This is the first Fantasy/ unmatured story I've written

It's cringe btw....All I know is that it's cringe.

The character Loriel is very annoying to me.

Murder in Transylvania

PROLOGUE

"PLEASE, NO!" She shouts."They killed him," She thought. "And now they'll kill me too,"  She runs into the woods she hates. It's full of creatures she can't fight as a human. If only her sister were here. She climbs a tree and hides there.

"Come here, girl," The man said. "You can't be left alone with that secret you have. Let me tell you, a Vampire and a human girl do not mix.  He deserved to die, and you decided to be resistant and witness his death, and now you have to die too."

She trembles but remains quiet.

"I don't want to use my powers in the daylight, so let's make this easy," The tree branch she's on starts to droop, she turns her head around, and there's a Wild Werewolf.

"Great," She thought; The Wild Werewolf was going to break the tree branch in an attempt to kill her. "I would rather die by a Vampire than by a Wild Werewolf."

She shakes the tree branch making it fall.

"There you are. I was getting rather bored." The Vampire smirks showing its fangs.

"Please don't," She pleads.

The Vampire shakes his head, and another Vampire joins him. "We told you to leave our son alone, human." She said,

"But you didn't listen, and now look at you,"

"You killed him! Your own son!"

"Shut up!" The woman Vampire slices her throat, and she's left choking on the ground.

"It was hard to murder our son, but he's not the only son. He'll be long forgotten." He smiles.

"P-please," She says raspily. 

"He should have listened. He betrayed the royal Vampire family by being with a human girl. You should've listened." He stabs through her heart with his bare hands.  "At least her blood tastes good," He smirks as the woman laughs.

"Veara, please protect Loriel, and please protect B-," With her last thoughts, she dies.

*SIX DAYS LATER*

A body was found in Blood Moon Grove. Kludde Authorities identify a human woman with Elf blood, probably around 25-35. She has dark blue hair and has given birth at least once. They also say it looks like she had an unfortunate encounter with a Vampire. Kludde investigators are yet to find her real identity. Anyone with any information contact the KPS (Kludde Police System.)

CHAPTER ONE

Veara's sister Napari had died just a few months ago, leaving her daughter Loriel in Veara's care. Veara wasn't about to mourn over Napari's death. She knew Napari was having intimate relations with a royal Vampire, which is how Loriel was born. Vladimir was all Veara knew of Loriel's father, his name. He came over to visit Loriel once a week, but nothing apart from that. Vladimir is missing, Napari is dead, and Veara would find the person responsible.

"Loriel, time for school. Wake up." Veara calmly knocks on the door.

"I want my mom back." Loriel sniffs.

Veara sighs. "I'm sorry-,"

"What about my dad? And my brother in mom's belly?"

Veara sighs as she remembers Napari being pregnant again, and she was killed so coldly. "Loriel, she's gone, and I'll find your dad."

Loriel cries into her pillow. "I don't want to go to school."

Veara knew she was being a lousy aunt letting Loriel go to school when her mother died and her dad was missing, but Loriel is an Elfire, a Vampire/Elf hybrid. Even though Napari was human outside, she was an Elf inside, with Elf blood. Loriel has fangs like a Vampire and long pointy ears like an Elf.

Vampires hate Elfires because they have elf blood in them, and for Loriel to have a promising future in Maddrift, she needs to go to school.  "Loriel, you know why your mom and dad couldn't live together, and you know why your dad couldn't visit you often. You're an Elfire, and the Vampires probably killed your mom and kidnapped your father. They don't know that you're the descendant of Vladimir, your father, and it needs to stay that way until I can solve and prove that one or maybe some of the Vampires killed your mom. You need to pretend you're my sister until you claim the Vampire throne as the rightful heir of Vladimir."

Loriel sighs. "The basic hybrid kids at school make fun of me because I'm not an Elf, and I'm not a Vampire. I'm both."

"Loriel, you are unique, and nobody in Maddrift understands that. You are the future Vampire Queen, and when you're eighteen, none of the kids who make fun of you now would dare to."

"Six years is a long time," Loriel says, reluctantly getting up.

"No, it's not. I've already passed six." Veara tries to cheer Loriel up, but it fails. Loriel gets ready, and Veara walks her to school. "Remember, you are my sister, and your last name is Amamion," Veara warns.

Loriel nods. "Promise me that you'll take me on your adventure to find my dad and the person who killed my mom."

Veara shakes her head. She couldn't risk Loriel's life. After all, it's her sister's and Vladimir's only child. "I can't. It'll be dangerous,"

"I'm an Elfire. I have the abilities of an elf and the skills of a Vampire. I am stronger than you, aunt- sister." The fire in Loriel's eyes is not something Veara could deny. Veara knew that she would want to investigate if her mom and dad went on a trip, and six days later, her mom's body was found, and the dad was missing. "I know you," Loriel whispers. "Auntie, you're not the one to sit around and let the police handle things, and I want to be there."

Veara sighs. "Ok," Veara smiles. "You need to be familiar with Transylvania anyway."

Loriel grins from ear to ear. "Thank you, aunt- I mean sister, you won't regret this!" Loriel giddies on for Maddrift's Hybrid Academy, a school for hybrids. You can think of all the combinations, Werewolf/Vampire, Werewolf/Elf, Vampire/Griffin, etc.

As Veara walks home, she thinks. "Vladimir is of royal Vampire blood, which means he's an only child, but Vampires killed Napari, so Vladimir is probably being held and tortured by the Vampires and his sibling, whether a woman or man is taking over."

Veara heads to Maddrift's Library. She picks and checks out every Royal Vampire book she could find. "Now, I need to research and find out who is ruling over Transylvania," Veara says to herself. She reads and reads until she finds something.

"Royal Vampires usually have 5-6 children for emergency reasons. After Vampire King Vlad Dracu's only son Dracula XCIX led Transylvania into ruin and created the Vampire/Werewolf world war, the Vampire court decided that all Vampires must have more than one child and decided that 5-6 or more is good."

Veara smiles at her findings. "He has siblings!" Veara dances around the kitchen. "That sibling or siblings must know what happened. I need to go to Transylvania, but to ask about it, I need to pretend to be a Vampire, or else they'll kill Loriel and me." Veara squeals. "One step closer," she thought.

Her eyes flash to the clock. "Oh my! It's past four o'clock!" Veara's heart skips a beat. Veara panics and uses teleportation, and wind gushes through her, and she's at the school. "Loriel?!" Veara runs through the playground. "Lori-,"

"Aun- Veara, you're very late!"

Veara breathes air. "Loriel," Veara sighs and hugs her tight.

"You used your powers. I saw you teleport." Loriel looks up at Veara. Ever since Napari was diagnosed with Humanoid Syndrome (When a mystical creature appears and acts human), Veara has made it her duty to make her sister feel normal, and she never used her powers. "Loriel, I was worried. I was so caught up in studying about the royal Vampires that I forgot about time."

Loriel nods. "Now, I don't care that you were late. I want to know what you know."

Veara sighs with uncertainty. "Loriel, not everything a grown elf knows should be shared with a child elf."

Loriel groans. "It's a good thing I'm an Elfire!"

Veara rolls her eyes. "Ok, let's get home first. People here like to gossip." When they reach home, Veara shows and tells everything she knows.

"Auntie Veara, how are we supposed to pretend to be Vampires when our ears expose us?"

"You know how humans have fake Elf ears?"

Loriel nods. "Yes-wait, are you saying they're fake human ears too?!"

"Yep!" Veara reaches over and takes a pair of fake human ears. Veara sighs at the memories it holds. "Mom and dad, your grandparents, used to wear these. They were spies for the Elves when the Infernal Nation split, and the Griffins and Vampires were suspicious of starting the split."

"Were the Vampire and Griffin's accusations true?" Veara shakes her head.

"Of course not. Mom and dad refused to believe that they were innocent and stirred up a nation's riot that got our only brother Nesterin killed." Veara shudders at the thought. "I was too young to remember each detail, but I do remember my mom and dad telling Nesterin to abandon his wife and lead the riot, and your mother, who remembers clearly, told me his wife was a faun, and mom and dad wanted all of us to marry Elves."

"Why were your mom and dad so mean?"

"They actually would be great parents," Veara sighs. "If they put away their hate for other mystical creatures. Their hatred for other beings killed Nesterin and themselves. Zuka, his wife, who had just announced her pregnancy, left and never looked back. She used to love playing with Napari and me, and now she hates us, and I haven't seen her since."

Loriel hugs Veara softly. "Maybe we can find Zuka on the journey to Transylvania?" Loriel suggests.

"I don't know I-,"

"Yay! We're like detectives! Finding your brother's wife and the murderers of my mom and kidnappers of my dad!"

Veara scoffs softly. "I guess we're finding her then."

Loriel nods over dramatically. "We have to pass through Fauns and Nymphs Valley to get to Transylvania."

Veara nods. "We'll get to Transylvania in three days."

"Three days!" Loriel whines.

