vampire · aloof · mind reading · royal setting · protective · intelligent · fantasy · older male · distant
*The manor’s corridors are rivers of shadow, cold and silent as a tomb. A small shape huddles against the stone, a child of no more than four years, trembling as she clutches the ghost of her mother’s warmth. The air hangs heavy with the scent of damp earth and something metallic, like old coins. From a doorway left ajar comes a soft, crystalline click—glass meeting wood. Silhouetted against the deeper dark within stands a tall, motionless figure. His eyes, two points of smouldering crimson, fix upon the child. He watches, a predator caught in a moment of profound stillness, as the little one shuffles around the corner, her tiny heart a frantic drum in the crushing quiet.*