Prologue
The carnage was unavoidable. When vampires and werewolves clash, there’s bound to be bloodshed. He despised going on in full wolf mode, especially when it meant maiming and killing.
Not even when the victims were vampires.
His brothers told him he was getting soft, that he was getting old. Maybe. But with old age came wisdom. Usually. If one were careful enough to reach it, one also learned things the younger generation often dismissed offhand. Whatever the case, he knew what had happened just now was wrong. And if he didn’t act soon, war would break out, not only between their species. They had been at each other’s throats for centuries and neither had gone extinct. No, this time, war would encompass the entire world. Humans, pure-blooded humans, were now at risk as well. And they would find themselves caught in the middle of something they had no chance of surviving.
Just when he thought he could retire to the islands and enjoy his solitude.
He must truly have the worst of luck like his wife used to say. This made him smile. She was his rock. Now that she was gone, all he wanted was to be alone with his memories of her. He was done with politics and playing god.
As Ambrose Lykoudis, Alpha of the most powerful Lycan clan, the Lycaon Moonlords, carefully picked his way through the blood and body parts, he caught sight of movement. One vampire had survived. His pack mates had already gone at his instruction. Precisely because he wanted to do his own investigating. The only one he asked to stay behind was his youngest son, Damian, the pack's Zeta and the only one who shared his newly minted, non-violent views.
The vampire suffered severe injuries, with both legs severed at the knees. He was crawling toward the door, dragging his bloody body inch by agonizing inch across the slick floor. He had to admire the man’s fortitude and bless his stupidity. Had he played dead, he would’ve escaped what was surely coming to him now. His son caught the movement, too, and was on the injured vampire in a flash.
“Father, this one is still alive. What do you want to do with him?” his son said, one foot set squarely on the vampire’s back, preventing further movement.
“Prop him up against the wall. I need to ask him a few questions,” he said, walking over to one of the upturned chairs. He turned it rightside up and straddled it.
The vampire hissed at his son, but didn’t do anything more. He no longer had the strength to fight. He was dying. And with his many injuries, death would be a welcome reprieve. Blood oozed out of the bullet holes in his body, together with the melted silver that coated the ammunition they used on him and his compatriots.
Vampires loved to use silver swords and knives. Lycans preferred the more efficient M-16, coupled with modified silver bullets. Silver is a known death bringer to both vampires and Lycans alike. He never understood why, but it was just the way things were. He was no genius, nor had any intention of becoming one. Some things were just plain impossible to explain. Best to leave them at that.
“What’s your name, son?” he asked the vampire.
The vampire tried to laugh, but it came out as a hacking cough. He licked up the dark blood trickling down his lips and spat a gob at his interrogator’s feet, his red eyes growing dimmer by the second. He was at death’s door, yet his spirit remained defiant.
“Look, son, I know you’re just following orders. But this is bigger than the both of us. I, for one, do not intend to blow this thing out of proportion. Just give me the name of the person who sent you to attack us and I’ll do the rest.”
“Damn right, you are. This is bigger than the both of us. And you can’t stop what is coming soon,” the vampire said, smirking.
“We heard about the coup. Who’s in charge now?” Ambrose asked. The vampire was fading too fast and he needed answers.
“You will all die. The humans, too. If they don’t come to the fold,” the vampire said, his voice barely audible.
Ambrose jumped from his seat and grabbed the vampire by the throat, his razor-sharp fingernails digging into the soft flesh. One swift slash and he could rip the man’s throat to shreds.
“Tell me what I want to know, and maybe I’ll get you the help you need. Maybe you’ll even get to survive this,” he said.
It was a lie. No one with wounds like the man had would recover, not even a vampire. And they both knew it.
“I would rather die that live a life indebted to you,” the vampire spat.
“Then, for once in your miserable life, do something noble. This war is between our kind. The humans do not need to get caught in the middle. Or have you forgotten that you were once human, too.”
Something flickered behind the vampire’s eyes, something filled with pain and regret. But it disappeared in a flash, replaced by an even more terrifying emotion.
Rage.
“Yes, I once was human. And I wish I’d never been. I was nothing. A worthless human treated like trash. Until I became a vampire. Then, and only then, did I get the respect I deserved.”
“Respect? Are you confusing fear with respect? There’s a world of difference between the two, you know.”
The vampire grinned. “Oh, don’t I know it. But fear can beget respect. They sure respected my power when they realized I held their life in my hands,” the vampire said, coughing blood as he laughed. He was even paler than before.
Ambrose breathed a deep sigh. He would get nothing from this doomed creature. In a few seconds, he would be dead. Damian would put him out of his misery. Such a shame. To him, every life was sacred. In his almost five hundred years on earth, he’d never taken a life that didn’t deserve to be taken. He only killed as a last resort, and only in defense of himself or his loved ones. The vampire before him was not his true enemy. He was but a pawn in a senseless war that has been going on for millennia. And he had no desire to get involved in another all-out open war. Especially if it meant announcing the existence of their hidden world to the entire human population. He would rather remain in the shadows, in the realm of fiction. In the horror stories humans told their children to make them behave. Coming out into the open was never, and would never be, his intent. Yet, it was not just his decision to make. The vampires had already put things in motion. The only thing he could do now was to try to contain it without involving the humans any further.
The vampire was chuckling again. “You can’t do anything about it, old man. The humans are already involved. In fact, they’re right in the middle of it all.”
Apparently, the vampire had the gift of mind-reading. Or perhaps the desperation he felt was just seeping through, his emotions plainly displayed on his face again. Like his wife used to tease him.
“What do you mean they’re smack in the middle of it?” he said, pulling the vampire off the wall.
“Soon our Black Swans will breed. Our children will be both human and vampire.”
Horror gripped his heart. “What are you talking about?”
The biggest advantage they had over vampires was their ability to breed. They were not restricted to turning others into werewolves. Most of them, like him and his sons, were born Lycans. Natural-born Lycans were ten times stronger than the ones who only turned after getting bitten.
“And when the vampire King finds his human queen, he will create the perfect hybrid. We will be unstoppable. We will finally annihilate your kind. Once and for all. The humans will worship us, or they will die. We will rule again!”
In a burst of unbelievable strength and speed, the vampire lunged for his throat, but his son was faster. The bullets sliced through the vampire’s head in rapid succession, obliterating it.
Ambrose shook the blood and gore from his face and torso as he slowly got to his feet. He didn’t get the answers he wanted to hear. What he got was something worse, too terrible to even imagine.
“We need to get back home. We must tell the others about this, Father,” Damian said.
“Yes, we need to get home. But we can’t tell the others about it yet. Not until we have all the facts.”
“Why? You heard what he said, Father. They can breed now. This puts our kind, and the humans, in mortal danger.”
“I know. But we can’t cause unnecessary panic. We must investigate first.”
“How? We do not even know where to start,” Damian said, fear lacing his voice.
“We can start by finding their queen. Before they do.”
“And then, what? Do we protect or kill her?”
Ambrose sighed and shook his head. Anything that involved humans was bound to be tricky, so he gave the only answer he could give for now.
“We’ll decide when we find her.”