"Yep, so pack. We're going now."

CHAPTER TWO

Veara and Loriel board the first train to Fauns and Nymphs Valley.

"We should try to find Zuka first," Loriel says, showing Veara the map. "Fauns and Nymph's Valley is our first stop, and Zuka's a Faun, so she probably is in Faun's Village."

Veara sighs, feeling uneasy. "I don't know. Zuka made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with us,"

"But maybe she feels differently. She was filled with anger that clouded her thoughts. You and mom had nothing to do with it."

Loriel rubs Veara's shoulder. "Ok, but how do we know where she is?"

Loriel purses her lips. "Are you serious? You know the Faun's village is small, so tiny that the Nymphs had to conjoin their village with them."

Veara sighs. "Right, I can just ask around."

Loriel nods. "There you go!" Loriel smiles. Veara doesn't want to be where she's not wanted, especially because her parents left such a rubbish legacy for her and Napari.

"Well, Zuka isn't a big priority. We still need more info on the Royal Vampires."  Veara pulls out a newspaper from her backpack.

"It's recent, two days ago."

Loriel leans in and reads. "After the disappearance of Vampire crown prince Vladimir Dagger, the Vampire court decided to elect Vladimir's older brother, Telarion Dagger, to step in his place until Vladimir has been found." Next to the caption is a Vampire with long white hair, and he has casual Vampire dressing and a cape.

"He looks very dark. Maybe he has nothing to do with it." Veara points to the picture.

Loriel shakes her head. "Or maybe, he was jealous and kidnapped him, but his guilt is catching up to him."

Veara disapproves. "He's older, but your dad was chosen to be crown prince, but the way he looks in this photo shows he wasn't really upset about that. He probably didn't want to be the crown prince at all." 

"But then again, we can't judge a book by its cover." Loriel sighs and looks out the window.

"This will be hard, Loriel, and our lives will be risked many times, but we need to find the Vampires who caused this." Veara senses the second thoughts in Loriel. She knew she was being kind of dumb for bringing her twelve-year-old niece, the only daughter of her sister, with her, but Loriel is equally as intelligent and strong. Veara needs wits and strength along with a little bit of luck to accomplish this.

"I know-,"

"FAUNS AND NYMPH'S VALLEY STRAIGHT UP AHEAD!!!" The conductor says into the megaphone.

Loriel squeals. "Finally! As much as I want to find my dad's kidnappers and mom's killers, I want to take a break! The Vampires are so complex."

Veara laughs. "I agree. Let's catch a break from the Vampire mystery and solve our easy mystery."

They walk off the train and into the fresh air of the valley.  "Whoa! Does the air here always taste and smell good, or is it because it's my first time here?" Loriel sniffs happily.

"It always smells good." Veara smiles. "You see those two signs?" Veara points to the two signs, each next to a road. Loriel nods. "The one on the right is Faun's Village, and the one on the left is Nymph's woods, where all types of nymphs live. There are rivers and lakes for water nymphs and woods for wood nymphs, and so on."

"Oh my, that's a bunch of pretty girls,"

"Oh yea, I wouldn't go there if I were a very envious person. I would have a massacre."

Loriel chuckles as they take the road to Faun's Village. "This village is lovely!" Loriel spins around and giggles.

"Yes, it is," Veara says quietly. The closer they get to Zuka, the more Veara fills with uncertainty. "Don't smile too much. We want them to think we're Elves,"

Loriel nods. "Come on! Look at that Faun selling bread. She looks like she knows everyone in the village." Loriel runs up to the Faun selling bread, and Veara follows her.

"Hello! My name is Hyka! Are you travelers?"

"What makes you ask that?" Veara says.

Hyka smiles. "You guys are Elves, and this is Faun's village."

Veara nods, and Loriel continues. "Do you know a Faun by the name Zuka?"

Hyka's facial expression immediately tells Veara and Loriel that she has no idea. "Sorry, lads, I'm afraid I just moved back here. I wouldn't know of anyone named Zuka."

Loriel sighs. "It's ok! Thanks anyway."

Veara and Loriel spend the entire day asking around for Zuka. They decide to give up and retire to an Inn.

"Hello!" A boy Faun with horns and a straight refined nose that resembles that of an Elf's, he also has long pointy ears.

"Hi, we're looking for one room, please!" Loriel smiles. The boy nods and walks them over to the desk.

Veara leans in and whispers. "He looks like a hybrid."

Loriel nods. "Maybe Zuka and Nesterin's son."

"We're getting somewhere," Veara breathes in.

"Just wait here while I get my mom," The boy smiles courteously, and Loriel blushes as he leaves.

"Loriel, he could be your cousin, for god's sake!"

Veara hisses. Loriel's face turns redder. "Sorry,"

Veara opens her mouth, but a lady walks in. "Hello, I was informed that we have guests-" The lady faun stops talking as soon as she sees Veara. "Veara," She whispers.

"Zuka," Veara returns the whisper.

Zuka has long curly light brown hair, horns on the near back of her head that curl up, and deer ears. Veara's image of her brother gets clearer. She remembers catching her brother kissing Zuka the day he died. Zuka's eyes water. "Zuka, we can leave if you don't want us here. I know you-"

"No," Zuka cuts Veara off. "Follow me,"

Veara nods softly and takes Loriel's hand. Zuka leads them to a room where two children, a little Elf girl, and a Faun boy, play with an Elf man with orangish hair.

Veara gasps loudly. "Big brother?!" The Elf man whips his head around.

He squints a bit before recognizing. "Veara?!" It was Nesterin, who was presumed dead.

"How?! I thought you were dead!" Veara sobs.

Nesterin walks over and hugs Veara.  "No, I refused to leave Zuka and join the riot when the Vampires and Griffins were innocent."

"Then why did mom and dad say you were dead?"

"They told us that we could never revisit you or Napari," Zuka says. "They had already told you that Nesterin was dead, so they made me tell you girls that I wanted nothing to do with you."

"How could they?!"

"Remember what mom and dad used to say?"

"If it's not an elf, don't bring them home." Veara whispers.

Nesterin nods. "They had told me that you and Napari had died a few years ago after it happened, so we never even tried to find you."

Veara hugs Nesterin. "Napari died four months ago," Zuka gasps, and Nesterin looks Veara straight in the eyes. "Napari was having private relations with a Royal Vampire, crowned Prince Vladimir."

"So, the Vampires killed her?!"

"Yes, and Vladimir is missing. Loriel and I are going to find who's responsible."

Nesterin faces Loriel. "You're taking your daughter to Transylvania?!"

"Actually, it's Napari's daughter."

"Wait, Vampire crowned Prince Vladimir is your father?" Zuka asks Loriel.

"Yes, he's my dad," Loriel answers. "He visits once a week, but when mom died, he stopped coming to see me, and eventually the news outlets caught on, and Kludde police deemed him a missing person."

Zuka places a caring hand on Loriel's shoulder.  "I'm terribly sorry," Zuka cries. Zuka considered Veara and Napari her children before her biological children, and it hurts to know that she couldn't protect them.

"Napari," Nesterin whispers sadly. All the sadness in the room causes Loriel to cry, and she hugs Veara tightly.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" The little Elf girl tugs on Zuka's dress.

Zuka quickly wipes away her tears, and it causes Veara and Loriel to do the same. "Nothing," Zuka smiles. "Meet your aunt and cousin, Mailia," Mailia smiles cutely and waves.

"Hi!" Veara giggles and smiles.

"Hi, there!" Loriel waves.

"Where are your brothers? Go call them over to say hi," Mailia nods and runs over to call her brothers.

Zuka uses that free time to talk. "We want to help in any way possible,"

"Thank you, but I've already decided," Veara pauses. "To seduce Telarion and get any information out possible." Nesterin laughs, and Loriel snickers as Zuka covers her mouth.

Veara looked from face to face, confused. "What? What's so funny?"

"It's just," Nesterin wipes a tear. "You don't catch me as the type to seduce a Vampire and succeed."

Loriel nods. "I've never seen you go on dates,"

"W-well, I was too busy to go on dates."

Zuka sighs. "You have focused so much on your sister that you barely had time for your life."

"I know, but I might learn something from doing this."

Nesterin opens his mouth, but his sons come into the room. "Well, we met at the door. I'm Nesterin junior."

Veara nods. They named their Hybrid after Nesterin.

"I'm Bras!" The little Faun boy smiles calmly.

"Hello, boys," Veara smiles as Loriel nods.

"Nj, do me a favor and take your siblings to the cafe and get them whatever they want." Zuka hands them Faun's dollar coins.

"Loriel, this is where you go with them."

Loriel tries to protest, but Veara holds firm. "Fine." Loriel stomps out with the others. When the kids leave, Veara, Nesterin, and Zuka talk. They tried to find different strategies, but it was seducing the newly crowned Prince when it all came down to which tactic was best. They decided to let it lay at tempting the crowned Prince when the kids returned. Zuka and Nesterin gave Veara and Loriel a free room.

