Opening Scene: The Nursery of Nightmares
The nursery reeked of roses and rot. Mia sat shackled to a rocking chair, its wooden creaks echoing like the groan of coffin hinges. Elena had reconstructed Mia's childhood bedroom with grotesque precision: peeling pink wallpaper revealed mold-blackened walls, stuffed animals hung from nooses of twine, and a mobile of skeletal ravens circled overhead.
Comfortable, darling? Elena glided into the room, her gold-flecked eyes gleaming. She wore a replica of Mia's mother's favorite dress, ivory lace now stained with dried blood.
Mia tugged at the iron cuffs binding her wrists. "Let me go."
"And miss my grandchild's first heartbeat?" Elena pressed a cold stethoscope to Mia's swollen belly. The rhythmic thump-thump echoed through the room, too fast, too sharp. "Perfect. Just like you were."
Nausea surged in Mia's throat. This wasn't morning sickness. It was the curse, coiled like a serpent in her womb, its presence a frostbitten weight beneath her ribs.
"You're insane," Mia spat.
Elena backhanded her. Blood bloomed on Mia's lip. "Insane? I've waited decades for this. A child born of Russo blood and witch's power. The curse won't just be broken it'll be reborn."
The Return of Luca
The door exploded inward.
"Get away from her."
Luca stood in the doorway, rain-soaked and bloodied. But this wasn't the boy Mia had loved. His eyes glowed amber, pupils slit like a viper's. A charred chain coiled around his neck, its links fused to his skin.
"Luca?" Mia's voice cracked.
He didn't look at her. "Elena. You promised."
"And I keep my promises." Elena tossed him a dagger, its blade etched with witch runes. "Bring me Alessandro's heart, and I'll sever the chain."
Luca's gaze flicked to Mia, unreadable. "Done."
The Hunt Begins
Elena vanished in a swirl of smoke. Luca shattered Mia's cuffs with a flick of the dagger and dragged her into the storm.
"You're working with her?" Mia wrenched free, her back hitting a rain-slicked wall. "After what she did to you?"
"She brought me back!" Luca snarled, the chain around his neck glowing crimson. "Alessandro left me to die in that vault. You left me."
"I didn't know you were alive!"
"You never do!" He pinned her, his breath hot and feral. "But tonight, you'll watch him die. Consider it… poetic justice."
The chain tightened, searing his flesh. Luca hissed, releasing her. "Move. Now."
Alessandro's Last Stand
Alessandro waited in the skeletal remains of the Russo estate, a shotgun across his lap. The serpent scar pulsed on his chest, black veins spiderwebbing toward his heart.
"Mia." He stood, relief crumbling into horror as Luca stepped from the shadows. "What have they done to you?"
"What you couldn't," Luca said, raising the dagger. "Survive."
Alessandro didn't flinch. "If my heart is the price for her life, take it."
"No!" Mia lunged, but Luca's chain snapped around her wrists, its burn biting into her skin.
"Watch closely, little witch," he whispered. "This is what loyalty buys."
The Ritual of Blood
Luca plunged the dagger into Alessandro's chest but Alessandro gripped the blade, his blood dripping onto the chain.
"You forgot, brother." Alessandro's voice gurgled. "Our blood is the same."
The chain shattered. Luca screamed as the curse's hold splintered, amber fading to brown. He collapsed, clutching his head.
"Mia run!"
Alessandro crumpled, the dagger hilt-deep in his heart.
Elena materialized, her shriek splitting the night. "You ruin everything! "
The Unholy Reckoning
Mia's magic erupted. The estate trembled, walls collapsing in a roar of stone and flame. Elena's form disintegrated, her screams swallowed by rubble.
Luca dragged Mia into the storm, his humanity flickering in his eyes. "The baby… It's not a curse. It's a weapon."
Her locket sprang open. Inside, the photo showed her unborn child's eyes serpentine, and hands glowing with black fire.
Mia's water broke, crimson pooling at her feet. Luca froze.
"It's too early," she whispered.
"No." His voice trembled. "It's exactly on time."
A cry pierced the night not from Mia, but from the woods. A chorus of voices answered, chanting in a dead language.
"They're coming," Luca said. "And the child… it's calling them."