My life ended the day I met the Blood Sage Princess.

“Mommy, I’m scared.” Selena whimpered and snuck closer to her mother, clinging to Kamptra’s tunic. “What’s going to happen to you?”

With a quick peek, Selena glanced around the large ballroom, her golden gaze wide. They glowed against her caramel hued skin, refusing to dim even as her ebony hair draped across her cheeks and the nape of her neck. She fiddled with the hem of her own opaque tunic as she blinked back tears.

Kamptra’s tunic was made of the finest white material that they were able to acquire in their home in Egypt. As Kamptra’s arm moved down toward her daughter, the gold bangles that adorned her wrists clinked together. The thin layer of dark eye shadow on the top of her eyelids curve out, contrasted with the shade of emerald that filled the rest of the space. She softened her yellow eyes as she crouched in front of Selena.

“You don’t need to be scared. It’s not up to me to change my fate. You need to learn this, and everything else the scholars have to teach you.”

“But I don’t want to learn anything about the monsters!”

“Selena.”

The hiss that escaped Kamptra’s throat only enforced the tears to be shed from Selena’s eyes. She bit her lip as her chin trembled and she swallowed another whimper.

She knew her mother was brave and strong. She had witnessed her take on the vampires that constantly came to their village and stole their friends. Their pack’s numbers were dwindling, wolves disappearing with a blink of an eye. Selena didn’t trust them, especially not the words that left their cunning mouths.

Kamptra cleared her throat. “Selena, you must not act this way. You may only be six, but you are the next leader of the Crimson Paw. An Alpha must not show weakness; you know that.” She pushed a lock of Selena’s hair behind her small hear and sighed. “You have to learn to control your emotions. Do you understand?”

Selena sniffled, trying to stifle her crying while she wiped away her tears. “Yes, mommy. I’ll try my best.”

“That’s my girl.” Kamptra said with a smile. She brushed the top of her daughter’s head. “Now you had better hurry over to Ardolf before this meeting gets underway.”

“But—”

“Selena, please. I don’t want you here when things go bad.” Kamptra’s face fell, her brow twitching as her voice faulters.

Without another word, Selena turned and hurried off, her hands tightened into fists as she held down her emotions. Her short hair flew behind her as she ran through the horde of blood thirsty creatures, sipping on wine glasses an sneering down at her.

The floor was covered in a white marble, the walls decorated with oversized portraits of men and women in regency gowns. If you stared long enough at them, you could just barely see the fangs protruding from their mouths and the exotic-colored eyes that they all had.

They were the royalty of the new world. One in which vampires ruled.

White staircases covered in red carpet rise up on either side of the enormous golden double doors to the left of the ballroom. They led up to long balconies that stretch out around the entire room. The railings were gold and at each corner of the room, up in the terraces, there were dark doorways that overlapped with shadows.

Selena’s gaze is drawn to the center of the balcony above her. Two boys stand at the glimmering railing, watching the proceedings below. She didn’t have enough time to register their appearances as she had to swivel to the side in order to avoid running into any of the aristocrats.

She took time to analyze all those in attendance. Selena recognized may of the faces who stood around laughing. Mainly from the images she had seen in her lessons. The women wore dresses that puffed out at the waist, much like humans did several hundred years prior.

Why do I have to be here? Everybody seems to hate me. I want to go home; there's no sand here and this ground hurts my feet. Selena paused for a moment as she tried to peer through the crowd, searching for her uncle. These vampires keep staring at me like they want to kill me. Why does mommy want me to speak like them? It's nothing but monster language and it's not like I'm going to live with them.

Spinning around, Selena didn’t have time to react before she rammed right into a towering stone of a man. His complexion was deathly pale, his crimson hair and thick beard glittered in the light.

“You stupid little mutt.” The man, that Selena recognized as the Margrave of the Nightcrawlers—Charles Baranski—spat down at her. He ground his jaw so hard that Selena wondered if his teeth were going to crack. He ripped a napkin off a tray a waiter was carrying and wiped his mouth to clean it of the stray drops of blood. Selena had bumped him as he was taking a swig from his glass, causing the liquid to splash out on his face.

Selena wasn’t stupid, and her pack ruled with the idea that all children be trained in all languages. She understood when Baranski spoke in Italian, at least enough to decipher what he had meant.

“Selena,” a man’s voice called through the crowd.

She whipped around, her hair flying as she noticed Ardolf standing there, through the mingling vampires. He was also in a tunic, but he had on a pair of dark bluejeans. The tunic was a symbol of their pack, of their heritage. Though their religion was that of all werewolves, believing in the Goddess Falora, the Crimson Paw had taken on a lot of aspects of their surroundings. The tunic had come to them centuries ago, the Egyptian way of life becoming a part of their own identity.

Ardolf’s jaw was clenched and his lips were drawn into a tight line as worry wrinkled his forehead. His short black hair was cut at the nape of his neck. Though he was younger than Selena’s mother, he looked much older tonight.

“Uncle!” Selena sprinted over to him, jumping high enough so that she could throw her small arms around his neck.

“Come on Selena, behave.” Ardolf settled her back on the ground with a soft smile on his face. “Now come,” he pulled out the small, black hijab that he always forced Selena to wear, “put this on.”

“No. Mommy doesn’t wear one. Why do I have to?” Selena pulled away, wrinkling her nose.

“You know it’s part of our culture.” Ardolf tsked and held Selena still. “You should hide yourself from those watching you. Be calm and respectful. This is how we honor our ancestors.”

“But mommy—”

Ardolf huffed. “And why do you think we’re here in the first place?”

Selena closed her mouth as her uncle’s words wash over her. She doesn’t move as he wraps the hijab around her head and secures it in place.

“What’s going to happen to mommy?”

“Quiet my girl, she will be okay. Watch, here comes the princess.”

Selena turned to the large doors that were surrounded by the staircases and watched as they slowly creaked open. In walked the princess flanked by bodyguards on all sides dressed in black. There were two girls with black shorts and tight black, low cut tank tops, their long dark hair pulled up into ponytails and their eyes scanning the room. The three male bodyguards wore dark jeans, their tan chests bare of any clothing. Their faces were taught. All five had a black choker with a silver pendant in the center.

Corina Markiv, the vampiric princess of the new world. Selena didn’t want to be in awe of her beauty. She was their enemy, her father the one killing off wolves or putting them in slavery. Yet she was just that, beautiful. She walked with her head held high and glided across the marble floor without a single twitch of effort. Her facial structure was gentle, slim, and her dark, endless eyes were chalky and dull. Her bright pink hair flowed behind her like a bright shadow. She was dressed in an elegant green dress made out of the finest silk, the straps falling off her shoulders and forming into thin spikes. Around her waist sat a belt of gold, the bottom dropping into what appeard to be a pair of fangs and a giant ruby embedded into the center. Out of the top of the belt came two midnight hued snakes that hissed and writhed, but stayed attached to the gold.

Conformed to the center of her forehead was a black jewel, framed by her pale bangs.

Princess Markiv didn’t acknowledge anyone as she moved through the ballroom, approaching the large dais near the end. Upon which a golden throne covered in black and red jewels sat overlooking the aristocracy below.

Selena stared in wonder at the marvel before her. The princess was one of beauty and death, all in one.

“I’m scared.” Selena whispered to Ardolf, ushing her body further behind his legs.

“You’ll be alright, don’t worry.” He reassured Selena putting his large, rough hand on her head and ruffling her soft hair. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”