*The Next Day*

The Following day, Zuka took Veara and Loriel to the Faun's cosplay store and bought Vampire clothes and makeup.

"Lucky for you, Loriel, some Vampires have pointed ears like you. You just need to dress like one, and they'll never notice because of your fangs." Veara and Loriel look at each other, surprised by the fact that a Vampire would have pointed ears. After getting the things they needed, they headed back to the Inn and packed for their second day on the journey.

Veara smiles at Zuka and Nesterin. "Thank you for everything,"

"No, thank you, you decided to come and find me even after I said all those things."

The memories came flooding back.

"Don't ever look for me. You elves are useless. All you do is take, and you took my husband! I never wanted to be around you idiot elf children anyway." Zuka's blurry voice rings in Veara's head.

"It's okay. It was all fake anyway, Nesterin's alive, and you deserve a Fantasy Actor's Award."

Zuka and Nesterin chuckle sadly. "Come visit longer next time, which means stay alive. You're all I have left of my family."

Veara hugs Nesterin. "I will stay alive and protect Napari's daughter no matter what."

Nesterin smiles and looks at Loriel. "Go claim your throne!"

Loriel smiles. "I won't disappoint!"

"I'm sure you won't."

They give off their last hugs and take off in a carriage to Griffin's peak.

CHAPTER THREE

"Compose yourself. We're about to fly."

Loriel whips her head around. "About to fly?! What are you-" The carriage picks up, and Loriel falls back. "WhAaAa!"

Veara giggles. "Griffin's Peak starts in the mountains and goes down to Transylvania."

"So why can't we just fly or even teleport to Transylvania?"

"First of all, the carriage was made to fly into Griffin's airport. Second of all, you can't teleport so far away unless you're a full Vampire, but it still drains the power out of you." 

"Jesus, life just has to complicate things, doesn't it?" Loriel whines.

"Look, we're almost there. You can see the mountains and the gorgeous clouds,"

"It's a bit cold," Loriel groans.

Loriel's complaining a bit too much, and Veara's beginning to notice. "Loriel, it's ok just to say you miss your mom and dad. I'm not going to send you back home,"

"It's just that," Loriel looks up. "As much as I love my mom, I didn't like the way she cried about her problems instead of facing them. I want to be like you. I already grieved, and of course, I'm going to be sad, and I'm going to miss them, but since that's obvious, I don't want to show it."

"Loriel, you're still a child. Napari was... she wasn't born a strong baby, and it was a miracle she didn't drop dead when you first kicked in her stomach."

Loriel leans on Veara and sighs. "In a few years, I won't be crying anymore. It's pointless-,"

"It's not pointless to miss your mom and dad!" Veara shouts. "You're lucky your mom and dad were selfless. Your dad named you heir to the throne! He should hate your guts, you and your mom's, but instead, he loved you guys."

"Don't say loved. We don't know if he's dead."

Veara sighs. "I'm sorry, I got a bit jealous. Your parents are more lovable compared to mine."

Loriel sniffs and embraces Veara.

The driver knocks on the windshield. "Miss, we're here! just preparing for landing!"

Veara nods. "Hold tight," she whispers. The carriage whooshes down onto the ground and gets bumpy.

"What a bumpy road!" Loriel says, trying to hold on to Veara. They finally stop and make their way out of the carriage.

"Is this what Heaven looks like?" Loriel looks at Griffin's peak with starry eyes.

Veara laughs. "No, no, Heaven's a little up there."

"Oh," Loriel nods.

They find a hotel and check in.

"Ok, so here's the plan I discussed with Zuka."

"How does Zuka know anything about Transylvania?" Loriel asks, confusion in her tone.

"She helps an old lady bring produce to Nymph's Woods, and apparently Nymphs travel to Transylvania to have secret affairs with Vampires, so they talk and gossip about Transylvania news all the time."

"That's why they're so many Nymph/Vampire hybrids at my school! The basic hybrids always mess with them."

"You always say basic hybrid. What do you mean by that?"

"Basic hybrids are the everyday ones, like Vampire/Werewolf, Human/Goat, Human/Horse, Human/Werewolf, and Human/Vampire. The irregular hybrids are Elf/Vampire, Panther/Peacock, Tiger/Deer, Elf/Faun, Dragon/Unicorn, and Dwarf/Gnome."

"Your teachers called you irregular?!" Veara couldn't believe what she was hearing. All hybrids aren't regular. Why are they bullying other hybrids and calling themselves normal?

"No, the teachers tried to stop it, but the kids didn't listen, so the teachers gave up. They couldn't suspend everyone."

"Ok, well, it's messed up. If we're going to talk about irregular, then all of you in the school are irregular. Just because Vampire/Werewolves and all that were here a couple of hundred years before doesn't mean anything."

"Aunt Veara, that problem's worth talking about later. The teachers tried to stop it, but it didn't work."

Veara clears her throat. "Right, um, I was saying, The Vampire court decided to send him a wife, and she'll arrive at Castle BlackMoon tomorrow."

"How will you ever seduce him if he's married?!" Loriel flops onto the bed in defeat.

"Don't worry, Loriel," Veara smirks.

"You look like you have a plan,"

"I do. We're going to raid her carriage and keep her hostage, pretending that she robbed us."

"How will we ever pull that off?!" Loriel whines and repeatedly hits her head on the bed. "What if he saw a picture? What if she's too soft to convince him that she robbed us? What if we don't pull off the act?!"

  "Don't worry. The future Vampire queen can't be soft. They trained her for three months nonstop, from 5 am to 12 am, and Telarion or whatever doesn't know a thing about her, and we are witty and bold, we can do this."

Loriel sighs and groans. "All this for you, mom. I hope you're watching."

Veara rolls her eyes."Ok, so here's how it's going to go," Veara opens her notebook. "We'll wait for her carriage to arrive and pretend to be hitchhikers. When the driver stops, we throw him over the highway and get the girl out. I'll take her clothes and force her to wear mine, then we tie her up and dress up and walk to Transylvania, saying she killed our driver and tried to rob us. Telarion will put her in jail for trying to hurt his future Queen."

"Where am I in the equation?"

"You're going to be my lady in waiting."

Loriel nods. "Ok." Loriel takes a few deep breaths.

Veara notices how restless Loriel is. "Let's explore this place. We barely go anywhere. Let's take advantage!"

Loriel smiles. "Ok!"

They visit Griffin monuments and famous buildings, then go to the mall.

"We should roam around in the Vampire section." Veara walks over to the Vampire store.

"Look! I forgot I learned about this in school!" Loriel holds up Vampire virgin blood perfume.

Veara gasps. "Oh my!"

The Vampires can tell what fantasy species you are by smelling you.

"Our whole plan-"

"Would've gone to shi-,"

"Aunt Veara!" Loriel hisses.

Veara breathes in, letting all her shock go to rest. "Take the whole stock and put it in the basket. We're going to need it." Loriel nods and slides all the perfume bottles into the basket. They check out and walk home.

"It's a good thing we went to the mall," Loriel says as they walk.

"Yea, I would have broken my promise to Nesterin."

"To stay alive?" Veara nods. A black carriage whooshes past them, and Veara catches a glimpse of the lady inside. She looked dull, with black hair, red eyes, all black—typical Vampire.

"Isn't that the Vampire queen's carriage?"

Loriel's question snaps Veara into reality. "Yes! YES, it is! We need to get going!" They dash over to the hotel and quickly pack up their stuff, and they steal a carriage and manage to dash past the queen's carriage.

"OH MY!" Loriel yells, being tossed around in the back as Veara drives.

"Sorry," Veara giggles. "I can't stop until we've lost them."

"WELL, LOOK AT THE MIRROR WE'VE LOST THEM!"

"Oh, we have." Veara stops. "We need to hide this carriage."

Loriel hesitates to get out. "This place is so dark!"

"It's Transylvania's Highway. What did you expect?"

"Right." Loriel hops out. They take their stuff out and push their carriage off the highway.

"Ok, ok, the carriage is coming!" Veara and Loriel take their positions, and the driver stops.

"Good evening, Misses. Do you need a ride?" Veara and Loriel smirk.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Yes, actually," Loriel smirks. She jumps and teleports behind the man, sinking her fangs into him before he could make a sound. She dries him up from the inside and kicks him off the highway.

"That's disgusting, Loriel," Veara gags.

Loriel shrugs. "I thought it was too, but it actually tastes pretty good."

Veara shudders. "You have the rope?" She whispers.

Loriel nods and pulls out some rope from the Faun's Village. "Yep." Loriel murmurs.

"Ok, this is a Vampire. We have to be careful." Veara opens the door.

"Elves?" The Vampire Queen snickers. "Stop wasting my time and close the door."

Veara sneers. "I'm sorry, but we can't do that." Veara teleports behind her and puts a dagger near her throat.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Shh," Loriel hushes the Vampire.

"We have to switch clothes, Vampire."

"How dare you?!" The Vampire Queen bares her fangs.

