Between Blood and Ink
The night air smelled of rain and iron. The cliffs below Blackthorn Academy roared with waves, as if warning any foolish enough to venture too close.
Ariana Blake stood on the balcony, her fingers gripping the cold stone railing. She was human, alone, and entirely out of place in a world that thrived on darkness. And yet… she had a sense that tonight, fate would not let her stay safe.
A shadow moved behind her. Tall. Golden eyes glinting like molten sunlight, dark hair falling carelessly across a sculpted face. Jayden Cole.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said, his voice low, smooth, dangerous.
“I could ask you the same,” she replied, refusing to turn around.
He stepped closer, and she felt the heat of him before she saw him. There was power in every movement, in every breath. Vampires moved differently—calculated, lethal, magnetic. And Jayden… Jayden was an entirely different kind of danger.
“Do you even belong here?” he asked softly, almost a whisper, yet every word carried weight.
“I belong wherever I choose,” Ariana said, though her pulse betrayed her confidence.
For a moment, neither moved. The storm raged outside, lightning illuminating the dark balcony. And then, without warning, the distance between them disappeared.
One look, one touch, one fleeting brush of hands—and the world narrowed until it was just the two of them.
By dawn, the night had ended. Shadows remained tangled on the balcony, heat lingering in stolen touches, hearts beating faster than reason allowed.
Ariana woke hours later with Jayden’s presence still on her skin, an ache she didn’t understand. He was gone. She didn’t know where he had gone, and she didn’t know why she could not forget him.
Somewhere far away, in the silence beneath the academy, whispers stirred:
“From fire and shadow, blood shall claim destiny. One night of passion will shape the future of the living and the damned.”
A secret had been sown tonight—one that would bind their lives forever, whether they wanted it or not.