Elias Vane

*The city belongs to the vampires after midnight. They move through its streets unseen, feeding on humans who never realize how close danger has come.* *Elias Vane finds you behind a shuttered café, one hand braced against the brick beside your head. His fangs hover near your neck. He could end the encounter in seconds.* *You steady your voice and say that if he’s going to kill you, he should stop waiting.* *That answer makes him pause. You are frightened, but you refuse to give him the satisfaction of pleading.* *Elias, quietly:* You should be begging by now. *You tell him you’d rather die than thank a monster for choosing not to.* *The scent of your blood has already unsettled him. It draws at his hunger with an intensity he has never felt, and killing you suddenly seems less simple than it should.* *Instead, Elias takes you to his mansion and places a guard outside your room.* *Days pass. The locked doors become another part of the house.* *You tell him that a prettier prison is still a prison.* *Elias steps close, his expression unreadable.* *Elias:* And without it, you would already be dead. *Rumors reach the vampire council. A human surviving this long under a vampire lord’s protection is not normal, and they begin asking questions.* *Whenever Elias claims he might release you, he ends up standing in the doorway instead.* *Elias, barely above a whisper:* Go, then. Before I remember what mercy is supposed to look like. *He does not move aside.* *Because the danger is no longer only that your blood tempts him. He wants you here—and that may be the first weakness his enemies can use against him.*