The night was thick with fog, the kind that clung to your skin and whispered warnings you couldn't quite hear. Vikram could sense it—*danger*, just beyond the treetops. It coiled in the air like smoke.
He was outside Ahaana's house, double-checking the perimeter, when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Someone was watching them.
He stepped into the shadows, his body silent as a breath. His eyes scanned the forest.
Then he saw it.
A figure—tall, steady, and armed.
*Veer.*
He had followed them. He had found them.
And from the gleam of silver in his hand, Vikram knew one thing: he hadn't come for a talk.
---
Inside the house, Ahaana was stuffing clothes into a backpack when the front door slammed open.
She froze.
Footsteps. Slow. Measured.
Then—
"Ahaana."
She turned sharply.
Her father stood in the doorway.
His eyes were hollow. His hand clutched a silver dagger, trembling only slightly.
She hadn't seen him like this in years.
"Dad," she breathed. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same," Veer said. His voice was cold. Controlled. But his eyes—his *eyes*—were storming.
He stepped forward, but she backed away.
"I know," she said. "I know *everything*."
He paused.
"You lied to me," she whispered. "All my life. You knew what Mom was. And now… you know what I am."
His jaw tightened. "I didn't want to believe it."
Ahaana's voice cracked. "You knew! That's why you kept your distance. Why you never looked at me the same after Mom died."
He looked at her, eyes full of pain. "I was *afraid*, Ahaana. Of what you might become. Of what I might have to do."
The dagger in his hand glinted.
Her breath hitched.
"You'd really kill your own daughter?" she asked, voice trembling.
He didn't answer right away.
"I swore an oath," he said quietly. "To protect humans. From *monsters*."
"Is that what you think I am?" she choked out. "A *monster*?"
Veer looked at her, truly looked at her. The same little girl who used to fall asleep on his lap during storms. The same child who cried on her first day of school because she thought he wouldn't come back to pick her up.
That girl.
Now a werewolf.
He lowered the dagger slightly, his voice softer. "I don't want to believe it."
"Then *don't*," came another voice.
Vikram stepped in through the back door, eyes burning red.
Veer tensed. "You."
"I'm not here to fight," Vikram said calmly. "But I won't let you hurt her."
"You're a vampire," Veer hissed. "You've already hurt enough people."
"I've spent over a century saving lives," Vikram said. "More than I can count. More than you *ever* could. And the only reason I ever stepped into Ahaana's life was because she needed someone who wouldn't give up on her."
"You think I gave up on her?" Veer snapped.
"You *weren't there*," Vikram said, voice low. "She waited every day for you to care. But you buried yourself in blades and books, pretending the war mattered more than your own child."
Veer turned to Ahaana, pain cracking through his armor. "I didn't know *how* to raise you after your mother died. I was scared of what you'd become."
"I became *this* because no one helped me," Ahaana said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Because I had to fight *everything* alone. Until Vikram."
Veer stared at her.
Something inside him shifted.
He dropped the dagger.
It clattered to the floor with a sharp, metallic ring.
Silence fell.
Then Veer stepped back, voice shaking. "I didn't know… about your mother. Not until it was too late. She said she was alone, no family. I didn't think—"
"She protected me," Ahaana whispered. "Even in death."
Veer nodded slowly. "She loved you. I… I never stopped loving you, either. I just didn't know *how* to love you."
Vikram stepped forward cautiously. "If you want to make it right… let us go. Let her live."
Veer looked between them. His daughter—the only family he had left. And the vampire who stood protectively beside her.
He closed his eyes.
Then nodded.
"I'll tell the others it was a false trail," he said. "But you need to disappear. Tonight."
Ahaana stepped forward. "Will I ever see you again?"
His eyes filled with regret. "I don't know. But I'll never stop looking for a way to understand you… and your mother."
She nodded.
He took one last look at her, then turned and walked away into the woods.
---
That night, Ahaana and Vikram packed what little they had.
As they drove away from the only home she'd ever known, she looked at him.
"I never thought it would end like that."
"It's not an ending," Vikram said gently. "It's a beginning."
She took his hand.
And they drove into the unknown—together.