ADRIAN'S POV
I tore through the forest, branches snapping against my body as darkness blurred around me.
Faster.
Yet no distance was enough.
No speed was enough.
Nothing could silence the storm raging inside my head.
Why now?
Why her?
I slammed my fist into a tree.
The trunk cracked.
Bark splintered beneath the impact.
The forest fell silent.
I stared at my trembling hand.
For eight centuries, I had lived with blood on my hands.
I was the creature mothers warned their children about.
The thing lurking in the darkness.
Some creatures were meant to be feared.
Some were meant to be hated.
And I was one of them.
A vampire.
I was a vampire.
A creature that fed on blood.
A creature people whispered about in their darkest nightmares.
I wasn't born to care.
I wasn't meant to care.
Compassion was for humans.
Mercy was for humans.
Pain belonged to humans.
Love belonged to humans.
Not to creatures like me.
Not to something that had survived eight hundred years by burying every emotion that threatened to make it weak.
I had watched kingdoms rise and crumble.
Watched generations turn to dust.
Watched people live entire lifetimes in the time it took me to blink.
And none of it had ever mattered.
So why did she?
Why couldn't I stop thinking about her?
My jaw clenched.
Eira.
Even her name irritated me now.
The memory of her eyes flashed through my mind.
Those infuriating eyes.
The way they looked at me.
Not with fear.
Not with disgust.
Not with the hatred I deserved.
As though she were searching for something inside me.
As though she believed there was something worth finding.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
Foolish girl.
There was nothing there.
Nothing except darkness.
Then why did her gaze linger in my mind long after she was gone?
Why did I remember every expression that crossed her face?
Every frightened glance?
Every stubborn question?
Why?
That was the question that refused to leave me alone.
She was a stranger.
A human.
Someone who should have meant absolutely nothing to me.
Yet the moment I saw that man reaching for her, something inside me reacted before I could think.
Before I could stop it.
As if the thought of her being hurt was unacceptable.
The feeling made no sense.
It irritated me.
I had spent centuries watching people suffer.
Watching them die.
And I had never cared.
So why was she different?
Why did every instinct pull me toward her instead of away?
My mind drifted back to where it had all begun.
The forest.
A frightened girl standing frozen before a snake.
For one brief moment, she had looked completely helpless.
Then she opened her eyes.
And everything changed.
Ever since that day, something had felt wrong.
Why did I care whether she was safe?
The thought alone disgusted me.
I slammed my fist into the tree again.
The crack echoed through the forest.
I closed my eyes.
And once again, all I saw was her.
That frightened me more than any monster ever could.
EIRA'S POVSleep refused to come.
Every time I closed my eyes, his gaze returned.
Dark.
Consuming.
Inescapable.
Those impossible black eyes followed me through every thought, every breath, every moment of silence.
Why hadn't I pushed him away?
Why hadn't I screamed?
Why did the memory of his hand around my waist refuse to fade?
And why had he disappeared without saying another word?
Adrian was unraveling me.
I buried my face deeper into my pillow, willing my thoughts to stop.
They didn't.
Then suddenly—
A scent drifted into my room.
Old parchment.
Damp earth after rain.
Ancient.
Unfamiliar.
Wrong.
My eyes snapped open.
Every nerve in my body tensed.
Slowly, I sat up.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
My heartbeat thundered against my ribs as I slipped out of bed and moved toward the door.
Carefully, I pressed my eye against the peephole.
My breath caught.
Figures emerged from the darkness.
Long black coats.
Faces hidden.
The same figures.
The same ones from my nightmares.
For one horrifying second, I forgot how to breathe.
Their footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Slow.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Like predators that knew exactly where they were going.
They stopped outside Andy's room.
My stomach twisted.
One of them pulled out a set of keys.
Click.
The door opened.
The sound seemed unnaturally loud in the silence.
No.
No, no, no.
My trembling fingers grabbed my phone.
I dialed Mrs. Harle Gargi.
Come on...
Pick up.
Please pick up.
The ringing continued.
And continued.
And continued.
No answer.
The silence on the other end felt colder than the corridor itself.
My pulse hammered painfully.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours.
