Tarnished Embers Novels & Stories

His breath hitched, and for a long moment, the night held them — two souls who had clawed their way through hell to find heaven in each other’s arms. And then he whispered, his voice low but sure: “Darkness. Demons. Damnation. That’s what I was made of once. which Tainted my Desires” “But I’ve learned something, Castelle… even tainted hearts can crave light. Even the damned can choose redemption.” Castelle’s eyes shimmered. “And the demons?” Kane smiled faintly, glancing down at their children sleeping soundly at her side. “The demons,” he said softly, “learned to bow to love.”

One woman cried as her fingers twisted halfway into claws that wouldn’t fully form. “This shouldn’t be happening,” Gamma whispered. “The Blood Moon has never done this.” Darius rose slowly, his chest heavy. It wasn’t just the moon. It wasn’t just the sky. Something else was stirring. Something old. Something tied to Velise’s warnings. Tied to Ember’s dreams. Tied to the ruins… to the scent that shouldn’t have been there. “Where is Ember?” Gamma asked. “In our room,” Darius said. “She’s safe.”

My palms press into the carpet, clawing for stability, wishing for this to be a dream. The cemetery blurs. My father's hand hovers near my shoulder, trembling as much as mine, but I shake him off. If he touches me, I'll break. If anyone touches me, I'll shatter into dust and blow away. So I stay cemented in place, heaving and choking on my tears, until everything around me falls hushed. And the shock on everyone's face falls away into darkness. The darkness that welcomes me. The darkness that is now my home.

He was a bloody rascal. He chugged the whole drink down and glared down at the empty glass. His mind kept wandering to his cruel words. The things he called her. The way he blackmailed her. She didn't deserve any of that. Where she was trying to make their relationship work. He f*cked everything. Her tear-stricken face flashed in his mind and the sudden noise of the glass cracking filled his eyes. The bartender gasped as Issac stared down at his bloodied hand where a piece of glass shard was sticking into his skin.

She collapsed then, her knees hitting the pavement with a sickening thud as she dissolved into bitter, broken sobs. Riven stood frozen, a statue of a man shattered by a reality he couldn't manipulate. He caught his reflection in the car window—the bloodshot eyes, the jaw set so tight it threatened to break. An innocent soul was weeping at his feet, and the irony cut deep. I was protecting her, he told himself. What did I do wrong? The answer roared in his mind, but his darkness refused to yield. He remembered the fire. He remembered his brother’s final breath and his sister’s screams. They had no empathy, he reminded himself, hardening his heart until it was a cold, black coal. Why should I?

“Who are they?” Kael’s jaw tightened, his words looming heavy with gravity. “The ones who burn without purpose. The ones who forgot what fire is for.” With that, he turned away, gathering Ember’s belongings with swift, practiced hands, a sense of urgency imbued in his every movement. Ember’s pendant pulsed once—soft, warm, like a heartbeat reminding Isla of an inner light. It shimmered faintly in the half-light, and with an imperceptible shift in the atmosphere, the monitor beside the bed flickered, then went dark.

Saavi had put her full body weight on Dhruv who held her like he was protecting her. "Dhruv," Saavi called him running her index finger on his bicep. "Yes, love." "Why do you call me Ember To My Flame?" she asked remembering when she was about to commit suicide Dhruv stopped her and confessed Saavi was The Ember to his Flame. "Interesting Question, love." Dhruv smiled before asking, "Do you know what Ember is?" Saavi raised her head from his chest and nodded vigorously. She answered her husband as she said, "Yes, a piece of wood or coal that is not burning, but is still red and hot after a fire has died."

There was light in his eyes, but now, it was all gone. There was just a dull grey, no swirling mercury, waves rising and receding just like the ocean. The spark that had once lit up those soulful orbs was now burnt out, and replaced with something else. Emmet worried what Jasper was planning to do. If he was willing to risk his life over something so stupid as the door, what could he possibly be planning to do?

Erya fell on the ground with a thud and there came a point where she opened her eyes but never got to close them again on her own. Cia's glossy eyes flooded with tears by watching another person turning lifeless before her. Why did their love have to cost them so many lives? Why was it tainting them so badly? Shutting her eyes, she buried herself in his arms. Zale, whose eyes were fixed on Erya's soulless eyes, finally darted towards Cia when she caged him firmly. A vulnerable sigh escaped from his mouth because now he himself didn't know that was that game of getting tainted with the blood of their closed ones was ever going to end or it was going to end only with their own blood?

he said. "And I haven't even done any of those," I objected. "But that doesn't strip you of your birthright. You are still the daughter of a vampire hunter and that's all that matters," he told me. "So what does that mean?" I asked. "Well funny enough it also means that you are a miracle," he said. Okay now I was starting to think that he was really crazy. Here he was telling me the sordid tale of how I was the vampire's sworn enemy. The very same kind of people that they were planning to go to war with.