By morning, the rain had faded into silence, leaving the forest draped in a veil of thin silver mist. When Elara stepped outside the cabin, the cold air greeted her like an old ghost. Her breath rose in faint clouds, mingling with the fog that curled between the trees.
Dew clung to every leaf, glittering faintly in the dim light. For the first time since she'd awakened in that lonely shelter, she realized just how far they were from home… or from anything familiar.
Lucien was already awake. He leaned against the trunk of a fallen tree, his coat dark against the pale morning haze. He looked as if he hadn't closed his eyes in centuries.. watchful, unyielding, and still as stone. His expression gave nothing away, but the weight of his silence pressed against her like frost.
"We need answers," he said quietly as she approached. His tone was steady, but there was something tight beneath it. "There's someone who might give them to us."
Elara frowned. "Someone?"
"An old seer," he replied. "A vampire older than I am. His name is Corvus."
She hesitated, a prickle of unease crawling down her spine. "You trust him?"
Lucien gave a soft, humorless laugh. "Trust is a mortal word… He owes me a debt. That will have to be enough."
They began their trek through the forest. The earth was soft beneath their boots, the scent of pine and wet moss heavy in the air. Mist clung to their clothes, and every step sounded muffled, swallowed by the damp hush of the woods.
Elara walked beside him in silence, occasionally glancing his way. There was something about the way he moved… graceful, restrained, like a predator holding itself back.
Hours slipped by in the gray quiet before the trees began to thin. Ahead, the outline of crumbling stone emerged from the fog. It was what remained of a chapel long forgotten.. it's roof shattered, pillars fractured, its doorway gaping like the mouth of a tomb.
Lucien slowed, eyes narrowing. "He's inside."
The words sank into her bones. Elara followed closely as he stepped into the ruins. The air grew colder. The scent of rot and old stone filled her lungs. Faint shafts of light filtered through the cracks in the ceiling, painting the dust in ghostly swirls.
At the heart of the ruin, on a throne fashioned of bone and blackened stone, sat a figure cloaked in decay. His skin looked like parchment stretched too thin, his hair pale as ash. When he spoke, his voice was low and rough, scraping against the silence like rusted metal.
"Lucien…" the figure rasped. "It's been an age."
Lucien's eyes flickered. "Corvus," he greeted flatly. "I seek knowledge, not nostalgia."
Corvus lifted his head slowly. His eyes gleamed faintly blue beneath the shadows, sharp and inhuman.
A crooked smile tugged at his lips, revealing too many teeth. "And yet you bring a mortal girl into my den. She reeks of old blood."
Elara stiffened, but her voice remained steady. "I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be," Corvus murmured. His gaze drifted to her wrist, where the faint crescent of the blood moon pulsed just beneath the skin. "You wear the mark already. It's begun again."
Lucien stepped forward, his voice hardening. "Tell me how to stop it."
Corvus tilted his head, amused by the desperation in the air. "You, of all creatures, should know that love's curse cannot be undone… it can only be fulfilled."
Elara's heart faltered. "What does that mean?" she asked, her voice trembling despite herself.
"The blood moon binds souls through choice and consequence," Corvus said softly. "You carry the echo of Amara's spirit. Each lifetime she returns to find him… and each time, their bond ends in death."
Lucien's jaw clenched. "Enough riddles. How do I break it before it consumes her?"
The old seer rose to his feet. His tattered cloak brushed the cracked stones, and the motion stirred the dust like ancient breath.
"To sever the bond, one must kill the other before the moon reaches its peak," he said. "But if you hesitate… the curse will devour you both. Her heart will stop, and your immortality will end with it."
The words hung in the cold air, heavier than the fog itself. Elara felt a chill spread through her chest, sharp and suffocating.
Lucien's eyes glowed faintly crimson. "There must be another way."
Corvus smiled.. a slow, knowing smile. "You could let it run its course. The curse feeds on defiance. Or perhaps…" He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "…you already love her too much to try."
Lucien said nothing. The silence that followed was answer enough. The look in his eyes—a fleeting, raw ache.. was something Elara didn't yet understand.
When they finally stepped out of the ruins, the fog had thickened again, swallowing the world in a pale, endless blur. Neither spoke for a long while. The only sound was the soft crunch of their boots and the distant cry of a raven.
At last, Elara broke the silence. "So this curse…" she began quietly. "It's all because of love?"
Lucien's voice was low, almost bitter. "Love can create monsters too."
She looked at him as he walked ahead, the shape of his figure outlined against the pale fog. There was something lonely about him… something hollow that even eternity couldn't fill. She wondered which he was.. the monster love had created, or the one cursed to suffer from it.
As they disappeared deeper into the mist, neither noticed the figure standing among the shattered pillars behind them. Cloaked in shadow, the hunter watched with eyes like glinting steel. He raised a silver pendant to his lips and whispered into it, voice smooth and cold as the fog around him.
"I've found them."