"Dad!" Erin screeched. The king's bloodied and beaten body hung from chains, bare-chested with a purple flower duct-taped to his chest. He was still alive but barely breathing on his own. Daniel slightly lifted his head to look at us in his weak state.

"Erin, don't come closer. She gave me wolfsbane," He said.

"Dad!" Erin screamed. "I can't lose you."

The King looked sadly at Erin, defeated by his worst enemy. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"Adam!" my sister growled from a distance. She twirled an ax in her thin hand. Then she chucked it at Mr. Sanchez, which narrowly missed his face.

"Next time, I won't miss," she growled.

"There won't be a next time, you psychopath," Erin growled.

"Is the baby wolf king threatening me?" She reached into her cloak pocket and pulled out a dagger.

"This..." She paused for dramatics, feeling the tip of the knife. "This is real silver. If I chuck this at your daddy, and it hits him right, you'll become the next King of the Wolves." She brought the knife to her tongue, licking it as blood trickled down her tongue.

Erin shifted in front of his dad, straight in front of the line of fire. I stepped in front of him. "What are you doing, Adam? Silver can hurt vampires, too," Erin growled.

"I'm willing to take that risk," I growled back. Erin wrestled to get ahead of me, but I wouldn't let him.

"You're a brave one, Adam, just like daddy. It's too bad I killed him just a few minutes ago."

"You sick bitch!" I growled at her. "What do you want from me?"

"The throne. I want the throne, you idiot," she growled.

"You can have the throne. I never wanted it anyway," I snapped.

"Good," she snapped. Then, she chucked the knife, narrowly missing Daniel again. "Let's play a game, Erin," Hannah said.

She pulled one more knife from her waist. "I hit your dad in the heart, and you run free. I miss, and you die."

"NO!" Erin roared. "I'm not letting you kill my dad."

Out of pure desperation, I stepped forward. "Take me," I said.

She deftly flipped the gleaming knife in her palm, her eyes fixed on her target. "You were always a daddy's boy," she muttered with a hint of bitterness. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she contemplated her next move. "I guess I better not miss," she said, the weight of her words hanging in the air.

With a swift, almost imperceptible motion, she hurled the knife across the room. The blade found its mark with deadly accuracy, embedding itself deep into Erin's chest. His eyes widened in shock and pain as his knees gave way, sending him crashing to the floor.

I sprang into action, rushing to his side and catching his collapsing body in my arms. His weight was heavy, his breaths shallow and labored, as I desperately tried to keep him conscious, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Oops," Hannah chuckled, a bright smile on her lips. "I always knew Erin was a daddy's boy too."

"Erin," I cried. "Stay with me." I held him in my arms, watching his eyes flutter as he fought.

"Adam, I-I love you. You were like a brother to me," He said, blood seeping from his lips.

"Don't die on me," I yelled. The King watched in the distance as Hannah disappeared into the darkness. His eyes fluttered again, weakened from the knife sticking out in his chest. His breath became shallow, and he struggled to stay alive. "Don't fall asleep," I snapped. "Don't you dare fall asleep on me!"

"Adam, I want you to listen to me," The King said. "Bite him. Take as much blood as you can. It's the only way to save him."

"Adam, do werewolves go to heaven," Erin muttered as delirium settled in.

"Erin, I need to bite you. I don't know if it'll hurt, but I must take as much blood as possible."

"T-try as you might." He slurred. "I am too far gone." His eyes fluttered again, trying to stay awake, but he could barely fight as more blood fizzled from his lips.

"Do it now, Adam!" The King yelled.

My fangs grew lustful for blood as I leaned in. My teeth punctured Erin's throat as my lips touched Erin's neck, and I clamped down. Time seemed stagnant. As my hunger intensified, I drew as much blood as I could. I drained Erin's blood from his body, his breathing changed, and his heartbeat grew unstable.

My best friend was here; his eyes flickered one last time before he was gone, like a flicker of a light switch in a second.

