Adriana's POV
She shouldn't have agreed to follow him.
That realization came about three seconds after Lucien started moving, and by then it was too late. He wasn't using his full strength on her anymore but he didn't need to. He was faster than anything that should exist, and she was still just human. Mostly human. Whatever she mostly was now.
They'd left the forest clearing and he was leading her deeper into the darkness when Adriana's survival instincts kicked in properly. This was a vampire. This was the enemy. This was the thing that destroyed everything she loved and she was literally walking into his territory like prey following a hunter.
She pulled her remaining dagger free and attacked.
Helena had taught her to fight with everything. No honor. No mercy. No hesitation. Adriana struck for his throat because that was the fastest way to end him, and if she was going to die tonight at least she'd take him with her.
Lucien caught her wrist mid-swing without even looking. The movement was so casual it was insulting.
"You're still going to try to kill me?" he asked, almost amused.
Adriana didn't answer. She used his grip as an anchor point to swing her leg up toward his ribs. The kick was vicious and trained and it connected, but his body barely gave. It was like kicking a stone wall that could move.
He disarmed her with a flick of his wrist, her dagger flying through the air and disappearing into the shadows. Before she could process the loss, both his hands were moving. He caught her other wrist and spun her in a way that sent her silver daggers flying out of their sheaths. They arced through the darkness and landed somewhere she couldn't reach them.
Now she had no weapons. Just her training and her desperation and the silver glow spreading across her skin where he touched her.
She still had the backup dagger at her ankle.
Adriana twisted in his grip and kicked hard toward his legs, trying to break free. He pivoted, moving her instead of fighting her movement. She was going to spin away and go for the ankle blade, going to get back her advantage, going to survive this.
His hand caught her shoulder and slammed her against a tree.
Hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. Not hard enough to break anything. Just hard enough to stop her completely.
She was pressed against the tree with Lucien in front of her, one hand on her shoulder and the other raised to keep her in place. His crimson eyes were wide, and she realized with shock that he was afraid.
Not of her. Of what she was. Of what was happening between them.
The silver glow was spreading up her arms now, getting brighter. It wasn't painful exactly but it was intense, like her entire body was becoming a lantern. She could feel the power moving through her veins, ancient and vast and completely beyond her control.
"What are you?" Lucien whispered again, and this time the question sounded desperate instead of curious.
Adriana spat the words at him. "I'm a hunter. You're already dead."
He laughed. Actually laughed. But the sound was confused, like he was laughing at a joke he didn't understand.
"I should kill you for that," he said. Not threateningly. Just stating a fact. "You came into my territory. You tried to murder me. By every law of vampire kind, I should end you right now."
The silver glow was so bright now it was lighting up his face, making his red eyes look almost black. Adriana's heart was hammering so hard she thought it might break her ribs.
"Then do it," she said, her voice steadier than she felt. "Kill me."
Something flickered in his expression. For a moment she thought he actually would. For a moment she believed this was how it ended. In the dark forest with silver light burning from her skin and a vampire's hands on her shoulders.
Then he smiled, sad and strange and completely honest.
"I don't think I can," he said quietly.
The silver spread across her body now, covering her shoulders, her neck, creeping down her back. It felt alive. Responsive to him. Every place where Lucien's hands touched her was burning bright and warm.
"What's happening to me?" Adriana gasped.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I've never seen anything like you. In thirteen hundred years, I've never encountered anything like this."
Thirteen hundred years. The number hung in the air between them. He'd lived for thirteen centuries. He'd destroyed her entire world and thought nothing of it. He'd walked through life while she walked through nightmares.
And somehow, touching him made her glow like she was made of stars.
"I can't go back to Helena," Adriana whispered. She wasn't sure why she said it out loud. Maybe because some part of her already knew. You don't come home glowing silver after failing your mission. You don't explain that the vampire lord who was supposed to die turned out to be something that made your own magic wake up.
Helena would call her tainted. Helena would see the silver light and think Adriana had been corrupted. She might try to kill her right there in the cathedral.
"No," Lucien agreed. "You can't."
He stepped back just slightly, giving her room to breathe, giving her space that didn't feel like captivity. Not yet anyway.
"Come with me," he said. "Come to my fortress. Let me understand what you are. Let me help you control this power before it consumes you."
Adriana shook her head violently. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Yes, you are."
She tried to run.
It wasn't even close. The moment she pushed off from the tree, Lucien moved with vampire speed. There was no transition from standing to attacking. One moment he was three feet away and the next he was right there, his arms coming around her, trapping her against him.
Adriana screamed and fought and bit and clawed. All the things they taught you to do when you were being captured. All the survival moves that should work against something that was supposed to be weak.
Nothing worked.
The silver light was consuming her now, covering her entire body. It was bright enough that it threw shadows across the trees, and she realized with horror that if Helena's hunters were tracking her, they would be able to see this glow from miles away.
She was trapped. By her own magic. By this vampire's strength. By the fact that going back to the Order meant death and staying meant betrayal.
Lucien's voice was in her ear, calm and sure.
"Close your eyes," he said.
Adriana refused. She would not close her eyes. She would not trust him. She would not—
His hand came up and covered her eyes gently, and the world went dark. Not the darkness of the forest. The darkness of her vision being blocked.
She felt the moment they started moving. The ground beneath her feet disappeared and suddenly they were accelerating, moving faster than her mind could process. Trees and shadows blurred past them. The wind screamed past her ears. Her stomach lurched and twisted like she was falling even though Lucien was holding her firmly against him.
The vampire's voice was the last thing she heard clearly before something else took over. Before the fear and the fighting and the knowledge that she'd made a terrible mistake crashed down on her like a wave.
"Sleep, Adriana," he whispered. "I promise you're safe."
She wanted to scream that she wasn't safe. That nothing about this was safe. That she'd just let the enemy capture her and she'd do it willingly because her own body had betrayed her.
But the silver light was fading now, or maybe she was fading from the light. Her muscles went heavy. Her mind started to drift. Everything got distant and fuzzy like she was sinking underwater.
The last thing she felt before everything went black was the steady rhythm of Lucien's heartbeat against her back, and the terrifying realization that she didn't want him to let her go.