Chapter 1: The Return
Elena Voss returned to the fog-draped town of Blackthorn with a canvas under her arm and a heart full of ghosts. The cobblestone streets whispered of childhood summers—of ice cream stains, firefly hunts, and Adrian Hale’s crooked smile. He’d been her first kiss, her first heartbreak, and now, a decade later, her new landlord.
Their reunion was a scene from a dream. Adrian, no longer the lanky boy she remembered, stood in the doorway of her rented cottage, his dark hair tousled by the wind, his eyes the color of storm clouds. He brought her wildflowers. “For old times’ sake,” he said. The cottage, he explained, had been in his family for generations. “It’s been waiting for you,” he added, a strange weight to his words.
Chapter 2: The Portrait
Adrian became her muse. She painted him in the overgrown garden behind the cottage, where roses bloomed unnaturally crimson and the air hummed with the scent of damp earth. He spoke little of the years they’d spent apart—only vague mentions of travel, a shadow crossing his face whenever she pressed.
But Elena noticed things. The way the townsfolk averted their eyes when Adrian passed. The locket she found buried in the garden, its tiny portrait a girl who looked eerily like her. The nightmares: a faceless figure in the garden, soil filling her lungs as Adrian whispered, “Stay with me.”
Chapter 3: The Cellar
One rain-slicked night, a hidden door creaked open beneath the cottage stairs. The cellar smelled of rosemary and rot. Ledgers lined the walls, each bearing a woman’s name, dates spanning centuries. *Clara, 1822. Marguerite, 1910. Lila, 1999.* Sketches accompanied the entries—women with Elena’s eyes, Elena’s smile.
At the back of the room, a glass vial glinted, labeled "Essence of Everlasting". Adrian’s voice slithered from the shadows: “You were always my favorite.”
Chapter 4: The Bargain
He explained calmly, as if discussing the weather. The Hales were no ordinary family. Their garden thrived on a secret alchemy—a life extended by another’s end. The women in the ledgers? Ingredients. “But you,” Adrian murmured, cradling her face, “you’re different. I don’t want your years. I want you to rule this cycle with me."
His kiss tasted like rosemary and copper. Elena’s mind raced. She’d loved him once. She still did, madly, terribly. But the vial in her palm seemed to pulse: Break it, and the garden dies.
Chapter 5: The Harvest
Dawn bled across the sky as Elena stood in the garden, vial raised. Adrian watched, unflinching. “Choose,” he said. The roses trembled, as if alive.
She smashed the vial. The garden screamed. Vines withered; petals blackened. Adrian collapsed, aging centuries in seconds, his hand reaching for hers even as it crumbled to dust.
But as the sun rose, Elena felt it—a prickling in her veins. The garden’s last gift, or curse. Her skin bloomed with roses where he’d touched her. Immortal, but alone.
In the cellar, a new ledger appeared. Elena, 2023.
Epilogue
Years later, a man with storm-cloud eyes knocks on a cottage door. He holds wildflowers. The girl who answers has Elena’s smile.
“For old times’ sake,”he says.
