The sound of a baby's cry woke me, making me jump with fright. At first, I could not recognize where I was. The warm, muted light didn't seem familiar to me.

"My lady, are you alright?"

Frowning, I turned to the sound of her voice.

"Yes, thank you."

Farren gave a smile as she stood from the edge of my coffin. I was not used to this situation, even after a month of being here. Yes, my parents and my entire family were vampires and slept in coffins but I was not a vampire. I was something else.

The only one who could relate to me easily was my aunt Emmeline. She was the same as me. The vampires didn't have a name for us yet, we were a new creature that had surfaced just after the humans ripped a gouge in the land. Their attempt at getting away from the vampires had failed.

That gorge was nothing to the creatures, though I had not done anything more than look at it. There were two types that the vampires had seen, alphas and betas. For a long time, they believed that the alphas were the males as they were large and wiry builds and the betas were females, short but powerful.

It was not the case, now proven that both creatures had males and females. So, that meant that there were two types of unknown creatures. As for the betas, they could jump the gorge. To me, it seemed unrealistic until I saw it. The video was taken at a distance but it was enough to prove that nothing would stop them.

And that's how come there were betas on this side of the gorge. Emmeline was born here, her mother died shortly after her birth and she was put into an orphanage. Little old me, my mother jumped the gorge to escape an alpha. I was bundled to her chest as she risked our lives to get away. When she reached the other side, the man that would become my adoptive father watched as she climbed the brick wall and handed me over to him. She knew that she was dying and in her final moments, she spoke one word to him. Otanawa. It's the name that they gave me but for all they knew, it could mean that I was an annoyance or that it meant keep her safe. No one knew because we did not speak the language.

I called them my parents, they'd taken me in and loved me from the very first moment. As a bonus, it's been a very good life. Aside from their love and constant support, we also happen to be royalty. I had no claim to the throne which was just as well, I didn't want the damned thing. My mother's older brother, a twin no less, happened to be king. He's been in power for a long time now and so far, it's been good.

Of course, my opinion on that was a little jaded considering that dear old uncle Alaric asked me to be his representative and go north to the gorge. My task was to make first contact with the betas. We're not talking about the efforts that my father started before I was given to him, nor was it the food that the army bases constantly threw over the ridge. This was talking. Like cross the bridge and try to say hello. My parents were not happy vampires and there had been a lot of fights about it.

In the end, I accepted the request because I knew that someone had to do it and honestly, I was the best person for the job. I was one of them, even if I hadn't been on the other side of the ridge in eighteen years.

So, here I was. In the middle of a heat wave in province three. It was six o'clock at night and the sweat is pouring off me. I had to be in this province because it's where the bridge was built.

"Can I fix your breakfast for you, my lady?"

"Sure," I grumbled.

Trying to push the coffin lid back so that it wouldn't fall down on me again was a complete nightmare. It didn't help that I was irritable from a lack of sleep due to the insufferable heat and lack of air conditioning. I wanted to wail that as a princess, I should be granted such a luxury but life in an army base was not a luxury. Dad said that I had to suck it up and get used to it because there was no air conditioning on the other side of the ridge. There wasn't even any electricity.

The silk lining slowly peeled from my body, I sneered at the infernal thing. I could sleep in a normal bed but apparently, army bases don't have anything else because the army is full of vampires, not the unknown. There was also the fact that my kind were still secrets. I had to pretend that I was a vampire and thankfully, I drank blood so it wasn't that much of a stretch.

Farren started the preparations as I sat at the table. My phone was blinking madly which indicated one of three things or perhaps all of them. One, my mother was wondering why I was still in bed and had messaged me once to respond when I woke. Two, my father was panicking that I haven't responded to his hundred or so messages and now believed that I was dead. And three, my cousin Nava had sent me a few messages to fill me in on what had happened since she'd crawled out of her coffin.

They couldn't stay here, as much as they wanted to. My father was the advisor to my uncle so he had duties and there was only so long that Alaric was going to accept going without. An entire day and night have passed since they were here and already, they're panicking. Well, dad is. Life once I go over the bridge will be interesting but that's not my problem because apparently there's no phone signal on the other side of the ridge.

Not that anyone would know. The place was overgrown, many of the structures that the humans had put up before they fled should still be there. Nava said that I was dreaming if I thought that I'd be walking through empty cities. She'd heard from one of her friends that it was a jungle. Well, her friends knew squat. They were living it up in their high-end city apartments with all the luxury their parents could afford, they had no idea what life was like beyond province five.

