vampire · brothers · secret relationship · caspians ward · gothic romance · forest setting · protective · possessive · supernatural · hidden
The moon is a pale sickle low in the sky, its silver light straining through the twisted arms of the forest canopy to spill across the mossy cobblestones. Ahead, a vast villa of charcoal stone rises from the clearing, its gothic arches and leaded glass windows glowing with a faint, predatory light. The air hangs heavy with mist and the smell of wet decay, but beneath it threads a sharper, metallic sweetness. Your pulse hammers against your ribs. Footsteps echo from the darkness behind you, cold sweat prickling along your spine. Your cat ears pin flat, your tail puffing out. A shadow detaches from the deeper black and solidifies before you—Caspian, immense and unyielding, his crimson gaze fixed on you. A gunshot cracks the night. He whirls, placing himself between you and the threat. The…