"My sister wishes to meet you tomorrow night," Mathias casually mentioned to Emilia as they were cuddled together on the mountain of pillows Emilia had snuck into the cave over the years. As he expected, Emilia bolted upright and turned to look at him in horror. "What? Why?!"

"She is curious about you," he chirped, "as I am sure you are of her too."

'Not at all!!' Emilia thought, somewhat horrified.

Mathias burst into laughter. "Oh, Emi, my love! You should see the expression on your face."

She smacked his shoulder hard before throwing a pillow at him.

Mathias bit his lip to control his laughter, placing the pillow back neatly in place before turning more serious. "Emi, it would mean the world to me if the both of you got along nicely. I know you distrust any vampire excepting me, but could you give my sister a chance?"

Emilia saw the pleading look in his eyes and did not have the heart to say no. "The things I do for you," she pouted while resigning herself to the unfortunate meeting.

He gave her a brilliant grin of appreciation, "Thank you, my most favourite witch in the entire world!"

"You mean your only favourite witch in all the worlds," she giggled before Mathias silenced her with a kiss.

As Mathias predicted, the meeting between the two women was more frigid than a cold winter snowstorm. They pretended to be civil for his sake, shaking hands, but Emilia had her haughty look on while Lannetta sniffed disdainfully.

"I have heard great things about you," Lannetta icily said, not a trace of emotion on her face.

"As have I," Emilia replied, staring daggers at the vampire princess.

Mathias stood by meekly, beads of sweat beginning to trickle down his neck as he continued watching them pretend to get along for another fifteen minutes until he could no longer handle the stress and prematurely ended the rendezvous.

Emilia watched the siblings leave, Mathias promising to meet her in another five days before practically dragging Lannetta through the portal back to Tilrigen. Five days of life without Mathias meant five slow, lonely days with no one to talk to, no warm hugs and tender kisses. She let out a dejected sigh that echoed softly in the now empty cave. Having nothing else to do, Emilia took a slow walk back to the mansion. The streets of Onirique were deathly quiet, but it was no surprise considering how few inhabitants actually stayed in the city.

At Mathias' urging, Emilia had tried but failed at finding out how exactly the vampire king had ended much of the city's population. Not even her father knew anything. All that was known was that death had come instantly, leaving no trace on its victims. Countless accounts described how many of the victims had crumpled to the ground while going about their day doing mundane things; while eating a meal, mid-walk while strolling in the park, or merely reading a book. The incident piqued Emilia's curiosity, but unfortunately, she had exhausted what little sources of information were available, mainly in the city's library archives.

The walk home was uneventful, but as she neared the main door, she was surprised to see her father leaving their home.

"What are you doing out so late at night?" He immediately asked, a stern look directed at her. "I could not sleep and decided a walk would do me good," quick-thinking Emilia said and then curiously added, "Where are you heading so late at night?"

The usually austere Paul shocked her with a rare smile, "The war council has some good news to discuss. When the time is right, I will enlighten you." He patted her hair gently before heading out, saying over his shoulder, "I will be late. Do not wait up for me."

Emilia witnessed the familiar sight of her father entering a carriage and leaving her home alone, unease seeping through to rest in the pit of her stomach. Something important was happening, something that would change the future of witches, werewolves and vampires, her intuition screamed. Alas, she was powerless to know more.

Over the next three days, Paul's mood was unexpectedly cheerful. Emilia warily noticed him leaving early before the sun rose and returning close to midnight, yet looking smug about something, not a trace of exhaustion on his face. On the fourth day, while they sat together at the breakfast table, he suddenly turned to look at her and said, "The weather is excellent today. Would you like to see something wonderful?"

"Something wonderful?" Emilia repeated blankly. In reply, he merely smiled, a spark of excitement lighting up his eyes. "Follow me to the war council meeting today."

The war council meeting was not where Emilia thought it would be. The carriage she and Paul were in travelled to the outskirts of the city, stopping in front of a small but well-kept cottage. They alighted, and Paul led the way into the house. Several soldiers greeted them at the doorway. Paul ventured further into the kitchen area, seeming to know his way inside the house. There, he greeted a dark-haired woman warmly, seemingly well-acquainted with her.

The woman led Paul and Emilia down a flight of stairs to the basement. It was dark, save for a few torches placed on wall holders. Emilia had to squint to make out a table in the middle of the open space with three small figures seated around it.

"They prefer working in the dark," Paul spoke softly, adding to Emilia's confusion. As they walked closer, Emilia's eyes finally adjusted enough for her to realise the three figures were young children, two girls and a boy, who were focused entirely on the task at hand. They could not have been more than ten years old.

