The battle was over. The castle, though still towering and grand, felt empty — a hollow monument to a legacy I had just destroyed. My father’s voice no longer echoed through its halls, and yet… the shadows seemed deeper, heavier, as if mourning his absence.

I wandered aimlessly for hours, letting my steps guide me. Marble corridors led to dust-choked chambers I had never seen before. My boots clicked on the cold stone, the sound swallowed by the silence.

Then… a staircase. Narrow. Steep. Descending into blackness.

I hesitated. Even in all my years here, I had never ventured into the lowest levels of the castle. There was no need. Or perhaps… there was something down here my father did not wish me to find.

The air grew colder with every step. The smell of damp stone and something older, something ancient, filled my lungs. My hand trailed along the wall until my fingers brushed metal. A torch bracket. I lit it.

The flame revealed a chamber — small, but carved with runes long forgotten. At its center stood a sarcophagus of black stone, gilded in gold, etched with words I did not recognize… except for one detail. A name.

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My blood chilled. The name meant nothing to me, yet it felt… wrong, seeing it here, preserved in such reverence.

I approached. The lock was heavy, centuries old. My claws scraped against it as I forced it open. The lid shifted with a groan, revealing darkness within.

She lay there — still as marble, skin pale as moonlight, her hair a sheet of snow spilling over her shoulders. A vampire… untouched by time.

For a moment, I simply stared, my mind weighing possibilities. Why would my father keep her here? As a prisoner? A weapon?

Then her eyes opened.

Scarlet. Wild. Starving.

Before I could speak, she lunged — faster than most fledglings could dream. Her weight crashed into me, cold hands gripping my shoulders, her lips parting to reveal fangs sharp enough to split stone.

I did not move. Shock rooted me in place. I could feel her hunger, raw and unrestrained, like a beast tasting air for the first time in centuries.

And in her gaze… there was no recognition. Only need.