MasukEVE Everything happened too fast. One moment we were standing in Dr. Chen's clinic, the next Adam was throwing me and Lucia behind an examination table while Circe engaged the vampires. "Stay down!" Adam roared, shifting into his massive black wolf. I crouched over Lucia, my body shielding her as glass and debris rained down. She started crying, her little face scrunched up, and I felt power surge from her tiny body. "No, baby, not now," I whispered frantically. "Please not now." But Lucia's fear triggered another energy burst. Golden light exploded from her, throwing back one of the attacking vampires. "Did that baby just..." one vampire started. "Told you she was special," the lead vampire snarled. "Get her. NOW!" Adam tore into them, his wolf form massive and deadly. But there were three of them, all older vampires with speed and strength to match his. Circe was fighting two at once, her movements a blur. "Eve! Take Lucia and run!" "I'm not leaving you!" "You have to! G
CHAPTER 89 ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced
ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced myself to s
CHAPTER 89 ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced
EVETen years after my resurrection, Lucia graduated high school at sixteen.She'd skipped three grades. Could have skipped more but we'd insisted she have some semblance of normal adolescence."This is pointless ceremony," she said, adjusting her cap. "I already know everything they're celebrating. Academic achievement is arbitrary validation of information retention.""It's a milestone. Let us celebrate you.""I'd rather be in the lab finishing my research.""You can finish your research tomorrow. Today you walk across a stage and let your family be proud."She sighed dramatically. "Fine. But I'm not smiling for photos."She smiled for every single photo. Couldn't help herself. Brilliant and accomplished and still somehow our little girl.Sophie was fourteen now. Already accepted into prestigious art programs. Her work sold for thousands. Critics called her a generational talent."It's weird being famous for trauma art," she told me. "People buy my paintings because they feel the pa
CHAPTER 91ADAMTwo years after Eve's resurrection, life felt almost normal.Not the old normal. We'd never get that back. Too much had changed. Too much trauma had reshaped us.But a new normal. Better in some ways. More honest. More present. More grateful for what we had.The girls were nine now. Growing fast. Too fast.Lucia had started advanced placement classes. Her teachers struggled to keep up with her intellect. She'd already mastered calculus and was working on theoretical physics for fun."I'm considering a research project on hybrid genetic expression," she announced at dinner. "Specifically how wolf and vampire DNA integrate at the chromosomal level.""That sounds complicated," Eve said."It's fascinating. The recombination patterns suggest deliberate optimization rather than random mutation. I think there's an evolutionary mechanism we haven't identified yet.""You're nine.""Age is irrelevant to intellectual curiosity. Einstein developed his thought experiments as a teen
EVEWe moved to Haven three weeks later.The decision wasn't easy. Leaving Umbra Pack meant leaving everything we'd built. Madam Bella cried when we told her, though she tried to hide it."This is what's best for Lucia," she said, wiping her eyes. "I understand. Doesn't mean I have to like it.""We
ADAMSix months of relative peace made me nervous.No vampire scouts. No border breaches. No threats or attacks. Just normal pack life with all the mundane problems that came with it."You're waiting for the other shoe to drop," Eve said, watching me pace our bedroom."Aren't you?""Yes. But I'm tr
EVEThe aftermath was worse than the attack itself.Funerals for the twelve pack members who'd died defending us. Families grieving. Children asking why their parents weren't coming home. All because vampires wanted my daughter dead."This is my fault," I said to Madam Bella three days after the at
ADAMThe vampire scouts became a real problem four months later.They'd stopped being subtle. Started crossing our borders deliberately. Testing our response times. Leaving markers to show they'd been deep in our territory."This is escalation," my head of security said during the emergency meeting







