1. Penny for your thoughts?

We rode in silence as we passed a few houses surrounded by multiple fences of maximum-security, top-notch cameras in every corner and vampires in special gears who walked around each house keeping vigilant of the humans living inside them.

The cities were no longer the same ones we once walked in. Now they were empty of humans striding in a busy morning heading to work, the traffic and from children heading to school.

It was all empty except for the few cars and especial buses that carried a multitude of people to the compounds that were on the outskirts of the cities.

The compounds or slaughterhouses were the home of each bloodline. There were a few in different areas of the country to prevent a fight amongst themselves, thinking that someone was confusing their prey which was absurd. Each human had been marked with a special chip hidden on our spines. That piece of device not only kept our personal information but also the number of the Bloodline you belonged to.

We were already destined for a bloodline from the start.

After every world leader got executed and the vampires took over the countries, they took the surviving humans to different places to go through an evaluation.

It felt more like a test than anything else. Each work they commanded you to do was to determine how experienced, how healthy, how beautiful, or what social status you fell in the human chain.

Which in our case, we were the best ones since my family was born rich and we had what the rest couldn’t have.

I wasn’t proud of it. All this that we have was just a temporary ticket to our death.

Both my mother and father had tried to bargain with the vampires, but nothing had worked. Instead, we got put into house jail with a bunch of strangers we barely knew.

With the passing of the weeks, we learned more and more about those living with us. Almost all the ones in our house belonged to some rich family that was entirely executed or had been separated from the compounds without knowing what had happened to them.

People had whispered that few were still alive, that amongst those who had stayed with us and now had been sent away, a few remained alive somehow.

How? It all depended on what you were capable of doing and if you could survive their petty games they enjoyed doing.

It all depended on the compound they sent you to as well and right now I felt worried that my family would get sent to the worst of the compounds, especially the Bloodline of Telekinesis and Fire.

I don’t want anything bad to happen to them. Even though they have been ignoring me for the last year, I still hope that we will survive this somehow.

The car came to a stop, and we all stared at each other. I could see how nervous my mother was, her eyes brimming with tears as my father reached for her hand.

He seemed composed like the business magnate he has always been. Born with his billions always surrounding him and nothing fazing him, not even vampires.

I wonder how he deals with everything.

I turned to the window where a tall building stood hovering over us.

“Get down.” A voice order and we obliged.

I clutched onto the small bag I had brought with me from my house. Believe it or not, bringing something of yours was a requirement that I couldn’t understand.

If we were to die, having our belonging didn’t seem right. What need could they have if we were supposed to die soon?

“Follow us in silence.” I eyed the vampire, who had black sunglasses on. A group of eight surrounded us as we walked into the building.

When the Bloodlines showed themselves for the first time eight months ago, it confused many about how it was possible for them to walk under the sun because, according to myths and books, vampires were children of the night. They couldn’t walk out under the blazing sun since they were all cursed and could burn easily into dust, but here they were walking under the sun does not like us humans but they could walk if they use the proper protection, like umbrellas or protective suits that they created with our technology.

As we stepped into the building, I looked up to meet the enormous foyer, cleaned and pristine from top to bottom. Everything around me shined as if nothing ever happened.

There were no signs of destruction here. Everything was meticulously cleaned, even new.

I frowned, confused for a moment. I thought they were taking us to the compounds. So why were we here inside this place?

“Now this is better.” My sister whispered next to me as her smile widened.

I looked sideways, noticing the stuck-up face she had on. Then I lowered my eyes to her outfit.

Really, I did not know in what right mind someone would dress up so well for their deaths. We were supposed to be sent somewhere to get slaughtered, but if I remember well, the only one they asked for was me.

They never mentioned my sister’s name. They asked for mine, but for what reason?

The vampires guided us towards an elevator big enough for twenty people that only opened with a passcode one of them pressed in.

I watched curiously, memorizing the hand movement before they led us in and the doors shut, silently.

We rode in silence to the twelve floors where the elevator stopped and we got pushed out. My mother yelped as the vampire suddenly pushed her to move.

She was a complete wreck, but that bastard was a scoundrel. He was enjoying making my mother whimpered like the frail woman she has always been.

