For the past week, we had been going back and forth to Francis’s mansion almost every day. Each visit was the same. We would gather in the living room, sitting around the fireplace while Timi and Juliet’s grandmother continued telling us stories about the past—stories about the old days, about the wars, about the things that had happened long before any of us were born. Every time she spoke, it felt like another piece of history was being uncovered. But for the past few days, I hadn’t been joining them. I had stayed indoors. Something about the daylight had been bothering me. A strange heaviness settled over my body during the day, leaving me feeling weak and tired. It wasn’t painful, just… uncomfortable. So while the others continued visiting the mansion, listening to more of her stories, I remained inside the house, resting. It wasn’t really a big deal. I was probably just homesick. Or maybe my body was still adjusting to what I had become. After all, I was the first of my

“Ayara… Ayara… Ayara.”I knocked lightly on the lid of the coffin as I called her name.For a few seconds there was no response.Then a muffled voice came from inside.“What?”I smiled.A moment later the lid shifted slightly, then slowly slid open. Ayara pushed it aside and sat up inside the coffin, blinking as she looked at me.She looked tired… but still very much herself.I leaned against the bed and smiled at her.“You’ve been laying in there for a long time,” I said. “It’s already 11 p.m. and I know you aren’t sleepy.”I gestured around the room.“Come on. It’s only me here.”Ayara sighed softly before climbing out of the coffin. She walked over and sat beside me on the bed.“Where are Timi and Juliet?” she asked.“They’re with Waje,” I replied. “Still trying to find a loophole… some kind of cure for you.”Ayara looked down at the floor.Her shoulders dropped slightly.I could tell the thought weighed on her.I quickly spoke again before the silence grew heavier.“Let’s go out,”

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror in one of Francis’s guest rooms, staring at my reflection.My face was a mess.Dried blood had crusted along my cheek and near my hairline where the mallet had struck me. I soaked a washcloth under the running tap, wrung it out, and slowly began wiping the blood away.The cold water stung the bruises.Behind me, Timi was pacing the bathroom like a storm ready to explode.“How could you let this happen?!” he shouted.I kept my eyes on the mirror and said nothing, focusing on scrubbing the dried blood from my skin.“They kidnapped her right in front of you, Daniel!” he continued, his voice echoing against the tiled walls.“They came at me out of nowhere,” I muttered quietly.That only made him angrier.“You’re a vampire!” he snapped. “Use your senses, goddammit!”I stopped wiping for a moment but didn’t turn around.There was nothing I could say that would make this better.So I let him rant.I went back to cleaning my face, slowly wiping the last

The doors opened into a massive hall.The ceiling stretched high above me, supported by thick black pillars carved with ancient symbols. Long red banners hung down the stone walls, swaying slightly in the warm air from dozens of burning torches placed around the room.The hall was filled with vampires.Music echoed through the chamber—drums and deep string instruments creating a wild, chaotic rhythm. The atmosphere felt less like a royal court and more like a dark celebration that had gone completely out of control.To my left, groups of vampires were tangled together on large cushions and couches, drinking, laughing and moaning loudly, indulging in reckless sexual pleasures without caring who watched.To my right, several half-clothed women stood or knelt beside vampires, willingly offering their necks while the vampires fed from them. Some of them looked dazed, others strangely calm, as if they had given themselves completely to the moment.The smell of blood mixed with wine filled

I drove without direction, my mind too crowded to focus on the road, my hands moving almost on their own as the car cut through the quiet streets. The world outside felt distant, like I wasn’t really in it. After a while, I spotted a hotel — nothing special, just somewhere to stop — and I turned into the parking lot.I parked, switched off the engine… and just sat there.Silence.My hands rested on the steering wheel, my eyes fixed ahead, but I wasn’t seeing anything. I was trying to understand. Trying to make sense of something that refused to make sense.The Count… isn’t my father?That thought alone felt impossible. Everything I had believed, everything that had driven me, all the hatred, all the questions — built on that one truth. And now it was gone.The man who led me into the Count’s hall… the same man who stood beside me, who saved me from death… the Count called him brother.Brother.And yet, that same man looked me in the eye and told me he was my real father.My grip on th