The night had turned blood-red. Half the moon already drowned in crimson light, and the rest was slowly giving in.

Reva lay asleep on her bed, her cheeks still damp against the pillow. The blanket was half thrown aside, the kind of sleep that came only after crying too much. Outside, the world was painted in red—every wall, every glass pane of the Von Stein castle reflecting that eerie glow from above. The mountain wind moved through the trees below, carrying with it a silence that didn't feel right.

The guards patrolled the ramparts like usual, their silhouettes cutting through the red haze. Drones floated around the castle in neat arcs, their lights blinking rhythmically across the night. Nothing unusual—except the color of the sky, and what that color meant. The night of the red moon was supposed to be sacred. Now it was just another reminder of loss. A festival turned into mourning.

Then came a sound—low at first, then louder. A mechanical whirring, too steady to be thunder. The guards froze, their ears twitching toward the noise. It was coming from the clouds, which were also red, making the overall visibility of the sky difficult.

"Control, you getting that?" one of the guards said through comms.

"Yeah. Sending drones up now," came the response from the monitoring room.

The drones ascended, vanishing into the clouds above. The whirring grew sharper—more like engines now, multiple of them. The feed on the control screens started to glitch. Then—static. All at once. They fell down as though the connection between them had been lost completely and they had been shut down

"Lost connection. All drones down," the operator's voice cracked through the comms.

The head of security turned sharply toward his squad. "Get up there and check. Go!"

A few guards spread their wings wide and shot up into the clouds, the sound of their flight cutting through the night. But they didn't even reach the top before something broke through from above.

A black hovercar exploded out of the clouds at full speed, spinning uncontrollably, lights flickering across its body. The guards barely had time to react before it tore through the outer towers, smashing through glass and stone. It sliced straight across the garden, destroying trees, fountains, and one of the energy pillars before plunging down the cliffside and disappearing into the dark sea below.

The shockwave hit a few seconds later—wind, debris, and red dust everywhere. The castle alarms blared, echoing across the cliffs.

Inside, Reva woke up with a jolt, eyes wide, heart racing. The moonlight outside her window was now a deeper red—like the whole sky was bleeding.

The courtyard was packed within minutes. Dozens of residents—family, servants, guards—had rushed out of their rooms, half-dressed and disoriented. The crimson light made everyone's faces look tense and unnatural. Murmurs echoed from every direction, overlapping into a restless buzz.

Reva stood near one of the marble railings, her eyes scanning the crowd. Luther wasn't there. Neither were most of the higher-ranking guards. Everyone else looked lost—some frightened, others irritated from being woken.

"What's going on?" someone shouted. "Are we under attack?"

"Who's on patrol duty tonight?!" another voice barked.

Dozens of holo-devices flickered as people called their guards, aides, or assistants. Answers began circling through the confusion.

"It was a hovercar," one said.

"Crashed through the west wing!" another added.

"Destroyed one of the energy pillars—the defense system went down for a few seconds before the backup kicked in!"

The crowd erupted with questions. Why? How? Who the hell was reckless enough to fly into their castle?

Some whispered it might've been a drunk noble who lost control. Others said maybe it was a faulty engine or a hacked autopilot. Theories flew faster than sense.

Reva stayed silent, her arms folded tightly, gaze fixed on the floor. Then, after a pause, she asked, "What color was the hovercar?"

The head of security—an older vampire with half his armor still unbuckled—turned to her. "Black. No insignia, no trace code. Too fast for standard reading. Could've been modified—high-output engines, maybe even restricted tuning."

Reva's heart skipped. Her breath hitched just slightly, but she hid it well. "Was there anyone inside?"

"Unknown. Guards are retrieving the wreck from the sea right now. Surveillance footage is still under review. It's too early to say anything concrete," the man replied. He straightened and added, "I'll be reporting to His Excellency shortly. Await further orders, Lady Eleanor."

He bowed slightly and left.

Slowly, the tension began to thin out. People drifted back toward their rooms, muttering, exchanging theories. Some stayed, lingering for gossip.

That's when a voice came from behind her.

"Well, if it isn't Lady Eleanor," a girl said with a faint smirk. She was about Reva's age—sharp features, expensive robe slightly undone from sleep. Two others stood beside her, whispering between themselves. "I heard your engagement's finally fixed. Took you long enough to stop playing hard to get, huh?"

The others giggled.

Reva didn't even look back. She just exhaled and said, quietly, "Not now."

"Oh, come on," the girl mocked. "Everyone's talking about it. The great Luther Von Stein's daughter, tying herself to a Blackwood. Quite the political match."

The laughter from her cousins rose again, shallow and venomous, echoing faintly under the blood-red sky.

Reva turned to face them finally, her expression calm but her eyes cold. "Maybe focus on your own families before mocking mine," she said, her voice low, steady. "You'll sleep easier that way. Or what, do you want me to tell your husbands that you all have been sneaking into your brother's room every Friday at 1AM and getting ‌'lessons' from him?"

The girls fell silent for a moment—none daring to reply. Reva turned away and walked off toward the balcony edge, her gaze fixed on the distant sea below, where flashes of lights now marked the retrieval teams pulling the black wreck from the water.

Her pulse wouldn't slow down. She didn't need to see the car up close to know who it might belong to. And if her fear was true.

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