Chapter 10
The mist **tightened**—a living noose around the turnout.
Headlights dimmed.
Engines died.
Even the crickets went silent.
The drowned king rose higher.
Water streamed off stone shoulders in sheets.
Chains clanked like funeral bells.
His crown—three rusted points—tilted toward me.
Remy's growl vibrated through the asphalt.
He was **full shift** now: no half-coyote compromise.
Shoulder height to my chest, nearly the size of a horse, silver-black fur rippling like liquid metal.
The rest of the pack followed—eleven beasts the size of ponies, eyes glowing ember-orange, circling the king in a ring of fangs.
Seras's flames crowned her head in a living halo.
QUEENS 7 lay forgotten; she stood barefoot on cracked asphalt, maple pendant **screaming** light.
Julian stayed between me and the king, but his ruby eyes were wide.
"Celeste," he whispered.
"Whatever you're about to do—**don't hold back**."
The king's stone mouth opened.
No tongue.
Just **darkness** and the smell of drowned earth.
**"SPRING QUEEN."**
The voice wasn't sound—it was **pressure**.
Inside my bones.
Inside the locket.
Inside Remy's heartbeat.
**"YOU SHARE ONE SEAT WITH TWO OTHERS.
GIVE ME YOUR NAME AND THE VALLEY BREATHES FREE."**
I laughed.
Couldn't help it.
The sound cracked like ice.
"My name?"
I stepped past Julian.
Shadow and Light magic **coiled** up my arms, but something **new** flickered beneath it—**white-gold**, searing, **lightning in veins**.
"My name is **Celeste Valentina Morau**.
And you don't get to **breathe** until I say so."
The king's chains **rattled**.
He lifted one stone hand.
The reservoir **rose** with it—water climbing into the air like reverse rain, forming a spear of black glass.
Remy lunged.
Jaws snapped shut on stone wrist.
Sparks exploded.
The spear shattered.
But the king **swung**.
Remy flew—**horse-sized coyote** tumbling through the air like a rag doll.
He hit the guardrail.
Metal **bent**.
**No**.
Something inside me **snapped**.
Not anger.
Not fear.
**Clarity**.
Vampire blood in my veins—Julian's binding—**ignited**.
Light and Shadow magic twisted, folded, **unraveled** into something else.
**Lightning**.
Pure.
White.
**Off-grid**.
It poured from my palms like liquid sunrise.
Four-point spirals spun in the air—**not shadow**, not ice, but **blades of dawn and pure Lightning**.
I **moved**.
Not vampire speed.
Not coyote speed.
**Light speed**.
The world blurred.
I was beside Remy before he hit the ground.
Caught him.
Lowered him gently.
His fur was warm under my fingers, chest rising fast.
The king turned.
Stone eyes tracked me—**impossible**.
I smiled.
"Let's try that again."
I **flung** the light blades.
They **sliced** through stone chains like butter.
Links exploded into dust.
The king roared.
Reservoir water **boiled**.
Seras **joined**—maple fire weaving with my Light, creating **solar flares** that lit the mist gold.
The pack charged.
Eleven horse-coyotes—teeth and claws and **thunder**.
Julian blurred, fangs bared, ruby fire licking his hands.
He wasn't fighting the king.
He was **burning** the mist—keeping it from swallowing us.
I **leapt**.
Board under one arm, light magic under the other.
I landed on the king's shoulder.
Stone cracked under my Vans.
"New rule," I said, voice **ringing** like church bells at dawn.
"You don't touch my boyfriend.
You don't touch my pack.
You don't touch **my** valley."
I pressed both palms to his crown.
**Light magic detonated**.
Four-point spirals **shattered** the iron crown into molten shards.
Stone **crumbled**—not slow, not dramatic.
**Instant**.
The king's face fractured.
Empty sockets **filled** with blinding white.
He **screamed**—a sound like mountains breaking.
The reservoir **collapsed** back into itself.
Water slammed down.
Waves crashed over the dam.
I rode the blast on my board—light magic **propelling** me like a jet.
Landed beside Remy.
He shifted back—human, naked to the waist, grinning through blood.
"Damn, queen.
You **glow**."
Seras laughed—wild, free.
Her flames died to embers.
"Off-grid casting.
**Unparalleled**."
Julian stood in the settling mist, eyes wide.
"The binding," he said.
"It wasn't just vampire blood.
It was **light** all along.
You're not a shadow queen."
I looked at my hands.
Light still flickered—soft now, like candle flame.
Four-point spirals danced across my skin.
"I'm whatever the valley needs," I said.
The mist **parted**.
Where the king had stood, only a **single stone** remained.
Smooth.
Warm.
Carved with **three** shallow grooves.
Remy picked it up.
Weighed it.
"Three heartbeats," he said.
"One crown."
Seras touched it.
The stone **hummed**.
Julian stepped closer.
"The king's not dead.
He's **bound**.
To you.
To the three of us."
I met his eyes.
"Then we set the terms."
The stone pulsed once—**agreement**.
Remy slipped it into my hand.
"Souvenir," he said.
"For the queen who shatters stone."
I closed my fist around it.
Light flared—then settled.
