The chapel was quiet, too quiet.
Only the sound of Eveline's heels echoed against the stone floor.
Seraphina followed a few steps behind, hiding in the soft candle light.
Her breath caught each time Eveline turned, her silver hair flashed like blade.
Eveline moved with purpose, like someone who had walked this path many times before. She pushed open a wooden door behind the altar.A narrow stairway spiraled down into the dark.
Cold air hit Seraphina's face, it smelled of dust and something older.Her heart thudded, every part of her wanted to turn back, but she didn't, she followed.
Each step felt heavier than the last, the walls seemed to close in.
Old carvings covered the stones… runes that glowed faint red when her fingers brushed them."What are you hiding down here, Eveline," she whispered.
The older woman didn't answer. Maybe she didn't hear or maybe she did and didn't care.The stairs ended in a long tunnel.
The ceiling dripped with water, candles floated along the walls, their flames steady and untouched by time.
Eveline walked ahead, her cloak dragging the dust.
Seraphina hid behind a broken pillar as Eveline stopped a heavy iron door.
Eveline pulled something from her pocket… a charm and a small bone tied with black thread.
A soft click and the lock gave way and the door creaked open.Light spilled out, pale and pulsing.
Seraphina peaked through the gap… and froze. They were cages.
Rows of them. Not empty.Inside were bones, small ones, some shaped like wolves and some… like children.
She pressed her hand to her mouth, her stomach twisted.
Eveline stepped inside whispering a chant under her breath.
The light grew stronger, spreading from a mark on the floor… an old sigil drawn in blood and salt. Seraphina listened, trying to make sense of the words.
They weren't spells she knew they sounded older and darker.
And then she saw it.
A mural on the far wall. Half-faded, the paint cracked with age. But the image hit her like lightning.A man in black armor, eyes like fire…
The first vampire, Malachai.He stood beneath a red moon, holding an infant wrapped in silk.
The moon bled above them and the child's eyes… bright and strange… were hers.
Sera's knees gave out, memories rushed in… screams, fire, and a lullaby she didn't know she knew.No.It can't be.
Eveline stopped chanting, her head turned sharply, she looked around sensing something.
Seraphina ducked behind the pillar, her heart pounding so hard that it hurt."Malachai's heir," Eveline whispered.
"The seal weakens. The moon calls the blood."Seraphina didn't breath or move, but then…
A hand touched her shoulder and she spun around in shock.
Eveline was still across the room. Someone else was in the tunnel.She froze.
The hand on her shoulder was warm, steady, and human."Don't scream," a low voice whispered against her ear.Raven.Her chest tightened. "What… how did you…"
He pressed a finger to her lips. His scent filled her lungs. "You shouldn't be here," he murmured. "Eveline doesn't forgive trespassers."
"I had to," she whispered back, eyes darting toward the cages. "She's hiding something.
Something about me."He looked past her, his jaw clenched. "I know.""What do you mean you know?" She hissed, pushing him back.
He didn't move far, his showdown loomed over her, half-light, half-darkness. "Because I've been here before."The words hit her like a blade.
Eveline's chant grew louder inside the room and the sigil on the floor pulsed faster now, like it could hear them.
Sera grabbed his sleeves.
"What is she doing? Why are there bones here?"He met her black eyes, unreadable. "Those weren't meant to be found."
"That's not an answer."
"She's been trying to erase you," he said finally. "Erase your bloodline."Her breath stuttered. "My…"
"Your father," he cut in. "Malachai didn't die the way the stories say. He was betrayed from within and Eveline was part of it."
Her stomach twisted. The room spun for a moment. "You're lying.""Am I?" His gaze softened for the first time.
"Do you think I'll risk my life following you inside this place just to lie?"
The sigil flared again and the air thickened, humming with dark energy.
Eveline raised her hand toward the moral, chanting faster as her voice trembled like she was losing control.
Raven caught Seraphina's wrist.
"We have to go.""No," she said, shaking her head. "I need to know who that child is."
He looked at her for some moment, then sighed. "You already do."Her heart stopped.
He pulled her toward the stairs, but she resisted, her eyes fixed on the mural. The infant's painted gaze glowed faintly, red like fire.Eveline's head snapped. "Who's there?"
The candles blew out and darkness swallowed the whole chamber.Raven cursed under his breath, dragging Seraphina behind the nearest pillar.
They stayed pressed together as footsteps echoed louder.She could feel his heart pounding against her back.
Could feel the heat of his breath against her neck."Stay quiet," he whispered.
Eveline's shadow passed close… so close Seraphina could see the hem of her cloak brush the floor beside them.
The air smelled of herbs and blood.
Raven leaned close, his lips brushed her.
"When I say run, don't look back.""What about you?"He gave a dark and tired smile, almost human. "I don't run."
The sigil pulled one last time, lighting the room in a flash of red.
Eveline's eyes met Seraphina's from across the chamber. She screamed… "you!"… and the ground split open beneath the mural.
Chains rattled and the bones in the cages began to move. Raven shoved Seraphina toward the stairs.
"Go!"
She stumbled, half-blind, heart thudding as the chapel began to shake. Something ancient had just woken.
The floor cracked like thunder, dust fell from the ceiling.
Seraphina ran bare feet scraping the cold stone… while behind her, Raven fought his way through the dark.She turned once.
A bony hand reached out from one of the cages, the bones clattering like teeth. The mark on the floor burned brighter, feeding on the chaos.
