All Chapters of A TASTE FOR BLOOD : Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
72 chapters
THE WEIGHT OF A MONAGHAN
The iron door to the dungeon creaked open with a long, aching groan.Not rushed.Not careless.But slow, controlled,as if the mansion itself feared the presence approaching.Diego’s head snapped up despite the pain in his neck.His body jolted with a surge of instinct, fear, anger… he couldn’t name it anymore. He only felt.Footsteps echoed down the narrow stone passageway.Three sets.One steady and commanding, a king descending his throne.One arrogant, dragging slightly, swagger in every step.One hesitant, soft, almost reluctant.Dominic.Lewis.Leo.Diego’s pulse hammered painfully.He wasn’t afraid.No.He was furious.Dominic stepped into the cell first, his tall frame blotting out what little torchlight flickered in the hallway. His coat brushed the stones, trailing like a shadow. The metallic scent of power surrounded him, cold, ancient, lethal.Lewis entered next, hands in his pockets, grin wide and cruel.Leo came last, eyes down, jaw tight, refusing to meet his brother’s g
BORN OF ANCIENT BLOOD
Night wrapped itself around the forest like a heavy cloak, thick and unmoving.The wind had died.The trees stood still.Even the animals had gone silent, as if they sensed what stalked between the shadows.Lucian Vale moved under the cover of darkness, his footsteps soundless on the moss-covered ground. He had left the Monaghan estate hours ago, retreating back to his ruins where he had kept watch for days.But something felt different tonight.He wasn’t alone.A faint shift in the air reached him first. Too precise to be an animal. Too quiet to be coincidence. Too deliberate to be harmless.Lucian’s hand slid to the hilt of his blade, muscles coiling as he crouched low, eyes narrowing at the darkened treeline.Then a voice spoke.Not loud.Not rushed.And completely unafraid.“Relax, Lucian. If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have heard me at all.”Lucian went still.Not because of fear, but because he recognized the voice.Footsteps approached, soft and steady.A tall figure stepp
THE BREAKING POINT
The Monaghan Mansion felt different that night.Heavier.The air buzzed faintly, like something ancient was waking up beneath the floors, humming through the stone, crawling through the walls.Dominic felt it first.A ripple of energy burned through the mansion, sharp, wild, and hungry.He paused in the middle of the grand hallway, eyes narrowing as his hand pressed against the cold marble wall.Lewis noticed the shift.“Father? What is it?”Dominic’s gaze sharpened, a slow smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.“He’s stirring.”Lewis blinked. “Who?”Dominic turned his head slightly.“Your brother.”Lewis’ grin widened instantly, delighted.“Oh, finally. Took the little coward long enough.”Dominic ignored the insult, though his eyes flashed disapproval.“He’s awakening too fast,” Dominic murmured. “Faster than I calculated.”Lewis tilted his head. “Is that… good?”“It is powerful,” Dominic answered softly. “And power is dangerous when it does not obey.”A faint tremor ran beneath
THE NIGHT EVERYTHING SHIFTS
The chains rattled violently as Diego pushed against them, his breath coming in broken gasps.Heat pulsed through his veins like liquid fire. His fingers dug into the stone floor, leaving cracks where human hands should never leave marks.Leo took another step back.“Diego… you have to stay with me.”But Diego barely heard him.All he could hear was the monster whispering—“She is in danger.”“They will take her.”“Save her.”“Feed… to become strong.”Diego clamped his hands over his ears, shaking his head, tears burning behind his eyes.“No… no… I won’t let them hurt her… I won’t.”Another pulse tore through his body.His eyes flickered again.Brown.Red.Brown.Red.Leo whispered, voice trembling:“Diego… please don’t lose yourself.”For a moment—just one—Diego looked at Leo with his real eyes again.“Don’t let them hurt her.”Leo’s breath trembled.“I’m trying.”But it wasn’t enough.Not anymore.The monster was waking.---Back at the Evans HouseThe clock in the living room rea
THE NIGHT BEGINS TO BREAK
The moon hid behind clouds, smothering the world in a gray, suffocating darkness.A silence hung over the land, thick, heavy, unnatural, as if the night itself was waiting for something.And it was.Something was moving.Something was waking.Something was coming.---Monaghan Estate Diego’s hands trembled violently, digging into the cracked stone floor.His breath came in short, savage bursts.His heartbeat thundered in his ears like war drums.The hunger was no longer whispering.It was roaring.His eyes, once flickering between brown and red, had settled into a deep, glowing crimson that pulsed like embers inside a dying fire.Diego stared into the broken mirror on the cell wall.He didn’t recognize himself.Not the pale skin.Not the fangs pressing at the edge of his gums.Not the crimson glow burning behind his pupils.“I’m losing myself…” he whispered.A pulse of heat shot through his chest, violent, searing, and Diego doubled over with a raw cry.The chain on his left wrist st
