The moon hung heavy in the sky, a blood-red disc casting its eerie glow over the jagged peaks surrounding Lilith Conrad's castle. Alexander stood at the edge of the cliff, his gaze locked on the looming fortress ahead, its stone towers rising like skeletal fingers against the night sky. The wind whipped around him, carrying with it the scent of old blood and the distant echo of a time he'd spent centuries trying to forget.
He had not wanted to return here, but he had no choice. Lilith had forced his hand.
With a final, sharp breath, Alexander stepped forward, his boots crunching over the frost-covered earth as he approached the iron gates. They groaned open at his approach, as if the castle itself recognised him, welcoming him back into its fold. His every instinct scream to turn back, to leave this cursed place behind, but he pressed on, his jaw clenched agains the flood of memories rising within him.
The grand doors stood before him, dark and imposing. Without hesitation, he pushed them open, stepping into the great hall beyond. The air inside was thick with the scent of old stone and decay, a suffocating weight pressing down on him as he strode deeper into the castle. Flickering torches cast long shadows across the walls, but the light did little to pierce the darkness that clung to every corner.
And then, there she was-Lilith.
She sat perched on a throne of cracked marble, her black gown pooling around her like spilled ink. Her eyes, an ancient shade of crimson, flickered as they met Alexander's across the vast emptiness. A smile twisted her lips, slow and predatory, the way it always did when she knew she had already won.
"Alexander." She purred, her voice barely louder than a whisper, yet it filled the space with an eerie resonance. She crossed her legs, resting one arm lazily on the armrest of her makeshift throne. "Your visit is unexpected. What's the matter, couldn't bear to stay away?"
Alexander clenched his fists at his sides, stepping further into the castle. He kept his movements slow, measured, his dark coat sweeping the floor behind him. "This ends now. Tonight."
She tilted her head, mock confusion furrowing her brow. "End? What ends? Surely not us?"
He stopped a few paces from her, his jaw tight. For a moment, he couldn't speak, not with the raw fury building in his chest. Not with the memories of what they'd been-what she'd been-surfacing like ghosts in the back of his mind. It wasn't long ago that they had stood together, immortality bound by passion and blood, a promise they swore never to break. But those days were gone, fractured by her cruelty, by her insatiable need to control.
By what she'd done to the girl.
"Leave her alone, Lilith. You've crossed a line." Alexander said, his voice low, dangerous.
Lilith's smile widened, her fangs glinting in the pale light. "The human girl?" She asked, her tone dripping with amusement. "Don't tell me if you've grown to care for her? She's a child. A fleeting mortal."
"She's more than that." Alexander snapped, stepping closer, his fists clenched at his sides. "Much more."
"She'll be dust before you even begin to know her. You're mine, Alexander. You always have been." She said, her gaze locking on his with a fierce intensity. "And I don't share."
Alexander felt the weight of her words like a vice around his chest. Memories surged-nights of blood and passion, whispered promises in the dark. But that was lifetimes ago. This wasn't about him and Lilith anymore. This was about the girl, innocent and unknowing, caught in a web she didn't deserve.
"You lost me long ago." Alexander said, his voice low, almost a growl. "If you touch her, I swear by the blood we once shared, I will destroy you."
Lilith's eyes flashed with fury, but for a moment, beneath the anger, there was something else-something raw, unhealed. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, replaced by cold malice. "You don't mean that."
"I didn't come here to play your games." He said, his voice low and cold. "I'm here to make sure you never go near her again."
Lilith's eyes flashed with something sharp, dangerous. "And how, exactly, do you plan to do that?" She asked, her voice sweet and mocking. "You forget who you're dealing with, my love. You don't dictate terms to me."
"You killed her mother, Lilith. You shattered her life." His eyes darkened, the pupils narrowing into slits of deep black. "And now, she's coming for us. For all of us."
Lilith rose gracefully from her throne, her movements smooth and deliberate, like a panther stalking its prey. She circled him, trailing her fingers along the stone walls as if this confrontation was nothing more than a game. "Revenge?" She purred, her voice wrapping around him like silk. "How quaint. Let her come. Let her try. What can one broken girl do? She's powerless."
"She's not powerless. Have you forgotten what she wears around her neck?" Alexander's voice sharpened, and he turned to face her, his gaze burning with cold fire. "You've made her a monster. A weapon forged in grief and anger. And I won't let you destroy her like you destroy everything else."
Lilith stopped, her expression hardening as something flickered behind her eyes-something dark and possessive. "I made her strong. You know better than anyone that humans are weak, fragile things. She was always going to suffer, with or without me. I merely gave her a reason to fight."
"You did it for sport. You wanted to see how far you could push her, how deep you could bury the pain until she turned into something like us." Alexander growled. "But she's not like us, Lilith. She has a soul. She still has hope, even if she doesn't know it yet."
"Hope?" Lilith scoffed, her lips curling. "There is no hope for them. Not in this world." She stepped closer to Alexander, her hand reaching his chest, but he caught her wrist before she could touch him. Her eyes flashed with anger at the rejection. "You always were too sentimental. That's why you can't let go of your humanity, why you can't see the beauty in what we've become."
"I see what you've become." Alexander whispered harshly, his grip tightening on her wrist. He puller her closer, their faces inches apart, his voice dropping into something above a growl. "You're a shadow of what we were. All you crave now is destruction. Power. But I won't let you harm that girl."
Lilith's eyes blazed with fury, and for the first time in centuries, Alexander saw something crack in her perfect facade. "You would choose her over me?" She hissed, her voice trembling with anger that came from depths of centuries. "A mere human? A child who will die in the blink of an eye while I stand eternal?"
