It's dark; too dark.

It's cold; too cold.

I didn't fall asleep here. I said goodnight to Acera, walked up the stairs and then clambered into bed and fell asleep within seconds. Something wasn't right. Was I dreaming or was I awake?

And then someone starts to talk to me.

I can hear the vampire's smile in his silky soft voice as he speaks to me through the ocean of shadows that engulfs me. Chains have me pinned to the stone wall; equally as icy. My head rolls, my lids droop and cool sweat sticks to my forehead in a clammy arrangement.

    "You probably won't have heard of me," he says to me, cold hands picking up my face. My flesh crawls at his touch. "I'm the Royal Darkness nobody talks about; the one absent from the reports. A secret."

I stiffen. There are fifteen Royal Darknesses, this has been the case for over four hundred years. There isn't a chance someone hasn't noticed whoever this one was.

  "You can't be an unknown Royal Darkness. We have everything on every one of them, or at least their names," I croak, my mouth so dry it's like sandpaper. I cough and the rawness of my throat hurts like someone is scraping their nails against the inside of it.

    "Hmmm, well I am not a Royal Darkness anymore. I was, but because of the bad, bad things I did, I get demoted. Though this offer that if I bring your head to my dear father, I'll be a Royal Darkness again, is one I cannot refuse," he purrs, kissing along my jaw.

I want to strike, defend myself, stop him, but there's no chance of it with both my ankles and wrists chained like a damn slave.

My brows knit together for a long second as I skim through the filing cabinet in my brain. There had been something...something about being banished...something about one of them committing such awful crimes they disgraced even vampires.

What was his name again...?

    "Wait, you said your father..." I blurt out loud, suddenly catching onto something, but his mouth claims mine with too much force for me to continue. He pushes my weak body back against the wall. Why do I feel so wobbly and unstable?

He groans into me, moving at superhuman speed to lift my legs and force them around his waist. I am too fragile and frail in my current state to even attempt fighting back. And so I just keep as floppy as I can, letting him do as he wishes, whoever he is.

        "Too bad this is only in our heads, Charlie," he pants and his teeth catch in the light as he grins; catlike. "I'm betting if I really got to touch you, we'd be trembling within several erotic seconds."

His body rocks against mine, strong and lean, and I abruptly picture it as Acera, stifling a moan. He grins, stroking my temple with an index finger. His lips drop to mine once more.

    "I'll see you soon, my love. Make sure to dress up nice for the occasion," he warns and then fades with the darkness.

I am left, alone, to stare into nothing and feel only fear. Is this real? Am I dreaming? Oh please let me be dreaming.

My hair is blasted back from my sticky, bare chest that has been smothered in my sweat. Someone starts to whisper – no, it's more than one person. There're several of them, all drawing closer.

    "Everyone is hunting for you, Charlie Rose. You'll never be accepted as a Royal Darkness's mate. Never. You don't deserve him," a female snarls, envy high in their tone. I try to find them with my eyes, but the darkness is impossible to cooperate with. My head throbs.

  "Acera has always been the sweetest, most handsome of the Royal Darknesses, everyone wants to please him. You could never successfully do that. You're human, you're not fast enough or strong enough to sustain his needs as a dominant male," a second woman tells me matter-of-factly; seductive.

    "Whoever gets to you first will either be doing it for themselves or for Acera's sake," a third assures.

Something sharp pierces my left underarm and then I feel a tongue sliding over my skin, getting closer to my neck. I cannot move in the chains. I cannot save myself.

I hate being so helpless.

        "Stop!" I scream. "I don't want any of this either! Pleasuring Acera is the last thing on my mind, believe me. If anything, I'd drive a stake through that monster's heart."

The tongue stops and cold breath hits my skin. A hand grabs my face, another at my ankle, another tugging the hair on the back of my head. "Never speak of our master like that!" they all shriek at once.

My body writhes when the tongue slips away, replaced with a pair of fangs that sink so deeply I fight a cry for help.

    "When we find you two and when we have killed you, we will lie Acera down on his bed, strap his body down and then work our magic hands and practised mouths over his perfect, rich skin and drink his thick, indulgent blood. And then we'll taste him in places you'll never get to see," the one closest to my hair taunts into my ear.

And of all of the things they've said, this one riles me up the most. Just thinking about other woman lying over my mate is both infuriating and aggravating. I can feel the jealousy rising in my gut, threatening to boil over, like hot lava.

  "After a little mouth work, we'll each take it in turns to wrap our legs around his strong, sensual waist and..."

My arm moves so quickly that it surprises all of us. Before I know it, the four females are silent; gone. I've been freed from the mental trap and soon feel the ground disappear beneath my feet.

I gasped, almost screaming, bringing my shaking hands to my damp face. Monsters had been in my mind and they had been real; vampires had gotten into my head – the one thing that could never happen.

They'd made me jealous.

I quickly threw back the white sheets of the four-poster bed and headed for the ensuite to wash the perspiration from my face and neck. I needed a cold shower to assure that it all hadn't been authentic.

My exhale shook when I halted in front of the mirror and stared at myself, green eyes wide with disbelief. I closed them in an attempt to slow my racing heartbeat.

