EIGHT YEARS OLD LYSANDER hated everything and everyone in particular. Nothing could ever make the boy happy which made his mother worry about him way too much.

Mellisa had thought bringing her son to the Davies castle would cheer him up a bit. She'd bought him along hoping he'd mingle with the vampire royal's children and make friends. But boy, was she wrong.

Lysander stood in front of the Davies castle's indoor lake with a huge scowl on his face. Everytime any of the children had tried to approach him, he'd sent them away with a scathing glare.

Mellisa stood staring at her elder son with a saddened expression from a distance while the younger one, Elian, clung to her legs.

The ultimate queen looked down at the little boy, "Get down, you little monkey." She flicked his small button nose making the boy let out a giggle and only cling to her tighter.

Laughing at the four-years-old boy, Mellisa picked him up in her arms and approached her other son at the lake.

"Lys!" Elian squealed from his mother's arms, his curly blonde locks bouncing along with him.

Lysander looked away from the lake towards his younger brother and smiled but when his eyes met his mother's, they turned hard again. He looked away instantly making Lisa's heart squeeze with despair. She didn't know whether he'd ever forgive her for what happened.

As the ultimate queen brisked in her own misery, Andrea who had been out with Charles playing, hopped gleefully through the entrance with her best friend following behind in tow carrying all her toys.

"Hold atleast one of your own toys, stupid!" Charles groaned almost tripping over with the play things.

Andrea stopped her hop-dance and picked up a single toy from the heap Charles held, "There. I picked one." She passed the boy a grin.

Charles shook his head at his best friend and dumped all the toys to his feet, "Then I'll carry only one too." He picked one just like the vampire princess.

Andrea stopped on her track to glower at Charles, "I'm the lady here. You listen to ladies first."

"Then I was a lady in my last life. You listen to me first!" Charles glowered back.

"That is not fair!" Andrea shrieked but before the two friends could bicker more, a stern voice stopped them,

"Will you both stop making so much noise?" Lysander scowled at the pair from where he stood.

Andrea's attention shifted from Charles to Lysander. Narrowing her eyes at the boy, she pointed her index finger at him, "How dare you speak to us like that?! Do you know who I am-"

"The vampire princess. So what?" Lysander's eyes turned cold, "Do I need to lick your feet?"

Before Andrea could fume at him, Lysander held up his hand, "You know what? I'll just leave. I never wanted to come here anyways." He made sure he passed his mother a look as he said the words.

Mellisa sighed as Lysander turned around to walk away. But before he could storm off, Andrea's annoyed voice stopped him,

"Why are you always so rude to your Mom? She's so sweet." The six years-old-girl fumed forgetting her own fight.

Andrea had always seen Mellisa grow sad because of Lysander. She might be many thing but Andrea hated boys who were rude to their parents for no reason. Andrea was stubborn too around her parents but she knew very well she was never rude. Afterall, she was a good girl, keeping the troubles she causes aside.

Lysander turned to look at the girl over his shoulder, "If you like her so much, keep her for yourself."

With that, the boy walked away although Andrea was left fuming more than ever. Charles could swear that he sensed steam coming out of the girl's ears. Or maybe he was being over-dramatic. But what could one expect when he was the very best friend of the drama queen?

"He's a brute!" Andrea hollered but the moment she noticed Mellisa's eyes grow dim and Elian stare at her with big googly eyes from his mother's arm, she pointed her finger towards Charles,

"Him!" She said as Charles gave her a quizzical look, "You are a brute!"

"What did I-" Before he could complete his sentence, the vampire princess grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her,

"Shut up." She said dragging the boy with her.

* * *

As midnight pulled in, everyone was asleep and tucked in their beds. Andrea who always slept late was also about to drift off to sleep when she heard a scream.

Jerking off the bed, she looked around but found no one. Another scream followed and this time, the little girl knew it was from outside her room.

Pulling on her soft velvet pumps, she walked out into the dreary hallways. The first thing that caught her attention was the light emitting from one of the faraway rooms.

Her mind immediately jogged as she realized it was the room Elian was sleeping in. Taking quick steps with her short legs, Andrea rushed to the room.

The first thing she saw upon reaching the open door of the room was Mellisa cradling the little boy in her arms as he let out another scream with tears running down his shut eyelids.

