It looks like Kaden is about ready to punch a wall. He takes hold of my hand and starts speaking to me in a low tone. "Be careful, Prinzessin." Then I stand up and slowly cross the room. 

There are two other assigned to our group as well, but I don't know who they are. I silently take the empty seat next to one of the boys, and point my gaze toward the floor. I go to put my books under the chair and my hand brushes against the boy's. He's warm.  I see his face. He must have realized I'm ice cold. The touch of his skin against mine was enough to send a shiver up my spine. I try to push the thought away and pray he didn't notice.

The teacher writes a bunch of page numbers on the board and tells us to talk with our groups and start working. "I'm Matt." He say, breaking the looming silence. The other two both look up from their books awkwardly. 

"Hunter."

"Kira." They all sort of glance at me to see if I will say anything, but all I can focus on is all the eyes on me from across the room. When I finally looks up at us, I feel a rush of something pass through me. Fear? Lust? Anxiety? I don't know. But it was something.

"Oh." I mutter. "I'm Callie." They've probably never heard me speak before. I have a light accent, but I doubt they can place exactly where it's from. Matt tries to look at my face, but my long blonde hair is spilling over my shoulder and blocking his view. I don't want him to look at me. I just try to hide behind my locks of hair.

"We should probably start working." Kira says, and buries herself in a textbook, pencil in hand. 

I look over the sheet that the teacher handed out, and it says we have to pick a topic and make a presentation about it. On the bottom of the page it says that if you don't finish in class, your group will have to get together outside of school to work on it.

Oh great. This is one of the things we have all been dreading would happen eventually. Kaden will never let me. I know why he thinks he has the right to tell me what tot do, but it's still frustrating. He's not my father, he's just a guy. I look over at him and find Marie smiling at me sadly. I meet her gaze and she turns away worriedly.

Marie has always been a flirt. And the least depressing out of our five. She's also the only one in the group who talks to outsiders. She's always at all the parties, and she's always hooking up with other guys. Why doesn't Kaden yell at her for socializing? What makes me any different from Alice and Marie? Oh wait, I forgot. I'm important. Jason and Kaden call them the baggage, or the possible casualties. Sometimes even the ones of lesser importance.

Silence ensues and no one in our little group looks at each other, aside from Matt's occasional glances at me to see if I'm noticing him. But my eyes stay perfectly glued to the paper on my desk. All the quiet gets in my head and I find myself gazing back to another time. 

3 Years Earlier- Austria

"Prinzessin, your friends are here." One of the lords stands in my concrete doorway. You'd think by the twenty-first century our people would have improved the architecture. Then again, I guess staying in the stone age is a good idea when you're hiding under the noses of the public above the ground. 

That's right. Our entire kingdom is underneath of the modern day city, which was built on top of our ancient 'ruins'. But vampires like their homes to be dark and creepy, it makes easier for them to stay awake at night and haunt the humans up above. 

"Are you going to make me do all of the planning?" Konstantin steps into the room, adorned in his black leather pants. 

"Are you going to put a shirt on?" I counter, throwing an embroidered pillow at him. 

"You know you want me, Princess." He growls with a wink.

I grin as well. "You know I hate you." I retort.

"Whatever. Either way, we're ready to move on with the plan." He looks around anxiously before shutting the door and locking it. 

"Go on."  I urge him softly.

"Magdalena and Anja are coming as you asked, along with Johannes." I sigh and give him a knowing look. 

"You know I'm not speaking to him!" Konstantin rolls his eyes, resting his hand on the sword in his belt.

"You're supposed to marry him, Princess."

I frown. "Which is partly why we're running away in the first place!" I argue crossing my arms over my chest. "Don't you think he'll give us away to my father?"

"Look, I'll make you a deal, okay?"

"I'm listening."

He thinks for a second. "If he gets in the way we'll ditch him. I promise." 

"Fine."

"Thank you." He says, sounding relieved. "Now you need a name." 

"A name? Why?"

"Because! You'll never blend in with a name like Callinessa!" He shouts, seemingly angrier. "The rest of us are changing our names and so are you." It's clear that there's no getting around him. 

"What will do about everything else? My eyes, the sun? Did you think of that?"

Konstantin leans up against the wall with a deep breath. "We'll stay inside as much as possible. The same way we do it here. And you have your glasses, use them." 

"Fine." Suddenly I get a funny thought in my head. "What's your guy's names going to be?" I decide to mock him. "Hello, my name is 'Haven't been laid in thirty years'. It's nice to meet you." He doesn't smile or laugh and I take that as my cue to back off. 

"Kaden." He says. "Kaden, Marie, Alice, and Jason."

I look down for a minute and twist the ends of my hair between my fingers. "Call me Callie."