Chapter 88 88
Aidan
My wrists ache from the bindings holding me in this dark corner of the fortress. The cold stone beneath my bare feet sucks the heat from my body, as if trying to steal what little energy I have left. The air reeks of blood and death—perhaps also of my own desperation, the kind I don’t want to show, but that… as the hours passed, only grew.
The doors creak. I don’t need to look up to know who it is.
Enzo.
He walks with the arrogance of someone who believes he’s already won before the game even starts. And he has. At least for now.
He has every advantage, and he’s furious—despite his exaggerated efforts not to unleash that rage on me.
I watch him approach, that damned collar hanging from his neck. The dark gem absorbs light like a bottomless void—the symbol of his dominion. With it, he can walk under the sun without burning, while I am an anomaly.
“Come on… you’ll see the dawn,” Enzo says with a slow, cruel smile.
He grabs me without warning, his strength like iron claws on my skin. He pulls me against his body, as if I were a piece of property he can inspect at will. His closeness repulses me. I thrash, growl, try to pull away, but his grip is ferocious.
“Let go of me, you bastard,” I mut Founded between clenched teeth.
But one single movement from him is enough to subdue me.
My back slams against the floor with force, knocking the air from my lungs. Before I can react, his foot crashes against my head, pinning my skull to the stone.
Enzo’s laugh is low, resonant, condescending.
Son of a bitch.
My fangs lengthen instinctively, my body reacting with rage. But he doesn’t flinch—he only watches me as if I were an interesting creature, a wild animal he can still tame.
With a fluid motion, he drags me back to my feet and slides his fingers over my tattoos. A cold, deliberate touch that sends a shiver of pure discomfort through me.
“Are you afraid?” His voice is a slow whisper.
My eyes scan the dark corridors as we move forward. We’re not alone. I can feel the presence of the other vampires lurking in the shadows—watching, waiting. As if this were a damned spectacle.
Enzo wants them all to see. He wants to make it clear that no one challenges his authority.
But I am not his prisoner. I never was.
I don’t even belong here.
Where do I belong? I’m not one of them—no matter what Enzo believes, thinking I’m a stray sheep. The truth is this isn’t my place.
It even feels strange to me… being called a vampire. What the hell am I supposed to be? Am I anything?
My life was built on hiding what I was—pretending I… was a wolf. I even came to feel like one, but you’re not a wolf if you don’t have one inside, and I didn’t have claws or four legs—just fangs and a need for blood that had to be satisfied.
If I think about it, I had a quiet life—relatively boring. I went unnoticed, more or less. It’s not like I could do much else, being the director’s son.
If only I had resisted Lois more… No! I’m absolutely certain that wouldn’t have changed anything. My attraction to her was superhuman—uncontrollable, completely supernatural.
Ineffable.
I am part of her; she is part of me. Maybe not in the same way as two wolves, but we were. We could be one.
And I needed her—like an inseparable part of me, as if… she were my center.
I still couldn’t explain it—perhaps because I wasn’t a wolf, or because all these experiences were new to me.
“You just want to prove something with me,” I say, my voice sharp as a blade. “Like you want to make an example for the others. You’re afraid they’ll discover the truth, aren’t you? You don’t have them all under your control. Maybe that terrifies you. Maybe you’re the one who’s afraid.”
Enzo stops. I provoked him.
Good.
With a swift motion, his fingers dig into my side. Sharp, stabbing pain shoots through my body. I clench my jaw, endure it, breathe deeply. But in the end…
A gasp of pain escapes my lips.
Enzo’s smile widens.
“Get ready,” he says, voice thick with satisfaction. “I hope there’s something left of you when Alpha Thorne talks to you.”
My muscles tense. Alpha Thorne.
This won’t end here.
Fear coils in my chest like slow poison. Everything is changing too fast. My mind betrays me, dragging me to memories of another time. My father. My real home.
And then, Lois.
I see her face with painful clarity—her gaze that always made me feel something I didn’t deserve: peace.
But peace doesn’t exist here.
The air shifts. I feel it before I see it.
The sun is rising.
Enzo smiles. He is protected. But I have nothing—only this uncertainty wrapping around me as doubt strikes with a single question: What’s going to happen to me?
I have no choice but to face the inevitable.
I’m going to burn.
Is that what will happen? Is it just legend? What the hell do I know? This is the first time I’ve lived among vampires, and all they’ve done is treat me like an intruder.
The dawn fire bathes the fortress, illuminating the corridor with golden light. The stone glows; the walls seem to ignite under the radiance.
I breathe deeply.
I take a step.
The sun touches my skin.
And then everything explodes.
A scream tears from my throat with a force that shakes the fortress’s foundations.
“Lois!”
Fire ignites in my veins.
But it doesn’t hurt.
It doesn’t consume me. It belongs to me.
The golden light doesn’t burn me—it awakens something inside.
I feel the power of fire coursing through every fiber of my body. Every cell burns with an intensity I’ve never known. The sun is not my enemy.
It is mine.
The heat explodes around me in a devastating circle. Flames spread through the corridor, scorching everything in their path. The vampires scream, retreat, run for their lives. They weren’t there before; now they scatter like rats desperate to escape before perishing.
Enzo staggers, eyes wide. For the first time… I see him afraid.
He’s terrified.
He fears me.
I don’t waste time.
I run.
My feet barely touch the ground as I hurl myself toward the exit, racing through the fortress that burns around me.
Every step I take leaves a trail of flames; the fire follows me like a living shadow. Nearby trees ignite at my touch; the underbrush crackles beneath my bare feet.
The sun bathes me in its light.
And it doesn’t destroy me. It strengthens me.
I am the blaze.
I am the firestorm.
Human territory is close. I can see it through the trees. Just a few more meters.
I don’t know what will happen next. I don’t know where I’ll go.
But one thing is certain: I am not the same as I was minutes ago.
What just happened?
There’s no logical answer for what occurred, but… I’ve escaped.
Now I’m in human territory. It was the closest—perhaps the safest for someone like me.