara had stuck in his memory I stopped and looked to Sarina, “This is where you should lie.”

“Do I have to?”

I nodded, “It’s time for you to finally rest in peace, Sarina. You have protected me long enough and now I renounce your title as my knight,” Tears escaped me as they fell down her cheeks. We embraced before I watched her disapear. I went back to the car and quickly got in but was quiet the whole way back to school. When I stopped the car I quickly grabbed my cell phone and dialed the number I needed.

“Hello?”

“Chairman? It’s me.”

“Hey, Sarina, what’s up?”

I smiled at the sound of Mason’s voice, “I’m going to be coming back to the states tomorrow and am planning to arrive at around 6 tomorrow night. Could you possibly meet with me?” I sighed with some nervousness, “I have something very important to tell you, Mason, and I want to tell you as soon as possible.”

“Is something wrong?”

I shook my head, “No, I just need to talk with you.”

“Alright, I will meet you at my place whenever you get back.”

“See you tomorrow.” I replied before hanging up and getting out of the car. I made sure the three men were forced to follow me up to my room where I locked the entire room so that it was my domain and my mind controlled everything other than the three men. I made the three people holding them dissapear before I sat on my bed and lay down with my eyes closed. I forced the pillows and blankets in the closet to come out and lay out on the floor, “Feel free to sleep.”

“Who says you can order us around?”

I turned to my side and smiled while looking to my brother, “That was not a order, brother, that was an offer.” I sat up and grabbed the boddle of blood pills. As I started to unscrew the lid off of the bottle I was shocked to see Luke put his hand over mine.

“Princess, you will get ill from too much blood if you take those.”

I laid back down and looked up to Luke, “I am almost drained of all blood, Luke, due to so much fightning.”

“I’m leaving,” Brother said as he went to the door but when his hand touched the door knob he started choking and quickly backed up, “What the hell was that? I suddenly couldn’t breath!”

I sighed as I watched the ceiling, “I control this room, brother, so if you try to escape all of the oxygen in the air around you will disapear,” I looked over to him, “I suggest you do not try that again because each time you try to escape the consequence will be worse.” My phone started ringing but I could not feel my legs so I willed the phone to come over to me from my desk, “Hello?”

“Sarina, it’s me.”

“Hey, how did your search turn out?”

Solomon sighed, “He was gone by the time I got there but all of his followers were dead.”

“It sounds like someone beat you to killing him.”

“Seems so,” He paused for a moment, “You sound weird, is something wrong?”

I smiled, “No, I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Oh?”

“Well after you dropped me off Adabelle invited me to her house for dinner. Her little sister is just too cute.”

“That’s the little girl who told Hellion off, correct?”

I nodded, “Yea, she actually asked me if Hellion had yelled at me again even though she told him not to, but of course I told her he didn’t and she was pleased.”

“Good, good. Well I’ll let you get to sleep. Goodnight.”

“’Night. I love you.” I whispered before hanging up the phone and looking to Luke, “The three of you should get some sleep. We will have to leave here by four to catch our flight.”

“What flight?” Brother demanded as he came closer to me.

“You still want to kill me with your own two hands, correct brother?” I asked and he froze, “Well there are a few things I need to do before I will allow you to kill me.”

“So you’re giving up?”

I shook my head, “I only have about a month left to live,” I whispered and Ulrick watched me with as much fear in his eyes as Luke had in his, “If I had not fought Mara tonight I would still have about five years left in life but, as Logan said, I am using up my life force. If I don’t use my powers ever again I could last another two years but in order to reach my final goals I need to bring you with me which means my life span will likely shorten to about a month.”

“Then just stop using your powers, Princess!” Ulrick yelled and I let out a small laugh.

“If I stop using my powers I will die tonight,” I replied before looking to my brother, “Your beloved Prince will kill me,” I looked away, “Be patient, brother. I will be sure not to die before you can do it with your own hands. Now, you three need to sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

I suddenly couldn’t breath so I quickly woke up and finally was able to breath through a cough. What startled me was the warmth that suddenly came to my lap and I looked down to see blood. Too much blood. Tears came down my face and I could not control them. The poison of my powers must have finally started affecting my organs. But it was at my legs last night so it was moving quickly. It was moving quicker than it should be. I put my hands over my mouth to try to stop coughing but was hit with the feeling that I couldn’t breath. I let out another cough and with this one my entire body shook. I ripped back my covers and started to make my way over to the door so that I could be in the hall and not wake up the three men in my room but I had already lost too much blood. I fell but caught myself with my hands and could feel the blood on them smearing onto the floor. I coughed again and my body shook as my tears became worse. My attention was diverted when a lamp in the room was turned on and Luke looked over to me with horror. I was forced to look back at the ground when another cough came and my body shook violently. “Princess!” He whispered as he ran over to me.

