Prologue
In the glowing pulse of a city that never sleeps, where coffee flows like lifeblood and headlines vanish by the hour, no one looks twice at the abandoned corners — the empty factories, hollow subway tunnels, and warehouse shells tucked just out of sight. But deep in those shadows, something ancient watches.
The world has moved on, but vampires haven’t left. They’ve adapted.
No longer cloaked monsters in candlelit castles, they live in glass mansions, wear designer suits, and text in emojis. They have reflections. Garlic’s just seasoning. And the sun? As long as they’ve fed recently, it merely feels uncomfortable. But the blood? That need never left. Now they feed through city blood banks — some legally, some not.
Four powerful houses secretly rule this metropolis in a deadly truce.
In the North, the Elmari. Reigned over by Harold Elmari
In the West, the Bentera. Reigned over by Taggard Bentera
In the South, the Gelarian. Reigned over by Alexander Gelarian
And in the East, the Duletta, reigned over by Antonio Duletta
For generations, they’ve fought like kings behind closed doors, carving the city into invisible quadrants. But one patch of ground — a pristine, shining 5km block in the centre — is sacred. Untouchable. A neutral zone, where violence is forbidden and exposure is a greater enemy than bloodlust.
At the heart of that zone stands Halbarrow University, a world-class institution where vampires and humans walk side by side, unknowingly sharing cafeteria tables and lecture halls. But even here, vampire house loyalties run deep. Elmari do not mix with Gelarian. Duletta will not speak to Bentera. The truce holds, but the hate simmers quietly…
