CHAPTER 6 : One Bed, One Heartbeat  

 Ella’s POV  

“Run.”

His voice is barely a whisper against my neck, cracked and wrong and still the most human thing I’ve heard in hours. I shake my head hard, tears hitting his cheek.

“Not happening,” I choke out, dragging him by the armpits across cold stone. His new fangs keep scraping my shoulder every time he jerks, and every scrape sends golden fire through both of us. “You weigh a damn ton now, you know that?”

He snarls, tries to twist away. “Ella… get out… before I.....”

“Before you what?” I snap, kicking open a rusted iron door. “Before you hurt me? Newsflash, you already did and I’m still here.”

I haul him down the narrow stairs into the deepest basement I can find . The air is thick with mold and old blood, one tiny slit of a window near the ceiling letting in the last grey of night . There’s a filthy mattress in the corner and a crate marked with a faded Nightwatch symbol. I rip it open, silver chains clinking inside like a horrible promise .

He sees them and thrashes harder. “No… don’t… please… ”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, voice breaking as I loop the first chain around his left wrist . The silver burns his skin instantly, smoke curling up. He screams, back arching off the floor . Golden sparks explode where metal meets flesh and shoot straight into my own arm like I’m the one chained .

“Stop!” he roars, eyes wild crimson. “You’re hurting yourself !”

“Better than letting you loose on the world,” I grit out, wrestling his other wrist down. My hands shake so bad the chain rattles loud enough to wake the dead . “Hold still, damn it!”

“I can’t!” His voice cracks into something raw and terrified . “I feel him inside my head , Ella… he’s laughing… he wants me to rip your throat out and bring it to him on a plate .”

I freeze, chain half-wrapped. “Look at me.”

He tries. His eyes keep sliding to my neck, pupils blown wide.

“Look at me, Adrian.”

He forces his gaze up. For one second the red thins and I see silver underneath , the real him fighting to surface .

“I’m not going anywhere ,” I say, soft but fierce. “You hear me? You’re stuck with me .”

“Don’t say that,” he whispers , voice shaking. “You don’t know what I’m becoming .”

“I know exactly what you are ,” I tell him, clicking the ankle cuffs shut. “You’re the idiot who keeps saving my life even when the whole world wants me dead . That doesn’t change because some ancient creep poured blood down your throat .”

He laughs, bitter and broken. “You should have let me die in that church.”

“Never.” I sit back on my heels, chest heaving . “Not then. Not now. Not ever.”

Silence stretches, heavy and horrible. The chains clink every time he breathes .

“I’m scared ,” he says so quietly I almost miss it.

“Me too,” I admit.

“Of me?”

“Of losing you.”

He closes his eyes like that hurts worse than the silver. “You should be scared of me.”

“Too late.”

I crawl closer, careful not to touch skin on skin because every time I do the sparks feel like they’re going to burn us alive . I settle beside the mattress instead, knees pulled to my chest .

“Talk to me,” I say . “Keep talking so I know you’re still in there .”

“I don’t know how long I can,” he rasps . “Every time I close my eyes I see his face… hear his voice… feel his hands holding my jaw open…”

“Then don’t close your eyes,” I whisper . “Look at me instead .”

He does. Crimson bleeding slowly back to silver, like watching dawn through blood.

“I hate this,” he says . “I hate that I want…” He stops, jaw clenching .

“Want what?”

He turns his face away . “Your blood. Your pulse . All of it. It’s loud, Ella. So loud I can’t think .”

I swallow hard . “Then take mine if you have to. Just don’t leave me.”

He jerks against the chains so hard the wall cracks . “Don’t say that !”

“I mean it.”

“You don’t know what you’re offering !”

“I know exactly what I’m offering ,” I say, scooting closer until my knees bump the mattress. “I’m offering you a reason to fight him. Fight for me, Adrian. Please .”

His breathing goes ragged. “If I lose control …”

“You won’t.”

“You don’t know that !”

“I know you,” I say, and my voice cracks on the last word because it’s true and it terrifies me how true it feels after only days .

He stares at me for a long moment, something desperate and soft flickering behind the monster .

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers .

“For what?”

“For everything that’s coming. For what I might do.”

“Stop apologizing and start fighting ,” I tell him, wiping my face with the back of my hand . “We’re both still breathing . That counts for something .”

The tiny window turns pale pink. Dawn.

His body goes slack all at once, like someone cut every string holding him up . The crimson drains from his eyes completely, leaving them that clear silver I remember from the alley .

“Ella…” he breathes, barely audible .

“I’m here,” I whisper , finally letting myself lie down beside him, close enough to feel his cold but not close enough to spark . “Sleep. I’ve got you .”

He’s out before the sun fully crests the wall.

I curl against his chained side, cheek on his shoulder, too afraid to close my eyes in case he wakes up someone else .

Hours pass. Or minutes. Time feels broken down here.

His voice, small and cracked, drags me out of half-sleep .

“Ella…”

I jolt upright .

The sun is gone. The little window is dark again.

His eyes are open .

Crimson ringed with the thinnest line of silver .

And the first full sentence he manages , voice raw from screaming and silver and everything else , is the one that shatters me completely .

“I’m still me… for now .”

I burst into tears I didn’t even know I was holding .

He strains against the chains , trying to reach me even though it burns him .

“Don’t cry,” he whispers . “Please don’t cry. Not because of me .”

“Too late ,” I sob, pressing my forehead to his. Golden sparks dance between us, softer this time, almost gentle .

“I’m so scared I’m going to hurt you,” he says against my skin .

“Then keep fighting ,” I tell him. “Fight with me.”

“I will,” he breathes . “God help me, I will .”

We stay like that , foreheads touching, breathing each other in, until the chains start to creak again and the crimson begins to swallow the silver once more .

And somewhere far away , in a throne room made of bones, Valerius opens his eyes and smiles at the ceiling .

“The leash tightens ,” he murmurs, licking a drop of ancient blood from his thumb . “Enjoy your little sunrise, children. Sunset always comes .”