"When blood runs in circles, peace is only borrowed."
— Excerpt from the Covenant Scroll
For decades after the First Red Moon, Blackridge Hollow drowned in blood and moonlight. The war between the vampires and werewolves was not one of survival—it was one of vengeance.
Vampires hunted for dominion over the night. Werewolves fought to reclaim what they called the Moon's purity.
And humans—those fragile beings trapped between immortality and instinct—became collateral.
The town fell silent. No laughter. No prayers. Only the howls and screams that echoed from the woods.
Until one winter night in 1723, when the bloodshed stopped.
The Night the Bells Rang Backwards
It was said the moon turned black that night. The wind carried no scent, and the snow on the ground refused to melt even when touched by flame.
Three figures met on the frozen lake at the center of the Hollow.
Lord Lucien D'Arcy, the vampire heir who had lost his lover to the wolves' claws.
Kael Rowan the First, alpha of the mountain pack, whose brother had been turned by a vampire.
And Aurelia Voss, a human priestess of the Lunar Bloodline—the only one who still prayed to the moon.
None trusted the other. Yet all understood that their hatred would soon erase the town entirely.
Aurelia proposed a covenant:
A vow written in blood, sealed under the black moon, and bound by the Lunar Vein itself.
The Three Clauses of the Covenant
I. The Night Divided
The vampires were granted dominion over the Hollow's night.
They would feed only with consent, and never on those of the Lunar Lineage.
In return, they would protect the town's borders from outsiders who sought the moon's power.
II. The Hunt Contained
The werewolves were given sovereignty over the forest—the Rowan Woods and the mountain ranges beyond.
They would hunt only under the full moon, never entering the town except by the moon's command.
In return, they would safeguard the humans from the vampires' hunger when the Red Moon rose.
III. The Silence Eternal
The humans, led by the Lunar Lineage, would remember the truth and forget it at once.
They would record the past but never speak of it aloud.
Their task was to maintain the balance—and to pay the price should the covenant break.
This was the Silence Clause, the final bond that sealed their fates together.
The Blood Binding
The pact was not signed with ink but with blood.
Lucien cut his palm and bled black.
Kael tore open his wrist and bled gold.
Aurelia offered her heart's blood—silver beneath the moonlight.
Their blood mingled on the frozen lake, and the ice cracked open like an eye.
From beneath it, the moon reflected red for the first time in a century.
The wind carried their voices, repeating the vow:
"By the moon's will, we bind our night. By silence, we survive."
When dawn came, the lake had turned to stone.
Aurelia Voss was gone.
Some say she was taken by the moon as tribute.
Others say she became the moon's voice, the whisper that keeps the town asleep.
Legacy of the Covenant
To this day, every leader—vampire, werewolf, and human—swears the same vow beneath the new moon.
Those who break it suffer the Curse of the Hollow:
The vampires lose their immortality.
The werewolves lose their control.
And the humans lose their memories, one by one, until only silence remains.
Few dare to test it.
Fewer survive it.
And yet, every few generations, a new Lunar child is born—marked by silver eyes and a heart that beats to the moon's rhythm.
They are the Covenant's keepers, and its undoing.
Elias Thorn's Annotation (From the Town Archives)
"The parchment still bleeds when touched by moonlight."
"The seal bears three symbols — a rose, a claw, and a crescent — locked in a circle."
"There is space for a fourth."
Closing Words
The Covenant of Silence brought peace, but peace built on blood is fragile.
Every vow has a cost. Every silence hides a scream.
And in Blackridge Hollow, the moon remembers every broken promise.