Maya & Jess head to the pop‑up gallery. Maya tugged on her paint‑splattered denim jacket, checked her phone, and typed "Meet you at 7, outside the old warehouse on 3rd. Can't wait to see your installations!"
Jess replied with a quick thumbs up. They meet under the flickering streetlamp, rain dripping off the rusted metal doors. Inside, the warehouse had been turned into a neon‑lit pop‑up gallery, indie beats thumping, fresh canvas smell everywhere.
The pop up which was titled "Eclipsed Echoes" showed digital art and live‑painting stations. Jess's piece which was a massive rotating glass sphere projecting fragmented faces; one fragment eerily resembled Maya's own but she shrugged it off.
Everything was going well until… A sudden power surge fried the main breaker. Lights cut, the DJ's set died, and the glass sphere shivered, crack lines spider‑webbed across it. A sharp pop rang out and the sphere exploded sending shards flying like glitter knives.
Maya's heart pounded. A shard sliced Jess's arm; blood sprayed, bright crimson, pulsing like it matched the sphere's rhythm.
Maya was frozen at the sight but quickly regained composure. She grabbed Jess, yanked her toward the emergency exit, shouted, "We gotta go, now!" Alarms wailed, sprinklers rained down, smoke filled the space.
They burst out into the rain‑slick alley just as sirens wailed in the distance. Maya glanced back—through the broken doorway a faint violet glow seeped from the wreckage, matching the engraved symbol on her palm.
Maya's phone buzzed: a text from an unknown number
"Meet me at the old cathedral, 8 pm. The sphere's moving" . She stared at the violet glow, the rain, the blood on Jess's arm, realizing the chaos wasn't just an accident—it was a signal.
She turned to Jess, breathless, "You okay? We need to get you to a hospital, then I… I gotta go."
~
Back to present
"But I'm glad you came."
Maya's hand trembled. She always saw a faint glow around people—a thin line of light. Around him, the glow was a deep violet storm, swirling fast. "Who… what are you?" she whispered, though part of her already guessed he couldn't be human.
He smiled, a tiny fang flashing at the corner of his mouth. "I'm Damon. You just walked into a world you can't unsee."
He brushed his thumb over Maya's lower lip. A sudden heat rushed through her, like fire under her skin, and a wave of desire rose inside her, something she'd never felt before. Damon leaned close, breath cold against her ear. "Let me show you what it means to truly feel," he whispered.
Maya tried to speak, but the words stuck. The beat grew louder, the lights flashed faster, and the world seemed to spin. She could hear her own heart pounding, matching the rhythm of the music. A shiver ran down her spine, and she realized she stood on a line between two worlds: the ordinary life she knew and a hidden world of magic and danger.
"What do you want from me?" she finally asked, voice barely louder than the rain outside.
Damon's eyes softened. "I want you, Maya. Not just for a night, but for something that could change both of us forever."
Maya snaps back to reality "you are talking crazy,is this some sort of trick?". "It's not a trick, my blood is tied to yours. I know it's hard to understand but give me a chance and I would explain" Damon says, eyes searching hers
Just as Maya's still contemplating, her sigil ignites, Damon's fangs sink into her neck. The world goes dark, and she feels their bond snap into place.
"Mine," Damon whispers in her mind. "Forever."
But as Maya's vision blurs, she hears another voice—a voice that's not Damon's. "You shouldn't have chosen him."
Maya's regains consciousness, her vision snaps back into focus as Damon's grip on her tightened, his eyes scanning her face with an intensity that made her heart race. For a moment, she wondered if he'd heard the voice in her mind, but his expression seemed more concerned than knowing.
"Hey, you okay?" Damon asked, his voice low and rough. "You went pale."
Maya raises her hand and slaps him across the face. Damon was dumbfounded but understood. Maya hesitates, unsure how to process what just happened. The voice still echoed in her mind, its words intertwining with her own thoughts like a sinister whisper. "He doesn't know what he's bound you to." She pushed the thought away, focusing on Damon.
"I'm fine," she lied, pulling back slightly. "Just… what just happened?"
Damon's gaze lingered, but he let her change the subject. "Your sigil reacted to the bond. It's normal, I think. We just need to get used to it."
But Maya knew "normal" was a stretch. The bond felt like a live wire humming through her veins, and the voice… the voice felt like a warning.
As if sensing her unease, Damon's grip on her hand tightened. "We'll figure this out, together. I promise."
The sincerity in his eyes made Maya's chest ache. She wanted to trust him, to believe he knew what they were getting into. But the voice's words lingered: "He doesn't know what he's bound you to"
Maya's palm snaps bright violet, like a flashbulb going off in the rain‑slick alley. The light flickers against Damon's black‑thread aura, making a thin line of violet‑black fire dance between them for a heartbeat.
"Whoa—" Maya gasps, pulling her hand back, eyes locked on the glow. "That… that's new."
Damon's jaw tightens; his aura shivers, a low hum humming in the air.
"That's the bond trying to lock. When our energies sync, the sigil lights up. If we both want it, we can make it stick. If not… it fizzles out."
Maya searches his eyes for anything or any hint of mistrust or betrayal but she felt nothing. Infact she felt the opposite like he would always be there to catch her if she falls and it puts her at ease
"Oh and another thing. Being bound means we are mate for life…"
"WHAT?"