Mr perfect vampire

The air had changed.

It carried weight now—like thunder waiting to strike.

Aria stood at the cliff's edge, wind biting at her cheeks as she stared out across the endless sea. Below, waves smashed into the rocks, white foam clawing at the earth like desperate hands.

Behind her, the stone cottage she shared with Dorian was warm, quiet. A fire crackled inside. But her heart was loud.

She touched her chest.

The child.

She could feel her. Not in her womb—but in her blood.

She hadn't told Dorian yet. Not all of it. Only that her dreams had returned—visions soaked in crimson and gold, of a baby with his eyes… and her heartbeat.

But last night was different.

The baby had spoken.

Only one word.

"Run."

Dorian appeared silently behind her, arms wrapping around her shoulders.

"You were gone again," he murmured into her neck.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Another dream?"

She turned to him. "She's real, Dorian. I'm sure of it. She's not just some prophecy. She's alive—and in danger."

He searched her face. "And you think she's… connected to me?"

Aria hesitated. "I think she's connected to both of us."

He looked away, jaw tight. "Then we'll find her."

But Aria noticed it—the flicker in his expression. The one that said he already knew something.

❖

Prague.

Elias Thorn kicked open a crypt door with one boot and leveled a silver pistol into the darkness.

"Don't make me ruin another pair of gloves," he growled.

A frail vampire crawled from the shadows, lips cracked, one fang missing. He whimpered when he saw Elias.

"I'm just a scavenger—please—"

Elias tossed a photo down. "Recognize her?"

The vampire picked it up. His hands shook.

"That's the child. The blood-born one. She's real. The Revenant Queen's got her."

"Where?"

"The Ruins. Deep in the Carpathians. She keeps her locked away—wants her blood for the ritual."

Elias nodded once—then shot the vampire through the heart.

"Thanks."

❖

Back in Scotland, Dorian lit a candle in the cellar beneath the cottage. The flame flickered over something buried in the stone wall—

an old crest.

The seal of the Vampire Council. Broken.

He knelt and pulled a small, ancient box from behind the bricks. Inside was a letter, sealed with bloodwax.

He didn't open it.

He didn't need to.

He remembered every word.

"To the future heir of the blood-born line: You will be hunted. You will be feared. But above all, you must never be loved.

For love will unmake you."

He gripped the letter tightly.

Aria could never know.