“Selene Vlad Ambrogio!”
My heart suddenly stopped and I fell to my knees having difficulties in breathing. I gripped on my neck trying to relax but I struggled gasping for air with a very blurred vision of me. I wrapped myself tightly feeling my skin scratching itself.
“Remember who you are, Selene. Wake up! Wake up now or sleep forever! Open your eyes!” A big throb occurred making my whole body flinch. I winced in pain.
How was I still able to hear everything clearly? I was in so much pain yet I could still understand what was happening around me.
“Selene, are you alright?!”
Was that Leo calling me? I was sure it was his voice.
“Don’t touch her, Young Lord Heathly,” Thana hissed.
“But, Your Highness, she’s suffering!”
“Just watch! Watch as she turns back to her real self.”
I opened my eyes and everything was warped in red. I looked at the floor and there was hair growing and flowing continuously from my head. I looked up and my eyes were only looking at Leo. He had a worried look but my eyes went straight to his neck. My pulse was going insane. I extended my arm towards him. I needed him.
“He’s not the blood you need, Selene.” I turned to the queen.
What was she saying now?!
“Your thirst would only be quenched by him.”
I heard incoming footsteps echoing with every step and when I looked behind me, all the vampire’s eyes pierced on me before giving way to the vampire who set foot.
“Master…” a deep voice called out.
His face was blurry, but I knew him... I know his voice. I rubbed my eyes then looked and inspected him still with my bloodied vision.
“James…” I breathed out.
James knelt, unbuttoning his shirt and exposing his neck to me. But it wasn’t just the neck that I could see. I felt like I could trace his veins. I felt like time stood still. No one dared to make a move and I had the spotlight—one I did not desire.
“You need my blood, my Princess… Lady Selene.” He pulled me close to his neck and I felt my throat burning up wildly, like a hungry animal going lunatic seeing the bare neck. I tried resisting but he had me cornered in his arms.
“Drink,” Queen Thana ordered as she stood behind me. “Let everyone who’s not welcoming you see you transform into the royalty that you are!”
I bit my lower lip and I tasted my own blood making my throat burn… more and more. James’ arms wrapped tightly around me and the sight left for me was his neck. I felt this intense hunger that I had never once experienced before. There was this thirst that I needed to quench urgently.
My body swiftly moved, embracing him tightly, burying my fingers in his warm flesh before letting my instincts overpower me. I could not comprehend anything but I succumbed to what my mind wanted to do. My instincts got the best of me.
In seconds, warm blood was sliding down my throat. I continued gulping down, tasting it deliciously with my eyes closed.
That made Queen Thana’s claim true—that I was a vampire. But that had not yet confirmed the part where she claimed I was royalty. She had not told us the story and I needed to know.
“She’s Heathly’s feeder, right?”
“This has never happened before!”
“This is preposterous!”
“She’s an imbecile!”
All of a sudden, my mind dilated like a recorder playing backwards.
Every memory I had with Leo played backwards to the day I met him and then… like glass, something broke inside me, exceeding the memories I already had and knew.
Fire…
Deaths…
Separation…
Spell…
I gasped, removing my fangs away from James, and pushing him away from me. I looked at myself and my skin had turned pale white and my hair had grown longer than me. Literally. It was already on the floor!
“Do you remember now”—I turned back to Thana—“Big sister?” She had a petty look on her face. I wanted to caress it and give her a hug.
“T-Thana…” I muttered.
She smiled hearing me call her out by her first name.
“Imbecile! To call Her Highness like that!” I turned again and saw the vampire who said that thirty feet away. My eyes glared at him mischievously and he was soon flying, dropping himself to the furthest part of the hall.
I immediately stood up, but almost lost my balance. The surge of blood and foreign memories were getting into me. “I’m sorry! I can’t control it yet!” I apologised.
“You don't need to apologise, big sister, Selene. It was the right thing for a royal as yourself to act as such.”
“Your Highness, if you don’t mind, you promised to tell us the story. Please tell us, for I recognise that even the Magistrate from the other clan doesn’t know about this… and why is a human here, too?!” Leo roared with menacing eyes in Thana's direction.
“Very well.”