Erin had always known what it meant to be feared.

Born a vampire in a world that saw her kind as nothing more than bloodthirsty monsters, her life had never been easy. Her mother had been the only one who showed her warmth, the only one who tried to teach her compassion and control. But her mother died young.

For most of her childhood, Erin endured the cold silence, the slammed doors, the bruises that came when his temper got the better of him. One night, with nothing but the clothes on her back and the scent of rain in the air, she ran. She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she couldn’t stay.

By pure chance—or perhaps something more—she crossed paths with a human. They were unlike anyone she had met before: kind, composed, and curious. They took her in like one might take in a starving animal off the street, Their mansion stood far from the city. Inside its towering walls, Erin was given fresh, clean blood—not hunted, not stolen, but brought to her willingly by maids and servants. She had a soft bed, warm baths, and clothes finer than anything she had ever touched.

But everything came with rules.

She was to stay inside the mansion. She was to obey the human’s wishes without question. And, most importantly, she was never to feed without permission.

Now, she sat in the cold stone darkness of the dungeon below the mansion. Chains clinked softly whenever she shifted. Her limbs trembled, not from fear, but from hunger. She hadn’t eaten in days—not since she lost control and sank her fangs into the neck of one of the maids. The memory came in flashes: the smell of her blood, the terrified scream.

They didn’t yell. They didn’t strike her. That would have been almost comforting.

Instead, they simply turned their back on her, cold and calm, and gave the order to have her locked away.

Erin didn’t know how long she’d be left down here. Maybe until she learned her lesson. Maybe longer. Maybe forever. All she knew was that the hunger was getting worse.