ADRIAN'S POV
I tore through the forest, branches snapping against my body as the darkness blurred around me.
Faster.
Yet no distance was enough.
No speed was enough.
Nothing could silence the storm raging inside my head.
Why now?
Why her?
I slammed my fist into a tree.
The trunk cracked.
Bark exploded beneath the impact.
The forest fell silent.
I stared at my trembling hand.
For eight centuries, I had lived with blood on my hands.
Eight centuries of darkness.
Eight centuries of being exactly what I am.
I am the person mothers warned their children about.
The thing lurking in the dark.
Some animals were meant to be feared.
Some creatures were meant to be hated.
And I am one of them.
So why...
Why couldn't I stop thinking about her?
My jaw clenched.
Eira.
Even her name irritated me now.
The memory of her eyes flashed through my mind.
Those stupid eyes.
The way they looked at me.
Not with fear.
Not with disgust.
Not with the hatred I deserved.
As if she was searching for something inside me.
As if she believed there was something worth finding.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
Foolish girl.
There was nothing there.
Nothing except darkness.
Then why did her gaze linger in my mind long after she was gone?
Why did I remember every expression on her face?
Why did I care whether she was safe?
The thought alone disgusted me.
I slammed my fist into the tree again.
The crack echoed through the forest.
I knew exactly what I am.
Then what was happening to me?
And why now?
After eight hundred years...
Why now?
I closed my eyes.
And once again, all I saw was her.
That frightened me far more than any monster ever could.
EIRA POV
Sleep refused me.
Each time I closed my eyes, his gaze returned.
Dark.
Consuming.
Inescapable.
Those impossible eyes followed me through every thought, every breath, every moment of silence.
Why hadn't I pushed him away?
Why hadn't I screamed?
Why did the memory of his hand around my waist refuse to leave me?
And why had he disappeared without a word?
Adrian was unraveling me.
I buried my face deeper into my pillow, willing my thoughts to stop.
They didn't.
Then suddenly—
A scent drifted into my room.
Old parchment.
Damp earth after rain.
Ancient.
Unfamiliar.
Wrong.
My eyes snapped open.
Every nerve in my body tensed.
Slowly, I sat up.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
My heartbeat thundered inside my chest as I slipped from the bed and moved toward the door.
Carefully, I pressed my eye against the peephole.
My breath caught.
Figures emerged from the darkness.
Long black coats.
Faces hidden.
The same figures.
The same ones from my nightmares.
For a horrifying second, I forgot how to breathe.
Their footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Slow.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Like predators that knew exactly where they were going.
They stopped outside Andy's room.
My stomach twisted.
One of them pulled out a set of keys.
A click.
The door opened.
The sound seemed unnaturally loud in the silence.
No.
No, no, no.
My trembling fingers grabbed my phone.
I dialed Mrs. Harle Gargi.
Come on...
Pick up.
Please pick up.
The ringing continued.
And continued.
And continued.
No answer.
The silence from the other end felt colder than the corridor itself.
My pulse hammered painfully.
Minutes felt like hours.
Then finally the door opened again.
The figures stepped back into the hallway.
One of them spoke.
His voice was low.
Sharp as steel.
"We need to tell Adrian."
The world stopped.
My blood turned to ice.
Adrian?
The name echoed through my head.
Adrian?
What did he have to do with them?
With Andy?
With any of this?
My knees nearly gave out beneath me.
I pressed my forehead against the door.
My heart was beating so hard it hurt.
Everything felt wrong.
Every answer only created more questions.
And somehow, every road led back to him.
Adrian.
The corridor eventually fell silent again.
But sleep didn't return.
When exhaustion finally dragged me under, it felt less like rest and more like surrender.
RIIIIINGGG...
RIIIIINGGG...
My alarm shattered the darkness.
I jerked awake with a gasp.
For a moment I didn't know where I was.
Then reality crashed back into me.
The corridor.
The men.
Andy.
Adrian.
And I was late.
Again.
"Oh God."
I scrambled from bed, rushing through my morning.
By the time I stepped outside, the college corridors were already buzzing with students.
Laughter echoed from every direction.
Conversations blended together.
Life continued as if nothing had happened.
As if girls didn't vanish.
As if nightmares stayed in dreams.
Then I saw him.
Adrian.
My heart lurched so suddenly it almost hurt.
For one foolish second, I thought he would look at me.
That he would notice me.
Instead, he walked past without even a glance.
Cold.
Indifferent.
As though I didn't exist.
The dismissal cut deeper than it should have.
I hated that it did.
Lost in thought, I wasn't watching where I was going.
I collided directly into someone.
"Oh! I'm sorry!"
I looked up.
Tessy.
She grinned immediately.
"No problem! But hey—you look worried. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I lied.
But the truth clawed at my chest.
Refusing to stay buried.
At last, I caved.
"Do you… do you know anything about people who wear black coats? Faces covered?"
Something flashed through her eyes.
Then the familiar mischief returned.
She leaned closer and stage-whispered,
"Yes."
My pulse spiked.
"Who?"
With a dramatic gasp, she threw her hands into the air.
"Monsters!"
Then she doubled over laughing.
I rolled my eyes.
But my heart wasn't laughing.
"You watch too many horror films. I need to go."
"Relax, I was joking!" she called after me, still giggling.
I forced a smile.
But the unease never left.
Not for a second.
ADRIAN'S POV
From the shadows, I watched her.
She looked exhausted.
Worried.
Like she was carrying a burden far too heavy for someone like her.
A burden she never should have touched.
I forced myself to look away.
To remain indifferent.
To remember what I was.
But every step she took tugged at me like a chain wrapped around my throat.
Then I heard her talking to Tessy.
My body went still.
She had seen them.
A curse slipped through my teeth.
Damn it.
If she went to the police again...
They wouldn't warn her.
They wouldn't threaten her.
They would silence her.
Permanently.
My fist slammed into the stone wall beside me.
The impact cracked the surface.
Damn her stubbornness.
Damn her curiosity.
Why couldn't she just stay away?
Why couldn't she leave this alone?
EIRA'S POV
Back in my room, I dressed quickly, locked the door, and made my decision.
Enough.
I couldn't carry this alone anymore.
The cops had to know.
The bus ride stretched into eternity.
Every stop tightened the knot inside my stomach.
Every passing minute fed the growing sense that something terrible was about to happen.
When I finally stepped off the bus, the road leading to the station was almost deserted.
Silent.
Empty.
The air itself felt heavy.
I wrapped my arms around myself and kept walking.
Then—
Blackness.
A rough cloth slammed over my mouth and nose from behind.
My scream died instantly.
Panic exploded through me.
I thrashed wildly.
Kicking.
Clawing.
Fighting with everything I had.
"No—let me go!"
My cries disappeared into the fabric.
A hand clamped onto the back of my neck.
Cold.
Terrifyingly cold.
Fear crashed through me.
I couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't see.
The world spun violently.
Then something sharp struck the base of my neck.
Pain exploded through my body.
My vision blurred.
The road tilted beneath me.
The last thing I heard was the frantic pounding of my own heartbeat.
Then darkness swallowed everything.