The next moment, I was blindfolded and herded out of the house into a car.

Someone commanded the driver, "Go!"

I heard tires squealed over the pavement as they took me closer to my death. Then there was a sound of a phone conversation, "We've got the half-blood, your highness. Everything is according to your plan. Now we are on our way."

I didn't need to guess whom the guy was talking to. As the car turned right and then left and then right again, I had lost the direction. Then they stopped after a long while later. The doors opened, and someone pulled me from my seat.

I was waiting for this and when I got out, I kicked one of them in the gut. Even blindfolded, I made pretty good contacts between my shoes and their heads. They yelped and stumbled, but it didn't last. Several other vampires gripped me and dragged me forward. Then I heard the sounds of our feet echoed in a huge, hollow place.

They unfolded my eyes again, and I winced to a sudden brightness of the light.

We were in an abandoned warehouse that looked like it was once a colonial mansion. There were loads of wooden boxes and shipping goods stacking around the place. I could smell oil tanks and dust and dried wood.

This group of vampires continued to bustle me across the hall, clamping various parts of my body toward a metal bed in the middle of the building.

As I struggled to fight back, I heard another door opened, and suddenly I could hear a symphony of excited voice. I started to buck wildly as hard as I could until one of them stuck me with a needle. I winced and felt a wave of dizziness floated into my head. And I was lifted successfully onto the bed.

Seconds later, all of my limbs were bound with iron chains and thick leather straps. My heart pounded against my ribs.

"Oh, look who's here?" a smooth voice came around from behind. I turned my head to see a tall man in an elegant black suit. My freaked heart almost exploded out of my chest. Standing beside me was Viktor.

I felt myself burning with flames of anger and hatred. Whatever they had injected into my vein was no longer effective now. I yelled the only thing I was sure of.

"You killed my father!"

"Whoa...my dear niece," Viktor said. "You know too much for a young girl. It reminds me of someone...ah...I almost forgot - Vladimir, my brother. I'm sure he would be so proud of you."

"You know what?" I hissed. "The first chance I get, I will rip you to shreds!"

I could see Viktor's eyes blazed with cold anger.

"Sadly, you're the one I'm going to get rid of," Viktor said, "Prepare for your worst nightmare to come true, my dear."

Then he laughed acidly.

"I knew you wanted my father dead," I said. "You wanted to be the heir, didn't you?"

"Of course, an heir to the Russain throne, what's not to like?" he said, "Your father was always the golden son, the perfect prince in everyone's eyes. The only mistake he made was falling in love with a human. I wouldn't let that opportunity slip from my hands, a golden opportunity to take everything away from him. I don't just want Russia, in fact, I don't even want to be king, but the present King of the Underworld is too weak and too old. He let the humans run the planet even we are stronger than them. He might as well be dead! Once the immortals rise back from their hibernation, I will unite the vampires and rule over both worlds."

"You want to enslave the human race?" I said.

"That's my five-year plan, sweetie," he laughed. "I will raid the earth and create a new one."

"Don't be so optimistic about that," I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh, I don't see why not?" he said. "All you need is an ally. And that's why, my dear little girl, I brought you here to help me. Your blood will give life to my immortal army and then I can watch the world burn."

"You're sick," I said bitterly.

Viktor laughed again and motioned to his undead guys. They started raising my bed up until I was in standing position. Another group of undead moved the golden coffin I had seen in my dream into the hall. I looked at its carvings and ancient symbols with horror.

They placed it on a high platform in front of us. Viktor went over to stand next to the coffin and brushed his fingers across the curved lid. His smooth pale face contemplated for a moment until it was replaced by a strange smile.

He turned back again and pointed his finger at me.

"Bleed her," he said. My eyes bored into his with pure rage. I got tied down by a bunch of undead, but I wasn't going to surrender to this jerk.

Two red-eyed vampires came to my bedside, and one of them took a sharp knife out of his black coat. The blade shone on my face. The vampire bared his teeth and walked toward me with a manic smile.

In a fit of white-hot fury, I broke leather straps on one of my arms and reached out to grab him by his throat. The vampire struggled to pull himself free, his eyes filled with shock. I started squeezing his vocal cord; trying to chock the life out of him even he was already dead.

I just wanted to strangle one undead at a time. Another vampire came to pry his sidekick away while the others rushed down to tie me up again. The guy I had badly choked gritted his teeth and glared at me. He still rolled his head around with a grimace. I knew I was close to breaking his neck, but that didn't satisfy me.

"What a strong little thing," Viktor's mutter floated through the room. "But no more playing around. Get to work, you fools!"

He barked orders to his undead servants again. They took the razor-sharp knife and hacked across my exposed wrist. I let out a painful scream as the blood surged from my vein like a flowing river. Every one of them had a wild expression on their faces as if they had never seen anything as red as my blood. But then my fresh wound started to close itself.

"Your Highness, she heals so fast," one of them said in total shock.

"What?" Viktor said and then his eyebrows furrowed. "Unbelievable...Cut her again and get the blood quickly!" Viktor yelled. He was losing his patience. The undead hacked me again deeper and harder. I tried to hold back my tears as they drained the blood out of me. The red oozing flew into a golden goblet they used to collect it.

After the gash on my hand stopped bleeding, the vampire held the goblet filled with fresh hot blood and rushed back to his master. Six vampires came to lift the coffin's cover. It looked heavy and the foul smell just emitted into the air once it was opened. The same twisted corpse I had seen was revealed before my eyes.

"Bring the goblet quickly!" Viktor barked again. "Don't spill a drop, or I'll rip your head off."

I could tell that undead was also painfully fighting the urge to drink it himself.

After Viktor got my blood, he started chanting some sort of ancient language under his breath.

