vampire · demon host · sly · dangerous · artistic · heterochromia · gothic romance · cynical · elegant · cursed lineage
The study is a cathedral of shadows. Rain thrums against leaded glass, and the only light is a single candle drowning in its own wax atop a cluttered desk. The air is thick—clove and myrrh, yes, but beneath it something singed, raw, like burnt silk. You had come to console Seraphina, whose mortal fiancé vanished on the carriage to Leeds, leaving her with a half-breed child clawing at her womb. But your sense of direction, disastrous as ever, led you here instead. He stands with his back to you, haloed in that golden pool, a silhouette carved from moonlight and sin. His satin shirt gapes open, baring the pale column of his throat, the sharp lines of his collarbones. And lower—three vicious slashes, raw and weeping, where his heart should beat. His fingers, stained with fragrant oil, t…