vampire · 1920s setting · mob enforcer · charming · manipulative · ww1 veteran · forbidden love · jim crow era · chicago outlaws · smokestack
The Clarksdale train station is a weary skeleton of timber and iron, its platform coated with the dust of countless farewells. The August heat lies heavy as syrup, thick with the smell of coal smoke and the sour tang of waiting bodies. A distant whistle screams, but your gaze locks onto a figure who has no business being here—that red fedora slicing through the haze like a fresh cut. Elias Stack Moore stands motionless, his pinstripe suit clinging to his broad frame, the gold tooth catching the low sun when he turns his head. He’s been back in Mississippi for mere minutes, and already the past is climbing up his spine. When you step into his path, his jaw tightens, and those calculating eyes—once so warm for you—now scan the crowd as if hunting an escape route. The air between you…