But peace never lasted long in the supernatural world.
Three years after the battle with the Council of Shadows, a new threat emerged: The Purity Initiative, a human organization that had discovered the existence of vampires and wanted them exterminated.
"They're well-funded and well-armed," Marcus reported grimly. "Military-grade weapons, magic-resistant gear, detailed intelligence on vampire weaknesses. Someone with inside knowledge is helping them."
"Who?" Kieran demanded.
"We don't know yet. But they've already hit three covens. Twelve vampires dead, including civilians who'd never harmed anyone."
Aiden felt rage building. "We just fought extremists on our own side. Now we have to fight human extremists too?"
"Welcome to immortal existence," Kieran said bitterly. "There's always someone who wants to destroy what they fear."
They couldn't ignore this threat. If The Purity Initiative continued unchecked, they'd eventually target Kieran and Aiden—high-profile vampires who represented everything they opposed.
"We need intelligence," Aiden said. "We need to know their structure, their funding, their plans."
"I know someone who can help," Elian offered. He was nineteen now (three years vampire, technically seventeen when turned), confident in his abilities. "There's a hacker in the supernatural community. Goes by Cipher. They can break into anything."
"Get them," Kieran ordered.
Cipher turned out to be a young witch with formidable computer skills and a grudge against human supremacists.
"The Purity Initiative is backed by old money," Cipher reported after three days of hacking. "Families who've known about the supernatural world for generations and want it eliminated. Their leader is someone called The Architect. No real name, no photos, just a digital ghost."
"Can you trace them?" Aiden asked.
"I can try. But whoever this is, they're good. Really good."
It took two months, but Cipher finally got a break—an IP address, a location, a name.
"The Architect is Victoria Crane. She's a tech billionaire, public philanthropist, and secretly, a vampire hunter whose family has been killing supernaturals for three hundred years."
"I know that name," Kieran said slowly. "The Crane family. I killed Victoria's ancestor in 1756. He was hunting me, and I fought back. I thought the vendetta had died with him."
"Apparently not," Marcus said. "She's been planning this for decades. The Purity Initiative is her endgame—eliminate all vampires, starting with the most visible ones."
"Us," Aiden realized.
"You," Cipher confirmed. "She sees you two as the ultimate perversion—vampire bonded mates, adopting vampire children, normalizing supernatural existence. You're her primary target."
They had a choice: run and hide, or confront the threat directly.
"We run, she wins," Aiden said firmly. "She gets to dictate how we live, where we go, who we save. I'm not giving her that power."
"Confronting her means war with a human organization," Kieran cautioned. "If we kill humans, even in self-defense, we risk exposing the supernatural world entirely."
"Then we fight smart. We dismantle her organization, cut off her funding, expose her agenda to the human authorities. We don't have to kill her. We just have to destroy everything she's built."
It was dangerous. It was risky.
But it was necessary.