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!"