“Don’t come any closer!” I screamed and then coughed violently a few more violent coughs attacked me. Brother and Ulrick came to Luke’s said as they all watched me. I looked up to brother, “Have you taught them nothing? He will become my knight if he touches my blood! You have to warn your followers of such things!” I coughed and shook, but my arms couldn’t support me anymore. I fell and coughed again.

“Akina…” Brother whispered in horror.

“It’s alright,” I replied before coughing again, “This meer illness will not kill me and take away your glory.”

“But…”

I looked over to Luke, “Grab the bag that is in my closet. There should be a container of medicine in there.”

“Right!” Luke called before running over and grabbing the medication before bringing it over to me. I swallowed a few pills before standing up with one last cough of blood and going to my set of drawers next to my bed. I took out a needle filled with fluid and quickly pulled of its seal with my teeth. I shoved it into my arm before squeezing the medicine in and the pain weakened.

I looked over to the three startled men, “Shows over. Get back to sleep or you will be of no use to me later.”



I never went back to sleep that night but I did some work while the other three slept. At 3 I got up and started to change into a pair of jeans and a sweater but my phone rang. I grabbed it off my bed and answered it but quickly put my jeans on the rest of the way while I held the phone up with my shoulder, “Hello?”

“Akina, it’s me.”

“Hey Geroge, how are you?”

“Good, good. Well I was calling to check up on you.”

I sighed as I took off my shirt even though I knew all three men had been woken up by my phone, “Well the pills are certainly relieving the pain, but the poison has already reached my lungs.”

“Oh? What happened when it did?”

I slipped on my sweater, “It made it so I couldn’t breath other than coughing. But when I coughed, blood came out. Also, the tingling in my legs has gotten worse and I have lost all feeling in my feet.”

“I would recommend that you stop fighting, but I know it would just be a waste of breath.”

I let out a small laugh, “Yes,” I replied as I sat on my bed and slipped on my socks, “Not fighting isn’t exactly an option anymore. I’m in way over my head right now so there’s no way I can stop halfway.”

“Well try to keep your usage minimal.”

“You got it doc.”

“See you later Akina.”

“Bye George.” I hung up and quickly called the president of the company I worked for.

“Hello?”

“President, it’s me.”

“How are you?”

I bit my lip, “President, I need that address again. The one that will tell me how to find her. It’s very crucial that I get it.”

“What’s with the sudden need to see her?”

I looked to the ceiling of the room, “Its been almost 20 years since I saw her and I think its about time.”

“Well alright. I will send it to your cell phone.”

“I need another thing from you, President.”

“Oh?”

I lay down on my bed, “I need Hellion as far away from any royal connections for the next week, especially his fiance and family.”

“That is almost impossible.”

“President,” I hissed, “This is not a request. This is an order. It is very important that Hellion is far from all royal communication.”

He sighed, “What are you planning, my dear girl?”

I clenched my fists, “There is something I need from my mother and when I go back to the home I ran from I will be prosecuted and I cannot have Hellion coming in and stopping this.”

“You plan to meet with your mother?”

“I need to introduce my mother to her.”

“Alright, I will see what I can do.” He said before I hung up and put on a pir of brown leather boots.

“Akina, I’m not entirely sure on what you are planning, but you know father will stop you before you can get to mom.”

I looked over to brother as he stood, “Once he knows what I am bringing to him he will welcome me with open arms.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I smiled towards him, “He’s always wanted a grand daughter so he will be glad to meet her.”

“Grand daughter!” He gasped and hurried over to me but stopped when I cut off his oxygen.

“Tomorrow is her 30th birthday so I intend to introduce her to her grandmother.”

“Is it a human’s child?”

I shook my head, “I would never mate with a human to create another outcast, brother. Her father is a pure blooded vampire.”

“Who is the bastard?”

I stood and streched my arms, “Everything will make sense in due time, brother, be patient.”


When we got on the airplane the vampire crew greeted brother with open arms along with the other two but I made sure to keep a low profile with my light brown hair, green eyes, and tan complexion. Brother, Luke, and Ulrick sat in 1st class, but they all seemed surprised when I went back to coach. After the flight had taken off and reached a level altitude we were allowed to move around. Luke came back to me and sat in the two open seats next to me I was sure the president had bought on purpose, “You should sit in first class.”

I looked up to Luke but still leaned my head against the window, “I am a commoner, not a royal guard or family member so I sit back here as I am supposed to.”

He leaned closer to me, “But you are the princess.”

I smiled towards him, “If I came out and said I was myself, a large uproar would occur and I would be stopped by father’s guards.”

“That’s true.”