My mind told me to fight him, to at least insult him. Yet I cowardly remained silent.

What could I do? I could barely handle myself. What would I possibly do to a vampire? If they would just use one of their powers and I instantly will get vaporized from the face of the earth.

As we turned down a hallway, we stopped right in front of a white door. My heart pounded loud in my chest.

“You will stay here, get change, and then you will be summoned.” They ordered us. “Everything has your name.”

Just like that, they left us inside an enormous presidential suit locked inside.

My mother started sobbing, while my sister walked over to the floating table that had some enormous boxes wrapped in red ribbons.

I followed and over her shoulder peered down at the boxes. I saw my name on a tag. It was written in a nice cursive letter, Yophiel.

“That’s for you, ugly duckling,” she said, pushing the box with her hand.

I moved to the side, dragging the box with me. My fingers slid over the ribbon material, silk.

Without saying a word, I pulled on the ribbon and then opened the box. What was inside was something I wasn’t expecting to see.

“Oh,” I whispered, pulling the lid completely off. My mother stopped sobbing and quickly moved behind me to stare at the dress.

“What’s this? It’s so unfair!” my sister screeched from behind as I took a step back and held the black dress.

Black velvet fell down to the floor with crystals engraved in the shape of flowers from the sleeves to the shoulder blades. Each glinted as the lights from the chandelier shone down on them.

It was simple. The material stretchy in a way it would stick to your body as an extra skin, but beautiful.

I frowned, picking a scent coming from it. Pulling it closer to my nose, I catch one smell: lavender.

My heart skipped a beat for a reason.

Was this some joke? Wearing something like this for our death was ridiculous. I had no need for this dress, so I laid it back down on the table. My sister pushed me out of the way, making me stumble.

“Why would they give you something so beautiful?” she eyed me from the corner of her eye. “You are an ugly duckling. Nothing you wear will make you look beautiful.”

I flinched.

She was right. These bastards were playing with me. They found it funny to joke with my looks.

“You can keep it,” I mumbled and turned away until I was in another separate room that had the city view with the tall skyscrapers hiding between the clouds.

I took a deep breath, hand over my cheeks as I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

“Come on, Yophiel,” I muttered angrily to myself. It was not the time to cry. I had cried enough already.

Once I felt calm, I opened my eyes and screamed. A vampire. It’s there in his pale skin, the barest hint of fangs pressing his bottom lip.

He is gorgeous in a way all vampires are, flawless and with hidden strength. This one has long raven hair that falls to his shoulders, fathomless dark eyes and a muscular body that stretched his clothes, showing every flex. And right now, he was staring at me with a calmness that made me uneasy.

I know that with a single move, I could make him lose control.

I was the prey. He was the hunter, calculating how he would trap me.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he spoke. There was an accent, there one I recognized as Korean.

He crooked his head sideways as I blinked and lowered my head.

“Sorry,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.

I could feel his eyes staring at me from head to toe. They were watching me, studying me and my aspect. For some odd reason, I felt too conscious of my looks and hugged myself, trying to feel safe in my own arms.

“You ugly duck, look your dress looks marvelous on—” my sister shut her mouth the moment she stepped into the room. The air suddenly shifted from hot to freezing cold.

With a gasp, I took a step back.

“I—”

I cursed silently.

My sister wasn’t shutting her mouth up. Leaving me no choice, I looked up at both just to find the vampire with an impassive look.

His eyes focused on my sister while his body remained rigid. I glanced at my sister, who looked between us. Her face contorted when she opened her mouth and shut it back suddenly.

“Who told you to touch what is not yours?” the vampire spoke.

My sister stuttered.

“You’ve forgotten the rules,” he hissed. His fangs, now long and sharp, pierced his bottom lip with force, cutting him. “That doesn’t belong to you.”

“Y-yes,” my sister stammered.

“Silence!” We both whimpered as he commanded us.

My mind quickly started overworking. Telling me something was off about this vampire. He didn’t seem normal as the rest. He felt dangerous, way too dangerous.

“Answer me, why are you wearing the dress that doesn’t belong to you?” he hissed, keeping his body rigid. The hands he had a moment ago in his pockets now clasped behind his back.

