Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Kaelen’s POV

The silence in my villa was suffocating.

It wasn’t peaceful, it was the kind that crawled under your skin and reminded you of everything you’ve lost. The sound of crackling fire, the whisper of wind through the window, even the slow drip of water from the roof all of it echoed like ghosts whispering her name.

Lyra.

Every night, I tried to escape her memory, and every night, I failed.

No matter how many times I told myself to move on, her face haunted me the way her golden hair shimmered in the sunlight, the warmth in her eyes, the way her laughter had once felt like a melody only I could hear.

I pressed a hand against my chest, feeling the faint ache there.

Vampires weren’t supposed to feel this much. But she wasn’t supposed to be gone either.

And worst of all… she didn’t even remember me.

I laughed bitterly at the thought, the sound hollow in the empty room.

What kind of cruel fate erases love so deep it once burned through two souls?

The fire flickered low, and shadows danced across the stone walls. I leaned back in the chair, staring into the flames, pretending they were her eyes bright, fierce, and full of life.

A sound broke through my thoughts.

A floorboard creaked above me.

I froze.

The villa was miles from the nearest town. No one ever came here.

My senses sharpened instantly. Every drop of blood in my body went still. The air shifted cold, heavy, wrong.

Slowly, I rose, my hand going to the dagger at my belt.

“Who’s there?” My voice was calm, steady but my instincts screamed danger.

No reply.

Only the wind, brushing against the old wooden walls.

I moved silently up the staircase, each step careful and measured. The moonlight spilled through the windows, casting silver across the floorboards. When I reached the study door, my heart stopped.

It was open.

I never left it open.

The room was dimly lit, the air thick with the scent of old parchment and dust. My eyes locked on the desk. An ancient book lay open, pages fluttering as if touched by unseen hands.

No.

It couldn’t be.

That book… I’d locked it away decades ago. It held knowledge of curses, dark, forbidden magic tied to blood and memory.

My throat tightened as I stepped closer. The symbols on the page glowed faintly, twisting and shifting under the faint light.

“Not again,” I whispered, slamming the book shut.

The echo rang through the villa, and for a moment, I thought I heard something soft laughter, faint, female.

My pulse quickened. “Lyra?”

But when I turned, the room was empty.

I reached up, gripping the silver pendant around my neck. The one thing I had left of her. The metal was cold, almost painfully so.

“Why can’t I forget you?” I murmured. “Even after everything…”

The fire below flickered suddenly, as if reacting to my words. Shadows rippled up the walls, forming shapes that looked almost… human.

The temperature dropped, my breath turning visible.

And then came the knock.

Sharp. Loud. Measured.

Once. Twice.

Three times.

I turned toward the front door, dagger in hand. No one visited here, not after what happened. Not after the night she was taken.

The knock came again, harder this time.

“Who’s there?” I called out.

Silence.

The sound of my boots echoed as I walked to the door. The air outside was colder than it should’ve been. I opened it slowly ready to attack.

No one.

Just the night.

But then I saw a folded piece of parchment lying on the steps, pinned under a small stone.

I crouched, my fingers brushing the paper. The handwriting was rough, jagged, carved in anger:

Stay away from the Dragon Queen. You’ve been warned.

My eyes darkened, rage surging through me. The Hunter. He had found me again.

My jaw clenched, fangs pressing against my lip. “You can threaten me all you want,” I hissed, crushing the note in my fist. “But I’m not leaving her.”

The forest shifted around me, the wind whispering something I couldn’t understand. And then I saw it.

A shadow.

Fast. Silent. Moving between the trees.

I lunged forward, blade drawn. “Show yourself!”

But the shadow was quicker. It darted deeper into the forest, its laughter echoing faintly through the night.

I followed, driven by instinct more than reason. Branches tore at my coat, and the cold air bit at my face, but I didn’t stop.

Finally, the forest opened into a clearing and I froze.

The ground was scarred with deep claw marks. Not human. Not a vampire. Something else. Something older.

I stepped closer, my boots crunching against the frost. The marks glowed faintly under the moonlight, almost alive.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath. “He’s getting bolder.”

As I crouched to examine the marks, a whisper brushed past my ear soft and chilling.

“She doesn’t remember you… and she never will.”

I spun around, dagger raised but there was no one there. Only the shadows watching me.

I backed away slowly, every sense on edge, and returned to the villa before dawn. My hands were trembling, though I’d never admit it aloud.

Once inside, I locked the door and leaned against it, my breath uneven. The silence felt different now alive, breathing with me.

I threw the crumpled note into the fire and watched it burn, the flames devouring the words that tried to separate me from her.

“They think they can stop me,” I whispered. “But nothing will keep me away from her again.”

The pendant around my neck grew warm, glowing faintly, like it was responding. I stared at it in shock.

Then I heard it.

A heartbeat.

Not mine.

Her heartbeat.

Lyra’s.

The sound was faint but real, echoing inside my head, fast and uneven like she was running afraid.

“Lyra…” I breathed, clutching the pendant tighter.

