I rescued a vampire cub at night, but when its lord extended his hand to me, everyone in the hotel fell silent

That night, when hunters painted fiery marks on the hotel door, I was shielding my five-year-old son and hiding a vampire cub under the bed.

Fog covered the city of Xochitlan so completely, as though the mountains wanted to hide the entire city. I was twenty-eight years old, had cracks on my hands from washing dishes, and had only three coins in my pocket. My son, Mateo, was burning with fever. After fleeing from his father, this small room was the only place where we tried to get through the night.

His father, Raulo, was a drunk and cruel man. On the last night he made me hit my head against the wall and told me that he would take Mateo away from me. I immediately understood that I had no choice left. I picked up my son and left the city.

“Mother, will we be better tomorrow?” Mateo asked me that evening.

“Definitely,” I answered, placing a damp cloth on his forehead.

But I no longer trusted my own voice.

After midnight I heard a strange moan from the yard. It was neither the sound of a dog nor of a human. I got up, took a rusty knife hanging from an old copper hook, and went out through the back door. By the wall, in the faint moonlight, I saw an iron thorned net.

A small creature was struggling in the net.

Its skin was almost white. Its two membranous wings were stained with blood, and its teeth were small like a child’s teeth, but sharp. When it opened its eyes, its red gaze seized my heart.

It was a vampire cub.

In the village they said that a creature like this had to be immediately handed over to the hunters. But at that moment I did not see a monster. I saw only a frightened child.

“Do not be afraid,” I whispered.

I slid the knife under the net. With every cut, the thorns tore at my wrist, while the creature silently hissed from pain. At last I freed its hand, and it wrapped its frozen fingers around my arm.

That touch decided everything.

I brought the cub into the room, wrapped it in my dark green robe, and laid it beside Mateo. Mateo opened his eyes.

“Mother, what is this?”

“Someone who needs our help.”

At that very moment the window exploded.

Fragments of glass poured into the room like rain. A huge shadow appeared behind the door, and then a tall man entered the room directly. He had black hair falling to his shoulders, while red marks on his cloak glowed like living embers.

His eyes were like fire.

“Who dared touch my heir?” he asked.

I stood in front of Mateo and hugged the cub to my chest.

“I found him.”

“Did you cut him?”

“I saved him.”

The man bent down. The cub immediately pressed itself against his chest.

“Iker,” he said quietly.

Such tenderness appeared on the monster’s face that I had not expected to see. This was Draven, the Lord of Shadows, the alpha of the vampires of Sierra del Nahual.

“He is the last heir of my blood,” Draven said.

“Then take him.”

“It is not so simple.”

He carefully touched my arm.

“In the name of my eternal lineage I swear, no man, creature, or shadow will ever touch either your son or you again.”

“I do not need anyone to claim me.”

“I am not talking about ownership. I am offering you protection.”

Noise came from the corridor.

“The widow hid a monster!”

It was the hunter who had set up the net. The handles of weapons banged against the door. Mateo began to cry, while Iker hid behind Draven.

Draven extended his hand to me.

“Come with me.”

The first blow struck the door.

I looked at my son, then took Draven’s hand. He opened the door and led us into the fog, but at the moment when I looked back for the last time, the leader of the hunters took a strange black ring from his pocket and quietly pronounced my name…

“Ximena!” the leader of the hunters shouted, but Draven raised his hand.

The fog suddenly thickened. The fiery torches went out, the sound of footsteps became confused, and our pursuers could no longer see one another. Draven walked ahead, holding Iker in one hand, while with the other he touched my wrist so lightly, as though he was afraid that I would become frightened.

I was carrying Mateo. His hot cheek rested on my shoulder, while my robe still smelled of Iker’s dark blood. I will never forget that smell.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked at four in the morning, when we were climbing a rocky path.

“To my home.”

“To a vampire home?”

“There no one will be able to fire a weapon against you.”

“And what if you want to?”

Draven stopped. Moonlight fell on his face.

“Then I will stand before you and tell you that you must leave. I will not deceive you.”

This answer frightened me more than a threat.

We came to a cliff wall. Hundreds of marks were carved into it. Draven placed his hand on one small mark resembling a crescent moon. The stone opened with a noise, and cold air came from inside.

A staircase of black stone descended below.

“Enter,” he told me. “Here no one will touch you. Not even me, if you do not wish it.”

I hugged Mateo more tightly and stepped onto the stairs.

The city hidden under the mountain looked like a fairy tale. The houses were built of dark stone, red lamps burned in the windows, and vampires moved silently through the streets. When they saw us, the conversation stopped.

“A human?” someone whispered.

“The alpha has brought a woman,” another answered.

