Chapter 1
Sophia
The clock ticking in the background grew louder and louder with each tick as my phone kept vibrating under my thigh, which I put there to stop myself from checking it. I knew who was writing to me, anyway.
Ignoring the phone, I looked at my mother again, her gaze plastered onto something behind me, her lips pressed together in a thin line. I’ve yet to find out what I was here for, but I didn’t dare to ask.
Glancing over at my father, he looked at me with a soft smile on his lips, his hands folded in his lap, as if he didn’t seem bothered by this awkward silence. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Just as I was about to lose it and finally say something, my mother’s gaze dropped to mine, and I held my breath.
Her green eyes pierced into mine, the frown on her face showing wrinkles that weren’t visible otherwise, and my stomach dropped, knowing that she was about to lose it. There was one thing I had on my mind that could have caused this anger, but I was sure that the news hadn’t reached them yet.
“Sophia, it’s time you take your life a little more seriously.”
Her voice was shaking a little as she said those words, and I knew she was trying her best to stay calm. I glanced at my father, whose knuckles had turned white, his smile almost forced now.
I sighed. “I am taking my life seriously.”
As seriously as I could, anyway. Most of the time, I didn’t know what I wanted in life, but most time, it wasn’t what they had in mind for me. That was for sure.
My mother sucked in a breath, ready to unleash whatever was sitting on her chest, but my father cleared his throat and leaned closer to me, his smile now sitting on his lips again, like this was just another evening. But it didn’t comfort me at all.
“What your mother means to say is that we only want what’s best for you and the family, and times are changing. No one knows what the future might hold, but we should be prepared for anything. We’re a family, and we should work together. We all need to be on the same page to succeed.”
My chest tightened as I tried to come up with the right words to say without hurting him or starting a huge fight. Compared to my siblings, I wasn’t as talented or clever at all, and I knew for sure that they didn’t plan for me to lead the company at some point. That was a fight the others could have between themselves. All I wanted was to follow my passions, but easier said than done when the image was more important than feelings in this family.
“Dad, you know that this whole family business thing is just not my thing. I have other things in life I want to pursue. I have dreams!”
“Dreams- didn’t we all have those when we were children? But you’re an adult now. It’s time to wake up and face reality,” my mother chimed in as she looked me up and down, raising an eyebrow.
I tugged on my short skirt, trying to hide more of my skin somehow, as if the fabric magically could get longer, clearing my throat. “I’m not sure why you would think being a fashion designer is a childish dream.”
She huffed and shook her head, her perfectly curled blonde hair bouncing left and right. How many times have we had this argument already? I couldn’t even keep up with the counting anymore. Why was it so hard to accept that I had other life pursuits besides standing next to them at every event, smiling brightly, like the perfect daughter in this perfect family?
My father patted the back of my hand, and I looked back at him.
“We know you have goals of your own, and we support you in chasing those, but there is a time and place for everything. You can’t just jump into it without having a backup plan. What if it fails, and what then? I doubt you would want us to support you forever.”
It wasn’t exactly that I wanted them to support me forever. If I could, I would actually want to live on my own as quickly as possible. But considering the way the vampire community operates and how much spotlight there is on our family, I won’t get the chance to live here in peace unless I move away.
“Let’s be real: I’m not as good as my siblings in anything. I wouldn’t even know how I was supposed to help you.”
After the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted them, not wanting to voice my insecurities to them.
“I mean, you’re not wrong,” my mother said, looking at her nails as if she said nothing hurtful just now.
“Kaylee,” my father grumbled, twisting in his seat to stare at her for a moment. She just glanced at him briefly and shrugged her shoulders, not saying anything.
My father turned back to me, his eyes soft and warm. Like they always were. I knew he loved me, but I didn’t know for long it would last at this rate. “There are so many tasks within our business. I’m sure there would be one fit for you. You have plenty of talents.”
A part of me wanted to ask him what talents he was talking about because, besides designing clothes, there was really nothing I was good at. And dresses were the last thing my parents needed in their finance business, really.
My phone vibrated again, and I pulled it out from under my thigh to look at the notification. 25 unread messages, probably all from Ashe.
“Dad, can we talk about this tomorrow? It’s Ashe’s twenty-first birthday tonight, and I’m already late to the party.”
My mother crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Can’t you just focus on what’s important for once? Your friend can wait until we decide on a schedule for you. You’ve wasted so much time doing nothing already.”
“My friend’s birthday is important,” I said. “Not that you would understand, considering you only have followers that suck up to you and no friends to speak of!”
She let out an exaggerated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose and waving at my father. “You take care of her.”
My father rolled his eyes just like she did, a playful smirk on his lips. A smile spread over my lips, but it quickly vanished again when my mother’s glare hit me.
“Let’s compromise, Sophia. If you don’t see any interest in our business for now, why don’t you train in fencing officially again? I know you’ve been sneaking off with Claire and Robert to train in fencing.”
I huffed, knowing I shouldn’t have trusted that guard. But fencing would at least be a little more fun than being stuck at some office all day, so I gave in. “Fine.”
He beamed at me. “Wonderful!”
I nodded and stood up, expecting to leave now, but my father stopped me, his smile faltering.
“Don’t tell me there is more.”
He cleared his throat as his eyes darted around the room. “You also should receive lessons from your magic tutor again.”
I dropped back onto the sofa. “You don’t mean that guy, do you?”
“Who else would he mean? We can’t trust that magic of yours, and he knows how to keep things confidential. If we get someone new, they might spread your magical accidents around all Tierelia, maybe even further, and then what would we do? Your former tutor knew how to keep things confidential,” my mother snarled at me.
