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The story
A campus fantasy romance in which a college student discovers that Lucian, the older student she's been crushing on, is a vampire. Forced to keep his secret, she is drawn into his dangerous world and into a love she cannot escape.
A campus fantasy romance in which a college student discovers that Lucian, the older student she's been crushing on, is a vampire. Forced to keep his secret, she is drawn into his dangerous world and into a love she cannot escape.
On a rainy night during the campus festival, I discovered the secret of the upperclassman I'd been crushing on.
Behind the old building, beyond the reach of the festival lights, lay a deserted red-brick alley. There, Lucian had his mouth pressed to someone's throat.
A moment later, his eyes flared red. I swallowed a scream and stumbled back.
A twig snapped beneath my foot. He slowly lifted his head.
"You saw that?"
His usual gentle smile was gone. Rain-soaked black hair fell across his pale forehead, and beneath his long lashes, his eyes gleamed red as blood.
His face was as quiet and composed as ever, almost unbearably beautiful in the dark. His high, straight nose and sharp jaw were familiar, but the blood staining his pale lips was not. His wet shirt clung to his broad shoulders and the lean, hard planes of his body. Even the faint blue veins visible just below his throat added to his strange, dangerous allure.
"Lucian... what are you?"
He wiped the corner of his mouth with his fingertips and stepped toward me.
"I've lived longer than you could imagine."
His shadow stretched toward me, curling around my ankles.
"And I'm faster than you could ever hope to run."
My breath caught.
"Are you going to kill me?"
Lucian's gaze dropped to the pulse beating in my throat. My heart slammed against my ribs.
He laughed softly.
"No."
A cold fingertip settled over my pulse.
"A human who's seen me has two options."
His red eyes held mine.
"Die, or stay by my side."
That night, the truth became impossible to deny. The man I'd been crushing on was not human. And once I stepped into his world, I could never return to being an ordinary student.
