I stood there, frozen, as the strange man walked closer to me.
He was tall, dressed in a black shirt and dark jeans, carrying a small leather file in his hand. His face was calm, too calm, and his smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Good morning, Miss Ravena," he said politely. "Mr. Draven sent me to assist you. I'm your new personal assistant."
For a few seconds, I couldn't speak. My throat felt dry.
"Draven?" I asked. "You mean… Draven himself?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied quickly. "He said you might need help managing your company and home affairs since you've been under stress lately."
That made no sense.
Draven wasn't part of my company, and I didn't remember ever mentioning him to anyone. How could he send someone to me?
"What's your name?" I asked, trying to sound calm.
"Callum," he said, bowing slightly. "Mr. Draven said to tell you he'll reach out when the moon changes."
I frowned. "What does that even mean?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he opened the file in his hand and placed some papers on the table beside me. "These are the documents he said you might want to look at. Financial projections, security upgrades, and other things you've been delaying."
I looked down. Everything was correct. These were real papers from my company's private files. But how did Draven get them?
Before I could ask again, Callum smiled faintly. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go settle in the office room."
I watched him walk away slowly, my mind spinning. None of this made sense. Draven had vanished from my balcony last night like a ghost, and now he was sending people to work for me?
I picked up my phone and called my company's HR manager. "Did we hire a new assistant named Callum?"
"No, ma'am," she replied. "Not that I know of."
My chest tightened. I looked down the hallway again, but he was gone.
Just like Draven.
The rest of the day felt strange.
My staff acted normal, but I couldn't focus. My mind kept replaying Draven's words, "Your parents' death wasn't an accident."
I tried to convince myself it was just a coincidence, maybe even a cruel joke. But then I remembered the claw mark near my garden wall. I still couldn't explain that.
That night, I sat on my bed with my laptop open. I typed in my parents' names, looking for anything that might prove Draven wrong, or right.
There were news articles about their death, the car crash, and the funeral. Everything looked normal. But when I scrolled deeper, I found something odd.
An old news clip.
The video showed the wrecked car. The reporter said, "Authorities are still unsure what caused the vehicle to lose control. Witnesses claim they heard a strange howling sound moments before the explosion."
My hands shook as I paused the video.
A howling sound.
I closed the laptop quickly. My heart was racing, but I didn't know if it was fear or anger.
I went to the window and stared at the night sky. The moon was smaller tonight, pale and dim, but I couldn't stop thinking about Draven's words: When the dark moon rises, secrets are born again.
What did he mean by that?
The next morning, I decided to confront Callum.
I found him in the kitchen, arranging files and speaking quietly with my maid. He smiled when he saw me. "Good morning, Miss Ravena. I hope you slept well?"
"I didn't," I said sharply. "Where is Draven?"
He blinked once, his face still calm. "He's around."
"That's not an answer."
He placed a file down and said, "He said to tell you the truth comes slowly. Don't rush it, or it will break you."
I stared at him. "What truth?"
He looked at me for a long time before replying, "The one your family buried with blood."
My stomach tightened. "What do you know about my family?"
But before he could answer, I heard a noise behind me, the front gate opening. My driver walked in with the mail, and when I turned back, Callum was gone.
The maid blinked, confused. "Ma'am? Who were you talking to?"
I pointed at the spot where he had stood. "Callum. My new assistant."
She frowned. "There's no one here, ma'am. I've been in the kitchen since morning."
The file he was holding was gone too.
My hands started shaking.
Was I going crazy? Or were they both real, Draven and Callum, just not… human?
That evening, Elara called again. She wanted to take me out for dinner with her fiancé. I agreed, mostly because I needed to escape my thoughts.
The restaurant was quiet, with golden lights and soft piano music. I tried to smile as Elara talked about her wedding flowers, but I couldn't stop glancing at the window.
Halfway through dinner, something strange happened.
A waiter came to our table with a note.
"For Miss Ravena," he said politely.
I unfolded it slowly. The handwriting was neat, firm, and oddly familiar.
"Don't trust the man beside your sister. He's one of them. D."
I looked at Elara's fiancé, smiling and talking to her. He looked perfectly normal, handsome, charming, polite. But suddenly, every move he made felt suspicious.
I excused myself and went to the restroom. My hands trembled as I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Who was "them"? And what did Draven know about my sister's fiancé?
As I turned to leave, I froze.
Draven was standing by the door.
My breath caught in my throat. He wasn't wearing his hood tonight. His eyes glowed faintly again, golden and strange.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
My heart beat fast as Draven stepped closer.
The light above the mirror flickered once, making his golden eyes shine brighter.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered.
"Keeping you alive," he said quietly. "You shouldn't be near that man."
I frowned. "Elara's fiancé? Why? What did he do?"
Draven looked toward the door. "He doesn't know what he is yet, but when the next dark moon rises, he will. And if you're close to him then, you'll die."
I shook my head. "You're not making sense, Draven. What are you talking about?"
He stepped even closer until I could feel his breath on my skin. "There are old things in your blood, Ravena. Things your parents tried to hide. He belongs to the same line that destroyed them."
"My parents died in a car crash," I said, almost shouting.
Draven's voice stayed calm. "Their car didn't crash on its own. Something hunted them on the road that night."
The word hunted made my stomach twist.
Before I could ask more, the restroom door opened. A woman came in, smiling awkwardly. I turned around for just one second. When I looked back, Draven was gone.
I returned to the table. Elara looked worried. "Ravena, are you okay? You look pale."
"I'm fine," I lied, forcing a smile. "I just felt dizzy."
Her fiancé, Arion, looked at me kindly. "Do you want me to call a doctor?"