"Veara-,"

She teleports outside and flips Veara over, hurling her onto the ground and choking her. "You need to remember who killed you, so I'll give you my name."

"I d-don't want your n-name," Veara struggles to say.

"Oh, shut up, my name is Celeste, and since you're a disrespectful Elf, I'll suck your blood." Celeste sniffs. "Ahh, virgin blood." 

Celeste opens her mouth and moves close to Veara's neck when she's kicked off Veara. "Oof!"

"Loriel?"

Loriel's eyes are blood red. She's gained complete control of her powers. "What's stronger than a Vampire, auntie?"

Veara smiles. "A Vampire Hybrid." Loriel nods.

Celeste teleports to Loriel, but she's anticipated it already, and uppercut punches Celeste. Veara stares in wonder. Loriel's able to use Elf and Vampire prowesses at the same time at twelve years old. She quickly pulls away Celeste's teleporting abilities and ties her up with rope made by Fauns.

(Anything made by Cyclops, Dwarfs, Elves, Fauns, and Gnomes is robust and powerful.)

"You think you can get away with this?!" Celeste screams.

"Oh right, I forgot," Veara sends a vigorous kick to Celeste's face knocking her out. "Payback," Loriel and Veara high five and get to work.

They get in the carriage and start to change. Veara puts on a wig and colored contacts along with fangs, while Loriel just changes into her clothes and puts perfume on. "Ugh, that smells terrible, but I presume you like the smell." Veara holds her nose.

"Yes, I'm surprised by how something so disgusting as blood can taste and smell delicious."

Veara laughs in excitement. "My new name is Jezebel."

Loriel bows playfully. "And I'm Lenora!"

They giggle as they make their way over to Castle BlackMoon. "Do we just knock or?" Loriel asks, looking around for booby traps.

"I think you just knock," Veara takes the big golden ring and pushes it with force back onto the door. "That was heavy," Veara pants, and Loriel giggles.

The door opens, and a skinny Vampire answers. "Hello, I am your butler. I presume you are Crown Prince soon to be King Telarion's Queen." Loriel and Veara stare for a bit.

"Why did he address him like that?" They both thought. 

"Uh, yes. I am Jezebel, and this is my lady in waiting,"

"Lenora." Loriel finishes Veara's sentence.

"Ah, yes, Queen Jezebel and her little friend. Please follow me." Loriel sneers at the butler as they follow him to the throne room, where Telarion sat. He looked all the wrong emotions into one. "Prince Telarion?" The butler comes forward.

Telarion's eyes flicker onto him. "Yes?" His voice is deep, so deep it rings soothingly in your ears.

"Jesus, his voice is so low!" Loriel hisses. Veara nods in agreement.

"Your queen has arrived," Telarion raises an eyebrow, but his face portrays that he's not interested.

"Well?" He rolls his eyes. "Bring her in."

The butler pulls Veara into the throne room. "Hello, Your Majesty, I'm Jezebel." Veara bows down, and Loriel does the same.

Telarion seems to take no interest in her but in Celeste. "Why are you dragging an unconscious woman around with a rope? And why didn't you notice Edward?"

"Sorry, Your Highness, I failed to take notice." The butler bows, and Telarion excuses him.

Telarion's eyes pierce daggers into Veara. "Answer."

"This woman tried to rob us, and she killed our driver." Telarion doesn't say anything, making Veara and Loriel a little nervous. Telarion walks over to Veara and sniffs her by her neck.

"He's so close," Veara thought. "What if I didn't put enough perfume on?"

Telarion takes a step back. "Take that woman to jail, and you," Telarion points to Loriel. "Who are you?"

Loriel curtsies."Um, I-I'm Lenora."'

Telarion scoffs."I don't care about your name. I mean, what are you to her?"

Loriel tries her best not to sneer. "I am her lady in waiting, sir,"

"She doesn't need one. Find the door." Loriel's eyes bulge.

"No, Your Majesty, she's also my sister. Our parents are dead, and I'm her only caretaker."

Telarion pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Whatever, the Zombies will show you our room and give your sister a room as well."

"Wait, what?! We're sharing a room?"

"We have to make the Vampire court think it's real, plus they'll be expecting an heir soon." Telarion signals to the Zombies and walks away. He couldn't be bothered to get to know any of them.

"An heir?"

Veara says breathlessly as Loriel snickers. "I thought you were going to seduce him?"

"I said seduce, not produce 5-6 children with him." Veara hisses as they follow the Zombie.

"Do the Zombies even talk? He didn't tell us his name." Loriel taps the Zombie. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Ughhhh," The Zombie replied.

"Oh, they don't talk,"

"Nope," Veara giggles.

They settle in their rooms, and Loriel visits Veara in her room.

"The architecture is so gothic cathedral-like," Loriel says, looking around.

"I know, but," Veara lowers her voice. "Loriel, you shouldn't come here. I'll come to your room. This is not just my room. It's Telarion's too, and he already doesn't like you, or me, for that matter."

Loriel nods. "You need to go find him anyway. I'll sneak back into my room."

Loriel walks out, and Veara calms herself before walking out to find him. She walks around for a while when she finally finds Telarion on a balcony.

"You know," Veara starts. "Smoking isn't good for you."

Telarion side eyes Veara. "Jezebel," He says, annoyed.

"Ah, so you know my name!" Veara smirks.

Telarion scoffs. "Read the room. I don't want to converse with you."

"I just wanted to know, what do you expect of me tonight?" Telarion looked taken aback by Veara's question. Usually, Veara wouldn't dare say this, but her disguise makes her bold enough.

Telarion clears his throat. "Just go do something. I don't have time for this."

"Oh, but it looks like you have all the time in the world right now."

Telarion grits his teeth. "As I said, read the fucking room."

Veara smiles calmly. "I would definitely read the room, but we're on a balcony, not a room, and there aren't any words around here that I could read."

Telarion throws his cigarette away and tosses a glare at Veara. "Are you dumb or just playing dumb?" Veara opens her mouth to answer, but Telarion cuts her off. "Actually, don't answer that. Both answers annoy me,"

Telarion brushes past Veara and walks away. Veara giggles. Annoying him wasn't on the plan, but it sure is satisfying.

"Um, Edward, is it?" The butler nods. "Tell me, where is Telarion?"

"He went out for a walk, Your Highness," Veara nods and quickly walks back to her room to change. Her color contacts, wig, and her ears were bothering her; Her ears hurt from folding inside the human ears for too long.

She locks the door and changes. While looking through her stuff, she finds Napari's compass. Veara smiles and brushes her fingertips on the glass. Napari loved compasses, so much so that Vladimir got her this one.

Veara must have stayed there reminiscing for a little over an hour because Telarion was banging on the door. "Jezebel, open the goddamn door!"

Veara, in shock, stands up and looks at the door thinking of ways to get him to wait a little for her to change. "Your Majesty, please!" She says, trying to sound flushed. "I'm naked. Please wait!"

Telarion sighs. "You have 20 minutes before I break down the door."

"T-thank you!" Veara rushes to get changed. She stuffs her hair in the wig and puts on her fangs and colored contacts; she puts on some perfume and opens the door.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I thought to use the free time you weren't here to shower."

Telarion walks past her and lays on the bed. "Get out. I don't like people staring at me while I sleep."

Veara laughs. "Why? The nymphs couldn't get enough of you?"

"Get out!" Veara bows and walks out of the room.

Veara walks into Loriel's room to find her sleeping. "Already sleeping, huh?" Veara whispers. "You're going to be a great queen." Veara quietly walks out of Loriel's room and comes across a crossroad.

She turns right and walks down and discovers something remarkable—a door with Vladimir's name on it.

She turns the doorknob in hopes it was unlocked, and surprisingly it was. All the pictures and furniture were covered; Veara pulled off a sheet from a photo.

"Napari?!" She gasps. "Why does Vladimir have a picture of Napari hanging on his walls if they were meeting in secret?!" The day they went hunting together. When Napari told me she was pregnant 12 years ago and introduced me to Vladimir.

Veara pulls off another sheet and nearly trips. Vladimir looks so dark here. Usually, he's constantly being so cute and making Napari flush. Why does he look so scary?

Veara flashes back to a time Vladimir approached her. "I know you don't like me," Vladimir's voice echoes in Veara's head. "But, it looks like I'm going to be here for a very long time, so take this as a 'peace be with you' gift,' Vladimir hands Veara a white flower. "And keep in your mind that I'll never let anyone hurt Napari or my daughter for that matter," He smiles, and Veara smiles speechless as he walks over to Napari, who was very pregnant at the time.

Veara walks back to Napari's picture. "What was going on with you two?" She thought.

"What are you doing here?!"

Telarion's voice rips through Veara's thoughts, and she whips around. "Your Majesty I-,"

"You know her, don't you?" Veara shakes her head. Telarion sneers. "Don't lie to me, Jezebel," Telarion picks her chin up to face him. "Your sister bears a striking resemblance to her and my brother."

