SERENA'S POV
The fear around me isn’t just thick—it’s suffocating, pressing into my chest with invisible hands, making it hard to breathe. It’s not panic. It’s worse. It’s the knowing kind—the kind that seeps into your bones when your body realizes you might not survive.
Vampires pour into the room like a flood let loose. Their eyes burn with frenzy, fangs gleam wet with blood, and every last one of them is locked on me. I can feel their hunger like heat against my skin. My breath catches in my throat, shallow and useless. My legs refuse to move. Every muscle in my body screams to run, to fight, to do something—but I can’t even figure out where to go. There’s nowhere safe. No space left.
“Hold the line!” Damon’s voice slices through the chaos like thunder cracking the sky.
And then—ju
