Seraphina's POV
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs shook.
The garden behind Thornwood Manor was dark and overgrown, full of twisted oak trees and stone benches covered in moss. I collapsed on one, gasping for air, my hands trembling so badly I could barely hold them still.
A vampire. THE Vampire Lord. The monster whose kind killed my mother.
My mate.
"No," I whispered to the empty garden. "No, no, no. This isn't real. It can't be real."
But the burning in my chest said otherwise. Where my magic used to live—that hollow, empty space—now pulsed with golden light. The bond. I could FEEL him even from here. Feel his shock. His confusion. His desperate need to find me.
It made me want to throw up.
I pressed my hands to my chest, trying to push the feeling away. It didn't work. The bond hummed like a living thing, connecting me to Dante Moretti whether I wanted it or not.
"This is a nightmare," I muttered. "I'm going to wake up and none of this will be real. No betrayal. No stripped magic. No vampire mate—"
"Talking to yourself is a sign of madness, you know."
I screamed and jumped off the bench, spinning around.
A man stood in the shadows between two oak trees. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Wearing a raven mask that covered the top half of his face. But his eyes—I could see them even in the darkness. Dark and intense and fixed on me like I was the only thing in the world.
"Who are you?" My voice shook. "How did you find me?"
"I followed you." He stepped closer, moving like water. Smooth and silent. Predator-like. "You ran from the ballroom like something was chasing you. I wanted to make sure you were safe."
Vampire. Every instinct screamed it. The way he moved. The coldness radiating from him. The slight glow of red at the edges of his dark eyes.
I backed up. "Stay away from me."
"I won't hurt you." He raised his hands, showing empty palms. "I promise. I just want to talk."
"Vampires don't 'just talk.' You hunt. You kill. You—" My voice broke. "You murdered my mother."
He went completely still. "Your mother?"
"Twenty years ago. Halloween Massacre. Vampires slaughtered dozens of witches including the High Priestess." Tears burned my eyes but I wouldn't let them fall. Not in front of a vampire. "So forgive me if I don't trust your promises."
"I didn't kill your mother." His voice was soft. Gentle. Wrong coming from something so dangerous. "I swear on everything I am. I would never—"
"All vampires lie. It's what you do." I glanced toward the ballroom, gauging the distance. Could I run? Would he catch me? "Just leave me alone."
"I can't."
Something in his voice made me look at him again. Really look. Even behind the mask, I could see pain on his face. Old pain. Deep pain. The kind that doesn't heal.
"Why not?" I whispered.
He moved closer—just one step—and I felt it. That pull. The same one from the ballroom. Like invisible strings tied between us, tugging me toward him.
No. This couldn't be happening twice. First with Dante, now with this stranger?
Unless...
"Are you..." I couldn't say it. Couldn't voice the terrifying thought forming in my mind.
"Dance with me," he said instead of answering.
"What?"
"One dance. Under the Blood Moon." He held out his hand. Long fingers. Pale skin. Strong. "If you still want me to leave after, I'll go. But give me this. Please."
"You're insane. Why would I dance with a vampire?"
"Because you feel it too." His eyes held mine. "That pull. That CONNECTION. You felt it in the ballroom when the moon rose. You feel it now."
My heart hammered. He was right. The pull was stronger with him standing close. My chest ached with it. The bond—the mate bond—throbbed like a second heartbeat.
"You're him," I breathed. "You're Dante. Without the mask off, you came after me—"
"No." He shook his head quickly. "I'm not Dante Moretti. I'm just someone who saw a woman running like her world was ending. Someone who wanted to make sure she was okay."
Liar. He had to be lying. The bond only connected to one person. My mate. Which meant this vampire was either Dante in disguise or—
Or the bond was pulling me toward someone else. Which was impossible.
"One dance," he repeated, his hand still extended. "Then I'll answer any question you want. Tell you anything you need to know. But right now, under this moon, I just want to dance with the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
I should refuse. Should run back to the ballroom and find Bella and get as far from vampires as possible.
Instead, I heard myself ask, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you want to dance with me? You don't know me. I could be anyone behind this mask."
His smile was sad. "You're not anyone. You're extraordinary. I can feel it. The power radiating from you. The strength. Even hurt and scared, you're magnificent."
