The world changed overnight.
Nocturne was no longer just a city of secrets—it was a battlefield.
And Mia? She was now a name on a list Lucien Vale had started carving into blood-soaked marble.
The first name had already been crossed out.
Elias Thorne—Dusk's financial tactician, a vampire with a love for vintage cars and fine cigars—was found ripped open in the middle of a crowded gala. No cameras saw it. No humans remembered it.
But the vampires did.
It was a message.
No one around Dusk was safe.
Arabelle tossed a silver stake onto the training mat. It landed with a thud at Mia's feet.
"Again," she snapped.
Mia panted, her muscles trembling. Her palms were blistered, knees scraped, ribs sore from the last knockdown.
"I'm human, in case you forgot," she said between gasps.
Arabelle's eyes were colder than usual. "Lucien doesn't care what you are. He'll rip your spine out and use it as a straw."
"Vivid."
"Truthful."
Mia picked up the stake.
She lunged. Fast. Sloppy.
Arabelle ducked, disarmed her, and swept her legs. Mia landed hard, the breath knocked out of her.
"You hesitate," Arabelle hissed, standing over her. "That'll get you killed."
"I'm not a killer," Mia snapped.
"No. But you're in love with one."
That stopped her cold.
She didn't answer. Not because it wasn't true—but because it was, and she didn't know what that meant anymore.
Later that night, as Mia wrapped her ribs and paced the edge of the rooftop garden, she heard footsteps behind her.
Dusk.
"I'm not cut out for this," she said without turning. "I'm a journalist. I ask questions, I drink too much coffee, and I write angry editorials. I'm not some vampire-hunting warrior."
"You're not meant to be," Dusk said softly. "You're meant to survive. That's all I care about."
She faced him. "What about your people? They're dying."
His jaw clenched. "I know."
"Then we fight."
He studied her, something unreadable behind his eyes. Pride? Fear? Something in between?
"You remind me of her," he said quietly. "Selene."
Mia didn't speak. The name still felt like a wound between them.
"She was human once, too. Before the turning. Before all the death."
"She chose to become something else."
Dusk nodded slowly. "So will you. One day."
She swallowed hard. "Not yet."
"No. Not yet."
But Lucien didn't wait.
That very night, the sky over the Financial Quarter turned black—not from clouds, but ash. Black smoke rose as five towers burned, each one housing Dusk's hidden archives and ancestral blood banks.
An attack. An invitation. A war cry.
Dusk stood at the edge of the balcony as screams echoed below. "He wants me to come for him."
Mia's voice shook. "Will you?"
"I have no choice."
Just then, Vale burst into the room, blood streaked down his arm. "We lost three of ours at the gate. He's using turned humans now. Rapid conversion. Fast, messy. Mindless."
"They're distractions," Dusk muttered. "He's testing my limits."
"What do we do?" Mia asked, her voice laced with terror.
Dusk's eyes went dead cold.
"We disappear."
Hours later, Mia sat in the backseat of a blacked-out SUV barreling down an underground tunnel. Arabelle was beside her, weapons cradled across her lap. Vale drove like the devil was on their tail.
And maybe he was.
"Where are we going?" Mia whispered.
"To the place Lucien fears," Dusk said from the front passenger seat.
Mia looked at him through the dark.
"What's that?"
Dusk turned, his eyes glowing faintly.
"Home.