PRINCESS OF THE UNDERWORLD: BLOOD AND MOON

CHAPTER 4

ALINA STUART

TODAY

I don’t understand why, but I began to remember all my moments behind the wall of silence, and after that day, my protector always came to be with me.

He never revealed his face, but he was always with me in the shadows, watching me as if he were waiting for the moment to reveal himself to me.

He would stay in the room, watching me sleep, as if he were keeping guard all the time. When I slept in his presence, there were no nightmares, and I was never afraid.

He talked to me while I was being punished by the orphanage director. I loved the time with him; I felt protected in that horrible place.

But he never told me his name, and on my 18th birthday, he disappeared when I left the orphanage to live my life.

I have never seen the shadow of my protector again.

I feel too weak to open my eyes, but I furrow my brow, feeling my body being drained, and I quickly remember where I am and what is happening to me.

When I open my eyes and see my blood being drained from my veins, I tremble, hearing a very loud sound.

There was some kind of explosion, but I can’t identify it. I turn my head, pulling at my wrists, and try to say something.

I blink my eyes as the vampires go on high alert as if something is happening.

“What’s going on here?”, Vanessa shouts, and I feel my heart struggling to keep beating strongly inside my chest.

More sounds occur, and I hear loud gunshots. I pull at my wrists, trying to scream, but I can’t.

“They are here, Countess. They found us, and they are here for the human girl.”, a vampire says, running toward us.

I blink my eyes again, trying to understand what’s happening, but I can see the fear in Vanessa’s red eyes.

“They can’t take her; make sure they never get in here! Make sure to bring more men to fight!”

The vampire nods, but a loud noise makes me look up.

The man falls to the ground from the force of some impact, more gunshots are heard, and I close my eyes, feeling my blood being drawn more and more.

A kind of energy begins to overtake me, and I hear voices. Some groups are invading the mansion and fighting against the vampires.

There are many gunshots, and I open my eyes again when I hear the door being opened. I moan as Vanessa holds my head back before pressing a gun against my forehead.

I pull at my wrists, my eyes filled with tears, and then I see the first steps of heavy boots.

The shadow appears first, and seconds later, I see a tall man in black clothes holding a sword in his hands, looking at us.

“Don’t come closer, or I’ll kill the girl! Don’t move!”, Vanessa shouts, and I see the anger in the man’s eyes.

Blue eyes like the sky.

He doesn’t have red eyes like vampires, but I see many scars on his body, scars like mine.

Oh my God.

I widen my eyes, moaning as Vanessa pulls my hair hard and threatens to shoot me. The man takes a step forward, and I finally see his face.

“Hurt her, and I’ll burn you alive, I’ll kill you slowly and every vampire in your council.”, he threatens, moving closer.

I scream in fear, feeling tears wetting my face, and finally, his gaze locks on me. He looks at me intently, and I blink my eyes, pulling at my arms.

More gunshots are heard, and he’s not alone.

His gaze is intense and piercing.

At that moment, I see a girl appearing. She has long red hair, holding a large gun.

She aims at the vampire, and I close my eyes, preparing to die.

“Step away from the girl now!”, he growls, and I open my eyes, seeing him raise his sword towards Vanessa.

“Marcos is coming, and he will kill all of you.”, she threatens, and I cry, feeling the pain returning.

“I will kill anyone who touches her again. Lower the weapon now. This is the last time I’ll ask.”

I see the red-haired girl activate something—a type of light on her gun. Vanessa doesn’t move away, and I hear the sound of the gun being unlocked.

The man tenses, and I see the girl shoot at Vanessa, who screams.

I scream, and before I can be hit by any more shots, I see him running towards me.

I’m trembling to see the red-haired girl fighting Vanessa on the ground.

“Look at me, stay awake. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”, he whispers, touching my face as I feel weaker.

And then I look at his lips, seeing his sharp fangs, but he seems different from the others.

Vampire.

He frees my hands and legs, and I strike his face with all my strength before trying to run away from him.

His hands grab my arm, and I lift my leg, pushing him hard.

“Alina!”, he shouts my name, but I don’t stop running.

I enter the hallway, seeing many bodies on the ground, and I keep running toward the mansion exit.

I almost fall to the ground many times, but I keep running, seeing more people like him.

I run towards the dark forest, and I widen my eyes as I turn my head and see the man running after me.

“Stay away from me!”, I scream in fear.

He’s super fast, and I scream as, seconds later, he’s in front of me. I raise my fist, but he catches it before turning my body and pushing me against the nearest tree.

I gasp as my back hits the tree, and I lift my head, seeing his face very close to mine. He looks very angry with my attitude and keeps holding me tightly.

“Never run away from me again, do you understand?”

“Get away from me!”

“Stop fighting me. I’m not going to hurt you!”

He turns his face towards the mansion, and I try to control my breathing. I prepare to push him, but I widen my eyes when he places his hand over my mouth.

“Shh, we are too exposed here, and we need to go now.”

He whispers, and I blink my eyes, feeling his hand on my waist. I furrow my brow, trying to understand who he is.

“Who are you?”, I whisper, seeing that there might be vampires in the forest.

He blinks his blue eyes, and I see that the fangs are no longer in his teeth.

What is he?

“You called us, and we came, Alina.”

My eyes drop when I see a necklace with the symbol of a raven with outstretched wings.