I put my hand gently against his cheek, “Thank you for the concern, Luke, but I have been without a guard in 8 years so I have learned to take care of myself,” I took my hand away from his face and put it over his hand that rested on the handrest between us, “Tell me, Luke, has my brother created a knight to stay at his side yet?”

He shook his head, “He says there is not a point in letting someone know his every thought.”

“I thought so.”

“Do you have any knights?”

I nodded, “I created three within the year I left home. Sarina, Solomon, and Mara were my knights.”

“Then how can Solomon and Mara be so far away from you?”

I looked to my legs, “Mara took Solomon’s memories so he does not know he is a knight and I banished Mara from my side when he went against Sarnia and me.”

“You really cared for Sarina, didn’t you?”

“She is the only friend I have ever had,” I removed my hand from Luke’s hand, “Luke, could you bring Ulrick back here? I need to talk to both of you. But don’t worry, I will keep a protective forcefield around my brother while you two are away.”

He nodded before getting up and leaving. He came back quickly with Ulrick and they sat in my empty row, “What’s up?”

I looked to Ulrick, “You two need to fully understand the situation if you plan to follow my brother any longer. I do not feel it is right that you do not know everything when you follow him.”

“Alright, what is it?”

I sighed and leaned closer to them, “I left home so long ago because…” I cleared my throat as it felt dry with horror, “Brother was planning to assasinate me,” They both froze, “He has been searching for me so that he can kill me since he believes I am a disgrace to the family due to the fact that my father was human and not the king.”

“I can’t believe this…” Luke whispered as his face went pale.

“The time may come that you two may have to help brother kill me and I want the two of you to decide if you can help him before we move any further. I understand that I have created connections between the two of you before I knew who you actually were but you two have to choose if you will be able to follow my brother regardless of his decisions,” I sat up straight, “Sarnia was supposed to become brother’s wife and Mara was to become his knight, but once I told them exactly what was going on they severed all ties they had with my brother. Now I am not saying you have to give up on my brother because you do not agree with what he is doing, I just mean that you should not be at his side right now if you cannot follow him full heartedly.”

“But didn’t I become close to Sarina?” Ulrick asked.

I shook my head, “I may have gone through your school with Sarina’s face and voice, but the person who became close to you, the both of you, was all me. Sarina did not create friendships with you,” I looked towards where brother was sitting, “You two must decide by the end of this flight and if you choose to leave you must do so immediately when we reach America. If you do not it will be too late.” I turned away from them and after a moment they left me and went back to brother’s side. I slept for most of the flight but made sure my mind never stopped watching my brother, Ulrick, and Luke. When we touched down I met the three men in the terminal. Ulrick and Luke had chosen to say so I smiled to them before walking through the terminal.

“Sister,” Brother said and I looked back to him but kept walking, “Will we be going home tonight?”

I shook my head, “The preperations are still not complete so tonight I have reserved a room in the nicest hotel in the city for you and your guards.”

“Will you be staying with us?”

I shook my head, “I have other things I need to do.”

“You are going to see a man?”

I smiled towards him, “It is nothing like you are imagining, brother,” I turned to him and walked backwards like a little child would, “I am meerely going to meet one of my friends I need for the final preperations.”

“So this man has power?”

I nodded before turning back around, “He is a cousin of a royal family and is also the head of my company I work for,” I sighed as I looked at the clock we passed, “Brother be sure to look your best tomorrow. I will meet the three of you in front of your hotel at 8.”

“Will we be meeting your child?”

I switched the hand that was carrying my bag, “Yes, she is looking forward to meeting you. She told me so when I called her after we touched down,” I stopped as I went out of the airport before jogging over to a familiar face, “William!” I called and the very handsome vampire man walked over to me. He kissed me gently before turning and bowing to brother.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Sariel.”

I gestured towards the man, “William is one of my guards. He will bring you to your hotel and is staying across the hall just in case the three of you need something. Also, if you need to contact me just ask William and he will help you,” I put my hand on his left cheek before kissing his right, “Be sure to accomidate to any of their needs.”

“Anything for you, my lovely.”

I smiled towards him, “I’ve got to go so I will see the four of you tomorrow morning.” I hurried over to the curb and a taxi quickly came to me. I got in with a smile and told the man where to go before watching the four men as I was driven away. I paid the taxi man when I got to Mason’s home and then went to his door. I rang the bell and he came to open the door with a smile.

“Sarina, come on in.”

“Thanks.” I replied before walking in and setting down my bag. I followed him to his kitchen before sitting down at the table. He brought over some coffee and then sat down across from me.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

I watched him, “I need a favor.”


I got out of Mason’s bed at six and got ready as he still slept. As I was changing after taking a shower and drying my hair he finally got up, “Good morning, sleeping beauty.” I joked and he walked over to me.

He kissed me deeply, “How long until we have to meet Sarial?”