I could see veins pulsing fast against his skin.

“It had my name,” my sister responded. I jerked my head in disbelief. Was she serious right now?

“Your name?” he snarled, making me tremble. He was so close to me he could sense my fear without moving.

Every hair in my body stood alerting me I had to move, stay far away from him before he kills me.

“Your name?” he repeated, as if in a trance.

“I… Yes, it’s for me,” my sister continued lying. Then I heard it, a scream.

I glanced towards her nervously and saw blood pouring from her ears. With an awful scream, she bent over, kneeling like a slave before this monster.

“Your name, woman. Tell me your name,” he ordered.

My sister cried in pain while he kept using his command. I did not know what to do. This could go either way if I didn’t stop him.

“I asked your name!” he yelled. He’s barely preventing himself from attacking her.

I don’t know what got into me I moved, blocking her from his view.

His anger flashed and his rigid body relaxed once his eyes locked mine. The surrounding stillness dissolved, and I could breathe once again.

“Please,” I breathlessly raised my trembling hands. “Please.”

My entire body trembled as fear cowers me into a kneeling position. In a blur, he caught my arm.

I knew to expect something, a hit, a bite, my neck torn, but he still controls himself.

“Don’t.”

I blinked when one of his hands snaked around to press me against him. My heartbeat kicks up, and I can see how his eyes pitched black while his nose flared, inhaling my scent.

I’m pulled away from his enigmatic eyes when my sister whimpers behind me.

I blinked a couple of times. The vampire in front of me spoke in Korean and four other vampires appeared from different doors, surprising us all.

“Undress her, then take her to the fifth floor,” he ordered, while his men picked my sister up from the floor, almost dragging her.

His fathomless eyes never stopped looking at me. Before I could even say a word, he lifted me in his arms and blurred us into another room. And then he was gone, a flash of motions and I was left alone again in a bed.

---

Not long after I’m left in the bedroom, another vampire appeared, leaving an extra box with the same ribbon and name tag on the table.

He didn’t even say a thing, just left, closing the door behind him.

I looked at the box, then the door. Shaking my head, I stood, walked to the table and untied the ribbon.

A new dress was inside. Black made of a material that felt alien to me, with long sleeves and a slit on the left side of the leg that left me wondering how much skin it would show?

I knew they would be back any moment, so I turned around with the dress and headed to the bathroom.

I stared at myself in the mirror. My arms instantly wrapped around my body as I looked away uncomfortably.

The dress hugged my body perfectly. My thighs, my waist, my chest, except my legs. The slit was too high.

Yes, too high that it showed my scarred skin.

I am conscious of how I look. I’m not beautiful. I’m an ugly duckling, just as my sister enjoys calling me.

At least there was one thing I was thankful for, and it was for the long sleeves and turtleneck. It covered my chest and the rest of my body. Yet I can’t help feeling too conscious, especially since I had to take off the special wraps from my face to dress.

With nervousness, I looked up and saw how awful my face was.

When I got burned a year ago, I knew I would never look as I used to. Fair skin, with beautiful moles here and there, a dimple on my left cheek that showed every time I smiled, a toned body since I used to hit the gym and do some taekwondo.

I had everything a girl would envy and every man would desire. I had a fiancée. But now the only thing left in me were my doe blue eyes and my hair that I could recover through some expensive treatments that required synthetic extensions and real human hair.

With my scarred body, there was not much to be done. I had third-degree burns, which the doctors called a miracle since I survived.

I shouldn’t be alive. I should be dead, and I always assume that would have been the best for me. To die and prevent myself from all the suffering.

My father and mother barely knew what to do. They paid the doctors for surgeries and experiments on my skin, but they barely did anything about it.

There was no way to fix what was done. All I had to do was heal, slowly, making every day a nightmare.

I clenched my jaw, sniffing as I felt my eyes sting from the memories I hate so much.

I took a deep breath, calming myself, but it was hard not to cry. To feel depressed, to feel like dying is the best.

A knock from the door makes me jump in fright.

“Y-yes?” I called, wiping my tears away. “Yes?”

The door unlocked and the same vampire who brought us arched a brow, looking at me from head to toe. He didn’t utter a single thing. Just stepped closer until he circled around me, assessing me slowly.