My God.

I widen my eyes, starting to understand everything now.

He is one of the Knights of the Night, and I called him.

I open my mouth to say something, but I moan, feeling something sharp entering my neck. I see a needle in his hands, and I put my hand over my skin.

“What... did you do?”, I ask, falling, but he quickly catches my body before picking me up in his arms.

“I’m sorry for doing this, but I have no other choice. You need to come with me. I’ll keep you safe, princess...”

I blink my eyes, feeling him carrying me somewhere. I feel weak in his arms and lay my head on his shoulder, feeling safe again, just like when that shadow was with me.

When I wake up, I don’t know where I am again, but I open my eyes and manage to see a white ceiling and a constant sound connected to my body.

I groan, blinking my eyes, before looking around and seeing that I am lying in a bed receiving some medication through the vein in my arm.

I touch my forehead, feeling a bandage on my skin.

I sit up, observing everything and realizing this place doesn’t seem like a hospital.

Where am I?

Feeling the wires connected to my body, I walk around the room, noticing many medical devices. I raise my head and see a wall of dark glass.

I furrow my brow before touching the glass and saying:

“Hello? Is anyone there? Where am I?”, I asked several times, but there's been no response.

I remember everything, including the mysterious man who saved me from the vampires.

I startle at the sound of the door opening, and I quickly turn to see the same red-haired girl who was fighting in the mansion.

She walks in before approaching me, but I step back, and she raises her hands.

“You’re awake, but I’m not going to hurt you, Alina.”

“How do you know who I am?”

“We know a lot about you, Alina.”

She moves closer, and I shake my head, feeling the fear growing as I remember being in front of a tall man and fainting in his arms after he injected something into me.

“What did you do to me? Why did you kidnap me?”

“We saved you from the vampires. If we hadn’t shown up, you would be dead.”

“How did you know where I was?”

She smiles, showing teeth that look normal, but I feel like she isn’t human. She has green eyes and keeps moving closer to me.

“You called us…”

I widen my eyes, focusing my attention on the girl’s body, which is full of black symbols like mine.

“Knights of the Night …”, I whisper, and she nods.

“Are you vampires?”, I ask, and she blinks as if thinking of the best way to tell me.

“That’s complicated, and I see you don’t remember anything from your past.”

“You didn’t answer my question, and why would I remember something that never happened before?”

“You’re wrong, Alina. You’ve been part of our world since the moment you were born, but your memories were erased.”

“You’re confusing me; I want to go home now.”

“You can’t. That would be the first place they’d look for you. Here, it’s safe now.”

I feel tears wetting my face, and I see her smiling at me.

“My name is Elodie, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Alina…”, she whispers, and I blink, unable to believe what’s happening.

“Come with me. We’ll answer all your questions.”

She removes the IV from my arm before pointing to the double doors ahead of us.

“We? Are there many like you?”

She nods, and I see that she’s dressed in black; she’s different, something not human.

“Yes, many of us. We’re an academy of Knights of the Night, Alina. This place is responsible for training young ones like you.”

“Like me?”, I ask, confused, walking beside her.

The hallway is very long with many doors, and I turn my head, seeing many people fighting each other in some kind of battle.

Everyone is dressed in black and has symbols on their bodies like I do.

“What are you?”, I ask, stopping in my tracks, and Elodie’s green eyes fix on me.

“Hybrids. Night Angels, Knights of the Night, Shadow Hunters—you can decide what to call us. We’re different from humanity; we’re born with special abilities, and this place was created to help us with that.”

“We’re both vampires and humans. The red-eyed creatures you saw are regular vampires, the cruelest ones.”

I blink, feeling my entire body tremble.

“Do you drink blood like them?”

Elodie laughs as if my question is amusing.

“Yes and no. We can survive as either humans or vampires, Alina. Come, there’s much more we need to discuss.”

I don’t know what they did to my body, but I feel much better than before.

I walk with Elodie, and she opens a door, asking me to enter, and I do, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

My eyes find a large round table and a few people sitting at it; there are three… hybrids looking at me right now.

Vampires and humans.

Oh my God, how can this be real?

“We are responsible for managing the Academy of shadows, Alina.”, Elodie says, pointing to the people.

I walk and frown when they all bow their heads toward me as a sign of respect and devotion, but I don’t understand why.

“These are Kai, Logan, and Hazel.”

I look at the tall blond man with brown eyes, and next to him is another man who smiles at me, his hair as red as Elodie’s.

Lastly, I look at the girl beside them, with beautiful dark skin and curly hair. She blinks her eyes, studying me closely.

But I blink, noticing an empty chair beside them as if someone is missing.

“And where is Luke again?”, Elodie asks irritably, motioning for me to sit in one of the empty chairs.

I feel my body tense as everyone continues to stare at me.

“He should be here. This happens every day.”, Hazel says, rolling her eyes.

“I think he’s probably in a room with some of his new students…”, the blond man teases, laughing, and I frown.

“I’m sure Alina isn’t interested in Luke’s life, Kai.”, Elodie says, and I nod.

“Why am I here?”, I ask, and Elodie points to a large screen in front of us.

“Alina, you are much more important than you think. You were born on September 5, 2004, abandoned at the door of a human family who took you to an orphanage in the city…”, she begins, reading a kind of file about me and pointing to the screen.