Draven looked at them only once, and everyone fell silent.

An old woman met us in the palace. She had white hair and bone-colored rings on her fingers.

“Selena,” Draven introduced her. “Iker’s healer.”

“Put the cub here.”

Selena picked up Iker, but before entering the room, she noticed my wrist. Where Draven had touched me, a thin silver line had appeared under the skin.

Her face suddenly changed.

“Where did you get this mark?”

“I do not know.”

“Did your mother have it?”

“My mother died when I was five.”

Draven turned around quickly.

“Selena, explain.”

The old woman did not answer. She only looked at Mateo, then at the robe hanging on me, near whose chest I had a small metal clasp attached. This clasp was my mother’s only possession—a moon-shaped one, with three tiny points engraved inside.

Selena lost color.

“Where did you get this clasp?”

“My mother left it to me.”

“What was her name?”

“Mariana.”

For the first time I saw real fear in Draven’s eyes.

That night the council gathered in the great hall. Seven vampires sat at a stone table. Among them was Draven’s brother, Kassian, who had golden eyes and a constant, cold smile.

“A human cannot remain here,” he said. “Especially one who has the guardian’s mark on her wrist.”

“You will not touch my guest,” Draven answered.

“Your guest? The leader of the hunters knew her name, alpha. That is not accidental.”

I stood up from the chair.

“You know something about me. Tell me.”

Kassian smiled.

“Not yet.”

At that moment a frightened young servant rushed in at the hall doors. In his hand he held a stone tablet stained with blood.

“My lord,” he gasped, “the hunters have broken through the first gate of the tunnel. And they have with them a boy’s name written…”

Draven took the tablet. Only one word was written on it: Mateo.

His hand trembled for the first time…

His hand trembled for the first time, but he squeezed the tablet so hard that cracks appeared in the stone edges.

“Lock all the gates,” Draven said.

“It is already too late,” Kassian answered. “They wanted to enter inside, not attack. Someone showed them the way.”

Whispers spread through the hall. I took Mateo’s hand and felt my fingers growing cold. A short while ago I had been a poor woman in a foreign city. Now seven rulers of an underground kingdom were looking at my son as though he were the key to a secret.

Selena suddenly placed an old stone box on the table.

“Open it,” Draven told her.

“If I open it, there will be no turning back.”

“There is already no turning back.”

The old woman took my moon-shaped clasp. When the metal touched the stone box, a low rumble sounded through the hall. The lid opened, and inside were a book wrapped in leather, several burned letters, and a round glass tablet.

“This is the guardians’ record,” Selena said. “Twenty-eight years ago, when the old king was killed, a woman named Mariana managed to escape. Draven saved her.”

Draven froze.

“Mariana?”

“Your mother?” I asked.

Selena shook her head.

“No. Your mother was her daughter. And Mariana was the last human entrusted with guarding the blood seal of the vampires’ kingdom.”

Kassian’s smile disappeared.

“This is impossible.”

Selena raised the glass tablet before the light. An old image came alive on it. Young Mariana stood by a stone door, holding a small child in her arms. Beside her stood a much younger Draven.

“She saved my life,” Draven said in a hoarse voice.

“And in return you swore to her that her descendants would be protected,” Selena added. “But that same night Kassian destroyed this record and made an agreement with the hunters.”

All eyes turned toward Kassian.

“Nonsense!” he shouted. “Human blood cannot protect any throne.”

Selena opened the book and read aloud:

“If the guardian’s mark appears again, she, together with her child, will be able to open the blood door of the heir. Whoever subdues them will rule all the dark creatures of the mountain.”

Mateo’s face became covered. The clasp on my chest grew warm.

“They need my son,” I said.

“Kassian needs your son,” Draven corrected. “You are the door.”

Kassian suddenly shot out his right hand. Shadows like black threads came from the wall and wrapped around Mateo’s wrist. Draven jumped forward, but the shadows threw him onto the stone floor.

“Now you will see who this kingdom belongs to!” Kassian shouted.

I ran toward Mateo, but Kassian tore my clasp away. The metal burst like fire in his hand, and he began to scream.

At that moment all the walls of the palace thundered at once.

The first ray of sun came down from above the mountain, and the underground city shook. The horns of the hunters sounded in the distance.

Kassian dropped the clasp onto the floor and disappeared, but Mateo was no longer beside me.

I saw only a small red scarf being carried by the wind into the tunnel of shadows.

Draven stood up, his face covered in blood.

“He took him,” he said.

“Who?”

Draven looked into the darkness of the tunnel.

“Kassian. And if he reaches it, he will open the door together with the hunters. But he still does not know that saving Mateo can no longer be done by my power alone…”