Chapter 3 Stranger in the Storm

That night, the rain didn’t stop. It slammed against the windows like it was trying to break in. The whole city felt restless. The smell of wet concrete and smoke filled the air.

Some storms don’t just happen. They come for a reason. To wake things that were better left buried.

I couldn’t tell if it was the weather or something else, but everything felt wrong—like the sky was heavy with memory.

Inside St. Mary’s, the lights Turns on every few seconds. The night shift was quiet. Too quiet. I stood at the nurse’s station with a cup of coffee I hadn’t touched, pretending to read through patient notes.

My reflection on the glass looked normal enough, but inside, something kept tightening in my chest. I could feel the storm pressing against me like it wanted to come in.

“Dr. Ardan,” a nurse called from down the hall. “Incoming emergency. Male, mid-twenties. Massive blood loss.”

The cup hit the counter before she finished. “Prep emergency room two,” I said.

Before she could reply, the emergency doors slammed open. The paramedics burst in, soaked to the bone, their boots leaving puddles as they rushed the stretcher through. The smell hit me first….blood, rain, and something wild, like pine and iron.

“He’s losing consciousness!” one of them yelled.

“Get the line ready!” I shouted back, putting on gloves.

The patient’s shirt was torn. His chest was covered in blood, deep gashes torn across his skin. It wasn’t a knife wound. It wasn’t even close. I’d seen plenty of cuts before, but nothing like that. The marks looked like claws.

I leaned over him, pressing hard against the wound. “Who found him?”

The nurse beside me swallowed. “Some man dropped him off. Didn’t leave a name. Just vanished.”

The words sent a chill straight through me. I looked down at the stranger again. His body trembled, fighting for every breath, but the air around him felt charged…alive, almost breathing. My fingertips tingled as I worked.

Then his eyes opened.

Everything stopped.

They weren’t normal eyes. They glowed faintly, gold, like sunlight trapped under water. I froze, my hands still pressing his chest.

He looked straight at me. Not around, not at the lights. At me.

His lips moved, and he whispered one word.

“Moonfire.”

My whole body went still. That name didn’t belong here. It didn’t belong anywhere near this world. Hearing it again felt like hearing my own past speak out loud.

“What did you say?” I asked, barely breathing.

But his eyes rolled back, and he went limp.

“Doctor!” someone shouted. “Pressure’s stabilizing!”

I blinked, forcing myself back into motion. The glow under my gloves started again…faint, silver, just like before.

I moved my hand fast, trying to hide it. “Keep him steady. Don’t let the pressure drop.”

The nurse nodded, not noticing my shaking hands. The light under my skin fades slowly. The machines leveled out.

We moved him to recovery once the bleeding stopped. He lay there, too still, the stormlight from the window touching his face. He shouldn’t have survived that kind of blood loss, but his breathing was steady. Strong. Almost unnatural.

I brushed my fingers lightly over his wrist to check his pulse. I felt hot blood spread through me . It ran deep, crawling under my skin like it recognized something.

I pulled back fast. “Page me when he wakes up,” I said quietly.

When I stepped into the hallway, thunder rolled so loud it moved the windows. My hands still glowed faintly beneath the thin gloves. I clenched them until the light stopped.

Moonfire.

No one should know that name. No one alive, anyway.

Lightning flashed through the glass, and I turned toward the window. Across the street, through the sheets of rain, a tall shadow stood watching the hospital.

I caught the glint of golden eyes for a moment before thunder swallowed it up.

By dawn, the storm had slowed down. I walked home through puddles, the city still half-asleep.

The rain smelled of metal and smoke. Every few steps, I felt it again—that pull behind me, like the air was following.

I turned once, saw nothing. But I could feel it breathing with me. The same sounds I’d felt when my hands touched him.

I walked faster. My coat clung to my skin. The streetlights buzzed faintly, flickering one by one as I passed. When I reached my building, I locked the door twice and leaned against it, catching my breath.

“You’re imagining things,” I said out loud, but my voice didn’t sound convincing.

I went to the window and pushed the curtain aside. Empty street. Wet pavement. No one there. But my skin still felt hot, like the storm had followed me home.

I showered, changed into dry clothes, and looked in the mirror. I almost looked normal again. Almost. Then my shadow blinked….and for a second, my eyes flashed silver. I stared, frozen, until it faded.

I sat on the bed, with my knees pulled up, listening to the rain soften outside. The word kept circling in my head. Moonfire.

That wasn’t a word people should know. That was a name from before. From the life I’d buried.

Three knocks broke stopped the silence.

I froze.

No one ever knocked on my door. Not at this hour.

Another knock, slower this time.

I stood up, with my heart racing. “Who’s there?”

No reply.

Then a voice. Calm. Deep.and Familiar. “You shouldn’t walk home alone.”

My stomach dropped. I knew that voice.

I opened the door a few inches…and the storm outside roared like it had been waiting.

He stood there. The same man from the ER. Rain dripping down his face, clothes soaked, eyes still glowing faint gold beneath the hall light.

“You,” I breathed. “You should still be in recovery.”

He looked at me steadily. “I shouldn’t be alive at all.”

The words made my chest tighten.

“I healed you,” I said, barely a whisper.

He nodded. “You did. And now they’ll come for you.”

“Who?”

“The ones who found you first,” he said. His voice dropped low. “The ones who killed you before.”

My blood went cold. I gripped the edge of the door to keep me from shaking. “You’re lying.”

He took one slow step forward. The gold in his eyes flared brighter. “You think death let you go, Selene? It didn’t. It just waited for this time.”

Thunder crashed again, shaking the walls. The lights turned on. For a second, I saw it….something beneath his skin, moving, reshaping. Claws trying to break through.

“What are you?” I whispered.

He met my eyes. “A warning,” he said. “And the time’s already here.”

The lights went out.

And outside, something screamed…a roar so deep it didn’t sound human at all.

The storm had found me.

And this time, I knew it wasn’t going to stop until it got what it came for.