Then, finally, the door opened again.
The figures stepped back into the hallway.
One of them spoke.
His voice was low.
Sharp as steel.
"We need to tell Adrian."
The world stopped.
My blood turned to ice.
Adrian?
The name echoed through my mind.
Adrian?
What did he have to do with them?
With Andy?
With any of this?
My knees nearly gave way beneath me.
I pressed my forehead against the door.
My heart was beating so hard it hurt.
Everything felt wrong.
Every answer only created more questions.
And somehow, every road led back to him.
Adrian.
The corridor eventually fell silent again.
But sleep didn't return.
When exhaustion finally dragged me under, it felt less like rest and more like surrender.
RIIIIING...
RIIIIING...
My alarm shattered the darkness.
I jerked awake with a gasp.
For a moment, I didn't know where I was.
Then reality came crashing back.
The corridor.
The men.
Andy.
Adrian.
And I was late.
Again.
"Oh God."
I scrambled out of bed and rushed through my morning routine.
By the time I stepped outside, the college corridors were already buzzing with students.
Laughter echoed from every direction.
Conversations blended together.
Life continued as though nothing had happened.
As though girls didn't disappear.
As though nightmares belonged only in dreams.
Then I saw him.
Adrian.
My heart lurched so suddenly it almost hurt.
For one foolish second, I thought he would look at me.
That he would notice me.
Instead, he walked past without so much as a glance.
Cold.
Indifferent.
As though I didn't exist.
The dismissal cut deeper than it should have.
I hated that it did.
Lost in thought, I wasn't watching where I was going.
I collided directly with someone.
"Oh! I'm sorry!"
I looked up.
Tessy.
She grinned immediately.
"No problem! But hey—you look worried. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I lied.
But the truth clawed at my chest, refusing to stay buried.
At last, I caved.
"Do you... do you know anything about people who wear black coats? Their faces covered?"
Something flickered across her eyes.
Then the familiar mischief returned.
She leaned closer and stage-whispered,
"Yes."
My pulse spiked.
"Who?"
With a dramatic gasp, she threw her hands into the air.
"Monsters!"
Then she doubled over laughing.
I rolled my eyes.
But my heart wasn't laughing.
"You watch too many horror films. I need to go."
"Relax, I was joking!" she called after me, still giggling.
I forced a smile.
But the unease never left.
Not for a second.
ADRIAN'S POV
From the shadows, I watched her.
She looked exhausted.
Worried.
Like she was carrying a burden far too heavy for someone like her.
A burden she never should have touched.
Then I heard her talking to Tessy.
My body went still.
She had seen them.
A curse slipped through my teeth.
Damn it.
If she went to the police again...
They wouldn't warn her.
They wouldn't threaten her.
They would silence her.
Permanently.
My fist slammed into the stone wall beside me.
The impact cracked the surface.
Damn her stubbornness.
Damn her curiosity.
Why couldn't she just stay away?
Why couldn't she leave this alone?
She had no idea what she was getting herself into.
And I couldn't let her find out.
EIRA'S POVBack in my room, I dressed quickly, locked the door, and made my decision.
Enough.
I couldn't carry this alone anymore.
The police had to know.
The bus ride stretched into eternity.
Every stop tightened the knot in my stomach.
Every passing minute fed the growing sense that something terrible was about to happen.
When I finally stepped off the bus, the road leading to the station was almost deserted.
Silent.
Empty.
The air itself felt heavy.
I wrapped my arms around myself and kept walking.
Then—
Blackness.
A rough cloth slammed over my mouth and nose from behind.
My scream died instantly.
Panic exploded through me.
I thrashed wildly.
Kicking.
Clawing.
Fighting with everything I had.
"No—let me go!"
My cries disappeared into the fabric.
A hand clamped around the back of my neck.
Cold.
Terrifyingly cold.
Fear crashed through me.
I couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't see.
The world spun violently around me.
Then something sharp struck the base of my neck.
Pain exploded through my body.
My vision blurred.
The road tilted beneath my feet.
The last thing I heard was the frantic pounding of my own heartbeat.
Then darkness swallowed everything.