In the remote reaches of Valmere, Sorina's life has been a cycle of toil and silence, a wretched existence on a failing farm. But when a chance encounter with a strange traveler named Marcus disrupts the bleak rhythm of her days, everything changes. Marcus is no ordinary wanderer-he carries secrets as dark as the forests that border her home, and his interest in Sorina is far from benign.Ousted from his territory and weakened by a long journey, Marcus sees in Sorina an unlikely curiosity-an orphaned girl with a stubborn will to survive. Against his better instincts, he spares her, and a dangerous alliance is formed. As they travel northward through shadowy forests and crumbling towns, the two find themselves drawn into a slow, uneasy bond-one built on wariness, hunger, and a sense of fractured trust.Sorina learns to navigate the mysteries of her new companion, aware that the protection he offers comes with risks she cannot yet understand. The farther they journey, the more she glimpses the truth of Marcus's nature, and the more she questions what place she holds at his side. For Marcus, Sorina becomes both a test of restraint and a reminder of the humanity he left behind-an unsteady balance between protector and predator.But Marcus's true home lies far beyond the forests, in the ancient halls of Kövarna-a place where his kind reigns and mortals like Sorina rarely survive unscathed. As they draw closer to the borders of his old world, the dangers grow, and Sorina must decide if she can trust the shadow that walks beside her-or if the real danger awaits beyond Marcus's ever-watchful eyes.Bite is a tale of gothic allure and slow-burning tension, where the line between captor and companion blurs with each passing day. It's a story of survival, of the fragile bond between a girl with nothing left to lose and a vampire who holds her fate in his hands. And it's a journey that asks what it means to seek comfort in the arms of a monster, when the shadows of his world threaten to swallow them both. R. Byrd is a weaver of dark tales, drawn to the spaces where transformation is both beautiful and terrifying. Inspired by folklore, history, and the macabre, her stories explore the tension between power and identity, the monstrous and the human. When not crafting worlds of eerie wonder, she tends to her land, indulges in creative pursuits, and finds meaning in the unseen threads that connect past and present. Her work lingers in the shadows of metamorphosis, where change is inevitable-and rarely gentle.
