Chapter 4 The Forbidden Pact

The river ran red that night not with blood, but with the reflection of the moon. The glow rippled across the water, painting everything in shades of scarlet and silver. The forest whispered around Aria Moonwell, its branches heavy with fog and memory. She crouched near the bank, her dagger resting across her knees, her reflection staring back at her eyes glowing faintly, hair streaked with ash.She hated that she couldn't stop thinking about him. The vampire. The prince. The one who'd stood amid fire and ruin and still looked at her like she wasn't just another enemy to kill.

She should have torn his throat out the moment he appeared, yet she had hesitated. That hesitation haunted her worse than the nightmares.Behind her, an owl cried sharp, warning. She froze. Every instinct screamed. Someone was here.A low voice drifted from the shadows. "You're not easy to find."She spun, blade drawn, every muscle coiled for a fight.Luca Blackthorn stepped out from between the trees. The moonlight hit his face, pale and perfect, his crimson eyes reflecting the same red shimmer that danced on the water. He moved with that unsettling grace that only vampires possessed soundless, fluid, dangerous."You followed me," she hissed."I had to." He stopped several feet away, hands raised slightly in peace. "You're the only one who'll listen."

Aria's jaw clenched. "I'm not here to listen to a vampire's lies.""Not lies," he said quietly. "Warnings."

He glanced at the river. The moon's reflection wavered like blood swirling through water. "You think your pack's slaughter was my father's doing. It wasn't. There's something else... something older moving between our people."

Aria gave a bitter laugh. "You expect me to believe that the great Vampire King isn't in control of his own army?"

Luca's gaze hardened. "My father controls them, yes. But someone controls him."He reached into his cloak and pulled out a pendant a shard of black crystal strung on a strip of leather. It pulsed faintly with red light, like a heartbeat. "This was found in the ashes of your pack's temple."Aria's breath caught. The symbol etched into the crystal was one she'd seen before in her mother's journal, beside a single word written in ancient runes: Moonfire.She masked her surprise. "Witchcraft," she said coldly.

Luca nodded. "Dark witchcraft. The kind that binds bloodlines."He moved closer, his voice low and steady. "There's a story the elders whisper of a witch who cursed the blood of vampires and werewolves alike. They called her the Mother of Shadows. She was imprisoned beneath the Moonwell centuries ago. Until something woke her."Aria stared at him, her mind spinning. "And you think that something is me?"Luca held her gaze. "No. I think it's us."

The air between them seemed to tremble. She wanted to laugh, to call him insane but the memory of that burning night clawed at her thoughts. The earth had shaken when their eyes met. The moon had bled."What are you saying?" she whispered."That we're bound by her curse," he said. "Our bloodlines are tied. The war, the hatred, the endless killing it all feeds her power. And if we don't stop it, she'll rise again."Aria's fingers tightened around her dagger. "Why tell me this? Why risk coming here?""Because," Luca said softly, "she's using me to finish what she started. I can feel it in my dreams, in my blood. Something is controlling the King through me."Aria's heart pounded. She wanted to deny it, to turn and walk away, but her instincts whispered otherwise. His words carried truth the kind that cut deep.

She lifted her chin. "You expect me to form an alliance with you? After what your kind did to mine?" "I expect you to want answers as badly as I do." His eyes softened. "Call it a truce, if you like. Temporary. Until we know who the real enemy is."

Aria looked at his outstretched hand. The veins under his skin glowed faintly crimson the pulse of a predator restrained. She should have walked away. She should have slit his throat and thrown his body in the river.But instead, she reached out and gripped his hand.The moment their skin touched, the air crackled. The river shimmered violently, the reflection of the moon rippling into wild waves of red light. Power surged through her veins, cold and hot all at once, wrapping around her like invisible fire.She gasped. "What...what is this?"Luca's eyes widened. "The curse. It recognizes us."

A burning pain flared on her wrist. She looked down to see a faint crescent mark searing into her skin, glowing silver before fading into a dull shimmer.Luca released her and glanced at his own wrist an identical mark, but crimson.Aria stepped back, trembling. "What did you do to me?"He shook his head. "I didn't do anything. The witch did."For a long moment, they just stared at each other, the forest silent around them. Somewhere, a nightbird shrieked, and the sound shattered the fragile stillness.Aria forced her voice steady. "If this curse is real, if she's truly rising... how do we stop her?" "We start with the truth," Luca said. "There's an ancient archive hidden beneath the vampire citadel scrolls older than the war itself. If the witch's name is recorded anywhere, it'll be there."Aria folded her arms. "And you want me to walk into a den of vampires?"

He smiled faintly. "You're bold enough."

Her eyes narrowed. "Flattery won't save you if this is a trap."

"It's not a trap," he said. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't need one."

Something in his tone made her pause. It wasn't arrogance it was truth. She hated that she could tell the difference.

"Fine," she said at last. "A truce. But only until we find the witch."

He inclined his head. "Agreed."

They began walking along the river, the fog curling around their feet. Silence stretched between them thick, uneasy, yet not entirely hostile.After a while, Aria spoke. "You said you dream of her. The witch. What does she show you?"Luca's jaw tightened. "A throne made of bones. The moon burning black. And a voice that says our love will destroy the world."Aria stopped walking. "Our love?" He glanced at her, a faint, wry smile on his lips. "Prophecies always exaggerate."She wanted to scoff, but her heart skipped. "Don't mistake this alliance for anything else, vampire."

He chuckled softly. "Wouldn't dare."Still, his gaze lingered a moment too long.They reached the edge of the forest, where the mist thinned and the ruins of an old watchtower loomed. They climbed the broken stairs in silence. From the top, the world spread out before them endless forest, rivers like veins of silver, and in the far distance, the faint glow of the vampire citadel beneath the blood moon.

Aria leaned on the cracked stone. "You really think the answers are there?""I know they are," Luca said. "But it won't be easy to get inside. The King watches everything. If he finds out I've allied with a werewolf..." "You'll be executed," Aria finished.

He nodded. "And if your pack finds out you've been meeting me?"Her lips curved into a hard smile. "Same fate."Their eyes met the wolf and the vampire, standing between worlds, united by danger and defiance. The night air pulsed around them, alive with power and something far more dangerous.Luca turned away first. "We move at dawn. There's a hidden passage beneath the northern cliffs. Follow the river until you see the black rocks."Aria nodded, still watching him. "And if you betray me..." "I won't," he said simply. "I think fate already has enough of a plan for both of us." She hated that his words made her chest tighten. As he vanished into the shadows, Aria looked down at her wrist at the faint moon-shaped mark glowing under her skin. It pulsed once, twice, in rhythm with her heartbeat."Moonfire," she whispered.The mark burned softly in answer, and for the first time, she felt fear not of the vampires, not of war, but of what destiny had just bound her to.Far beyond the forest, deep beneath the vampire citadel, a sealed chamber trembled. Ancient runes flickered to life, and a whisper echoed through the dark:

> Two bloods entwined.

One fate reborn.

When love defies death, the witch shall rise again.

Aria shivered though the night was still. The pact had been made forbidden, unbreakable.And the curse had just begun to wake.