CHAPTER 5: ONE CUT
1582 Words
The door burst open.
Nora didn’t breathe.
Standing in the doorway was Lucien. Chest heaving. Blood on his jaw. Behind him, two of Damien’s guards were dragging a body not Council but one of their own. “Traitor,” Lucien spat, shoving the man to the floor. “He opened the east tunnel.” Damien didn’t look away from Nora. The knife was still in his hand, offered to her.
“The door,” he said quietly. “Is that why you hesitated?”
Nora’s fingers tightened around the handle, cold metal. The bowl in front of them was dark. It smelled like copper and something old.
“One cut,” Damien said. “That’s all. My blood. Your blood. Mixed. And the Council’s law can’t touch you.” Another explosion shook the ceiling. Dust in her hair.
“My son,” Nora whispered. “You said you’d get me to him.”
“I will,” Damien said. “Right after this.”
Lucien stepped closer. “My lord, we don’t have time. The Hunters are regrouping upstairs.”
Selene’s voice echoed from somewhere above. Distant but clear.
“Sixty days, Lord Virelli. Then we take what’s ours.”
Nora flinched.
Damien finally looked at Lucien. “Get the car ready and a medic.”
Then he turned back to Nora. His face was pale. The wound in his shoulder was still bleeding.Black blood trailing down his arm.
“You don’t have to trust me,” he said. “You just have to survive.”
Nora stared at him. This man who paid her son’s bill, who bled for her, who called her "his" in front of the Council and this man who said 'you belong to me now."
“I’m not property,” she said.
“No,” Damien agreed. “You’re a choice. Make it.”
The floor rattled again closer this time. Nora looked down at the knife. Then at Damien’s outstretched hand. His palm was already sliced open. Blood welled, black and thick. Without thinking, she took the knife. Her hand shook.
“Where?” she asked.
“Here,” Damien said. He held out his other hand to her. Palm up.
Nora pressed the blade to her skin.
It hurt. A sharp sting. Blood welled red.
Damien didn’t look away. Not even when she hissed.
He caught her wrist and pressed her bleeding palm to his...blood to blood. Red to black. The moment they touched, heat shot up her arm.The symbols on the door flared to life. Gold light crawling across the stone.Nora gasped. It felt like something was being tied around her chest. Tight...Then warm.
“By blood and shadow,” Damien said, voice low. “I claim you.”
“By blood and shadow,” the room seemed to answer.
The light faded.
Nora stumbled. Damien caught her.
“You’re okay,” he murmured in her ear. “It’s done.”
She could feel him. Not thoughts. Not words. Just... a pull. Like a string tied between them. Lucien exhaled. “The Council can’t legally execute her now. She’s under House Virelli protection.”
“Good,” Damien said. He let go of Nora and grabbed a cloth, wrapping his hand. “Car. Now.”
They ran up the hidden stairs through corridors that smelled like smoke and iron. The mansion above was wrecked. Holes in the walls. Glass everywhere.The car was waiting in the garage. Bulletproof. Black.
Damien pushed Nora into the backseat and got in after her. Lucien drove like hell.
Nora pressed her forehead to the window...The city was waking up. No one would ever guess that monsters were fighting under it. Her phone buzzed again. Hospital.
She answered with shaking hands. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Hart, it’s Dr. Mendez. Ethan’s stable for now but we need you to sign some forms. And... he’s asking for you.”
Nora closed her eyes. Tears fell. “I’m coming.”
She hung up and looked at Damien. “Take me to him.”
Damien nodded. “We’re ten minutes out.”
For the first time since this started, silence didn’t feel like danger. It felt like exhaustion.
They pulled up to the Children’s Heart Institute. Bright lights, Clean walls, Normal people.
Nora was out of the car before it stopped. Damien followed slowly. He looked worse in daylight even with the curtains drawn in the car.
The nurse at the desk did a double take. “Ms. Hart? And... sir?”
“Family,” Damien said before Nora could speak. His voice left no room to argue.
Room 204.
Ethan was small in the hospital bed. IVs in his arm. Tubes everywhere.