SHADOWS AT THE DOOR
The clash outside grew louder.Metal against bone.Growls against breath.The house trembled with every strike.Claire screamed again, clinging to her mother like her life depended on it , and tonight, it did.Thomas held the phone with shaking hands.But there was no signal.No connection.The lines were dead.Mara’s eyes widened.“They cut the power…”Another brutal thud shook the walls.---Outside – Lucian vs. LewisLucian struck first.A blur of silver.A whisper of wind.Steel carved through the darkness.Lewis dodged, barely.The blade nicked his cheek, just enough to draw a thin line of blood.Lewis touched the crimson smear with two fingers and licked it slowly.His grin sharpened.“Oh… that almost hurt.”Lucian didn’t respond.He moved again, faster this time.A swing meant to sever.Lewis blocked with his forearm, claws piercing the night.CLANG!The guards lunged from behind.Lucian twisted, sweeping his blade in a brutal arc.SHHK.One guard’s arm hit the ground.He shrie
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
The front door shuddered again.This time, it didn’t rattle.It bowed inward.Lewis’s voice tore through the night:“Lucian… MOVE!”Another crash shook the entire house.Thomas grabbed Mara and Claire, pulling them behind him, his voice cracking:“Mara—get her to the back! Now!”But Lewis wasn’t at the door anymore.He had vanished into the shadows.Lucian heard it too.His eyes widened.He spun.Too late.Lewis appeared behind Thomas in a blur of black and red.“Found you.”Thomas barely turned before Lewis grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall so hard the plaster cracked.Mara screamed.“THOMAS!”Thomas gasped, choking, legs dangling off the ground as Lewis lifted him effortlessly.“Humans are so fragile,” Lewis murmured, tilting his head. “One squeeze and.”Lucian lunged forward.But Lewis used Thomas as a shield.Lucian froze mid-strike.Lewis smirked.“Ah-ah-ah… wouldn’t want to kill your hero, would you?”He tightened his grip.Thomas’s eyes bulged.Mara fell t
HIS FIRST HUMAN BLOOD
Dominic’s fingers tightened on Claire’s tiny chin.Lewis watched eagerly from the side, sadistic excitement in his eyes.The chained human trembled violently, muffled screams trapped behind the gag.And Diego…Diego stared at Claire.Her little body shaking.Her eyes full of terror.Her small voice breaking:“Uncle Liam… please… don’t let him hurt me…”His vision blurred.His heart pounded like it was trying to escape his chest.The hunger wrapped around his mind like claws.Dominic’s voice cut in, cold and merciless:“Drink, Diego.Or this child dies.”Dominic’s thumb pressed lightly to Claire’s throat.She whimpered.Diego snapped.The chains rattled violently as he leaned forward, jaw trembling, fangs fully exposed.“No… no… no…” he whispered, fighting it.But the scent of blood,the human’s fear,Claire’s sobs,Dominic’s cruelty.It all crashed into him at once.The whisper in his skull turned into a command:“DRINK.”Diego’s hands shook as he lowered his head toward the human’s e
"UNSOLVED CASES, ONE MONSTER"
The Evans home was a disaster zone.Shattered glass. Destroyed walls. Blood on the floor.Police lights flashed outside as officers moved in and out of the house.Mara sat on the couch, shaking uncontrollably, wrapped in a blanket.Thomas sat beside her, injured, dizzy, but conscious.Detective Mira and Detective James stood in front of them.These two had been investigating Liam’s disappearance for weeks… and now they were back, for something far worse.Mira crouched down gently.“Mara… we’re here. Just breathe. Tell us what happened.”Mara’s lips trembled.“I… I don’t understand…”Her voice broke.“First Liam… and now Claire... my baby... she’s gone.”James exchanged a sharp look with Mira.He pulled out his notebook immediately.“Mara… are you saying the same people who took Liam—your son—also took Claire?”Mara nodded with a trembling breath.“Yes… yes… YES. I believe it’s the same people.”Thomas swallowed hard.“It was men. They broke in. Strong—too strong. One of them grabbed m
BLOOD, CHAINS AND BETRAYAL
The guards dragged Claire down the hall, her screams echoing through the mansion like something dying.“UNCLE LIAM—HELP ME—PLEEEEASE!”Diego thrashed so violently the chains cut deeper into his wrists.Blood ran down his arms.His eyes glowed a furious, feral red.“LET...HER...GO!!” he roared, the sound shaking the iron bolts in the stone floor.But Dominic only clasped his hands behind his back, calm as ever.“Restrain him.”Two guards moved in.Diego lunged forward, one sharp, violent movement, and one guard went flying across the room, crashing into a pillar with a sickening crack.The second guard froze, terrified.Dominic lifted a finger.The guard swallowed and stepped forward, shaking.Diego snarled, fangs bared, but the chains held him.Barely.“You see?” Dominic said softly, stepping around the shattered marble.“This is not weakness.This is power.”Leo watched from above, gripping the balcony so hard his knuckles were bone white.“Father… stop this…” Leo whispered, but his