I thought this nightmare was over. The whole day had gone quietly. No one bothered me under the bleachers, and Ryan was too busy busting up the new kids to notice me. Everything was fine—until the last period.
Lyra was in my history class. She was the girl I saw wearing my mother's necklace. The moment I saw her, something dark inside me stirred. The urge to tear into her surged violently. She dared to smell like my mother, dared to resurrect memories that should have stayed dead. Memories I wished had burned away with everything else.
She had big glasses, blonde hair pulled into a perfect ponytail, and soft brown eyes that screamed harmless—harmless enough to kill in a heartbeat. The thought of grasping that ponytail, pulling back her head, and then draining the life from her, watching the light fade from her eyes, sent a cold thrill through me.
And that pendant. That red crystal engraved with a tiny "A" hung around her neck like a curse. She wore it like it meant nothing. But to me, it was everything. A reminder of a past that should've been buried with my parents. That little shard of humanity I was trying so hard to forget.
I wanted to kill her. Pure and simple. Vampires don't get to choose when desire strikes. It just does. My fists clenched so tight my nails drew blood. The sharp sting grounded me. Maybe it was grief. Perhaps it was rage.
Then I heard it.
"Hey, is everything fine?"
That voice again.
I turned.
She stood there, a girl with black hair laced with hints of red that shimmered like embers. Her green eyes, shadowed by thick black eyeliner, locked onto mine. Her lips, coated in black lipstick, stood out starkly against her pale skin. She wore a black lace-trimmed blouse, a pleated skirt, and knee-high Converse. She looked like a walking poem written at midnight.
For the first time, I felt something different, like my hell had frozen over, like waves crashing over me, leaving clarity in their wake. Everything else fell away.
Her presence silenced my pain. Her heartbeat was a symphony. Her scent—roses and incense—was a drug. I wanted to taste her, to feel her blood on my tongue. My fangs ached with longing. She became the center of my world, the only thing that mattered.
I wanted to be inside her. Not just physically. I wanted her soul. Her heartbeat. Her breath.
And just like that, the class ended. I looked around—empty seats.
I bolted.
I needed to find Lyra. To know why she had that necklace. But the hunger, the darkness, it lingered like a hangover. The desire to rip her apart still pulsed in my veins.
But stronger than that was the pull toward the black-haired girl who froze my hell. She made me feel something new. Something terrifyingly human.
I leapt onto the school's roof in one fluid motion, perched there like a shadow. I closed my eyes and let the darkness flood me.
Everything heightened. Every sound. Every scent.
Sweat, fresh-cut grass, distant shouts from the soccer field, the sickening sweet stench of weed from the stoner pit, girls fixing makeup in the bathroom, their perfume clogging my nose, water rushing in the boys' showers, sticky humidity, sweat, cheap deodorant.
Music from the band room. Off-key. Horrible and cringe. A headache wrapped in brass.
I tuned it all out.
Beyond the chaos of the school, I reached for something quiet, something far. The Raven Woods was the only place I ever felt peace. The wind through leaves, the distant chirps of birds, and the whisper of the trees.
And then—
Her.
Her scent hit me like rain after a drought. Her heartbeat was steady and soft, and her perfume mixed with the earth. A vivid image of her formed in my mind: a mysterious animal nestled deep within the forest.
My fangs throbbed.
The darkness in me growled.
I felt a jolt. The same instinct as when I hunted for the first time. She was all that mattered. I had to find her. Claim her. Taste her.
She was the lamb. I was the lion.
Or maybe I was the killer.
And she... was the corpse.
My obsession.
My twisted craving.
And nothing would stop me.
I dropped from the roof. The pull to the woods was too strong to resist.
The hunt had begun.