The Phantom Imprisoned in the Basement

Vivienne Croft was the only daughter of the Lin family, suffocated by the secret her father kept hidden in the basement. Behind that rusted iron door lay something her father had spent half his life capturing — a half-human, half-demon being, Damian Ashcroft. Her father’s violence and alcoholism filled her with dread, yet the shadow deep in the basement exuded a strange pull whenever she brought him food. She wasn’t afraid of him. Instead, in his red eyes, heavy with suppressed hunger, she saw a kind of caged loneliness. Tonight, her father was shattering liquor bottles in the living room again. Vivienne Croft didn’t run. She chose to step down into the darkness, walking straight toward those glowing eyes.