BLOODBOUND

PROLOGUE

A dull throbbing woke her. Her surroundings swirled around her as she tried to blink through her blurred vision. When her sight was restored, she realized she was lying in bed.

However, it wasn't the familiar queen size that had sat in her room in her parent's mansion. The room she was in was impressively spacious.

Windows that seemed to reach for the ceiling were covered in velvet red curtains. An incredibly soft rug sprawled out on the floor, trying to cover every inch of it. A wooden vanity held a mirror in its center, and the desk was covered in jewels and hair pieces.

Siobhan moved to swing her feet off the foot of the bed but was met with resistance due to the dress she wore. The first thing she noticed was the hoop skirt, which she quickly decided was wholly unnecessary, then the ruffles beneath the dark blue dress on top. There was a mirror in the right corner of the room, and she wasted no time standing in front of it. She looked beautiful.

Her hair hadn't been styled; instead, her deep brown locks cascaded down her shoulders. The blue collided perfectly with her light brown skin, and she couldn't help but stare back at her reflection, amazed by her beauty. The door opening broke her trance, and Siobhan turned slightly to see her mother standing in the doorway.

"You still aren't ready?" Her mother admonished, smoothing out her own dress before walking to her daughter and dragging her in front of the vanity. "It's your coronation! I would have thought you'd be more excited." With experienced hands, Aria Emrick gathered her daughter's hair into an elegant updo, allowing a few curls to frame the sides of her face before pinning in a sapphire hairpiece.

"There," she hummed, bringing her face down to the same height as her daughter and pressing her cheek to hers. "Beautiful. Now put on some shoes, and let's get going!"

Siobhan knew better than to argue with her mother, so she headed to the nearby walk-in closet, finding rows of expensive shoes. "Why my coronation?" Aria's laugh carried over.

"Very funny, dear." She picked a pair of heels that matched the dress, but when she joined her mother in the center of the room, you could barely see them while standing. Joining hands with her mother, the two women exited the room and walked down a great hall seemingly made of gold. It was everywhere you looked, but its beauty was offset by the gothic decor and candles that were explicitly placed. The never-ending hall ended, and the two stepped onto a large balcony. Her father and four or five older-looking men looked their way when they entered. "Siobhan, my dear, you look ravishing."

She smiled awkwardly as her father took her hand and walked her to the ledge. Something didn't feel right. Waking up in a strange bed, getting ready for my coronation—none of it made sense. None of it should be happening. "Daddy, I'm confused..." she whispered, her eyes wandering to the enormous crowd below her. The sun was almost gone in the sky, painting it a beautiful pink and blue.

"Welcome Vampires, one and all, to yet another royal crowning!" Looking slightly nervous, Siobhan turned to her father. "Dad,"

She repeated the worry in her voice alone, which should have gotten his attention. It wasnt like him to ignore her. "May I present my daughter, Princess Siobhan Emrick, your future Queen!"

Queen? Something was up. She didn't want to be queen. If anything, becoming queen was her older sister Lilia's. As the firstborn in the family, she surpassed her younger sister in almost everything. She had proven herself over and over again, yet Siobhan was the one getting coronated? She searched for her sister in the crowd to no avail.

The next thing she knew, Kaya felt cold eyes on her. She looked to her right to see an aged man with pale white hair staring down his nose at her. "Oh, fuck," She muttered under her breath.

"Are you ready to take your place on the throne, princess?" Siobhan's face hardened. "Where's my sister?" The man ignored her and held out his hand to her father, who took the golden cup he held. Her father bared his fangs and bit into his arm, letting his blood drip into it. Siobhan winced at the sight.

"The princess will now drink the blood of her father, King Jonathan," the man beside her, whose name she still did not know, stated, then gestured behind him. "Then she will finish our sacred ceremony, taking and consuming the heart of the one she loves most and claiming her throne!"

Siobhan felt her heart stop. Chained to a chair behind her was Nick. Her best friend. He was dressed well, but Siobhan only noticed how beaten, bruised, and bloody he was.

Tears weld in her eyes as he struggled in the chains that bound him before rushing towards him. "What the fuck is going on?" He wouldn't look at her even as she pulled at the chains. "Why...?" Nick's voice was rasped and weak. "Nick, wh—"

"You were my best friend, Siv," She shook her head frantically before yanking his chains again. Tears collected in her eyes until she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. "Darling," Her father's voice chimed. "You will make a wonderful Queen." Jonathan was smiling at her when she looked up at him, but when her eyes went back to Nick, his head hung low, right above the bloody hole in his chest.

His heart throbbed in her hand, a sizeable bite taken out of it. Her father's grip grew tighter on her shoulder, holding the blood-filled cup closer to her face. "All you have to do is drink." In a swift movement, he pulled her to her feet and grabbed her chin as hot tears ran down her face, forcing her mouth open and pouring the drained blood down her throat. Siobhan cried furiously as she tried to free herself of his grip and shut her mouth.

The taste of blood burned like acid on her tongue. Eventually, he released her, a devilish smirk on his lips instead of his usual loving smile. "All hail the queen!" The crowd below chanted at my father's booming voice. This couldn't be real. Nick couldn't be dead; she couldn't be queen. Siobhan was certain the people smiling and waving at the crowd weren't her parents, just some twisted fucked up version of them because her father would never allow this. He'd never lay a hand on her like he had.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she wished whatever this was would end. And it did. This time, she woke up in the familiarity of her room, dripping with sweat. It was messy, as always, with homework sprawled on the nearby vanity that doubled as a desk.

Clothes sat in various piles that her mother would no doubt scold her for if she saw them, and her phone was sitting on a nightstand beside her bed. The ring of her phone didn't penetrate her senses until the third ring, the name displayed across the screen, making her sigh with relief. "You look three rings to pick up. Are you cheating on me, Emrick?" Nick's voice emitted from the small device. She chuckled softly, trying to shake the image of him from her dream away.

"Morning to you too, shit for brain." His laugh was louder now that he was on speakerphone. "Come on, Siv. You're not even trying." Siobhan returned her phone on the nightstand before dragging herself out of bed. "I just woke up, quit giving me shit." She teased, going through her closet. "Well, that wouldn't be much fun, would it?" He countered. "Why am I even friends with you?" Another chuckle sounded on the other side. "Because you're way too rich to function and need humbling occasionally." Rolling her eyes, she replied. "Is that right?"

"Who else is going to give you shit about that castle you live in?" Kayla opened a drawer behind her clothes rack holding her secret blood bag stash. "It isnt even that big." She scoffed.

"It's huge, and you should donate it to charity." Siobhan could practically hear him smirking over the phone. "Are you ready yet, Your Highness?" Rolling her eyes again, Kayla laughed before taking a few sips from the blood tube. "Give me a few minutes." Some shuffling could be heard from his side. "I'll be there to escort you in thirty minutes, your royal richness." She snorted, accidentally getting a drop of blood on her finger. "I'm hanging up now." After the call ended, Siobhan leaned on the closet entrance. Her dream was still fresh in her mind. What did it mean?

"Breakfast is ready, Dear!" Her mother called from down the stairs. "Coming!" Rushing around her room with a blood bag hanging off her lips, Siobhan rushed to get ready for the day. She'd worry about the weird dream later.