His to Bleed,His to Hurt

CHAPTER TWO:THE MARK

Elena woke up the morning after the party, her head pounding from too much alcohol and the unsettling feelings that clung to her. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the strange events of the previous night, specifically the mysterious man in the alley with silver eyes.

His cryptic words—"I should kill you"—lingered in her mind, and despite the fear they should have caused, she felt an undeniable pull toward him. The mark on her neck, which looked like a bite, made her skin prickle with a mixture of confusion and intrigue.

Her room felt suffocating as she sat up in bed, glancing at the black rose that had mysteriously appeared on her desk. She hadn't received it from anyone. She didn’t even know where it came from. But as she touched the petals, a chill swept through her. She tried to push the bizarre thoughts away, but everything about the night felt wrong. Still, she told herself it was probably just the aftereffects of too much alcohol and lack of sleep.

The mark on her neck was a reminder that last night hadn’t been just a bad dream. She tried to mask the lingering panic as she grabbed her bag and headed to class, forcing herself to act normal. But her thoughts kept returning to him—the man she couldn’t shake from her mind.

As she passed through campus, she bumped into Jason, a friend from freshman year, who greeted her with his usual laid-back attitude. But Elena’s mind was elsewhere, focused on the unsettling feelings gnawing at her. She faked a smile as they exchanged pleasantries, but her thoughts drifted back to the alley.

During the class that followed, Elena couldn’t shake the tension in her body. The moment she had stepped into the room, the sense of being watched had returned, gnawing at her. There was something about the night before that she couldn't explain. The strange connection she felt toward him, the vampire, made no sense, yet the pull she felt was undeniable.

Later, she received a text from her friend Bianca, who checked in to make sure she hadn’t overdone it the night before. Elena texted back, saying she was alive but still feeling the effects of the party. But when she saw the photos Bianca had sent, showing their wild night out, it made everything feel even stranger. Bianca, along with everyone else at the party, had no idea what had happened in that dark alley. No one knew the mysterious figure who had whispered those chilling words to her.

Elena returned to her room after class, and that’s when the real horror set in. The black rose she had left on her desk was gone. Her heart dropped as she scanned the room. Panic rose in her chest, her breath quickening. And then, her eyes locked onto her bed. Another black rose sat there. This one was different. The petals were dark, soaked in what could only be blood. Her throat tightened, and she instinctively touched the mark on her neck again, feeling it still there—faint, but real.

She jumped when her phone buzzed. An unknown number had texted her. Her thumb hovered over the screen, hesitating. But when she opened the message, her heart pounded in her chest. It was short and direct: “Did you miss me?”

It took only a moment for the realization to hit. The stranger from the alley, the one who had left the mark on her neck, was sending her messages. She responded out of impulse, her fingers shaking as she typed,

“What do you want from me?”

The reply was immediate, and even more chilling:

“I want you to come to me. You know where.”

The fear that had taken root in her chest deepened. No... She didn’t want to go. She couldn’t go. But her body, her soul, seemed to scream in protest, urging her to step closer to him, to give in to whatever twisted game he was playing. Another message followed: “I’m waiting, Elena.”

Her mind spun. Her hands were shaking as she typed her response, feeling a mix of dread and an unshakable pull: “Where?”

The next message was a simple address. The same alley where they had met.

Elena felt the knot in her stomach tighten. It was almost as if she didn’t have a choice. Something about his presence—his voice, his eyes—was consuming her. It was dangerous, but it was also intoxicating.

She stood there, frozen for a moment, before grabbing her jacket, the one she wore when she needed to feel like herself. But even that comfort felt like a lie. She didn’t know what she was walking into, but she couldn’t stop herself.

She arrived at the alley, her pulse hammering in her ears. The world around her felt distorted, like the streets and buildings had blurred into a haze. The only thing she could focus on was the growing sense of his presence. The air seemed to thicken as she stepped further in, the shadows curling around her, making it hard to breathe.

Then she saw him.

He was standing at the far end of the alley, his tall frame bathed in moonlight. His silver eyes gleamed in the dark, piercing through her. The moment their gazes locked, Elena felt like the world stopped. He was not just a man. He was something ancient. Something dangerous.

“You came,” he said, his voice deep and commanding, laced with an authority that sent a chill down her spine. “I knew you would.”

Her heart raced, but it wasn’t just fear anymore. It was desire—a deep, primal need she couldn’t explain. She felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to fall, knowing that there was no going back.

His presence enveloped her, suffocating, but she couldn’t look away. She had never felt this way before, not about anyone. The mark on her neck, the rose, the strange connection—it was all leading her to this moment.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he continued, taking a step forward. His voice dropped lower, like a growl. “But I’m glad you did.”

Elena’s breath hitched. The pull toward him was undeniable, like gravity itself had turned against her. She was his now. And there was no way out.