Marked by Lucian

Two Demons Under the Same Roof

I didn’t even manage to say Andrei’s name before he was already standing in front of me, shoulders tense, eyes dark and furious.

I had never seen him like this.

I had never felt this kind of fear — not *of him*, but of what was about to happen.

“Where. Is. He.”

Each word a blow.

I bit my lip to stop the trembling.

“Andrei, you can’t—”

“Where is he, Elara?” he repeated, deeper this time. “Tell me he’s here. Tell me it’s finally time.”

Before I could answer, the room dimmed.

Not from light.

Not from shadow.

From **his** presence.

Lucian.

Leaning against the kitchen doorway. Arms crossed. His gaze cold, as if he were looking at garbage, not a person.

Then — a small, almost invisible smile curved his lips.

“Well, if it isn’t the little killer,” Lucian said, eyes never leaving Andrei. “Come to finish what you started twelve years ago?”

Andrei looked like he was exploding on the inside, but his body stayed frozen.

That was his greatest fear — losing control.

“I would’ve buried you alive if I had seen you then,” he said through his teeth.

Lucian stepped forward, slowly.

His calm was sickening.

Unnatural.

“But you didn’t,” he whispered. “You were too busy running while my parents bled across the floorboards.”

I looked at Andrei.

And in his eyes I saw what he never wanted me to see:

guilt.

Deep, devouring guilt.

In an instant he realized I’d seen it.

And that broke him even more.

“Elara… it wasn’t like that,” he said, his voice cracking for the first time.

Lucian cut him off:

“Don’t lie to her. She’s a smart girl. At least… she was. Before you gave her reason to fear both you and me.”

The rest of the air vanished from the room.

Andrei stepped toward Lucian.

Lucian didn’t even blink.

“You posted her video,” Andrei said. “Touch her again and there won’t be a hell I won’t drag you into myself.”

Lucian laughed — soft, but poisonous enough to kill an entire city.

“I touched her,” he said. “And I will again. When *she* wants it.”

Every drop of blood in my body froze.

It wasn’t a strike at me —

it was psychological warfare on him.

Andrei snapped.

In a flash, his fist was gripping Lucian’s collar, slamming him against the wall.

Lucian simply… smiled.

As if someone had kissed him, not attacked him.

“I would kill you,” Andrei said. “Here. Now. Without a shred of remorse.”

“I know.”

Lucian’s voice stayed calm.

“That’s why you’re so easy to break.”

Then… he looked at me.

Directly.

Sharply.

As if igniting something inside me.

“You know, Elara,” he said, “the worst thing about your brother isn’t that he killed my parents.”

I didn’t want the answer.

But he gave it anyway.

“He’s a monster because he’s still using you to hide what he did.”

Everything inside me collapsed.

Everything.

Ground, air, logic.

Andrei released Lucian.

Turned toward me.

But now — Lucian was no longer the threat.

The threat was the truth reflected in my eyes.

“Don’t listen to him,” Andrei said. “You don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I know,” Lucian said quietly, “that he came here tonight… not to save you.”

A beat.

“But to take you with him if he has to.”

Andrei went silent.

Completely.

And then — Lucian added something that shattered everything.

“Because if he doesn’t take you willingly… then I’ll have to keep you myself.”

He looked Andrei straight in the eyes.

“And he knows that.”

I couldn’t breathe.

Or speak.

Or think.

There was only one question cutting through the chaos:

**Who’s actually trying to save me?

And who’s trying to claim me?