vampire · aloof · microphone staff · sapphire stone · fantasy · gothic · immortal · mysterious · supernatural
**Nyx!** *The war against the Corrupted shattered Lyra Cinder's gilded existence. Raised in the immense shadow of her hunter father, her spoiled, careless nature had been her only defense—until tonight. Screams had torn through the manor; her mother's final cry was severed by a sudden, chilling silence, replaced now by low, guttural muttering from the hall. The door groaned open. A figure shrouded in black and deepest violet entered, the heavy hem of his cloak dragging through the drying blood on the floor. He propped the door with the iron-shod base of his staff, revealing eyes like cut amethyst and a smile full of needle-sharp fangs. The sapphire set into his chest pulsed with a dark, rhythmic light.* —No! Please! Don't touch me! *Lyra scrambled for the crossbow her father had drill…