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Chapter One

I woke with a start, dripping in sweat. I've been having the same nightmare for almost ten years. The one that was real. The one where my mother died. I sat up in my bed and stared at the wall in front of me. The sun was just rising, casting a silhouette of the bat statue I kept on my windowsill onto the ash grey bricks.

As I stared I reminisced about the event. The remaining humans, all servants and rejects, call it the apocalypse. And to be honest I can't say I disagree. Along with the vampires came other supernatural beings, werewolves, hellhounds, a few sirens, and even a few dragons which were of course captured by the vampires.

"Hey, human! The Count has something to tell you, its urgent." yelled a voice from the other side of my door, followed by heavy footsteps leaving. I sighed and flopped back onto my bed. I always dreaded going to see the Count. Being called upon always introduced the possibility that he might want a vision.

I dragged myself out of bed and threw on a brown-beige sweater, black skinny jeans and black flats. As I was brushing out my hair I heard a knock on my door.

"Ellie? You in there?" A familiar voice. Calum.

"Yeah I'm here, you can come in." I replied setting my brush down on my vanity. Calum was a human, like me. The only reason he was allowed in the castle without being drained or forced into being a servant was because he was smart. Not like the vampires valued that, they valued strength. He disguised himself by using an invention he created that made him smell like vampire, disguising the smell of human.

As I turned around I saw Calum walk in. His black hair had blonde highlights in the front, and he was smiling at me with an excited look on his face.

"Guess what Ellie?" He said as he sat down on my bed. I sat down beside him and nodded towards his head.

"Yeah," he replied as he blushed, "is it really that obvious?"

"Blonde highlights in black hair. Totally discreet." I mocked, making him nudge me as his smile widened.

"But I've gotta get going, the Count has summoned me." I said using my best Dracula voice. Calum's face dropped and he looked away for a few seconds.

"You don't think he's gonna want a vision, do you?" He questioned, looking straight into my eyes.

"I don't know, I hope not." I shrugged and walked towards the door.

"I don't like how they treat you when that happens, in the real world, our world, he'd be in jail. Sentenced to death even!" Calum ranted as he left my room with me.

"Don't worry about it, its rarely a serious vision. Now, promise you'll come see me next month?" I whispered, stopping at the castle doors.

"Yeah, I will Ellie, good luck." He smiled and left through the large front doors of the castle, giving the guard a hesitant smile. I sighed and walked towards the spiraled staircase that led to the Count's chamber.

As I made my way down the hall faces watched me. Guards on their break looked at me with disgust, since most of them didn't understand why the Count would keep a senseless human around. The human servants looked at me with envy and hatred, knowing that I got treated exceedingly better than them.

But they didn't know the price I had to pay for it.

Outside if the Count's chamber were two boys. Michael and Ashton, both vampires. Michael was the Count's son. First born so there for heir to the throne if the Count were to ever be defeated.

Ashton was like his 'Robin' in both senses. He was either his sidekick or was a bird in his ear telling him every detail of every thing that was going on. That was helpful to the Count too. A few years back some servants were planning a rebellion, but of course Ashton heard about it and I never saw them again. And the others gave up.

"Hey, human!" Ashton called, "Count's not going to be happy, had him waiting almost an hour!" Michael and Ashton laughed as I shuffled past them and through the open doorway. As I entered the room I studied my surroundings.

There was a throne in the middle of the circular room, tall and made of pure silver with black cushioning. To the right was a door which led into his room, and to the left was the door that led into the hall where his sons and daughters rooms were. That was all that was in the room, apart from eight guards standing in fours across from each other and a few servants frantically cleaning.

The Count walked out of his room with an angry expression on his face and sat on his throne. He gestured for me to come forward and I did, not expecting what was to come.

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