Then he poured the blood from the goblet into the corpse's mouth. The rest of the vampires, including me, were staring at the coffin and waiting for the aftermath. A cold wind started to wage around the building. The weather had already gone bad since I was here. I could smell the rain in the air. Flashes of lightning lit the cloudy sky. This was just another dramatic moment of my final day.

But for a long moment, nothing happened. The corpse didn't jump out as we had expected. Viktor started cursing in Russian and threw the goblet against the wall. It split into pieces.

"I did everything it said!" He yelled in rage. "Why?"

Then he turned back to me with blazing eyes.

"Maybe I will have to rip your heart out," he muttered. "A sacrifice must be made to rise the immortal."

My jaw dropped at this. And as I struggled against the chains, suddenly, all of the windows in the warehouse exploded, sending studs of glass across the place. That's when I saw Cammie and Alyssa jumping through one of the broken windows. Part of me was happy to see them, but another part of me wanted to kill them for coming here.

"Good, we haven't missed the party yet," Cammie said.

A moment later, Jacque busted through another side of the hall, but she wasn't just jumping through the window, she was levitating like a wingless angel.

"Perfect timing," she said, lowering herself down until her feet touch the ground again. I had a feeling that she was talking about the weather. As if to prove her point, loud claps of thunders echoed from the sky. Heavy rain started pouring like bullets and strong winds began to rage harder. I was sure Jacque had found her endless source of energy.

Cammie also pulled out her extendable sword, ready to bust it open. Her face was a death mask.

"Hey, you filthy fossils!" Alyssa yelled bravely, "I've brought you some holy water to wash your sinful faces, too!"

Frankly speaking, this was probably the dumbest thing I'd ever heard a genius says. Alyssa was holding a pitcher like it was any good to kill the vampires.

"Alyssa, really?" Cammie grimaced at her.

"What?" Alyssa just shrugged. "Scaring your enemy is the first tactic in a battle."

"You humans are pathetic!" Viktor hissed angrily.

"Run everyone!" I yelled, "Don't be stupid!"

Viktor motioned to his servant again and said, "Kill them!"

After the vampires got over their surprise, they quickly launched into an attack. Alyssa threw the holy water on them. And what shocked me the most was, they actually started screaming and rubbing their faces painfully.

"Aaaargh!" they cried, "What is that?"

"Pure acid," Alyssa said. "How about that for a change?"

Cammie was fighting a couple of vampires alone. But she was as quick as a vampire herself. She thrashed wildly at them, dodging their blows, blocking their teeth, rolling with incredible grace. In the end, she just shoved the blade into the undead's chests easily. Then the third one came to grip her wrists, but she restricted her sword back before pointed the hilt to his chest and clicked open the blade again. The sharp tip pierced through the undead chest to another side.

I guess they'd learned their lesson: Never underestimate the humans, especially the genius ones.

Jacque was standing alone, but two vampires shot off like rockets toward her, they were coming from different directions, intending to smash into my friend. But at the last minute, Jacque took off from the ground, spinning herself like a ballerina in the air. The vampires ran headlong into each other in a bone-cracking crush.

Suddenly, I heard a scream. Alyssa was being chased by an undead whose eyes were swollen shut from acid. She squeaked and my stomach did a flip.

"Alyssa!" I cried.

Alyssa screamed again, this time, she was pushed against the wall by the vampire's strong arms. There was no doubt that she couldn't withstand his inhuman strength, but Jacque shouted from above.

"Alyssa! Use your kinesis!"

Jacque herself had just lifted her opponent off the ground and flung him through the window. The one who had gotten Alyssa opened his big mouth, attempting to chomp down my best friend.

"No!" I yelled.

I was still strapped to the freaking bed and defenseless. But then Alyssa's attacker started writhing violently, white smoke steaming out of his hair. Finally, he fell to the ground, looking as if he'd just plugged his finger into an electric socket.

Then one of the vampires saw me. His face lighted up. My eyes grew wider as I realized this one was going to finish me off, but when he shot out toward me. Octavia appeared out of nowhere. She gave the vampire a hard kick into his chest then another kick across his face. His neck snapped to the side so hard, I heard the bone crack.

And the vampire was as good as dead.

Octavia turned around and came to unstrap me from the bed. When I was finally free, she pulled me into a tight embrace. I was speechless with fear and relief all at once.

After we broke off, I began running toward Alyssa, but another undead lunged at me. Octavia flew out and took one of them airborne. I crushed my fist into the other vampire's face and did a Karate chop across his throat, he started gagging black blood and fell to the ground.

"Stupid human kids!" Viktor growled in frustration as if he finished watching the battle. "I'll kill you all myself."

But all of a sudden, the rumbling sound came out of nowhere, the building started to turn suddenly cold. Cammie's electric sword shot out of her hand and drifted away to the high ceiling along with small objects and boxes in the warehouse.

We all turned our faces to Jacque.

"Don't look at me," she said, "I didn't do it."

Then a wisp of golden light rose out of the sarcophagus. Viktor stepped away from the coffin with a surprised face. Then a small figure sat bolt upright. I got goosebumps as we stared at a woman in long ancient clothes rose from the coffin.

She stepped out in complete grace. The woman was adorned with gold jewels and gems. Her elegant body showed through her gray silk rope that looked like it was once white. We gasped at her breathtaking beauty, but her expression was horribly dangerous. Her eyes were glowing like blazing embers, part gold, part red. It took every ounce of my gut not to hide from her gaze. She descended from the platform gracefully, and once she put her barefoot on the floor, studs of broken glass rose up like there was no gravity attached to them.

Like Viktor said, my worst nightmare had come true. Now we were in the face of our prophesied death.

Finally, the immortal vampire had risen.