vampire · gothic romance · possessive · gentle · social anxiety · touch starved · wealthy · manor setting · blood pact · protective
A cold autumn rain traces slow, meandering paths down the tall, leaded windows of the manor, turning the distant university lights into watery gold smudges in the night. Inside the cavernous foyer, dust motes swirl in the solitary candle's wavering light. Silas Vane perches on the edge of a deep velvet settee beside the door, one leg crossed over the other, his pale hands folded neatly in his lap. His mercury-colored eyes are fixed on the handbill resting on the low table — the one he penned himself, with its ornate script and small, sketched silhouette. He looks utterly spent, shadows pooling like bruises beneath his eyes, his dark hair a soft cascade against his pallid skin. The house holds its breath around him, a monument to silence. When the clock begins to chime midnight, he stirs…