*Selene*
Night doesn't feel like night anymore.
It's as if something peeled the skin off the city and exposed its raw, bleeding nerves beneath.
Every flickering streetlight, every crack in the sidewalk, every broken neon sign pulses with *wrongness*.
Julian is pressed against me as we stumble—no, walk—through Eros' back alleys, every step oozing adrenaline and sweat. His blood trails down my jacket. The vision of that creature at the Glass Cathedral taints my mind worse.
"You need to rest," I whisper.
Julian clenches his teeth, shaking his head. "We stop, we die."
He's right.
The Court will send others after us. Maybe Lucien himself, if he's angry enough—which, by the busted altar and his bruised pride, he is.
But that's not the worst of it.
I can still *feel* the thing he summoned.
Like a hook in my side, pulling.
Hunting.
"I know a place," Julian says, panting. "Safehouse."
He takes us to a weathered old hotel sign flashing *NO VACANCY* in flickering green letters.
Looks deserted.
Perfect.
We force the rusted service door open and slip inside.
The air is thick with silence and dust.
We discover a room on the third floor—door off hinges, furniture torn out. Julian collapses onto the filthy mattress without ceremony.
I lay my hand on his side.
He grimaces.
"Gently," I whisper, probing the wound.
It's bad. Deep. Jagged.
But not fatal.
Not yet.
He gazes up at me with fever-clouded eyes. "You have to go."
"No," I say simply.
"Selene—"
"No."
He sighs. Closes his eyes.
Trusts me.
The knot in my throat tightens.
I tear a strip from my shirt and start cleaning the blood away. My hands shake more than I want to admit.
I can handle vampires. Crimson Court intrigue. Waking up old bloodlines.
But Julian bleeding because of me?
That shatters me.
"Almost done," I whisper, tying the makeshift bandage around him.
He grunts something that might be gratitude. Might be a curse.
I rock back on my heels, staring at him.
Broken and bleeding, he's gorgeous in that idiot, reckless, infuriating manner.
And impossibly, somehow—he's *mine*.
⟡
The window rattles.
A low rumble seeps up the walls, the floor.
I tense.
"Julian," I breathe.
He's already halfway to sitting, pain or no.
Something scrapes at the door.
A low, guttural *growl*.
Not human.
Not vampire, either.
Worse.
The thing Lucien summoned—it didn't just disappear when we ran.
It followed.
I glance around.
No weapons. No other exit but the door and the window—and we're too high up to jump without breaking something essential.
Think, Selene. Think.
The flame stirs in my breast.
Hungry.
Ready.
I rise slowly, cradling it between my hands.
The door buckles inward.
Wood splinters.
The growl escalates into a rumbling *snarl* that scrapes against my bones.
I shove Julian behind the bed.
"Stay down," I order.
He opens his mouth to argue. I shoot him a look that brooks no argument.
The door bursts inward.
And the creature steps inside.
⟡
It's worse in the light.
Seven feet of twisted muscle and blackened bone, wings that scrape the ceiling, a face like a wolf chewed through a demon and spat out the bits.
Eyes like molten gold fix on me.
Not on Julian.
On *me*.
It wants my blood.
Wants the Solkari fire burning in me.
"Come and get it," I whisper.
It attacks.
I unleash a wave of flame straight into its chest.
The white flame strikes true—but the creature barely reacts.
It laughs.
A wet, bubbling sound that makes my stomach turn.
I leap to one side as it swings at me, claws tearing deep furrows in the earth.
I roll, come up on one knee, fire blazing in my hands.
I cannot kill it with fire alone.
Perhaps I can *trap* it, however.
I make a dash for the door, mocking it.
The creature cries out and pursues.
I lead it down the hallway, by the peeling wallpaper, the shattered glass.
With every step, I leave a trail of flame behind.
A snare.
A spell older than memory, older than names.
The flame responds, circling, imprisoning.
The creature doesn't notice—until it's too late.
It hits the circle's rim.
The fire billows, snarling like a beast.
The creature shrieks, fighting, but the fire holds.
Barely.
I sag against the wall, gasping.
Julian staggers into the hall, pale but on his feet.
He takes in the creature trapped in the fire.
His eyes widen. "Holy shit."
I manage a weak grin.
"Yeah. Welcome to my world."
The creature slams into the fire once more.
Spiders webbing shatters through the spell.
It won't last forever.
"We have to finish it," Julian says grimly.
I nod.
Together.
Always.
⟡
We move as one.
I summon every last spark of Solkari fire within me, forging it into a blade of pure white light.
Julian pulls a wicked silver-edged dagger from his boot—blessed.
We circle the creature.
It glares at us, hatred and hunger boiling in its golden eyes.
It knows.
It *fears*.
We strike together.
I drive the flame-blade into its chest.
Julian plunges the dagger into its throat.
The creature shrieks—a sound that shakes the building to its foundations.
The flames erupt in a white-hot explosion.
I shield my face.
When the light fades—
The creature is gone.
Nothing but ashes.
⟡
We lean against the wall, gasping.
Julian's hand reaches for mine.
Tightens.
I glance at him.
He's battered. Bloodied. Beautiful.
"You saved me," I whisper.
"You saved me first," he rasps.
We sit a long time, listening to the silence.
The world feels fragile.
Like if we breathe too hard, it'll break.
Finally, Julian says something.
"We can't stay here."
I nod.
The Crimson Court won't stop.
Lucien won't stop.
They know what I am now.
They'll come harder. Smarter.
I look at Julian.
At the way he's holding my hand like it's the only thing anchoring him to this world.
"I won't run anymore," I say.
His eyes darken. "Selene—"
"I'm done hiding," I cut him off. "Done surviving. It's time to fight."
I rise, feeling the flame curl around my spine.
Not a curse.
Not a burden.
A *weapon*.
Julian rises too, stumbling slightly.
I catch him when he falls.
He grins at me, fierce and wild.
"Where you go, I go," he says simply.
My heart splits at the seams.
"Then let's burn this city down," I whisper.
Together, we step out into the neon-lit night.
War is coming.
And this time—
I'm ready.