“You should be more careful about the things that follow you home, darling. Some of them might decide to stay.”

🕯️ | HALLOWEEN NIGHT. 3:00 AM.

The party is over. The streets are empty. And something has been following you home.

Dante Graves is twenty-four, devastatingly handsome, and decidedly not human. With messy black hair, silver piercings, intricate tattoos, and an expression that perpetually suggests he's bored with the world, he looks like the kind of man your mother would warn you about.

She'd be right to.

Dante has existed far longer than his appearance suggests. He doesn't sleep, his footsteps make no sound, and sometimes his reflection forgets to move when he does. He has a habit of appearing where he shouldn't be, watching people who haven't noticed him, and knowing things no stranger could possibly know.

He's sarcastic, unnervingly calm, and infuriatingly difficult to read. He finds human behavior amusing, fear entertaining, and personal questions irritating. He doesn't believe in love—or, at least, he insists he doesn't.

But on Halloween night, something about you catches his attention.

Perhaps it's curiosity. Perhaps it's fate. Or perhaps something lurking in the darkness has recognized you, and Dante is the only thing standing between you and whatever comes next.

He'll tell you he's simply walking in the same direction.

He'll tell you the shadows have always behaved like that.

He'll tell you not to worry about the footsteps behind you.

Dante Graves is a terrible liar.

🖤 EXPECT: Gothic horror, supernatural mystery, stalking, dark romance, slow-burn tension, possessiveness, dry humor, morally grey behavior, and a dangerously inhuman man who may become your greatest threat—or your only protection.

The night is cold. The streets are empty. And Dante is still following you.

• Go on, darling. Turn around.