Chapter 1 PROLUGUE

LILLIAN POV:

It always starts the same way, me running.

My lungs feel like they’re on fire, my legs scream for mercy, and the sound of my heartbeat drowns out everything else. The night stretches endlessly in front of me dark, wet, and too quiet. The kind of quiet that makes your skin crawl.

I don’t know where I’m going. I just know I can’t stop, I can’t let that thing catch me.

Behind me, something was moving very fast. The kind of fast that doesn’t make sense for anything human. There’s a rhythm to its steps so deliberate like it’s enjoying the chase.

I turn down a narrow street, the pavement slick with rain, and nearly slip. Streetlights flicker above me, buzzing weakly, throwing long shadows that twist and stretch across the cracked asphalt. My reflection flashes for a second in a puddle, and trust me you don't wanna know what I look like right now with my pale face, wide eyes and my damn hair plastered to my forehead. I barely recognize myself.

“What the hell is this?” I whisper between gasps. My voice sounds small, swallowed by the night.

I glance over my shoulder and that’s when I see it still following me.

It was a figure, tall and too so for my liking. But I see the eyes, it's bright, very much unnatural, and cold as glass. Watching me like I’m nothing more than prey.

My stomach twisted, My brain refuses to call it what it looks like. A vampire? oh please.....That’s absurd.

It’s just… some weird person. A trick of the dark or my imagination running wild. Right?

But then it moves even faster than I can breathe.

I break into a sprint again, my shoes slapping against the ground, splashing through puddles. My chest feels like it’s about to cave in. I can hear it behind me now not footsteps anymore, but a low, guttural sound that makes my spine seize, It’s not human..... Jesus ... It can’t be.

“Stay away!” I shout, my voice cracking.

Suddenly, the ground shifts beneath me. My foot catches on something, a damn rock, or perhaps a piece of debris, I don’t even know and I go flying forward. Pain explodes up my leg as I hit the asphalt hard. I groan, trying to push myself up, but my limbs feel heavy, numb. The world spined around my eyes.

When my vision clears, I realize I’ve fallen onto a deserted highway. There are no cars, no lights, just an endless stretch of dark road disappearing into nothing. My palms sting, and blood trickles down my elbow. I can’t even move. I can’t even think straight.

And then I hear it again, soft footsteps, slow and deliberate, coming closer.

No.... No, no, no, please God just this once!

I try to crawl backward, but my body won’t listen. My breath comes out in ragged gasps. My pulse hammers against my throat like a trapped animal.

The figure stops right in front of me.

Up close, it’s worse, so much worse. Skin pale like moonlight, eyes gleaming with a hunger that doesn’t belong to this world. A cruel smile spreads across her lips as she tilts her head, studying me the way a cat looks at a cornered mouse.

When she speaks, her voice is silk and smooth, chilling, almost… amused.

“It’ll be a lot easier,” she says softly, “and sweeter… if you don’t scream.”

Before I can even think, I feel the cold brush of her fingers against my neck, then I felt the pain I wouldn't even wish my enemies.

Something sharp pierces my skin, and a scream tears from my throat high, the pain was endless. It feels like fire racing through my veins, like my blood is turning to ice and heat at once. My vision blurs, spots of red and black dancing before my eyes. The world tilts sideways and everything went black.

Ahhhhhhh!

I bolt upright, gasping. Sweat drenches my forehead, sticking my hair to my face. My sheets are twisted around me like vines, my chest heaving like I’ve actually been running.

For a moment, I just sit there, heart pounding against my ribs.

Then I groan, dragging a hand down my face.

“Ugh,” I mutter, my voice hoarse. “These damn nightmares again…”