Seraphina's POV
"All rise for the Honorable Judge Martinez."
Three weeks have passed since my arrest. Three weeks of my exhausted public defender, Mr. Peters, urging me to plead guilty for a lighter sentence. I refused because I'm innocent. Now, standing in this courtroom full of hostile faces, I wonder if that was a mistake.
"Ms. Vale, you're charged with illegal blood trafficking, conspiracy to aid vampire organizations, and treason against humanity. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty." My voice sounds impossibly small.
Someone in the audience laughs.
The prosecutor—a sharp woman in a perfect suit—presents her case with confidence. "Your Honor, the evidence is overwhelming. Ms. Vale used her position as a pharmaceutical researcher to steal human blood and sell it to vampires. We have documents with her signature, bank records, security footage, and witness testimony."
My heart stops when they call their first witness.
"The prosecution calls Jade Ashford."
My best friend since age seven walks to the stand wearing a simple dress, no makeup, looking small and scared. She's a brilliant actress.
Through carefully manufactured tears, Jade spins her lies. She claims I became secretive about a year ago, disappearing for hours and getting angry when questioned. Six months ago, she says, she found shipping papers for blood transfers in my car. When she confronted me, I allegedly grabbed her, shook her, and threatened to hurt her twelve-year-old sister Emily if she told anyone.
"That's not true!" I burst out. "I would never threaten you! I love Emily!"
The judge's gavel crashes down. "Ms. Vale, control yourself or I'll have you removed."
Jade looks at me with perfectly wide, frightened eyes.
She continues her performance, claiming I said I was working with dangerous vampires who would kill her whole family if she spoke up. "I should have been braver," she sobs, covering her face.
I turn to look at my family. My mom won't meet my eyes. My dad's face is stone. Only my younger brother Jake looks at me before quickly glancing away.
They believe her over me.
Mr. Peters's cross-examination is pathetic. He establishes that Jade never actually saw me with vampires or stealing blood—everything is based on threats nobody else heard. Then he sits down. That's his entire defense.
More witnesses follow. My former boss confirms I had access to blood storage. A bank manager verifies the account is in my name. An expert authenticates the signatures as mine.
Nobody speaks in my defense. Nobody questions the lies.
Then Marcus takes the stand. He won't look at me as he delivers the same fabricated story—the threats, the vampires, his fear. When asked how it felt when the woman he loved became a criminal, his voice cracks with manufactured emotion. "It broke my heart. The money changed her. The vampires changed her. She wasn't my Sera anymore."
I dig my nails into my palms until I draw blood. He sounds so sincere. So devastated.
Nobody knows he's been sleeping with my best friend. Nobody knows they planned my destruction together. Nobody will ever believe me.
The trial lasts three days. The jury deliberates for only two hours.
"We find the defendant guilty on all charges."
The courtroom erupts. My mother cries. My father holds her. Neither looks at me.
"Ms. Vale," the judge begins after restoring order, "you've been found guilty of serious crimes against humanity. Normally, I would sentence you to twenty years in prison. However, there is an alternative."
He explains the Vampire Relations Council's blood courier program—humans who transport blood between vampire territories. It's dangerous work necessary for maintaining peace between species. My choice: twenty years in prison or five years as a courier.
"If you survive," he adds flatly. "The mortality rate is thirty percent."
Five years of danger or twenty years in a cage. Either way, my life is over. But at least as a courier, I'd be outside. Moving. Not trapped forever.
"I choose the courier program!" My voice echoes through the courtroom.
As guards lead me away, I glance back at my family one last time. My mother is still crying, but Jade has her arm around Mom's shoulders—like she's the daughter now. Like I'm already dead. My father won't even turn his head. Only Jake mouths "I'm sorry," but not sorry enough to speak up. Not sorry enough to believe me.
In the holding room, I sign the contract papers with shaking hands. When I ask what the thirty percent mortality rate means, the guard's face remains blank. "Some territories are more dangerous than others. Some vampires are less... controlled. Read the fine print."
The words blur. I'm too tired, too broken. I sign my name.
"Welcome to the Crimson Guild," the guard says. "Follow the rules exactly, and you might live."
That night in my cell, I finally let myself cry. Everything is gone—my career, my family, my future. Stolen by Marcus and Jade, who are probably celebrating. Who got away with destroying me completely.
The next morning, guards escort me through endless hallways and down stairs that seem to descend forever, until we reach a metal door: CRIMSON GUILD PROCESSING - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
The smell hits me first—antiseptic mixed with something metallic. Blood.
The door slams shut behind me and locks.
A woman in a black suit approaches with a clipboard and a cold smile. "Seraphina Vale? Welcome to your new life. For the next five years, you belong to us. You'll do exactly what we say, when we say it. And if you're very, very lucky, you might survive long enough to regret every choice that brought you here."
She hands me a grey uniform. "Your training starts in ten minutes. And Ms. Vale? The vampires can smell fear. So I'd learn to hide it if I were you."
I stand there, hands shaking, holding the uniform.
This is real. I'm going to spend five years delivering blood to vampires I've never seen—creatures that might kill me.
And nobody in the world cares.
I'm completely, utterly alone.