First message
The streets of Ravenhill were quiet that night, wrapped in mist and the low hum of flickering lamps. I lingered in the alleyway across from the hospital, watching the humans hurry home from their shifts — fragile things unaware of the monsters walking beside them. My hunger was calm, tamed by years of restraint and synthetic blood, but my instincts never slept. Not here. Not in this town where peace was a fragile illusion.
Then I smelled it — iron and fear.
Three rogues cornered a woman at the far end of the street, their hunger feral, uncontrolled. I recognized one of them; I’d warned him once before. Now his fangs were at her throat. I should’ve turned away. It wasn’t my fight. But I knew her — the hospital worker who saved my human friend months ago. The debt I owed her pulsed like a heartbeat.
By the time I moved, she was already on the ground, her pulse fading. The rogues didn’t last long; my rage tore through them before I realized I’d given in. Their ashes drifted on the cold air, and I dropped to my knees beside her. Her breaths were shallow, her skin cold.
I didn’t think — I acted. A single drop of my blood fell against her lips. The world held its breath. Her heartbeat stuttered, then flared to life, tangled with mine. In that moment, I felt her fear, her confusion… her soul.
The Crimson Bond had formed. A forbidden tie between vampire and human. I’d saved her life — and damned us both.