Pov - vael
A Vampire event is happening (like a ball, gathering, or celebration)
Everyone else is enjoying themselves, dancing or socializing
Vael is angry and fixated because he saw Kael mark Seraphina
Include his flashback to Seraphina and why she matters to him
Sets up human-vampire-wolf tension before shifting to Seraphina POV
Here's a reconstructed expanded Chapter 3 draft:
---
Chapter 3 — Shadows of the Mark
VA POV — Vael
The grand ballroom of Crimsaria shimmered under chandeliers that cast fractured light across the polished marble. Music floated through the air, melodic, intoxicating, as vampires swirled in their elegant masks and flowing attire. Laughter echoed, clinking glasses, the scent of blood wine perfuming the atmosphere.
But I did not dance. Did not smile. Did not even move from the shadowed alcove where I stood, fingers drumming against the cold stone windowsill. My golden eyes, sharper than any mortal's, burned with fury.
Kael. That insolent wolf. That Alpha of some wolf pack.
I had seen him, a fleeting image in the human world — daring, arrogant, marking her. My Seraphina. The girl who was always meant for me, whose fate I had watched and guarded from afar, whose power and destiny I had prepared her to inherit. And now this wolf had the audacity to touch her, leave his mark, claim her in some primal display of ownership.
The pulse of my own heartbeat matched the rage coiling inside me. Around me, my kin danced, oblivious, celebrating life and blood, but I could not partake. Could not pretend. Every shadow of the ballroom seemed to whisper the Alpha's betrayal.
I remembered the first time I had sensed her, years ago — the way shadows clung to her, how her aura hummed even as a child, fragile but defiant. The world would never understand her. Only I could. Only I was meant to guide her, protect her, claim her.
Yet now… Kael had interfered.
I turned from the alcove, pacing the polished floor. I could feel the pull of her presence, faint, distant, across the human world. That mark, glowing on her neck… a challenge. An insult. A declaration I would not ignore.
The music swelled. Vampires twirled, laughter and song filling the air. But I could not hear it. Could not feel it. My mind was a storm of strategy, plans, and anger. The wolf would pay. Kael would not interfere again.
And Seraphina… she would see me. Soon. I would make certain of it.
---
POV — Seraphina
The hallways of Westvale High felt… wrong. Every shadow seemed alive, every whisper of movement exaggerated. My fingers kept drifting to the mark at the back of my neck. It pulsed, faintly warm, like it had a heartbeat of its own.
A shiver ran down my spine. I couldn't see anyone, but instinct screamed at me — someone was watching. Not Kael. He was gone for now, vanished into the crowd after the incident in the stairwell.
No… this was different. The warmth of the mark throbbed, deeper, more insistent, almost magnetic. It pulled at my awareness, and suddenly, I knew — something powerful, ancient, dangerous was near. Or at least… aware of me.
The presence was calm, patient, cold. A calculating gaze I could feel pressing against my mind, threading through the mark, tugging at me, testing me.
I froze, heart hammering. It didn't make sense. How could I sense someone I'd never met? And yet, I knew — this presence was deliberate, claiming, connected.
The hall felt empty. Students laughed, lockers slammed, sneakers squeaked. Yet I was alone with it.
A whisper of intuition, a prickle of fear and fascination — the mark throbbed again. I could feel it: someone else had already laid claim to me. Someone I didn't know, someone who would stop at nothing to ensure I belonged to them.