Kalthum_Taheer_2525

In a world shattered by the eternal war between vampires and werewolves, Lira Voss a sharp-witted, jaded bartender with no memory of her past discovers she is anything but ordinary. A werewolf attack leaves her unscathed. A vampire’s bite fails to mark her skin. Now, both species want her for one reason: her blood holds the power to cure lycanthropy or strip vampires of their immortality.

Kidnapped by Selene Dracul, the ruthless vampire queen who rules the nocturnal cities, Lira learns the truth Selene wants to weaponize her blood to erase the werewolf clans. But the werewolf king, Kael Thorn, sees her as a threat that must be eliminated. As Lira’s fragmented memories resurface visions of a silver-eyed woman and a childhood spent in hiding—she uncovers an even darker truth: she is Selene’s daughter, hidden away to prevent a prophecy that foretold she would destroy the vampire throne.

Hunted from both sides, Lira allies with Ryen, Kael’s disillusioned beta wolf and a former scientist, who believes her blood could save his kind from their savage transformations. But as their uneasy partnership deepens into something forbidden, Lira’s experiments awaken latent vampiric traits, transforming her into a hybrid neither species understands.

When Selene launches a catastrophic assault on Kael’s stronghold, Lira must make an impossible choice. To end the war, she must infiltrate Selene’s court and drink from the Hollow Fang—a cursed chalice that could amplify her power or erase her humanity entirely. But in the final battle, Lira unearths the greatest betrayal of all: the prophecy was a lie, fabricated by her long-dead vampire father, who manipulated both species to orchestrate her birth as a weapon.

Now, with the fate of two warring races in her hands, Lira must decide—become the queen her mother demands, the savior the werewolves need, or something neither side is prepared for.

The Hollow Fang

The Eclipse Wilds whispered as Lira and Ryen picked their way through its claw-like trees, their branches skeletal against the bruised sky. The air reeked of damp rot and burning wolfsbane, a scent that made Lira's hybrid senses flare. Every shadow seemed to pulse, every rustle of leaves a hissed warning.

Ryen walked ahead, his leather coat snagging on thorns. "Stay close. The forest warps time. Get lost, and you'll never find your way out."

"Charming," Lira muttered. Her locket's absence was a cold weight on her chest. She'd noticed it missing hours ago but refused to give Ryen the satisfaction of asking. Let him think I'm careless.

He glanced back, amber eyes sharp. "You feel it, don't you? The labs calling to you."

She didn't answer. The pull was undeniable a hum in her veins, Orion's blood guiding her like a lodestone.

Finn crouched in a thicket miles behind them, the stolen locket burning in his palm. The pack had returned to the Howling Quarter, but he'd slipped away, tracking Lira's faint scent.

"You're soft," Kael had spat when Finn questioned burning Lira's body. "Weak, like your father."

But Finn's father had been kind. He'd taught him to think, not just obey. The locket's engravings glinted a serpent coiled around a dagger, Orion's sigil.

A twig snapped. Finn froze. Two packmates emerged, eyes wary.

"We know you're following her," one growled. "Why?"

Finn tightened his grip on the locket. "Because Kael's wrong. She's not the enemy."

The labs rose from the forest like a tombstone, its steel walls crusted with lichen and old blood. Ryen kicked open the doors, the hinges screaming. Inside, the air was thick with the tang of formaldehyde and decay.

"Home sweet home," he muttered, sweeping his lantern over rusted cages and shattered glass tanks.

Lira stepped over a pile of bones, her boot crunching on a syringe labeled Subject L-17. "Orion's masterpiece," she whispered.

Ryen tossed her a journal. "His words, not mine."

The pages detailed her birth test tubes and blood rituals, Selene's defiance, Orion's obsession.

"The child thrives," he'd written. "The perfect hybrid. The end of all wars."

Ryen drew his gun. "We're not alone."

Vesper stepped into the lantern light, her silver armor smeared with ash. "Hello, abomination."

Lira's claws unsheathed. "Come to drag me back?"

"Come to end you." Vesper smiled, fangs glinting. "Selene's tired of your games."

Ryen fired. Vesper blurred, slamming him into a wall. Lira lunged. Glass and bone shattered as they clashed, Vesper's strikes precise, her dodges effortless.

"You're a child playing with fire," Vesper hissed, pinning Lira's throat. "Orion's blood won't save you."

Lira spat silver-tinged blood into her eyes. "Try me."

Vesper shrieked as her skin burned. Lira scrambled free, dragging Ryen to his feet.

They barricaded themselves in a vault, its walls etched with alchemical symbols. Ryen slumped against the door, blood seeping from his ribs. "Plan B?"

Lira ignored him, staring at a hologram flickering to life. Orion's gaunt face filled the room.

"If you're here, daughter, you've embraced your power. The labs hold the key to your ascension. Destroy Selene. Claim your throne."

The hologram dissolved, revealing a hidden chamber a cradle of needles and vials, Orion's preserved blood glowing crimson.

Ryen gripped her shoulder. "Don't. It's a trap."

She shook him off. "It's the truth."

Finn burst in, the locket raised like a talisman. "Stop!"

Behind him, Kael's pack flooded the lab, their snarls shaking the walls. Kael himself stood in the doorway, eyes blazing.

Lira faced them all Selene's spy, Kael's pack, Orion's ghost and reached for the vial.

"You want a cure?" She drank Orion's blood.

The world exploded in silver and screams.

Chapter 6: Blood and Betrayal