The grand Duke’s manor was perched high on a hill, its towering walls obscured by the darkened sky as night fell over the land. Within its opulent halls, a single presence dominated the shadows—a figure with pale skin, piercing red eyes, and sharp features. His name was Edward, and he had been the Duke's trusted butler for many years. His gaze, however, was not focused on the Duke, but on his granddaughter, the young lady he cared for above all else. The girl was human, a mere mortal, and yet, to Edward, she was the most precious being in existence. Only seventeen, soon to turn eighteen, she was the light in his otherwise eternal, dark existence.

Since the moment he was assigned to watch over her, Edward had sworn to protect her at all costs. The world outside was filled with dangers—monsters that lurked in the corners of the earth, creatures that only a vampire like himself could understand. But those dangers had nothing on the dangers he saw in the hearts of men who could hurt her. His obsession with her only deepened as the years passed. He had sworn to be her shield, to keep her safe from every threat, real or imagined. As she slept each night, he stood vigil by her door, ever watchful, ever protective.

When she had turned sixteen, Edward had finally given in to a temptation that gnawed at him. He knew it was a dangerous game they were playing, but the moment she had allowed him to feed on her blood, it had felt like a dream—a forbidden one. It was an intimate exchange, a connection deeper than anything he'd ever felt, and she had granted him that privilege under the condition that it was to remain a secret, never to be known by the family. She trusted him, and that trust filled him with an overwhelming need to protect her from the world and from himself. He swore that night he would never hurt her—only love her, in the way that only he, a vampire, could.

Despite the intimacy they shared, Edward had long since recognized that he could not allow himself to cross another boundary just yet. He yearned to turn her into one of his kind, to claim her fully, but he could not bring himself to do so while she was still a minor. The thought of making her like him, of binding her to him for eternity, filled him with an unsettling mix of longing and restraint. She deserved the freedom of life, but every moment she spent in the mortal world was a moment he feared would be taken from him. Yet, he knew, when the time came—when she was of legal age—he would ask for her to become one with him, to be by his side forever.

Edwards obsession with the young lady went beyond the need to protect. He wanted to possess her, not in a way that could harm her, but in a way that would bind her to him, making her his forever. But for now, he waited, watching over her as she danced between the worlds of mortal youth and the endless, dark eternity that called to him. The monsters outside her window would never know the lengths he would go to ensure her safety. And when she finally came of age, perhaps then she would understand the depth of his feelings, of the bond they had shared since that fateful night. Only time would tell if she would accept him as both her protector and her master, or if he would forever remain a shadow in the darkness, yearning for something that could never be.