The twins had never been sick before.
That was what frightened Ariana the most.
They lay curled on opposite sides of the small bed, faces flushed, breathing uneven. The air around them felt… wrong. Too warm. Too charged. The candles on the dresser flickered wildly despite the absence of wind.
Ariana pressed a cool cloth to one small forehead, her hands trembling.
"Easy, baby," she whispered. "Mama's here."
The child's lashes fluttered. When their eyes opened, they glowed faintly—just for a heartbeat. Not gold. Not red.
Something in between.
Ariana's breath caught painfully.
"No," she murmured. "Not now. Please… not now."
The room hummed.
A cup on the table rattled, sliding an inch closer to the edge before settling. The candles stilled.
The twins exhaled together, bodies relaxing as if whatever force had stirred inside them had retreated—obedient, but not gone.
Ariana sank onto the floor, heart racing.
The prophecy she had overheard years ago—half-whispered by creatures who thought her asleep—echoed in her mind like a curse.
Born of blood and ink.
Neither fully human nor fully damned.
The balance-breakers.
She wrapped her arms around herself.
Jayden could never know.
If he did, the vampire world would tear her children apart in the name of destiny.
Across the city, Jayden Cole shattered another glass.
Wine spilled across marble floors, dark as blood.
"Five years," he said quietly, staring at his reflection in the mirror. Hollow eyes. Sharper edges. A predator carved by loss. "Five years… and she runs."
He hadn't slept since the alley.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her back as she fled. The way she'd shielded those children instinctively. The way her body had tensed as if she knew he was there.
She had felt him.
Just like he'd felt her.
That bond hadn't weakened.
It had matured.
His fingers curled slowly.
"Find out who lives near the eastern docks," he ordered without turning. "Any woman who arrived within the last five years. Human. Dark-haired."
"And the children?" Jin Jian asked carefully.
Jayden's jaw tightened.
"…All of them."
Something about those two small figures clawed at his instincts. He didn't know why. He didn't want to name the feeling tightening in his chest.
Possession.
Protection.
Something dangerously close to grief.
Ariana didn't stay in one place long after that night.
She moved again—quietly, efficiently—using false names, changing routines, keeping the twins hidden behind wards she barely understood but instinctively shaped.
Still, danger found them.
It came at dusk, when the sky bled red and the twins played silently at her feet.
Ariana froze.
The air shifted.
Not Jayden.
Worse.
She turned slowly—and met the crimson gaze of a vampire she didn't recognize.
"Well," he drawled, eyes flicking to the children. "You weren't easy to find."
Ariana stepped forward instantly, placing herself between him and the twins.
"Leave," she said coldly.
He smiled. "You're hiding something powerful, human."
The twins whimpered.
The vampire lunged.
Ariana didn't think.
She felt.
The world seemed to bend around her as a force slammed outward, invisible but devastating. The vampire was thrown back into the wall, cracking stone as he hit the ground unconscious.
Silence fell.
Ariana stared at her hands, shaking.
"What… did I do?" she whispered.
The twins stared at her with wide eyes—then smiled.
The candles flared.
Far away, Jayden stiffened.
He pressed a hand to his chest as a surge of power rolled through him, familiar and alien at once.
"That," he breathed, eyes blazing, "was you."
His mouth curved into something dark and broken.
"I'm coming, Ariana."
Ariana didn't sleep that night.
She held her children close, tears sliding silently down her cheeks as she finally accepted the truth she'd been running from.
She wasn't just protecting them from Jayden.
She was protecting Jayden from them.
Because once he knew…
Nothing would ever be the same.