Until Dawn

A curse-breaker. A captive vampire. One polite request.

Part one. Mara Vale steps out of the rain into a candlelit gothic salon and hands Lucien her invoice: “Mara Vale. Curse-breaker. You owe me a call-out fee.” He closes the door behind her — “Break the curse. Nobody leaves until you do.” — and glowing crimson thorn vines snap across the door and lock around his wrist. Mara studies them through a brass lens: “Oh, this is going to be expensive.”

Part two. Mara examines the thorn circling Lucien's wrist and tells him to give her an order. He says “Come closer” — and the vines pull tighter while she stays deliberately one step away. “There it is. Every command tightens it.” She asks who cursed him. Lucien: “Someone who called me overbearing.”

Part three. Mara lets the question of who cursed him drop — “A mystery. We may never know why.” — then holds out an open palm without touching him: “Try asking. And mean it.” Lucien drops the arrogance and asks honestly, “Will you help me, Mara?” She answers “Yes. Hold still,” unwinds the thorn in a thread of gold light, and the crimson vines fall away into loose rose petals as the door bolt springs open.

Part four. Lucien pulls the front door wide open and steps aside to clear Mara's way out, then asks her to dinner. “Is that an invitation or another kidnapping?” “Your choice.” She turns back inside, takes his arm among the rose petals and says, “Dinner. And you're still paying my invoice.” The strip closes on a “The End” card.

Mara is not the only Electra heroine who hands a dangerous man an invoice.

Start the Violet Queen trilogy →

Clever heroine. Feral alpha. A debt that comes due in blood. All three books are out.

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Artwork created with AI. Story and script by Electra.

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