I changed my outfit three times before our dinner date.
Not because I cared about looking perfect – well, okay, partly because of that – but because I couldn't figure out what you wore to dinner with your boyfriend who might be planning to kill you.
Casual seemed wrong. Too vulnerable. But dressy felt like I was trying too hard. In the end, I went with dark jeans and a black sweater. Easy to run in if things went bad.
Sarah watched me pace around our tiny dorm room, checking my reflection obsessively in our cracked mirror.
"Okay, what's really going on?" She pushed her glasses up her nose. "You've been acting weird all day. Weirder than usual, I mean."
"I'm fine."
"Bullshit. You've reorganized your half of the closet twice, you didn't eat lunch, and you keep checking your phone like you're expecting bad news."
I stopped pacing and looked at her. Sarah was my best friend. Smart, loyal, and probably the most normal person I knew. Part of me wanted to tell her everything – about the blood, the vampires, the silver knives. But how do you explain that your entire worldview had crumbled in less than twenty-four hours?
"Just nervous about something Mark wants to tell me."
"What kind of something?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm nervous."
Sarah studied my face with that analytical look she got when debugging code. "You think he's going to break up with you?"
If only it were that simple.
"I don't know what to think."
My phone buzzed. Mark.
Mark: Hey, change of plans. Can you meet me at Griffith Observatory instead? I know it sounds random, but trust me.
Griffith Observatory. At night. Isolated, with plenty of places to hide a body.
Yeah, that wasn't ominous at all.
Me: Sure. On my way.
I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.
"Ella." Sarah's voice stopped me. "Be careful, okay? I know that sounds paranoid, but... just trust your gut."
If I trusted my gut, I'd run back to my hometown and never look back. Instead, I forced a smile. "Always am."
The drive to Griffith Observatory took forty-five minutes in LA traffic. Forty-five minutes to overthink every conversation Mark and I had ever had, looking for clues I'd missed. Signs that he wasn't who I thought he was.
The parking lot was nearly empty when I arrived. Just a few cars scattered around the massive concrete expanse. The observatory building sat like a monument against the night sky, its copper dome gleaming under the floodlights.
I found Mark standing by the railing overlooking the city. Los Angeles spread out below us, a carpet of lights that stretched to the horizon. Beautiful and overwhelming, like everything else in my life right now.
"Hey." His voice was softer than usual. Nervous.
"Hey yourself. This is definitely not a restaurant."
He turned to face me, and I could see the tension in his shoulders. The way he kept running his hand through his brown hair. "I needed somewhere private. Somewhere we could talk without... interruptions."
"That sounds ominous."
"It's not supposed to be." He stepped closer, reaching for my hand. His skin was warm, familiar. Nothing like the cold pale creatures I'd seen him kill yesterday. "Ella, there are things about me you don't know. Things I should have told you from the beginning."
Here it comes.
"What kind of things?"
Mark looked out over the city, then back at me. "My family... we're not exactly normal. We have responsibilities. Dangerous ones."
"Dangerous how?"
"There are things in this world that most people don't know about. Things that hunt in the dark, prey on innocent people. My family has been fighting them for generations."
I waited for him to say it. To use the words "vampire" or "supernatural" or "monster." But he seemed to be struggling with how much to tell me.
"Mark." I kept my voice gentle, even though my heart was hammering. "You can trust me."
He opened his mouth to respond, but froze. His entire body went rigid, and his eyes darted to something behind me.
"Ella." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Very slowly, step toward me."
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. "What's wrong?"
"Just do it. Now."
I started to turn around, but Mark grabbed my arm. "Don't look. Just move."
Too late.
Three figures emerged from the shadows near the observatory building. They moved with that same fluid grace I'd seen in the alley – too smooth, too fast. But these weren't the same vampires from yesterday. These were bigger. Stronger looking.
And they were between us and my car.
"Well, well." The one in front spoke with a slight accent I couldn't place. European maybe. "Mark Hunter. And the little Black girl."
Mark stepped in front of me, his hand moving inside his jacket. "Viktor. I thought you were in Prague."
"Change of scenery." The vampire – because that's clearly what he was – smiled, revealing fangs that gleamed white in the moonlight. "Besides, word travels fast when the lost princess finally surfaces."
Princess?
"She's not part of this," Mark said. His voice had that same cold edge I'd heard in the alley.
"Oh, but she is." Viktor's pale eyes fixed on me. "She's been part of this since the day she was born. Haven't you, little princess?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The words came out steadier than I felt.
Viktor laughed – a sound like breaking glass. "Of course you don't. The hunters made sure of that, didn't they? Raised you as one of their own, never telling you what you really are."
What I really am.
Mark pulled out his silver knife, but I could see the problem immediately. Three vampires, one knife, and nowhere to run. The odds were bad.
"Here's what's going to happen," Viktor continued, circling us slowly. "You're going to come with us, princess. Your people have been looking for you for a very long time."
"The hell she is." Mark shifted into a fighting stance.
"Touching. The little hunter trying to protect his prey." Viktor's smile widened. "Did you tell her yet, Mark? About what you were sent to do?"
Sent to do?
Mark's jaw clenched. "That's not what this is."
"No? Then why don't you explain to the princess exactly why the Hunter Guild assigned you to UCLA? Why they specifically requested you get close to Ella Black?"
My blood turned to ice. "Mark?"
