CHAPTER 1 – The Girl Who Sees Monsters

Monsters don’t always hide in the dark.

Sometimes… they sit beside you in class.

I learned that the moment I stepped through the gates of Blackwood Elite College.

The sky was clear. Students laughed. Couples walked hand in hand. Everything looked normal.

Too normal.

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag as the familiar pressure crawled up my spine.

The shadows were restless today.

They slid along the ground like living smoke, stretching beyond the feet of students who had no idea they were being followed by things that should not exist. Whispers curled in the air—soft, broken voices calling my name.

Aanya…

I turned my face away.

Ignore them. Always ignore them.

I had learned that lesson at thirteen, the night I first saw a shadow peel itself off my bedroom wall and bend toward me with horns made of darkness.

Since then, they never left me.

Today, however, they were different.

Afraid.

The moment I crossed the gate, every shadow on campus stilled.

The whispers died.

Even the air felt… alert.

The sound of an engine rolled through the silent courtyard.

Slow.

Heavy.

Powerful.

Students turned.

So did I.

A black car glided through the main path like a predator through tall grass. Polished. Untouchable. The kind of car that never stopped at traffic lights because the world moved for it.

The doors opened.

And the temperature dropped.

He stepped out.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

Dressed in a black suit that swallowed the sunlight.

His presence hit me like gravity—slow, crushing, inescapable.

Every instinct in my body screamed danger.

Students whispered his name like they were afraid to speak it too loudly.

“Damon…”

“Blackwood…”

“That’s him…”

I didn’t know that name yet.

But the shadows did.

Every shadow on the ground bent—subtle, almost invisible—but I saw it.

They bowed to him.

My heart stumbled.

Because monsters don’t bow to humans.

And for the first time in my life…

The things that hunted me were scared of someone else.

His gaze lifted.

And locked onto me.

It felt like something cold slid beneath my skin.

Not desire.

Not attraction.

Possession.

I couldn’t breathe.

And he smiled.

Just once.

Then he turned and walked toward the main building like the campus already belonged to him.

Deep down, a terrible truth whispered inside me:

He doesn’t know me yet.

But he will.

The classroom buzzed with noise—laughing, chairs scraping, gossip buzzing like insects.

I sat near the window, as far from attention as possible.

Rhea leaned close. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I have,” I whispered. “And worse.”

Before she could ask, the door opened.

The room fell silent like someone had stolen the sound.

Damon Blackwood stepped inside.

The professor froze mid-sentence.

Even teachers feared him.

His gaze moved lazily across the room.

Girls straightened. Boys stiffened.

And then…

His eyes stopped.

On me.

The air thickened.

My pulse crashed so loudly in my ears I was sure he could hear it.

“Mr. Blackwood,” the professor said nervously, “you may take any seat.”

Any seat.

He walked.

Past broken conversations.

Past nervous laughter.

Straight toward me.

Every step felt deliberate.

Controlled.

Predatory.

He pulled the chair beside mine and sat.

Too close.

His arm brushed my sleeve.

Fire raced up my skin.

Not warmth.

Awareness.

I shifted slightly away.

Slowly, he leaned in.

So close I could smell him—smoke, leather, something dark and wild beneath it.

“You see them,” he murmured softly.

My breath caught.

“They follow you,” he continued. “The shadows.”

My blood turned to ice.

I stared ahead, pretending I hadn’t heard.

His voice dropped lower—dangerously intimate.

“You’re already in my world, little shadow girl,” he whispered.

“You just don’t know it yet.”

The bell rang.

I jumped like a gun had fired.

He leaned back in his chair, watching me shake.

And he smiled like he had all the time in the world.

By lunch, the entire campus buzzed with his arrival.

Rhea pulled me toward the cafeteria. “Stay away from him, Aanya.”

“Why?” I asked.

She swallowed. “The Blackwoods run everything—mafia, weapons, bodies that disappear. People like him don’t love. They own.”

I thought of his voice in my ear.

You’re in my world.

Something cold slid through my veins.

That evening, I tried to avoid him.

I took the shortcut behind the old library—the path everyone warned freshmen about.

The shadows were loud here.

Too loud.

A hand grabbed my arm.

I screamed.

Another hand clamped over my mouth.

Three men.

One knife.

Panic exploded in my chest.

Then—

A blur of black.

A body slammed into the first attacker with brutal force.

The sound of bone breaking echoed down the alley.

Blood sprayed the brick wall.

The second man barely had time to turn before his throat was crushed.

The third ran.

He didn’t make it three steps.

Damon stood among the bodies, breathing steady.

Not rushed.

Not shaken.

Like this was normal.

He turned to me.

Walked closer.

His hand lifted to my cheek, gentle enough to terrify me.

“You’re shaking,” he said quietly.

Then his fingers suddenly crushed around my wrist.

Pain shot up my arm.

His voice dropped into something dangerous.

“Don’t ever walk alone again.”

His grip tightened.

“You belong to my territory now.”

That night, I dreamed of fire.

Of chains.

Of red eyes watching me from the dark.

I woke with a scream tearing from my throat.

A burning mark glowed on my wrist.

The exact place Damon had held me.

At college the next day, whispers spread fast.

“Those men were found dead.”

“Mangled.”

“Not humanly possible.”

I found Damon on the rooftop.

Wind pulled at his coat.

I didn’t realize I had walked toward him until I was already standing close.

“Did you kill them?” I asked.

He turned slowly.

Stepped into my space.

So close my back touched the railing.

“They touched what was mine,” he said.

A pause.

“Of course I killed them.”

Fear twisted inside me.

But I didn’t run.

His eyes flickered.

For just one second—

They glowed red.

Not human.

Not at all.

And I understood.

I hadn’t met a mafia king.

I had met a monster with a crown.

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