I clenched my hands into fists and stood up, glaring at her. “You know what? If I’m such an inconvenience and an embarrassment to the family, why don’t you put us all out of our misery and just kick me out of the house and take me off the family register?”
She stared back at me with an arched eyebrow, almost as if she expected my outburst, causing my blood to boil even more. My father inched closer to the edge of the sofa with that smile on his face that he always put on whenever he didn’t want me to lose control. It rubbed me the wrong way, and I swallowed hard to get rid of the burning sensation in my throat. They both already expected that I would lose control over my magic, even if they didn’t say it out loud.
“Sophia,” he said softly. “We’d never want to get rid of you, and we aren’t embarrassed by you either.”
My mother clicked her tongue as she eyed me up and down. “You’re almost twenty-one, and you’re still throwing temper tantrums whenever we tell you something you don’t want to hear. You’re not a teenager anymore.”
“Kaylee, please,” my father said under his breath as he brushed through his thick, blonde hair.
“It’s true, just look at her. She’s already shaking. It won’t be long now before she ruins another carpet with those sparks flying off her.”
I crossed my arms, holding my breath, wanting to tell her how wrong she was, and that I had my magic under control, but her gaze hit me again, almost like she hated me. A cold rush spread through my body, and, like steam wanting to escape a boiling kettle, the lid blew off, and small fireballs jumped out of me like fireworks.
“See, I told you! Jonathan, do something! I just bought this carpet two weeks ago,” she shrieked as she jumped off the sofa and away from me.
Angry tears stung as I turned around and stomped out of the room, ignoring my father calling after me.
“Why can’t you ever just let me talk to her?” This was the last thing I heard my father say before I was out of hearing distance. On my way out, I almost bumped into Jessica, and I stumbled to a halt as she looked me up and down, just like our mother did earlier. More little flames jumped to the floor, and I bit the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from bursting out of my skin. She was the last person I wanted to meet.
“Nice outfit,” she said as a smirk slowly spread over her face. “For a whore.”
My face turned impossibly hot as I pushed past her, her laughing bouncing off the walls and ringing in my right ear so loudly I thought I might as well go deaf on that ear, too. I stomped down the corridor. Pascal was already waiting at the door to open it for me, and it annoyed me even more that I couldn’t slam the door behind me for good measure.
My blood was still boiling when I arrived downtown and, to make matters worse, I knew that I’d acted impulsively. Like a child. I’d done exactly what my mother had accused me of doing and lost control of my magic, and that was only going to make her trust me even less. It was almost like she was pushing me on purpose, like she wanted me to step out of line. And I didn’t even want to think about Jessica’s comment.
Why couldn’t they hire someone else to help me with my magic? So what if he was a magic prodigy? Didn’t mean he could act all cocky towards me and make me feel stupid during our lessons. They could easily find another tutor who’d stay quiet. That was nothing, the right amount of money couldn’t solve, but they were too afraid of what the community would think if the word got out about me.
I was almost an hour too late when I finally arrived at the party location. Music blasted through the walls of the enormous villa Ashe had rented for this day. Excitement bubbled up in me at the loud music and laughter echoing through the air. I couldn’t wait to join the dancing crowd to forget about the latest argument with my parents.
After exiting my car, a young man rushed toward me, taking my keys. I smiled at him and shoved a generous tip into his hand. He dipped his head, a shy smile hushing over his face as he got into my car and drove away.
I watched him until he disappeared into the distance before heading to the entrance. Marble stairs led up to the huge, dark brown wooden front door. A tall, bulky man with a long, black beard stepped in my way before I could enter, asking for my invitation. I pulled it out of my purse before he nodded and pushed the heavy doors open. Now the loud music almost deafened me, but a smile spread over my lips as the vibration of the bass crawled from my toes up to the top of my head. The door closed behind me, heightening the music and vibration, now that it couldn’t escape into the night.
And the air was so thick, the smell of perfume, sweat, and alcohol making it hard to breathe.
I scanned the crowd, trying to find Ashe. This place looked like a location my parents would drag me to whenever we needed to show how great we were, but unlike then, the people were actually enjoying themselves, and the boring portraits of long-dead people were hidden behind thick curtains with disco lights dancing over them.
“There’s our little vamp!” Ashe screamed over the blasting music, and I spotted her waving in the back of the room, her face beaming.
All eyes turned to me, and a hot flash rushed through my body, feeling the attention on me. I smiled, flipped my hair over my shoulder, and pushed through the crowd, loving the eyes on me. At least one place existed where people weren’t looking at me to mock me.
I reached Ashe and pulled her into a hug, a wave of alcohol hitting my nose. “Happy birthday!”
She squealed in my arms before stepping back, her eyes glazed over as she giggled, swaying back and forth on her feet. Besides a good chunk of alcohol, she probably also had a bit too much of that fairy powder again, but I pressed my lips together to stop myself from giving her a piece of my mind. It was her birthday today, and I shouldn’t spoil it by acting like her mother.
I opened my purse and pulled out the necklace that I bought her.
Her eyes lit up when her gaze landed on the large blue sapphire, a gasp leaving her throat. She clapped her hands like a seal. “Put it on me! Put it on me!”
She turned around and lifted her long, dark brown hair out of the way. I chuckled and placed the necklace around her neck. “All done.”
Ashe whirled around as she presented the shining sapphire on her chest, fanning herself. “How does it look?”
The other girls standing around us cheered and nodded, flooding her with compliments, just as expected. Ashe pulled me into another quick hug. “Thank you for the gift, my little vampire girl!”
I didn’t get the chance to respond as she grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor, mingling with the rest of the crowd. She bounced up and down as she beamed at me. Strangers bumped into me, and the heat slowly got to my head, making me dizzy, but I still jumped to the rhythm of the music and enjoyed the moment for as long as it would last.