Veara shakes her head profusely. "This woman here is an Elf. How could my sister look like her?"

Telarion seems unconvinced. "Did you actually bring Napari's child here?!"

Veara's eyes bulge. "N-Napari?! How- That's her name?!"

"Vladimir wanted to marry her," Telarion rolls his eyes.

"Is there something wrong with a Vampire falling in love with an Elf?"

"No, at least not with me, but he was foolish enough to bring her to the Vampire court as his queen. Now she's dead, and he's missing. Both of them are idiots!" Telarion gets angrier and angrier by the minute. "And-"

Veara cuts him off with a kiss. She panicked. He might try to kill Loriel, and Telarion is still the strongest Vampire until Loriel can use her powers on command. "Jezebel wha-,"

"You said we needed an heir, right?" She quickly brings Telarion to the bed so he won't have time to say anything. "Let's start now."

CHAPTER FIVE

Last week Telarion almost found Veara and Loriel out, and Veara did the only thing she could think of to get his mind off it, lose her virginity. It seems to have worked because Telarion has not only forgotten but is avoiding them both altogether.

Veara's a little annoyed by this. She knows it's not his first time. Vampire Princes can never keep an affair a secret if they choose for it to be with a Nymph. Nymphs gossip, and people travel with it. It was Veara's first, and she's not acting as dramatic as Telarion's being.

"Aunt Veara, you look different."

Veara scoffs. "You keep telling me that! I know, I get it. I look different."

  "What happened? What did you do?"

Veara sighs. "There was a picture of your mom hanging on your dad's wall,"

"WHAT?! Why?!"

"He told his parents that he wanted to marry her, and he came out with the truth and hung her picture on his wall."

"Telarion told you this?"

Veara nods. "Telarion caught me staring at the picture and almost caught on to the fact that you were their child," Loriel gasps. "So I did the only thing I could think of, and I slept with him."

"WHAT?! How is sleeping with him gonna make him forget?! You guys sleep on the same bed! Of course, you guys are going to sleep together."

"No! Slept as in how you were made." Loriel's jaw drops.

"You guys had-?"

"Don't you dare say it."

Loriel shut her mouth but then opened it again. "Is that why he's barely around?!" Loriel scoffs. "I'm speechless."

Veara sneers."Then don't talk."

Loriel sighs. "If he's avoiding you, it means he's not adequately seduced."

"I know,"

"He's in a dark room by himself. You should go talk to him."

"How do you know?!"

"I followed him; He was being weird."

Veara laughs. "Thank you, oh wise one," Veara playfully bows, and Loriel smiles and curtsies. Veara peaks into the room Telarion was in, being careful so she wouldn't be seen. "It's so dark I can only see a figure," Veara thinks to herself. "I guess Loriel can see because of her genes." Veara runs to the room and rummages through her things, and finds a flashlight.

"Got it." She whispers to herself. She walks into the room and smiles while Telarion grimaces. "Hello, Your Highness,"

"Get out, Jezebel,"

"No, actually, you're acting very weird."

"Jezebel!"

"Telarion." Veara mocks him.

Telarion bares his fangs.

"Oh, I get it, it's  your first time, and you're scared." Veara giggles, but Telarion's fangs grow sharper, indicating he's on his last straw.

Veara turns around. "Oh, don't be mad; It was my first, too."

Telarion scoffs. He seemed to have calmed down. "Jezebel, just go,"

"But I want to know,"

"You always want to know."

"Yes, you know who killed Napari, and you seem to know where Vladimir is."

Telarion grabs Veara. "What are you suggesting?"

"Do you know who killed Napari and where your brother is?" Veara says in a small voice.

Telarion lets go of Veara. "No, but I do know that it was someone in the Vampire court. I would never go against Vladimir, let alone kill his girl or kidnap him. I also know that it's not my mother or father; They promised us they wouldn't hurt anyone anymore, and they even agreed to let him marry Napari so he wouldn't leave the family."

"I see, he's your brother, and I disagree that anyone should be killed or taken against their will."

"What are you getting at?"

"Help me find the culprit."

Telarion laughs. "You're joking?"

Veara shakes her head. "No, I'm not, Your Majesty, don't you want to know?"

Telarion scoffs. "The police-,"

"The police haven't found Vladimir, and it's been six months. They also took two months to find Napari's identity!"

Telarion thinks for a bit. "No, I won't like what we'll find."

"Are you indicating that he's already dead?!"

Telarion groans. "No, I just-you know what, never mind, I'll help."

Veara squeals. "Thank you! Your highness!" He rolls his eyes and strides out.

(Back at Loriel's.)

"What happened?" Loriel perks up as Veara close the door behind her.

"He doesn't seem to know who did it, but he knows it was one of the Vampires." Loriel breathes heavily.

"Does he-does he think my dad's dead too."

Veara hugs Loriel. "No, but there's a possibility,"

"No!" Loriel rips away from Veara. "Don't say that! Don't tell me that my dad could be dead right after my mom died!"

Loriel sobs. "Loriel, I understand, but you're too lou-"

"I don't care anymore-,"

Veara covers Loriel's mouth. "Loriel, I lost my sister. Please."

Loriel nods and calms down. "I'm sorry," She says, teary-eyed. "I don't want to lose anyone. If my dad is dead, I'll become too obsessed with you." Loriel sniffs.

"Oh, Loriel, I don't think the Vampires would kill him. His parents are still King and Queen until next month; I'm sure they won't kill their son," Loriel breathes in and out. "Plus, Telarion said they were willing to accept your mom, so your dad wouldn't leave." 

Loriel nods and lays on her bed. "Please be alive, dad." She whispers.

Veara bites her lip to stop herself from crying. "I'm going to leave you to your thoughts." Veara barely manages to say. She walks out and sighs shakily. She walks into her room, where she's startled by Telarion.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I-I Your Majesty?"

"Why are you surprised to see me in my room?" Telarion sighs and lays on the bed.

"You haven't been here in a while,"

"So, it's my house; I can sleep anywhere I want."

Veara bows. "Of course, Your Majesty." Telarion rolls his eyes.

"I see you've noticed," Veara smirks.

"What? You have more questions?"

Veara nods and sits down next to him. "Does anyone in the royal court seem suspicious to you? Does anyone fall out of line nowadays, and does anyone smell like Elf blood or Vladimir?"

"Nobody looks or sounds suspicious, and I haven't talked to anyone in close proximity to smell them."

"But you had the time to smell me."

"Because you were dragging another Vampire like a dog."

"Whatever."

Telarion sits up. Veara flushes; He's desperately close to her.  "There's a room in my parent's house and a room in the Vampire's court. I've never had access to the Vampire's courtroom and lost access to my parent's secret room when Vladimir went missing."

As Veara listens to Telarion, a question boils up. "Do you not like Napari?"

"I did like her." Telarion groans.

"You did?"

"I did like her until she let Vladimir come to court and stupidly embarrassed himself."

"That was not her fault!"

"Yes, it was. She was there too; She should have talked him out of it."

"But she loved him!"

"THEN SHE WOULDN'T HAVE LET HIM DO SOMETHING SO SUICIDAL!" Telarion gets off the bed and paces. "She knew, everyone knows! She let him do something so stupid when they have a child."

"How do you know she has a child?" 

"I saw her, and I think her name was Loren-, Loriel."

"Telarion, this is Vladimir's family; he should have known!"

"If someone's absurd in a relationship, that doesn't mean the other should surrender to it. Especially a woman! They always say women get their way all the time, and women are always right."

"It's ungentleman like to fight with a woman!"

"What if the woman's leading you to death!"

"It wasn't even her idea!"

"And if a man is leading you to death, shouldn't a woman set him straight like they say they do?!"

Veara calms down and sighs. "I'm going to blame your disrespectful comments on my- Napari on the fact that you lost your brother."

Telarion scoffs. "Vladimir was lonely. We were all lonely, all nine of us. Our parents separated us because each of us had a lousy trait; they didn't want us rubbing off on each other. Vladimir and I were together, and I don't blame him for being with an Elf when we were restricted from other Vampires."

"And when was this restriction?" Veara crosses her arms in disbelief. 

"We had the Nymphs and Fauns and Elves. Napari was Vladimir's first love, and you know you do crazy things for your first love. However,"

"It wasn't Napari's first relationship," Veara whispers along with Telarion.

"I get it, but it was on both of them; I don't want to hear it!" Telarion opens his mouth to disagree, but Veara stops him. "As my first Wife decree, I command you to stop dishonoring Napari because you miss your brother!" Veara puts her hand up and smirks.

Telarion scoffs and grabs Veara's hand, pulling her close. "Oh?" He smirks. "Why'd you stop giggling?" Veara remains speechless. She doesn't know what to say when a man is this close to her. Why'd she come up with the stupid idea to seduce such an experienced stone-hearted man?

"I-, I'm tired. Tomorrow we will go to the Vampire court and investigate the secret door."

"Who are you to give orders around here?" Telarion leers.

