The council chamber was packed beyond capacity.
Representatives from every supernatural species crowded the space—vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, fae, even some lesser-known beings like selkies and djinn. Everyone wanted to see what threat could possibly be serious enough to warrant a coalition.
The captured tendril sat in its container at the center of the chamber, visible to all. It still moved, still radiated hunger, still tested the magical bindings that held it.
Cain stood to present, with Adrian beside him. Kieran stood close, ready to intervene if anything went wrong.
"Thank you all for coming," Cain began, his ancient voice carrying easily through the massive space. "I am Cain, the first vampire. Most of you know me only through legend. But I am here today because of a threat that predates even me. A threat that has slept for ten thousand years but is now waking."
He gestured to the container. "This is a tendril of that entity—a small piece of something vast and terrible. In my time, this entity consumed gods, spirits, and early supernatural beings. It feeds on life force, on the very thing that makes us more than human. And it's preparing to hunt again."
Murmurs rippled through the chamber—skepticism, fear, disbelief.
"You expect us to believe in some ancient monster based on a shadow in a jar?" one vampire lord scoffed. "This could be anything. Dark magic, demon trickery, elaborate fraud."
"Then let me demonstrate," Cain said calmly. He turned to Grandmother Chen. "Would your coven be willing to temporarily release the bindings? Under controlled conditions?"
The old witch studied him, then nodded. "We'll release it for exactly ten seconds. If it's not recaptured in that time, we'll destroy this entire chamber to prevent it escaping."
"Acceptable."
Grandmother Chen began chanting, her coven joining her. The binding symbols on the container flickered, weakened, and—
The tendril exploded outward, faster than sight. It made straight for Adrian, drawn to his ancient soul like a homing missile.
Kieran moved to intercept, but the tendril simply flowed around him, immaterial when it wanted to be. It reached Adrian, wrapped around him like smoke made solid, and began to feed.
Adrian screamed.
The sensation was unlike anything he'd ever experienced—not pain exactly, but absence. Wrongness. Emptiness spreading through him as his life force was consumed.
Through the blood bond, Kieran felt it too. Felt Adrian's essence being drained, pulled into the endless hunger that was the entity's nature.
"Enough!" Cain's voice boomed with power, and golden light exploded from him. The tendril recoiled, pulling back from Adrian, and Grandmother Chen's coven immediately reestablished the bindings.
The tendril was captured again, but the damage was done.
Adrian collapsed into Kieran's arms, pale, shaking, his eyes wide with horror. "It's so empty," he whispered. "There's nothing inside it but hunger. No thought, no purpose, just endless consumption. And it's vast—this tendril is nothing. The real entity is..." He couldn't find words.
The chamber was silent. Everyone had felt it—the wrongness, the hunger, the absolute threat the entity represented.
"That was less than one percent of the entity's full power," Cain said quietly. "A tiny fragment, barely conscious. When it emerges fully, it will be a thousand times stronger. A million times more hungry. And it will hunt systematically, consuming the most powerful supernatural beings first before moving to weaker prey."
"How do we fight it?" Alpha Chen asked, all skepticism gone from his voice.
"Together. Every species, pooling knowledge and power. The last time, we drove it back to sleep through collective action. We can do it again—but only if we set aside our differences and work as one."
"What would this coalition look like?" a fae representative asked. "Who would lead it?"
"No one leads it. We cooperate as equals." Cain gestured to Adrian, who was still recovering in Kieran's arms. "Adrian Chen will serve as coordinator—his ancient soul remembers the entity, understands it. He'll work with representatives from each species to develop strategies and distribute resources."
"A five-year-old vampire as our coordinator?" the skeptical vampire lord from earlier objected. "That's absurd."
"He's also Seth, who fought this entity ten thousand years ago," Cain countered. "His soul is older than most beings in this chamber. His age as a vampire is irrelevant."
"I agree with Cain," Elena spoke up. "The First Generation supports Adrian Chen as coordinator. Any vampire who objects can answer to us."
One by one, other species' representatives nodded agreement. Wei spoke for werewolves. Grandmother Chen for witches. Even the demon representative—a lord named Malphas who'd taken over some of Asmodeus's former territories—agreed.
"Then it's settled," Cain said. "The Coalition of Supernatural Species is hereby formed, with the goal of defending against the entity's emergence. We have, at most, three months before it wakes fully. We use that time to prepare, to train, to build the defenses and weapons we'll need."
"What kind of weapons?" someone asked.
"The same kind we used last time—concentrated life force, channeled through willing vessels, amplified by collective effort. But also modern weapons, adapted with magic and technology. We have advantages the ancient world didn't have. We need to use them."
The meeting continued for hours, hammering out details. Command structures, communication networks, resource allocation, training regimens. By the end, they had the skeleton of a plan.
But as they left the chamber, Adrian pulled Cain aside.
"I need to tell you something. When the tendril touched me, when it started feeding..." Adrian swallowed hard. "It recognized me. Not just my soul signature—it remembered me specifically. It's been waiting for Seth to return. It's been planning to consume me first, to use my ancient soul to fuel its full emergence."
"I suspected as much," Cain said grimly. "Which is why you need to be protected at all costs. You're not just the coordinator—you're the entity's primary target. It will try to take you, to consume you, to use your power to manifest fully."
"So I'm bait."
"You're the key to everything. If it takes you, we lose. If we protect you, we have a chance." Cain gripped his shoulder. "I failed to protect you last time. I won't fail again."
Back in Shanghai, Adrian stood on their penthouse balcony, staring at the city lights. Kieran joined him, wrapping his arms around him from behind.
"Talk to me," Kieran said quietly.
"I'm scared," Adrian admitted. "When that tendril touched me, I saw things. Felt things. The entity isn't just hungry—it's intelligent. It's been planning its return for millennia. And it wants me specifically. Not just to feed on, but to... I don't know. Complete itself somehow. Use me to anchor itself to this reality."
"Then we make sure it never gets you."
"You can't promise that."
"Watch me." Kieran turned Adrian to face him. "I've spent a thousand years waiting for you. I've fought demons, vampire lords, and the darkness of my own nature. If this entity thinks it can take you from me, it's about to learn that nothing—not gods, not ancient predators, not reality itself—gets between us."
"That's romantic and slightly terrifying."
"I contain multitudes." Kieran kissed him, deep and claiming. "We're going to survive this. Together."
"Together," Adrian agreed.
They made love that night with desperate intensity, both acutely aware that their time might be limited. The entity was coming. War was inevitable. Death was likely.
But for now, they had each other. And that was enough.