Chapter 8 Mira Learns Vampires Exist

• Mira had always believed monsters wore human faces but she just never expected it to be true. The car ride had been silent, Cassian’s hands gripped the wheel with lethal calm, his gaze fixed ahead, his expression unreadable. Rain streaked the windows, the world outside blurred into shadow and glass. Mira sat curled in the passenger seat, her fingers trembling despite the warmth of her borrowed coat.
• He was taking her away, not to a hotel, not to some apartment. No — to a safehouse, he’d said. But something in the way he said it like it was not the first time he’d had to hide someone, made her chest tighten.
• “Where are we going?” she finally whispered.
• Cassian didn’t look at her. “A place no vampire can cross without my invitation.”
• “You keep saying vampire,” she murmured. “Like it’s a real thing.”
• He turned his head just enough for their eyes to meet. His gaze was ice and fire all at once.
• “It is.”
• Her stomach knotted. “So… you’re really—?”
• “Yes.”
• Mira leaned back against the seat, heartbeat like thunder. She stared out into the night everything had changed no, shattered. The man who haunted her dreams was something ancient. Something dangerous and apparently… not the only one.
• “You could’ve told me,” she muttered.
• “You wouldn’t have believed me.” I still do not, her voice cracked. “Not really.”
• “You saw Selene,” he said calmly. “You felt Malrec’s hunger and still you doubt?”
• “I have to doubt,” she snapped. “Because if I believe any of this, then it means the world is worse than I thought. It means nothing is safe,” Cassian did not answer. The silence returned but not the quiet kind, it pulsed, thick and alive.
• Finally, the car curved off the road and onto a long, tree-shrouded driveway. At the end stood a manor that looked torn from another century gothic iron gates, ivy-choked walls, windows like watching eyes. The headlights splashed across old stone and disappeared into darkness.
• Mira sat up straighter. “This is where you live?”
• “No,” he said. “This is where I hide what I care about.”
• The doors creaked open as they stepped inside. The interior was dim, but grand, polished wood floors. Crimson drapes and dusty chandeliers, the walls were lined with ancient portraits none smiling. The air smelled like old roses and colder things. Mira’s skin prickled, this is not normal, she whispered.
• Cassian glanced at her over his shoulder. “No part of me is.”
• He brought her to a room on the second floor lavish velvet sheets, carved headboard, gold-framed mirror cracked in the corner.
• “Sleep here tonight,” he said. “This wing is warded and nothing can get in.” Mira turned to him,“Why do they want me dead?” His face darkened, because they see you as an abomination.
• “I’m still human.”
• “For now,” he murmured. “But the bond has marked you. That scent they follow—it means more than blood. It means claim to them, you’re either a threat to their power... or a prize they want to steal.”
• She stepped closer. “Then why don’t you just let me go?”
• His expression flickered. “Because I tried and every time I think I can walk away—” he reached up, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, “—I feel your breath like it’s mine.”
• Her lips parted and her skin flushed. The space between them hummed with electricity. Mira could feel her body leaning into his, drawn by something she didn’t understand. Something deeper than want.
• It was need.
• She placed her hand on his chest, his heart didn’t beat. But something pulsed old magic, ancient hunger.
• He caught her wrist gently.
• “If you stay,” he said hoarsely, “I can’t promise to hold back much longer.”
• “Then don’t,” she whispered.
• His lips hovered inches from hers but he stopped, shaking slightly.
• “I have to,” he breathed. “Because if I take you now, you won’t be human anymore and you deserve the choice.” Mira stared into his eyes, searching for the monster but she didn’t find one only pain, longing and something that felt terrifyingly close to love.
• The night wore on Mira lay in the wide bed, unable to sleep. Every sound in the manor seemed louder in the dark the creak of wood, the shift of wind, the whisper of her own thoughts.
• She rose, bare feet brushing the cool floor, and wandered the hall. Halfway down the corridor, she found a door ajar inside, firelight flickered.
• Cassian sat in a high-backed chair, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, a glass of dark red liquid in his hand.
• “Can’t sleep?” he asked without turning.
• “No.” She stepped inside.
• He motioned to the seat across from him she sat. “What is it?” she asked. “What you’re drinking?”
• He looked down at the glass. “Truth.” She raised a brow and he chuckled. “Blood donated not taken. I don’t feed on humans anymore.” “Because of me?” He met her gaze because of who I used to be.
• Mira studied him, this immortal creature spoke with so much sorrow.
• “Do vampires… feel?” she asked quietly.
• Cassian looked almost surprised. “Yes but most of us forget how.”
• “Not you.”
• “No,” he said. “Not since you.”
• Her breath caught.
• Then, he stood up slowly and walked to her side. He reached out, brushing his fingers across her pulse point.
• “You asked me earlier why they want you dead,” he said. “It’s not just because you’re mine. It’s because of what you might become.”
• “What’s that?”
• He tilted her chin. “The one thing they fear most.”
• Her voice was barely a whisper and what is that?
• “A queen,” he said. “One with fire in her blood... and me at her side.”
• Mira stared at him, heart thudding.
• He leaned in, their lips brushed. Not a kiss yet just the promise of one, his breath whispered against her mouth.
• “You were never meant to live in shadows,” he murmured. “You were meant to rule them.”
• She closed her eyes and this time, when he disappeared into the dark… she wanted to follow.