Vampires celebrates birthdays like human do but they gave importance to the coming of age ceremony which was the 100th birthday of a vampires.
The third princess just turned 100-years-old and this calls for a huge celebration. The ball room was decorated with so many red roses and the red carpet that starts from the winding staircase extended all the way to the main entrance of the room. Drinks and foods were all prepared for the guests and of course, they have plenty of blood to serve.
Blood, by all means, should be served fresh. Therefore, the royal vampires have prepared humans who serve their family for generations - who will also serve as their livestocks.
Guests can take blood from them directly and they won't complaint. Sometimes, this could lead to blood loss or death but no one will say anything about it.
Damon looked around and found so many familiar faces. The eldest daughter of the royal family was also looking at him but he only gave her a slight nod and turned away. He needed to start his investigation.
He talked with some people he know, asked about jewelries and if anyone was aware of the recent attacks. Others knew that Damon has been exterminating rogue vampires but they didn't say anything regarding that matter. He might be young compared to the other guests but there's no doubt, he's one of those powerful youngsters.
"Damon. It's glad to see you here. I thought you wouldn't come like your sister, Veronica." a vampire commented while handing Damon a glass of red wine. She's one of the elite vampires. "It's been a long time since I last saw her. I actually miss your sister."
"Too bad, my sister doesn't feel the same." Damon retorted and left. It was obvious that she was flirting but he didn't like it. He couldn't understand why but everytime he thought of flirting back, Corrine's face would suddenly appear in his mind.
He would rather spend time with the married and older ladies, gathering information from them while keeping his distance off from the b'tches.
As he continued to walk around, he heard other vampires talk about spells. They look younger than him so he thought they were still students from a vampire academy.
"I heard there's a spell like that. It will require someone's voice who'd good in compulsion."
"Where will you find a person with that ability? I haven't heard about a specie who can do that."
"But since it's mentioned on the book, those people should have existed."
Damon walked closely and continued to focus himself on their conversation. He didn't want to miss something that could led him to the right answer.
"I don't really care about such spell. Finding that person alone could take us years."
"Right. Besides, it's forbidden to bring someone back from the dead."
Damon halted on his track and frowned. Something told him he was getting to the right track but there were warning signs as well. Why would the students talk about this matter during a party? And they're even talking about a forbidden spell. Anyone can hear them.
'Someone's probably trying to trick me.' Damon thought to himself left.
This time he went out to the garden. He stood there doing nothing but gaze on the moon. It wasn't full moon but still, the moon was bright. He was holding the earring in his hand, feeling the light weight of this item while thinking back to the conversation between the students.
If what they talked was true, it was possible that Corrine belonged to that group of people who knows the arts of compulsion. However, when he first found her, she was very young. It seemed impossible for her to learn a lot of spell at the very young age.
'Does it come out natural to them? Don't they need to learn something to have a powerful voice?' Damon asked himself but he couldn't come up with an answer. Even if he asks Corrine about it, he doubted she knew the answer. She was very young back then when her village got attacked.
After fifteen minutes, Damon went back to the party and started showing the earring around. He pretended to be looking for the owner of the jewelry. As he was doing this, the birthday celebrant came out and appeared at the top of the staircase. In human age, she appears to be a teenager.
The third princess was wearing a black ballgown with red roses on the side. It was off shoulder with lengthy sleeves and some frills at the end. She looked pretty with her deep, almost maroon-red eyes.
"Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming tonight in order to celebrate my 100th birthday. I know you are all busy and your presence tonight meant so much to me." Her voice wasn't loud, in fact, she was only whispering but everyone heard her allowed, except for the humans who didn't have any supernatural skills.
However, her pretty face or her dress didn't catch Damon's attention. It was the earrings she was wearing. It was exactly the one he was holding. The only problem was, she got a complete pair.
'Is this a common accessory?' Damon thought to himself while clenching his fist around the small item. He focused his gaze on the princess and she felt it, too, because she shifted her gaze and looked at him.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared in front of Damon, her eyes holding his gaze, stopping him from moving. He stood there rooted in his place and he noticed that everyone were looking at them with empty stares.
"They won't know what we're doing." The princess commented while looking Damon up and down. She as smaller than him but Damon would never think of her as weak. "Why were you looking at me?"
Damon opened his mouth and he found out that he can actually talk. He cleared his throat and tried his best to explain things with the shortest amount of time he could get. "I saw an earring which is exactly as the one you are wearing. I thought this accessory is a common thing."
"How can that be? I have this accessory customized for me."
"I have it in my hand." Damon replied and the next thing he saw was the princess holding the small item. She turned it several times, scrutinizing the small item to see if it was really the same as hers.
"This isn't mine but I gave this to someone on her supposed wedding day." The third princess commented with a deep frown appearing on her lovely face. "How did you get this? She didn't come to this party."
"I found this at the garden."
"You are lying!" The third princess raised her hand and Damon felt his throat has closed off. He was having a hard time to breath. Air was leaving his body and he started to sweat coldly in front of the child-looking princess. "She didn't come to my party! I knew she wouldn't because we always keep communication between us."
"Who exactly owned that?"
"You didn't know? Your sister owned this item. My god! You have been living in the same house and yet, you know nothing about her? I gave this to your sister on her supposed wedding day. How did you get your hands on this?"
Damon was no longer listening to the princess. His mind has gone blank and all he could think of was his sister's face. He couldn't seem to process everything and before he could react, the princess already hurled him to the wall. The strong impact left a dent on the wall but he was unscathed. It wasn't enough to kill him.
"Why did you have this? Did you steal this from your own sister?"
"Can I ask why you are in communication with her? I don't know much about Veronica and I didn't even know she has friends."
"Let's talk somewhere else." The third princess snapped her fingers together and the two of them disappeared. When he looked around, he found himself standing in the middle of a huge room. There were painting of the princess hanging on the wall and three of them showed another woman beside her. And that woman looked very much like his sister.
"Did you stop the party or will it continue?" Damon asked without taking a step away from where he stood.
"They're continuing it without us."
"Why are you close with my sister?"
The third princess looked at him and twirled her finger. He suddenly moved towards her and a big album appeared between them.
"Your father hates your sister, doesn't he?"
"He didn't really hate her but he gave up on her from that day she wanted to marry a human."
"Actually, it's not about marrying a human. It's about the truth that she's not your father's daughter."
"Ha? What are you talking about?" Damon felt his head spinning around with the news. He never expected that his investigation would led him to a huge royal secret.
"Veronica du Lac isn't your father's daughter. She's not a pure-blood relative of yours. She's my half-sister.. She's the second princess who was reported dead."