Chapter 3: Crimson Fang Captures Her
The carriage moved like a phantom, gliding over land that shifted from farmland to wild forest to mist-covered moors.
Aria pressed her palm to the cold window, eyes wide as the world she'd known melted into something older something ancient.
Tall black trees, thick with creeping vines, leaned in as if whispering secrets. The moon hung heavy and red in the sky. Her pendant pulsed to its rhythm.
The woman who had come for her, known only as Mistress Verlaine, sat silently with gloved hands folded.
"Where is the academy?" Aria asked.
"Farther than you've ever traveled. But closer than you think."
The answer offered no comfort.
Hours passed. The sky darkened. Stars like cold fire burned above. Aria's eyes grew heavy.
She didn't notice the moment the road ended or that the shadows had changed.
The carriage jerked.
Horses neighed.
Then
CRASH.
A blur of movement.
A hiss.
The door wrenched open and a black-clad figure grabbed Aria before she could scream.
The air split with the sound of breaking spells. Verlaine shouted something guttural. A flash of silver light burst inside the carriage. It seared Aria's vision but the figure was already gone, vanishing with her into the woods.
The world spun.
Branches tore at her skin. The figure moved like wind, like smoke, like death. His grip was iron, but his breath was steady. Not rushed. Not panicked.
They were hunting, not fleeing.
She was the prey.
He dropped her on damp earth in a clearing ringed by fang-shaped stones. Her pendant flared but the man struck it with a blade wrapped in runes. The magic snapped like a bone.
Aria cried out.
She scrambled back against a stone, gasping.
"Don't hurt me"
The man removed his mask.
He was young. And beautiful.
A cruel beauty sharp and dangerous. Hair the color of blood spilled in moonlight. Fangs gleamed behind a crooked smirk.
"Crimson Fang," he said, voice deep, melodic, twisted with delight. "You may have heard of us. Or not. We like to keep a low profile when kidnapping witches."
Aria stared at him.
"You're insane."
He grinned wider. "I've been called worse."
He crouched.
"Name?"
She refused to speak.
He tilted his head. "You're braver than the last one. She sobbed for hours. And pissed herself."
Aria glared. "I won't beg."
"Good." He stood and snapped his fingers.
More vampires emerged from the trees five, then ten. Pale, inhuman, hungry.
Aria's skin crawled.
"We'll take her to the Pit," the leader said. "The Master will want to see this one. Especially with her scent."
A voice behind them cut through the woods like a blade.
"No. She's mine."
Silence fell.
Every vampire froze.
The leader snarled. "Lucian Blackthorn doesn't command the Crimson Fang. We bow to no one."
But even he sounded unsure.
Lucian stepped into the light.
Aria gasped.
The man from the village. The man from her dreams.
His eyes locked on hers.
"I warned you," he said. "They would come."
Lucian moved with lethal grace.
The vampires hissed, forming a semicircle. Aria scrambled away but the moment her foot crossed a rune in the grass, pain exploded through her limbs. Her vision blurred.
Lucian's hands flexed. His black coat rippled with unseen energy.
"You will not touch her."
The Crimson Fang leader stepped forward.
"Then challenge me, Lord of Shadows."
Lucian did not hesitate.
The fight was not a fight. It was destruction.
In three seconds, Lucian had disarmed the leader, torn his coat open, and driven a blade of moon-forged steel through his heart.
The body burst into ash.
The others ran.
Aria stared, trembling. Lucian turned to her.
"Your Awakening has begun. You can no longer travel as a mortal."
She tried to speak. Failed.
He lifted her as easily as a doll.
And when she reached for the pendant it was gone.
She awoke in darkness again.
But this darkness was velvet, not fear.
Silk sheets. A warm hearth. A vast stone chamber lit by floating orbs.
Lucian sat beside the bed, watching.
Aria flinched. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," he said quietly. "Everything."
She didn't understand.
"You know me," she whispered.
"Yes."
"I… knew you."
"In another life. And I failed you."
She blinked. Tears welled. "Who was I?"
His expression flickered with pain.
"You were fire incarnate. Priestess of the Moon Flame. Slayer of kings. My mate. My downfall."
The words hit like stones.
"And now?"
Lucian's silver eyes glowed.
"You're reborn. And I will not fail you again."
She sat up. "I need to go to the Academy"
"They'll kill you before you learn to control your fire."
"Then teach me."
He rose. "Not here."
He held out a hand.
"Come. Let me show you what they buried. Let me show you who you are."
She hesitated.
Then took his hand.
Beneath the mountain, past the sealed crypts of old blood gods, Lucian led her into a chamber where flame danced without fuel, and mirrors whispered the truth.
A vision formed.
Aria reborn, crowned in flame, a blade in each hand. Lucian at her side. A throne of bone. A war of realms.
And in the shadows, a creature watching.
A darker power rising.
Aria shivered.
Lucian turned to her.
"Your enemies know you live. They will come."
She clenched her fists.
"Let them."