Something in my chest cracked. When was the last time someone called me magnificent? Marcus used to call me pretty. Useful. Smart. But never magnificent.
"I don't have power anymore," I admitted. "My magic was stripped today. I'm nobody."
"You're glowing right now. Purple and silver light pouring off you like starlight." He stepped closer, his hand still waiting. "Whatever was taken from you is coming back. Stronger than before."
I looked down at my hands. He was right. I WAS glowing. Faint but real. Magic pulsing under my skin for the first time since the council stripped my power.
"How?" I whispered.
"The Blood Moon. It awakens things. Changes things. Brings back what was lost." His voice dropped lower. "Dance with me, and I'll show you just how powerful you really are."
Every smart part of my brain screamed to refuse. He was vampire. Dangerous. Possibly Dante playing games with me.
But the bond PULLED. And my magic SURGED. And for the first time all day, I felt like myself again.
"One dance," I said firmly. "Then you leave and never bother me again."
"Deal."
I placed my hand in his. His skin was cold—vampire cold—but the moment we touched, heat exploded between us. Magic. Pure and bright and overwhelming.
He gasped. So did I.
"What was that?" I tried to pull away but he held firm.
"I don't know. But it felt like coming home." He drew me closer, one hand at my waist, the other holding mine. "Trust me?"
"Not even a little bit."
He laughed—a real laugh that sounded surprised. "Honest. I like that."
Then he started moving, and I forgot how to think.
He danced like he'd been doing it for centuries. Probably had. Smooth and confident, leading me through steps I'd never learned but somehow knew. The magic between us built with each turn, each step, until we were both glowing—him with crimson light, me with purple-silver.
"This is impossible," I breathed as we spun under the Blood Moon. "Vampire and witch magic don't mix. We're opposites. It should hurt."
"Maybe we're not as opposite as everyone thinks." He pulled me closer, close enough that I could feel the coldness of him. "Maybe that's the lie they told us to keep us apart."
"My mother died believing vampires were evil."
"My entire family burned believing witches were monsters." His voice roughened with old grief. "But right now, dancing with you, I don't feel like a monster. I feel alive for the first time in three hundred years."
Three hundred years. He was ancient. Old enough to have lived through the original wars between our kinds. Old enough to have seen everything.
Old enough to have known my mother?
"Were you there?" I asked quietly. "At the Halloween Massacre. Did you see what happened to her?"
He missed a step. Just one. Then recovered. "I can't—that's not—"
"You were there." I stopped dancing, pulling away. "You saw her die. Maybe you even—"
"I tried to SAVE her!" The words exploded from him. "Elena was my friend. My ally. We were working together to stop the war. And I FAILED." His chest heaved even though vampires didn't breathe. "I've spent twenty years wishing I could go back. Wishing I'd been faster. Stronger. Better."
My world tilted. "You knew my mother?"
"Elena Ashwood. Most powerful High Priestess the Sacred Oak Coven ever had. She believed vampires and witches could coexist. She died proving it." He looked at me with such pain. "And you have her eyes. Her face. Her courage."
"I'm not courageous. I'm broken. I spent today watching my sister steal my life while I did nothing."
"You're here, aren't you? Still standing. Still fighting. That's courage." He reached up slowly, giving me time to pull away. When I didn't, he cupped my face with one cold hand. "Your mother would be proud."
The bond flared between us, bright and hot and CERTAIN.
And I knew. Knew with absolute certainty who this vampire really was.
"You lied," I whispered. "You said you weren't Dante."
His body went rigid. "I never said—"
"You're him. The Vampire Lord. My..." I couldn't say it. Couldn't voice the word mate. "Why did you follow me? Why pretend to be someone else?"
"Because when you looked at me in the ballroom, you looked at me like I was a monster. Like you wanted to kill me." He lowered his hand but didn't step back. "I wanted one moment where you didn't hate me. One moment where we were just two people under the moon. Was that so wrong?"
"You LIED to me!"
"I omitted. There's a difference."
"Not to me!" I shoved at his chest. He didn't move. Didn't budge. Vampire strength. "I told you vampires lie. And you proved me right!"