"Ella, it's not what you think—"
"He was sent to watch you," Viktor interrupted. "To gain your trust. To report back on any signs of awakening. And when the time was right..." He mimed drawing a blade across his throat.
The world tilted sideways. Mark had been assigned to me. Our entire relationship was a lie.
"You son of a bitch." The words ripped out of my throat before I could stop them.
I wasn't sure if I was talking to Viktor or Mark.
"Ella, let me explain—" Mark started.
That's when the other two vampires attacked.
They moved like lightning, faster than my eyes could track. Mark spun to meet the first one, his silver blade flashing. But the second vampire grabbed me from behind, its arm like a steel band across my chest.
"Let her go!" Mark shouted, driving his knife into the first vampire's shoulder. It hissed and stumbled back, but didn't turn to ash like the others had yesterday.
These were stronger.
The vampire holding me laughed in my ear. "Did you know, little princess, that your blood is the key to everything? One drop, and we can break the bindings that keep our kind weak."
My blood?
"What are you talking about?" I struggled against its grip, but it was like fighting a marble statue.
"Royal blood. The blood of the first vampire kings. Your parents died protecting the secret, but you... you're going to give it to us willingly."
"Like hell I am."
I stomped down hard on its foot – not that it would hurt a vampire, but it was instinct. Except something weird happened. The vampire jerked back like I'd hit it with a sledgehammer.
"What the—" it started to say.
That's when the rage hit me.
Not normal anger. This was something primal, volcanic, like a dam bursting inside my chest. How dare this thing touch me. How dare it threaten me. How dare Mark lie to me, use me, pretend to love me while planning to kill me.
I spun around and drove my fist into the vampire's chest.
My hand went straight through its ribcage.
For a moment, we both just stared. My arm was buried up to the elbow in its chest cavity, dark blood coating my skin. I could feel its heart beating against my fingers.
Then I yanked my hand back, and the vampire exploded into ash.
Dead silence.
Mark and Viktor stared at me like I'd grown a second head. The third vampire took several steps backward, its pale face showing something I hadn't expected to see.
Fear.
"Impossible," Viktor breathed. "She's not awakened. She can't have that kind of strength."
I looked down at my hand. Normal human hand, covered in ash and something that definitely wasn't human blood. But I felt... different. Stronger. Like electricity was running through my veins.
"What the hell just happened?" I whispered.
Mark was still fighting the other vampire, but I could see he was losing. The creature was faster, and Mark was getting tired. In another minute, it would be over.
The rage flared again.
I launched myself at the vampire attacking Mark. This time, I was ready for the strength. I grabbed it by the throat and lifted it off the ground like it weighed nothing.
"Touch him again," I said quietly, "and I'll do worse than kill you."
The vampire clawed at my hand, leaving deep scratches that should have hurt but didn't. I squeezed tighter, and felt something crack under my fingers.
"Viktor," it gasped. "Help me."
But Viktor was backing away, his pale eyes wide with something between terror and fascination.
"You're her," he said. "You're really her. The lost daughter of the Dracul line."
Dracul?
"I'm Ella Black." I dropped the vampire I was holding. It hit the ground hard and didn't get up. "And I want all of you to leave. Now."
"This changes everything," Viktor murmured. "If you've awakened, if the royal blood is active..." He looked at Mark. "The hunters don't know, do they? They have no idea what she really is."
"Get out," I said again. The strange energy was still coursing through me, making my vision sharper, my hearing more acute. I could smell their fear.
Viktor smiled – a different kind of smile this time. Calculating. "We'll be in touch, princess. When you're ready to learn the truth about what happened to your real parents, we'll be waiting."
He gestured to his remaining companion, and they melted back into the shadows like they'd never been there.
I stood in the sudden silence, staring at the pile of ash that used to be a vampire, trying to process what had just happened.
"Ella." Mark's voice was cautious. "Are you okay?"
I turned to look at him. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, his shirt was torn, and he was holding his silver knife like he wasn't sure whether he should point it at me or away from me.
"Am I okay?" I laughed, and it sounded a little hysterical even to me. "I just punched through a vampire's chest with my bare hand. My boyfriend has been lying to me for three months. And apparently my real name isn't even Ella Black."
"Your name is Ella," Mark said quickly. "That part was never a lie."
"But everything else was?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "Not everything."
"Which parts were real, Mark? The parts where you pretended to love me? Or the parts where you were planning to kill me?"
"I do love you." The words came out raw, desperate. "That was never part of the assignment. That was real."
I wanted to believe him. Even after everything, part of me still wanted to believe him.
But I'd just killed a vampire with my bare hands. I was apparently the "lost princess" of some vampire royal family called Dracul. And my entire life had been a lie.
"I need to go home," I said.
"Ella, wait. Let me explain—"
"No." I started walking toward my car. "I need to think. I need to... figure out what the hell is happening to me."
Mark followed me. "You can't drive like this. You're shaking."
I looked down. He was right. My hands were trembling so hard I could barely grip my car keys.
"The adrenaline," he said gently. "It's normal after... after what you did. Let me drive you back to campus."
"Adrenaline." I tested the word. It sounded reasonable. Scientific. Normal.
Much better than accepting that I might not be human.
"Yeah," I said. "Adrenaline. That makes sense."
But as Mark helped me into the passenger seat of his car, I caught a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. My green eyes looked different somehow. Brighter. More intense.
And for just a moment, in the reflection, I could have sworn they flashed red.
End of Chapter 3