After uncovering a series of grisly murders, the Holy Church sends Seren to investigate one of their prime suspects; a mysterious dhampir named Lore Seymour. Although a seemingly kind man and wonderful father, Lore's life is a riddle overcome by tragedy that may or may not have come by his own hands. His actions are an enigma, often pushing Seren away while also dragging him closer.
Through time spent together, Seren begins to see Lore, and his wacky family, in a different light. Could it be that the church sent Seren there to set Lore up? All that he has been taught by the church, who saved him from a gruesome fate, starts to sound like a lie, but the life of a paladin is all Seren has ever known. As suspicion fades and love blossoms, Seren's forced to test not only his faith, but also his entire purpose in life. Can he truly set aside his grievances against vampires to love that which he has been trained to kill?
Warning: This story will dive into some troubling topics such as child abuse, spousal abuse, sexual assault, suicide, murder, drug use, manipulation, brain washing, and just over all bad. However, I keep the tone as light-hearted as I can and there will not be detailed scenes. I'll also leave warnings on chapters that contain triggers.
*THIS IS NOT A PAID STORY! There is behind the scenes content that is purchasable, but not necessary to read. That's why there are some locked chapters, but the story itself is FREE ^_^
Artwork by mailanoooo on instagram
Miles Hoàng's life is perfect.
He has the perfect best-friend-slash-boyfriend-slash-bane-of-his-existence, Ziri Meziani. They live in a perfect (if a little cramped) apartment above a Nepalese restaurant they get food from at a discount whenever they're both too lazy to cook. He has a perfect (meaning decent) job with a nice (meaning decent) boss and cool (meaning decent) coworkers at an Amazon warehouse - which means he has to listen to people's complaints about their deliveries being late every time he bothers to socialise as if that's something he has any control over.
And sure, his family still think being gay is a phase he'll grow out of. And he has to listen to debates about how queer marriage will irrevocably destroy British society every time he tries to watch the news. And panic attacks start pouncing on him without warning when he's supposed to be the normal one.
But otherwise, his life is perfect.
Miles has compartmentalised his mind with an efficiency his recovering-hoarder-become-neat-freak mother would be proud of. If somebody were to walk into his mind, they would find a clean house full of natural sunlight and not much else. His grandparents are in one room, his dad's coffin in another, his mother asleep in the third. Even Ziri - especially Ziri - is quarantined from the rest because sometimes there are roars in the basement no amount of music can cover up and Miles has no plan of inviting anyone down those stairs.
Until he crams the basement so full that demons start climbing out. Turns out, the walls between his compartments are paper mache.
[manxman]
[new adult general fiction]