Then the fire exploded in front of me, bursting into blue flames that shot up to the ceiling. The pendant in my hand seared my skin, but I couldn’t let go.

Images flashed in my mind of Lyra, wearing her crown, standing in the grand hall of her kingdom… and a dark shadow creeping behind her throne.

Her lips moved as if she were calling my name.

And then blood.

The vision vanished.

The flames went out, leaving only smoke and silence. My knees hit the floor as I gasped for air.

Whatever I just saw wasn't a dream. It was a warning.

Something or someone was coming for her.

I rose to my feet, eyes burning with determination. “If fate wants to keep us apart,” I whispered, “then I’ll break fate itself.”

I turned toward the window. The first light of dawn crept over the forest, pale and cold.

But as I looked out, I froze.

Carved into the glass fresh, dripping red were three words:

“She will die ”

Kaelen realizes Lyra’s life is in danger and someone’s targeting her right now.

The words on the window glowed faintly under the pale dawn light, each letter carved with precision, almost elegant in its cruelty.

She will die.

I stood there for a long time, staring at them, my chest rising and falling too fast. My hand tightened around the dagger until my knuckles turned white.

The scent of blood was still fresh whoever had written those words had been here recently.

I turned sharply, scanning the room. Every sound seemed louder now the crackle of cooling embers, the faint creak of the old wood beneath my boots, even the whisper of the wind.

Someone had been inside my villa.

And I hadn’t sensed them.

That realization sent a cold chill down my spine. For a vampire of my kind to miss a presence… It meant only one thing. Whoever this was, they were powerful, perhaps even older than me.

“Show yourself,” I growled, my voice echoing in the silence.

No answer. Just the faint hum of the air, and yet, I could feel its eyes watching me from somewhere unseen.

I moved toward the window slowly, looking out into the forest. The early morning mist curled between the trees like ghostly fingers, hiding everything beyond a few feet. But I could feel that someone was out there.

“Coward,” I whispered under my breath, my fangs pressing against my lower lip. “You hide, you threaten, but you don’t face me.”

The pendant around my neck pulsed again softly this time, like a heartbeat. It glowed faintly against my chest, warm and alive.

I looked down at it, frowning. “Lyra…”

Could she feel me too? Could she sense my fear the way I sensed hers?

Before I could think further, a voice, a low, raspy whisper brushed against my ear.

“She doesn’t belong to you anymore.”

I spun around instantly, dagger raised, but the room was empty. The whisper seemed to linger, curling through the air like smoke.

My jaw tightened. I could feel my control slipping the old hunger rising inside me, the part of me that craved the hunt, the blood, the kill.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” the voice said again. This time, it came from somewhere deeper in the villa near the back corridor.

I moved quickly, my footsteps soundless. The air in the hall was colder, sharper. The shadows seemed thicker here, almost moving.

Then I saw it.

A figure stood at the end of the corridor. Tall. Cloaked. Still.

I could barely make out his face beneath the hood, but his presence was suffocating. Old. Familiar.

“You,” I hissed, recognition slamming into me like lightning. “You were at the castle that night.”

The figure tilted his head slightly. “I warned you once, Kaelen. Leave the Dragon Queen. Or she will pay the price for your defiance.”

I took a step forward, fury burning through my veins. “You touch her, and I will end you.”

He didn’t move, didn’t even flinch. Instead, his voice turned almost gentle. “End me? You forget what you are, vampire prince. You forget who you were before her.”

Something in his tone made my stomach twist.

“What do you mean?” I demanded, though part of me didn’t want to hear the answer.

He laughed softly, a sound that echoed off the stone walls like cracking ice. “The past never stays buried, Kaelen. Not for creatures like us. When she remembers everything… she will hate you.”

My hand froze on the dagger’s hilt. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

Before I could take another step, the figure dissolved into smoke dark and thick vanishing into the air. The cold wind that followed sent the candles flickering violently, throwing wild shadows across the walls.

I was left standing there, chest heaving, eyes burning with rage and confusion.

Hate me? Why would Lyra ever…

The thought hit me like a blade.

What if the reason she had forgotten wasn’t because of fate… but because of me?

The pendant pulsed once more, hotter now, as if burning against my skin. I yanked it off and stared at it. For just a second I saw something inside it.

A flash of her face. Her crown. Her lips moved as if whispering my name.

Then, a scream.

“Lyra!” I shouted, my voice breaking the silence. The image vanished, leaving only the faint echo of her cry ringing in my ears.

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my cloak, strapped the dagger to my belt, and stepped out into the cold dawn air. The forest stretched before me, shrouded in fog and secrets.

Whoever had come here, whoever had threatened her, would regret it.

Because this time, I wasn’t just fighting for love.

I was fighting for her life.

And I would burn ki

ngdoms to the ground if that’s what it took.

Behind me, unseen, the shadowy figure reappeared in the doorway, his crimson eyes gleaming through the mist.

“She’s already marked,” he whispered. “And soon… you will be too.”