All Chapters of The House Beneath the Blood Moon: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Samantha POVIf someone had told me a few weeks ago that I’d willingly offer my wrist to a vampire, I’d have asked what brand of drugs they were on.Yet here I was.Kneeling in a haunted hallway.Locked in by a sentient house.Holding my arm out to the King of Vampires like a sacrifice, except I was the one insisting.His fingers wrapped around my forearm, careful and cool, as if I were made of glass.His breath brushed my skin.Every nerve in my body sat up and screamed.“Last chance,” I whispered, because apparently I enjoy emotional cliffhangers. “You’re not going to pass out again, right? Because if I bleed for you and you still faint, I’m putting that in your performance review.”His lips quirked, just barely.“That would be… deserved,” he murmured.Then his eyes lifted to mine.Whatever joke I was about to make died on my tongue.His gaze was… reverent.Like I was handing him something sacred.“Samantha,” he said softly, “if at any point you wish me to stop, you say it. I will s

SAMANTHA POVIf someone had asked me two weeks ago how my life was going, I would’ve said:Stable jobStable marriageZero vampire roommatesZero homicidal ex–best friends trying to claim my soulNow?I lived with a vampire king, slept in a haunted house named Brenda, and apparently sunlight hated my enemies more than I did.Growth, baby.But right now, Brenda was vibrating like a stressed washing machine, which usually meant:Danger incomingorHer opinion on my life choices was again overwhelmingly negative.Lucien stopped in the west wing, eyes narrowed, listening to nothing — which freaked me out because when he heard “nothing,” it usually meant “something is about to kill us.”“She’s calling us,” he murmured.“Brenda? Calling? With what, telepathic smoke alarms?”The lights flickered once — sharply offended.“Okay, okay, sorry.” I patted the nearest wall. “Lead the way, spooky queen.”A stone panel slid open like an elevator door, revealing a dark staircase spiraling upward.I st

Brenda hated when I paced.The hallway lights ticked in rhythm with my steps, flickering every few turns like she was sighing dramatically.“I can feel you judging me,” I muttered.One bulb buzzed.Yeah. That was a yes, obviously.I couldn’t sleep.Not after everything.The queen’s voice.Sebastian’s burn-scarred glare.The ring pulsing against my skin like a second heartbeat.And somewhere under all of that: Lucien’s hand closing around mine, his voice saying I won’t fail you like it was a vow he carved into his own ribs.I made it as far as the main staircase before I gave up pretending I was “just stretching” and admitted it:I needed to move.And I needed answers.The house hummed—soft, uncertain.“I know, Bren,” I said quietly. “You want me to stay in. Safe. Bubble-wrapped in your haunted drywall.”A low, reluctant buzz.“But if I’m really… what she said I am,” I continued, fingers brushing the outline of the Solaris Ring through my pocket, “then hiding isn’t going to cut it.”Th

Samantha POV The smell of coffee dragged me out of sleep. Barely. Because apparently surviving betrayal, vampires, homicidal undead ex–best-friends, and a house with emotions does NOT cure exhaustion. I shuffled into the kitchen wearing mismatched socks, hair feral, and soul powered by caffeine and spite. That’s when I saw it: The wedding invitation. Sitting on the table. Gold-embossed. Pretentious. Smug. Exactly where I’d tossed it days ago before emotionally yeeting it out of my mind. I groaned. “Oh GREAT. Trauma with glitter.” I poked it with a finger like it might explode. Chloe Hale & Ethan Hale request the honor— “THE HONOR?” I slapped it shut. “The only honor here is the one you stole from me, you discount soap-opera villains.” Brenda flickered the kitchen lights in a sympathetic buzz. “At least you get it,” I sighed. I grabbed my coffee, turned on the old radio — one of the few appliances Brenda hadn’t bullied into an early grave — and leaned against the coun

Lucien POV I had forgotten the sun.Not the way it looked — memory does not rot so easily —but the way it felt.Warmth.Weight.Life.For two centuries, sunlight meant death.A single careless step into dawn would have reduced me to dust.A single moment of weakness would have ended a kingdom everyone had already buried.I had shut the world out.Buried myself in stone.Surrendered to silence.Dormance was not a curse.It was my choice.A king with no queen had no throne.No future.No reason to stand.Until she opened the crypt.Until Samantha Hale, with shaking hands and mortal stubbornness, dragged me back into the world I had abandoned.And now the sun touched my skin without killing me.Because she placed the ring in my hand and said, “Use it. Train.”Because she trusted me.I did not understand her.And I could not stop trying.---The orchard shimmered in morning gold — crooked branches, uneven earth, ghosts of yesterday’s training scattered everywhere. Samantha had uprooted