I looked to the clock, “About an hour. You should get a move on.”

He nodded, “I’ll go take a shower.” I went to the kitchen and took some of my numbing pills before reading the news paper. When Mason was ready we left his house. I got into the passenger’s seat of his mustang and as he drove I realized I felt much better than I had in a while. It was probably because I had gotten a new knight, which I had not done in a long time. Mason’s hand wrapped around mine and held it tightly, “What’s wrong, Akina? You’re very quiet.”

I smiled but did not look to him, “Actually I was just thinking about how much better I feel. Mixing our blood has relieved me of almost all of my pain.”

His grip tightened for a second, “I’m glad. You seemed so miserable before so I’m happy I could help.”

I turned to him, “Are you sure you want to come with me?”

He smiled while watching the road, “I’ve loved you since you were my teacher, Akina, so of course I want to stay by your side. This bond we have is just more excuse for me to follow you.” We stopped in front of the hotel and I saw brother yelling at William so I quickly got out.

“William!” I called and he looked over to me, “What’s wrong, Prince Sarial?”

“The prince was not pleased when I refused to take him to the place you were staying last night.”

“Is there something you needed from me, Prince?”

Brother frowned towards me, “You did not give me enough informtaion on what you were doing last night so I suspected you were going to run from us.”

I smiled towards him, “Why would I run when I could easliy kill you, Prince Sarial? I am in control here so if I wanted to get away from you I certainly would not have let you know who I am,” I kissed William’s cheek, “Thanks for taking care of them.”

He shook his head, “They were barely any trouble at all.”

“I’m glad, well I will call you next week,” I said before watching him walk away, “Prince, would you be alright if we walked? It is such a nice winter day and the place we are going is not far.”

“If you insist.”

I jogged over to Mason’s car, “Hey, could you park? We are going to walk.” He nodded before driving off and I went back to brother. I allowed Mason to kiss me deeply in front of the men before he took my hand in his, “Prince Sarial, this is my knight. His name is Mason.”

“Knight? Since when did you have a fourth knight?”

Mason smiled towards my brother, “Akina allowed me to become her follower yesterday.”

Brother watched me, “Why are you allowing this boy to follow us when you say you do not need anyone?”

I sighed, “Mara has caught onto my trail so I asked Mason to become my shield. I cannot spare enough power to fight Mara again. I am too weak right now for such things.”

Mason’s grip tightened and I looked up to him, “I’m not sure if you should be walking out here in the cold since your fever has still not gone down.”

I leaned on him, “It is not far so I will be fine.” I turned and started walking. The other followed behind me down a few blocks and then over one before I stopped at a nice home in the middle of the city. I rang the doorbell and a very familiar woman smiled towards me.

“Ah, my dear, it is so good to see you!”

I let go of Mason’s hand and hugged the woman, “How have you been, Demi? It has been too long.”

“We have been doing wonderfully!” She replied, “But I am afraid that Alex is not here yet. She went to work early this morning and was planning to be here to greet you, but got held up in a meeting.”

I smiled, “It is fine. Do you mind if we wait inside for her?”

She smile back to me, “Please come in,” She led us into the living room and everyone sat down except for me, “All they have been talking about since we got your call is that you were coming. Can you believe they actually spend a whole day arguing on where to take you for lunch this afternoon.”

I let out a small laugh, “I’m glad they are happy to hear from me.”

There was a knock at the door and Demi quickly rushed off to answer it, “Hello you two, our guests are waiting for you in the living room, if you want to go say hello.” I heard two people running but was shocked as a young woman ran over to me while crying.

I embraced her tightly but reopened my right arm so the teenage boy who also came to me crying could be embraced too. They cried as they squeezed me tightly and I just soothingly brushed my fingers through their hair, “It’s alright now, I’m here. There’s no need to cry,” I whispered and they both looked up to my teary eyes, “Now where are those smiles I have been dying to see?” They both smiled as they cried and I laughed slightly before kissing either of them on the cheek.

They finally let go of me and brushed their tears off their faces, “Sorry, we would have been here on time but Brendon’s date went longer than expected.”

I looked from the woman to the teenage boy, “So you have a companion? I’m glad to hear it but I certainly hope I did not cut your time short with your loved one.”

He shook his head, “You did nothing. I’m just glad you came.”

I smiled, “Well I brought someone I thought you two might want to meet,” I said and then looked over to my brother, “The man sitting in the middle of the large couch is the prince of the vampires and is also your uncle?”

Brother stood with anger, “Who is this boy, Akina?”

I put my hand on the teenage boy’s head, “This is my son, Brendon, he just turned 22,” I put my hand on the young woman’s head, “And this is my daughter Sarah, she is soon going to be 30.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you had two children?”

I watched my brother, “Because I though it would be too much to suddenly mention that I have two children.” My daughter hung on my shoulder and I looked to her.