"Seraphina, please—"
"Don't call me that. You don't know me. You don't get to say my name like we're—like we're—" The bond pulled so hard it hurt. "This isn't real. Mate bonds between witches and vampires don't exist anymore. It's impossible."
"Look at us." He gestured to our glowing hands, still touching despite my anger. "Look at the magic. The connection. Tell me this isn't real."
I couldn't. Because it WAS real. Terrifyingly, impossibly real.
"I need to go." I backed toward the ballroom. "Stay away from me. I mean it. Whatever this bond is, I don't want it."
"The bond doesn't care what we want. It just IS."
"Then I'll break it."
"You can't break a mate bond. No one can. It's written in the oldest magic—"
An explosion rocked Thornwood Manor.
We both spun toward the ballroom. Flames shot through the broken windows. Screams erupted. The smell of burning and blood and death magic filled the air.
"No," I breathed. "Bella. She's in there. All of them—"
Dante grabbed my arm. "You can't go back. It's too dangerous."
"Let GO!" I yanked away, magic surging. "My best friend is in there. My coven. I don't care if it's dangerous!"
Another explosion. More screams.
Then a voice—amplified by magic—echoed across the garden.
"SERAPHINA ASHWOOD! We know you're here! Come out, or everyone in this ballroom dies!"
My blood turned to ice.
Dante's eyes flashed pure red. "Who is that?"
"I don't know." But the voice felt familiar. Old. Wrong.
"We'll give you sixty seconds!" the voice continued. "Sixty seconds to surrender yourself, or we start killing witches. Your choice, daughter of Elena!"
"They want me," I whispered. "This is about me."
"Then we run. Now. I'll get you somewhere safe—"
"Are you insane? They'll kill everyone!"
"They'll kill YOU if you go in there!" Dante moved in front of me, blocking my path. "I just found you. I'm not losing you like I lost your mother."
"You don't get a vote." I shoved past him, my magic flaring bright. "I won't let innocent people die because of me."
"Seraphina, STOP!"
But I was already running toward the burning ballroom, toward the screams, toward whatever monster was using my name to terrorize my coven.
Behind me, I heard Dante curse. Then his footsteps following.
"Thirty seconds!" the voice called.
I burst through the garden doors into chaos.
The ballroom was destroyed. Windows shattered. Bodies on the floor—unconscious or dead, I couldn't tell. And standing in the center of it all were three figures that made my soul scream in recognition.
Demons.
Actual demons with burning eyes and cracked skin showing flames underneath. Ancient and evil and WRONG.
But worse than the demons themselves was what they held.
Bella. Unconscious. One demon's clawed hand wrapped around her throat.
"There you are," the lead demon said, smiling with too many teeth. "Elena's daughter. We've been looking for you for twenty years."
"Let her go." My voice came out stronger than I felt. "You want me? Fine. Take me. Just let everyone else go."
"Seraphina, no!" Dante appeared beside me, fangs fully extended. "Don't negotiate with them!"
The demon's eyes widened. "Well, well. The Vampire Lord. How convenient. We can kill two birds with one stone." His grip tightened on Bella's throat. She whimpered, eyes fluttering. "Here's the deal. Both of you surrender, come quietly, and we let these witches live. Refuse, and we paint these walls with their blood."
"Why do you want us?" I demanded.
"Because you're special, Seraphina Ashwood. You and your vampire mate." The demon's smile widened. "You're the first Mating Bond in five hundred years. The first Twilight Witch to awaken since your mother died. And our master wants to use that power to open a door that should stay closed forever."
Ice filled my veins. "What door?"
"The door between Hell and Earth. The one your mother died protecting." The demon's eyes glowed brighter. "She sacrificed herself to keep it sealed. But now you're here. Now the bond has awakened. And everything she died for is about to be undone."
Dante grabbed my hand, our magic flaring together. "We won't let that happen."
"You don't have a choice. Surrender now, or watch everyone you love die. Starting with this one." The demon's claws pressed into Bella's skin, drawing blood.
"STOP!" I stepped forward. "I'll do it. I'll come with you. Just please—"
The demon smiled. "Smart girl. Just like your mother. Too bad she's not here to see how this ends."
Then everything went black.