The mansion loomed in silence, its grandeur shrouded in an unsettling stillness. Troy had dismissed the staff, leaving him alone to confront the darkness within. For a week, he'd had no human contact, except for Marcy's occasional visits to the training area on the opposite side of the mansion. Her presence was a fleeting comfort, as he never heard her training, but sensed her absence like a ghostly whisper.
In the library, a book lay open on the table, its pages forgotten as Troy's gaze drifted into the void. His wrist clenched beneath his chin, his eyes sunken and dark, like two voids sucking in the light. Veins bulged through his skin, and his nails had grown razor-sharp, he had been violently fighting his urges for about a week now, the bloodlust had consumed him, and he couldn't comprehend why. No logic could explain the primal urges that now drove him.