“Mom, who is the handsome man who keeps staring at you?”

I smiled towards her, “That is my knight named Mason.”

Mason stood and walked over to Sarah before shaking her hand, “It is nice to meet you,” He shook Brendon’s hand, “The both of you.”

Brendon squeezed Mason’s hand after they hand finished shaking hands, “So you are watching out for mom’s well being?” He asked and Mason nodded, “Be sure to keep her safe, Mr. Mason, or I will have to make your life a living hell.”

“Brendon.” I warned and he let go of Mason. When Mason sat down brother came over and took a closer look at Sarah.

“You look much like your grandmother, Sarah. You should be honored to look like such a wonderful woman.”

“Well thank you, Uncle Sarial.”

He looked to Brendon, “They both look like mother.”

I nodded and brother looked to me, “Yes and they both are as smart as she is.”

Brother watched me, “Do you intend to give your children to the royal family?”

“Mom says it would be best for us to learn how to be part of the royal family from our grandmother and you.”

“Well let’s go to lunch!” I announced, “We need to make it fairly quick since I plan on making you guys dinner.”

“Really!” Sarah gasped and I nodded before she cheered.


After everyone had gone to sleep in the house I went downstairs and read a book while drinking some tea Demi had made me. I did not look up from my book until I heard someone walk into the room and I was surprised to see brother. He walked over and sat in the one person couch to my right, “Those two children certainly are very optomistic.”

I nodded as I looked back down to my book, “They have lived a very normal lifestyle here with Demi as their guardian.”

“Both of them seem to hang off of you like young children.”

I took a sip of tea, “Well I have not been with them in a long time so they are very clingy. They also do not enjoy that when I am with them I usually leave within a month.”

“Do you miss them when you are away?”

I nodded and closed my book, “They are my children so of course I miss them. I would stay with them if I could.”

He was silent for a moment, “They asked me a lot of questions.”

I looked to him for the first time, “That is because I have told them many stories about you. They do not know anything bad about you and I plan to keep it that way. I also plan to never tell them all of my past. They don’t need to know that they are not full vampires because that can only hurt their pride.”

He watched me as I took another drink of my tea, “You said to that doctor on the phone that a ‘poison’ is spreading through you, what did you mean by that?”

I looked to my legs, “Since I left home I have learned many ways to protect myself but many of the tecniques I learned were considered forbidden because if they are used frequently they will kill the user. I have been using those types of techniques for over 500 years now and that has made it so poison that is destroying my body is slowly moving from my feet up and will not stop until I die.”

“There might be something that can save you.”

I frowned towards him, “What does it matter? I will be killed by you either way so I might as well go out fighting,” I looked away, “Are you going to kill those kids because they are my children?”

“No.”

I leaned back on the couch, “You should sleep. We will be going to meet the royal family tomorrow afternoon.”

“What about you? Are you going to sleep.”

“Please do not pretend to care about me, brother. That will just make things worse.” I stood and left the room. When I went up the staircase and went into Brendon and Sarah’s room. I read with the light of the moon that came through the window I sat in front of.


When we pulled up to the gates of the royal palace brother got out and requested the opening of the gates. Luke drove us into the front roundabout of the house but when I got out of the car a guard quickly ran over and tried to grab my arms but I shot a glance at him and his oxygen was cut off. He back away until he could breath again but multiple guards came close as they held guns towards me, “You are forbidden from this house, Princess Akina! Surrender yourself now or we will have to use force.”

I looked to make sure everyone was on the other side of the car Luke had borrowed before letting out a laugh, “I’d rather die!”

“Fire at will!” The same guard yelled as Luke, Ulrick, brother, Sarah, Brendon, and Mason watched me in terror. Rounds of bullets flew at me and I heard Sarah scream in terror while Brendon tried to get out of Mason’s grasp.

“Cease fire!” A woman hollered and the guards stopped as I turned around to see my mother running past the groups of people who had come with me and over to my side, “Akina!”

I smiled as I turned to her, “I’m alright,” I replied and she watched in shock as the bullets came out of my skin and the wounds they left healed up, “Your guards have good aim. They hit me in the heart at least 10 times.”

“What in the world do you think you are doing here, Akina? You should have told me you were coming!”

I smiled, “But then it would not have been a surprise.”

Suddenly a pair of shackles were put on my wrists, “I told you to stop this!” Mother screamed to the guard.

“I’m sorry, my queen, but the king instructed us to captrue the princess if she was to ever show up.”

“But!”

“Mom!” I interrupted, “It’s alright!”

“How can you say that?”

“The king will be please to meet with me. I have no doubt in my mind,” I walked over to the group as my mother followed but she was shocked when Sarah and Brendon ran to me and hugged me while crying, “Shh, it’s alright.” I whispered while they cried.

