Chapter 3

The hallway to the top floor felt colder than ever.

My soul trailed silently behind my three brothers, watching their angry backs. Every step they took felt like it was crushing my shattered heart.

Clara had been left downstairs to "rest." It was just the four of us now.

Three living brothers. One dead sister.

The observatory door came into view.

That heavy, black metal door. It used to be my favorite place.

As a child, I’d watch the stars with my brothers from there, listening to them tell ancient vampire legends.

Now, it was my tomb.

"Lilith!" Damien's voice echoed down the hall. "Get out here!"

Silence from within.

"I know you're in there!" Ethan stepped forward, his voice hot with fury. "Stop playing dead in there! Do you think you can just hide from the consequences?"

Still nothing.

Julian leaned against the wall and let out a disappointed huff.

"She probably snuck out. The second she has to take responsibility for something, she runs. She'll never grow up."

I floated beside them, wishing I could tell them I hadn't run.

I was right behind the door. I had been the whole time.

I had pounded on it, desperate for them to just listen to me.

Begging them… to believe me one more time, just like when we were kids.

In my last moments, as the sun ate me alive, all I wanted was to see their faces again.

But my voice would never reach them.

"Impossible." Damien frowned, walking toward the door. "The blood curse is still active. There's no way she could have left."

He held out his hand, a deep red light glowing in his palm as he began to undo the curse.

But a second later, his expression changed.

"What the…?" he muttered, confused. "The curse is being disrupted."

The crimson light flickered over the door, unstable, as if it was being hit by a powerful force.

"That little bitch! She's fighting back!" Ethan slammed his fist into the wall. "She's actually using her power against us!"

"Stubborn to the very end!" Julian gritted his teeth. "Even now, she's still resisting!"

I looked at the door, an endless sorrow washing over me.

The frame was warped. The metal was covered in a chaotic pattern of dents and claw marks.

Those were the marks I left as I desperately slammed my body against it while the sun burned me alive.

I wanted to live.

When the deadly light poured through the open dome, I threw myself at the door, trying to escape the death trap.

My nails tore off, my hands were shredded, but the blood curse held the door fast.

I could only be scorched, inch by inch, until I was nothing but ash.

And now my brothers saw these marks and thought it was me, defying them.

"Dammit!" Damien shoved the door, but it was stuck fast. "She's barricaded the door from the inside!"

"Then we'll break it down!" Ethan roared. "Let's see how long she can hide!"

"Right!" Julian joined in. "Let's show her the price of defiance!"

Three powerful vampires charged the door at once.

CRACK!

The massive impact echoed through the castle.

Fissures appeared in the doorframe, but the door held.

"Again!" Damien roared, his eyes blazing.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Crash after crash. Roar after roar.

My soul trembled as I watched them use all their strength to punish someone who no longer existed.

Suddenly, a strange smell drifted from the cracks in the door.

"What's that smell?" Ethan wrinkled his nose.

"Smells like… something burning," Julian said, confused.

The stench of burning grew, thick and suffocating, like ozone after a lightning strike.

I knew what it was.

It was the last scent I left on this earth as the sun consumed me.

Brothers, when you finally break down this door and smell this, will you feel even a flicker of pain?

Or will you just be disgusted by my smell, too?

"Keep hitting it!" Damien ignored the smell, his eyes filled only with rage. "Whatever sick game she's playing, she is coming out today. She will apologize to Clara!"

CRASH!

Another violent impact.

The doorframe finally gave way, splintering and breaking apart.

The burnt smell grew overpowering, almost suffocating.

In the distance, Moses covered his nose, his face ashen. "Masters, that smell…"

"Shut up!" Damien yelled. "Lilith is just trying to gross us out with these sick games!"

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

Even the smell of my death was just another one of my "tricks" to them.

"Last time!" Ethan and Julian put their full force into it.

The three of them charged the door like furious beasts.

BOOM!

This time, the door couldn't take it. With a final, deafening boom, the door exploded inward.

A tidal wave of the scorched, acrid smell washed over them.

The observatory lay before them, empty. In the center of the floor, there was only ash.