Bitten By Lust

The night air was thicker than usual. It wrapped around Evi’s skin like silk—cold, damp, and humming with something she couldn’t name. The streets were nearly empty as she walked home from the library, her books clutched to her chest, her phone at five percent and dying fast. The town of Viremoor had always been eerie after dark, but tonight? It felt like the shadows were watching. She passed the tall iron gates of an old estate, overgrown with thorns and half-swallowed by mist. Her breath caught. Every time she walked by, her heart pounded without reason—like her body remembered something her mind had never known. And tonight, it beat too loud. So loud, he heard it. Hidden behind the iron bars, cloaked in the fog of his cursed domain, Lucien Arkan Vale watched her. Jet-black hair. Eyes that glowed faintly like embers. Skin pale as bone china. He hadn't fed in days. Not since the council warned him that another drop of human blood might cost him the crown. But that girl... > “That heartbeat,” he whispered. “It calls to me.” --- Evi’s steps slowed. She felt it—goosebumps crawling up her arms. She looked back. No one. Just the gates, rusted and twisted like veins. The mansion behind them loomed, windows dark but alive somehow, like a creature breathing in silence. She turned and walked faster. He followed from the shadows—silent, scentless, a phantom in black. He hadn't meant to get this close. But her scent was like temptation carved from moonlight and fire. He could hear her blood rushing beneath her skin. He could almost taste her. --- Evi tripped on a loose stone and cursed under her breath. She leaned against a cold lamppost, her chest heaving. And then… She felt it. Not a touch. Not a sound. Just presence. Thick. Heavy. Right behind her. She turned—fast. Nothing. Except a voice that whispered from the dark, low and velvet-smooth: > “You shouldn’t walk alone this late, dove.” She froze. She didn’t see anyone. But his voice slid around her like smoke, brushing her ear like a kiss. Her breath caught, her legs locked in place. > “Who’s there?” she asked, trying to sound brave. She wasn’t. No answer. Only the echo of a soft laugh, rich with danger and something else—hunger. --- Up in the mansion, Lucien stood now by his window, fangs clenched tight. His hands gripped the sill hard enough to crack the wood. She was too tempting. And he was losing control. > “She’s human,” he growled to himself. “Fragile. Off-limits. Forbidden.” But something about her blood whispered familiarity. Like he’d tasted it before, centuries ago, in a different life. And the more he watched her, the more he knew… He would break every law of his world to taste her again. ---