Calm, relax, you're fine. You're alive, that's all that matters. Get cleaned up. Sleep, I told myself firmly.

Pulse steadily slowing, I moved to the shower and put it to its coldest. I found the cupboard and was reaching for a towel when someone grabbed me from behind.

I shrieked. I was terrified. Terrified that it might be a vampire. I felt vulnerable.

    "Don't!" I wailed, squeezing my eyes shut in fear as they spun me round to face them so they could eat me better. My breaths sharp and uneven, my body frozen like ice.

  "Charlie, it's me, it's ok," Acera told me firmly but soothingly, taking a slight step back to give me room. His hands remained on my sides.

I forced my eyes to open and then I was staring at him with both the urge to cry and the urge to deny I'd been afraid.

    "I heard you wake up. Are you alright? I can't smell the scent of anyone else...did you have a bad dream?" he asked.

I tried not to weep like a child into their mother and knuckl at my eyes to putter out the tears. "Yeah, just a bad dream. It doesn't really matter," I assured, casting my eyes away, hearing every word scream lie.

Acera very clearly did not believe me, it was so purely obvious in his stunning amber gaze that was anxiously searching my face. I turned from him to grab a fluffy white towel.

    "Charlie...?" he began and then stopped when I shot him the fiercest glare I could.

        "I'm fine. Go."

I then moved behind him to find some shampoo and conditioner. I could feel his eyes burning through my skull as I searched.

    "Charlie, I can help. Just tell me what's wrong," he begged gently, keeping by the tub for my benefit.

  "Acera, leave me," I forced out, the command a pathetic one. I tried not to channel my fear into anger and then beam it at him.

He remained where he stood, his kindness making me feel so guilty, for a lingering minute and then turned. "May I stay...in your room until you fall asleep? Just in case."

Like I'd manage to sleep with him in the room.

    "Would you leave already? I was just having a nightmare, it's no big deal, is it? Just leave me the hell alone!" I shouted at him, resisting the temptation to push him hard in the chest

  "Alright," he accepted, nodding once and then disappearing. This one word got to me more than it should have. It wasn't alright. It was anything but.

I heaved a sigh, running a hand through my thick bronze ringlets and then closing my eyes for a moment. Whoever had first gotten into my mind was no longer there and it was quite clear they wouldn't be the only one who succeeded. From what I'd gathered, the mysterious "Royal Darkness" was the King's son, but not Acera.

My mate had to have a brother. I had had no idea. Royal Darknesses were not my area of research. I just had to kill the damn creatures.

After waking myself up with an icy shower, I did my teeth, towel-dried my hair and then made my way back over to bed. Though still numb from the scare, my lids drooped from fatigue. My head hit the pillow and I lay there for at least an hour before tiredness finally attacked and then I was out.

Two young boys, both with raven dark hair and strange eyes, sat on a red leather couch, trying not to get distracted from their father's words.

    "Inerra, you are vital to us all. You are next in line to the throne. Should you fail, I dare say it, Acera takes your place," the King told them both, face a blur to my eyes. 

I turned to gaze at the younger of the two boys and his amber eyes suddenly darted to my face for the barest of seconds. My breath caught, but he was looking back at his father again.

    "I will never fail, father," the older brother promised, deep blue eyes like sapphires. He was slightly more superior and more expected of. He sat straighter, was a tad more handsome, more mature, more reliable as the heir.

At this, the King seemed to smile. "I don't doubt you, Inerra. Your mother was very impressed last night. You behaved most appropriately despite your foolish younger brother's attempts to make you laugh."

The young Acera, who had to be five or six, kept his face composed and yet, even like his older self, his eyes gave him away.

        "You are both only human right now, but when your times come to turn into vampires, you'll need to be prepared to control your thirst and set an example to our people. Do you understand, Inerra?" the King questioned deeply, reddish hair a little more detailed than the rest of his face for me.

No human had ever seen the King and lived afterwards. I was the first, sort of.

    "Yes, father," Inerra assured, perhaps ten or eleven.

The King then looked at his youngest son, thought for a moment, opened his mouth and then decided not to say anything before heading from the room.

  "Why does he have to be so serious all the time?" Acera groaned.

Inerra stood up, eyes dark and troubled. "Stop being so immature, you fool. We're not children anymore. We have responsibilities."

Says the eleven year old.

And then Acera watched, in silence, as Inerra moved from the room, set on something I couldn't fathom. The younger one remained on the couch, every part of him reading confusion and disappointment. He loved his older brother, looked up to him, and he'd just snapped back in his face.

He then stood up to his short height and walked towards me. I froze. His orange eyes, filled with sadness, met mine and I wanted to bring him into my arms and tell him everything was going to be fine.

But he walked right through me and I was left to wonder if I'd dreamt a fact or not.

Someone shouted nearby, followed by the smashing of plates. Prying open my sleep-stuck eyes with a finger, I lazily moved from my immense bed, noting the thin blue curtains were pinned up, and reached for some clothes.

The roaring in the distance continued as I changed into a scarlet t-shirt and some white shorts. Simultaneously pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I headed for the door when it flew open.

In charged someone I had least expected to see.