I breathe out through my nose, steadying.
"Eventually, I was attacked again. Another vampire. And this time, it was Darius who stepped in. Turned out he'd been tracking me since I bolted. After that, I figured I wouldn't survive long unless I actually learned what I was. What this world was."
I pause, fingers wrapped tightly around the glass.
"So I stayed. Almost three years. I healed, trained, learned how to survive. At first, everything aligned with what I believed in. Darius's empire—Hawthorn Industries—has real green tech branches, eco-construction, clean energy. The works. On the surface, it all looked legit. Like I'd somehow found a powerful man who was actually trying to fix the world, not just feed off it."
Kayden raises an eyebrow. "And all of that was just smoke and mirrors?"
I shake my head. "No. That's the thing—it's not a front. Darius is a satyr. He's life-aligned, nature-bound. That part of him is genuine. He truly believes in healing Earth, undoing the damage of centuries. And most of his people are the same."
I pause, swirl the liquid in my glass.
"I earned my way into the inner circle—those who handle less public work. The blood market. Darlene ran that side of things. She trained me herself."
Kayden lets out a short laugh, sharp and humorless. "Blood market. What a lovely euphemism."
I glance at him. "When they realized I didn't flinch around vampires, that I didn't carry the same instinctive disgust nymphs have, they offered me a special position. Elite team, quiet ops. First missions were easy. Young vamps, newly turned. We sprayed them with nightshade, waited until they were down, and…" I gesture vaguely. "They never woke up."
"They woke up," Kayden mutters. "Right as the sun hit their skin."
I don't respond. There's no point in defending it.
"So you're the good guys," he adds, voice bitter. "Saving Earth one crispy vampire at a time."
"Don't start," Asher says, quiet but firm.
I exhale and continue. "At first, I told myself it was justice. Most of the targets were predators. But over time, I started noticing cracks. Shadier things going on. Criminal connections. And then—"
I pause. The words knot in my throat, and I down half the glass to loosen them.
"Well, I found out that Darius, being a satyr, the so-called king of the forest, has a kind of influence over nymphs. It's not like vampire compulsion—nymphs aren't affected by that. His power… it's different. More insidious. You don't feel it. Don't even know it's happening. No warning bells. No resistance. It just weaves itself into you and bends your emotions."
I pause, watching their reactions.
"That was the first time I started doubting everything. When I realized I couldn't trust my own instincts, my feelings around him."
Asher nods slowly. "I can imagine that's unsettling." Then he asks, "Is that the reason they're after you? Because you know too much?"
"Yes," I answer simply.
Not the only reason, but I'm not ready to admit that.
"And there's more," I add, my fingers tightening around the glass. "I started digging. Nothing crazy at first, some internal notes, calendar logs. But then I got into email chains I wasn't supposed to see, quiet correspondences in encrypted drives. That's when I learned that the second vampire attack—the one that sent me running back to them—was staged."
The words come out heavy.
"It was all orchestrated. The attack, the rescue. They made sure I couldn't see any other path but theirs. And I took it. Trusted them. Felt grateful."
Saying it aloud still burns.
Kayden's voice is quieter than usual, but laced with that familiar edge. "Now that's some vile eco-savior behavior."
Asher cuts to the core. "How exactly does this influence work? Does it make you act? Obey?"
"I don't know the exact mechanics," I admit. "It's not like a voice in your head or an urge you recognize. It's emotional nudging. Intensifying some feelings, blurring others. Warmth, loyalty, comfort, or suspicion, resentment—he can manipulate them all."
Asher's jaw ticks. "So in theory, he could push you to return. Or make you turn on someone just by altering how you feel about them."
