Crimson Heir

The wind was sharp with the scent of pine and wet stone as Maxine pulled her hood tighter. Bran was always colder at twilight, but tonight the chill was different - as if the forest was holding its breath.

She shouldn't have been out after dark. Everyone in the village of Poiana warned against it. Even her aunt, Elena, who usually had more wine than worries, had gripped her wrist tightly that morning and whispered, "Stay inside, Maxine. They're watching again."

Maxine didn't ask who they were. She knew.

Vampires ruled the east cliffs - the old castle ruins barely visible above the trees. Wolves ran the western hills - silent, silver-eyed shadows in the woods. And Maxine, caught somewhere in between, belonged to neither.

She could hear everything tonight - the crickets, the rustle of something large beyond the mossy clearing, the heartbeat of a bird in the tree above. Her senses had been sharpening since her seventeenth birthday last month. Sometimes she wished they wouldn't.

A snap echoed behind her.

She spun around.

A boy stepped into the clearing. Dark hair. Pale skin. Eyes like storm clouds that had forgotten how to rain. He wore black - not the kind from a store, but old-world clothes, tailored and silent. She smelled blood. Not fresh. Not human.

Vampire.

"You're trespassing," he said flatly.

"So are you," she answered, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

His eyes narrowed. "You're not from any of the houses. Wolf or blood. What are you?"

Maxine didn't answer. Her heart thudded, her pulse a war drum. She stepped back, but not far - not fast enough.

He was in front of her in a blink.

She gasped.

"You're... mixed," he whispered, his voice more curious than angry now. "That shouldn't be possible."

Maxine's fingers sparked - literally. A violet-blue glow pulsed from her palm, and the boy recoiled slightly.

"Magic?" he said, blinking. "A witch too?"

She didn't know what to say. She hadn't told anyone - not even her aunt - about the spell she'd accidentally set ablaze last week or the dreams that pulled her to the castle ruins night after night.

"I don't know what I am," Maxine said truthfully.

He watched her for a long moment, then smiled - not kindly.

"Then you're more dangerous than you look