The "safe place" Damien promised became a tomb of silence. The room was a windowless box at the end of the north wing, smelling of damp stone and the metallic tang of the blood bags he left for me every three days.

In the beginning, he visited every night. He would stroke my swollen belly and whisper about the future—about the day he would become High Lord and finally bring me out into the light. But as the months bled into one another, his visits grew shorter, then rarer, until they ceased altogether.

The clan’s bells chimed frequently, echoing through the vents. Each ring signaled a celebration I wasn’t invited to. Through the thin walls, I heard the servants gossiping in the hallway.

"Lord Damien took Lady Lia to the Whispering Woods today," one giggled. "He carried her over the stream so she wouldn't tire her feet. He’s so devoted to her and the heir."

"The heir," I whispered to the dark walls, clutching my stomach. My baby kicked, a sharp, rhythmic reminder of the life Damien was hiding like a shameful secret.

To the world, Lia was the glowing mother-to-be of the next High Lord. I was just a ghost in the masonry.

One night as Damien walked in my room, he whispered a few comforting words like always, I remained silent.

After a few more words, he looked into my eyes and asked, "Serene, are you still upset with me?"

My nails dug in the bedsheet listening to his complain that felt like another mockery. But, I did not cry or argue to him. Instead, I simply replied,

"No, the arrangements you have made for me is more than enough I could ever expect."

He sensed the sarcasm in my tone and immediately pulled me in his arms.

"Serene, I'm sorry. My life is Lia's debt. I could not ignore her." He said. "I promise, everything will be fine in next few weeks."

"Our Clan's alchemist, they will know Lia's child is hybrid. We can't let her deliver her child in our vault."

"So, I'm taking her to somewhere else. A safe place where she can deliver her child safely. After, I come back, I'll take you to the High Court and announce you my blood bound."

"Everything will be okay then, Serene. Just hang in a few more weeks." He said, his eyes shining brightly in hope. However, I could not feel the same excitement as him.

"So, you are leaving?" I asked, my lips trembled despite trying to suppress it so hard.

A moment of hesitation flickered through his eyes. His gaze shifted down to fix at my belly and guilt consumed him instantly.

"You are also in the third trimester." He stated, "If you want... I'll not go."

"I'll stay by your side, Serene. I'll send someone else on my behalf. I can't leave you in this situation."

"It's okay, Damien." I said, "You should go. I don't want you to stay with me and worry about Lia."

The truth was I no longer care whether he stayed beside me or not. His existence... it didn't matter to me anymore.

He had been almost invisible for seven months of pregnancy that I was accustomed to not see him around me.

A smile appeared on his lips.

"You are always so understanding and brave, Serene. That's why I love you so much."

He leaned closer to me. While stroking my hair, he leaned his lips close to my cheeks to place a kiss. But, I turned my face away. His kiss landed on my hair instead.

His eyebrows tilted. But, he said nothing. He stood up and walked up to the door. He paused at the door way, turned back and said,

"After I come back, I'll make up for everything, Serene. Just wait for me."

After declaring these words, he left.

But, what he didn't know was that it was going to be our last farewell. That, I had other plans in my mind.

He wasn't going to see me when he returned.

After he left, I grabbed my phone and saw the text from my brother. "We are coming to find you, sister."

"Come fast."

I typed the words and send the reply.

Damien didn't know that a few men reached out to me through social media. They claimed to be sirened by the same vampire who birthed me. Though half, but they were my brothers and want me in their family.

For the first time in my life, I was going to have a family. A family that would not be shameful of accepting me in public.

At midnight, I tore open a slight corner of the window block of my room that Damien had arranged for me and watched him leaving.

A black SUV was parked outside the villa. Damien opened the door of passenger seat for Lia and helped her sit comfortably inside.

A soft pillow was placed above the seat to comfort Lia even during their journey. My eyes abruptly landed on my bed, made up of hard wood.

Never did once Damien noticed how rough it was for sleeping for a normal person, let alone for a pregnant lady yet he had the time and heart to arrange everything so perfectly for Lia.

