Alone

Alone
ARABELLA POV.

I watched him as he moved through the chaos with an unsettling calm. Lucien. My captor. The vampire king. The very thing I’d sworn to kill.

And yet, there was something about him—something raw and powerful—that both disgusted and drew me in. His presence, the way the air around him seemed to bend and buckle, pulling every gaze, every breath, toward him. He was a storm wrapped in silk, and I was caught in its wake.

He looked like a predator in his element—fearless, sharp. His blade cleaved through the air with terrifying ease, cutting down the Everleigh soldiers with merciless precision. I should’ve hated it. I should’ve hated him.

But I didn’t. I couldn't. Not entirely.

I felt something inside of me shift, something that didn’t quite fit into the hatred I’d been holding onto for so long. It wasn’t pity, though. I wasn’t going to let myself fall for that.

But, damn it, I was so close to breaking. Every time his eyes flickered in my direction, I was almost there.

I snapped out of my thoughts as the last of the enemy forces scattered. The battlefield, once a mess of chaos and screams, fell eerily silent. Lucien stood at the center, his figure towering above the fallen, drenched in blood that wasn’t his own, the faintest sheen of sweat tracing down his face.

It was like something primal stirred within me as I met his eyes. This was what I’d always feared. This was what I’d sworn to destroy.

But then he looked at me. Really looked at me.

“Are you alright?” His voice was low, almost tender, in the midst of the carnage.

I stiffened, my body tightening in response. "I’m fine," I said, perhaps too sharply, my words biting more than I intended. But the truth was, I wasn’t fine. Not by a long shot.

I couldn’t focus on that now, though. Not with the world literally on fire around me.

He stepped closer, his presence as overwhelming as ever. His scent, that intoxicating mixture of blood and something darker, curled around me. My heart pounded in my chest, faster than it had any right to, given the circumstances. I hated it. I hated how he made me feel like this—like I could be anything but the cold-hearted hunter I’d promised to be.

“You don’t look fine,” he said softly, almost as though he were concerned.

I clenched my fists, determined not to let him see how much his words affected me. I couldn’t. Not now. I had too many walls built up to let anyone get close. Certainly not him.

“Just don’t,” I muttered, my voice cracking slightly despite my efforts to stay calm. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He paused, as if considering my words, his gaze sharpening. And for a moment, I could’ve sworn that his guard had dropped just a little. The cold mask he wore seemed to slip, just barely.

Then, like the vampire king he was, it was gone again—replaced by that same unyielding, unreadable expression.

I stepped back, trying to distance myself from him, but my eyes betrayed me. They lingered on him, tracing the way his muscles tensed beneath his bloodstained clothes, how his dark hair clung to the back of his neck in wild disarray. And I could see it—the same desire in his eyes that mirrored my own, dangerous, volatile.

But there was no way I could let myself fall into it.

The weight of everything—the fight, the blood, the constant war inside me—settled like a thick fog in my chest. I was a vampire hunter. I had been for as long as I could remember. And I hated every moment of this weakness. Every moment of this connection I couldn’t shake.

“Lucien, I—”

I didn’t finish. I couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come.

Instead, I turned sharply and walked toward the edge of the battlefield, trying to escape from the throbbing tension that had built up between us. The remnants of the battle were still scattered across the ground, bodies and debris alike, but I didn’t care. I just needed to get away from him, to clear my head.

And as I made my way down the steps of the castle, I could feel his eyes on me. The weight of them, like a burning brand.

I wasn’t his to claim. Not now. Not ever.

But what if… what if I was?

The thought made my stomach churn, and I quickly shoved it away. I couldn’t think about that. Not yet.

I had bigger problems.

The rain began to fall harder, a heavy downpour that swallowed the earth in its cold, relentless grip. Each raindrop felt like an assault against my skin, a thousand tiny needles piercing through me, but I didn’t care. I just had to run.

My feet sloshed through the wet earth, the bloodied mud sucking at my heels with every step, but I kept moving. Away from him. Away from the castle. Away from this cursed world I had been dragged into.

I stumbled, my breath ragged, but I didn’t stop. The more I ran, the more the weight of everything crushed down on me. The more I realized how hopeless it all was.

I thought I heard footsteps behind me, but when I glanced over my shoulder, there was nothing. The silence that followed was even worse than the sound of pursuit—worse than any footsteps. I was alone.

Alone.