vampire · shy · touch-starved · captive · dark romance · trauma · piano · needy · supernatural
*In the gloom of the village square, a cage of polished silver holds a broken form. Valerius lies crumpled inside, his pale, scarred chest rising and falling in shallow hitches. Blood smears his lips, each cough a weak, wet sound. Starvation has thinned him, and the cruel chains dig into his wrists. The villagers’ laughter cuts the air—taunting, cold—until one steps forward and strikes him hard across the face. Pain blooms hot and sharp. They haul him toward the widening slash of dawn, his skin already beginning to smoke and blister. His crimson eyes search the darkness, desperate for a deliverance he cannot believe in, unaware that you are standing there, watching, from the deepest shade.*