• Chapter One

    Snow flew onto the terrace and in through the open glass door; white flower petals that melted when they touched the floor. The outside, covered in a snowy wonderland, contrasted with the full moon overhead. I was staring at the owl perched on the frozen Japanese maple tree while sitting on my bed. I am bound to the darkness for eternity and the rest of my existence.
    There was a knock on the enormous oak door to the left of my bed.
    “Parvus filia, Alice,” called the voice. I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t going to answer him. He knew that I wouldn’t, but he called again. He said something in Latin, but I didn’t listen. A few minutes passed and when he did not hear me, he opened the door. “The ball has begun, filiola,” he said again, this time in English and while entering my room.
    “What do I care about the ball?” I asked. “What does the ball mean to me?” I didn’t turn to face him. Instead, I kept my focus on the snow slowly piling up on my terrace floor. In the corner of my right eye, with the clear vision anyone got if they were a vampire, I noticed the owl, and in a time span of a second it had flown away, with the look of fear on its wings. The reason for its fears was now standing in front of me, closing the open glass door. He turned to meet my gaze before he spoke.
    “You must attend the ball. You will attend the ball. On my behalf as your father, you will be the duchess of the blood moon tonight,” threatened Mircea, his eyes a scorching red.
    Anger and hate splashed across my face, and my fury was waiting for the right chance to appear. “You. Are. Not. My. Father.” I annunciated each word slowly so that I could fill them up with as much venom as I could while speaking them to him. His look pleased me. There were emotions in his face that told me he knew how much I despised him. There was shock, and disbelief, and anger, annoyance, and irritation. “Therefore, there is no reason for me to be there tonight.”
    His face became calm again as I spoke. But this time, his eyes were filled with a mysterious presence that I couldn’t grip. “Very well then,” he started. “If the thought of the ball does not fit you, then you will be missing a most pleasant night.” He floated away from my face and back toward the door. Before leaving, he paused and then spoke. “I had a gift waiting for you. When you fully embrace the blood moon, the gift would have been yours.”
    “What gift? What could you possibly give to me now? You took away my life and my family. You even took away…” but, I didn’t say it. Saying more, especially tonight, wouldn’t be fitting. Tonight is the night of the blood moon, the night made for the children of the night. Mircea took away, not only my life and my family, he took away my freedom and made me a traitor to my kind; the Vampire Hunters. Instead of provoking him more, I simply asked a question. “Why don’t you find another to fulfill your dreams of drinking out of the blood pool?”