"Keep moving!" Raven shouted.Her lungs burned, her heart pounded, the air felt thick, hot and alive.
She ran through a narrow passage carved with old symbols… wolves kneeling before a woman with fire on her hair.
Her fingers brushed the wall, tracing one of the marks.
"Don't touch anything…" Raven's voice echoed behind her.Too late.
The carvings lit up her skin and floods of memories hit her… blood, screams, and a child crying under a red sky.
Her legs gave out. "I've been here before…"Raven caught her before she fell. "No, Seraphina. Those are illusions.
Eveline's magic is tricking you.""No," she whispered, shaking her head. "It's real. I saw him. Malachai. He was holding me."
Raven froze.Her eyes met his… wild, full of shock.
"Why didn't you tell me?"He looked away. "Because knowing would break you.""Or it would break her," she said softly. His jaw tightened.
"Eveline raised me," Sera said with a trembling voice. "She told me I was nothing. That my blood was dirt. But if Malachai is…"
"Stop."
His tone was sharp as he grabbed her wrist. "Not here. The walls listen."
She pulled her hand from his. "Then tell me the truth."The torches flickered. The sound of chains echoed from below.
Raven stepped closer, his voice low. "Your father wasn't just a vampire. He was the first child marked by the blood moon.
His power could bind souls or destroy them."
Her head spun. "And me?""You carry what he sealed away," Raven said quietly.Silence filled the tunnel.
He let out a slow breath, as if the words hurt to say. "You're not just a witch or a wolf, Seraphina. You've both and you're the bridge.
The child they swore to erase."Her throat closed. "Eveline knew.""She did," Raven said. "She helped hide you when he died.
Then she tried to kill you."The words cut through her.Seraphina stepped back, shaking. "And you… what are you to him?"
Raven's eyes darkened.
"His executioner."
Her breath caught. "You killed my father?"
"I killed what he turned into."The ground trembled.
A deep growl rose from below… the kind that didn't sound human.Raven grabbed her hand. "We have to go. Now."
But she couldn't move, her mind was breaking apart."Seraphina," he said with a rough and pleading voice. "If you stay, she'll trap you again."
There was something in his tone… pain, fear… pulled her back.She nodded weakly.
He led her through a crack in the wall, up a narrow stairway twisting toward the chapel above.
Their footsteps echoed like heartbeats.They burst into the night. The moon hung low and red in the sky.
The blood moon had risen and the runes in Seraphina's wrist glowed once more.
The air outside felt wrong, heavy, and alive.
The Blood Moon hung over the forest like a bleeding eye. Every creature in Duskfall howled, answering a call they couldn't see.
Seraphina stumbled across the chapel yard clutching her wrist where the runes burned into her skin.
Raven followed close behind, his breath rough, and his eyes flickering between silver and shadow.
"Don't let anyone see you," he said quickly, pulling her toward the back of the courtyard.But it was too late.
A group of cloaked figures already stood on the chapel's steps.
Eveline was in the center calm and cold, her staff glowing blue."You went where you were told not to," she said with a soft tone, but it carried poison. "You've broken the seal."
Seraphina met her gaze, shaking. "You lied to me."Eveline's smile didn't move. "I protected you."
"By hiding the truth?" Seraphina's voice cracked. "You erased my memories. You made me forget who I am."
"You weren't ready,"
Eveline said. Her eyes turned to Raven. "And now you've let the curse wake inside him again.
Look at him."Seraphina turned. Raven's body shook, his hand clutching his chest.
The mark between them burned bright, feeding off the Blood Moon."It's the moon," he growled. The bond is reacting."
"Then we end it," Eveline said, lifting her staff.
The ground shook.Symbols lit up beneath Seraphina's feet, burning like pale fire.
She couldn't move, she could barely breathe.Raven's growl tore through the night. "Touch her, and I'll burn this chapel down!"
Eveline looked almost sad. "You can't save her.
The mark has started the exchange. Her power is feeding your curse."Seraphina's vision blurred.
She saw flashes… her father's arm around her, Eveline's whisper at her cradle, and a knife shining above her heart.
"No," she whispered. "You were supposed to love me.""I did," Eveline said softly.
"But love always asks for sacrifice."The burning circle flared brighter. Seraphina fell to her knees screaming, but the sound came out as light.
The ground pulsed red beneath her, and the Blood Moon answered her pain.
Raven rushed forward, sword drawn, his power cutting through the air.
But before he reached her, glowing chains wrapped around his throat, pulling him down."Let her go!"
He roared, fighting for air.Eveline's hand shook on her staff. "She's not yours to claim."
Raven's voice broke through the strain, rough and raw.
"She already is."The chains snapped.
The shockwave rippled through the courtyard… candles exploded and glasses shattered. Seraphina collapsed. Her skin glowed faint gold.
The mark on Raven's neck flared to life, bright and strong.Eveline's face went still.
And for the first time, she looked afraid.Raven caught Seraphina in his arms.
His heartbeat was weak, but there.
"She's the one," Eveline whispered. "The prophecy was true."
Raven's head jerked up. "What prophecy?"
But Eveline didn't answer.
She turned and vanished into the shadows, her cloak trailing smoke.
The Blood Moon burned hotter. Somewhere deep in the forest, old bells began to ring… slow and heavy.
Seraphina stirred weakly against his chest. "She won't stop."Raven brushed a hand over her face, his voice low and fierce.
"Then neither will I."
Behind them, the chapel's mural began to move. Malachai's painted eyes glowed red… alive again under the blood Moon.