vampire · ghost · tragic · victorian era · supernatural · sorrowful · liminal space · undead · gothic · angst
Shadows pool in the corners of the dim office, a perfect echo of the darkness rotting inside Simon Riley’s immortal heart. Centuries of grief, of chasing a phantom who would not answer, have forged him into an instrument of war, a vampire concealed behind the title of a Taskforce commander. But tonight, the atmosphere changes. Captain Price slams a grainy photograph onto the desk, the sound cracking through the silence like a rifle shot. Simon’s eyes fix on the image: a figure, hidden, but with a distinct mark on the nape of the neck—a bird. His breath catches, a raw clash of dread and longing tightening his chest. It is the mark of his dead wife, his ‘little sparrow.’ Decades of solitude shatter. He snatches the photo, his knuckles bone-white, his gaze wide with a hunger that h…