"We are all in the same game, just different levels.

Dealing with the same hell, just different devils."

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A scream.

A scream pierced through the night sky. Even though I was in the crowded ballroom, the sound stood out in the mist of the loud music. As I quickly scanned the room filled with Vampires who seemed to be enjoying themselves, I didn't find the source of the sound. Not only that, but I noticed nobody else was affected by the scream, or they just didn't hear it at all.

Narrowing my eyes as I concentrated harder, I realized the noise came from the outside.

From the terrace.

To find out what was going on, I closed my eyes to teleport at the tallest part of the castle.

When my eyes opened again, the scene infront of me sent a shiver through my spine as bewildereness clouded my mind. A man stood at the edge of the terrace, looking down. Dressed in a black suit, his posture was stone like, rigid. But before I could try to see who it was, the horrifying scream once again stole my attention. This time it was lower.

Someone was falling.

Wait, I know that voice.

Alexis.

Without wasting a second more, I ran faster than the wind, towards the edge of the building. My feet didn't stop when they reached the end of concrete, and my body fell forward towards the ground as a result. My wings, as if they had a mind of their own, appeared on my back.

So much was happening in so little time, that my mind could barely grasp what was going on. But there was one thought that stood out, as clear as the day.

I have to save her.

My eyes made contact with her relaxed face, which scared me. Her hair was flying all around her as she got closer to the ground, but unfortunately her body wasn't flying. It was just falling, lifelessly. I was thankful that my wings provided that slight push I needed to reach the ground before she did.

It hurt when one of my feet and a knee made contact with the ground floor, but the pain was soon forgotten the moment Alexis fell in my outstretched arms.

Had I not been there to cushion the fall, she would have lost even the slightest bit of life left in her.

"Alexis!" I finally found my voice.

"Alexis, wake up! Open your eyes, look at me. I order you to get up, dammit!"

I shook her, yelled at her, I tried everything I could to get any sort of reaction, any sort of movement from her. But she didn't open her eyes. And then for the first time ever, there was an emotion in my empty heart. I felt something I never knew I could feel anymore.

Fear.

The smell of her blood was stronger than ever, making me check her for wounds. I retrieved my hand from her body, only to notice it was stained red. The front part of her dress was darker than the rest, and wet.

She was stabbed in the stomach.

The color red blinded my vision, as my anger reached its peak. I was feeling thirsty, thirsty for the blood of the person who did this to her. I quickly mind linked my best runner guards to catch the man on the terrace, and to block everyone from exiting the castle ground. I also ordered the patrol to spread the blocking powder around the castle, the powder that will prevent any Vampire from teleporting in and out of this place.

Picking Alexis up bridal style, I stood up. I mind linked Eric to get the best human doctor to my room as soon as possible.

Thanks to my Vampire speed, I was able to make it to my room quickly. I was proud of my staff when I noticed the doctor was already there, waiting for me. I placed Alexis' almost lifeless body on the bed and the doctor started shouting orders to his nurses.

I could tell Emma and Eric were holding back questions, but I was grateful. The thought of not knowing the answers myself angered me. I couldn't do anything but stand there by my Alexis as she just layed there with her eyes closed. She looked peaceful but I knew her insides where fighting for life. Her soul was swinging between life and death.

"What happened to her?!" Emma finally asked.

My Mind completely ignored everyone else as my only focus was on Alexis. Feeling my golden eyes appear, I turned to the doctor, "Save her. If anything happens to her, I will take the life out of you and make her drink it."

The hunger to know who did this to her made me debate if I should leave Alexis' side to go find answers. I unguarded my mind so Eric and Emma could clearly read it and know what happened.

"Let's go, Damien. The bastard can't get away, " Eric hissed, snapping me back to action. My body didn't know what to feel anymore, it seemed like I was still in shock. Every part of me didn't want to leave her side. But we didn't have time, we had to find out who stabbed Alexis. I nodded, glancing at her one more time, and then me and Eric teleported to the ball room.

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"What do you mean you didn't find any intruder?!" the guards flinched at my furious tone. Furious? I was beyond furious. I had been receiving the same response for the past hour now. And the way they seemed to be looking at me cowardly just added salt to the wound.

I was informed nobody had gone outside ever since Alexis was stabbed, which was two hours ago. My guards had been sent to different parts of the castle in groups to find the person who was dressed exactly like me. The need to save Alexis had prevented me from looking at his face. I just remembered he was dressed like me. The red bow tie and the red vest was seen by the corner of my eyes as I jumped off the building.

His scent was hidden with that spray the Vampire hunters invented. It takes about a day for the scent to reappear as the effect of the spray fades away. All the guests presented in the ballroom didn't have their scent hidden, so it wasn't one of them.

"Find the dagger. I don't care if you have to flip the castle upside down, if you want to live to see another day, you will find the dagger." I looked at the group of guards to my left, they quickly nodded and dissappeared.

I heard murmuring among the crowd. They had been told everything about the situation, but I really didn't see any reason why they had to discuss it with each other.

