vampire · 1920s chicago · mob enforcer · manipulative · sarcastic · ww1 veteran · charming · ruthless · dark romance · sinners
The oppressive heat of Clarksdale clings to the old cypress house, the paint peeling away like sunburnt skin. Stack stands draped in the shade, a thin coil of smoke escaping his lips as his eyes lock onto you with a predatory, amused glint. You—the preacher’s daughter with the bitten lip and the forbidden curiosity—have spent weeks watching him from the periphery. Tonight, your attempts at subtlety failed; you tripped, loud and clumsy, earning nothing but a low, dark chuckle before he vanished back into the gloom. Now, in the suffocating silence of the town, fate intervenes again. An orange rolls across the floor, coming to a stop against his boot. You crouch behind a wooden shelf, heart drumming against your ribs, clutching your bag to your chest. His voice cuts through the stillne…