Andrea saw Mellisa rock the boy in her arms as her own tears streamed down her eyes.

"You're okay, baby. You're okay. Mommy is here." The queen peppered kisses to the top of Elian's head gently caressing his hair, her entire focus on the little boy.

As Andrea stared wordlessly, Ciaran, Mellisa's husband approached the room from the hallways. Passing the little girl a small smile, he rushed into the room to his wife.

"How's he?" Ciaran's eyes grew worried at the sight of the screaming boy in his mother's arms.

Mellisa nodded weakly, "I got him." She pulled Elian closer as the boy went from screaming to whimpering now and looked up at her husband with alarmed eyes, "Can you please check on Lysander?"

"I did already before coming here. But. . . He locked his room to stop anyone from getting in." Ciaran's eyes dulled as he took into how Mellisa's lips quivered.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be alright. But he knew no words of comfort would make her feel better and he hated himself for not being of any help either.

Lysander had always been closed up since they bought him back from his captors. They'd thought he'd grow comfortable with time but his hatred for them had only become more. Elian had warmed up to them but Ciaran knew Mellisa's worries would not end until she had both her sons. He knew the mother's heart yearned for Lysander's love just as much as Elian's. She wanted both her sons happier and out of the trauma they'd faced while being trapped under....well, that was a story for another day.

Sighing, Ciaran walked over to his wife and placed a kiss to her forehead before leaning down to kiss Elian's head, "I'll try again, okay?" He said softly.

Mellisa gave him a weak smile in return, "Thank you."

Ciaran brushed away the tears on his wife's face and nodded. As the man walked out of the room, Andrea who'd been standing there glanced at Mellisa's sullen face and then at Ciaran before following behind the man.

Ciaran was too occupied by his worry for the boy to stop Andrea and tell her to go back to sleep. So as he took long strides to a few doors ahead, the little girl walked behind the tall man in tow.

Once in front of Lysander's room, Ciaran knocked on the door, "Lys, buddy, open the door. I know you're awake. Please let me in."

There was no response and Andrea wondered for a moment whether the rude boy had actually slept.

Ciaran leaned his head against the hardwood door, "Your mom is worried. So am I. We're so sorry for what happened to you, buddy. You do know we love you, right? Open up. Please."

But there was no sound of retort. After waiting and begging another ten minutes for Lysander to open the door and being greeted by silence, Ciaran let out a defeated sigh and turned around with his head hung low.

"What happened to Elian?" Andrea asked, the silence and gloominess in the air making her feel itchy.

Ciaran glanced at Andrea and blinked as if he just noticed the little girl, "Little girly, what are you doing here?"

Andrea rolled her eyes, "I've been here since forever, Uncle Ciaran."

Ciaran scratched the back of his neck cheekily, "Sorry, I didn't notice."

"Why was Elian crying?" She asked again and this time she saw Ciaran's eyes turn dull just like how Mellisa's had.

"Lysander and Elian, something really horrible happened to the both of them when they were really small. When little babies go through such thing, they get bad dreams of those moments." Then as if suddenly realizing he was talking to a little girl herself, "On that note, what are you doing here, muchkin? Searching for the bad dreams? Don't you know boogy man visits kids wandering around at night?"

Andrea flipped her hair over her shoulder, "He doesn't scare me. I'm scarier than him." She pulled her lips into a creepy smile making Ciaran let out a chuckle.

"Right. You are scarier."

"Uncle Ciaran?" She called making the man look down at her, "I'll go check on him if you want." She pointed at Lysander's room's door.

Ciaran's eyes softened, "That would be so sweet of you. But I don't think he'd let anyone in." He gave her a weak smile.

Andrea placed her arms on her hips and gave the man a haughty look, "No one can stop me from doing what I want."

"You've got quite the spirit there." Ciaran smiled.

"I know." Andrea agreed with a proud look, "You can go sleep. I'll go check on him."

Ciaran wanted to tell her that Lysander really wouldn't let her in but seeing the girl's determination he didn't have it in him to deny the girl's efforts.

"But promise me you'll go back to bed and not get sad if he doesn't open the door." Ciaran gave her a stern look.

