Kael's POV
I'm going to kill her.
That's what I tell myself as I walk toward the flower shop for the hundredth time in three months. It's what I'm supposed to do. What I've been trained to do since I was twelve years old.
Find the Memory Weaver. End the threat. Protect the world.
Simple.
Except nothing about this mission is simple anymore.
My phone buzzes. A text from Marcus Thorne, Head of the Supernatural Council: Status report. The seal breaks tonight. Don't fail me, Huntsman.
I shove the phone back in my pocket without answering. Marcus has been breathing down my neck for weeks, demanding updates, pushing me to act faster. But something keeps stopping me.
Or rather, someone.
The bell chimes as I enter "Blooming Hearts" flower shop. The air smells like roses and soil and something else—something that makes my chest tight and my instincts scream danger.
Magic. Raw, untapped, powerful magic.
She's behind the counter like always, her dark hair falling in her face as she arranges flowers. Mira Chen. Eighteen years old today. Completely human as far as she knows.
Completely dangerous as far as I know.
But she doesn't look dangerous. She looks small and tired, with circles under her eyes like she hasn't slept well. There's a bandaid on her finger from a rose thorn. Her uniform shirt is too big for her.
She looks up when I approach, and her eyes widen slightly. They're brown and warm and so innocent it makes me want to punch something.
"O-one dozen white roses?" she asks quietly, like she's afraid of bothering me.
I nod, not trusting my voice.
For three months, I've been watching her. Following her to school. Tracking her movements. Waiting for the seal to break and reveal what she really is. I've bought roses every week as an excuse to get close, to study her, to look for signs of the monster she's supposed to become.
But all I've seen is a lonely girl who talks to plants and feeds stray cats.
All I've seen is kindness.
My mother used to say you could tell everything about a person by how they treat things that can't help them back. Mira feeds a mangy cat that won't even let her touch it. She apologizes to flowers when she has to trim them. She lets her terrible aunt scream at her without fighting back.
Memory Weavers are supposed to be manipulative. Cruel. Power-hungry.
Mira Chen is none of those things.
"That'll be—" she starts.
"I know the price." I hand her my credit card, careful not to touch her. "I come here every week."
She blinks in surprise, like she's never noticed me before. And why would she? I've made sure to stay forgettable, to blend into the background. It's what I do best.
But today is different. Today the seal breaks. Today she becomes what she was always meant to be.
Today I have to decide if I'm going to kill an innocent girl or betray everything I've ever believed in.
She hands me the roses, and our fingers brush.
The world tilts.
Emotions slam into me like a fist to the gut—her emotions, flooding through the touch. Loneliness so deep it aches. Sadness that tastes like tears. Hope so fragile it could shatter with a breath. And underneath it all, confusion. She doesn't understand what's happening to her.
She doesn't know she's pulling my feelings out like threads from a sweater.
She doesn't know she's a Memory Weaver.
I jerk back, my carefully built walls crashing down for just a second. In that second, she sees my fear. My uncertainty. The war happening inside me.
"What are you?" I whisper before I can stop myself.
Her face goes pale. "I don't—"
The lights explode.
Glass shatters as every window in the shop bursts outward. I throw up a shadow shield on instinct, protecting us both from the flying shards. The magical energy in the air spikes so high it makes my teeth hurt.
The seal just broke.
Mira screams and ducks behind the counter. I should grab her now. Should complete the mission. But my body won't move.
Because I hear them coming.
Marcus's attack dogs. The Council's enforcers. They were waiting for this exact moment, and they're not here to capture her gently.
They're here to kill her before she becomes too powerful.
Rage floods through me—hot and unexpected. They were never going to let me bring her in alive. Marcus wanted me to find her so his assassins could finish the job.
He used me as bait.
I turn to run, to get as far from this disaster as possible, but something stops me at the door.
The cat.
That mangy black stray Mira feeds is standing in the alley, but he's changing. Bones crack and reshape. Fur melts into skin. Within seconds, a man stands where the cat was—tall, muscular, covered in scars, with amber eyes that burn with ancient power.
A guardian spirit. A powerful one.
"I'm sorry, little spark," he says to Mira in a voice that drips with grief. "Your eighteenth birthday breaks the final seal. There's no more hiding what you are."
Three shadows detach from the darkness behind him. Council assassins in dark hoods, moving with supernatural speed.
The guardian bares fangs that definitely weren't there a second ago. "Run, Mira! RUN!"
I should leave. This isn't my problem anymore. Let them fight it out. Let the Council clean up their mess.
But I'm already moving.
My shadow blades materialize in my hands as I sprint back toward the shop. The first assassin doesn't see me coming. I take him down in one strike, his body crumbling to ash. The second assassin turns, shocked.
"Huntsman?" he hisses. "What are you—"
I don't let him finish. My blade cuts through his throat before he can call for backup.
The guardian spirit—the cat—stares at me with wide eyes. "You're protecting her?"
"I'm protecting an innocent," I snap, taking a fighting stance. "There's a difference."
More assassins pour out of the shadows. Too many. We're surrounded.
And behind the counter, Mira Chen stands frozen, her hands glowing with silver light that's growing brighter by the second. Her eyes have turned completely white. Power rolls off her in waves that make the air shimmer.
The last Memory Weaver is awakening.
And I just killed two Council enforcers to protect her.
There's no going back now.
"Well," I mutter to the cat guardian, "I hope you have a plan, because I just became the most wanted man in the supernatural world."
The guardian grins, all teeth. "I like you, Huntsman. Try not to die."
Then the assassins attack, and the flower shop becomes a battlefield.
Above the chaos, Mira's voice rings out—not scared anymore, but something else. Something ancient and powerful that makes every supernatural being in a three-block radius freeze.
"ENOUGH."
The word hits like a shockwave. Every assassin drops to their knees. Even I feel the command trying to force me down.
She's not just awakening.
She's exploding.
And somewhere in the city, I know Marcus Thorne is smiling, because this is exactly what he wanted—proof that Memory Weavers are dangerous and need to be destroyed.
Mira's eyes find mine through the chaos, silver light pouring from them like tears.
"Help me," she whispers. "Please. I don't know what's happening."
That's when I know I'm screwed.
Because I'm going to help her.
Even if it costs me everything.