“Don’t be so reckless!” Sarah begged and I kissed her head.

“Let’s go inside.” I suggested and I followed behind my brother to the inside of the palace. We went into the main hall and I stopped when I saw my stepfather stand from his throne.

“Order them to take these shackles off of Akina!” Mom hollered and my stepfather frowned.

“What is your buisness here, Akina? You were disowned.”

I sighed and then looked at the shackles on my hands. The king gasped when he saw them unlatch and fall to the ground. I put either arm around my childen as I stood between them, “I thought you and mom would like to meet your grandchildren.”

“Grandchildren!” The king hollered as he came closer and looked over to brother for an explination.

“Sister Akina is very ill and may not live for much longer so she came to me and insisted that I had to meet my neice and nephew. She then told me she planned to bring them here to meet you since you have always wanted grandchildren, father.”

“Father,” I announced and he looked over to me, “This is your nearly 30 year old granddaughter Sarah and your 22 year old grandson Brendon,” I watched him with power, “I will be dying by the end of this month and I was hoping you would consider accepting Sarah and Brendon as the grandchildren of the king and queen of the vampires. I know I am disowned, but I hoped you would think about allowing them to become part of this family. I have already taught them many things I was taught as a child and they are both extremely smart and kind,” I looked back to my mom, “They have been eager to meet the two of you for some time now.”

“Do these children have the same father?”

“Yes.”

“Then who is their father?”

I cleared my throat, “Prince Hellion Nicksel.”

The king’s face turned grim, “You intend to tell me that these children are that of an engaged prince?”

I nodded, “Hellion does not know about them because I do not plan to ruin his engagement.”

“If he knew they existed, would he cancel his engagement?”

I watched my stepfather intensly, “I know for a fact he would.”

“That is problematic.”

“But my king, these children are respectful, smart,…” I started to add on but suddenly stopped breathing. I coughed and blood covered the floor in front of me before I dropped into it. I sat in the pool of my own blood as my body shook while tears fell and I kept coughing up more blood even though I had my shaking hands over my mouth.

“Akina!” My mother gasped but I could not comfort her. I felt some relief when Mason kneeled at my side and held out the pills from my doctor. As I took them I heard Mason rip off the cap from the needle with his teeth before I was hit by the pain. I squeezed my hands together and continued to cough until I felt the pills and injection stop the cough. When I started to stand my legs shook and I fell back to the ground where Mason grabbed me. I leaned on his chest as my tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

“This is bad.”

Mason’s hands were shaking, “You shouldn’t have allowed those soldiers to shoot you! You’re too weak to use your powers!”

“My legs are numb,” I whispered and everyone watched me, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk anymore.”

“Someone get a doctor!” My stepfather cried as Brother, Ulrick, and Luke ran out of the room for help.

“Mom!” Sarah cried as she and Brendon hugged me. I put my arms around them as I shook.

“It’s okay. The worse part is over.”

“Don’t fight anymore, mom!” Brendon begged, “You’ll die if you fight again!”

I smiled towards him even though tears were falling down my face, “I’m not going to die yet, baby. It’s okay.” He cried harder as they both held me tighter until they were forced to let go as a doctor came into the room.

“George!” I called with relief as I saw him rush into the hall. He came over to me and I let out a small laugh.

“The coughing started again.”

“You fought again?”

“Yea, sorry,” I whispered, “But now I can’t feel my legs.”

“First, lets get you out of those clothes and into bed. You need to rest or you won’t last till tomorrow. While you sleep I will run some tests and see what I can do to slow down the process or at least relieve the pain.”

“Okay.” I whispered before Mason picked me up.



I stopped training when the doors to the castle were opened and I quickly put down my sword. I lightly jogged over to Brendon and kissed his forehead, “How are you this morning?”

“Good, but what are you doing out here, mom?”

“Warming up before I train.”

“And Uncle?”

“Is here with his guards to observe me. Your grandfather does not believe that I am healthy enough to be fighting so he sent your uncle here to watch over me,” I smiled as I went and picked up my sword, “Would you be willing to spar with me? I want to see if those lessons you have been taking are working.”

He snorted while laughing, “You know I can’t even compare with you, mom. Someone needs godly powers and hundreads of years of training in order to even keep up with you.”

I smiled, “I’ll tell you what, you can use anything you want in the fight and I will not use my powers or my arms.”

“Alright, I will humor you, mom.”

“Do you want to use this sword?”

He nodded, “You taught me to fight with a sword before anything else so that is my best shot.”

I handed him the sword, “Don’t forget to focus all of your mind and energy on your opponent. If you are distracted for even a second you will lose.”

He nodded, “Try not to do more than your body can handle, okay mom?”

