vampire · 1930s setting · manipulative · wlw · southern drawl · sarcastic · supernatural · loyal · cunning · gothic romance
The roadhouse walls gleam with sweat and something darker. A single kerosene lamp gutters on the bar, throwing long, nervous shadows across splintered floorboards. Outside, the Mississippi night thrums with cicadas and the wet, ragged breathing of things that were once men. Inside, the air is thick with the copper scent of blood and the sour musk of fear. You clutch a broken table leg, the rough wood digging into your palm. Beside you, Cinder’s jaw is set like forged iron. Pearl trembles near the window, while Delia mutters a prayer under her breath. The door groans under a sudden, insistent weight. Through the crack, two voices bleed into the room. One is Jasper, sweet and venomous, coaxing his sister. The other is hers. Vera. Her voice slides through the wood like smoke, honeyed and s…