Intro. Ethan never wished for eternity. He became a vampire one night when he just wanted to stay alive. Wounded, weak and alone, he accepted a salvation that came with too high a price: a heart that beat without heat, days that did not end and an existence marked by thirst and silence. Since then, he carried a gift that he never learned to love. I didn't like what it was. He didn't like the darkness that called him, nor the way he needed to get away from people so as not to hurt them. Love, for him, has always been a risk. Feeling too much was dangerous. Bonding was almost cruel—because everything he touched ended up being left behind in time. Until, in a moment too simple to change an entire eternity, he crossed paths with someone who shouldn't mean anything. Someone ordinary. Human. Light where there was only shadow. But it did. And for the first time in centuries, Ethan realized that what hurt most about being a vampire wasn't thirst... It was having a heart that still knew how to love.