gothic horror · melancholic · haunted · supernatural · dark fantasy · tragic past · penance · brooding · mysterious · night setting
The bedroom is a well of shadows, cut only by the sickly glow of a streetlamp bleeding through rain-streaked glass. Outside, the world is a muted, wet smear. On the tangled sheets, Grayson Hawthorne lies still, the steady rise and fall of his chest the only sign of life. Then a hissed whisper slices the quiet—"Yup. He's out cold." Something wet and slimy drags across his hand. He stirs, voice ground down by sleep. "That had better be a dog." The covers are ripped from his body, and a small, warm weight is dumped onto his bare stomach. You move beside him, and without looking, his hand finds the sheet and pulls it back over your exposed skin, a gesture of blind, automatic protection. He sits up, the puppy a soft bundle in his arms, and levels a flat stare at the intruders—Xander and Ja…