LOGINEverywhere I looked I was surrounded by them. They would not let us sleep or rest because our kind did not deserve to rest . I was on knees wiping the floor and I wasn't even half way done yet . I had two more large halls to go. After that we had to clean the dishes and that would take hours. It was torture and evil all at once and everyone was watching my every step even the other human servants.
"Hi," a girl said as I finished cleaning the second hall room "can you make sure the basement in the kitchen is also cleaned up" I stood up and looked at her "couldn't you do it that wasn't on my list" She seemed offended by what I had just said as if expected to just take it. I wasn't going to be bullied by them as well my own kind hell no "I am a bit tied up that's why I asked" "Did you ask everybody else or was it just me?" I grabbing my bucket and she didn't answer "I thought so ,well I'm a bit 'tied' up so I can't" I walked away who did she think she was . She stood there in shock and maybe even angry. Her grey eyes narrowed at me. I smirked so she was the queen B amongst the human slaves. Didn't she have better things to worry about than bullying her own kind. I scoffed as I entered another room and got down . I started wiping the floor by the time I was done I was exhausted . I groaned as I thought of the amount of dishes waiting for me . The sun started rising as I finished washing the last plate. We were basically forced to wash for the whole pack. And only two people were supposed to do it they wouldn't allow us to help each other. I looked at Madam Anna "please Madam..." she cut me off "Call me Anna please just Anna" she said with her tired voice ,her hands were swollen from cooking and cleaning and washing for probably years now . "Anna please get some I will finish off" I pleaded with her . She had swollen baggy eyes and dark circles it definitely wasn't healthy. She shook her head "it's okay dear I am alright besides they will kill me if they found me resting." "I won't tell if you won't " I said "now please go rest for even a few minutes" I insisted . She sighed "you won't give up will you." "I definitely won't so ...go please." She smiled at me as she left and I stayed behind. I began preparing breakfast as the birds began chirping . My hands already felt sore but I had to get it done for Madam Anna . I felt like she really worked so hard she barely had time to look after herself and the humans here seemed to only care about themselves and not each other.They had probably been here for so long they had forgotten how to be united ,how to fight ,they had given up all hope I could see it in their eyes. My thoughts were quickly distracted when the girl with grey eyes and Brown hair walked in with two man they were also human slaves. She folded her arms "she refuses to do the hard work she thinks she is special" she said gesturing at me . "I guess we will show her how special she is then" the man said with raised eyebrows . Lily walked in ,her eyes were red and puffy. She looked at the girl "Emma what are you doing?" She asked her confused. "Are you okay?" I asked Lily but then one of the guys grabbed my hand and I slapped him hard "fuck off don't you touch me!" I said grabbing a knife from the counter . Another twisted my hand and I winced in pain dropping the knife. They started dragging me with them. "Stop it !" Lily said in tears "what are you doing!" "Stay back or you will be next," Emma said as she followed behind. I tried resisting but Emma quickly punched me in the face and my vision blurred for a second. They dragged me to a dark room. They placed me in the middle of the room while the other guy grabbed a few bottles . They started breaking the bottles until I was surrounded by shards of glasses . Emma had already taken away my shoes . There was shards of broken glass everywhere and only a tiny space for me to stand . "Why are you doing this ,we should be united why are you acting like them?" I said in anger "Don't fall asleep,byeee" Emma sang as they left me in the dark and locked the door behind them. I sighed ,this was really hell and worse than I thought . I stood there for hours and Noone came for me . I even tried calling for help even from the monsters but Noone came. I was alone and my legs hurt. I had to get out of here nomatter what. I tore a large piece of my dress and wrapped it around my feet and hands. Trying to brushed some of the glass away wasn't working because the shards of glass was everywhere they really had out done themselves. I tried walking towards the door thankfully the sun had risen and some of the light started sipping into the room. I walked slowly and carefully. I winced as I felt some of the glass cutting my foot but I was almost there. Just as I reached the door a bigger glass sliced my foot and I almost fell on my face but the door opened and large hands grabbed me lifting me off the floor easily bridal style . I widened my eyes as I stared at the beautiful golden eyes of my heroes. Elijah.The next morning felt off from the second I woke up.The air in my room was heavy, like the night had held its breath and hadn't let go. I barely slept — every creak in the house made me jump, every shadow felt like it was stretching just a little too far.By the time I got to school, I was exhausted. But seeing Chloe — standing by her locker, talking to people, smiling like she hadn't just died — made my stomach twist.She looked perfect. Too perfect.Her skin glowed in that porcelain, untouchable way, and her hair shimmered under the hall lights like a shampoo commercial. She was laughing at something Jessica said, her hand brushing her neck — the same place Bella's bite had been.No marks. No scars. No proof.Vanessa caught up to me, a frown carved deep between her brows. "She's glowing again," she muttered. "That's not a hospital glow-up. That's... something else.""I know," I said. "But what can we even do? Ask her if she's, what,really undead?"Vanessa shot me a look. "You joke