“Come.”

Once we were back at the entrance of the suit, I found my mother and my father dressed in red. My sister gone from the room.

“Were my sister?” I asked, knowing I shouldn’t speak without their permission.

The vampire looked at me. His face masked, hiding any sort of movement.

Was he even breathing?

I lowered my head and counted to ten, then again and again until he started walking.

It was the same as before. We followed him to the elevator in silence, he logged in the passcode, then we went down to the fifth floor.

The vampire from earlier had mentioned taking my sister to the fifth floor.

Once the elevator door opened, the sound of music boomed through some hidden speakers around the hallway.

More vampires than before stood in groups, others just stood silently in corners gazing as the sun sets far away between the gloomy sky. They all watched us. I kept my head bent down in submission.

“In,” the vampire said as I bumped into my father’s back, who was frowning. “I order you to go in.”

I looked between my father and the vampire. A silent communication passed through them, sending a shiver down my back.

The hair on the nape of my neck stood when a flash crossed my eyes and my father coughed.

My mother screamed as blood sprinkled onto her face. Her hands reached for my father.

Everything happened so fast, I just stood watching my father bleed off.

“Do something, Yophiel!” my mother yelled. “Do something, child!”

Under other circumstances, I would help, but my body didn’t obey me.

“Yophiel!” my mother cried.

“I’m sorry,” I just whispered when I felt a tug.

I jerked my head. A tall and slender vampire with grey eyes that looked almost white started dragging me into the room.

I looked behind me. Both my parents were being dragged as well. My mom’s screams overlapped the music in the background.

My eyes looked around the place. Wallpaper like jellyfish skin covered the walls giving them an ethereal feeling if you touch it. The floating lamps around gave the space a good amount of light, showing how big it was, which was bigger than my own room. Tables and chairs with intricate designs were on different corners while a bar was on the opposite side of the room with a few decanters full of blood. Two vampires smiled with their sharp fangs that touched their chins as they sipped from wine glasses full of human blood.

One of them winked my way as if sensing my eyes on him.

I shivered. We were dying today; my mom and dad were going to die, and I was finally dying as well.

A loud shout from my sister pulls me from my thoughts. I turned to find her chained and kneeled on a small stage.

She had a couple of bruises that looked like claws on her face. Her messy hair all bundled into a knot and her grey dress ragged from several parts which showed other bruises.

First thought, she was going to die first. The thought sends my heart to a wreck.

Was I going to see my sister die before I died first? That made me nauseous.

I still was getting dragged when, without warning, the vampire turned me the opposite way.

I looked over my shoulder, but then he turned me around and made me stand facing the stage.

“Stay.” He ordered, and I did.

Both my parents were not so lucky. They got dragged to the stage and chained like my sister.

My mom begged to be close to my father, but I didn’t think he was conscious. From where I stood, I could see the wound. It was an enormous gash on his chest that bled profusely.

He needed medical help before he bled out.

I curl and uncurl my hands, impatient to rush to my father’s side. Then the lights suddenly went out. I gasped, looking up where lights floated.

What was happening now?

I hold my breath when the air in the room shifted, lowering to freezing temperatures. Instinctively, I reached for my arms, hugging them as I shake.

“Billionaire, Richard Alexander Swan, Maura Elizabeth Swan and Elizabeth Joselyn Swan from house DC8890. You have been summoned by one of the Bloodlines to receive your new orders.” A voice said loud and clear through an on-wall speaker.

I stopped thinking.

The lights returned, and I blinked, staring at my family, who seemed shocked.

From behind me, a door suddenly clicked in place. A loud clacking sound has me aware that someone dangerous just stepped into the room.

I felt him without moving an inch. I want to move away, but they’re faster than me, stronger than me and any of them present here could catch me easily.

The vampire doesn’t move from behind me. He is still like the surrounding air.

It was still freezing cold.

“Maura Swan,” he spoke in a calm voice that had me blinking. “You will get sent to compound four to serve.”

My mother's wails stopped as we all listened to what he just said. She was going to compound four with Adonis Billiot.

My eyes watered as I thought about something that could solve this.

