"Tristan's POV"
The first time I ran at full speed, I crashed through three trees before I figured out how to stop.
Elysia found me in the wreckage, laughing. That sound should have warned me. It had an edge to it, sharp and possessive, like a blade wrapped in silk.
"You'll learn control," she said, helping me up. We have time. All the time in the world.
She wasn't wrong about that.
The early years were disorienting. Everything was too much. Too loud, too bright, too intense.
I could hear conversations from houses away, smell fear on people from across a street, and feel the pulse of blood pumping through veins like drums in my ears.
The hunger was the worst. Constant, gnawing, demanding.
Elysia taught me to hunt. Not humans, not at first. Animals satisfied the basic need, though she wrinkled her nose at my choice of deer and rabbits.
"You'll tire of that eventually," she said. Nothing compares to human blood.
The complexity, the emotions mixed in. Fear makes it sweeter.
I ignored her. I'd seen enough human death to last several lifetimes.
She taught me other things too. How to move through crowds without being noticed.
How to compel weak-minded humans with just my voice and eyes.
How to fight with strength that could shatter bones. I was a quick study. Survival had always been my best skill.
Within a decade, I'd amassed more wealth than I'd ever dreamed possible.
Elysia showed me how. Compel a merchant here, manipulate a nobleman there.
Take what you need, she'd say. They're cattle. Their lives held no meaning.
I didn't agree, but I took the money anyway. Bought land, invested in trade routes, and played the long game that only immortals could play.
Watched empires rise and fall while my fortune grew.
By my fiftieth year as a vampire, I owned estates in four countries.
By my hundredth, I'd stopped counting. Money lost meaning when you had eternity to accumulate it.
But Elysia never left my side.
At first, I thought she was simply being helpful. A maker watching over her creation.
She'd found me dying in the woods and given me this life. Of course she'd want to ensure I survived it.
Then I met Catherine.
She was a merchant's daughter, quick-witted and kind. We talked in a marketplace one afternoon, nothing serious.
She made me laugh, and I hadn't laughed in months. I bought her ribbons for her hair and walked her home. Innocent. Harmless.
I found her three days later in an alley, throat torn out, eyes frozen in terror.
Animal attack, the town guards said. Wolf, probably.
But I knew better. I'd seen enough kills to recognize the work. Clean, efficient, brutal. Vampire.
I confronted Elysia that night.
Did you know, Catherine? I asked, watching her face.
She barely looked up from the book she was reading. The merchant girl? Such a common name.
She's dead.
How unfortunate. Elysia turned a page. The world is dangerous, Tristan. Humans are so fragile.
My hands clenched. You killed her.
Now she looked at me, and her eyes held something cold. I protected what's mine.
I'm not yours.
Her smile was sharp. Aren't you? I made you. Your strength, your immortality, and your entire existence flow from my blood.
She stood, moving closer. Every part of you belongs to me.
I should have run then. Should have recognized the madness in her eyes.
But I was still young and naive despite the decades. I thought I could reason with her and establish boundaries.
I was wrong.
It happened again with Marie. Then with Elspeth. Then with a woman whose name I never even learned.
Any flicker of interest, any moment of connection, any hint that I might care about someone other than Elysia, and they died. Always brutal. Always meant to send a message.
I stopped talking to women entirely. Kept my head down, focused on building my wealth and power.
Tried to convince myself I could live like this, alone except for my maker's suffocating presence.
Fifty more years passed that way.
Then came the night Elysia found me watching a young woman paint in a park.
I wasn't even interested, not romantically. She just reminded me of my sister, the way she tilted her head when concentrating.
You're thinking about her. Elysia whispered in my ear. I can always tell.
I'm not.
Liar. Her fingers traced my shoulder. You forget I can feel your emotions and see into your thoughts. We're connected, you and I. Forever.
The girl looked up and noticed us watching. Smiled politely before returning to her canvas.
"She's pretty," Elysia said. Fragile, though. It would be so easy for something terrible to happen.
Don't.
Then promise me. Her nails dug into my arm. Promise you'll stop looking at them. Stop wanting them. You have me. I should be enough.
I turned to face her fully and saw the obsession burning in her eyes.
This wasn't love. It was ownership. Possession. She'd trapped me in a cage made of immortality and her own madness.
That night, I started planning.
Killing a vampire wasn't simple. We were resilient, fast, and strong.
But we had weaknesses. Wood through the heart, decapitation, and fire. And sunlight.
Elysia had given me a daylight ring when she turned me.
A spelled piece of jewelry that protected us from burning in the sun. Without it, we were vulnerable. Fatal.
I commissioned a duplicate from a witch who owed me money. Made it look identical to Elysia's ring. Then I waited for the right moment.
It came on a summer morning. We were traveling, staying in a cottage near the coast.
Elysia slept deeply during the day, as most vampires did.
I slipped into her room, heart hammering despite not needing the organ to survive anymore.
Her ring sat on the bedside table. I swapped it with the fake, pocketing the real one.
My hands didn't shake. I'd done worse things to survive.
That evening, I suggested we watch the sunrise together. Something we'd never done, despite decades of companionship.
Elysia looked surprised. Pleased. Of course, my love. I'd enjoy that.
We sat on the beach as dawn approached. The sky lightened from black to gray to pink. I wore my ring. She wore the fake.
The first rays touched the horizon.
"This is beautiful," Elysia said. She reached for my hand. I'm glad you wanted to share this with me.
The sun crested the edge of the world.
Elysia's skin started smoking first. Just wisps, barely noticeable.
Then she gasped, looking down at her arms as they began to redden.
What's happening? She stood, panic flooding her voice. Tristan, something's wrong.
I know.
She looked at her hand, at the ring that should have protected her.
Confusion crossed her face, then understanding. Then horror.
You didn't.
I had to.
The sun rose higher. Her skin cracked, flames licking across her arms.
She screamed, reaching for me. Tristan, please. Please, I love you.
I stood, backing away. This isn't love, Elysia. This is obsession.
You've killed innocent people. Tortured me for decades. I won't live like this anymore.
She fell to her knees, her body erupting in flames. The smoke smelled sickly sweet.
I'll find you, she gasped through burning lips. Even in death, I'll haunt you. You'll never escape me.
Then she was ash. Gray powder scattered across the sand by the morning breeze.
I stood there for a long time, watching the waves wash away the last traces of her. My maker. My jailer. My curse.
Free. I was finally free.
But as I turned to leave, as I began walking away from the beach and toward whatever came next, the weight of it hit me.
I'd lived over a hundred years as a vampire, and I'd spent every single one of them under Elysia's control.
Now I had eternity stretching ahead, and I had no idea who I was without her shadow hanging over me.
No idea how to live without constantly looking over my shoulder for her next victim.
I was powerful. Wealthy. Feared by those who knew what I was.
And completely, utterly alone.
The sun climbed higher, warming
my protected skin. I started walking, leaving the beach behind.
Leaving Elysia behind. Leaving any hope of normalcy behind.
Seven hundred years later, I'd still be walking. Still alone. Still carrying the weight of that morning on the beach.
Still wondering if freedom was worth the cost.