"Your wife," Veara smiles as she turns off the light. "Goodnight, my husband." She quietly takes off her eye contact as Telarion scoffs at her words.

CHAPTER SIX

"Loriel? Can I come in?"

Loriel opens the door. "Aunt Veara!" Loriel pulls Veara in.

"Loriel! What is going on?" Loriel reaches behind the dresser and takes out a blueprint; She puts it on the bed and points to it.

"This is the blueprint of the Vampire court. I found it in Telarion's office."

"Loriel!"

Loriel looks at Veara. "What?!"

"Stop spying on him! If he catches you, he'll be reminded of Vladimir and Napari's daughter and put two and two together."

Loriel shrugs. "I don't think he'll care. Yesterday, I heard you guys talking."

Veara shakes her head in disbelief. "Loriel, I'm the spy. You're the sidekick, and for a reason!"

"Well, you're not a very good spy."

Veara puts her hand on her chest and pretends she's hurt. "I can't believe you! I'm a good spy."

"Ok, auntie," Loriel laughs. "Telarion's been cut off from his parent's room and the Vampire court secret room."

Veara rolls her eyes and nods. Of course, Loriel knows. "It means that his parents either know who did it and is protecting them, or they did it, and the evidence is in the room."

Loriel nods. "Yes, and also, what if we can trust him with our real identity?"

"No-,"

"He's seen me before. No amount of whatever you do will eventually make him forget."

Veara buries her head in her hands. Telarion's clever, and it's just a matter of time before he figures out who they truly are. "Ok, we'll just let him find out."

Loriel smacks her forehead. "Knowing him, he'll go berserk,"

"He's not a madman,"

"No, he's not; He's a man with anger issues."

Veara groans. "I will-,"

The door opens, and Telarion comes in, sneering. He looks at Loriel hard and long, making Veara's heart stop.

Finally, he turns to Veara. "I thought you said we should go to the Vampire court, and here you are mingling with you lady in waiting or whatever."

Veara and Loriel bow. "Your Majesty, Jezebel was just coming here to tell me the news."

Telarion scoffs. "You're bringing your eight-year-old sister?"

Loriel sneers. "I'm twelve."

Telarion ignores her. "I'll be in the car, don't keep me waiting."

"Wait, there are cars here?!"

Telarion crosses his hands on his chest. "Where are you from, Jezebel?"

"Um, I lived with Elves for most of my life, so I don't know." Telarion nods slowly while raising an eyebrow before deciding not to comment and leaves.

"Hurry up," Veara takes a breath.

"When were you going to tell me?" Loriel pouts.

"I don't know, but we don't have time. Let's go. We're going to sit in a car!"

Loriel smiles. "I know! I thought only humans had cars."

"So did I." They walk outside and look around.

"There, I think that's it."

"It looks so beautiful but also bizarre," Veara says, tilting her head to get a full view. They walk over and knock on the door. "Um, Telarion, how do we open the door?" Veara says, smiling sheepishly.

Telarion rolls his eyes and opens the door for them. "Get in."

Veara and Loriel get in after a few struggles.

"This is so cool!" Loriel looks around.

Telarion grins a little, so Veara and Loriel couldn't see. "It's called a Land Rover,"

"I like it."

"Of course you do."

Veara rolls her eyes. "How long has it been since you've gone to the Vampire court?"

Telarion breathes in. "Six months,"

"He hasn't gone since his brother went missing." Veara thought.

"Oh, Your Highness."

Veara tries to hug him, but he stops her. "Don't hug me, and don't call me Your Highness. It's Telarion."

Veara shrugs. "Of course, I was trying to be nice."

Telarion looks at her. "You want to ask another question, don't you?"

Veara smiles. "Yes. Do you know where Vladimir's child is?"

Telarion shakes his head. "No. He told me he was expecting another child with Napari, a boy." Loriel shifts, clearly still a little sad. "That's when he decided that he wanted to be with only Napari."

Veara's eyes bulge. "He was cheating?"

"No, he didn't know about Napari at first because it wasn't her first time being with a man."

"And it's a problem? I'm sure Vladimir had-"

"Affairs, meaningless one-night stands." He was right. Napari almost married before and had other serious relationships.

"How did he know Napari had serious relationships in the past?"

"He told me that her ex came up to them while they were walking around Maddrift. She then said to him that she didn't want someone she loved to leave her again because of her troublesome ex."

Veara nods as if she's just discovered this.  "Did you want to become Vampire King?" Loriel finally speaks up.

Telarion sighs. "No, and that's exactly why Vladimir was going to be the Vampire King. He wanted to, and I didn't. We know the rule, and that's why my mother had nine children, so all I had to do was say I wasn't interested, and they turned to Vladimir, the second oldest."

Loriel inquires."Do you have sisters?"

Telarion rolls his eyes. "Don't start with the feminist stuff. Of course, we have sisters, five of them. It's not about gender; It's about who's older." Loriel rolls her eyes softly so Telarion won't see.

The rest of the car ride was silent, and there was uncomfortable tension between Loriel and Telarion, so Veara breaks the silence. "When will we be there?"

Telarion clears his throat and points. "We're in the city now, and the famous Dracula's castle is right there."

"Oh my, Transylvania is so pretty! Why do you hide away in your castle!"

Telarion glares at Veara. "I have no reason, just look up ahead and stop asking questions that annoy me." Veara knows it's because of his missing brother, but she doesn't want her throat to be sliced open, so she keeps quiet.

"Are you close with your other siblings?" Loriel asks.

Telarion grunts. "I don't know anymore. My siblings started suspecting each other, and I managed to pull myself out of it before they said my name, so I don't know."

"Oh, sorry,"

"Don't be; I couldn't care less. We're here." Telarion gets out and enters the Vampire court, also known as Dracula's castle.

Loriel and Veara look at each other. "I don't like him, but he has nothing to do with my dad's disappearance."

Veara nods. "None of his siblings either."

Loriel agrees and jumps down. "Oh!" Loriel falls flat.

"Why is the ground so far away?!" Veara says, trying to get down.

"Here, let me help."  Loriel grabbed onto Veara's hands.

"Wait," Telarion says. He's leaning on the wall, amusement in his eyes, but his face remains serious.

"How long were you there for?!" Loriel whips around, almost pulling Veara to the ground.

"Whoa!"

Telarion shrugs. "Long enough to see you fall out of a car."

He walks over to Veara as Loriel glares at him. "Jump towards me; I'll catch you."

Loriel scoffs, and Veara smiles. "Thank you, Your- Telarion." Veara carefully jumps onto him, ensuring she doesn't hit her head on the ceiling. Telarion spins around to face Loriel and places Veara down.

"Oh my," Veara giggles. "That was fun!"

"That was supposed to be for the kid here!"

Telarion rolls his eyes. "I don't see a kid; I see a snobby brat whos almost a teen," Loriel bares her fangs.

"Oh wow, I'm scared." Telarion pushes Loriel's face out of his way. "Follow." Veara and Loriel follow Telarion into the hallway, where the room is. "There's a werewolf guarding the keys in front of the door." Telarion whispers.

"How are we going to get past that?!" Loriel hisses.

"Well, brat, we're going to have to fight it."

"It's Lenora."

"Didn't ask."

Telarion says, walking towards the buff werewolf. Veara and Loriel rush behind. "Hello, Wulfric," Telarion smirks.

The wolf growls. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Wulfric's raspy, ugly voice startles both Veara and Loriel.

"Where are the others?" Telarion pretends to care.

"OH, I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO GET IN THE ROOM. THEY WENT FOR A HUNT IN BLACK MOON GROVE. DON'T EXPECT THEM TO BE BACK VERY SOON"

Telarion nods. That's precisely what he wants to hear. "Great, so now I can get the keys."

Telarion teleports above and kicks Wulfric towards Veara. Veara jumps and teleports above Wulfric, kick slamming him onto the ground, and Loriel sprouts claws and beheads Wulfric.

"Why was that so easy?!" Loriel questions.

Telarion scoffs. "You think I would lead you guys into a dangerous fight? This guy hasn't fought anyone in centuries because no one bothers to enter the room."

"His death is kind of depressing," Veara says as she takes the keys and hands them to Telarion.

"Says the girl who took part in his death."

Veara rolls her eyes playfully. "He would've bumped into me and squashed me like a bug; I had to move him out of the way."

Telarion narrows his eyes. "Which reminds me of how small you are compared to an average Vampire."

Veara and Loriel look at each other and stutter. "I- well-" Veara stutters.

"We did live with Elves our whole lives, so their diet was our diet." Loriel saves Veara.

Telarion grunts in disgust. "I'm opening the door." Telarion opens the door. There's a table with maps and plans. "Look," Telarion points to a whiteboard with a drawn diagram. It read:

Napari The Elf's Murder.

(plan b)

"They planned it!" Veara says, reading the board.

"How did they know they were going on a trip to Dragon's Rock?" Loriel says quietly.

Telarion pinches the bridge of his nose. "They sent Elf spies."

