Yzabelle.
“Who?” I asked.
Draco looked in the dark then back to the spooky gate.
“Let’s go.” He said without answering my question. “They’re waiting for us.”
As much as I wanted to insist that he answer me, I didn’t get the chance. Draco held my hand as the gate opened on its own. He guided me inside and every step we made, my heart seemed to drum so hard I could feel every hard beat.
I had never been this nervous all my life.
I turned to Dad to see how he felt but his face was devoid of emotions as always. He turned back to me.
“Relax, sweetie,” his hand squeezed mine.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to relax in a situation like this. We were entering a castle of vampires, my ancestors that I didn’t know and didn’t know me, how in the world would I be able to relax?
But I asked for this. I shouldn’t be complaining. I should face the consequences of the things I wished for.
“Let’s get this done and over with,” I said as we continued walking.
The entrance opened on its own just like how the gate did.
And I was amazed upon seeing what’s inside.
It looked creepy, abandoned and gave an eerie vibe outside. But inside, it looked majestic and filled with sophistication. The chandeliers hanging around the hall ceiling screamed elegance and luxury. Even the tables and chairs and other decorations around screamed grandeur.
There was a party taking place at the moment. Or maybe vampires used to party at night since they were confined in this big castle all their lives. Everyone was busy until they saw us—me in particular.
Because all of them looked my way. I got nervous all the more when they totally focused on me.
My Dad tightened his grip on my wrist.
“Calm down, sweetheart. You should stay calm,” he whispered.
“Draco? It’s been a while,” I heard someone from the podium say. He started walking down the aisle toward us. The people—vampires around, made a way for him. “The wayward prince suddenly found his way back home, huh?”
I saw two people coming to the throne up the stage. They were both immaculately beautiful in black suits and evening dresses.
The man was tall, lean, and looked imperious. The woman was lean, beautiful and screamed class and sophistication. And just like the others, they didn’t wear emotions on their faces. Their gazes chilled me down my spine.
“And you even brought us dinner, huh? How thoughtful of you?” The man who approached us suddenly grabbed my wrist.
He shoved his nose in my neck and I gasped in fear.
Was he going to bite me?
Dad quickly stopped him by pulling him away from me and tossed him like a sheet of paper at the carpeted ground.
“Is that how you greet your niece, Malcolm?” Dad asked coldly.
Everybody gasped in surprise, including me and the people from the center stage.
They must have been surprised by how Dad introduced me. And me, for understanding that this man who approached us was my uncle.
And those people at the throne, were they…
“Honey, why don’t you come here and introduce us to our granddaughter?” I heard the elegant woman from the stage.
Oh my God. They were my father’s parents? I thought Draco said he was nothing important in this group of vampires. That he was a hybrid himself but they treated him as a regular vampire. And I never thought that he was a prince.
“What?! Are you still going to accept them after being away for so many decades? And he even brought a lowly hybrid! I couldn’t believe you guys!” Malcolm roared at the center of the hall.
“Hold your horses, Malcolm. I wasn’t here to get your throne, even though I was the firstborn. As you have said before, I don’t have the rights for the position since I was just a lowly hybrid. I am happy living alone,” Dad calmly said.
“Then why did you come back?” Malcolm angrily yelled.
I could understand what was going on. Malcolm saw my Dad as a competitor to the throne. Even when their parents were still alive, they had the guts to talk about it in front of everyone, including their parents.
I could not believe this. Malcolm had no shame!
“If not for my daughter's request, I would never set foot here ever again,” Dad coldly answered.
Everyone looked at me. I wasn’t sure what their gazes meant. But I was sure it wasn’t a gaze of acceptance.
“How could you bring a lowly hybrid here?” I heard the imperious man ask.
“It’s not as if you didn’t create the same lowly hybrid? I am the living proof.”
Draco initiated the matching gaze with the man I was certain was his father. No one backed down.
“Enough…” the woman I was certain my grandma suddenly whispered.
I didn’t know how even from a distance, I could hear them clearly, every word.
But when we were outside, I didn’t hear any noise coming from here. I didn't even have a clue that there was a party taking place.
Gee! What should I expect? This place must be enchanted.
Draco’s eyes flew toward his mother’s direction. I could tell Dad was sorry that he said those words.
“I thought you'd already forgiven me for what I did, Draco? I was the reason why you became a lowly hybrid. If I didn’t decline the king’s request to turn me before we conceived you, you might not have become what you are,” Grandma remorsefully said.
“You’re right, your highness. I might not have become like this if you didn’t decline him when you approved him turning you after you gave birth to me,”
The man whom I assumed to be the king of vampires suddenly held her queen’s hand. I saw how he tried to appease her.
“You ungrateful son of—”
“A bitch?” An insulting smile crept on my father’s face. “You better be careful not to say that or you will probably curse my own mother—your beloved,” Draco said.
I saw how the king turned his eyes to black. It was chilling the whole place. Danger seemed to creep around the place and I could feel it. I could smell it.
Blood.
Bloody war.
I should not have forced Dad to come here if only I knew what kind of relationship he had with his family.
But I just wanted to know my origin.