Chapter 4 The night cracks open

Midnight draped the city in a cold blue haze quiet, until it wasn't.

A scream tore through the alley beside Brackston Street, followed by the violent crash of a metal dumpster skidding into the road. Cops on midnight patrol slammed their brakes, sirens slicing through the darkness as their headlights caught the thing running no leaping over the hood of their cruiser.

A pale body, too fast.

Too twisted.

Eyes burning a feral green.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" one officer shouted, stumbling out of the car, weapon shaking in his hands.

They fired. They missed it was too fast.

The creature a spy vampire blurred like liquid shadow, the bullets slicing through nothing but dust and air. It snarled, ripping a lamppost from its base with impossible strength and hurling it into the street like a javelin.

Chaos erupted.

Cars swerved wildly. Pedestrians screamed and scattered. Glass shattered. Metal shrieked against asphalt.

No human had ever seen something move like that.

Above it all, perched on the rooftop of a twenty-story building, Lucian Varex stood perfectly still.

The wind lifted the edges of his coat as he inhaled deeply, pulling the night into his lungs. The city carried every sound to him the wail of sirens, the crack of gunfire, the terrified heartbeats of dozens of mortals below.

And beneath it all… the foul, rotting scent of Eclipse venom.

His eyes opened.

Blue.

Calm.

Predatory.

The Varex gift pulsed through him Sight and Hearing beyond the mortal veil. He tracked the creature easily, watching its erratic movements as it tore through the streets like a wild animal.

"Running from something?" Lucian murmured to the night.

Below, the spy vampire crashed through the window of an abandoned industrial building, disappearing inside like a wraith seeking darkness.

Lucian stepped off the roof.

He didn't fall. He was steady.

He descended silent, controlled, a shadow peeling from the sky. Within seconds, he landed soundlessly in the alley before the building and slipped inside.

The interior smelled of rust, mold, and old blood.

Lucian moved with the stillness of an ancient predator no heartbeat to give him away, no wasted breath. His senses stretched across the entire building like a web, mapping every corner, every shadow.

The creature was hiding.

Listening.

Waiting.

Lucian flicked on the old overhead lights with a subtle burst of telekinetic force. A

Buzz.

Flicker.

White light flooded the warehouse.

The spy hissed, perched on a broken beam like some distorted gargoyle, its limbs bent at unnatural angles.

"You're far from home," Lucian said, his voice deep and steady, echoing through the empty space. "They would never send one of you alone unless they're desperate… or stupid."

The creature tilted its head, bones in its neck cracking audibly.

"You… Varex…" it rasped, voice scraping like metal on stone. "He'll be ours… the red-eyed one… he belongs to Eclipse."

Lucian's jaw tightened.

"Darion belongs to no one."

He blurred forward fangs flashing, claws slicing through the air.

The spy dove, screeching, tearing through metal rails as they collided mid-air. The force of their impact sent shockwaves through the warehouse, shattering windows and buckling steel beams.

They moved like blurs of violence telekinetic energy crackling between them, invisible hands throwing each other across the room with bone-crushing force.

Lucian slammed the creature into a concrete wall hard enough to crack it, spiderweb fractures spreading from the point of impact.

"Who sent you?" he demanded, his hand around the creature's throat. "Who marked my brother?"

The creature laughed a wet, broken sound that rattled in its chest.

"You'll know… soon…"

Its eyes rolled back. Its skin began to burn from the inside out, veins turning black as ink spread beneath the surface.

Lucian's eyes widened. "No..don't.."

But the spy had already activated the Eclipse kill-seal.

Its veins blackened.

Its bones collapsed inward.

And in seconds, the creature disintegrated into cold, dead ash on the warehouse floor.

Lucian stood over the remains, chest heaving—not from exhaustion, but from the truth settling into his bones like ice.

War wasn't coming.

War was already here.

He brushed ash from his palm, eyes narrowing as he whispered to the empty warehouse:

"So… it begins."

As Lucian turned to leave, hidden in the shadows near the broken doorway, another figure stood motionless.

A man in a dark coat, face obscured by the dim light, held a phone to his ear.

"They're more vulnerable than ever, boss," he said quietly, his voice smooth and cold.

On the other end of the line, a soft, evil chuckle echoed.

"Everything will fall into place with time," Draven Valios replied.

The call ended.

The figure slipped back into the shadows and vanished.

Elsewhere in the city…

Ava Monroe was asleep on her couch, curled beneath a thin blanket, the television still flickering in the darkened living room.

The late-night news anchor's voice droned on:

"…authorities are urging residents to remain indoors after dark following a string of unexplained deaths across the city. Police have no leads, but witnesses report seeing.."

Ava didn't hear the rest.

She was already dreaming.

In the dream, she was tied to a tree a dead tree, its branches severed and bleeding dark sap that pooled at her feet.

Her wrists were bound with rough rope that cut into her skin. Her body was weak, wounded, blood dripping from cuts she didn't remember getting.

The air was thick with fog, and the sky above her was a sickly red like a wound that wouldn't close.

And then they appeared.

Figures emerging from the mist, draped in dark cloaks that billowed like smoke. Their faces were hidden, but she could see their fangs long, sharp, dripping with blood. Their claws were even worse, black and twisted, longer than anything she'd ever seen.

They moved toward her slowly, deliberately.

Ava struggled against the ropes, panic flooding her chest. "No...no, please..."

They didn't stop.

"Please!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Stop—please stop!"

One of them reached out, claws inches from her throat

Ava jolted awake with a gasp, her body drenched in cold sweat.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she sat up, disoriented, the flickering glow of the TV casting eerie shadows across the room.

"Not again," she whispered, pressing trembling hands to her face.

She stood on shaky legs and walked to the kitchen, popping two aspirin and downing them with a glass of water. Her hands were still trembling.

What is wrong with me?

A soft beep came from her laptop on the counter.

Ava wiped her face and walked over, opening the screen.

An email notification sat at the top of her inbox.

Subject: Position Approved – Varex Group

Her breath caught.

She clicked it open, scanning the words quickly.

Congratulations, Ms. Monroe. Your application has been approved. Please report to Varex Tower on Monday at 9:00 AM for orientation.

Ava stared at the screen, her heart still racing from the nightmare.

She'd gotten the job.

She should have felt relieved. Excited.

But all she felt was the pull stronger now than ever before.

Something was waiting for her at Varex Group.

Something she didn't understand.

And deep down, she knew:

Something was coming.