Chapter 1: The Crimson Heist

When moonlight sliced through clouds like a silver blade, Elena Dracula leapt onto the bell tower, her silhouette dancing across the shattered stained glass of the church. The 12th - century Gothic spire pierced the mist as the hem of her black trench coat brushed against the grotesque stone gargoyles. The air carried the scent of juniper and sulfur—the unmistakable mark of werewolf territory.

"Thirty - seven seconds." Victor's voice crackled through the earpiece, mingled with static. "Fifteen seconds remaining before patrol rotation, my lady."

Elena's fingers traced the silver chain around her neck, where a blood - amber pendant glowed—the only remnant of her mother who turned to ash under sunlight three centuries ago. If she failed to steal the Bloodmoon Stone tonight, her own skin would crack into crimson fragments at dawn.

"Enough." She dissolved into shadow, her vampire bones liquefying into smoke that seeped through the rose window's cracks. The painted saints' eyes on the stained glass began weeping blood, a Dracula blood curse warning intruders.

The basement plunged deeper than expected. At the spiral staircase's end, a bronze altar stood at the precipice of moonlight and darkness, its walls etched with snarling werewolf totems. Suspended above the altar pulsed a crimson crystal—the Bloodmoon Stone, sacred to lycanthropes and the sole key to breaking the vampire's daylight curse.

Elena's fangs pierced her tongue. Pain momentarily countered the relic's anti - vampire repulsion, her pale fingers inches from the crystal—

"Has the Dracula mongrel abandoned all dignity?" A male voice laced with killing intent erupted behind her. Elena twisted away as a silver bullet grazed her ear, scorching the stone wall.

Moonlight cleaved the gloom, revealing a man leaning against the doorframe like a lazy wolf. His black tactical gear accentuated a warrior's physique, but the frost in his grey - green eyes froze her veins. Cain Lupin. The werewolf alpha spun a rune - engraved silver pistol, its muzzle still smoking mithril—vampire kryptonite.

"Shouldn't I ask the Silver Claw Pact if they've downgraded to using holy relics as rat traps?" Elena unsheathed a silver - plated dagger from her thigh holster.

Cain lunged before the taunt faded. As Elena dodged his grapple, her dagger halted mid - slash—Cain now held a syringe filled with shimmering gold liquid.

"Holy Water Concentrate." His canines glinted. "Enough to stop a vampire prince's heart for thirty seconds, I hear?"

Cold sweat trickled down Elena's spine. Feigning retreat, her boot heel slammed the base of the altar. Crimson vines erupted from stone cracks—Dracula blood magic entangling Cain's ankles. As the werewolf tore through the束缚, Elena lunged for the Stone—

The crystal burned. No alarms sounded, but searing heat shot up her arm. Collapsing to her knees, Elena's vision drowned in blood - red haze. Through the delirium, she saw Cain similarly clutching his chest.

Their blood mingled on the altar. Howls and bat screeches merged in the void as an ancient prophecy hissed: "When blood moon entwines sworn foes, let love's flame ignite twin hearts ere eclipse. Else wolf throat meets silver stake, and bat wings burn at dawn's break."

"You scheming leech?" Cain pinned Elena against the altar, wolf eyes blazing crimson. Her nails dug into his wrist, but skin contact triggered a flood of memories: Cain writhing in a moonlit cage to control his beast, leaving food at orphanage gates, and... Selena rising to kiss his jaw as he turned away.

"Unhand him, Dracula whore!" The iron door exploded. Red - haired Selena stormed in with patrols, her gun aimed at Elena's forehead. "By pact law, vampires trespassing our sanctum die where they stand!"

Cain loosened his grip. Elena disintegrated into a bat swarm escaping through the window. Selena's bullets shattered phantom wings as she whirled toward Cain: "Why spare her? You could've—"

"The altar's wards remain intact." Cain stared at his silver gun still warm from vampire flesh. "Her blood... awakened an older covenant."

Reforming in a cemetery a hundred meters away, Elena found her palm empty—the Bloodmoon Stone vanished, only Cain's blood staining her sleeve. Wolf howls crescendoed as dawn tinged the eastern sky.

Victor materialized from elm shadows, handing her a black umbrella with trembling hands: "The elders report... the Holy Light Inquisition's hunters are active in Crescent City."

Elena licked blood from her lips, smiling. The game just got interesting.