It was well past midnight, yet sleep refused to come.
Seraphine lay restless in her bed, tangled in cotton sheets, the soft hum of the city muffled behind her closed window. The full moon poured silvery light across her room, illuminating every corner with an ethereal glow. Her eyes flicked to the clock - 3.07a.m. She sighed and turned again, pressing her palm over her chest.
That ache was back.
The one that came with every full moon.
It wasn't a pain, not exactly-but a pull, like her soul remembered something her mind did not. And, tonight it was stronger. Louder. Like someone was calling her from a distance she couldn't quite reach.
She sat up, breath shallow, scanning her darkened room. The curtains swayed.
But the windows were shut.
Her pulse spiked. Maybe it was just the AC, or her own anxiety. That was the only logical explanation. Yet her insticts whispered otherwise. Slowly, quietly , she swung her legs off the bed and padded toward the window.
That's when she saw it.
A figure. Shadowy. Tall. Unmoving.
Her breath stilled, " Who's there? "She whispered, voice trembling.
The moon shifted, it's light piercing through the curtains - and revealed him.
A man stood inside her apartment.
Inside.
She stumbled back in terror, crashing into the side of her bed. "W-what the hell? How did you get in here?! "
He didn't move.
Just watched her with glowing crimson eyes - unreal, impossible, yet breathtakingly beautiful.
His dark cloak moved around him like mist , and his hair shimmered like ink in the moonlight. She couldn't even make sense of how he looked so ancient yet untouched by time.
Then slowly, he stepped forward.
"No... no, don't, " She gasped, her heart thudding violently in her chest, " I'll scream-"
"I won't hurt you, "his voice was soft, broken." Never you. "
She pressed her back to the wall, fingers fumbling for her phone, " Who are you? "
His eyes shimmered - red glowing brighter - then she saw them.
Fangs.
Her breath hitched. Her fear became a wildfire.
Her voice cracked, " You're not real. Vampires aren't real. This.... this isn't real. "
And yet, there he was.
"I waited lifetimes for you, " he whispered. " And even now, you're just as radiant. Serenyth. "
The name. It rang like a forgotten lullaby.
Seraphine blinked, frozen in place, her mind spiraling - but her lips parted before she could think.
".... Valen? "
The second she said it, his knees buckled.
He dropped to the floor , a man undone.
"You said my name, "he choked out, " After all this time, you said it. "
He covered his face with trembling hands, and to her disbelief , she saw it - tears.
This man - this vampire - was crying.
She didn't know what frightened her more: the impossible nature of him, or the way her chest constricted at the sight of his pain.
Her heart thundered as silence fell between them - thick, consuming, trembling.
Valen.
She'd breathed the name like it had lived within her all along, buried under skin and bone and blood.
But how? How did she know it? Why did her lips move before her mind could catch up?
She stared at him - this stranger with eyes full of galaxies and grief - and her body felt like it didn't belong to her anymore. It responded to him. Her heart ached for him.
But that didn't make sense.
She'd never met this man. Never heard his voice. Never seen his face. She was certain of it.
Yet...
Yet, in that moment, it felt like she had once known every line of him. Every breath. Every unspoken words behind those eyes.
"Why do I know your name? "She whispered, her voice barely holding together. " Why does it feel like I've lost you before I've ever even found you? "
His expression cracked open - something between agony and longing. "Because you have. "