The story so far....

 The Somnium family line goes back generations, dating back to the era of Vlad the Impaler. The Somniums were close family friends to Vlad III, and the night he had decided that he would turn his comrades into beings of the night, Essence Somnium was the first. Essence had been a mere lady of his court, but a close friend and advisor to Vlad’s wife. She had been one of the many to witness the death and, in turn, vowed revenge for her. While on the brink of death, Vlad bit Essence, bringing her back to life as a creature of the night. The new and uncontrollable blood lust made Essence a fearsome woman whom many would fear. After being by Vlad’s side for almost two decades as a friend, Essence finally said goodbye and ventured into a new life, one where she took up the role of Queen.

 The vampires had gone to war with another neighboring country, while smaller, they were hard fought, but once again, the vampires won. Due to Essence's loyalty to Vlad, she was gifted with the kingdom of Nisyros.

 Nisyros was a smaller kingdom center of Romania, bordering a large mountain. The castle itself nestled on the large base, while the rest of the kingdom sprawled below. At night, it was said the twinkling lights of the kingdom could be seen from miles away. Essence cherished the kingdom and was a fruitful and loving Queen. Despite being a vampire, Essence tried to stay true to her born nature, her humanity. She knew what it was like to once be a mortal and the struggles that came with it. She never hid her secret from her kingdom of what she was and vowed to protect them with everything she had. In return, many of the humans would offer themselves up as blood dolls. The vampires were sworn to never kill; if they had such a desire, they were to travel outside of their kingdom for such activities.

 The kingdom thrived, and so did Essence. Eventually, she fell in love with another vampire, named Dante, and through their union, Essence had discovered that while she had been a vampire, magic coursed through her veins, allowing her to bear children, however, not without a price. From their union came four children. The first was twins. Clytemnestra, A daughter born with dark hair as night and olive skin, but cursed with blood plague that slowly drove her mad and gave her an insatiable thirst for blood, though she did well to hide it. The other twin was Eberus, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy who was just like his father, personality-wise. Eberus was cursed with a killing bite. The moment his fangs touched another, they would die instantly, leaving him unable to turn anyone or sire his own line of vampires. The third child born from their union was Raine. Raine was a stunning redhead with the personality of a party girl. Raine loved fun and loved causing trouble even more. She and Cly were inseparable. Raine was cursed with never being able to step into the sun. While the others in the Somnium family were either daylighters or could venture out if they wore daylighter jewelry. This unfortunately did not affect Raine, and she was forever cursed to live within the night. The last child born to Essence and Dante was Dhalia. Dhalia was quiet, but a fierce fighter. She was the warrior of the family and often took posts with the war camps, wanting to fight rather than dabble in politics. Dhalia was cursed with turning into a bat during the night. She could venture out during the day as much as she liked, but the moment the moon started rising, Dhalia was stuck in the form of a bat.

The curse each child possessed made it hard for the kingdom to stay safe, especially with Clytemnestra’s blood plague. As a child, any tantrums she threw resulted in the deaths of their servants, and eventually, Essence had to resort to closing the castle for any humans. Vampires only began to reside in the castle, and eventually, a vampire council was formed. This council helped Essence control Cly and eventually form her into the heiress of Nisyros. Cly learned quickly how to control her rage and hide the dark thoughts she had, and became the picture-perfect vision of a princess, as long as she did not endure stress.

 Sometime during the years, Essence and Dante rescued a human named Livia and took her in as a daughter. This was troublesome for the other vampires, but she quickly became one of the family and was gifted with immortality, so she would never grow old.

 The high times of the kingdom eventually fell. The growth of vampires also meant the growth of vampire hunters. Right under their noses, the humans had evolved and became the hunters instead of the hunted, and on one night they invaded the Somnium Castle. Taken by surprise, the vampires were distraught and fought until every hunter was dead. The casualties were high, one of the dead included the Queen, Essence. Her death had brough dark times onto the family and the kingdom. The rules that were once in place to keep humans safe were lost as the Somiums took revenge, and turned every human in their kingdom into a vampire, cursing them to the life that had fell upon them. The grief of loosing his wife, left Dante distraught, and eventually led to his death as he allowed hunters to capture and kill him.

 This left the kingdom in the unready hands of Clytmenstra. The young vampire was not ready to for the burden of the throne, but had been thrust upon it quickly. Clytemnestra is now the Queen of Nisyros, ruling along side the Vampire Council.