Andrea nodded her head like an obedient child which she definitely wasn't.

The moment Ciaran bid farewell and walked away, a maddening grin spread on Andrea's lips.

"Not open the door?" She spoke to herself, the grin turning mischievous, "Who said I was going to use the door?"

With that, the little princess hopped towards the entrance with stealthy steps like that of a theif's. Poking her head out the large window next to the entrance door, she climbed onto the sill and jumped to the other side which landed her feet on the grassy garden land.

Luckily for Andrea, her father always stationed the guards at the border walls of the castle to allow privacy to their family and hence she could walk through the garden without a hindrance towards the backyard where Lysander's room's window was stationed.

The princess let out a happy squeal as she noticed how the room's windows were wide open. Placing her small hands on the window sill, she climbed onto the wall like a lizard and hopped over to the boy's room.

"So you really were awake." Andrea mused folding her arms over her chest, taking into the boy's form.

Lysander who'd been crouched next to his room's door with his hands around his legs that were folded upto his chin and his head burried between them, raised his head at the sound coming from the window.

His teary eyes took into a small figure looming over his window. The blurriness in his eyes didn't give him the proper view of the person and in his panic, he thought the worst of the situation.

Cooconing himself in a ball, Lysander glued himself to the wooden door, "I'm...s-sorry. I w-will do as you s-say. D-don't take me." His voice trembled and his whole body shook with terror.

Andrea tilted her head to the side in confusion. She knew she was scary. But she didn't realize she was that scary. The boy was crying because of her. Her mother would have her head if she came to know of this.

Uncrossing her arms, she took a step towards Lysander. The boy got terrified and inched closer to the door. Andrea furrowed her brows at the boy's action. Now she really felt like the bad guy here. And she wasn't the bad guy. She was a very good girl or atleast she believed she was.

As the girl took one step after another, Lysander slowly started to see through his blurry vision. The moment Andrea was in front of him and her small figure was completely visible to him, Lysander scowled.

"What are you doing here?" He croaked trying to ward off the fear and coat it with annoyance.

Andrea rolled her eyes before something crossed her mind and she gave the boy a quizzical look, "Did you think I was boogey man?"

Lysander just stared brushing away his tears harshly, "Get out of my room."

"How dare you-" Andrea begin only to be cut off by the boy,

"Get out." Lysander said sternly.

He didn't want anyone to be around him. Why couldn't they understand? They'd left him before, they should just leave him behind again and let him be to himself. He'd thought atleast Ciaran cared but even he was here because of his wife, not for him. None of them really cared.

Andrea was about to give the boy a piece of her mind when she finally noticed the way he was crouched down. Her big doe eyes accessed the still wet tears on his face and the way his body shook everytime he spoke. If his bruteness wasn't involved, he looked like a rather scared little child.

Despite the haughtiness of her personality, Andrea couldn't help the sudden sadness she felt for the boy. Elian had his mother to comfort him. Lysander would have had Ciaran but no, the stubborn boy shooed him away. Why were boys so difficult?

Letting out a loud dramatic sigh, Andrea crouched down in front of the boy. Lysander who saw her sit adjacent to him was about to throw a few more rude words but his voice caught on his throat when he felt two small arms wrap around him in a hug.

Lysander blinked against the warmth emitting from the otherwise pesky girl and tried to push her away.

"Stop moving, you crazy. I'm trying to be good here." Andrea huffed tightening her arms around the boy.

Lysander was dumbfounded. He tried to detach himself from the stupid princess again but her grip only grew tighter almost sqeezing the life out of him.

Realizing his efforts were only going to vain, Lysander stopped fighting and let Andrea embrace him.

Andrea smiled contently. And Lysander despite the outward annoyance he tried to maintain couldn't help but agree in the deepest part of his heart that the annoying Andrea's hug did make him feel a lot better.

I put so many hints in this chapter regarding Mellisa's story. Did y'all happen to find it?👀

BTW, isn't Andrea soft at heart despite how haughty she acts outside?

What do you think of Andrea and Lysander?

Next chapter, I'll either put Noah, Cami and Nora's glimpse into their childhood or either Cassian and the family👀

Age of the characters :

Lysander : 8 years
Andrea, Charles : 6 years
Elian : 4 years