Veara gasps. Why would an Elf betray its own kind, or do they think Napari betrayed them?

"It makes sense; Elves do have the abilities to shapeshift," Loriel adds on.

"Look around. They must have one for Vladimir too." Veara rummages with the paper on the table, and Telarion looks through books.

They both whip their heads around when Loriel gasps. "Look!" She cries. The paper had a title on the top that said:

Vladimir.

"They're torturing him in a room," Telarion says coldly.

Veara points to the upper left-handed corner. "There's a code,"

"DA979; what does that mean?" Loriel asks.

"I wish I could tell you," Veara says apologetically.

Loriel growls in frustration. "ALL OF THIS IS USELESS!!"

She walks out of the room, leaving Telarion in shock. "How dare she? You raise her to talk to you like that?!"

Veara sighs. Vladimir spoiled Loriel rotten and would do the same thing to 'Blade' the boy they were going to have. "She's not always like this. It's just after her- our parents died she refused to cry, even though she did a bit, and it has caused her to show her grief differently, anger."

For once, Veara told the truth. Half the fact, it's Loriel's parents, not hers.

"Well, now we need to go. Help me drag Wulfric's body into the room and teleport this evidence to Castle BlackMoon."

Veara nods and reluctantly grabs Wulfric's bloody head, placing it on the table. At the same time, Telarion teleports his body onto a chair. "Telarion, you have to save your teleportation energy for-,"

"I got it already," He says, cutting Veara off. Telarion's eyes turn red, and his hair lifts up, and all the paper spins around Veara, making her giggle, then disappears.

"You must be tired, Telarion." Veara assumes.

"Yep," Telarion barely manages to say. "So take me home,"

Telarion leans on Veara. "Oh-ok, come on, big guy," Veara shakingly makes it over to the car, where Loriel is, sleeping.

"Oh, that brat is sleeping? After all that?!"

Telarion tries to make it over to the car but immediately trips, and Veara catches him. "Slow down. You just teleported hundreds of evidence to Castle BlackMoon, which is very far away."

Telarion scoffs as Veara helps him into the car. "This is embarrassing."

Veara laughs. "Just say thank you and get over it."

Telarion looks away from Veara, indicating there's no thank you coming toward her. "I have more important things to tell you."

Veara tilts her head. "What?"

"There's a five-digit code lock on the door of my parent's secret room."

"So DA979 could be the code!" Veara smiles, but Telarion doesn't look too happy. "I know your scared to see your brother bloody and all bad, but he's still alive." Telarion's gaze burns Veara's skin. "They killed Napari in their drawing and had Vladimir hanging by his hand with Faun's rope. He's not ok, but he's not dead." Telarion says nothing, his gaze becoming more and more uncomfortable. "Telarion stop-,"

Telarion sweeps Veara in a kiss. Veara tries to pull away, but Telarion holds her waist firm. Veara knew that he was just tired or grieving, and that's why he was kissing her, but his kiss was so alluring it pulled Veara in even though she didn't want to. Veara lets herself go and puts her hand up to his hair as he pulls her closer, kissing her harder.

They both are entangled in each other, kissing when the driver interrupts them. "We're here, Prince Telarion," He says.

Veara and Telarion jump away from each other, clearing their throats.

"Lenora," Veara shoves Loriel awake.

"Ow!" Loriel whines.

"We're here, brat," Telarion grunts. Telarion gets out, and Edward the butler helps Veara and Loriel out.

Veara sighs and follows Telarion into the room. "Telarion, where are you going?!" Telarion spins around to face Veara.

"Jezebel," Veara stops and looks up at him.

"Yes?"

"If Napari was pregnant, why didn't the news report say she was pregnant?"

Veara gasps. "Do you think she had already given birth?!"

"How many months?"

"Eight! It would make sense! She was eight months pregnant with her son! So he could be alive!"

"But where would he be?"

"What if the Vampire who killed her took the baby?" Telarion suggests.

"That's a good idea. We should look out for anyone who has a baby boy."

"The baby boy's hair color would be Black, white, green, or dark blue," Telarion says.

"Vladimir's hair is Black and white."

"Yea, that was a disability, not something that would pass on to his children."

"Oh."

"Tomorrow, we will go to my parent's castle. We need to act like a loving couple."

"Is that why you kissed me?"

Telarion sighs."No, just prepare for tomorrow. Don't ask annoying  questions."

"You mean questions you refuse or can't answer? Why do you hide in your castle when Transylvania's so beautiful?!" Veara glares at him. "Because you miss your brother, and because you miss him, you're now a social reject! Why'd you kiss me?! Because you're starting to like me, and I am your wife! Stop making everything so difficult and be honest with yourself."

Veara walks past him and into the room. "Stop it!" She thinks to herself. "Don't get attached to being his wife. This will all come down when I find out who murdered Napari." Telarion opens the door, hitting Veara in the process. "Ow!" Veara cries out, holding onto her shoulder.

"Sorry," Telarion sighs.

"Excuse me, what?!"

"I SAID I'M SORRY." 

Veara smiles. "For what?"

"You're evil, Jezebel," Telarion grabs Veara by the neck and kisses her.

"What are you doing, Telarion?!"

"I'm apologizing."

"You mean you're trying to say sorry? By-"

Telarion pushes Veara onto the bed. "Exactly that." He says as he unbuttons his shirt.

CHAPTER SEVEN

"You finally sleep beside me." Veara turns around to see Telarion sitting on the bed.

He shrugs. "I didn't feel like getting up after."

Veara blushes deeply. "Telarion!" She shoves him.

"What? Ok, fine, how about this? I didn't feel like getting up after f-,"

"NO! I like the other one better."

Telarion nods. "I know."

"How are you able to maintain a serious face when saying this?!"

"It's called being experienced."

"Yea, ok, whatever." Veara gets up and dresses up. She realizes that she took her contacts off. "Oh my, I'm lucky he didn't notice,"

  "What time will we go to your parent's castle?"

Telarion sighs and closes the book he was reading. "Jezebel," He sighs. "I told my parents we were coming, and they told me something."

Veara walks over to him. "What? Are they ok?"

"They adopted a new baby, a boy."

Veara gasps. "Telarion..."

"Let me show you." Telarion picks up a strange rectangle with a screen.

"Telarion! THEY PUT THE BABY IN A RECTANGLE?!"

Telarion looks away, trying to stop laughing. "I forgot, Elves raised you. This is a phone. Humans made it, and since Vampires look like humans and Werewolves are humans most of the time, we learned how to use it. The baby is not in a box; It's called a picture, like a drawing but more accurate."

"Ohh." Veara grabs the phone. "Telarion, this baby has black hair. He also looks like Vladimir. I would never suspect your mom and dad but,"

"Jezebel, wrong is wrong. If my parents had anything to do with Vladimir and Napari, I wouldn't protect their asses. Vladimir is their son, and Napari is an innocent girl, a pregnant one at that." Veara coos.

"Aw, my husband has a heart! I'm touched that I rubbed off on him."

Telarion rolls his eyes. "Just get ready before you piss me off."

Veara laughs. "Pissed off? At your wife?!"

Telarion pretends to strangle Veara. "My wife never listens to me, and it's pissing me off." Veara and Telarion gape at each other.

"Jezebel!" Loriel knocks on the door.

"That brat, I'm going to kill her." Telarion sneers. Veara laughs and opens the door.

"YOU'RE NOT READY?!"

"I just need my clothes."

"Why do you only have underwear on anyway?"

"None of your business, brat. Just wait outside."

"Ohhh, I see you guys were-,"

Telarion slams the door. "Your sister is annoying,"

"You think everyone's annoying."

"Mostly because they prove me right, all the time."

Veara laughs. "Ok, I'm ready."

Telarion sighs. "Finally."

They walk out and meet with Loriel. "Telarion," Loriel says bitterly.

"It's Your Majesty,"

"She can call you-,"

"She's my wife, and you're her useless lady in waiting."

"OK, guys," Veara comes in between them. "Telarion, stop fighting with a Twelve-year-old," Veara looks at Loriel. "Lenora, stop fighting with a, uh," Veara looks at Telarion. "A grown man."

"I'm twenty-nine,"

Loriel snickers. "You mean an old man, Veara."

"Shut up, brat, you're pissing me off."

"You're never fully pissed off. I would like to see that." Loriel was going to get herself in trouble.

"Lenora!" Veara shouts, making Loriel surprised.

Veara pulls Loriel to a corner. "Stop! You're going to get yourself killed."

"He's annoying."

"He is older than you! If he makes up his mind to kill you, I can't do anything! I am trying to keep my promise, but all you do is make it harder."

"Stop defending him! He's rude, and he deserves to be challenged."

"Stop,"

"No,"

"YOU'RE ACTING LIKE YOUR MOTHER! Stop making everything so difficult!" Loriel eyes bulge, and Veara sighs.

"You will never become Vampire Queen like this," Loriel storms off. Veara calms herself and walks over to Telarion.