"Hannah, you psycho bitch!" I screamed into the open night air, yanking the knife from Erin's lifeless chest.

"Adam, let her go," The King ordered. I laid Erin's body on the floor and ripped the wristbands from Daniel's wrists. "You did what you could." A tear ran down his cheek.

Daniel collapsed to the floor, weak as well. I ripped the wolfsbane from his chest and chucked it to the side, watching him regain some strength.

The King leaned down to feel his son's pulse, but Erin was lifeless on the floor. "I'm sorry, Adam, for everything," He frantically said, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry for getting you into this mess. If I knew it would turn out this way, I would have never let Erin become your friend."

"Stop it!" I yelled. "Please stop it!"

"My son is dead because of me," He yelled back.

"No. Erin's dead because of me! He's dead because I let this happen!" I screamed. Suddenly the King wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.

"Adam, it's okay!" he soothed, sobbing in my grasp. "It's going to be okay."

Thunder clapped in the distance as rain clouds moved into visibility. Lightning struck the nearby body of water, and rain poured from the sky.

"I'm so sorry, Adam," The King whispered. "I'll take care of you as if you're my own. I promise I won't let this or anything like this happen to you again."

Tears welled in my eyes as I stared at Erin's lifeless body. "Everything is okay," The King swayed with me still in his arms, mostly soothing himself over the loss of his son. The rain poured as I watched lightning flash nearby into the woods.

Jessica, Jeremy, and Blake appeared by the edge of the forest. "No!" Jessica screamed. Her eyes landed on her cousin, lying lifeless on the ground. "No. NO, no, no, no, no..." She collapsed to her knees. "Not Erin," she wailed. Jeremy helped her to her feet, wrapping his broad arms around her as he held her back.

"Jessica. JESSICA!" He screamed. "Calm down. It's okay. Everything is okay."

"Erin's dead, and you'll tell me everything is okay?" She screamed, shoving Jeremy away. She wandered over, kneeling and trying to shake Erin awake, but he seemed lifeless and cold on this dark, rainy night.

"Erin. ERIN! You big dummy. Wake up," She screamed.

"Jessica, he's gone," The King cried. She wrapped her arms around Mr. Sanchez, and he hugged her back, rubbing her back for comfort.

"We need to move before the other vampires catch up," Jeremy reminded us.

Blake nodded her head in agreement. "We have to go now. My dad has a safe house a few miles from the werewolf cabin we can stay in, but we must make it quick."

Jessica nodded. "We can't leave his corpse here. We have to take him with us."

"We can't, Jessica. None of us are strong enough to carry him. Not even myself," the King said. "If we take his body with us, it will slow us down."

"I have the keys to the van Hannah took us in." Jeremy pulled out a set of keys and pointed to the big white van in the distance. "I can put his body in there and drive to the cabin or somewhere safe."

"I'll go with him," Blake added.

"Great, for now, we have to go." In the distance, hungry wolves howled for the pack as a warning.

"Goodbye, Adam," Blake wandered my way, throwing her arms around me in a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too, Blake," I said. "I had a huge crush on you in—" Her lips met mine, my braces and fangs pressed ups against her fangs, cutting me off mid-sentence, but I didn't mind. I kissed her back as fireworks exploded in my head. She pulled away, wrapping me in one more big hug.

"I know you had a crush on me." She whispered in my ear. "I have a crush on you too." She melted into the hug, squeezing me tightly before she yanked away, wandering over to the big van in the distance while Jessica, the King, and I walked into the woods.

We were on a voyage to find security from the other vampires. Jeremy heaved Erin's limp body to the car. That was the last time I thought I would see them. A year ago, the King became Jessica and my legal guardian. We promised to look after one another if the vampires found us again, but we were safe now.

That year, during spring break, was the year my life changed. I was a vampire prince, hunted by my kind, who would kill me in a heartbeat.