All the vampires stood upright, their eerie red eyes fixed on the ten of us human girls trembling beneath the grand chandelier. It was as if a dozen crimson lanterns had suddenly ignited in the dark, each one burning with hunger, menace and cruelty.

The sand in the hourglass trickled down quickly, we were given only five minutes to run.

But in a castle this vast, its corridors endless, its halls echoing with shadows, how far could we humans possibly flee?

Vampires are born with supernatural senses, especially their sense of smell. No matter how well we concealed ourselves, our scent would lead them straight to us like bloodhounds to a feast.

Worse yet, Oliver had allowed low-ranking vampires to participate in the hunt.

These creatures had no sense of fullness, no restraint. Once they caught their prey, they’d drain them dry.

This wasn’t a game.

It was a massacre dressed as sport.

In the midst of chaos, the old butler couldn't help but plead with Oliver, his voice low and anxious.

“Your Majesty, will you be hunting Miss Serena as well?”

Oliver’s voice was nonchalant, as if the question bored him, “No. I have other filth to deal with. Serena is still my woman. Those bastards daring to covet her. I’ll deal with them myself, one by one.”

The butler let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Then shall we remove Miss Serena from the game? Or would you like me to assign someone to secretly protect her?”

“No need,” Oliver said lazily.

“She bears my mark. As long as she hides and stays out of sight, no one will be able to trace her scent or locate her.”

He paused for a moment and I saw a flicker of guilt flash in his eyes maybe remembering how I had trembled just before the hunt began. But it vanished just as quickly as it came.

“If I hadn’t arrived in time at the forbidden grounds,” he added coldly, “Laura would’ve become the guards’ dinner. This hunt is a small punishment, a lesson for Serena, to let her feel a taste of the fear and helplessness Laura went through. Hopefully, she’ll learn to behave from now on.”

At that very moment, I was stumbling through the castle’s long corridors.

This place, once a home I roamed freely, now felt like a haunted trap. Every door I passed loomed like a gaping abyss, ready to swallow me whole.

The heavy tolling of the clock rang out again, each chime like a death knell.

With no other option, I threw open the nearest door and curled up inside a dusty wardrobe, heart pounding in terror.

Shrill screams pierced the air, closer and closer.

Maybe it was paranoia, but I could swear I smelled blood in the air, even from my hiding place.

Then.

Creak.

The door opened.

I clenched my jaw, shut my eyes, bracing for death.

But the vampire who entered only sniffed the air suspiciously at the threshold then, disappointed, turned and left.

I didn’t know why he hadn’t detected my scent, but if I could hold on just one more minute, the hunt would be over, and I’d survive.

Just as a fragile thread of hope bloomed in my chest but suddenly the wardrobe door was flung open.

Laura’s sweet smile filled my vision and a chill ran down my spine.

“Found you, Serena,” she said softly.

My throat tightened, like an invisible hand had gripped it. I couldn’t make a sound.

Having witnessed Laura’s madness and cruelty firsthand, I feared her far more than any vampire.

Just yesterday, I had warned her, “Oliver said any human who enters the forbidden grounds will die. Don’t go.”

But she had only sneered. “Rules are chains for people like you. I’ll make everyone in this castle see who Oliver truly belongs to.”

Not long after, her terrified screams echoed from within the forbidden zone.

Oliver appeared in a flash, his rage thunderous as he dragged her out.

“Butler,” he had growled, “someone broke the rules. Prepare the castle. Tomorrow, we host a hunting feast!”

Back then, I thought Laura had sealed her doom.

I was wrong.

But the one being offered up as a blood slave for the vampires’ amusement today wasn’t her.

It was me.

While I was still frozen in shock, Laura had already sliced open her wrist with a small blade.

The scent of blood spread rapidly, stirring every vampire in the castle into a frenzy.

They surged in our direction, unable to resist the lure.

But faster than all of them was Oliver.

He rushed in and cradled Laura in his arms, his voice tender and full of concern.

“Who hurt you?”

Though the question was directed at her, his eyes cold as ice were locked on me.

Tears streamed down Laura’s face before she even spoke. “We’re both human. I just couldn’t stand seeing the other girls slaughtered. Oliver, I only wanted them to live. I never thought Sister Serena would refuse my kindness. And even-”

She paused, voice trembling with guilt.

“Please don’t blame her. I shouldn’t have come into this room. I was just meddling.”

Oliver’s face frosted over completely.

“It’s not your fault. It’s Serena, cruel and ungrateful as always.”

He didn’t even give me the chance to defend myself. Instead, he slashed open the skin on my arms and legs with his own hands.

As crimson blood trailed down my pale skin, I saw something flicker in his blood-red eyes, a flash of something feral, barely restrained.

It felt as though a dagger had carved into my heart over and over again.

“Oliver,” I choked out, “The hunt is over. Do you really want me dead that badly?”