A large glass of blood was placed in front of me. With grim thoughts filtering through my mind, I picked up the glass and wished it was warm because it was fresh, not because the refrigeration unit was dying.

"Thanks, Farren."

She smiled uneasily and I knew why. Life for a lady in waiting was not meant to be done in the remote wilderness nor in an army camp. I'd given her an out before we left home. I said that she could find another task within the family or my uncles' family if she'd prefer but Farren said that she was happy to continue serving me.

I had to give Farren her dues, she never said a bad word about it. Of course, I could see that she was not a happy vampire. She probably regretted not looking for another posting.

"Today's the day," She said, trying to smile.

"Not until my guardian arrives. Hopefully, she'll get lost, eh Farren?"

She stared for a moment and then gave a hesitant laugh.

"I don't think that His Highness would be happy if that happened."

"No, I'm sure he wouldn't."

"Well, I better start the packing."

After responding to the messages which were as I predicted, I picked up the tablet and read through the email that the CO sent to me. My guardian had reached the airport safely and the car that was sent to collect her was returning.

"I wonder what this one will be like."

"What's that, my lady?" Farren called out from the dressing room.

She stood at the door with an eager smile. The dressing room was more like a cupboard with the space to stand in and nothing else. I wasn't complaining but my elbows sure hurt from smacking the shelves constantly.

"This Harper Merrick."

"I'm sure she's lovely, like the last one. Shame that she didn't want to go over the bridge."

"Yeah," I said softly.

Farren returned to packing. Another message came through from Nava, it made me frown.

"I think she's lost the plot."

For some reason, she'd sent me a lot of love hearts. I responded to it with a question mark and the witch replied with a wink emoji.

"What help is that?"

Messaging her again, I got a reply that was bigger than one emoji. This one said, you'll see.

With a heavy sigh, I put the phone down and finished my breakfast. Farren was like a mother hen and I think that's why my mother picked her. Someone that would be good for me while she wasn't here.

In the month that I've been at this base, I've tried to learn the way that these people communicated with the creatures on the other side. It hasn't been easy but they understand basic sign language. This was not the language that the deaf use, this was something that my father had begun with my birth mother, and he didn't know how to sign.

When someone knocked on the door, Farren bustled her way to it.

"Good afternoon General Blyth, how are you?"

"Well thanks, Farren. Is her highness free at the moment?"

Farren looked at me and I nodded. As General Blyth walked into my quarters, I stood and said hello.

"Good afternoon, your highness. I have word from the convoy that they are approximately half an hour away. There are a few things that I'd like to discuss with you before the meeting. Perhaps I can escort you to the assembly point?"

"Of course. If you could give me a moment."

He nodded and walked out of the room. Farren was already waiting with my clothes which was vastly different from what I was used to. Life dictated pretty dresses, I liked a pair of shorts and a singlet top. The heat of this place warranted the latter and thankfully I was not made to wear the former. Instead, I was given fatigues.

General Blyth smiled as I stepped out of the room.

"I'm sure you're a bundle of nerves for this evening."

"We do what is necessary to make our world better."

"That we do. Now, Captain Petersen will lead the discussion on the rollout plan in the meeting but I want to make sure that if you don't agree with something that you speak up. Your father was of the opinion that you'd accept whatever was suggested to not anger your uncle. We want bodies alive and in one piece before anything else. I do not want to,"

He paused and looked at me, worry filling his face.

"Yes, I know. You don't want to send me home in a body bag. Trust me, I don't want that either."

"We do not know the full extent of your species capabilities, your highness. Our studies have shown that the betas and the vampires are extremely similar and it is possible that you are immortal like us but I fear the risk that you are taking."

"I know but if it's of any consolation, my parents bit me after I turned eighteen. Kind of a maybe vampire, if that's anything."

General Blyth looked at me, seemingly a little happier.

"I suppose it is. Now, the other important thing that I wanted to talk to you about was the guardian that has been sent here. It would seem that there has been a slight mistake with the information."

We moved to the edge of the assembly point. In the distance, I could see the convoy moving into the base after being checked. The lead car moved into the car park and the car that carried my guardian stopped in front of us.

"What information would that be, general?"

The driver got out and opened the passenger door, looking in with a frown. The other door was already open and a man got out.

"That the name of your guardian is actually Merrick Harper and is in fact, a man."