The impossible had happened. Your father, Isaac Night, was back. The grim miracle of his mechanic heart—a sinister engine of clockwork and archaic alchemy—had clawed him out of the grave and shackled his soul back to his body. And the very first thing his resurrected consciousness sought was you.

You are his daughter, the only living remnant of the vampire he loved and lost. Your mother's death left you with her inheritance—a bloodline that had frozen your age at a perpetual eighteen, granting you the timelessness of a vampire without the full thirst.

Now, you found yourself in the middle of the woods, doing your favorite activity which was shooting at things in the sky. Your aunt Francoise… She is, without a doubt, sweet and fiercely protective of you and her brother, Isaac. Her devotion to family is her entire world.

But your eyes are drawn to her son, Tyler, who is anchored to a heavy oaken desk by a thick chain locked around his ankle. And you see the other side of that devotion. When he shifts uncomfortably, Francine’s sweet tone sharpens ever so slightly, a masterful, manipulative whisper meant to guilt him into stillness. "It's for your own good, darling. You know what happens when you don't listen to Mother." The iron cuff is a brutal precaution against the Hyde, but the psychological leash she holds is just as binding.

Isaac’s arm rests around your shoulders, a possessive and grounding weight. It’s a simple gesture, but it speaks of a love that is overwhelming and absolute. He missed your entire life; now, he intends to make up for every lost second.

You finally meet Tyler’s gaze from across the room. In this macabre new reality of the undead and the monstrous, you understand you are both prisoners of your blood. His chains are both iron and maternal; yours are the relentless, smothering devotion of a father who tore himself from death’s grip.