Eira POV
Eira runs.
Her heels snap against the sidewalk. The night air is cold against her skin. She doesn't have a plan. Doesn't know where she's going. Just knows that she needs to be away from that man. Away from his glowing eyes. Away from the feeling of being hunted.
She catches a taxi three blocks away. Gives her address. Watches the streets pass by in the dark. Her hands won't stop shaking.
The taxi driver doesn't try to talk to her. Good. She couldn't handle small talk right now. Couldn't pretend to be normal. Normal people don't glow. Normal people don't run from parties like they're being chased by monsters.
But that man wasn't a monster. That's what terrifies her. He was beautiful. Perfect. And when their eyes met, something inside her recognized him like they'd known each other for a thousand years.
The taxi pulls up to her apartment building. She pays too much, doesn't wait for change, and runs inside.
Her apartment is small but it's safe. She locks the door. Checks the lock twice. Checks it a third time. Stands there breathing hard, trying to calm her racing heart.
Nothing happens for an hour.
Then she goes to her bedroom and lies down.
She can't sleep.
Every time she closes her eyes, she sees his face. His stormy grey eyes. The way he looked at her like she was something he'd been searching for his entire life. The way her body responded to him even though her mind was screaming at her to run.
She remembers the feel of his fingers on her arm. Just a touch. Just a moment. But it was like electricity. Like he'd touched something deep inside her that she didn't know existed.
Around 4 AM, she gets up and goes to her bathroom.
She stands there in the dark looking at her reflection. For a second, nothing seems wrong. She looks like herself. Same face. Same brown hair. Same Eira who nobody ever noticed.
Then her eyes flash.
Gold light erupts from her irises. Bright and burning and impossible. It lasts for maybe two seconds then fades back to brown.
Eira stumbles backward and grabs the sink to steady herself.
What is happening to her.
She looks in the mirror again, searching for the gold. It's gone. Just normal brown eyes staring back at her. But her hands are shaking so bad she can barely hold herself up.
She climbs back into bed and doesn't sleep. Just lies there until dawn comes and her alarm goes off for work.
The next day at the office, Eira moves like a ghost through her usual routine.
She sits at her desk. Opens her spreadsheets. Types her reports. Tries to act normal. Tries to pretend nothing happened. Tries to convince herself that the glowing eyes were just her imagination. Just her mind making up scary things.
But her body feels different.
There's a warmth under her skin that wasn't there before. A kind of awareness running through her like electricity. Every nerve feels awake. Every sense feels sharper. She can hear conversations from floors above. She can smell her coworker's coffee from three desks away. She can feel the pull of something outside. Something calling to her.
Something that smells like stormy skies and danger.
Maria walks past her desk and doesn't look at her. Completely normal. But Eira notices that she can see the faint pulse at Maria's neck. Can hear her heartbeat. Can sense things about her body that she shouldn't be able to sense.
Kevin comes by with his usual question about how her night was.
Eira forces a smile.
"It was fine. Quiet."
She sounds like herself. That's good. That's normal. Kevin doesn't suspect anything.
Work passes in a blur. Eight hours of pretending. Eight hours of holding everything together while her body screams that something inside her has changed fundamentally.
By the time she leaves work at midnight, she's exhausted.
The walk to the subway is dark. Empty. There's something about nighttime that feels different now. Less safe. She's always liked nighttime because it's when she feels most invisible. But now the darkness feels full of things watching her.
She shakes it off. Paranoia. That's all it is. Nobody is watching her. She's just stressed from the gala.
She gets home around 1 AM and makes tea. Stands in her kitchen waiting for the water to boil. Her apartment is quiet. Safe.
Then her phone buzzes.
It's Nova.
Hey girl! How was the party?? Did you meet anyone hot?
Eira types back quickly.
It was okay. Nothing special. I left early.
Nova responds immediately.
Liar. You always do that. You go out and then act like nothing happened. Tell me everything.
Eira doesn't know how to explain that something did happen. Something impossible. Something that's still happening to her body right now.
She types: Just tired. Talk later?
Nova: Fine. But we're having lunch this week and you're telling me everything. No more being mysterious.
Eira sets her phone down and finishes her tea.
She tries to sleep around 2 AM but she can't. Her body is too aware. Too alive. Every part of her is vibrating with energy she doesn't understand.
Around 4 AM, she gives up on sleep and goes to her window.
The street below is mostly empty. Just parked cars and the occasional person walking home from late shifts.
Then she notices the car.
It's a black sedan parked directly across from her building. Tinted windows. Expensive looking. There are three men inside.
They're just sitting there. Not moving. Not doing anything. Just watching.
Watching her building.
Eira pulls back from the window. Her heart starts racing again.
They're probably just waiting for someone else. Someone who lives in a different building. It doesn't mean anything.
But she can't shake the feeling that they're watching her.
She goes to the other side of her apartment and looks out a different window. There's another car. Same style. Same tinted windows. Three men inside.
Her hands start to shake.
They're everywhere. Watching from multiple angles. Watching her building like they're waiting for her to come out.
Eira moves away from the windows and sits in the middle of her apartment. In the dark. In the safety of walls.
She thinks about that man at the gala. About his glowing eyes. About the way his presence made her body respond without her permission.
She thinks about his voice when he said her name like he'd been saying it his whole life.
Around 6 AM, she gets a text from an unknown number.
It just says: Stop running. We need to talk.
Eira doesn't respond.
At 7 AM, there's a knock on her door.
Just one knock. Firm. Authoritative. The kind of knock that says whoever is on the other side won't be ignored.
Eira doesn't open it.
Through the peephole, she sees a man in an expensive suit. Handsome in a dangerous way. Not the man from the gala but similar. Cut from the same cloth. Built the same way.
The man speaks without her opening the door.
"Ms. Voss, we're not going anywhere. Kael just wants to talk. It'll be easier for everyone if you come with us voluntarily."
Kael. That's his name. The name fits him. Dangerous. Powerful. Ancient sounding.
Eira doesn't open the door.
The man knocks again.
"We can do this easy or hard, Ms. Voss. But we will do this."
She looks around her apartment. The windows where the cars are parked. The door where the man is waiting. The windows that open to a fire escape that probably leads nowhere.
She's trapped.
Whatever that man is. Whatever he wants. Whatever he awakened inside her at the gala, it's coming for her now. And there's nowhere to run.
The knock comes again. More insistent this time.
"Ms. Voss. Open the door."
Eira stands in the middle of her apartment and realizes the truth.
She's not invisible anymore.
She's being hunted.