Chapter 8 Monsters at the Door

(Anna pov)

Fire, it was everywhere, towering flames swallowed the sky while ash rained like snow around me, thick smoke curling through the air so heavily I could barely breathe. Screams echoed in the distance, human screams, terrified and desperate and somewhere beyond the inferno, something enormous moved through the shadows watching me.

My heartbeat pounded violently as heat wrapped around my body like living hands, then I saw him, Cassian was standing inside the fire, his black clothes were stained with blood, golden eyes glowing unnaturally in the darkness while flames twisted around him like they obeyed him, no not around him, around the massive creature behind him, Wings huge black wings stretching across the burning sky, A dragon.

My breath caught painfully, the creature’s eyes opened slowly, Gold, exactly like his, and then

“Anna.”

His voice echoed through the fire, deep, dangerous and possessive.

“Run.”

I gasped awake, my entire body jolted violently as I sat upright in bed, breathing hard, darkness filled Mara’s apartment except for the faint glow of city lights filtering through the curtains, for several seconds, I could only hear the frantic sound of my own heartbeat, another dream, except it didn’t feel like a dream, It felt too real, I pressed trembling fingers against my forehead, trying to calm myself, ever since that night in the restroom hallway, my mind had become a disaster.

Glowing eyes, dragons, Impossible things that should not exist and somehow the worst part wasn’t the fear, It was the fact that some small reckless piece of me still wanted to see him again, a soft groan came from the other side of the room.

“You okay?”

Mara’s sleepy voice broke through the silence.

“Yeah,” I lied quickly.

She pushed herself up slightly on the couch, squinting toward me. “You were talking in your sleep again.”

I froze.

“What did I say?”

“Something about fire.” She yawned tiredly. “And Cassian.”

My stomach tightened instantly, wonderful, I buried my face in my hands briefly, Mara studied me for a moment before her expression softened.

“You’re really scared of him now, aren’t you?”

The question lingered heavily in the dark apartment and the truth?

“Yes.”

My voice came out quieter than expected.

“Because none of this makes sense anymore.”

Mara sighed softly before standing and walking toward the tiny kitchen.

“Well, mysterious billionaire men with glowing eyes usually don’t scream emotionally stable.”

Despite myself, I laughed weakly, she handed me a glass of water.

“You think he’s dangerous?” she asked carefully.

I stared down at the glass.

“Yes.”

“Dangerous to you?”

I opened my mouth, then hesitated, because strangely, not exactly, dangerous around me?

Absolutely.

Dangerous because of whatever he was hiding? Definitely.

But every terrifying thing about Cassian somehow felt directed outward, like he would destroy everyone else before letting harm reach me and that realization unsettled me deeply.

“I don’t know,” I admitted finally.

Mara sat beside me now, her voice quieter.

“You know what’s freaking me out the most?”

I looked at her.

“How does he know where we live?”

Cold spread instantly through my chest, right, the flowers, the expensive white roses sitting in the kitchen since yesterday mornin, no note no explanation, just a small black card with my name written across it in elegant handwriting,

Anna, nothing else.

No address should have connected me to Cassian Sinclair, yet somehow, he found me anyway.

“I don’t like it,” I whispered.

Mara nodded immediately. “Me neither.”

The apartment suddenly felt cold, like something invisible lingered around us watching, I quickly shook the thought away.

“You’re overthinking,” Mara muttered, though she didn’t sound convinced herself.

A loud crash exploded downstairs, both of us jumped violently.

“What the hell was that?” Mara whispered.

Another crash followed immediately, then screaming, my blood turned to ice, not normal screaming, panicked and terrified, something heavy slammed against metal outside.

Mara stood instantly. “Stay here.”

“No!”

I grabbed her arm before she could move, another scream echoed from below the apartment building, then a low inhuman growl, every hair on my body stood up instantly, Mara’s face went pale.

“Okay,” she whispered shakily. “That definitely wasn’t human.”

Fear slammed through my chest, the lights inside the apartment suddenly flickered violently, once, twice then completely died and darkness swallowed the room.

“Mara—”

Glass shattered somewhere downstairs, people screamed louder now, running footsteps echoed outside the building and then came a sound I would never forget for the rest of my life, something monstrous roaring in the night.

“Oh my God,” Mara breathed.

A loud bang suddenly shook our apartment door, we both screamed, another bang followed immediately, hard enough to crack the wood slightly, something strong was outside, the growling came closer now, slow scratching dragged across the door, my entire body froze.

“Mara…” I whispered.

Her hand gripped mine tightly, neither of us moved, then suddenly there was complete silence, the scratching stopped, the growling disappeared and somehow that felt even worse, a low voice suddenly echoed from the hallway outside.

“Anna.”

My breath caught instantly, Cassian, relief hit so hard it nearly made my knees weak, but before I could move the apartment door exploded inward, wood splintered violently across the room, Mara screamed, a creature lunged inside, I froze in horror, It looked human and not human at the same time, it was tall and twisted, its eyes glowed sickly red while dark veins spread beneath gray skin, Sharp teeth gleamed as it snarled violently toward us, the smell alone made me nauseous.

“What the hell is that?!” Mara cried.

The creature moved impossibly fast toward us and then fire exploded through the apartment, a massive wall of flames slammed into the creature, throwing it violently backward into the shattered doorway, I gasped, Cassian stepped through the flames, like the fire itself obeyed him, his eyes glowed bright gold fully now, power rolled off him so intensely the air itself shook, behind him came two other men, both covered in blood while dragging another snarling creature down the hallway, everything happened too fast.

One of the men snapped the creature’s neck with horrifying force while the other drove a glowing dagger into another one lunging from the stairs, the creature screamed before turning into ash, my mind could barely process what I was seeing, Cassian’s gaze found mine instantly.

“Are you hurt?”

I couldn’t speak, because he looked terrifying beautiful and monstrous, he was completely lethal, another roar echoed from outside, Cassian cursed sharply before striding toward me.

“Can you walk?”

“What are those things?” I whispered shakily.

His jaw tightened.

“No time.”

Another crash shook the building violently, the walls trembled, one of the men looked toward the broken hallway sharply. “More incoming.”

Cassian grabbed my wrist instantly, heat spread through my skin the second he touched me.

“Move.”

Mara stumbled beside me as the other man pulled her forward too, we rushed into the hallway where bodies, actual bodies lay scattered everywhere, some human, some not, blood covered the walls, I nearly threw up, one of the creatures suddenly lunged from the stairwell ceiling, i screamed, Cassian moved faster than my eyes could follow, fire burst from his hand violently, consuming the creature midair before it even touched the ground.

My legs almost gave out, that was impossible, yet it was happening directly in front of me, Cassian looked back at me briefly and something inside his expression shifted seeing the terror on my face.

“Anna—”

“What are you?” I whispered.

Pain flickered across his eyes, then another explosion rocked the building.

“Later.”

He pulled me forward again, outside, chaos had swallowed the street, cars burned, people ran screaming, dark creatures moved through shadows attacking anything alive and above all of it something huge moved across the rooftops, Wings, massive black wings, exactly like my dream, fear crashed through me so violently I nearly stopped breathing, Cassian noticed instantly, his grip on my wrist tightened possessively.

“Don’t look at them.”

But it was too late, because deep down, I already knew monsters were real and somehow Cassian Sinclair was the most dangerous one of all.