“Richard Swan, I will send you to compound four as well. You will join your wife since you always kept her as your trophy, right? You can’t seem to be away from her.” He chuckled deeply.

My father has regained consciousness and was glowering at the vampire behind me.

I slowly shook my head, begging him to stop.

“Since you also have two daughters,” he paused. “I will send Elizabeth to compound five.”

I gasped loudly. No, he can’t send her there. She will die the moment she arrives.

Now’s the time to say something, anything to prevent this. I barely register what I’m doing when I turn to meet the vampire.

“You…” I breathlessly whispered and took a step back.

It was the same vampire from earlier. The same one who calmly stood holding me before. He was a bloodline.

“Hmm.” He took a step. I took one back, then he did it again.

I stupidly tripped on the tail of the dress with the boots I had on.

Like before, his arm snakes around me, pulling me to his chest. I whimpered at the closeness of his rigid body against mine. He shifts his grip, adjusting me so my body molds against his.

He was taller than me by two feet. The same fathomless eyes stared down.

“Yophiel!” my mother cried.

The vampire eyes lingered over her, then to me. A wicked smile tugs the corner of his lips.

“And your beautiful daughter stays here,” he said as he looked at my mother.

My hands went limp to my sides.

If he weren’t holding me so firmly, I would have fallen bum first to the ground.

“What!” my sister Elizabeth yelled. “No, no!”

The chains on her rattled loudly as she desperately screamed.

There’s no point in her screaming. He won’t change his mind.

“That stupid bitch can’t stay here!”

“Silence!” he ordered as the room stills. My sister's ragged breaths were the only thing you could hear.

For a moment I thought he would use his powers, kill her, yet he surprises me, again.

“How interesting,” he chuckled, looking at us. “So interesting.”

My sister cried like a brat, tugging on the chains louder.

“Help me, sister! Tell him you want to die!” she yelled. I flinched against him.

His dark eyes veered to me. I slowly peered up and saw for the first time an emotion crosses his face. It startled me like a cat.

“I thought you hated her,” he addressed me.

I frowned.

“What?”

“She is jealous of you, even when you look like this,” he whispered, which sounded like a hiss.

I unconsciously reached for his chest, clutching his shirt.

He didn’t need to say it. I was aware of how I looked.

Gods, just make him kill me.

“Yophiel!” Elizabeth's begging voice called.

He was right. I am supposed to hate her, want nothing but her death. To loath her and just let her die on the compound in the most awful of ways.

I am supposed, but my heart was not born, neither turned as cold as theirs.

“I can’t,” I choked, clutching harder. “I’m not like you.”

My life has been hell since I got burned and realized nothing would ever get fixed. Then this came, they came and shit went to hell faster.

I looked at him. A razor smile plastered on his face that made me want to recoil in fear.

“You might not be like me,” he whispered while his finger swiped a hair away from my face. “But you want to, you desire it, yet…” he looked at my sister, his smile widening. “I won’t force you until you accept it on your own.”

My knees buckled, but he kept me close to him.

Doubt lingers in me as his words replayed in my mind.

“She did it, didn’t she?”

“What?” I moved my eyes abruptly.

“She did this to you,” he said, inches from my face. “Your sister burned you, didn’t she?”

I stared, disturbed.

“Yes…” his smile vanished and his eyes pitched black as he focused on my sister.

A snarl coming from his mouth made even the vampires around the room flinch. I didn’t; I watched in delight as the white in his eyes faded, turning them completely black as the night, his fangs long enough that reached his chin, his nails sharpened to a length that didn’t hurt me.

He looked like a monster, lethal and beautiful.

For a moment, I expect him to attack Elizabeth. I even close my eyes, but he barks out a laugh.

“I’m sorry Phi, but I can’t let you watch this,” he said, looking at me. “Those beautiful eyes won’t be witness to what’s going to happen right now. So, sleep.”

His voice softened as he said the last words. The next thing is I’m being carried away from the room. Another vampire carrying me in his arms.

“No!” I yelled while we blur out; not before I heard my mother screamed like the day, they found me barely alive in the adjacent house.

He glanced once, and I saw his hand twist weirdly before something red splattered on his face and the sound got blocked out.