CHAPTER FOURTEEN — Dangerous Comfort
1100 Words
(Seraphina’s POV)
I didn’t sleep.
Not after blood soaked the hallways.
Not after watching a man tear another creature apart with his bare hands.
Not after realizing the girls disappearing from the convent weren’t simply dying…
Some of them were becoming monsters.
The thought alone made my skin crawl.
Lydia eventually fell asleep curled beneath thick blankets, exhaustion finally overpowering fear.
But I remained awake beside the window, staring into the dark forest beyond the estate.
Everything feels different now.
Before tonight, part of me still believed this place could be explained.
Corruption.
Trafficking.
Powerful men abusing vulnerable women.
Human evil.
But vampires?
Transformation?
Creatures feeding on blood?
My entire understanding of reality had shattered in one hallway.
And somehow…
The worst part wasn’t the monsters.
It was how calmly everyone accepted them.
A soft sound behind me pulled me from my thoughts. I turned slightly.
Lucien Draven stood near the doorway again.
Silent as ever.
At this point, I was beginning to suspect he didn’t know how to enter a room normally.
“You’re still here,” I murmured.
“So are you.”
Fair enough.
He walked inside slowly, his movements quieter than human footsteps should’ve been.
The blood was gone from his clothes now.
But somehow that almost made the memory worse.
“You should rest,” he said.
“You keep saying that.”
“And you keep ignoring me.”
A faint smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it. Lucien noticed. His gaze lingered on my face for a moment too long before shifting away.
Dangerous.
Everything about this was dangerous. I crossed my arms slightly.
“Why do you care if I sleep?”
His expression remained calm.
But I caught the hesitation before he answered.
“Because exhaustion gets people killed here.”
“That sounds personal.”
Silence.
There it was again.
That wall inside him.
Every time we got too close to something real…
He retreated.
I stepped closer slowly.
“You said you understood loss.”
His jaw tightened instantly.
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
The room grew quiet.
Moonlight spilled across his face, illuminating sharp features that looked carved from shadows themselves.
But tonight…
He looked tired. Not physically.
Something deeper than that.
“What happened to you?” I asked softly.
His gaze snapped toward mine immediately.
Too direct.
Too personal.
“I told you before,” he murmured. “You ask dangerous questions.”
“And you never answer them.”
For a second, I thought he’d leave.
Disappear into the shadows again like he always did when things became too real.
Instead…
He stayed.
“My family died because of Michael.” The confession stunned me silent.
Lucien looked toward the window, avoiding my eyes completely now.
“I was younger than you are now,” he continued quietly. “He slaughtered everyone in my home.”
Pain tightened in my chest.
“And then?”
A bitter smile touched his lips.
“Then he turned me into the very thing that destroyed them.”
God.
The words settled heavily between us. Suddenly everything about Lucien made sense.
The anger.
The restraint.
The emptiness in his eyes.
He wasn’t just trapped here. He was living inside his own nightmare.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Lucien laughed softly.
But there was no humor in it.
“Don’t waste sympathy on monsters, Seraphina.”
“You’re not a monster.”
The moment the words left my mouth, silence crashed through the room.
Lucien looked at me slowly.
Carefully.
Like I’d said something impossible.
“You saw what I am tonight.”
“I saw you protecting people.”
“That doesn’t erase what I’ve done.”
Pain flickered across his face again.
Sharper this time.
Guilt.
There was guilt inside him.
Deep enough to poison everything.
I stepped closer before thinking.
“You’re nothing like Michael.”
His expression darkened instantly.
“You don’t know that.”
“But you hate him.”
A pause.
Then—
“Yes.”
Not hesitation.
Not uncertainty.
Hatred.
Pure and absolute.
Something about the honesty in his voice sent warmth through my chest unexpectedly.
Because finally…
Finally someone here was real with me.
No manipulation.
No performance.
No beautiful lies.
Just pain.
And somehow that honesty felt more intimate than touch.
Lucien looked at me carefully.
“You shouldn’t trust me.”
“Probably not.”
“But you do anyway.”
I held his gaze.
“Yes.”
The word lingered between us.
Soft.
Dangerous.
And suddenly…
The atmosphere shifted.
Lucien stepped closer slowly.
Close enough now that I could feel the unnatural cold radiating from his skin again.
But tonight…
It didn’t frighten me.
His gaze dropped briefly to my lips.
Then lifted back to my eyes immediately.
Like he hated himself for noticing.
Interesting.
My pulse quickened slightly.
“You’re staring again,” I murmured softly.
His jaw tightened.
“This is a bad idea.”
“Which part?”
“This.”
Neither of us moved.
The silence stretched.
Thick with something neither of us wanted to name.
Then quietly—
“You make me forget things,” he said.
The confession caught me completely off guard.
“What things?”
His eyes held mine.
Dark.
Haunted.
“How dangerous you are.”
A strange warmth spread through me at the words.
Before I could respond—
A knock interrupted us sharply.
Both of us stepped apart instantly.
The door opened.
And Lord Michael entered.
His gaze moved between us once.
Slowly.
Too observant.
The atmosphere changed immediately.
Cold tension coiled through the room.
Michael’s eyes settled on Lucien first.
“You’re lingering.”
Lucien’s expression became unreadable again.
Controlled.
“She was upset.”
Michael looked toward me.
“And now?”
I crossed my arms slightly.
“I’m still deciding whether to stab you.”
To my surprise, Michael smiled.
“There she is.”
Lucien looked deeply unimpressed.
Michael stepped further into the room.
His gaze lingering briefly on how close Lucien and I had been standing moments ago.
And suddenly…
I realized something dangerous.
Michael noticed the tension between us.
Worse—
He found it amusing.
“You’re becoming attached,” Michael said lightly to Lucien.
Lucien’s voice turned instantly cold.
“No.”
Too fast.
Michael noticed too.
His smile deepened faintly.
“Careful,” he murmured. “Jealousy makes people reckless.”
The room went still.
My pulse skipped once.
And Lucien…
Lucien looked like he wanted to kill him.
- Writer
