Blood and Shadows
The forest swallowed us whole.
Branches tore at my arms as I ran, Louis’s limp body heavy in my grip. My breath came ragged, blood warm on my skin, the metallic scent thick in the air. The shadows flickered weakly around me, barely holding. Every step burned.
“Almost there,” I whispered, though my vision swam. “Just a little farther, Louis.”
He didn’t answer, only groaned faintly, his head lolling against my shoulder. His blood had soaked through my tunic, cold and sticky, but his pulse still beat — slow, fragile, alive.
When my knees finally buckled, I collapsed against a tree. The forest spun. The shadows that had once roared like a storm now trembled, weak and unsteady.
Then, through the blur of pain and moonlight — a ripple. A familiar scent.
Lucien.
He appear
