Kyle had led several Enchanted Ones into the Broken Fang, a dive where leather-clad vampires from the Riders gang occupied most of the stools, their motorcycles gleaming under the neon lights outside.
A glass was passed to Kyle.
"A handsome man has paid for your drink, sir." The bartender told Kyle.
Kyle scoffed. "Tell the man I'm only into ladies."
"Tell him yourself." Elliot smirked.
Across the bar, beneath the crimson glow of a neon sign, Elliot watched him with predatory patience.
Kyle got up. So did his gang of Enchanted Ones.
There was a jukebox playing music but it coincidentally stopped.
"If you're here to stop me, brother." Kyle announced motioning towards his new friends. "I'm afraid you'll need an army."
Elliot stood up and so did the biker gang occupants of the bar.
"I'm glad I brought one then." Elliot said with a devilish grin.
The bar erupted into chaos. Kyle's fist connected with a Rider's jaw with a sickening crack, sending the vampire sprawling across the sticky floor. Blood sprayed as Kyle ripped through another, his claws tearing leather and flesh alike.
Across the room, Elliot moved like a demon, hurling an Enchanted One through the jukebox in a shower of sparks and glass. The air thickened with the copper stench of blood and the raw animal sounds of combat—growls, screams, bones snapping under supernatural strength.
Even outnumbered three-to-one, Kyle's raw power electrified the room. A Rider lunged—Kyle caught him mid-air, ripped his spine clean through his back with a wet, tearing sound that silenced the bar for one horrified heartbeat. Blood-drenched and snarling, Kyle hurled the corpse through the window, glass exploding outward like deadly confetti. Bodies of the fallen Riders formed a grotesque circle around him, their limbs twisted at impossible angles, throats torn open to the bone.
Now, Elliot was outnumbered. There were two Enchanted Ones standing on either side of Kyle.
"Don't." Elliot warned the clan members.
They lunged at Elliot with fangs bared, but he moved like liquid shadow, ducking under the first attacker's claws and driving his fist through the creature's sternum. Bone fragments exploded outward as Elliot ripped his hand free, still clutching the Enchanted One's quivering heart.
The second attacker faltered, golden eyes widening in terror before Elliot's boot connected with his jaw, the crack echoing through the now-empty bar. Blood pooled across the sawdust floor, seeping between floorboards as the brothers faced each other in the crimson-stained silence, the bartender long gone, having fled at the first spray of arterial blood.
"Now, what, brother?" Kyle asked waving his hands at the carnage around them. "We kiss and make up?"
"I will do what I must to stop you." Elliot warned. "You can't annihilate another supernatural species. It's against our code."
"Your code." Kyle smirked. "And we both know who will win if we fought."
Elliot grinned walking towards the exit. "You may have won the battle, brother. But if there is a war, you won't be winning that."
**
Jenna's fingernails dug crescents into Stephen's shoulders as he moved above her, his breath hot against her neck. The wooden bedframe creaked beneath them, keeping time with their rhythm, while outside, moonlight filtered through the half-drawn curtains, painting silver streaks across their entangled forms. Her gasps echoed in the otherwise silent room, punctuated only by the soft, desperate whispers of his name.
When he climaxed, Jenna arched beneath him, her nails carving half-moons into his sweat-slicked back as her own release shuddered through her body. He collapsed against her for a moment, then moved to capture her full, ruby lips, but she twisted away, her golden-brown hair cascading across the pillow.
In one fluid motion, she slipped from beneath him and padded across the cold hardwood floor, moonlight illuminating the curve of her spine as she selected a black lace negligee from the dresser. She slid the delicate fabric over her head, the silk whispering against her flushed skin, then snatched a plush crimson towel from the bathroom door and tossed it onto his still-heaving chest.
"Go clean yourself up." Jenna said.
The manservant shook his head in dismay. "He will never be your fated mate, Madam."
Jenna wrapped one arm around the other. "He must. Or else we are all doomed."
**
The next day.
Winter had descended on the town like a predator, swallowing daylight whole. The morning sky hung heavy with charcoal clouds, their underbellies glowing with that peculiar pewter luminescence that blurred the boundaries between dawn and dusk.
Frost crystallized on bare branches, transforming ordinary trees into silver sculptures that barely stirred in the biting wind. Even the few brave souls hurrying along the sidewalks moved as if through twilight, their breath forming ghostly plumes that dissipated into the metallic air.
At the entrance of the Moonwalker camp, a stranger stood and stared at the two stationed guards.
"Take me to Marcus." Elliot ordered.
They sensed he was a vampire. "Is that your final wish?"
"He would want to see me." Elliot smirked. "The name is Elliot."