LOGINThe western tower had disappeared, this was not getting any better. Nobody said anything for a few seconds. The eastern tower had vanished only a few hours ago now another one was gone. What was really going on?Zara felt a knot tighten in her stomach, beside her, Kael looked really calm which was not a good sign at all. Selene rubbed a hand over her face and sighed."We need to go.""Go where?" Rynese asked looking worried."The council chamber, it is a place where people make decisions that are terrible and they call it leadership... Mtcheww." She sighed again.Rynese nodded thoughtfully.* * * * * * The council chamber was beneath the city, the further down they went, the colder it became.Ancient stone corridors were everywhere around them. They used torches to find their way through, this place was really old.It looked like something that had existed long before the people currently occupying it. Zara didn't like this place, her wolf didn't like it either.The farther they de
Nobody laughed about the information the guard has just given, it was meant to be funny because it didn't seem like it had actually happened but still, a small part of Zara had hoped the guard would suddenly admit he'd made a mistake or maybe he'd been tired or panicking. Just something you know, or maybe he lost his way.Instead, the young vampire looked like he was about to be sick."The entire tower?" Selene asked.Her voice was calm for the chaos that the guard was panicking about or perhaps she was trying not to look like she was actually panicking."Yes." The guard swallowed."It was there during the patrol change.""And then, what happened?""It just mysteriously disappeared."Rynese blinked."I'm sorry." He said raising a hand."We're totally not accepting that answer, how do you mean a building disappeared, like a whole building?"Nobody looked at him, he looked offended because why the hell were they ignoring him.Valkyrie turned to him."We heard you, okay?""Then why is no
For a long moment, nobody moved. They just stood there trying to process everything that had been going on, something was wrong.Rynese was the first one to recover or at least try to."What," he said slowly, "was that?"Nobody answered him."Fantastic."He looked around at everyone."Not a single answer. Again."Valkyrie was staring at the patch of ground where the hooded figure had stood, the snow there was still black and dirty, it looked burned.She walked on it carefully and immediately stood again."No.""What?" Zara asked staring at her.Valkyrie's face had gone pale."There's no scent and that's strange."The words settled heavily in them, how the hell was there no scent. Kael frowned a bit."What do you mean no scent?""I mean exactly what I just said, there's no scent." She pointed toward the dark patch."Nothing was standing there, we all saw it.""I know.""No scent at all?" Rynese asked.Valkyrie shook her head."Not even a vampire, a wolf or even a human."Nobody seemed
Nobody spoke for several seconds, maybe they didn't know what to say.A countdown to what exactly? This wasn't helping Zara folded her arms."A countdown to what?" She asked.Selene's expression immediately changed which wasn't encouraging.Around them, the fringe vampires had gone completely quiet, they looked uncomfortable and confused as hell. You could tell from the expression on their faces as if this conversation was not what they expected.Zara was confused, she looked confused too. It was just strange to her that these fringe vampires were confused as her too.Nobody in her group looked like they knew anything and that was not good at all. Especially Rynese."What exactly is awakening?" he asked looking as confused as ever.Selene looked at him then she looked away almost immediately, then she looked back at him."That's a difficult question." She said.Rynese groaned a bit. What exactly was difficult here."No. It isn't. It's actually a very simple question." He said staring
For a moment, nobody spoke, everywhere became quiet for a while. The Belmar's name rang in the air for like minutes, the weight of the name was so much that the lead Vampire didn't stop smiling, he seemed to be enjoying the silence. This was the name from the map they saw and those letters, this name has been a hell of torture to Zara, she couldn't understand why they wanted her. This Most especially, Zara was spite that the lead vampire was still smiling. His smile widened."You look surprised.""Of course, who wouldn't be surprised, we all thought they were supposed to be dead," Rynese said."I heard that."The vampire said , he sounded amused like it was normal for an entire bloodline to just re-generate like some sort of magic.Zara didn't like him, she never did. Zara felt like just hitting him on the face and smashing that smile off his face. Her wolf was even more angrier.The vampire's gaze shifted to her."You should be more careful."Her eyes narrowed to him immediately.
For a long time, nobody moved. The sound of the horn just continued echoing through the mountains.Then it became closer and closer and closer.... The sound rolled through the damaged outspot.Zara didn't like the sound, she was both terrified and indecisive of what to do next."Tell me that sound is normal," Rynese said.Nobody answered him."Great! Just great!" He said loudly.Kael was already moving with his sword in his hands, his wolf was ready to devour. "How many of them are there?" he asked Valkyrie.The vampire closed her eyes briefly listening and counting in her head. When she opened her eyes, her expression went sour immediately."A lot... A lot." Rynese sighed dramatically."This is not getting any better, I thought they were three.""It's not three, they're actually five.""Ohhh.... Five. That's not a lot compared to how you were making it seem.""No, it's ten." Vikyrie said rolling her eyes.Rynese looked at Vikyrie offended."You're making this difficult on purpose,
King Draven's wolf was patient even now.It moved toward Kael with the same unhurried certainty his human form carried everywhere, like urgency was something that happened to other people and not him.His ash-grey fur caught the morning light. The eyes above it were his father's eyes exactly; pale,
The road back to the pack grounds was not as treacherous this time around.That was the thing about dreading a destination. The return trip always felt lighter, even when you were carrying something heavy. Zara had the Codex strapped across her back and her mother's house behind her and neither of
Valkyrie had her eyes on the pages from across the circle, reading upside down with the focused ease of someone to whom inconvenience was a minor administrative matter."Bloodline corruption," Zara said, finding the section. "Here."She set the Codex flat in the centre and they all leaned in.The e
James Draven sat down.There was a flat rock at the edge of the valley and he found it without looking and settled onto it like a man arriving at a theatre. He crossed one ankle over his knee. He did not shift. He did not draw a weapon.He simply watched.Kael clocked it in the half second before e







