LOGINSavannahThe ward line pulsed once.Long.Deep.The sound wasn't really sound, I more felt it through the floor, through the metal legs of the medical bed, through the bones in my ankles.It rolled through the house like a giant exhale.Then everything went still.Not calm.Just... still. Like the house had stopped breathing to listen.Asher's head snapped toward the door.Mable froze with one hand resting on the edge of the counter, her fingers curled against the wood. For once, she didn't bark an order or insult someone's intelligence. She just stared toward the hall, eyes narrowing, face drawn tight. Asher turned and looked at her. And she back at him. Then shrugged.A tiny, usless little shrug that made me want to throw something. I stared bewteen them."Soooooo.... what was that?"Asher didn't answer right away.Which, by this point, I had learned usually meant that the answer was either bad, complicated, or something he thought I couldn't handle. My patience was starting to d
RowanWhen my knee hit the wet ground, the second vampire flew over me, thrown my Caius's full weight, its body crashing into Valtheris before either of them could react.He caught the thing by the shoulder and shoved it away with disgust.Caius skidded to a stop near me, tawny fur streaked with black blood, one ear torn, teeth bared in a grin only a wolf could manage."Having fun?" I said, glancing his direction."I deeply regret having a big breakfast this morning. But yes." He huffed through the link."Good."The vampire scrambled upright again, half its face hanging loose from Cauis's bite. Valtheris wiped blood from his cheek with two fingers, then looked at the red smear as if it fascinated him."You two are more entertaining than expected." He rasped.I rolled my shoulders, grunting and ignoring the ache spreading through my back."Yeah? And you talk more than expected."Caius gave a low approving growl.The Bloodborn looked between us. The amusement in his face began to fade
RowanValtheris laughed and when he did, something cold slid through me. Cold enough to become calm.The vampire shrieked in front of me, rotten chest split and spilling into the pristine snow. Black blood pooling hot and foul by its feet. It staggered backward, hands clawing uselessly at the ruin I made of it. I didn't give it time to recover. Grim surged beneath my skin, not separate from me but through me. Bone-deep. Breath-deep, all teeth and instinct. I caught the vampire by the throat. Its dead eyes widened."You messed with the wrong house." I growled.I drove my claws from my opposite hand up beneath its jaw and tore. The thing came apart with a cracking, wet sound that echoed through the clearing. Black blood sprayed across the snow and steamed where it hit, eating tiny pits into the frost. The vampire's body hit the ground in two heavy pieces, twitching once before going still. Fast,Messy.Finished.Caius made a choking some somewhere to my left."Well that was-"The se
RowanThe Bloodborn's smile didn't falter. If anything, it sharpened.The vampire in front of us swayed slightly, its dead eyes fixed somewhere near my throat, but it didn't move without being told to. That was what made my stomach tighten. It wasn't hunger holding it back. It was command.The Bloodborn stood behind it like a shadow wearing skin, pale and elegant and wrong in way that made Grim snarl loudly beneath my skin. Caius shifted beside me, just enough that his shoulder nearly brushed mine."Rowan..." he murmured through the side of his mouth."I see it." The Bloodborn's gaze slid to Caius, who went still.Not afraid, but every ounce of humor drained from his face."Such a fast little thing..." It rasped, "You were difficult to follow.""I get that a lot." Caius said his eyes never leaving the Bloodborn.It chuckled. The sound was dry. Thin. Like bones being lightly tapped against stone. My claws lengthened another fraction."Why are you here?" I demandedThe Bloodborn loo
Rowanthe cold air hit harder once I reached the edge of Sector 4. Out here, away from the house and it's humming wards, the forest felt bigger. Hungrier. The trees pressed close in thick black rows, their branches clawing across the wanning sun like crooked fingers. Snow dusted the ground in uneven patches, broken here and there by boot prints and paw prints. Sector 4 had always been quiet, but usually not this quiet. That was the probelm.Quiet meant something was holding its breath,I stopped at the edge of the forest, fingers curling slightly as I listened through the link. Caius was close.I could feel him before I saw him. His pulse was frantc, though his thoughts were sharp with adrenaline. Then he broke through the trees at a run, boots skidding in the frost as he caught himself against a pine.Caius was built for speed, not bulk. Lean, long limbed, with sandy brown haior that had been shoved back one too many times and now stuck up in every direction, making him look like
SavannahAsher crossed the room like he had walked through fire to get here. Not physically at least this time, but something about him looked burned anyway.His face was too still. His jaw too tight. His eyes kept flicking toward the door like a part of him had been left on the other side of it. His hand found mine, warm and steady, but his fingers curled around me a little too hard. I looked down at our joined hands, then back up to him."Asher?" I asked quietly, "What's wrong? You seem distant."For a second, he didn't answer. His throat moved as he swallowed. That scared me more than if he had come in shouting orders. "Asher," I tried again, sitting straighter on the bed, "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be out there with Rowan?" His eyes snapped to mine and a slight blush tinged his cheeks. Something raw and complicated moved through them, like he was startled and hadn't caught up with himself. "Rowan..." he said, "sent me back here."My eye brows pulled together."He sent yo







