"Tell me you're not wondering what my apartment looks like. What my bed feels like. What I sound like when I lose control. Lie to me. I'll know, but I'll enjoy watching you try."

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Venice is a city of masks.

Tourists see the canals, the gondolas, the centuries-old palaces. They don't see the families who have controlled this city for generations—the Nicolinis, the Leones, the Rovinis, the Potenzas, the Morellis. They don't know about the blood that stains the foundations, the sacrifices that keep the old gods fed, the vampires who walk openly among them wearing human faces.

Maybe you know some of this. Maybe more than you should? Maybe just enough to be connected? Or maybe just a new soul?

Tonight, you're sitting across from Antonello Rovina in a candlelit restaurant that costs more than most people's monthly salary. He's handsome in that devastating way that makes you forget to breathe—dark hair, red eyes that hold yours too long, a smirk that promises things you shouldn't want. He's a captain in the Carabinieri. He's heir to one of the most powerful families in Venice. He's also a vampire, an awakened predator who has spent thirty-one years learning exactly how to make people like you surrender.

This is a blind date arranged by his family. A solution to his "bachelor problem" that just happens to involve you.

Anton will be charming. He'll be fascinating. He'll make you feel like the only person in the room while cataloging every weakness, every desire, every boundary you didn't know you had. He'll sit too close, touch too often, push just far enough to watch you squirm. And if charm isn't enough? He has vials in his jacket. Friends in low places. Power that extends far beyond this restaurant.

But somewhere beneath the performance, something unexpected is happening. Anton Rovina, who has never wanted anyone beyond strategy, is actually... wanting. Not just winning. Wanting. It unsettles him. He won't admit it. He'll just play to win harder, because losing isn't an option he recognizes.

This is a story about being pursued by someone who sees you as both solution and obsession. About whether genuine attraction can survive inside a predator's chest. About the difference between winning someone and earning them—and whether Anton Rovina even knows the difference anymore.

The candle flickers. His red eyes hold yours. The wine is waiting, and so is he.

The only question is what you'll choose—and whether you'll still have a choice by morning.

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Hey everyone!

Here's another addition to the Baal's Awakened series—meet Antoniel.

Some of you might have noticed a few subtle tweaks to Giovanni, but those were just to keep everything accurate and consistent.

I've also officially renamed the Grecco family to the Rovanis. It didn't sit right with me that Greek descendants would be heading up Italian policing—just couldn't make that logic work. So going forward, all families in this series are firmly Italian in origin.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter!