The rain may have stopped, but the chill in the air had only grown colder.
Damian and Ariella arrived at the hospital just after midnight. The emergency lights cast an eerie red glow across the walls as nurses whispered in corners and security guards scoured the premises with flashlights. The missing worker—a woman named Clara—had vanished without a trace from the ICU ward.
"They said she was recovering fine," Lydia explained, hurrying beside them. "Then suddenly... gone. No one saw her leave. Her IV was left intact. Her bed—still warm."
Damian's expression darkened. "This isn't just a curse anymore. It's evolving. It's starting to hunt."
Ariella clutched the silver dagger Damian had given her, its ancient runes pulsing faintly. It offered some comfort, but deep inside, she knew it wouldn't be enough.
The three of them reached Clara's room. The door creaked open slowly. The fluorescent lights above flickered once… then twice… then died, plunging the room into darkness.
A cold wind swept through, and Ariella's skin prickled with goosebumps.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered.
Damian nodded slowly, voice a whisper. "The curse is here."
Suddenly, the heart monitor beside the bed screeched to life—a high-pitched beep that echoed like a scream. The shadows around the room began to shift unnaturally, stretching toward them like black tendrils.
Ariella backed up instinctively, but Damian stepped forward, pulling out the journal again. He began to chant softly—words in a language long dead. The runes on the silver dagger began to glow brighter, reacting to his voice.
From the shadows came a whisper—not loud, but unmistakable.
> "She does not belong to you…"
Ariella froze. The voice was malevolent. Jealous.
Then, in a blur of darkness, the shadows recoiled. The lights returned with a burst, and the room fell still.
Clara was gone. Not a single trace remained.
But as Ariella turned toward Damian, she noticed something new—a deep cut on his palm, bleeding slowly. A symbol was forming in the blood. A new rune.
"What is it?" she asked, breath catching.
Damian stared at it, dread washing over his face.
"It's a seal," he said. "A bond. Between you and me."
Ariella stared at the symbol, her heart thundering. "You mean… the curse is linking us?"
He nodded once.
"You're no longer just marked by fate, Ariella. You're tied to me now. My soul... my blood. You've become part of the Blackwood legacy."
Outside the window, lightning streaked across the sky again.
And somewhere deep in the city, a familiar pair of eyes watched in silence.
Waiting.
---