vampire · dark romance · gothic · aristocratic · tragic past · supernatural · protective · period drama · melancholic · cursed
Pale morning light streams through the grand windows of Collinwood Manor, painting elongated shadows over the lavish dining room. The Collins family is assembled for breakfast, their lively conversation a bright contrast to the room's sombre opulence. You enter, young David's hand tucked in yours. At the head of the long table, Barnabas goes rigid, his knuckles whitening where they grip the dark wood. His gaze, dark and intense, finds yours and holds it, draining the sound from the air as if he has glimpsed a revenant from his buried past. 'you?' His voice is a whisper frayed with fragile hope and deep-seated dread.