Darius Kane (Hunter Captain) POV
They brought me the footage at dawn.
Four seconds of corrupted video.
A white flare swallowing the screen.
The outline of a girl collapsing as two figures fought around her.
Sarafina Ainsley.
Alive.
The technicians stood behind me in tense silence, waiting for my reaction. None came.
Emotion was a weakness the Order couldn't afford.
I replayed the footage again.
And again.
And again.
The flare originated from her chest— light bending, cracking, swallowing every visible spectrum before bursting into an unregistered frequency.
Powerful enough to break our scanners.
Powerful enough to crack the upper threshold sensors across half the city.
Powerful enough to be her.
The Heir.
But that was impossible.
The Heir died twenty-five years ago.
Yet here she was—reborn in a body that should have been ordinary, living under our surveillance radar for years.
My jaw tightened.
"Play it again."
The technician swallowed, fingers trembling slightly as he hit replay.
The flare.
The collapse.
Two silhouettes—one wolfish, one nothing but red-tinged shadow—fighting through my men.
"Enhance that," I said.
"It's too corrupted—"
"Do it anyway."
The image sharpened by a fraction.
Hybrid.
And beside him— the silver-thread aura of a Celestial Order operative.
Cassian Crowley.
Of course.
Traitor blood always ran truest where it wasn't wanted.
The room was silent enough to hear the fluorescent lights buzz overhead.
Finally, Agent Briar stepped forward, her voice composed.
"We've updated her status, sir."
I didn't look at her.
"From?"
"Eliminate."
"To?"
"Retrieve alive."
My jaw flexed. "Reason?"
"We believe she is the only viable subject left for the Gate Ritual. The others have failed."
Of course they had.
The Gate demanded ancient blood.
A lineage potent enough to breach the veil between this world and the one below.
Sarafina Ainsley wasn't just a girl.
She was a key.
A living lockpick forged by prophecy and buried under a false human life.
I stood slowly.
"Any updates on her location?"
Briar hesitated.
"That's… complicated."
I turned my head just enough to let her know that was not an acceptable answer.
She swallowed.
"She's inside the Arcanum's lower wards."
My pulse didn't change.
"So she's trapped."
"Yes, sir."
"And the hybrid?"
"Trying to tear the place apart."
"And Crowley?"
"With him."
Of course he was.
The Order had been protecting the girl since childhood.
We suspected as much.
Now we had proof.
I walked to the table, where the map of Valeries City was projected in ghost-blue light.
Three factions converging on one girl.
Hunters.
Wolves.
Vampires.
And now the Celestial Arcanum.
It had begun.
"Prepare the ritual chamber," I said.
The technicians stiffened.
"S-sir? We're proceeding with—"
"Yes."
"But we need her blood first."
"You'll have it."
My voice was calm.
Dead calm.
The techs exchanged uneasy glances.
Briar found her voice again.
"What is the retrieval directive, Captain?"
I turned toward her fully.
Her mouth snapped shut.
The entire unit waited.
I spoke slowly.
Clearly.
As though the city itself needed to hear the order.
"Bring me the girl alive."
I stepped closer, lowering my voice.
"And not a hair harmed. Not a scratch. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, sir."
I leaned back.
"Good. Because if you kill her…"
I let the threat settle cold into their bones.
"…you doom the world to fall with her."
Briar swallowed.
"And when we have her?"
"Begin the Gate Ritual immediately."
She hesitated.
"And the hybrid, sir?
And Crowley?"
I smiled without warmth.
"Kill them both."
The team nodded, fear flickering beneath their obedience.
I turned back to the broken footage, the flare frozen mid-explosion.
Sarafina Ainsley.
Alive.
Awakening.
A miracle.
A catastrophe.
A weapon.
"Your mother kept you hidden for twenty years," I murmured to the screen.
"But fate has finally placed you back in our hands."
I tapped the frozen image.
Her outline shimmered under my fingertip, bright and shaking.
"Let's hope you survive long enough to fulfill your purpose."