All Chapters of OUTCAST: FIRST BLOOD: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Gabriel’s attack hit like a crack of lightning splitting stone—silent for a fraction of a heartbeat, then erupting with catastrophic force.Adrian didn’t dodge.He didn’t flinch.He didn’t hesitate.He met Gabriel head-on.The moment their bodies collided, the cavern shook so violently dust rained from the ceiling in a steady stream. Stone fractured under their feet, rippling outward in jagged spiderweb cracks. Emily staggered back, bracing herself against a pillar, feeling the vibrations travel through her bones.Adrian’s claws locked with Gabriel’s, their strength evenly matched for the first time. Gabriel’s eyes widened—almost disbelieving—as Adrian pushed him back an inch, then two, then three.“This is impossible,” Gabriel hissed, breath trembling with strain.Adrian’s lips curled into a feral grin, eyes burning molten gold.“Keep saying that. Maybe you’ll convince yourself.”Gabriel snarled and twisted, throwing Adrian off balance. Adrian spun mid-air, landed on bent knees, and

Gabriel reached Emily first.Not as the elegant, calculating pureblood he’d been minutes ago—but as a warped, unstable storm of shadow and bone, a creature caught between forms, vibrating with stolen power he was never meant to hold.He was faster than before.Hungrier.Unpredictable.Emily felt the air collapse around her as Gabriel’s warped hand closed toward her throat, the shadow-tendrils trailing behind him like smoke.She didn’t think.She didn’t scream.Her body simply froze—every instinct inside her going silent as his monstrous face loomed in front of her.But before his claws touched her skin—Adrian hit him.Not from the side.Not from behind.He collided with Gabriel mid-air, chest to chest, shoulder slamming into Gabriel’s ribs with an impact that sounded like thunder cracking the earth. The force threw both vampires across the chamber in a violent spiral of claws and blood.Gabriel crashed into the far wall.Adrian crashed into him again before he could recover.Emily

The moment the light died from Emily’s skin, silence fell—thick, heavy, almost suffocating. The golden shimmer that seconds ago had erupted from her like a living force now faded to nothing more than faint specks dusting the cracked floor around her knees. Her breath came in uneven pulls, chest rising and falling as though she had sprinted miles. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, not from fear alone but from the lingering echo of something vast and ancient that had moved through her body without her permission.Adrian stood several steps away, frozen in place as if someone had carved him from stone. His chest rose in shallow, ragged breaths, every muscle pulled tight, every vein standing out beneath torn skin. Blood dripped slowly down his forearms, trailing over his claws, but for the first time since the fight began, he didn’t seem aware of the pain. His eyes—still glowing in that haunting gold-red hue—were locked entirely on her.Not on Gabriel.Not on Lilith.Her.Emily lifted he

The creature stepped out of the dissolving cloud of black ash, its form pulling itself together like shadow deciding to imitate flesh. It wasn’t Gabriel—Gabriel had been consumed, unmade, used as a shell for something older, something that didn’t belong in a body shaped like a man. The thing standing there now was taller, its shoulders too broad for human proportions, its torso stretched as if held together by threads of smoke rather than muscle. Its skin—if it could be called that—shifted constantly, flickering between liquid shadow and the faint silhouette of bone beneath.When it moved, the air bent. The ground under its feet darkened, stone turning porous, drained of color. Every step was silent, yet Emily could feel it—vibrating up her bones, settling like static behind her ribcage.Adrian pressed her back instinctively, his body hardening, his claws flexing. She felt his breath change—shorter, tighter—his instincts trying to decipher what this thing was and finding no reference

The dust settled slowly, drifting through the cavern like ash after a ruinous fire. Emily sat curled in Adrian’s lap, her body still trembling uncontrollably, every inhale shallow and fragile. Adrian held her as if she might vanish with the next blink—his arms locked around her waist, his fingers gripping her trembling shoulders, his face buried in the side of her hair, breathing hard and uneven.He didn’t say anything at first.Couldn’t.His mind was still trapped in the image of that creature reaching into her chest—into her soul—while he stood helpless, gasping under its grip.Emily coughed softly, the sound brittle. “Adrian… I can breathe. I’m okay.”“You’re not okay,” he said instantly, his voice rough and desperate. “You’re shaking. You’re pale. You—God, Emily—he had his hand inside you. I couldn’t—” His voice cracked, dying in his throat.Emily lifted her hand with visible effort and touched his jaw. “You saved me.”He shook his head violently. “No. You saved me. Twice.” He pul