Each child held their hands out in front of their faces in a cupping motion, pouring internal power into their hands until a transparent globe was formed. Then, they gently placed the globes into baskets at their feet. Behind them, dozens of filled baskets took up the empty floor space of the basement. The process was painstakingly slow, but the children continued their work diligently, attention consumed by the task and unfazed by the goings-on around them.

Paul quietly picked up one of the globes from a basket before heading back up, motioning for Emilia to follow. As they headed back towards the entrance, he said, "We found the triplets back in Zandlana a month ago. Their mother brought them to us the moment they began displaying such Talent." He handed the transparent globe, only the size of a fist, to his daughter. Its texture was soft, like a pillow that sprang back into shape after being squeezed. The surface of the globe looked like glass but felt tacky to the touch, like freshly baked sponge cake.

"Hold it out to the sun," Paul ordered. Curious, Emilia walked to the sunlit garden in front of the cottage with the globe in her outstretched hand. Almost instantly, the globe began to glow, faintly at first but growing in intensity. Emilia stared at it, the warm glow reflected in her large, wide eyes.

"The triplets have a beautiful Talent," Paul said, "they can trap sunlight."

Emilia gasped, "How?!"

"I doubt anyone can answer that question. The how is not what matters, Emi. What is important is that it can maim the enemy." He plucked the globe from her hand and walked back into the shade of the veranda. The globe continued to glow with the intensity of a small sun, now too bright to be viewed directly without hurting the eyes.

Paul smiled, but the smile contained no cheer, only malicious intent. "We have tested it on vampire prisoners. It burns them to ash as if they were under the sun." There was a burning vengeance in Paul's eyes, the kind that comes when a crime is done, but justice is not served. Emilia remembered seeing that identical look on her father's face for the first time when she was a child and her mother had just died.

He continued, "With this, we can defeat those bloodsuckers once and for all!"

Emilia forced on a smile, nodding to his every word, but inside she felt like dying. He triumphantly said, "Tomorrow, we will attack the vampires at dusk when they least expect it, and their king is most vulnerable."

'Tomorrow night is when I meet Mathias. There might still be time to warn him,' she hoped desperately, a smile still plastered on her face.

*****

"I leave you in charge while I am gone, my boy."

It was late evening, and King Gaius stood before the portal near Riogven, wearing a knee-length long-sleeved robe. Around him, helpers were busy collecting all personal belongings from the elite squadron of bodyguards that followed the king. This time around, half the generals were also returning to Hjem with the king, keen to see the latest defensive modifications to the city walls for themselves.

Mathias faced his father with confidence, "You need not worry, Father. I will handle your affairs until your return. Lannetta will be by my side, as always."

Gaius cheerfully slapped his son on the back. "Good. I will return in two weeks." The king got ready to remove his robe. It suddenly occurred to Mathias that he could help send his father to Earth with his superior armour and sword. He grabbed his father's arm, "Father, do you not want me to open my own—"

Gaius quickly interrupted before he could say the word portal. "No." The king glanced around furtively before quietly replying, "Remember what I said? I wish for it to remain between the four of us."

Mathias was surprised. His father was acting strange. It took him a moment to realise what his father was implying. 'A spy amongst us? Probably a human. It could not possibly be a vampire. Could it?'

The young prince stared at the king, perplexed. "Should I be worried about this?" He asked in reply, keeping his voice low. The king shook his head. "It is being investigated by someone trustworthy. For now, focus on improving yourself and keeping what you know to yourself. Do remind Lannetta and Thilda as well."

Mathias nodded.

The king and his men disrobed and walked to the portal. Gaius stepped into the pale blue light and emerged in the city of Hjem on Earth. It was also evening in the city, although the glow from the distant firewall meant the city was never truly shrouded in darkness. Gaius found it comforting that both the vampire homeworld of Tilrigen and Earth territory shared an almost similar time zone.

Helpers quickly handed the king and his men temporary robes to wear before they could head over to the nearby changing rooms to change into their formal attire. The steward of the city, a short blond vampire with a round face, quickly hurried over to greet the king.

"Your Majesty, welcome back!"

Gaius nodded to the steward. "Do you have any matters of importance to report?" The steward opened his mouth to answer but stopped in his tracks as he stared at a point above the king's shoulder. Gaius quickly turned around to see a flaming arrow shoot up high into the cloud-covered sky above the city. It continued to travel upwards without signs of slowing when it should have already begun its descent back to earth, all the while emitting a sharp and unnatural lavender glow. It was no normal arrow, and the king immediately realised it was made by magic. 'This can only mean one thing. Someone is announcing our arrival!'

