Elara

The Dreams

The night after Damien's visit, sleep came in restless fragments for Elara. Her mind replayed their encounter—his voice, his touch, the terrifying magnetism she couldn't explain. She had tried to dismiss the feelings, tell herself it was just a strange encounter, but deep down, she knew it was more. Something had awoken inside her, and she couldn't shake it.

When she finally drifted off, the dreams began.

It started innocently, a memory of her and Lucian sitting by the river on a warm summer day. His hand was in hers, their laughter echoing through the trees as they talked about the future. Safe. Comfortable. Predictable. But even in the dream, she felt a distance. A gap widening between them, like a shadow creeping in at the edges of her consciousness.

The scene shifted abruptly, the warm light of day replaced by the cold chill of night. She was no longer by the river but in a place unfamiliar, a dense forest with trees that seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky, their branches weaving a canopy that blocked out the moonlight.

A figure stood in the distance, barely visible through the fog that curled around the forest floor. Elara's pulse quickened as she took a hesitant step forward, drawn to the figure as if by some invisible thread. She knew who it was. She didn't need to see his face to know.

Damien.

His presence was overpowering, even from afar. He moved closer, and with each step, her heart beat faster, a combination of fear and something she dared not name. He stopped just inches from her, his eyes gleaming like polished silver under the faint light that filtered through the branches. There was a dangerous beauty to him, something that made her want to run and stay all at once.

"Elara," his voice was a low rumble, seductive and commanding.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She was frozen, locked in place by the intensity of his gaze.

"You can't deny it," he whispered, his lips inches from her ear. "You feel it too, don't you?"

The air around them seemed to thicken, her body responding to the heat radiating from him. Her mind screamed at her to pull away, to wake up, but her body refused to listen. She was entranced, captivated by the raw power he exuded.

"I don't..." she stammered, finally finding her voice. "I don't know what you're talking about."

A soft chuckle escaped him, dark and knowing. "Lies, Elara. You've been lying to yourself for too long."

His hand reached out, brushing her arm lightly, sending a jolt of electricity through her. The world around them began to shift, the fog thickening, swirling faster until the trees and the sky blurred together in a dizzying dance of shadows. Elara's head spun, but still, she couldn't break free from Damien's grip on her soul.

"Let me show you," he murmured, his lips grazing the curve of her neck.

The world exploded into darkness.

When Elara opened her eyes, she was no longer in the forest. She stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast, stormy sea. Waves crashed violently against the rocks below, the wind whipping her hair around her face. Beside her stood Damien, unchanged, watching her with an intensity that made her knees weak.

"This is where it all begins," he said, his voice barely audible over the roar of the ocean.

"What do you mean?" Elara asked, though her heart pounded with a dreadful certainty.

"You're not who you think you are, Elara," Damien replied, his eyes never leaving hers. "You've been living in the shadows of your true self. It's time you step into the light. My light."

The words sent a shiver down her spine, and she backed away slightly, her hands trembling. "I don't understand," she said, her voice breaking. "What are you talking about?"

Damien took a step toward her, and this time there was no softness in his approach. His presence was commanding, and Elara felt as if the very air around her was thick with his power. "You belong to something greater, something ancient and powerful. It's in your blood, Elara. You can feel it, can't you?"

Elara's mind raced. She didn't want to believe him, didn't want to believe the strange pull she felt toward him could be anything more than a dangerous attraction. But deep down, a part of her already knew. She had always felt different, like something was missing, like there was a part of her that had been hidden away, locked deep inside.

"Why me?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.

"Because you're one of us," Damien said, his voice low and fierce. "You were born to this, just like I was. The Covenant has been waiting for you, Elara. It's time to stop pretending you're something you're not."

The Covenant.

The name echoed in her mind, triggering memories she couldn't quite grasp. Flashes of symbols, dark cloaked figures, whispers in the dark. Her breath caught in her throat, and suddenly, the ground beneath her felt unstable, like the very world she stood on was crumbling.

"I'm not..." she began, but her words were lost as Damien stepped closer, his eyes gleaming with something dangerous, something that sent a thrill of fear and excitement through her.

"You are," he whispered, his hand cupping her face with surprising tenderness. "And soon, you'll remember everything."

His lips brushed against hers, a fleeting touch that sent her heart into a wild, chaotic rhythm. For a moment, she was lost in him, in the dark promise of everything he represented. But just as quickly, the dream began to unravel.

The cliff, the sea, Damien—they all blurred into shadows, and Elara felt herself falling, tumbling through the darkness until—

She woke with a gasp, her body drenched in sweat, her heart hammering in her chest.

The room was quiet, the only sound her ragged breathing as she struggled to calm herself. The dream felt too real, too vivid to be a product of her imagination. She touched her lips, still tingling from the ghost of his kiss.

For the first time in a long while, Elara wasn't sure if she was more afraid of her dreams—or the fact that she wanted them to come true.