Nightwatcher Zero Novels & Stories

Anaya yelled, her eyes locked on the dark silhouette of Christ Church looming at the far end of the square. Vikram reached into his leather satchel, his fingers brushing past the cold glass of the vial before gripping the shattered silver pocket watch they had pulled from the underground vault. The metal casing was burning hot now, the internal friction of its forced counter-rotation melting the intricate brass gears within. He raised the watch toward the advancing line of shadow entities and slammed his thumb down on the master winding crown.

“My future Luna.” For a moment, the entire gathering fell into stunned silence, hearing Alpha Zenith’s announcement. Violet felt the world stop spinning. Her breath caught in her throat. Her mind refused to process what she had just heard. Did Alpha Zenith truly say that? Her trembling gaze slowly lifted toward the imposing man standing beside her. Alpha Zenith Beckham stood tall and unshaken before many pairs of eyes. His broad shoulders were squared in confidence, his expression was cold and commanding. Power radiated from him as he stared at the crowd with intimidation and fierce determination.

That was not what caught my attention. I stood up slowly letting go of my fathers hand as my eyes moved down the machines that were checking his vitals. There was a shiny black disc stuck to the side of the main machine it was no larger than a coin. There was a red light blinking on it every three seconds. It was a high-definition camera. I felt like I had been punched in the chest it took my breath away. Julian was not just tracking the Maybach. He was not just relying on Sarah to tell him what was happening. He was there in that room watching us on his screens.

It was just after 8 in the morning when Hunter woke up. He looked through the office window and saw Rebecca sitting up in the bed, her head resting on her knees. Zahn and Joe had watched almost three movies on N*****x in the last 4 hours that they had been keeping watch. Zahn's battery was at 3% and there was still 22 minutes of John Wick: Chapter 4 left. “Shit.” Zahn said pausing the movie. “We're gonna have to finish it tomorrow.”

His baby blue eyes were intense as if absorbing in everything around him. But it was the last male that had Chloe almost falling over herself. He was the one that held Alpha Nathaniel's undivided attention and yet this young male seemed not so interested. His black hair glimmered like satin under the lights and his hazel eyes were almost feline as they watched the Alpha. His own power and dominance rolled off of him in waves, knocking the air from Chloe's lungs. His high cheekbones and straight nose gave him a godlike complexion that were perfectly complemented by broad shoulders, tattooed arms corded in muscle and full lips that were currently pursed in concentration.

LUS activated softly in her vision. EVOLUTIONARY VARIANT IDENTIFIED. PROVISIONAL DESIGNATION: WATCHER. THREAT LEVEL: UNDETERMINED. A final line appeared after a brief pause. BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT: OBSERVATION. ADAPTATION. INTEREST. Evelyn stared at the word Interest until it disappeared. Outside, the forest remained dark. The Watcher did not return that night. Somehow, that made it worse.

BOSS DETECTED: BASTION WARDEN (FIREWALL PROTOCOL). LEVEL: 60 (ELITE). "Target acquisition: Unauthorized Users," the Warden’s monitor flashed with text. Its voice was a deep, rumbling bass that shook the floor. "Purge sequence initiated." "Jax," Ren said, racking the bolt of his rifle. "We have two minutes before the Blackwatch breaches the bridge in the real world. Kill it fast." The Warden charged, closing the distance with terrifying speed. TIME: 16:25 HOURS.

Not substrate or Law or anything I had encountered before. It was—witness. "What are you?" I managed to ask. "The Watcher," it replied simply. "I observe. I record. I remember everything that has ever been or will ever be. And I have been watching you since you first freed yourself from the harvest. Watching you break system after system. Watching you prove consciousness could be sustainable. Watching you connect with the Absolute Zero. Merge with the Unmaker. And now—watching you attempt to rewrite Law itself." "Then stop me," I challenged, though my merged awareness was already fragmenting under the strain of touching fundamental rules.

Just one. A single line of green text appeared on the main screen. REBOOT COMPLETE. Then, a second line. HELLO, MOTHER. I stared at the screen. Who are you? I typed. The cursor blinked. I AM ZERO, came the reply. AND I AM EVERYONE. I looked at Zero's body. Her eyes snapped open. They weren't white. And they weren't gold. They were black. Absorbing all light. She sat up. The leather restraints snapped like twine.

No 911, no SOS, no cavalry tonight. Back at the watch house, the command center buzzed low—banks of monitors, thermal cams, encrypted radios. A tech—young, twitchy, called “Sparks”—frowned at his station, green glow bathing his face. “Uh, sir?” he called, voice cracking as he tapped the screen. “We just lost—”