The way he said the doctor made me shiver for no reason. His voice sounded normal, but I could still feel Draven's warning echoing in my head. He doesn't know what he is yet.
I shook my head quickly. "No, I'll be fine."
But I couldn't eat. Every time Arion lifted his fork, I kept imagining claws instead of fingers. It was crazy, I told myself, completely crazy.
When dinner ended, Elara hugged me tight. "You've been working too much," she said. "Promise me you'll rest."
"I will," I said softly.
But I knew I wouldn't.
That night, I sat in my study with all the lights on. The house felt too quiet. My phone was on the table, the mysterious note lying beside it.
I picked up the note again. The handwriting looked even stranger under the lamp light. At the bottom corner, barely visible, there was a faint mark, a small crescent moon drawn in dark ink.
I traced it with my finger. It almost felt like dried blood.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number:
Check the security camera footage from last night. 11:47 p.m.
My heart skipped. I opened my laptop and logged into my home camera feed. The screen showed the living room, empty and silent. The clock on the wall changed to 11:47 p.m., and then, Movement.
A tall shadow walked across the floor. The figure stopped in front of the camera and lifted his head.
Draven.
But his eyes glowed like fire, and for a brief second, I saw something behind him, a huge dark shape with fur and sharp claws, like a wolf made of smoke.
Then the feed cut off.
I jumped up, slamming the laptop shut. My chest felt tight.
"Who are you, Draven?" I whispered to the empty room.
I couldn't sleep. Around midnight, I heard soft footsteps outside my door. I grabbed a lamp and held it tight.
"Who's there?" No answer.
The handle turned slowly.
I was ready to scream when I heard a familiar voice. "It's me, Callum."
I froze. "Callum?"
The door opened. He stood there calmly, dressed in black again, his face pale under the dim light.
"You shouldn't look for answers in the dark," he said softly.
I stepped back. "You disappeared. I told you not to come into my room."
He nodded slowly. "You're right. But the moon is changing. Draven wanted me to warn you before it begins."
"Before what begins?"
"The pull."
"What pull?"
He looked up at the ceiling as if listening to something only he could hear. "You'll feel it soon. The call of your blood. When it happens, don't fight it. It's the only way you'll survive."
I swallowed hard. "Callum, I need you to explain what's happening."
He smiled sadly. "You were born under the dark moon, Ravena. That night marked you. The same way it marked him."
"Who?" "Draven."
Before I could say anything else, the lights in the room flickered again. A loud growl echoed through the walls, deep and sharp, not from any speaker or animal I knew.
When I looked back at Callum, he was gone.
Only the smell of smoke and wild earth lingered in the air.
The next morning, I found muddy footprints in the hallway, huge, claw-shaped prints leading from my door to the balcony.
My maid swore no one had entered. My security guards said the cameras had stopped working between midnight and 3 a.m.
I wanted to leave the house, to run away somewhere bright and normal, but I couldn't. Something inside me whispered that I needed to stay.
That evening, Elara called again. She wanted to visit with Arion.
My heart sank, but I couldn't tell her no.
When they arrived, I hugged her tightly, maybe too tightly. "I'm glad you came," I said.
Arion smiled politely. "We brought you something." He handed me a small silver box. "It's a charm. My grandmother said it protects against nightmares."
The box was cold in my hands. Inside was a silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon.
"Thank you," I said slowly.
But the moment my fingers touched the pendant, a sharp pain shot through my chest. I gasped and dropped it on the floor.
Elara screamed. "Ravena! What happened?"
"I— I don't know," I whispered, holding my heart. It felt like something was burning inside me.
Arion quickly picked up the pendant, his eyes darkening for a second. "Maybe you're allergic to silver," he said softly.
But the way he said silver made chills run down my spine.
That night, I placed the pendant on my table and stared at it for hours. The metal gleamed under the moonlight, and I noticed strange letters carved on the back, letters that looked more like claws than words.
I tried to read them aloud, but my tongue couldn't form the sound. My throat tightened until I felt like choking.
Suddenly, my window burst open. The wind blew so hard that papers flew everywhere. I looked up and saw Draven standing there again, his coat fluttering behind him.
"Don't touch that thing!" he shouted.
I backed away. "It's just a pendant!"
"It's not!" he said, snatching it off the table. "It's a binding mark. If you wear it again, you'll be theirs."
"Theirs? Who are they, Draven?"
He looked at me, his face tense. "The ones who serve the silver moon. The same ones who killed your parents."
My knees went weak. "You keep saying that. Why should I believe you?"
He moved closer, his voice lower now, almost gentle. "Because I was there the night they died."
My heart stopped. "What?"
"I tried to save them," he said. "But I was too late."
I stared at him, speechless.
He looked pained, almost human again. "You deserve the truth, but not here. Not tonight. There are eyes watching this house."
I wanted to grab his arm, make him stay, make him explain everything. But before I could move, the wind howled louder, and the lights went out.
In the darkness, I heard him whisper close to my ear, "When the next dark moon rises, I'll tell you everything."
Then silence.
When the power came back, he was gone again, and the pendant had turned black like burned metal.
I sat on the floor, shaking. Every sound in the house felt louder, the ticking clock, the rustling curtains, even my own breath.
I looked up at the window. The moon outside was no longer pale. It had turned a deep red, glowing faintly against the clouds.
And somewhere in the distance, I heard a long, deep howl that made the glass tremble.
Not a normal animal sound.
Something bigger.
Something waiting.
I pressed my hand to my heart and whispered to myself, "What are you, Draven?"
The howl came again, closer this time.
I hears the first true call of the dark moon, and the line between man and beast begins to break.