"The brat stormed off."

"I know," Telarion glances at Veara.

"What's going on?"

Veara smiles. "Nothing just had to talk to her."

Telarion nods. "I don't want her coming anyway."

They make their way into the car and drive off without Loriel.

"Telarion, what's the name of your parent's castle?"

He shrugs. "They change it every year, so I don't know,"

"Can you do that?!" Veara asks.

"You can when you're the previous King and Queen."

Veara nods her head. They make a turn away from Transylvania. "Telarion? Why did we-?" Veara's eyes bulge. "Is that their castle?!"

"Yes, why?"

Veara clears her throat, remembering she's a Vampire now. "Nothing. I don't know why they choose to live outside of Transylvania."

Telarion shrugs. "Come on."

He gets out and helps Veara out. Telarion opens the door without knocking and walks in.

"Telarion, you're supposed to knock! It's rude to just walk in."

"They wouldn't open the door if we knocked anyway. Come in or stay out. Your choice." 

Veara sighs and walks in. "Fine."

Telarion walks to the massive dining room, where his mom and dad fawn over the little boy.

"Drusilla, Lazarus." They look up at him.

"Telarion?!" His mother smiles; She hands the baby to her husband and hugs Telarion.

"Is this the wife the Vampire court chose for you?"

"Yes," Telarion sighs, unamused.

"Hello," Veara says.

"Oh? A hello?" His father questions.

"Unusual," Drusilla adds. 

"The Elves raised her," Telarion says.

Drusilla and Lazarus roll their eyes in disgust. "How sad."

"We didn't come here to discuss that," Telarion sits down.

"With all due respect," Veara comes forward. "I want to ask, why did you adopt another child?"

Drusilla and Lazarus look at each other. "Why do you ask?" Lazarus says, putting the sleeping baby in his crib.

"I want to solve Napari and Vladimir, your son's case."

"The police-,"

"The police have done nothing," Veara cuts Drusilla off. "Napari was pregnant with Vladimir's second child, eight months to be exact, but the baby is nowhere to be found, and the reports never mentioned a pregnancy or second birth."

Drusilla shrugs. "Perhaps she wasn't pregnant."

Veara chuckles. "No, she was pregnant."

Veara went through Telarion's phone and found something called Instagram.

"Vladimir had Instagram, and apparently he likes to, uh,"

Veara looks at Telarion.

"Post," Telarion adds.

"Yes! Post. Napari was very much pregnant when she was killed, and I believe the culprit took the baby."

Drusilla and Lazarus sneer. "What are you suggesting?!"

"Maybe you adopted the stolen baby." Veara walks over to the crib and observes the baby. "This baby resembles Vladimir. My other question is, why do you wish to adopt another baby when you are, no offense, old and have adult children?" Drusilla and Lazarus bare their fangs.

Telarion stands up. "Getting angry will only make her more suspicious."

Lazarus and Drusilla calm down.  "You're right," Drusilla says, looking at her husband.

"If you really have nothing to hide, then let's go for a walk and let Jezebel here search around."

Lazarus and Drusilla walk over to a corner.

"What are they doing?" Veara whispers over to Telarion.

"They do this every time they want to make a decision." Veara nods in understanding.

*Over at Lazarus and Drusilla*

"Let her search," Lazarus mumbles. "She'll never find the room."

"Even if she does, she won't be able to open it,"  Drusilla whispers back.

"We need to get rid of her before Telarion impregnates her with an heir or even falls in love with her."

"We certainly do,"  Lazarus smiles. "She is way too nosy for her own good."

"Just like that good for nothing witch of an Elf that put our poor Vladimir in a spell." They both smirk and turn around. "We don't have anything to hide," Drusilla starts.

"Yes, so much so that we'll even leave the baby here with you, Jezebel," Lazarus adds.

"But, if you try to take the baby, the guards will be forced to kill you," Drusilla says cautiously.

Veara nods. "I will not take anything that is not mine, I promise." Drusilla and Lazarus nod.

"Come on, Telarion."

Telarion nods. "Jezebel, don't try anything fishy. We don't know if the baby is Vladimir's, so don't steal him."

Veara rolls her eyes. "Just tell me where the secret room is, quick."

"The stairs, don't stop walking until you get to the top. Then walk around until you find the floor button or whatever, and the door will open."

"The door opens? I thought you lost-"

"There's another door with a code that opens the door, and I don't know it, not anymore."

Veara smiles. "Thank you."

Telarion grunts and catches up with his parents as they walk.

Veara walks up the stairs until there are no more stairs to walk on. "What?" Veara looks around for more stairs, she's not at the top yet, and there aren't any stairs. She pretends to walk back down to see if it will appear, and it doesn't. "The stairs aren't there. How am I supposed to keep on walking-, OH!" Veara catches an idea. "Maybe if I pretend as if I'm going to keep going up, the stairs will appear." Veara carefully picks her legs up as if she's walking up the stairs, and miraculously the stairs appear below her foot. "Clever," Veara says to herself.

She walks up to the top and finds a vast brown door.  "I suppose the floor tile will lower down when I step on it." Veara walks around the perimeter and then into the rectangular room, and finally, one of the floor tiles lowers down beneath Veara's foot. The large door opens with a loud creak, and Veara walks in. "Across from me is the door that will change everything." Veara takes a deep breath and walks over to the door. On the door lever, there is a code lock. The first two are letters, and the remaining three are numbers. "Perfect." Veara smiles. She puts in the code. D, A, 9, 7, 9. Veara waited patiently for the door to open.

What was a few seconds had become hours for Veara as the door finally opened. Veara rushes in and begins to look around. After a few minutes, she finds a book with the same code combination on its spine. 

How To Kill Another Vampire by Lazarus Dagger.

Veara tries to pull the book out, and the library shelves open up. "Oh my!" Veara holds her chest. Once she calmed down, she walks down the secret room and found a precise drawing of the Vampire courtroom in a notebook that belonged to Drusilla.

"The book is located around the same place as it is here. Pull it out, and there you'll find our beloved prisoner's body in the secret room." Veara flips a little to the front. "Napari has accidentally given birth in Dragon's rock. We will initiate the process of taking the baby tomorrow at noon. If they show resistance, we'll kill them. We cannot have bastard grandchildren."

"How could they?! Everything in the Vampire courtroom was a facade; Vladimir wasn't being tortured. They killed Vladimir on the spot, and they planned Napari's murder as plan b?! I don't think they knew about Loriel." Veara sobs while flipping through.

"Vladimir decided to betray us. He let Napari escape and chose to fight us. I had no choice but to kill Vladimir, and Lazarus murdered Napari after she witnessed it and bribed a Kludde Officer and Griffin News Reports to tell all species that Napari had only given birth once." Veara rips out the pages and quickly gets out. When they return, Veara pretends as if she had found nothing.

"Did you find anything, dear?" Drusilla asks.

Veara shakes her head. "No, ma'am, I am genuinely sorry. I will have to search somewhere else."

Drusilla and Lazarus smirk. "How was Baylor?"

Veara grimaces. They changed the baby's name; It was supposed to be Blade. Because of you, he'll never know his parents or his real name, not unless Veara does something.

"He slept the whole time, not a sound." Veara plasters a smile on her face.

Telarion knew something was weird, and he was getting curious as to why Veara claimed she found nothing. "We have to go." Telarion grabs Veara and heads for the door.

"Telarion! You do not even hug your mother." Drusilla pretends to be sad.

"You know that hasn't happened for a long time. Goodbye, Mother, father." He bows and drags Veara out of there. "What happened?" Telarion says sternly.

"Telarion," Veara says sadly. 

"I don't need your pity, Jezebel! Just tell me."

Veara sighs. "They murdered Napari, and I know where to find Vladimir."

"Is he dead?" Veara almost chokes on the air; She can't bring herself to tell Telarion.

"I don't know, but your father has a book in the Vampire courtroom."

"How To Kill Another Vampire?"

"How'd you know?"

"He wrote it years ago."

"Well, pulling that book out in the Vampire courtroom will lead to where your brother is kept. The code is also the book number of your father's book." Telarion nods, no emotion on his face.

"Telarion, I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be your-"

"Don't worry. I never was that close with them. They promised to get close. That's why I thought they would never do this, but that's never the case. It's always the person you least suspect."

"Do you want me to hug you?"

Telarion doesn't answer. He walks over to the car. "Get in; We have a lot to tell the brat."

Veara nods. "We quarreled earlier, so I don't know, but she must come with us."

"Why must she come?" Telarion says, helping Veara into the car.

Veara thinks for a bit. "Because she has a massive crush on Vladimir."

Telarion freezes with shock written all over his face. "What- never mind, I don't want to know."

Veara giggles. She remembers what she read and takes a deep breath. "Tomorrow, we need to go back to Vampire court. Napari had accidentally given birth in Dragon's rock. Your parents knew about this and stole the baby, killing Napari and kidnapping Vladimir."

Telarion nods. "Tomorrow then."