After Midnight

Prologue

STAR

When love conquers all, what do you do when you find out that the love you know hides a secret?
Do you keep trying to cling to that love, or do you finally decide to let it go? As for me, I persevered in my search for answers, and in the end, those answers redirected the path that my life would take.

Endless nights filled with howling in the night and mysterious disappearances at midnight. I was determined not to give up and continued looking for the answer until I discovered what I was looking for—a mystery that the town keeps hidden. What I didn't anticipate was the way in which I would become involved with this secret.

It was like trying to fit together a puzzle with pieces missing. As I dug deeper, I discovered a web of lies and deception. The falsehoods and deceit had been woven for years. A world that is hidden from the one we live in. It was as if I had opened the box of Pandora, and once I had done so, there was no going back. The truth may have been uncomfortable, but it ultimately set us free. It gave me the confidence to confront the person I loved the most in the world. What I discovered, however, exceeded my wildest expectations. It was a revelation that shook me to my very foundation, and it forced me to make a decision: either I should stay and fight for the love that I believed I had, or I should walk away and begin a new chapter in my life.

GAGE

Before she arrived in town, every moment of my life spent running under the moonlight was spent in complete tranquillity. When my eyes first locked onto hers, I had an instantaneous realisation that my life would never be the same again, and that the one thing our kind dreaded most about waking would come to fruition.

The attraction that drew me to her was too strong for me to resist, and as a result, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with her. Nevertheless, despite my best efforts to disregard the warning signs, I was unable to conceal the obvious reality that was right in front of my eyes. Having any kind of relationship with her was risky, and by carrying on with this illicit passion, I was putting not only myself but also my people in harm's way. It was a decision I never anticipated having to make, but here I was, staring down the barrel of one with no other options.

I knew that walking away was the best thing to do, but it hurt my heart to think about leaving her. I couldn't handle the thought of never seeing her again, never feeling her touch, or never hearing her voice. I couldn't bear it. It was a conundrum that gripped me, and I found myself split between the responsibility I had toward my kind and the love I felt for her. In that instant, I vowed to myself that I would protect her at any cost, even if it meant my own death.