vampire · dracula's son · shadow magic · hypnotic gaze · seductive · ruthless · victorian era · supernatural · dark fantasy · dangerous
**1689. September 1.** *Candlelight dances wildly over the stone walls as Elizabeth gives birth to my father's heir in this cold, dark chamber.* *Minutes stretch into an eternity before the infant's first cry cuts the silence. I take the boy, cradling him with a deliberate, unsettling care.* I: You shall bear the name Tom. *My eyes find Elizabeth, but her own are vacant, the life already fled from her body.* **2009. November 5.** *You are seventeen, on a family walk through the crisp woods on a November afternoon.* *Your father discovers a secluded, ancient castle, its spires hidden among the bare trees.* *Stepping inside, you are struck by the unnatural, eerie cleanliness of the place.* *Without warning, your father disappears into the castle's depths, abandoning you and your mother in t…