The party had ended for good. After Cammie and Alyssa left, I sat in the living room. My mom was right beside me, one of her arms held my shoulders for moral support. Octavia was sitting opposite us on another chair, a look of intense concentration registered on her face.

"Honey, maybe it's just a phase, you're only having it the hard way, that's all," Mom tried to soothe me.

"Mom it's definitely not a phase and you know that," I said dryly.

"Maybe we can make a readjustment to your diet," Mom suggested. I opened my mouth to protest, but this time, Octavia spoke quietly.

"I believe there is something more to that."

We turned to look at her, but she didn't look up, and her voice also had a question in it. "I've been wondering why Vivienne had to be awakened before she could even reach her seventieth birthday unless she's somehow different."

"What do you mean by different?" I asked.

"Bloodline might possibly have an impact on that," Octavia replied. Mom went stiff for a second before she nodded slowly to herself. I looked at her for a while until I had a feeling that only Mom knew what it meant.

"Mom, you told me what my dad was, but never who he really was," I said, looking at her earnestly. "You know something about dad that you haven't told me?"

Mom had the same look she had had every time this subject came up. She got off and walked to the window, her eyes gazed into the moonlit sky.

"Your father was from Russia. He was about three hundred years old when he met me," she said without taking her eyes off the darkness. "And...his family is one of the most powerful royal families in the vampire world."

"A royal?" I said.

"He wasn't just a royal," Mom added. "He was, in fact, a crowned prince."

My jaw went a slack. I honestly didn't know how to react to this.

"I suspected that as much," Octavia murmured to herself but still loud enough for my ears.

"What? What did you suspect?" I quickly demanded. I wanted to know what she was thinking.

"Ordinary true-blood vampires are strong because they are born that way, but the royal ones are far beyond the estimated strength. Though, there are just a few of the royal families left in the ancient world. Their bloodlines are believed to be inherited from the original creator of the vampire race. That explains why you were awakened earlier, why you have characteristics of a real vampire even though you're just half-blood. Now everything falls into place."

"So you mean I'm not even close to human?"

"No," Octavia shook her head, "Nothing can change this fact that you're a hybrid, but it's just that the vampires have a stronger bond in their bloodline. And your being inherited from a royal true-blood is pretty unusual."

"Well great, now I'm not only by nature a freak but also a freak of nature," I muttered.

"Honey, don't be upset, we'll work it out together," Mom turned to speak again. That was why I seemed to have a more miserable life than Octavia. Then I turned to mom again.

"If you said dad was a royal, then why didn't his family help him? Why did the other vampires still execute him?" I asked.

"Maybe they had tried, honey," Mom said with a grief-stricken look again. "The day they broke into our house and took your father away, I was pregnant with you, and if it wasn't for his good friend, we wouldn't have been here together,"

I was just too stunned for words.

"Viv, there's something I want to give you," Mom walked up to me. Then she pulled something from her pocket, it was a black box and an old-looking envelop, she handed them to me.

"What's that, mom?"

"It's from your father," she said, "for your birthday."

My heart sunk when I looked at the birthday gift from my dad.

I took a deep breath and received the present. Opening the black box slowly, I found a beautiful necklace. It had a flat metal pendant like a gold coin or a medal, except it had some strange symbols engraved on it. A black crystal stone sparkled at the center.

"This is his royal crest from his family," Mom added. "He had given me to keep until you turn seventeen."

My hands were shaking as I turned to open the old crispy envelope. A letter with a classic hand-writing scribbled across it. The paper itself had already turned slightly brown by age. Octavia and Mom left the room as if to let me read the letter in privacy.

Dear my darling daughter,

I knew you would turn seventeen today, as you're reading this letter, I'm sorry, I'm no longer be with you, but I still miss and love you and your mother, always and forever. It also means I have failed to protect you, and I'm terribly sorry to place an awful burden on your shoulders. But Vivienne dear, by now I'm sure you have discovered who you are. Your existence is meant to unleash a stirring prophecy of the Underworld. My daughter, you're not an ordinary girl. No matter what the future turns out to be, the destiny is yours. May the goodness of your heart help you against all odds.

Yours for eternity,

Vladimir

I closed the letter as tears began rolling down my cheeks. I believed my father was an angel, and my mother was a saintly woman. But the ancestors of my father side were bloodthirsty vampires. The ancestors of my mother were compassionate human beings, the fittest of all. I felt like I was torn apart between the two worlds. How could I harmonize these two ancestral species inside of me?

I pulled my black-knitted blazer over my white cotton blouse. I adjusted every loose end and glanced at the clock. It was earlier than my usual running for the day, but it was because I couldn't sleep last night. I wrapped my fingers around my father's necklace and held it there against my chest. I hoped it would let me know what to do.

The Ultara Academy had been my second home for many years, but now it was no longer safe anymore. I felt like a criminal who walked into the beautiful campus with a deadly plan to raid the school. Or as if every second there was a chance I would turn into a monster and start eating people, and that is something I have to prevent, better yet to do it now.