I thought nothing could have hurt me anymore. But, two drops of tears still dropped through my eyes.

After Damien sat on his seat, his eyes abruptly moved towards the window of my room.

I quickly stepped back, covered the window and turned away.

It was my final goodbye to him.

After his car left the campus, I began packing my luggage. I knew for a fact I was not safe. I could not rely on Damien's words alone.

I had to think of my child.

Just when the sun was about to rise, I heard a knock at my door. I thought it was one of the servants.

I had already planned everything in my mind. I would knock the servant down and run away.

My brothers would be coming anytime. By the time, they arrive to take me, I would already be waiting for them outside the villa.

I knew nothing about my brothers whether they were powerful enough to fight with Damien's men. So, I had to rely on myself.

However, before I could open the door , it swung wide, hitting the stone wall with a crack that vibrated in my teeth.

In the doorway stood two silhouettes of lethal elegance. Emily, Damien’s mother and Amelia, Lia’s mother. They looked like twin deities of spite.

"Look at it," Amelia spat, her voice a cold scalpel. "Cowering in the dark like the vermin it is."

"Damien is gone, little ghost," Emily added, stepping into the room. Her eyes trailed over my swollen stomach with a disgust so visceral it felt like a physical blow. "He’s off to protect a real legacy. A pure one. Not this... bastard."

I tried to stand, my hand instinctively shielding my belly, but Emily was already across the floor in a blur of motion, her fingers clamping around my jaw. Her skin was ice.

Before I could process what they are upto, they dragged me from the bed. There was no dignity in it. They didn't care that I was in my third trimester; they hauled me by my arms, my feet dragging against the cold masonry of the north wing.

The transition from the damp dark to the pre-dawn gray of the courtyard was jarring. I could not see anything properly for a long while.

They threw me onto the cobblestones at the center of the High Court’s sun-dial—a place designed specifically for executions.

"The sun will rise in ten minutes," Emily stated, checking a silver pocket watch. "A pure blood's death is a messy affair. You won't simply turn to ash like hybrids. You’ll sizzle. You’ll scream. And the world will finally be clean of Damien’s mistake."

"Please," I gasped, the pebbles digging into my knees. "The baby—it’s his blood too."

"Shut up, you bitch!" Emily slapped me instantly, "Don't take Damien's name with your lips. The blood that is his, has gone with him."

"That's not true!" I protested, "The child in my womb is Damien's while the child Lia is carrying, is actually the bastard, a hybrid, a vampire hunter's seed."

"Just shut the fuck up!" Amelia charged at me. She kicked my stomach so hard I could only scream in pain and explain nothing.

"Don't listen to her, Emily. She is talking nonsense." Amelia said, "Just burn her alive before the officials know her existence."

Even in the verge of pain, I raised my hands towards Emily. I tried to whisper, "E-Emily, just think of it. I-If Lia's child was Damien's, a pure blood, why would Damien take her away from the Clan during her third trimester? Why not letting her deliver the baby in our Clan's vault, surrounded by his people?"

A moment of hesitation flickered through Emily's eyes. But soon, she landed me another slap, saying, "That's because she had complications and Damien thinks the Alchemist of neighbour Clans can perform a better surgery."

Emily and Amelia stood at the edge of the shadows, watching the horizon where the first sliver of gold began to bleed into the sky. The light touched the tips of the castle spires. I felt the first prickle of warmth on my skin—the herald of my execution.

I could see my feet burning, then my stomach and I thought that was it.

But, a sound broke through the hall. It wasn't the chime of the clan’s bells. It was a low, vibrating hum—a frequency that made the very stones beneath me tremble.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Suddenly figures became emerging from the shadows. They didn't walk like vampires; they moved with a fluid, predatory grace that suggested the ocean’s depths.

There were four of them, tall and broad-shouldered, their eyes glowing with an iridescent, bioluminescent light that defied the morning sun.

The crack was closed immediately, spreading the darkness in the hall once again and a voice echoed.

"Whoever touched our sister, will have to pay the price with their life!"