(Lynn’s POV) *********** That night smelled wrong. It wasn’t the usual damp pine and mist that lingered around Silver Ridge—it was sharper, metallic. Like old bl—od waking from sleep. Brenda had warned us minutes ago, trembling after another one of her visions. “Something’s coming, Lynn. I saw red. So much red.” Now, as the forest trembled with footsteps that weren’t human, I knew she hadn’t been exaggerating. They emerged from the fog with elegance only monsters could afford. Four of them. Pale as moonlight. Eyes like garnets. The vampires had returned. Lucien was at the front—tall, silver-haired, ageless. His coat swept the ground like a shadow that didn’t belong to him. Tina, his second, walked at his side, smirking like someone who’d already chosen violence. Behind them, the tw