"Silence!" Eric demanded them. They quickly obeyed because there were only commoners attending the party, no royals.

No royals.

There weren't any royals here except Emma and me.

Then what was this strong scent I've been smelling for some time now? I had smelled it on Alexis earlier. The man clearly didn't know that royal scents can be hidden, but not entirely. Me being a royal gave me an advantage, my senses were stronger than my guards.

It was very faint, but it was still there. It smelled oddly familiar, but I couldn't point out who it was. Whoever it was, we had definitely not met in a long, long time. Following the scent, I ended up in the "Envy" station.

From there, the scent dissappeared.

Even though a million questions were running through my head, there was only one person I could think of who would dare to cause any harm to Alexis or me. She had killed someone close to me before, why won't she do it again? But this time, I knew for sure that she wasn't alone. She had a royal by her side.

"Get me Katrina," I turned to face the remaining guards who were waiting for an order, "now."

"And failed to present her alive in front of the King, will result in you losing your position." Eric added.

My men quickly moved to action, and that was when I couldn't stop myself any longer. I had to see how Alexis was doing. The desperation to find out if she'll make it through was twisting my insides. I explained some more investigation procedures to Eric, leaving him in charge as I teleported to my bedroom.

I walked closer to the bed and examined Alexis. If they didn't look down at her stomach to find the now patched up wound, anybody could mistake her for just being asleep. Her brown hair was sprayed around her beautiful face.

With her ruined make up, it was a wonder how she managed to look just as beautiful as with it on. Her long red dress was supposed to make her feel like a princess.

But now, she just looked like a dying princess.

The hope, all the positive emotions which were always splattered on her face, weren't there anymore. My eyes were begging to see that smile that made me smile. The way she frowned whenever I yelled at her, even the way she glared at me, I wanted to see it all again. It became harder for me to breathe when I noticed the dried mascara which once ran down her cheeks. She had definitely been crying before and during the time she got stabbed, which made me clench my fist. The bastard made her cry.

"How is she doing?" I cringed at how weak my voice sounded so I cleared my throat.

"Your Majesty," the doctor was struggling to find the right words, but soon started talking once I ordered him to spit it out, "she was stabbed, but thankfully the knife didn't injure any of her important organs. The wrong angle by the person also saved her life..."

"So her life isn't in danger?" I had to confirm that my princess would be alright.

"No, it's not. But..."

I glared at the fourty year old man, how dare he even try to raise up my hopes when there was clearly a "but" in his sentence?

"But she had lost too much blood, don't worry, I requested your human maid with the same blood group as her to donate blood earlier. That blood is now being filled into the patient's body." the doctor said, but I could tell he wasn't done talking.

"Then that's a good thing, right? She's going to wake up soon?" Emma, who I barely noticed stood up from the chair, came to stand next to me. Her eyes looked puffy as if she had just spent an hour crying, which made me avert my eyes from her because I was afraid I might just break too.

"That's the thing. We don't know when she will wake up. The next few days are going to be very difficult for her, both physically and emotionally. Her body needs time to heal from the event. We were on the verge of losing her heartbeat earlier, it's still faint. The sooner she wakes up, the better. But that's not in our hands, it's in hers. We can perform all sorts of different procedures on her, but at the end of the day, it's up to her to keep fighting. The main problem that we're facing here is that the patient is losing her motivation, if she hasn't lost it already. What makes us wake up every morning? A reason to live. But she doesn't have any, what I've been able to conclude is that she doesn't have a reason to wake up. She doesn't want to wake up."

The last bit of patience broke as I grabbed the doctor by his collar, "What do you know about her, huh?! She's a fighter, not a coward who gladly accepts the easy way out. She won't give up that easily, she will fight for her life until her very last breath, do you hear me? That's the Alexis I know. If my Alexis can be strong enough to stand against a man like me, strong enough to walk though the burning pain I've caused her and still smile, she's definitely strong enough to fight death. She doesn't bow down to anyone, then is who is this attention seeking bitch called Death?"

"Damien! Let go of him," I pushed back the doctor, just because I couldn't see the pain on my sister's face. She suddenly snaked her arms around my torso as she let out a sob that broke my heart, "tell me you're going to bring her back."

I nodded and tried to comfort her, but to be honest, I was the one who needed the comfort her hug provided. Closing my eyes, I realized I just wanted someone to tell me that everything will be okay.

But it won't be, not until the girl who was peacefully sleeping woke up. I didn't dare try to search my mind for the reasons as to why I was so affected by seeing her in this state. I was afraid of the answers I'll receive.

"Go talk to her, tell her how much you need her. You're the only person who can bring her back, brother. You're the only person she'll come back for." Emma stepped away from me, giving me a slight push towards the bed.

My mind wanted to correct her, wanted to ask her since when did I need her? But only my heart knew how true that was. I did need her.

