CHAPTER 4: A PROMISE

VAL

Opening my eyes, all I saw was complete darkness, but not in the way that one associates with night. This was closer, tighter, as it pressed in from all sides, and I blinked quickly as panic crept into my throat. I tried to recall the events that had led me to this point, but I couldn't.

My vision gradually adjusted, and a faint gleam above me brushed against the metal, letting me know I was surrounded by steel. It was narrow, like a drawer, and right then, the cold hit me. It was freezing, but I wasn’t uncomfortable.

My breath hitched, except it wasn’t breathing. It was just… movement, a gasp without the warmth of air, and that’s when I realized I couldn't move either. Except for the cold, I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn't feel my limbs.

I called out instinctively. “Is anybody there?” There was nothing, and I tried again, louder and desperate. "Anyone here?” But there was absolute silence, and that’s when I registered something else: my chest was hollow, there was no beating, nothing, and that's when my hand finally moved.

I clawed frantically at my ribcage. But there was no thump or pulse, just stillness.

I was dead.

My mind began to spiral, and that’s when I heard it, a piercing scream that didn’t just reach my ears but cracked through my skull and split something open inside me.

My body arched, a power so strange and monstrous coursing through me like fire through dry grass. My nails dug into the drawer walls as instinct surged, and I exploded with a hiss as I smashed upward. The steel caved like tin beneath my fingers, and the drawer door shattered off its hinges with a deafening crash. I flew forward, tumbling out in a flurry of clatter, and landed hard on the floor. But I felt no pain.

Instead, something shifted as something else flooded my senses... the most alluring scent I'd ever inhaled. It was warm, sweet, and wild as it engulfed my senses and sent my head spinning.

My head snapped up in its direction as it flooded my soul, and it wasn't alone. It was entwined with others, but they were darker, fouler, musky, iron-tinged scents.... and heartbeats.

The sound bounced through my skull, but one stood out: it beat faster than the others, frantic, and every thump resonated in my bones.

I was on the move before I even realized it. In one swift movement, I was standing in the archway at the opposite end of the room. And what I saw turned my cold blood to ice.

Three men held a woman down, her arms pinned and her body trembling. Her clothes were ripped at the shoulder, her lip bloodied, and her face twisted in terror. An icy surge rushed through me at the sight, and right at that moment, her eyes lifted to mine. I shuddered, everything stilling as our eyes met.

She wasn’t just beautiful, she was mine. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I felt it. It was as if an invisible rope had been coiled tightly around my ribs, and it yanked me toward her while a spark ignited in my veins.

For the first time since I awoke in the darkness, my dead heart beat only once for her, and I moved, a cold hiss ripping from my chest. The men turned, one shouting for the others to act, but they were too slow. I was already mid-stride, death in motion. They had touched her, and nothing in this world or the next would save them.

The first man didn’t even have time to scream. My hand punched through his chest like paper, ribs cracking against my knuckles as I closed my fist around his heart and ripped it free. I had no idea how I knew how to do it; it was as if something had taken over me, spraying warm blood across my face as his body dropped, twitching.

The second attempted to run, but I was quicker. I grabbed him by the throat, lifted him off his feet, and ripped out his heart with my free hand. His mouth opened in a silent scream, and his eyes bulged before he collapsed.

The third one charged with a defiant roar, shifting. And I froze in mid-stride, not out of fear, but because it felt wrong as his bones snapped and twisted, stretching into something hunched and grotesque. Fangs, claws, and eyes that shone yellow like a diseased moonlight charged at me, but it didn't matter.

He leaped, but I caught him in the air, slammed him down, and ripped his head clean off his shoulders. The spine snapped with a sickening crunch, sending his skull flying across the room and crashing through the far wall with a wet thud.

I was about to turn her around when the air cracked with fast sounds like fire whips that burned as they struck, some searing into my shoulder and one digging into my thigh. I turned to see six more men or beasts storming in, weapons raised, and fangs bared, and I didn’t wait.

I met them halfway and tore into them like a beast unbound. One screamed as I crushed his skull against the wall, and another fired until I was on him, driving my fist into his gut before grabbing and ripping out his spine. Gore painted the floor with thick, splattered strokes.

The third raised a silver blade, but I severed his leg and used it to knock two more onto the far table. Metal bent, flesh split, and screams were drowned out by snarls and snapping bones. I couldn’t stop even as they fled. Every time they moved, I was already there, ripping arms from sockets, hearts from chests, spraying the walls with blood and brain matter, my body moving as if it were designed for this.

As fast as it began, it was over, and silence fell over the massacre. Bodies lay in pieces, blood dripped from the ceiling, and I had wounds of my own, but I barely felt them. The only sound left was her breathing, which was ragged and shallow but still alive.

Turning slowly, our eyes met for the second time, and a shudder ran through me once more. "What are you?" Her voice was a choked whisper, and I opened my mouth to say, "Yours." But her legs buckled, and she swayed, her eyes rolling back as her body crumpled.

I was there before she hit the ground, something inside me breaking wide open once more. My knees landed hard on the blood-slick floor, but I barely felt it. Instead, I cradled her against my chest, her skin pale beneath the dirt and blood, my hands trembling as I looked down at her face.

Words full of promise flew out of my mouth before I could think them through. “No one will ever hurt you again,” I whispered. “Not while I breathe. Not while I exist.”

She was mine, and I would burn the world to keep her safe.