"I would choose anyone over you." Alexander said softly, the words like a knife in the silence between them.
Lilith wrenched her arm free from his grasp, her eyes filling with cold hatred. "You're going to regret this moment when the amulet is in my grasp." She spat, her voice a venomous hiss.
"Perhaps." Alexander said quietly. "But until then, you will not touch her."
Lilith's laugh echoed through the castle, cold and hollow. "Then, you'll die with her. I'll make sure of that."
He stepped back, his eyes narrowing. "If that's what it takes."
For a moment, the world between them stood still, the weight of their centuries-long history pressing down like a suffocating fog. And then, without another word, Alexander turned and walked toward the door, the sound of his footsteps reverberating in the silence.
Behind him, Lilith's voice called out, sharp and filled with bitter resolve. "She will never forgive you, Alex. She will hunt you too, once she knows what you did to her father."
He paused at the threshold.
Lilith chuckled, her lips curling into a predatory smile. "Imagine what she would think of you when she learns the truth."
"You wouldn't dare." Alexander growled, but even as he said it, he knew Lilith's cruelty had no bounds.
"Oh, I would. And you know it." Her voice was velvet and venom, each word slipping from her mouth with deliberate ease. "Sweet little Jane. She's so innocent, isn't she? So fragile in the face of this dark world you've kept from her. What do you think would happen when I tell her that it was you who killed her father on the battlefield?"
Alexander felt the ground beneath him as the words pierced through him. His heart, what little remained of it, twisted painfully. "You have no proof." He said, but his voice lacked conviction. She had no need for proof. Not with Jane. Not with the weight of his own guilt trailing behind him like a shadow.
Lilith stepped forward, her gown whispering across the cold floor as she approached him, her eyes gleaming with malice. "I don't need proof." She said softly, stopping just before him, her cold fingers brushing lightly against his chest. "All I need is to whisper the truth into her ear. That you killed her father in cold blood. That you drained him dry while she was at home wishing for his safe return. How do you think she'll react to that, Alex? How long do you think she'll look at you with those wide, trusting eyes?"
He flinched at her words, the weight of them hanging between them like a guillotine's blade. Jane didn't know what he had done, the darkness that stained his past. He had kept it from her, tried to shield her from the horrors of his world. But if Lilith told her...
She smiled as if reading the fear in his silence. "I see it now." She whispered, circling him slowly, like a predator playing with her prey. "She'll look at you as though you're a monster. And she'll be right, won't she? She'll hate you. She'll despise you. And after that, it won't be long before she's gone. Broken. Shattered by the truth. She'll run from you, Alexander. She'll run, and you'll lose her forever."
His hands clenched at his sides, fury and despair mingling in his chest. "What do you want, Lilith?" He demanded, his voice thick with anger, though his mind raced with the implications of what she was threatening.
Lilith stopped, her back to him, her voice low and dangerous. "You've always known what I want." She turned to face him fully now, her eyes narrowing as she took in his rigid form. "I want you, Alex. Forever. The way it was meant to be."
His heart sank, even as his anger flared hotter. "You threaten to get what you want?"
Lilith's lips curled in a cruel smile. "It's not so much a threat, as an offer. A fair trade. You, in exchange for my silence." She stepped closer to him, so close he could feel the coldness radiating from her skin. "I won't harm her, I won't even touch her. I'll leave her to her human life-forget she ever existed. All you have to do is give me what is rightfully mine." Her hand trailed down his arm, her eyes locking on his. "Your hand in marriage."
Alexander's breath left him, his chest tightening with the impossible choice laid before him. He knew what she wanted. She had always wanted him. They had once been lovers, but that was before-before Lilith's cruelty, before the darkness in her consumed what was left of her soul. Now, she was nothing but a nightmare that refused to let him go.
"You can't control me." Alexander spat. "I'll never give you that."
Lilith's eyes flashed with something dangerous, and she let out a soft laugh. "Control you?" She mused, tilting her head. "Oh, Alex, I don't need to control you. I just need to give you a choice." Her smile widened, and she leaned in close, her lips brushing his ear as she whispered. "Jane's life, her innocence, her love for you...or eternity by my side. What will it be?"
Alexander stood frozen, his mind racing. He wanted to deny her, to tell her she held no power over him. But he knew Lilith too well. If she told Jane the truth, if she planted that seed of doubt in her mind, it would destroy her. And he couldn't bear that. Not Jane. Not after everything.
Lilith stepped back, watching him carefully, her eyes gleaming with the triumph she knew was coming. "Think about it, my love." She said softly, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "All you have to do is say yes. Marry me, and I'll disappear from her life forever. But refuse..." She smiled, a cruel, sharp thing, and her eyes glittered with anticipation. "And I'll make sure she knows exactly who you are."
Alexander's fists tightened until his nails bit into his palms, but the pain was nothing compared to the storm raging inside him. He couldn't speak, couldn't think past the image of Jane's face-her soft eyes filled with betrayal, her heart shattered by the truth he had kept hidden. And Lilith stood before him, as unyielding as the darkness that bound them, knowing she had him trapped.
"You have until tomorrow night." Lilith said sweetly, turning from him and gliding toward the door. "That should give you time to make the right decision."
As she disappeared into the shadows, Alexander was left standing alone in the empty hall, the weight of her ultimatum pressing down on him like a curse. The silence in the room was deafening, and he felt it seep into his bones as she stared after her, knowing that no matter what he chose, he would lose something he could never get back.