I Fell In LOVE with a VAMPIRE

Chapter 4 : The Vampire Prince

The old church felt colder than before.

Damien stood beneath the broken stained-glass window, his golden eyes fixed on Elena as though she were the answer to a centuries-old question.

"So," he said with a charming smile, "you're Elena Hart."

Elena instinctively stepped closer to Lucien.

"You know my name?"

"Oh, I've known about you long before you were born."

Lucien moved in front of her, shielding her from Damien.

"Leave."

Damien chuckled.

"Still so protective."

"I won't warn you again."

"And I wasn't asking permission."

The air between them grew heavy.

Elena could feel something invisible pressing against her chest.

It was as if the two vampires were fighting without moving.

"You've broken the rules," Damien said calmly. "You revealed yourself to a human."

"I did what I had to."

"No..." Damien replied. "You did it because you're falling in love again."

Lucien's jaw tightened.

"I said leave."

Damien ignored him.

Instead, he looked at Elena.

"Do you know what happens when vampires fall in love?"

She slowly shook her head.

"They lose everything."

Lucien's expression darkened.

"Enough."

Damien sighed dramatically.

"You never tell the whole story, brother."

Brother?

Elena looked between them.

"You two are brothers?"

"We were," Damien answered. "Once upon a time."

Lucien spoke without taking his eyes off Damien.

"We're not family."

"Not anymore."

For the first time, Damien's smile disappeared.

"There was a time when we fought side by side. We were unstoppable."

"What happened?" Elena asked.

Damien laughed bitterly.

"A woman."

Lucien closed his eyes.

"Don't."

"But she deserves to know."

The church seemed to grow darker.

"We both loved the same woman."

Elena felt her stomach twist.

"Her name was Isabelle."

Lucien's voice was barely a whisper.

"Don't say her name."

Damien continued anyway.

"She chose Lucien."

His golden eyes burned with hatred.

"So I made sure he could never keep her."

Elena's breath caught.

"You..."

"I killed her."

Silence.

Lucien moved so fast Elena barely saw him.

He slammed Damien against a stone pillar with enough force to crack it.

"I should have ended you centuries ago."

Damien smiled despite the grip around his throat.

"You couldn't then."

His smile widened.

"And you still can't."

In the blink of an eye, Damien vanished into a cloud of black mist.

Lucien released nothing but empty air.

Only Damien's voice remained, echoing through the church.

"Protect her while you can..."

"...because the Blood Moon rises in forty days."

"And when it does..."

"She belongs to me."

The silence that followed felt unbearable.

Elena turned toward Lucien.

"What did he mean?"

Lucien looked at her with fear in his eyes.

For the first time in over three hundred years...

The immortal vampire looked terrified.

"The Blood Moon," he whispered, "is the night the First Vampire awakens."

"And if Damien gets to you before then..."

"He won't just kill you."

"He'll use your blood to end the world."