A lone vehicle slowly rolled to a stop before the heavily fortified vampire manor.
The door clicked open, and Selene stepped out. She scanned the dense security detail, then drew a small, steadying breath before fixing her gaze on the manor. As expected, Kraven stood waiting at the entrance—hands clasped behind his back, his face set in a grim mask.
Ignoring his cold stare, Selene strode toward the manor.
*Click, click.*
Her boots struck the short flight of stairs as she climbed, intending to brush past him.
Kraven shifted, blocking her path. His tall, pale frame loomed over her.
"Where have you been?" he demanded.
"None of your concern," Selene replied, her voice cold as ice.
*Smack.*
Her head snapped to the side from the force of the slap. The sharp sound drew every nearby guard's attention.
"I've tolerated your insolence long enough," Kraven snarled. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Centuries of tradition, the entire balance—ruined—for some self-righteous whim."
Moments earlier he had greeted Amelia— someone he never expected to survive the night. That miscalculation had already unraveled his plan to eliminate the council. Now, to his horror, Viktor himself was awake and summoning him. Who else but Selene could have dared disturb his rest?
"Lay your hands on me again," Selene said quietly, wiping a smear of blood from her lip as the small cut sealed itself, "and you'll lose them."
"Kraven."
The voice cut through the tension. Kraven turned to see Kahn standing nearby, expression solemn.
"Your presence is required by the council," Kahn said with a curt nod.
Without another word, Kraven spun on his heel and marched off, brooding. The damage was done; his only path now was forward—perhaps he could still talk his way out of the noose tightening around him.
They watched him disappear down the corridor.
"Selene," Kahn said.
She shifted her cold gaze from Kraven's retreating back to him.
"Follow me," he said, gesturing toward the entrance.
She nodded and fell into step beside him.
"It was exactly as you suspected," Kahn continued quietly as they moved through the halls. "There's something deeply wrong with Kraven. I followed them, as you suggested. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the aftermath myself."
"Amelia?" Selene asked.
"Secure. Though she may not have needed our intervention after all."
"She's an elder, Kahn. Of course she wouldn't."
"You misunderstand," he clarified. "She already *had* help when we arrived."
"Who?"
"I don't know. All I know is the lycans retreated before we reached her."
Selene frowned, puzzled, but heavier concerns pressed on her mind.
As they passed through shadowed corridors toward the vaults, she spoke again.
"Do you believe me now? This city could be crawling with lycans. Did you hear that howl a few minutes ago? It sounded like a rallying cry."
"We all heard it, Selene. I'm worried even Amelia is acting strangely. Death Dealers are being mobilized as we speak, and the way Viktor is behaving… I don't think this is as straightforward as I first believed."
"Viktor?" she asked sharply.
"Yes. He's awake. I assumed you knew, since you're the one who woke him. Kraven has already accused you of insubordination and desecrating an elder's rest. Viktor himself has summoned you to his chambers."
Selene's expression remained steady. "Don't worry about me. I have more than enough evidence to justify what I did."
"It's not you I'm worried about," Kahn said grimly. "It's Viktor. There was something in his eyes I've never seen before… fear."
"Fear?" Selene echoed, genuinely startled. "Of what?"
Kahn's voice dropped. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
Crunch.
A heavy boot crushed a lone twig against the rain-soaked earth. The forest floor was a dark canvas of mud and rot, slick and glistening beneath the thin wash of moonlight.
"Hmmmfff… hooo…"
A low exhale drifted through the trees, a plume of warm breath unraveling into the cold night air. From the shadows, a pair of calculating eyes scanned the wilderness with predatory calm.
They settled on a set of large footprints impressed deep into the mud—fresh, but already dissolving beneath rivulets of rainwater.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be, Corvin," Liam said softly, his voice nearly swallowed by the wind. "I know you're near. I can see your heart pumping with blood."
He inhaled slowly.
Sniff.
The scent was thick—wet bark, churned soil… and lycan.
A sudden rush of displaced air—
Woosh.
A blur dropped from above.
Liam twisted aside in a flash of motion as claws tore through empty space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. The creature vanished back into the canopy, swallowed by darkness and dripping leaves.
Without hesitation, Liam dissolved.
His body fragmented into a storm of bats, wings erupting outward in a violent flutter that shredded the silence.
Under the fractured moonlight, the creature revealed itself.
A lycan.
Massive.
Coiled muscles taut beneath slick fur. Its jaws peeled back in a savage snarl, teeth gleaming white against the black forest.
"Rrrrrrrrr—"
The growl rolled deep and resonant, vibrating through bark and bone alike.
The bats circled once—
Twice—
Then, in perfect unison—
Flip. Flip. Flip.
They converged upon a thick branch overhead, folding inward until Liam stood once more, trench coat settling around him.
He regarded the lycan quietly.
Troublesome, he thought.
Michael Corvin.
The last descendant of Corvinus.
Liam could end him in an instant. The space between life and death was thin—especially for a newborn. But the Corvinus bloodline was not something to discard lightly. Had Michael remained human, he would have been an excellent breeding specimen—quality blood for the Master's table.
Lucian had ruined that.
Now Michael's value lay elsewhere.
Vijaya found him… interesting.
And when Vijaya was interested, experiments followed.
Liam's dark eyes flash with a hint of red.
Michael shifted, muscles bunching, preparing to bolt again. The creature's instincts screamed flight.
Earlier , during the Master's transformation and the chaos that followed, Michael had done the impossible. The dungeon assigned to him was designed specifically for a lycan's first change—reinforced, warded and prepared for violence beyond reason.
A first transformation was agony made flesh—an ordeal few wished to witness.
Yet Michael had torn through iron and spell alike.
He had escaped at the Master's call.
And then—
Instead of joining the pull, instead of running towards the Master as every other lycan at this very instance would —
He ran elsewhere.
That was what truly intrigued Liam.
As for the Master…
Let him have his fun.
Strange. That Liam would abandon the honor of shepherding the Master back, choosing instead to pursue a newborn lycan—Corvinus or not.
"Vij," Liam murmured under his breath, rain tracing down his cheek, "I hope you know what you're doing."
Puff.
He exhaled once more, then burst apart into a swarm of bats that tore through the storm and vanished after the fleeing lycan.
Far away—
High above the city—
Four silhouettes stood atop a rain-slick skyscraper, motionless against the skyline.
Below them, the city pulsed with distant headlights and muted sirens.
Behind the four figures, a circle had been drawn upon the rooftop in a thick red substance that gleamed darkly beneath the rain. Cloaked individuals surrounded it, their faces hidden beneath heavy hoods. Their voices rose in hushed, rhythmic murmurs, words folding over one another in cadence.
The hexagram began to pulse.
Once.
Then again.
A sickly, veined light spread through its lines, glowing beneath the falling rain as though the symbol itself were breathing.
But the four did not turn.
They stared outward—past the mist, past the storm—as though watching events unfold miles away.
Vij slowly folded his hands behind his back.
Lightning flickered somewhere beyond the clouds, reflecting briefly in his eyes.
For a moment, they flashed with something unreadable.
Cold rain lashed against their trench coats. Fabric snapped softly in the wind.
Below them, the city trembled in ignorance.
Above, the ritual brightened.
And somewhere in the icy plains beyond, a monster roamed.