The Missing Princess

20 years ago

Sabrina's POV

I sat on the bed across from Alex, trying to gather the courage I needed to tell her the story about what happened to me and how I ended up switching places with my younger sister. I am not ashamed of what happened, but I have never really told anyone the truth about how I ended up in the Dragon Empire. Actually, I have never really tried to get close to anyone in this place since I came here over 20 years ago, but there is something about Alex that calms my wolf and causes her to have complete trust in Alex. For those reasons, I have decided to befriend Alex and help her with anything she might need from me or ask of me.

Flashback to 20 years ago.

I had just pulled up to my father's house for the weekend and I was excited to get to see my stepsisters and stepbrothers again after such a long time. I had been away at college and was returning home for a vacation. Part of which would be spent with my mother and the other part with my father and his family. As I was getting out of my beat-up old ford F-150, that I had been driving since I started college, I saw a red-headed teenage girl come speedily running out of my father's house and straight into my arms.

"Rina, you're home!" The girl said as she hugged me like I was the air she needed to breathe.

"Yes, Beth. I am home, for now anyway, but you know I will be leaving again in a few days to go back to college." I said to my little stepsister Bethany, as I hugged her back.

" Why do you have to go back? Don't you like it here with us?" she whined as she released me from the hug so that I could collect my bags and head into the house to greet the rest of the family.

"I love it here with all of you, but I still have responsibilities where I am staying and that's why I can only come visit you right now. Once I am finished with all of my classes and graduate, then I can move back here and be closer to you so that we can spend as much time together as you want. Would you like that?" I asked as we were walking towards the front entrance of the house.

"I would love that!" she squealed in excitement. Just then, my father stepped out of the house and wrapped me in a big hug.

"Welcome home darling, you have been sorely missed." My father said in his thick Spanish accent.

"Thank you Papa, but I'm sure all of you have been just fine without me. Where is everyone else?" I asked out of curiosity.

"They are all in the back garden getting ready to have lunch. Bethany here has done nothing but sit by her window all morning waiting for you to get here. That's actually how I knew you were here, because she flew through the house and a flash of red was all I could see." my father said, laughing about his younger daughter's reaction to my visit. "Come on in and greet everyone else."

We made our way to the back garden where I was able to greet the rest of my father's family. My stepmother, Cassandra, has always been cordial when I come to visit but never very accepting of me because I am not one of her children. My stepbrothers, Cassen and Matthew, are twins and they are the oldest out of my father's children with his beloved. Bethany is my father's middle child and also his favorite because she is very rambunctious and loves everything there is about being a vampire. Lastly, father's youngest daughter, who is still without a name since my stepmother is not due for another few months. After greeting everyone, we sat down for a wonderful lunch where I was coerced into a shopping trip with Bethany that afternoon.

Bethany and I made our way to the local mall where we would be able to shop to our hearts' content, more like her hearts' content, because I was mostly just there to spend time with her. We had spent about 2 hours shopping when we decided to split up for a little while as there was a particular store that I wanted to go into but Beth wasn't too thrilled about it.

"I know you're not a big fan of this place, so why don't you go to one of the other stores you like and I'll find you when I'm finished here." I said to Bethany as we got close to the Halmark store.

"Ok fine. But you owe me for this and I'm not taking no for an answer." she said as she was walking away towards another clothing store.

I walked into the store and browsed around the isles for little trinkets I could give to my mother when I visited her. I found an angel figurine that lit up and I knew it would be perfect to get my mother since she has always liked anything to do with angels. I walked up to the cash register, paid for the figurine and then left the store to go and hunt down my mischievous stepsister. I passed by a hallway which typically leads to the bathrooms and I heard some very unusual noises coming from that direction. I paused for a second so that I could listen a little more closely to what was happening.

"LET GO OF ME" I heard a female voice yell. I thought I recognized the voice as Bethany's, so I ran as quickly as I could in the direction of the scream. As I got closer, I picked up a very metallic scent and knew immediately that it was blood. I knew that the noises were not coming from the bathroom but from an employees-only storage room. I tried to open the door but it seemed to be locked from the inside. I asked Becca to help me by lending me some of her strength to break down the door so I could help the person on the other side. I was really hoping that it wasn't Bethany, but no matter who it was they sounded like they were in trouble and needed help. Becca complied with my request and she temporarily took over control of my body so that she could open the door that was locked. Once the door was opened, I saw a very gruesome site as there were two guys dressed in all black with ski masks covering their faces hovering over my sister. Bethany had managed to fight off the guys as best as she could but she was still not strong enough, since she hadn't come of age yet to get all of her vampire powers. She looked as if she was about to give up the fight until she saw me and that's when I saw the relief on her face. I was so shocked at the site of what was going on in front of me that I didn't see a third person until they slammed into me causing me to loose my balance and almost fall on the floor. luckily, Becca was still in control and she is very quick to react to the attacker. The guy who attacked me was stunned for a second but quickly regained his composure.

"Well boys, look what we have here! Looks like we have ourselves a wolf." The man snickered. "Forget the other girl, I want this one instead!" He yelled at the two guys who had previously been on top of Bethany. The two henchmen made their way towards me and I got into a fighting stance, ready to take them on.

"No resistance or I put a bullet in her head" the main guy, whom I believe was the leader said, as I saw the gun he was pointing at Bethany. I immediately stood and put my hands in the air to show that I was surrendering and would not put up a fight. Bethany looked exhausted and could barely even stand up on her own, so I knew that if I resisted then she would die especially since she's not fully a vampire yet and can't regenerate or heal herself like I can. I also didn't want to think about how my father would feel knowing that he lost not only one daughter but two, if things got out of hand. The two henchmen grabbed me and started pulling me away from the closet and towards the emergency exit doors. I looked at where Bethany was and tried to get her attention, only to notice that she had passed out and was currently unconscious. A few seconds later, the two men had dragged me out the doors and into a van, where they gagged me and put a blind fold over my eyes. I felt a sharp pain in my right arm and slowly started to lose consciousness, but not before I heard the head guy say "Now I've got you and you're going to make a great addition to the dragon king's empire!"