Nova's POV
I used to think monsters were just things from bedtime stories. Shadows lurking under beds. Eyes in dark closets. Something to be dismissed with a nervous laugh and a flick of the light switch.
But when you've seen a vampire snarl inches from your face, with its jagged nails already soaked in your blood… well, the bedtime stories don't seem so fictional anymore.
What terrified me most wasn't even the vampire. It was them. Eldur. His father. The way they didn't just defeat the monster—they destroyed it. Unflinching. Silent. And so merciless that even the shadows seemed to recoil in fear.
Eldur had held me like I was the only fragile thing left in the world. His hands had trembled against my skin when he healed me, his silver eyes glassy with rage and something else—something deeper. But after the vampire… after his father turned that creature into nothingness with nothing more than a thought…
I couldn't breathe.
I hadn't been able to breathe since.
