I was jolted up in surprise. Breathing heavily, I roamed my eyes around. The first thing I noticed was a dimly lit room. It reminded me a lot of my room back in Vampire Kingdom. The second thing I noticed was that the sheets were in blood red color. They were soft. It was a four poster bed. The room was strikingly similar to the one I had before. It was not only similar; it was indeed the same room.

I jumped out of the bed. Surely the walls were colored dark blue. There was a chandelier on the centre of the ceiling of my big room. There was a closet pushed at the furthest corner. A desk and chair, a big couch, a huge pot at the side of the way that lead to balcony.

It was really my room. And I was in Vampire Kingdom. But wasn’t Vampire Kingdom taken over Daniel and his friends?

I walked to the balcony. It was night time. The full moon was glowing in the sky. The stars were twinkling around it. I watched over the kingdom. Everything was normal. In the dead silence of night, nothing seemed wrong. What was happening? Was I caught? And where was Blood Devil?

“I’m right here, Sera.” The very familiar voice spoke and I whirled around, leaning against the railing.

There stood Blood Devil dressed in his signature all black dress. I felt self conscious standing in front of him dressed in nothing more than my flimsy white night gown. I stared at his handsome face. Dark green eyes stared back at me. There were two wine glasses in his hand. But there was no wine in them. There was blood.

He neared me and leaned against the railing beside me staring down at his kingdom. His face was blank of any expression. Handing over one glass to me, he sipped from the other one. I eyed the liquid in my glass.

“How are you feeling now?” He asked me calmly. His velvety voice almost made me sway towards him. And I almost did.

“Better,” I replied quietly. But I was really confused. What had happened while I was sleeping? Surely I was not just sleeping. I really feel like I’ve missed something really big. But I have no idea what.

“I know you have many questions in your mind. Please ask. I’ll try to answer them.”

My mind raced with different questions. There were so many that I felt a headache coming. My brain was overloaded with all these unanswered questions.

“What happened?” I asked softly. At that moment, I had no idea what was right and what was wrong. What was a fantasy and what was reality. My memories were vague. But as I stood there, beside him, they were becoming clearer and clearer with every passing second.

“What do you think happened?" He didn’t answer my question but asked one more. It confused me more. All I wanted was to know the answer.

“I don’t really know,” I mumbled not wanting to say anything. First I wanted to hear what he thought.

“You returned from your pack and after that you dozed off. You didn’t complete your job and then you are sleeping here. A vampire sleeping? That’s pretty disgraceful, you know. Living in vampire kingdom and sleeping.”

I watched him unblinkingly. Returned from the pack?

“Now that you are back here, I expect you to be responsible and refrain from your habit of sleeping. Werewolves might do it but we, vampires, don’t. And I will talk later about you not finding out about the heir. Come down to my study in fifteen minutes.” He said in his flat voice and gave me last lingering look before stalking out.

I, on the other hand, sat on the bed thinking what did just happen. Gears in my head turned. Blood Devil was talking as if he was not my mate. Of course he had always talked to me like that but that thing lacked in his voice. That thing. I don’t know what it is but it was not there. The way he talked to me as Harry and just a few moments ago when he called me his mate. There was a slight difference.

I jumped from the bed and looked at myself in the mirror.

BD talked about not finding the heir. Didn’t he know that I was the heir? Of course he knew that. And he is also an heir. Selene and Matthew told me. Not only heir but he was my mate. What the freaking hell is going on here?

My eyes were bloodshot. My skin was pale. I touched my neck where I was bitten by Harry or BD but didn’t feel anything at all. The skin was soft and clear. No signs of puncture wounds. As if… as if they had never happened.

My mind stopped. Never happened? That didn’t happen. But how is that even possible. I remember that time so clearly. No. It can’t be possible. I was banished from the Vampire Kingdom. But here I am back again. In the Vampire Kingdom. And then I went to Alaska and met my childhood friend’s family. Then I came to know that Harry was actually BD and real Harry was in California. And then there were Selene and Matthew who taught me something for long time, seven months, and I don’t remember anything.

But that doesn’t explain how I remember Daniel’s plans. How do I remember Daniel wanting to kill BD because he wanted me? It was pretty absurd. And how on earth he came to know that I and BD were heir. Oh right. That book. And his father.

And Vladimir wanting me? Me? Vladimir? That was something impossible. It was like I was reading his thoughts when he thought that he wanted me. But even the idea of that is impossible. Only that simple thing proves that all of it was some sort of nightmare. But how can a nightmare can reveal so much? Were any of these things even real?

I want them to be real. I was with Blood Devil. He… He…

So much has happened then why is Blood Devil acting like nothing had happened at all. Is he playing another game with me?

I looked at myself and I was dressed in a dark top, leather jeans and a leather jacket. The same attire I wore when I returned from the pack. I remember it clearly because I wanted to wear good enough clothes in case BD decided to kill me when he came to know that I was not going to tell him about heir. No, I didn’t want to die wearing something good but I wanted to wear something that would help me to run away easily.

I pressed my fingers to my head. Headache was taking surface. If I thought about it much then my mind was going to explode. What was the bloody year? Was it still 2016 or was it 2017? I reached for my cell phone. That bloody thing was going to explain this mess for me.

The gadget lit up and only added more to my confusion by flashing 2016 on the screen. There was no way it was 2016. A year has passed. Manny’s baby was going to be born.

Someone must have tampered with my phone. Yeah, that explains it. It is 2016 and not 2017.

It might have been the stress and my world revolved around me and everything turned black.

Blood Devil smirked at the werewolf standing in front of him. The creature had guts, he had to admit.

“We want you to hand over that girl to us.” The werewolf made his voice firm. As if Blood Devil was going to concede by his request. It was not actually a request but that’s how Blood Devil saw it as. A request. He always saw it as a request because no one could ever demand from him.

“What gives you the idea that I will hand over her to you.” Blood Devil said in his cool voice. He didn’t let on whether he was going angry or pleased. It was never possible to know. But Vladimir had studied his features over the years and he knew that Blood Devil was slightly angry but mostly curious.

“The Werewolf King demands her presence.” Even Vladimir knew that the werewolf was lying. The way his heart rate palpitated with that statement, it was only obvious.

To deal with a vampire is not easy. To lie to a vampire is impossible. And if one lies to a vampire, it is very apparent to that vampire if the person is lying. The same happened with Sera. Blood Devil knew she was lying. Vladimir only wondered why Blood Devil let her go without question. Maybe the king really had a soft spot for her. But he knew that after the lie, the soft spot was going to become hard gradually.

“Don’t lie to me werewolf.” Blood Devil started coolly. “I know Werewolf King has nothing to do with it. And even if he had, he couldn’t summon her. She is no longer a werewolf. She has vampire blood in her. Moreover, she has rejected her mate. She has no relation to the werewolf kingdom.”

“She has her brother there.” The werewolf argued.

“Not blood-related.” Blood Devil said easily and there was a momentarily look of surprise on the werewolf’s face before it was masked by cool expression.

The werewolf didn’t reply.

“You hold a high position in the werewolf community so I am not going to harm you. You are not going to get the girl. Vladimir will see you out, Alpha Kyle.”

Vladimir could only think one thing and couldn’t help but find satisfaction in that. Sera Winters was in big trouble.

*** ***