Chapter 2

• LYDIA
• “Lydia, hold on!” The voice cuts through the chaos—low, rough, and filled with urgency.
• I blink through the blur, dizzy and half-conscious. My body is heavy, my skin cold, and the sound of metal scraping against metal echoes all around me.
• Then I see him.
• A stranger steps out from the shadows, his movements powerful and sharp. As his hand rises, the darkness around us shifts—it bends, follows, and obeys him. The air itself seems to tremble when he moves. I don’t understand what I’m seeing. How did he do that? And… how does he know my name?
• The chains holding me suddenly shatter apart. I collapse forward, but instead of hitting the ground, I fall straight into his arms. The stranger catches me effortlessly, pulling me close against his chest.
• He smells like the forest after rain, earthy, deep, and clean, with a trace of something darker, like smoke and old cologne. The scent pulls me in, wrapping me in a strange sense of safety, something I haven’t felt in a long time.
• “Lydia, talk to me. Are you okay?” His voice is warm but strained with worry.
• His hand grazes my cheek, urging me to look up. The moment our eyes meet, the world tilts. His face is close, too close. I can feel his breath brushing my lips, and for one impossible moment, I think I could reach out and drink him in with a single breath.
• “I…” My voice breaks. The dizziness returns. My forehead drops against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat grounding me while everything else spins out of control.
• “Don’t worry,” he whispers. “I’m getting you out of here.”
• Before I can ask anything, he scoops me into his arms again. My arms instinctively loop around his neck as he takes off running. The world becomes a blur of cold air and motion.
• Someone shouts behind us, a voice thick with anger, but he doesn’t slow down. When I risk a glance back, I see them. Dozens of hooded figures following us, their faces hidden in shadow.
• Fear rises in my throat. My body tenses.
• But the stranger only growls. His tone is inhuman, deep, sharp, and filled with power. One of his hands darkens, the shadows twisting up his arm like living smoke. Then, suddenly, they leap from him, crashing into our pursuers.
• The hooded figures vanish, swallowed whole by the darkness.
• “Impossible…” I breathe. My body shakes, half from fear, half from disbelief.
• He doesn’t answer. He just holds me tighter and leaps, actually leaps, up several meters to the top of a broken stairway. His strength is unreal.
• A voice rings out from behind us. “Dex!”
• The stranger turns sharply, his grip tightening on me. I follow his gaze and freeze. It’s the same man who bit me, the one who drank my blood. Baron.
• He’s coming toward us, fast as a shadow.
• But Dex doesn’t hesitate. He raises his hand, and the darkness obeys. Black chains burst from the ground, snaring Baron’s body and locking him in place. The vampire thrashes, snarling, his voice echoing like a thousand knives scraping stone.
• Dex turns back to me, urgency flashing in his green eyes. “We have to go. I can’t hold him for long.”
• His foot slams against a door, kicking it open. A flood of white light spills into the stairway as he runs through it, carrying me into a long corridor. Behind us, the doorway melts into blackness, swallowing the world we just escaped from.
• Only when we reach the end of the hall does Dex stop. He lowers me gently to my feet. His eyes, leaf green and strangely soft, search my face. His hand cups my cheek, warm and trembling slightly.
• “Lydia, please,” he says quietly. “Tell me you’re okay.”
• I blink at him, trying to steady my breathing. His concern feels real, too real, like he actually cares. But how could he? I don’t even know him.
• “I don’t understand what’s happening,” I whisper.
• Dex curses softly under his breath. “That damn Baron,” he growls. His hand moves to my neck. “You’re still bleeding… Wait.”
• Before I can stop him, he leans in. His lips touch the spot where Baron bit me. A jolt of shock shoots through me, followed by a strange warmth spreading from his mouth through my veins.
• My hands clutch the front of his leather jacket. My thoughts blur as his breath brushes my skin.
• “Dex…” I whisper weakly.
• He pulls back a second later, spitting the blood to the floor. His thumb wipes the corner of his mouth before he looks at me again.
• “Better?” he asks softly.
• I swallow hard, my heartbeat loud in my ears. “A little. Thank you… but why are you doing this? You don’t even know me.”
• He laughs bitterly, the sound dark and broken. “Don’t know you?” His gaze hardens, though there’s pain behind it. “Lydia, do you really not remember who I am?”
• I frown, searching his face. “No… should I?”
• The shift in him is immediate. The warmth vanishes. His jaw tightens, and for a moment, I swear I see something in him fracture, like glass cracking under pressure.
• “I’ll kill him for this,” Dex mutters, voice low and deadly. He stands, scooping me up again before I can react. “We’re leaving. Now.”
• The world rushes past us once more. Behind us, I hear the sound of struggling and the groaning of shadows trying to reopen the sealed door.
• Dex bursts through an abandoned lobby, his boots slamming against the cracked floor, then pushes through a heavy door that opens into the night. We end up in a dark alley, the air cold and damp.
• He keeps moving until we reach a row of parked motorcycles, stopping in front of a sleek black one.
• “Your name is Dex, right?” I manage to ask.
• He nods once.
• “Please… tell me what’s happening. I don’t understand any of this.”
• Dex exhales slowly, his jaw tight. “You will. I promise. But first, I have to get you somewhere safe.”
• He sits me on the motorcycle, adjusting me carefully so I’m steady. Then he climbs on behind me.
• “Hold on to me,” he says.
• This time, I don’t argue. My strength is gone, and all I can do is lean into him. My cheek rests against his chest as my arms loop around his waist.
• He starts the engine, and the roar of it drowns out my thoughts. The bike surges forward, carrying us away from the nightmare that almost claimed me.
• For the first time tonight, I allow myself to breathe.
• And for reasons I can’t explain, I feel safe in the arms of the stranger who calls me by name.