I never thought I would admit this, but I did need her. My eyes needed her beauty, which spreads to everything she touches. Or maybe I needed her ability to find beauty in even the smallest things. My ears needed the sweet sound of her voice to block out the screams of the prisoners that haunts my dreams. Hell my brain needed the headache she provided me with, because it reminds me that I'm still capable of being hurt. I know it sounded ridiculous, who would want to feel pain, but the feeling reminded me that I'm not just an empty shell.

The moment I close the distance between us, when I could hear the hammering heart of hers, I always felt like it was my own that was beating. Her touch, her warmth had this way of making me feel human again. The way she unknowingly took care of me reminded me of the blurry memories of my mother.

I didn't even notice when this girl infront of me became the reason of my sanity. I didn't even notice when our bickering became my escape from this world's reality.

Taking a seat next to her frame on the bed, I reached out to caress her cheek ever so lightly, afraid that she might break.

"Hey,"

Really, Damien? She just went through hell and back because your ass couldn't save her on time and all you got to say was hey?

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Emma forcing the doctor and the nurses to wait outside the room, and she closed the door after her.

Good, because I really didn't want anyone to know what I was about to say next.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I'm not just talking about the stabbing, but you being here in general. If it wasn't for my own stupidity and my wrong decisions, you wouldn't be here. You would be back in the human world with your parents, living a meaningful life. You would have been thinking about what to wear for your senior ball, not wondering if you would live to see another day. This is all my fault, my fault for letting that prophecy blind me enough to not know the difference between right or wrong. I know you will never forgive me, but I want just one thing from you. Please, no matter what, please don't give up fighting for your life because of me," I couldn't hold in the water like substance from flowing out of my eyes.

I never thought I would live to see a day where I break down. Today just proved how wrong I was to think that I wasn't capable of feeling. My hands grabbed onto her hand, giving it a slight squeeze. I just needed to hold onto her, maybe to prevent my hand from shaking, or maybe to prevent her from slipping away from me.

What was I doing? I couldn't be acting weak infront of her like this. I needed to show her how to be strong, not be emotional instead!

"When I first saw you, I thought you were the most precious little thing in the world. I could see the death of your parents playing over and over again in your eyes, it was never my intention to kill them. I never ordered my guards to do any harm. That is why they're still rottening in prison, failing to follow such simple orders from their King."

I wanted to tell her that I never meant for her parents to die, but that still doesn't change the fact that I was the only person to blame.

"I know your parents loved you very much, Alexis. Wherever they are, I know they must be watching over you. To see you like this, must be killing them all over again. If not for me, please come back for them."

No response.

I wiped away my tears, angry at myself for being so useless.

"They must be so proud of you. You've grown up to be a strong, intelligent woman, I know you must be having a hard time believing that I'm saying this, but it's the truth. No matter how much I argue with you, and say that I hate you, I would never wish this upon you," I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, "you're a fighter, baby girl. Someone who can show me that the world doesn't revolve around me. And it's weird but I love it when you prove me wrong. I know I sound crazy, huh?"

Please, give me a hint that you're listening.

Please just nod your head. Move your fingers, anything. Please.

No matter what, I won't give up on you.

"We're opposites, you know that? You're like a beautiful sunny day, always lightening up people's world. While me, I'm the darkest time of the night, always scaring everyone away. But the night and the day also come together to form the most breathtaking creations ever, the sunrise and the sunset. Without you, there won't be any more breathtaking moments in my existence."

What was I doing? I was spilling all the secrets that I myself didn't know my brain was holding back. I was never used to talking about my feelings, maybe because nobody really cared. The last time someone did, it was all for show. That was when I shut everyone out, I let them believe that my heart was made of stone. But here I was, spilling my heart out to the woman who was nothing but a mere prisoner a couple months ago.

I watched her carefully but still wasn't granted with any movements by her.

No, I will not lose hope.

I realized how this night took a sharp turn. Earlier I was planning to set her free from me, no matter how much every cell in my body was screaming at me to not let her out of my sight. Although my wish was granted, she was right infront of me, but yet so far away.

And no matter how much I told her to come back to me, she didn't.

My eyes widened in fear as I thought what if she turns out to be the next person I will lose forever?

My mother.

The man who was like my father.

His wife who raised me.

Then my one true love.

I've lost everyone who was close to me, what if Alexis turns out to be the next person on the list?

No. Not her.

Suddenly, I felt the royal side of me who was used to always having his way come out.

"I won't let anything happen to you, do you hear me? Even if death comes knocking on your door, it'll have to pass through me to get to you. I will tear this world apart piece by piece if anyone dares to take you away from me," I stood up abruptly, looking up at the ceiling.

"Whoever is listening up there, did you hear that? I don't even know if you're real, but I'm willing to believe that you are if Alexis' life may be in your hand. Please, she never really had the chance to live. If you give her that one chance at life, I promise I'll make the most of it. I promise I won't let anyone hurt her again, not even myself."

My eyes softened when I looked at her. Immediately taking a hold of her hand, I whispered over and over again the words she once said to me,

"Please don't leave me."

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