My voice was hoarse, full of despair.

His gaze darkened. “Serena, the crime you’ve committed against Laura is unforgivable. If you die, it's no more than you deserve.”

And in that moment, the final ember of hope I had guarded so closely died.

The man I once loved no longer existed.

“Oliver, you brought me back to this castle because you loved me. If you no longer do then let me go.”

He froze. Annoyance flickered in his eyes, and frustration tightened his brows. “Your blood is… special. To vampires, it’s an irresistible lure. Without my protection, you’ll die the moment you step outside.”

“If you insist on leaving,” he said after a pause, “I won’t stop you. But only if you’re lucky enough to walk out of this castle alive.”

I staggered forward, each step tugging at my open wounds. Blood dripped behind me, marking a trail of pain.

I hadn’t even made it halfway down the corridor before I collapsed, too weak to move.

From both ends of the hallway, shadows began to emerge, twisted, hunched figures that bore no resemblance to the elegance vampires were known for.

Under the moonlight, I could see their grotesque grins, mouths stretching to their ears, filled with jagged, saw-like teeth.

Low-ranking vampires.

Ravenous.

Desperate.

They leered at me like wolves eyeing a bleeding lamb.

Panicked, desperate, I did the only thing I could. I screamed the only name that might save me.

“Oliver! Help me!”

A wave of invisible force surged through the corridor. The vampires visibly flinched and stumbled backward, whimpering, retreating into the shadows as if something greater than them had stepped into the space.

I had barely begun to breathe again when a delicate voice cut through the tension.

“Oliver, my head hurts so much. I lost so much blood. Am I going to die?”

It was Laura.

Her soft sob shattered the air.

And just like that, the invisible pressure lifted.

The low-ranking vampires snarled and lunged for me all at once, like starving beasts unleashed.

Pain stabbed through me, my neck, arms, and legs assaulted by sharp fangs. I threw my head back in agony, ears ringing with a deafening buzz.

All I could hear was the revolting sound of them gulping down my blood, greedy, wet, inhuman.

My lips and teeth trembled uncontrollably. The cold of blood loss seeped into my bones, and my consciousness began to slip.

And just when I thought the end had come.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows split the air.

The vampires feeding on me froze mid-bite, silver arrows piercing their skulls.

They didn’t even have time to scream before turning to ash, still locked in their parasitic pose.

I forced open my blurry, dazed eyes and looked toward the direction the arrows had come from.

Instinctively, I called out Oliver’s name.

But the face that met my gaze was not his, it was Laura’s, smiling sweetly.

“Instead of letting you die so easily,” she said, “I’d much rather watch you turn into a grotesque mutt and appear before Oliver in all your shame.”

“After all,” she added softly, “as a pureblood prince, he despises nothing more than filth like you those turned by low-level vampires.”

As soon as the words left her lips, Oliver arrived with long, urgent strides.

The moment he saw my blood-drained face, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes but he quickly masked it with icy composure. “She’s lucky to still be alive,” he ordered the butler. “Stop the bleeding. Patch her up. Now.”

Inside me, it felt like two extremes were warring ice and fire crashing into each other.

I could smell the faint, alluring scent of Laura’s blood and I could feel my body undergoing a violent, irreversible change.

I dragged myself toward Oliver, leaving a long, horrifying trail of blood across the marble floor.

Desperate, I clutched at his pant leg like a drowning woman clinging to driftwood.

“Please, I was bitten by a low-ranking vampire. I don’t want to turn into one of them. I don’t want to become something hideous and savage.”

If Oliver gave me his first embrace before the transformation was complete, I could still become a high-ranking vampire retaining my human form and mind.

He knelt down.

But not to save me.

He coldly pried my fingers off his pants, one by one.

“All the vampires in today’s hunt were nobles,” he said flatly. “They’ve already fed and left. There’s no way a rogue could’ve attacked you. And low-level vampires? They were locked away, there's no chance they escaped.”

I lifted my hand with great effort, trying to show him the bite marks.

But I froze in horror.

The wounds were gone.

Healed. Vanished.

At some unknown moment, every injury on my body had mysteriously closed.

Then it hit me, a hunger unlike anything I’d ever known. A searing thirst that clenched my throat, so overwhelming I couldn’t force out another word.

I looked up at Oliver, eyes brimming with silent please.

But he only stared down at me with cold detachment.

“Serena,” he said, “your little schemes, playing the victim, staging a ploy for sympathy! None of that will earn my favor.”

“If you want to stay by my side,” he continued, “then let go of this idea of leaving. And stop hurting Laura. I might, just might, start treating you both equally.”

I stared at his lips moving, but no longer heard a single sound.

Something inside me had broken.

In the next second, I turned my numb face toward the window expression empty.

And in the vastness of the sky, all I could see was a blood-red moon.