Prologue
Rain fell silently over the deserted warehouse district.
Mist drifted between rusted shipping containers, creeping slowly across the cracked asphalt as though reluctant to reveal what had happened only minutes before. Once a busy part of the harbor, the docks had been abandoned for years. After dark, only the homeless and the occasional smuggler dared venture this far.
Tonight, blue and red police lights shattered the darkness.
Yellow crime scene tape surrounded the area. Uniformed officers hurried back and forth while the flashes of forensic cameras briefly illuminated the scene before the night swallowed everything once again.
“My God...” one young officer muttered, turning his head away.
Even his more experienced partner couldn’t look at the body for long.
The victim lay twisted across the concrete, his limbs bent at impossible angles. His clothes had been ripped to shreds, and deep claw marks carved through his chest.
A few yards away lay the second victim.
Or what was left of them.
The body had been so badly mutilated that it was impossible to tell whether it had once been human or animal. The bones were grotesquely distorted, as if death had struck in the middle of a transformation.
“Has the Supernatural Crimes Unit been notified?” one detective asked.
“They’re on their way.”
The detective nodded, unable to take his eyes off the remains.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“Never.”
“Werewolf?”
“No.”
“Vampire?”
“Not that either.”
“Witch?”
The other detective slowly shook his head.
“I don’t know what this is.”
An uneasy silence settled over the crime scene.
For decades, the Supernatural Crimes Unit had documented attacks carried out by every known supernatural species. Every creature had its own signature.
This matched none of them.
One of the forensic technicians carefully stepped forward.
“Detective...”
The lead investigator turned toward him.
“We found something.”
A gloved hand lifted a small black object from a rain-filled puddle.
A casino chip.
Black.
Heavy.
One side bore an embossed silver wolf’s head.
The other displayed a single name.
LUNA NOIR
The officers around them fell silent.
“Is this some kind of joke?” someone whispered.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then someone wanted us to find it.”
The lead detective stared at the chip for several long seconds.
“Bag it as evidence.”
“Yes, sir.”
A black SUV rolled to a stop nearby.
It carried no police markings.
A man in his fifties stepped out, dressed in a dark trench coat. He surveyed the scene before walking toward the detectives.
“What do we know?”
“Not much.”
“The victims?”
“One human.”
“And the other?”
“Most likely a shapeshifter.”
The man frowned.
“Most likely?”
“We can’t confirm it yet.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Our thoughts exactly.”
The detective handed him the evidence bag.
The man’s expression froze.
“Where did you find this?”
“Next to the body.”
For several seconds, he simply stared at the black casino chip.
Then he spoke quietly.
“If it’s real...”
“Then what?”
He let out a slow breath.
“Tomorrow morning, everyone in this city will be saying the same name.”
“Whose?”
The man looked up.
“Javier Valdés.”
The detectives exchanged uneasy glances.
Everyone knew the name.
Owner of the legendary Luna Noir casino.
Billionaire.
Powerful businessman.
The man everyone talked about...
...and the man no one had ever managed to prove guilty of anything.
Thunder rolled across the sky once more.
Rain pounded harder against the concrete, slowly washing away the blood.
But there was one thing even the storm couldn’t erase.
The hunt had begun.
