The Daughter Who Vanished
Chapter 1
For twenty-two years, the kingdoms of vampires and werewolves had known only one language:
war.
Ancient hatred had divided the supernatural world into two powerful bloodlines. Vampires ruled the night from their black-stone castles, while werewolf clans controlled the forests and mountains beyond the human kingdoms.
Neither side remembered exactly how the war had begun.
But neither side was willing to end it.
Deep beneath the vampire kingdom, inside the royal palace of Nocturnis, King Valerius stood before an enormous window.
Moonlight spilled across his throne room.
Behind him stood hundreds of vampire soldiers, their crimson eyes fixed on their king.
"Twenty-two years," Valerius whispered.
His hand tightened around the arm of his throne.
"Twenty-two years since my daughter disappeared."
The room became silent.
Everyone knew the story.
On the night Princess Ariel was born, something impossible had happened.
The royal heir had vanished.
No body was found.
No magical trace remained.
The king had searched human cities, abandoned villages, enemy territories, and even the forbidden lands beyond the northern mountains.
Nothing.
Ariel had simply disappeared.
Some believed she was dead.
Others believed the werewolves had stolen her.
But King Valerius had never accepted either explanation.
He believed his daughter was alive.
And somewhere in the human world, a seventeen-year-old girl was beginning to discover why.
---
Far from Nocturnis, in a quiet human town surrounded by forests, Ariel sat beside her bedroom window.
She looked completely human.
Dark hair fell across her shoulders, and her eyes reflected the pale light of the moon.
She had never understood why she felt different from everyone else.
She rarely became sick.
She could hear things from impossibly far away.
Her reflexes were faster than those of anyone she knew.
And sometimes, when she became angry, strange shadows appeared around her hands.
Her adoptive mother had always told her the same thing.
"Don't ask questions about the past, Ariel."
But tonight was different.
Ariel stared at the moon.
Her heart suddenly began beating faster.
A strange sensation traveled through her body.
Then—
BOOM!
A wave of energy exploded from her bedroom.
The windows rattled.
Ariel stumbled backward.
"What was that?"
She looked at her hands.
A faint crimson glow surrounded her fingers.
Fear filled her eyes.
Then she heard something outside.
A growl.
Not human.
Ariel slowly approached the window.
Below, among the trees, two golden eyes stared back at her.
She froze.
The creature stepped into the moonlight.
A young man stood at the edge of the forest.
His clothes were torn, and his expression was tense.
But his eyes were unmistakably those of a wolf.
Ariel stepped away from the window.
"Who are you?"
The stranger didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stared at her as though he had just seen a ghost.
Then he whispered:
"Princess..."
Ariel's blood ran cold.
"Princess?"
The stranger suddenly looked toward the forest.
"We need to leave. Now."
"Why?"
Before he could answer, a howl echoed through the trees.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
The stranger's expression changed.
"They found you."
Ariel didn't understand.
"Who found me?"
The young man looked directly into her eyes.
"The vampires."
Ariel's heart stopped for a moment.
"I don't know any vampires."
The stranger shook his head.
"You don't know who you are."
Ariel stared at him.
"Then tell me."
The young man hesitated.
"My name is Adrien."
He looked toward the dark forest.
"And you..."
Another howl shook the night.
"...are the lost princess of the vampire kingdom."
Ariel stood completely still.
For twenty-two years, she had believed she was an ordinary human girl.
Tonight, everything she knew about herself had begun to collapse.
And somewhere beyond the forest, an ancient war was about to awaken.
