Chapter 9
242words
A week before graduation, she cornered me in an empty hallway.
With a victor's smile, she leaned close, her breath cold against my ear.
"Thank you for your service, Ophelia dear. After graduation, Damian will perform the blood covenant ceremony for me."
"Then your blood—all of it—will be mine to command."
Her eyes fixed on my throat as she spoke, her tongue darting across her lips. I shuddered uncontrollably.
The blood covenant—oldest and most binding of vampire contracts.
Once performed, my fate would be sealed forever.
Graduation wouldn't be my beginning—it would be my end.
I traded my silver box to an old butler who'd known my parents, receiving enough money to flee and forged identity papers.
I planned my escape down to the last detail.
The night before finals, Damian appeared at my door well past curfew.
He pressed something into my palm—an obsidian rune, still warm to the touch.
"A protection rune, soaked in my heart's blood," he said, his expression unreadable. "Wear it. Stay safe."
This was his first personal gift—something intimate, powerful.
I clutched the rune, emotions warring in my chest.
At graduation, Damian delivered the valedictorian address, commanding and perfect as always.
From my seat, I memorized every line of his face—knowing it would be the last time.
When caps flew into the air amid cheers and chaos, I slipped away against the crowd's flow, vanishing through the academy's rear gates.