I smirked, “I’m reckless and a risk taker, but I am not a fool so there is no reason to worry.” My son came at me quickly with the sword. He cut down, I moved to my right. He sliced sideways, I ducked. We danced to the tune of war until he started breathing heavily and slowled down before chopping at me. I flipped backwards and smiled to him as I kept my hands behind my back, “You are certainly better than I expected, Brendon, you must be training every day.”

He smiled while still gasping for breath, “Well I have to prove I am your son, don’t I?”

I nodded, “Would you like to take a break?”

He shook his head, “I can keep going if you can, old woman.”

I giggled, “Well with that type of foul language I might have to actually try against you.”

He came after me and we danced for almost the same amount of time as before but I stopped when Brendon fell to the ground and lay on his back while sucking in air, “I give up, you win.”

I smiled and went to his side. I sat down next to him and shook my head, “No, you won.”

“What?”

I turned my right side towards him and showed him the blood dripping from my upper arm, “You got me just a moment before you quit. Good job.”

He let out a laugh, “Of course I win right as I am giving up!”

I brushed some of his hair out of his face, “Sometimes, in battle, it is better to give up and let your instincts take over. That is what you did and you won because of it.”

He watched me, “So you let me win?”

I smiled, “Something like that,” I replied before helping him up off the ground.

“What about your wound, mom?”

“Once Mason is back he will heal it.”

“So is Mason really going to become our guardian?”

I nodded, “He is great with you guys and is very trustworthy. Mason was actually my student a long time ago so I know his fighting skills are perfect,” I quickly changed the subject due to the people who listened in, “So is your girlfriend coming to the party tonight?”

“Yea, she is really excited to meet you.”

I smiled, “Then the feeling is mutual,” I replied, “What are you going to wear tonight?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I tell you what, you go get yourself cleaned up and we can go into the nearest town to get you a tuxedo made new.”

“That’s not nessesary, mom. I can just go buy one. You should stay here and rest.”

I smiled and slugged him lightly on the shoulder, “Who needs to rest? Me or the punk sitting here gasping like a fish out of water?”

“Mom, I’m being serious here.”

I watched him, “At least take Mason with you. Just in case.”

“He should stay here with you, mom. I don’t have anyone who would come and attack me so I’ll be fine on my own.”

I put my hand on his arm and squeezed slightly so he understood I was scared for him, “Until I am in my grave, you will have people constantly after you and Sarah. People will try to stop what I am doing here and they will take you as a bargining chip.”

“Are you referring to Mara?”

I nodded, “There are others I am worried about, but he is the most prominent threat. One of my guards spotted him in the next town over only yesterday afternoon so he may be close by. I’m sure he can already tell I’m here.”

“Do you think he will show up tonight?”

I let go of him, “It’s a high possibility.”

“Then you shouldn’t go.”

I smiled, “Mara has no chance against me anymore, baby. Even if he gets near me we will never fight because Mason will kill him.”

He gave me a sideways glance, “Won’t our real dad get jealous when grandfather tells him Mason is our dad?”

I lay back on the ground and looked to the ceiling, “It’s for the best, baby. He and his fiance will be getting married in a month.”

Brendon took my hand in his, “You have feelings for him right? He is one of the three?”

I watched his eyes before looking to our joined hands, “That was a long time ago, Brendon. I still lived under this roof when I felt compassion towards that man. It was just a childish crush.”

“Will all three of the men you have loved be there tonight?”

I slowly stood from the ground, “Two have been invited and the other will be sneaking his way in soon enough so yes, they will all be coming tonight,” I squeezed his hand in mine before pulling him up off the ground, “I’ll be sure to point out your father to the two of you.”

He watched me with sorrow, “I’ll go see if Mason is back.” He replied before kissing my cheek, letting go of my hand, and leaving the building. I went over and picked up the sword that was on the ground before walking over to the hay bails my brother had chosen as his throne. I stabbed a nearby bail with the sword before looking to him.

“Be sure to act very humbly while Hellion is here tonight, brother. If he feels that you still want to kill me he may try to stop you.”

“I plan to act as kind as possible towards you in front of the others, Akina. We have been taught to act so durring our entire lives.”

I looked to the sword, “Yes, well do not stay out here for too much longer. The party is nearly upon us.” I quickly left the building and went over to the castle.

I felt odd in such an expensive dress due to the fact I had not been in once since I left this house almost 700 years ago. The dress was a crystal blue with a violet sash at the waist, alternated indigo and violet sashes across my bussom, and had embroidered indigo and violet beads in the shape of artistic style stars throughout the shirt. My black hair was pulled up into curls that were held up by indigo and violet beaded clips and only a few curls fell loosely in the back. I had a pair of matching earring, necklace, and bracelets that made me feel as though I was a true princess. I waited in a hall outside of two different rooms on opposite sides of the hallway. The door that held Sarah opened first and I was comfronted with a beautiful woman dressed much like me but in pink, magenta, and orange. She smiled with a blush and I laughed, “Does it look bad?”