The mist **lifted**.
Stars appeared.
The dam road stretched ahead, cracked but whole.
Seras revved QUEENS 7.
"Slushies?" she asked.
"On the loser?"
Remy laughed.
"I think we all won."
I kicked my board.
It **hummed**—light now, and shadow.
"Race you to the turnout," I said.
Engines roared.
Coyotes howled—**horse-sized** shadows in the moonlight.
I **blurred** ahead.
Not vampire.
Not coyote.
**Light**.
And for the first time,
The valley **breathed** with me.
Midnight Stone
Midnight.
The dam turnout was empty except for us.
The pack had peeled off at the county line—horse-coyotes melting back into human shapes, bikes rumbling home.
Seras leaned against QUEENS 7, flames banked to a soft glow in her pendant.
Remy sat on the guardrail, legs swinging, shirt still missing.
Moonlight painted silver across his collarbones.
I stood in the center of the cracked spiral, stone warm in my palm.
Three grooves.
Three heartbeats.
One crown.
It **hummed**—steady, like a second pulse.
Julian arrived last, silent as always.
No mist this time.
Just the crunch of gravel under his boots.
"Clock's ticking," he said.
"Stone speaks at true midnight.
Then Elias makes his move."
I glanced at my phone.
11:59.
Seras cracked her neck.
"Let him come.
I'm still pissed about my bike."
Remy hopped down.
"Queen's got light now.
I've got teeth.
You've got fire.
Julian's got… whatever vampire drama he brings.
We're good."
Julian's mouth twitched.
"Drama's the right word."
The stone **flared**.
White-gold light spilled between my fingers.
The grooves **opened**—not cracks, but **eyes**.
Three of them.
Glowing.
A voice—not sound, but **knowing**—poured into my skull.
**"SPRING QUEEN.
YOU SHATTERED MY CROWN.
YOU BINDED MY BREATH.
NAME THE PRICE."**
I didn't flinch.
Light magic coiled around my wrist like a bracelet.
"First," I said, "no more drowning the valley.
Second, Elias **kneels** or he **burns**.
Third—"
I looked at Remy.
At Seras.
At Julian.
"Third, you protect what's mine.
The pack.
The town.
**My people**."
The stone pulsed—**agreement**.
Remy grinned.
"Damn.
Negotiating with ancient water demons.
Hot."
Seras snorted.
"Focus, coyote."
Julian stepped closer.
"The king will hold the bargain.
But Elias won't."
The mist **returned**—oily, thick, **wrong**.
Elias stepped out of it like he'd been waiting in the wings.
No jacket this time.
Just black veins under pale skin, eyes **crimson** instead of ruby.
Fangs too long for his mouth.
"Little queen," he rasped.
"You burned my ledger.
You woke my king.
Now you'll **pay**."
He **moved**—faster than before.
Old blood.
**Starved**.
Julian met him mid-air.
Ruby fire clashed with crimson.
They hit the asphalt—**crater**.
Seras **flamed**—maple fire roaring into a whip.
It lashed Elias's arm.
Skin **blistered**.
Remy shifted—**full horse-coyote**, silver-black blur.
He tackled Elias off Julian.
Jaws clamped on throat.
Elias **laughed**.
Black blood sprayed.
I raised the stone.
Light magic **detonated**.
Not blades this time.
A **cage**.
Four-point spirals spun in the air—white-gold bars slamming down around Elias.
He **screamed**.
The cage **shrank**.
Julian rolled to his feet.
"Celeste—**blood**."
I knew.
I bit my wrist.
Vampire blood—**mine**, bound to light—dripped onto the stone.
The grooves **drank**.
The cage **tightened**.
Elias clawed at the bars.
Flesh **smoked**.
"Mercy," he hissed.
I stepped closer.
Board under one arm.
Light in the other.
"You hurt my boyfriend," I said.
"You threatened my valley.
Mercy's off the table."
The stone **spoke** again—louder.
**"STEWARD BROKE FAITH.
HIS DEBT IS PAID IN ASH."**
The cage **collapsed**.
Elias **imploded**—not slow, not dramatic.
**Instant**.
Black ash.
Crimson sparks.
Gone.
Silence.
Then—
The stone **cracked**.
Not breaking.
**Opening**.
A single drop of water fell from the center.
It hit the asphalt and **spread**—a perfect four-point spiral that **healed** the cracks.
The mist **lifted**.
Stars burned clear.
Julian stared at the empty space where Elias had been.
"He's… gone."
Seras kicked the ash.
"Good riddance."
Remy shifted back—human, grinning.
"Slushies?"
I laughed.
The sound echoed off the dam like freedom.
The stone was cool now.
Three grooves **closed**.
But the light stayed in my veins.
Julian picked up a shard of Elias's fang.
"Souvenir," he said.
"For the queen who ends sires."
I tucked the stone into my pocket.
It **hummed**—content.
Remy slung an arm around my shoulders.
"Race you home, light queen."
Seras revved QUEENS 7.
"Loser buys **two** slushies."
I kicked my board.
Light flared under the wheels.
We **blurred**.
Three heartbeats.
One crown.
The valley **breathed** easy.