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Chapter 1: The Night Everything Changed
The scent of smoke lingered in the air. Clinging to it was the stench of blood.
Elliot sat under a dining table like a bundle, his small body trembling as he looked forward into the living room. He saw agony, pain, and fright… all in his parents' eyes as they fought the creatures with all their might.
They weren't ordinary creatures. They were monsters. Vampires—twisted beings that had come from the East, determined to destroy humanity. And now, their city was next.
Elliot's father, soul and body united, clashed with the vampires using every last drop of strength. But it wasn't enough.
The claw of a vampire tore through his chest. Elliot's father groaned as his blood and body slumped onto the floor. In anger, Elliot's mother screamed and placed down pain on another with a blue-crimson sword. But it was all for nothing.
The vampire snarled and, with speed too fast to track, pierced her stomach. Elliot watched the blade push through her bloodied back, and her lifeless body dropped beside her husband's in a pool of red.
He wanted to cry. Wanted to scream. But fear chained his voice.
The vampire leader turned his glowing eyes toward the boy hiding beneath the table.
"Oh… what a young little lamb," he said, stepping closer. "So full of fear. So full of blood."
He raised his claw.
And then—BOOM!
A flash of brilliant blue light exploded from the doorway. The force flung the vampire across the room and into the wall.
In the center of the dust stood a man—tall, his left eye replaced with a glowing optic, a golden spear gripped in his hand. He struck forward with godlike speed, impaling the vampire leader through the chest. The creature shrieked and turned to dust.
The man looked at Elliot. Their eyes locked.
"Come with me, boy," he said.
Elliot didn't move. His lips trembled. His whole body trembled. He stared at the two corpses on the floor—his parents. Gone.
Tears streamed down his cheeks.
The man stepped closer. Slowly, he bent down and scooped Elliot into his arms.
"I know what you've seen," he said quietly, his voice like steel wrapped in sorrow. "I've seen it too. Felt it too."
Elliot rested his head against the man's armored chest. He could hear the heartbeat beneath.
Strong. Calm.
Safe.
"My name is Vos," the man said. "And I'm taking you somewhere the vampires can't reach. A place where your pain can become strength."
He carried the boy into the shadows of the night, away from the burning house, away from everything Elliot had ever known. The street behind them was silent now.
And for the first time since the nightmare began… Elliot closed his eyes.