I had been expecting the worst case scenario in my head all night. Still, when I saw Alyssa and Cammie, my only best friends in the world, I winced. Cammie was in her usual offensive look as if she'd just stepped out of the Vogue cover. Alyssa was in her perfectly groomed uniform. Her skin glowed like a porcelain doll. I took a long agonizing breath before walking up to them. Even as poise and expressionless as I tried to be, I still felt on the edge of heartbreak.

Cammie saw me and smiled sweetly.

"Hey, how are you feeling, seventeen?" she asked. I was so disappointed that her self-preservation totally failed around me. I tried to look back coldly.

"Viv, you act like you're from Pluto," Alyssa tried to joke, but her voice had a tone of nervousness in it. Probably her subconscious was sorting out the warning incident last night. I've heard vampires could radiate fear through people's gut feeling. And I was expecting them to get the slightest inkling of danger from me.

Cammie and Alyssa looked at each other with discomfort at last.

"Let's go to class," I said unemotionally, walking ahead without waiting for them. That was just the beginning.

"Did I say anything wrong?" Alyssa asked Cammie in a whisper as they followed behind.

"I don't know," she replied quietly. "Vivienne seems like a different person this morning."

In Culture class, I didn't speak a word nor in Logic nor World History. I kept my eyes glued to the desk, pretending to read or write. Cammie and Alyssa noticed the difference, but they didn't dare to ask. I just wouldn't let them have a chance.

When we went to the Lunch Hall, I saw Serena was having a make-out session with Rosa at the corner. Rajani was making a new art model out of trashcans and papers in the middle of their lunch table. Vida and other chemist kids were doing their experiments on some green fungus. I could hear the math freaks arguing about Matrix theory from afar. But now, I was about to lose my only best friends in the world. I'm sure I would never fit in with anyone besides them.

I kept my eyes on the plate as we finally sat at our table. Now Cammie and Alyssa got even more tongue-tied about my sudden mute until Cammie's system couldn't bear it any longer, and she exploded.

"That's it, Vivienne!" Cammie yelled at me. "You've been acting so weird today. What's wrong with you?"

Alyssa tucked the edge of her sleeve to calm her. I looked up with my best stony face. I exhaled and decided that it was time to face the truth.

"I have something to tell you," I said at last.

"Okay good, now I'm so waiting to hear you, Viv," Cammie said.

"We couldn't hang out together anymore," I told them flatly. Shock shone brightly from my best friends' eyes. Alyssa opened her mouth to speak, but there was no word coming out.

"What?" Cammie managed to ask. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not,"

"What are you talking about?" she still said blankly, as if she didn't believe her own ears.

"I think that's nothing wrong with your hearing, Camilla," I said straight-facedly.

"Is it because of last night?" Alyssa came to say. Cammie turned to look at Alyssa quizzically.

"What did I miss last night?" she asked.

"Well...last night...Vivienne sucked the blood from my finger when I cut myself and then...and then...we kissed."

"Whaaat?" Cammie dragged the word with a wild expression.

"I know, you think it's like incest, but I don't mind...I meant I felt something weird when she..."

"Stop it, Alyssa!" I sneered as a dreadful feeling that she may figure out the truth crept into me. Alyssa stared back in shock. She almost looked panic under my gaze. I was certain that they would never forget this. But to ensure my best friends' safety from my frightening secret, I had no choice. Then I leaned over the table and personally talked to Alyssa in a low voice.

"What we did last night wasn't just wrong, Alyssa, " I said. Alyssa desperately tried to make sense of my words, but this was something beyond her genius capacity to understand.

"Whatever it was, if it's because of me, I'm sorry Vivienne," she said at last.

"No! You don't understand," I slammed my hands on the table. "It's not you! It's me!"

"Then tell me why just out of the blue you don't want to be with us?" Alyssa rose from her chair and came toward me. I was sure everyone in the hall was listening to our fight now. I quickly held my palm up to stop her like a traffic police,

"Just stay away from me, you two!"

"Vivienne, you can't just snap at us like that without a reason!" Cammie stepped in, "Tell us what the heck is going on?!" Her face got all tensed. Her sea-blue eyes pierced at me. I stared back without blinking.

"Fine, you want to hear a reason? Actually, I have many," I said, knowing that if I had to lie to them, I had to make a bigger lie and also mean it. "It's because I feel like a total loser every time I'm around you. You all are great geniuses, but I am what? I'm sick of being your shadow. I'm sick of being your charity case, and I know myself well enough that I can never be in your league. So please, leave me the hell alone. I'm better off on my own anyway. Thank for the birthday and everything, but sorry, I'm not your kind anymore."

"Oh my god, Viv!" Alyssa's little voice cracked with anger. Her face was pale and her bright hazel eyes got all teary, but I couldn't back down. This is for their own good.

"I never knew you feel that way, Vivienne," Cammie spoke again, and she was breathing hard, "I thought I had known you, but I was wrong."

And just like that, I turned my back at them before they could see my face crumbled in pain. As I started walking away, I could hear Alyssa burst into a sob. Cammie kept mumbling to herself, "I can't believe this."