I smiled back, “Not at all, you are just so shy it’s funny.”

“Is Brendon still not out?”

I shook my head, “I haven’t heard anything since Mason went in to help him get ready.”

“Hurry up!” Sarah hollered as she bangged on the door.

“Hold on, we’re almost finished.” Mason called back and we both waited for a moment until the two men came out of the room. Brendon lightly tugged on either side of his bow tie and then winked at me.

“The name’s Bond. James Bond.” He said in a rediculous british accent and Sarah burst into laughter along with me.

Mason sighed, “He’s been doing that for the past hour.”

I hugged Brendon on his side and smiled to Mason, “He’s just a baby, Mason, so its normal for him to be a goofball.”

Brendon took a long look at me, “Mom, no one is going to believe you are the mother of 2 kids with that body.”

I smiled before letting go of him, “You look great also,” I went over to Mason and adjusted his bow slightly, “It’s been a long time since I saw you in a tux.”

He nodded, “It’s been too long.”

I took his hand in mine, “Are you two ready?” I asked the kids and they nodded. They followed behind Mason and me when we started walking to where the party had started about an hour before. I gave the signal to a maid on the gound level as I stood near the top of the staircase of the second floor and she ran to my step father. The king, mom, brother, Luke, and Ulrick were brought to the top of the staircase and the king was handed a microphone.

He cleared his throat and everyone became silent, “I would like to welcome you all to our home this evening! My wife and I actually planned this ball tonight in order to introduce the newest members of our family!” He gestured towards me and I quickly walked over to his side with a broad smile, “We welcome our only daughter back into our family along with her husband!” Mason came to my side and took my hand in his, “Also we would like to introduce everyone to the next generation of our family, my grandson Prince Brendon and my granddaughter Princess Sarah!”

Many people gasped but everyone started to clap after a while.

“Now please enjoy your evening!” The king handed off his microphone before decending down the staircase while we all followed him. The first to reach me was Princess Mina.

“Akina! It is a thrill to see you! How long has it been?”

I smiled towards her, “Too long, Mina. How are you?”

She smiled, “I’m great! Hellion and I will be getting married next month! Oh! Hellion!” She called and Hellion sheepishly came to her side.

“Good evening Prince Hellion.” I said with a smile as he watched me in horror, “Oh! Mina, I would like to introduce you to my kids. This is Sarah and Brendon.”

“It’s nice to meet you!”

“And this is my husband, Mason.”

“I had no idea you got married, Akina!”

I smiled more, “Well we have only been officially married for two days now.”

“But we have been unofficially married for the past ten years,” Mason added happily, “It is nice to finally meet you, Princess Mina.”

“So are both of your kids Mason’s? Or have you been married more than once since you left?”

Sarah stepped in, “Mason is both of our father’s and has been in our lives since we were born.”

Mason kissed Sarah’s head, “Yes, even though Akina and I have been gone from Sarah and Brendon a lot due to our jobs, the four of us are a very tight knit family.”

Brendon stepped closer to Hellion and put his hand out, “We have all heard a lot about you from mom and Uncle Sariel, Prince Hellion. You were close friends with my mom when you were children, right?”

“Yes, they used to spend most of their days with each other,” Brother commented as he came to the group and ruffled Brendon’s hair before smiling towards Hellion, “It has been a while, Prince Hellion and Princess Mina! I hope you are well?”

Hellion turned towards Mina, “Dear, could you go find my father? He will want to greet Akina,” She nodded before walking off as Hellion’s gaze turned to that of rage, “What is the meaning of all of this!” He hissed quietly towards me, “What in the world is going on here? Since when have you been seeing Mason and been on good terms with your brother! Just last week you were still pretending to be Sarina towards your brother!”

I looked to the ground, “It does not concern you anymore, Hellion. I do not have to explain anything of my life to you because we are nothing more than old friends.”

“But I love you, Akina! You know I love you! I’ve been in love with you since we were children and now you are telling me I have nothing to do with you? I can’t accept that!”

“Hellion, calm down.”

He grabbed my hand and yanked me away from Mason’s side, “If you are now going to come back to society as Princess Akina, then I don’t need to hide my feelings anymore! I will call off my engagement!”

I was shocked when Hellion pulled me into him and kissed me deeply, but the moment our bodies seperated I slapped him across the face with all my strength. “Are you crazy!”

Suddenly I was pulled away from Hellion with force and looked up to see the king, “This is not the place for this type of thing, Akina!” He hissed quietly, “Take Hellion outside and explain the situation to him or you will cause a scene!”