Shadow bound: The beast within

The Romano estate glittered that night like a crown of gold. Chandeliers spilled light across marble floors, violins played above the murmur of silk and wine, and the most feared families of the underworld gathered in celebration. To the world outside, it was just another night in Rome, but here in the Romano banquet hall, alliances were forged and enemies measured one another with cold smiles.

Luca Romano stood at the edge of the grand staircase, his hand tightening around the crystal glass he had barely sipped from. The banquet was meant to honor his father’s reign, a show of dominance after years of control over both the city’s legitimate businesses and its shadowy veins of power. Yet Luca could not shake the chill in his bones.

His father, Don Vittorio Romano, laughed loudly at the head of the table, a presence both regal and terrifying. His dark eyes scanned the hall with the ease of a king surveying his court. He raised a toast, voice booming over the music.

“To old friends, to new beginnings, and to the blood that binds us all.”

The crowd responded with a chorus of raised glasses. Smiles, clinking crystal, the illusion of unity. But Luca saw through it. He always had. The way the Marcelli family whispered too quietly in the corner. The subtle absence of the Ricci consigliere, who never missed such gatherings. Shadows moved within shadows, and Luca’s chest tightened as if his instincts screamed at him to leave.

“Relax,” his father’s voice cut through his thoughts. Don Vittorio had approached silently, towering beside him now. “Your eyes are too sharp for a boy your age. Tonight is about honor. Smile.”

Luca obeyed, stretching his lips into a smile he did not feel.

The violins swelled. Guests danced. Wine flowed freely. And then, as if the music itself cracked under pressure, the doors at the far end of the hall burst open.

The first gunshot silenced everything.

Screams erupted as masked figures poured into the hall, rifles blazing. Crystal shattered. Guests ducked under tables, gowns tearing against marble. The air filled with smoke and the metallic tang of blood.

Luca froze, his breath caught in his throat, as one of the Romano guards crumpled beside him, chest torn open. His father roared, drawing a pistol with the calm of a man who had lived his life at war. Vittorio fired twice, dropping two masked intruders. But there were too many.

“Luca, down!” Vittorio shoved him behind a marble pillar, bullets sparking off stone. “Stay hidden!”

But Luca could not stay hidden. He peeked around the column, heart pounding, and saw his father standing defiant against the tide of assassins. A figure stepped forward among them, unmasked, wearing a suit too sharp for a hired gun. It was Emilio Marcelli, head of the rival family.

“You grew careless, Vittorio,” Emilio sneered. “The Romano bloodline ends tonight.”

The sound of those words carved into Luca like a blade. He tried to move, to run to his father’s side, but his legs felt like stone.

Vittorio spat on the ground, raising his pistol again. “You forget one thing, Emilio. Romanos never bow.”

The two men raised their weapons at the same time, but Emilio’s shot struck first.

Luca saw his father stagger, eyes wide, blood blooming across his chest. The Don of the Romano family collapsed, the pistol clattering from his grip.

“No!” Luca’s scream tore from his throat.

In that instant, something inside him broke. Or perhaps it awakened.

The world around him shifted. The smoke thickened, shadows stretching unnaturally across the walls. His veins burned like fire and ice, his vision blurred until he no longer saw only with his eyes. The assassins moved slowly now, their faces twisted by some unseen force. A dark whisper coiled in his skull, a voice that was not his own.

“Take them. Feed. Claim what is yours.”

Luca clutched his head, fighting the madness. He had felt it before, as a child when nightmares crawled into his bed, but never like this. The curse his father had warned him of, the secret that had haunted his bloodline, surged free. His reflection in the shattered glass beside him showed eyes glowing a deep, hellish red.

The assassins hesitated, muttering to one another. Some even stepped back. They had come to kill the Romano heir, but what stood before them now was something far worse.

Luca rose slowly from behind the pillar, his hand trembling, yet his steps steady. The shadows seemed to bend toward him, wrapping his frame like armor. His voice, when it came, was deeper, layered with something inhuman.

“You killed my father.”

The chandelier above them shuddered. The floor seemed to groan beneath his feet. Emilio Marcelli’s smirk faltered for the first time.

“What… what are you?” he demanded, though his pistol remained aimed.

Luca did not answer. His body moved before his mind could catch up. He extended his hand, and the shadows obeyed. They lashed outward, swallowing one of the masked gunmen whole. The man’s scream was cut short as the darkness ripped through him, leaving nothing but a mangled body sprawled on the marble.

Gasps filled the hall. Terror spread faster than bullets.

Luca staggered, horror dawning on him at what he had just done. He tried to pull back, but the shadows only coiled tighter, whispering their hunger into his mind. His heart thundered, torn between grief, rage, and fear of himself.

Emilio raised his pistol again, face twisted in fury. “Kill the monster!”

Gunfire roared once more. The shadows surged around Luca like a storm, shielding him. He could feel the curse laughing, reveling, feeding on the chaos. Every bullet felt like fuel.

Luca’s scream echoed across the banquet hall, half human, half something else entirely. The chandeliers shattered, plunging the hall into sparks and darkness.

When the smoke began to clear, the once glittering banquet was a ruin of bodies, broken glass, and blood.

And Luca stood alone, trembling, his father’s body lying motionless at his feet.

The curse had awakened. And nothing would ever be the same.

From the shattered window above, a figure in a black coat watched silently, eyes glowing faintly with the same cursed fire. He had come for Luca