Chapter 10 Bound by Blood
The library grew colder the farther they went. The air was thick with dust and something else something alive. Selena’s steps echoed against the stone floor, her voice a whisper trembling in the dark.
“Are we not there yet?”
“Almost there, child,” the old man replied, his tone calm, almost amused. His wrinkled hand rose and with a flick of his fingers the solid wall ahead of them groaned open, revealing a hidden door.
Selena stumbled back, her heart leaping into her throat. The scent of old parchment was replaced by something sharp, metallic.
“Don’t you want to learn more about vampires?” he asked, turning slightly. His smile was soft, but his eyes gleamed like moonlight on water too bright, too knowing.
Selena hesitated. Her pulse drummed against her skin. “I… I do,” she whispered.
“Then give me your hand.”
Her fingers trembled as she reached for him. His palm was cold unnaturally cold. The moment their skin touched, her vision dimmed, and the world tilted.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured.
She did. The floor beneath her vanished. The air changed warmer, heavier, perfumed with something floral and unfamiliar.
“You can open them now.”
When she did, her breath caught.
They stood beneath a violet sky that shimmered with faint streaks of silver. The city before her was like a dream towering crystal buildings, bridges suspended in the air, and rivers that glowed with soft blue light. Yet despite its beauty, something about it felt… wrong. Too still. Too perfect.
“This is beautiful,” she breathed. “Is this really the vampire realm?”
She turned to face the old man but he was gone. In his place stood someone else. A man with jet-black hair streaked with silver and eyes the color of blood. His presence swallowed the air.
“Please,” she stammered, “where’s the old man who brought me here?”
“I am him.”
Selena’s stomach twisted. “Who are you?” she asked, already stepping back.
“I am King Luca,” he said, his voice carrying a dark melody that seemed to vibrate in her bones. “Your father. I sensed your blood in the human realm when it touched that book.” His gaze flicked to the ancient tome still clutched in her hand. “So I disguised myself… to bring you home.”
“Home?” she echoed, shaking her head. “No. My home isn’t here.”
A cruel smile curved his lips. “So your mother told you nothing.”
“She told me enough,” Selena whispered. “You’re not my father.”
“Oh, but I am.” He took a step closer, and the air thickened. “You know who I am. Your blood knows.”
She wanted to wake up to snap out of this nightmare. But the pounding of her heart told her it was real.
“No,” she breathed. “No, I don’t know you.”
His eyes flashed crimson. “Yes, you do. Your fear says it all.”
Memories clawed their way through her mind like talons.
Her mother’s face pale and terrified flashed before her. The smell of smoke burned her nostrils; she could almost hear the window shattering, see the shadow that had stood there, watching. Every lie her mother told to protect her now fell apart like ash in her hands.
Her throat tightened. Tears stung her eyes until the world blurred into shapes and color.
“What do you want from me?” she shouted, her voice raw, trembling. “You’ve hated me all my life why bring me here?”
King Luca’s smile stretched wider, the lines of his face darkening as his features seemed to shift under the flicker of red light from the marble floor. His eyes gleamed not with love, but hunger.
“You look like her,” he murmured, the words like a curse. “The same eyes. The same defiance. But unlike her, you are cursed.”
The word sank into Selena’s chest like a blade.
“Cursed?” she breathed, though her lips barely moved.
Luca laughed a low, thunderous sound that rolled through the hall like a storm. The chandeliers trembled overhead; shadows rippled across the walls as if alive.
“You don’t deserve to ask me that,” he thundered. “Kneel before your king!”
The air cracked open. Selena’s knees slammed to the marble floor before she even realized she was falling. Pain shot up her legs, but she couldn’t move something invisible, cold as death, pressed her down. Her palms scraped against the slick surface. Her hair fell forward, clinging to her wet cheeks.
“Know this, Selena,” Luca said, stepping closer. Each footstep echoed like the toll of a bell. His eyes glowed with unholy fire. “My first flesh and blood you will be sacrificed to Lucifer, King of Hell, by this time tomorrow. The sins of your ancestors will be paid in your blood.”
The room seemed to spin. Selena’s heartbeat pounded in her ears like a drum.
“Sacrificed?” she whispered, her voice breaking. “For what I didn’t even do?”
He tilted his head, watching her crumble. The faintest smirk curled his lips the kind that belonged to a predator amused by its prey.
“Please,” she cried, her voice shaking apart. “Let me go back. I have a life on Earth I don’t belong here!”
She tried to push herself up, but the invisible force only grew heavier, pressing against her chest until every breath became a fight. Her body trembled, tears streaking down her face as her strength drained away.
“Father, please!” she screamed the word father tasting like poison.
The sound tore through the hall, echoing back at her again and again until it became something hollow. No one came. No one answered. Only the darkness replied swallowing her voice whole.
And in that silence, she knew.
The book had been her undoing. The old man, the blood, the secret world all of it had led her here, to the truth her mother died hiding.
She was never meant to be saved.
She was meant to be offered.