Prologue & Chapter 1
PROLOGUE – SAMMY
The place was trashed. Shattered lights. Broken steel. Cracked walls. The floor was a warzone of blood smears, bullet shells, and the sharp, acrid scent of old magic.
And in the center of it all was Julian. A blur of shadow and violence, half-mad with rage, his claws slick with blood that wasn’t his own. They’d lost control. He’d broken free and was now out of the cell they threw him in.
“Hold him down!” Sammy barked, breathless, sweat streaking down his face despite the cold.
Vampires from the other coven swarmed like shadows around the creature that had once been their friend. But to them, he wasn’t Julian. He was a feral. A monster. A threat. And they didn’t hold back.
Sammy ducked as another volley of silver bullets was fired, the sound deafening in the concrete hall. Sparks burst against Julian’s side, metal pinging off his body like pellets against a tank.
No damage.
Just more fury.
Julian roared – a deep, guttural sound that shook the walls – and threw one of the attackers across the room. The man hit the wall with a sickening crack. Screams rose around them.
“Stop using silver!” Sammy snarled. “It’s not going to do anything but piss him off!”
But they weren’t listening. They didn’t understand. This wasn’t just any vampire. This was a Vale, blood of the oldest line, forged from darkness and fire, immune to almost everything except grief.
The corridor was a wake of disaster. Vampires lying around, groaning in pain, with broken tools scattered around them. Shredded silver‑filament nets, meant to constrict like razor wire, hanging in limp ribbons from the ceiling. Someone tried vervain darts – Julian tore it out of his own shoulder and threw it back, the pointy angle burying in the marksman’s chest with a wet crunch.
Nothing held. Nothing slowed him.
What do we do? How do we stop this?
