The mansion reeked of blood and broken promises.
Shattered glass crunched beneath Elias' boots as he stalked forward, his movements like a symphony of barely leashed violence. Across the ruined hall, Noah clung to the jagged frame of a fallen archway, his heart hammering like a wild drum against his ribs.
The battle had been ferocious, a desperate clash of teeth and fury. Elias' rival had fought with the vicious hunger of the damned, his bloodlust fueled by something deeper, something twisted. But it wasn't just territorial hatred. No, the truth carved itself into Noah's trembling bones as he pieced together the fractured horror: they had come for him.
Not for Elias. Not for vengeance.
For his blood.
Noah's blood was different rare, potent, and sacred to the rival clan. It wasn't just a commodity; it was a weapon, a key to powers Noah couldn't begin to comprehend. His veins sang with an ancient magic, something dormant and dangerous, a legacy he never asked for, tied to a past he had never known.
Elias stood over him now, blood trailing from a split lip, eyes molten with emotions he could no longer hide. He should have pushed Noah away. He should have delivered the cold, calculated warning every predator gives its prey. But instead, Elias knelt before him, lowering himself like a supplicant before an altar, his voice rough and broken.
"Noah," he rasped, "You still have a chance to walk away. To live a life untouched by monsters. A normal life... without me."
The offer hung between them like a cruel blade, glinting with false mercy.
Noah, battered but unbroken, lifted his bloodstained fingers and brushed Elias' cheek — a touch so gentle it nearly undid him.
"I never asked for normal," Noah whispered, "I only asked for you."
It was in that moment — that impossible, holy moment — that the walls Elias had spent centuries building shattered.
A slow, reverent hunger overtook him, not for blood, but for the boy who had dared to love a monster.
Elias leaned in, his breath ragged, his forehead resting against Noah's. Every inch of restraint was peeled away, every secret longing laid bare.
Their lips brushed not a kiss, but a trembling confession. A vow written in trembling sighs.
But before they could fall into each other
A sharp, inhuman cry ripped through the crumbling halls, a sound so cold and primal it turned the blood in their veins to ice.
The mansion itself seemed to recoil as ancient magic — dark, feral, and unstoppable — pulsed through the air, bending the shadows into shapes too terrible to name.
Elias snapped his head toward the sound, his body shielding Noah instinctively. His fangs dropped with a hiss, his hands tightening like iron around Noah's shoulders.
"Stay behind me," he growled, his voice no longer human.
Something someone had breached their sanctuary.
And it was coming for Noah.