"To arms! To arms! The attack is imminent! Sound the alarm!" The king shouted, immediately running towards the changing rooms and his armour. One of the king's guards ran towards the portal's bell tower. As chaos descended and vampires and humans ran about in disarray, the air was filled with the clanging of bells, and the sky above Hjem began to shine with the light of a hundred little suns.

*****

Mathias took a shortcut back to the castle, opening a portal to cut his travel time to a negligible five minutes. The past five days had passed with excruciating slowness, and he had spent almost every second of it thinking about when he could see Emilia next. He hurried back to his room before opening a portal to the cave. Mathias smiled when he caught sight of her rushing towards him. "My love—"

"There is an attack planned for tonight on Hjem," Emilia was breathless as she rushed to tell him, the words gushing out faster than raging waters gushing down a swollen river after a thunderstorm.

Mathias froze, the smile wiped off his face, "What?!"

"There is a new weapon that emits the light of the sun, even at night! It can hurt a vampire just as much as the sun can!" She grabbed at his arms frantically, "The attack is at dusk. There might still be time to warn them!" She pushed him back towards the portal.

"Understood," he said, without a moment to spare. Mathias crossed back into the portal to his room and then opened one directly to his father's private changing rooms on Earth. There was no one inside. He ran out of the room and to the building's main door, flinging it open before rushing out. Immediately his skin began to burn. Mathias screamed in agony as glowing balls of light illuminated the ground around him. Then, someone grabbed hold of him and pulled him back into the safety of the changing rooms. Mathias stared through teary eyes at the woman, a middle-aged human with greying hair tied in a loose bun at her nape. He recognised her as one of the portal helpers.

"Your Highness, it is dangerous! You must not go out there without protection." She was stuffing his exposed hands into a pair of gloves. He groaned in pain as blistered skin rubbed against the inner lining of the leather gloves. "What happened?"

"The witches shot hundreds of those balls of light into the air. At least half were destroyed by our defences before they neared the ground, but the rest...," she did not finish her sentence. She did not need to since Mathias had experienced it first-hand. Rummaging through piles of clothes, she found him a black scarf, wrapping it around his head securely.

"I cannot see a thing!" The prince was about to yank the scarf away when the woman grabbed his arm. "Prince Mathias, you will turn your eyes to ash if you do not cover them," she said in a pleading tone. "I will guide your way. Where do you wish to go?"

"I must find my father."

The woman linked her arm in his before heading back out. His lack of vision only heightened his sense of hearing. All around him, he could hear dozens of panicked human voices, some nearer than others, struggling to decide what needed to be done. Patting the woman's arm, he ordered, "Tell any human you see to cover the light with buckets, cloth, anything they can find to keep in the light."

They walked a mere twenty paces before the woman abruptly halted. "Ahh! P-Prince Mathias, there are hundreds more lights in the sky!"

Mathias looked up. Even through the cloth, he could see the floating dots of light outlined against the night sky. Hundreds upon hundreds, having been lifted above the wall of fire, were now hurtling down towards the city. Panic and fear combined like a potent poison, leaving a sour taste at the back of his throat. He knew if he did not act, the city's remaining vampires would be in serious trouble.

Without thinking, he drew as much internal power as possible and formed the biggest portal he had ever made, directly facing the incoming globes of light. It was massive, its size even larger than the vampire portal leading to Earth. Subconsciously, he had made it invisible, so when the first globes of light entered, it seemed to the attackers as if they had vanished into thin air.

"Your Highness, are you doing this?" The human asked in awe. Mathias did not reply, his focus so drawn towards maintaining the portal that her words did not even register. Hundreds of the globes were engulfed by the portal to land harmlessly on an uninhabited island somewhere in the tropics, thousands of miles away.

"The lights, are they gone?" Mathias panted as the strain of keeping the gigantic portal open took its toll. "Yes, your Highness," the woman replied, scanning the sky again to be sure.

With great effort, the prince closed the portal in the sky and opened another on the ground beneath his enemies feet. The eighty or so witches beyond the city's walls were sent into freefall before splashing into the frigid waters of an icy ocean many hundreds of miles away, never to be seen again. Only a few dozen witches stationed beyond the portal's reach were left, stunned by the sudden disappearance of their peers and forced into a hasty retreat, along with the accompanying werewolf army.

Mathias released the portal, feeling waves of dizziness hit him hard. What had been mere seconds had felt like agonising hours to him. He had exhausted almost all his energy reserves. Using his Talent for much longer would deplete his inner reservoir of energy and begin to eat up his life force. Barely standing upright, he struggled not to place too much weight on the frail human beside him.

"Find my father," he bit out.