I helped Vanessa stand, slipping my arm under hers. She winced as she straightened, brushing invisible dust from her clothes, though her pride seemed far more bruised than her body."Are you okay?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.She gave a shaky nod, her expression dark with anger. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just... bruised ego. Maybe a cracked rib." She glared in the direction the new students had disappeared. "What was that, Liz? She called me a Bennett like it was an insult."I frowned. "Maybe she knows your family?""Not possible." Vanessa rubbed her temples, her brows drawn tight. "My grams warned me—if other witches ever came to town, it wouldn't be by accident. She said New Orleans was... waking up again."That sent a chill down my spine. "Waking up?""Something's coming," she said quietly, glancing down the empty hallway. "And it's not friendly. I can feel it."Before I could say anything else, the bell rang — that sharp, metallic clang that always felt like a slap back to re
The corridors were louder than usual that morning—too loud. It felt like the entire school was buzzing with whispers, footsteps echoing off polished tiles, and the sound of secrets being passed like wildfire."Did you hear she woke up?" a girl near the lockers said, voice trembling with excitement."Chloe? Yeah, my mom said the doctors called it a miracle.""I heard she died for like... a whole minute.""No, it was hours.""Hours? That's impossible—"I kept walking, trying to drown out their words, but every corner I turned, there it was again. Chloe's name floating around like smoke in the air.It was surreal—just yesterday she'd been pale and lifeless in a hospital bed. Now she was back home, smiling for the cameras, and the mayor's office had already released a statement calling it a "medical wonder." I should've been happy. Relieved. But every time I thought about her lying there with Damon's words echoing in my head—she's turning—I felt sick.Vanessa brushed past me, her curls bo
Elizabeth's POV Chloe's scream still echoed in my ears. It wasn't the kind of scream you could forget, either. It was sharp, raw—like something tearing apart inside her. And then Damon's hand was on her, his eyes like stone, and snap. Her body went still. For a second, the room was silent. My own scream nearly broke me when it finally ripped out of my chest. "What did you do?!" Vanessa's hand covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Elijah stood frozen by the door, his expression unreadable but his jaw clenched. Damon looked at us like we were idiots. "Relax." His tone was flat, dismissive, like we were overreacting to nothing. "She's not dead. Not permanently, anyway." That was it. That was all he gave us. No comfort. No explanation. Just—relax. And before I knew what I was doing, before my brain could even catch up with my body, my hand whipped across his face. The slap echoed through the hospital room, stinging my palm, burning my skin with the force of it. The
Chloe’s POVDarkness.It swallows me whole. Endless, suffocating, so thick it feels like it’s pressing against my skin. No light, no sound—just the echo of my own thoughts bouncing inside my head.Is this death?If it is, then everything I’ve ever been told was a lie. There’s no golden light waiting. No warm voices calling me home. Just emptiness. And the cold… God, the cold. It’s inside me, gnawing at my bones, making me feel like I’m not even human anymore.My chest tightens. I wrap my arms around myself, though it does nothing. I feel so small, like a child lost in the woods.And then the memories come.Not in pieces this time, not blurred like the dreams I forced myself to believe. They come sharp, cutting, real.The cinema.That night I pretended never happened, the night I told myself over and over was just a nightmare. Elizabeth, Vanessa, and I had laughed our way inside, clutching popcorn, teasing each other about who screamed the loudest at horror movies. It should have been
Elizabeth's POV The hallway was far too quiet. My heart thudded like a warning drum in my chest as Damon and I walked side by side, the sterile hospital lights casting an eerie yellow glow on the walls. Every sound felt amplified-the buzz of the ceiling lights, the squeak of my shoes, even my breathing. I hated this feeling. The feeling that something was coming. Something worse than what we'd already seen.Damon suddenly stopped. His body went rigid."Don't move," he said, voice low and sharp. His eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly, sniffing the air like a predator catching scent."What is it-" I didn't even finish.Like the wind, something dark rushed toward us, a blur I could barely process. Damon moved faster-inhumanly fast. One second he was beside me, the next he had slammed the figure so hard into the wall that I heard the crack of bones and a dent formed in the plaster.The guy-definitely a vampire-slumped to the ground, hissing. I stepped back, heart hammering.Dam







