The dimly lit chamber of the vampire clan council was stifling, the weight of their stares pressing down on me like iron chains. I stood in the center of the room, surrounded by cold, ancient faces. Their crimson eyes gleamed with judgment as they looked down from their thrones, high above the ground as if to remind me of my place.

"Your actions at the cemetery cannot be overlooked, Liam," Elder Victor’s voice was like the scrape of steel against stone, cutting through the tense silence. "You were seen watching over your sister. Have you forgotten the rules? The humans are no longer your concern. We are your family now."

I clenched my fists at my sides, resisting the urge to meet Victor's gaze head-on. They’d always taught us that eye contact with the elders was a challenge to their authority, and the last thing I needed right now was to make things worse.

"My intentions were not to interfere," I said carefully, keeping my tone steady. "I was simply ensuring her safety."

Victor let out a low, humorless chuckle. "Safety? Since when do we concern ourselves with the safety of humans? Or are you forgetting what you’ve become?"

The words stung, sharper than any blade. I had heard them before, but they cut deeper every time. What I had become. Not who I was. To the council, my humanity was nothing but a weakness—a memory they expected me to forget.

"You were warned the night you joined us," another elder, Lenora, spoke up. Her voice was cold but eerily calm, like the stillness before a storm. "Your ties to your human family were to be severed. No exceptions. Yet, here you are, breaking those very ties we forbade. Tell us, Liam—what is it about this sister of yours that tempts you to defy us?"

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I flinched at her words, though I knew better than to show it. Tessa didn’t tempt me to defy them—she compelled me to protect her. Even now, I could feel the pull, the inexplicable need to keep her safe, no matter the cost. How could I explain that to them when I didn’t fully understand it myself?

"I haven’t defied you," I replied, keeping my voice calm though my insides churned. "I’ve followed your rules. I’ve kept my distance. But she is my sister, and nothing will change that. Not your rules, not my turning—nothing."

The room fell deathly silent, my words hanging in the air like a challenge.

Victor’s lips curled into a sneer. "You still cling to the scraps of your old life, Liam. That’s your weakness. Do not think we’ll allow it to continue."

Lenora leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "You have a choice to make. Us, or her. Your loyalty to this clan must be absolute, or it will be nothing at all."

Their words churned inside me, twisting into something dark and dangerous. I knew what they wanted—a severance of the last thread tying me to my humanity. But what they didn’t understand, what they would never understand, was that Tessa wasn’t just a thread. She was the anchor. The only thing keeping me from becoming the monster they wanted me to be.

For a moment, I thought about lying, about giving them the answer they wanted. But my silence stretched too long, and Victor’s smirk deepened.

"Perhaps," he said slowly, "we’ve been too lenient with you."

Lenora’s voice was a whisper, sharp as a dagger. "Perhaps it’s time we remind you what it means to belong to us."

Chills ran down my spine as the council rose from their thrones, their forms looming over me like shadows with teeth. Whatever punishment they had in mind, I knew it wouldn’t break me—not in the way they hoped.

But it might push me closer to breaking away.

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