But his eyes opened when he saw her.
“Mommy?”
Nora broke. She ran to him and held him. Careful of the tubes.
“I’m here baby. I’m here.”
“Mommy, you smell funny,” Ethan mumbled. “Like metal.”
Nora froze. She looked down at her hand. The cut was already closing but t there was a faint gold line under her skin now like a scar that hadn’t formed yet.
Damien stood in the doorway. Watching.
Dr. Mendez came in. “Ms. Hart, we need to discuss” He stopped when he saw Damien. “Mr. Virelli. We weren’t expecting you.”
Damien stepped in. “The balance is paid. I’m authorizing any treatment he needs.”
The doctor nodded quickly. “Of course. We’ll prep him for surgery in 48 hours.”
48 hours.
Nora’s heart stopped. “I thought”
“We moved him up the list,” the doctor said. “Because of the donation.”
Donation.
Right.....Damien’s money.
Ethan reached for her hand. “Will you stay?”
“Always,” Nora whispered.
She sat by his bed for hours. Damien didn’t leave the room. He stood in the corner like a guard. Like he was waiting.
When Ethan finally fell asleep, Nora stood up. Legs shaky.
She walked to Damien. “Can we talk. Outside.”
He followed her to the hallway. It was empty and quiet.
Nora held up her hand. The gold line was faint but there. “What did you do to me?”
“I saved you,” Damien said.
“You tied me to you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damien leaned against the wall. For the first time, he looked tired....Old.
“Because 300 years ago I watched them kill Elara,” he said. “Because I couldn’t watch it happen again. Because the moment I saw you, I knew the Council would use you against me.”
Nora shook her head. “That’s not a reason. That’s obsession.”
“Maybe,” Damien said. “But it’s also the truth.”
Nora wanted to be angry, She wanted to scream but all she felt was tired and something else. That pull.
“Can you feel me too?” she asked quietly.
Damien’s eyes flickered. “Yes.”
“What if I don’t want this?”
“Then we undo it,” Damien said. Too fast.
Nora stared at him. “You can undo it?”
Damien hesitated. Just for a second. “It’s... complicated.”
Before she could press him, Lucien appeared at the end of the hall. Running.
“My lord,” he said, out of breath. “We have a problem.”
Damien straightened instantly. “What?”
“The Council. They’re not coming in 60 days.” Lucien looked at Nora. “They’re coming tonight.”
Nora’s blood went cold. “What? You said"
“Selene lied,” Lucien said. “They found a loophole. The Blood Oath protects you from execution. Not from being taken.”
Damien cursed. “Where?”
“They’re hitting the hospital. Five minutes.”
Alarm started blaring. Nurses running.
Nora grabbed Damien’s arm. “Ethan. We have to get Ethan.”
Damien was already moving. “Lucien, get the car. We’re leaving through the basement.”
They burst back into Ethan’s room. Two nurses were already trying to move him.
“Don’t touch him!” Nora shouted.
Damien crossed the room in two steps and picked Ethan up, tubes and all. The boy cried out.
“It’s okay,” Nora said, crying. “We’re getting you out.”
They ran. Down stairwells through service corridors. Behind them, she heard it. ..Voices not human.
`“House Virelli! Surrender the girl!”`
They made it to the basement exit. The car was there. Engine running.
Damien opened the door and—
A spear of red light shot past his head and hit the car. The window exploded.
Selene stood in the parking garage with ten Hunters.
“Running so soon?” she smiled. “I did warn you. The Oath doesn’t protect him.”
She pointed at Ethan in Damien’s arms.
Damien set Nora down and stepped in front of both of them. His eyes were fully red now. Fangs out.
“Touch them,” he said, “and I burn this city down.”
Selene laughed. “You don’t have that kind of power anymore, Damien.”
She raised her hand.
And behind her, the garage doors opened.
Not more Hunters.
A black SUV.
And inside it, tied and gagged, was a woman who looked exactly like Nora.
Elara.
Or someone wearing her face.
Nora’s knees buckled. “What...”
Selene smiled wider. “Surprise, cousin.”
END OF CHAPTER 5
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