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ɴᴇᴡ ᴏʀʟᴇᴀɴꜱ
ᴀᴘʀɪʟ 2018

Beyoncé watched the sunset from the balcony of her small, rented apartment, the sky a brilliant wash of purples and golds. New Orleans had a way of making even the most mundane moments feel magical, like every street corner held a secret, every shadow whispered a story. She'd only been here a few weeks, but already, the city was starting to feel like home. It was as if the rhythm of the place was syncing with her own, the pulse of jazz and the sway of the streets drawing her in, making her feel less like an outsider.

She took a deep breath, letting the warm, humid air fill her lungs. Moving from Houston had been... necessary. The drama back home had gotten too intense, and she needed a fresh start, a place where she could blend in, figure things out on her own terms. She glanced down at her hands, flexing her fingers as she remembered the way her dad used to say she had "strong hands, hands that could hold a secret."

*Well, he wasn't wrong about that,* she thought bitterly, her lips curving into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Growing up, Beyoncé had always known she was different. She could feel it in the way people looked at her, in the cautious way her mom, Tina, would speak to her, as if she was afraid of saying the wrong thing. Solange, her younger sister, was the only one who treated her like she was normal, even when she wasn't. But their dad... he was the reason everything was so complicated.

Matthew Knowles was a complicated man. To the outside world, he was charming, ambitious, a man who knew how to make things happen. But to Beyoncé, he was a tangled mess of secrets, lies, and contradictions. He had a way of slipping in and out of their lives like a shadow, disappearing for weeks, months, only to reappear with gifts and promises that always felt a little too sweet, a little too rehearsed. She remembered how, as a child, she used to cling to his leg when he came back, hoping he'd stay longer this time. But he never did.

She'd later learned the truth—her father was a vampire hybrid, born from an affair between his human mother and a vampire who had roamed the city streets at night. It was a secret he'd kept hidden for years, until Beyoncé discovered it herself, the pieces falling into place like a dark puzzle. It explained the way he never seemed to age, the strange hours he kept, the way his eyes sometimes glowed red in the dark when he thought no one was looking. It also explained why he had other children, half-siblings she'd never met, scattered across the country, the result of affairs he'd had with women he'd seduced and abandoned.

It had taken her a long time to accept the truth about her father, but even longer to accept the truth about herself. She was a hybrid too, just like him—a mix of human and vampire, a creature caught between two worlds. She wasn't like Solange, who was fully human, free to live her life without the constant hunger, the gnawing need that Beyoncé had to suppress every single day. Tina had tried to protect her daughters, but there was only so much she could do. Beyoncé still remembered the look on her mother's face the day she found out—fear, confusion, and something else, something like resignation.

*"I always knew you were different, Bey,"* Tina had said, her voice trembling. *"I just didn't know how different."*

Solange had been the only one who didn't treat her like a freak. She was fierce, loyal, and unapologetically herself. When other kids whispered behind Beyoncé's back, when they made fun of her for being "weird," Solange would step in, daring anyone to say another word. She was Beyoncé's anchor, the one person who made her feel like she could survive this. But even Solange couldn't understand what it was like to live with the constant pull of two natures fighting for control.

Things had gotten worse as they got older. Matthew's affairs became more public, more scandalous. Every time another woman came forward with a child who had his eyes, it felt like another knife twisting in her gut. It wasn't just the betrayal; it was the reminder that she was part of something dark, something twisted that she couldn't escape. When Tina finally filed for divorce, it was a relief, but it was also the end of whatever fragile sense of family they'd had left.