Elias

Chapter 4 Harper

I wake to the moon’s glow pouring through my window, casting a soft silver light across my face. It takes me a moment to adjust, the haze of sleep slipping away as last night’s memories come crashing in.

What a night.

The patrol had been busier than usual—six vampires staked before sunrise.

Six.

That’s not normal.

And then there’s the death toll. The cemetery has practically doubled in the last month alone.

Death by beast? Maybe. I’m not sure yet. But something’s changed—and not for the better.

Beneath me, the city of New York glows like a living organism, buzzing and brilliant. I can hear the honking of car horns and the hum of laughter from the street below. People wander past my apartment building, smiling, arm in arm, blissfully unaware of the truth that festers in their shadows.

They don’t know.

They don’t know what walks beside them, what lurks behind the alley’s grin, what claws its way from the dark.

It’s poetic, really.

Ignorance is a kind of safety.

But not for me.

I do know. I’ve seen what slithers up from beneath us. I know the stink of dark magic and the sound it makes when it hums in the corners of reality, waiting for a crack to slip through.

Evil doesn’t rest. It doesn’t sleep.

And I’ve made it my job to put it back in the ground—again and again.

Because I’m not just anyone.

I’m a hunter.

A monster hunter.

It’s my duty to protect the living, to keep the dead from rising, to silence the whisper of old magic before it becomes a scream.

I toss off the blanket and head into the living room, curling up on the lounge with my feet tucked beneath me. A cup of black coffee warms my hands. Steam curls into the air like a ghost.

There’s a newspaper sitting on the floor—my neighbor always slips his copy under my door once he’s finished reading it.

I go straight to the obituaries.

One new death. Just one.

No details. No cause. Just a body found—location listed.

Near the Busty Empire.

Of course.

That place has been a red flag from day one. Opened a few months ago and ever since then, killings in the area have skyrocketed. More sightings of vampires—death-walkers, as my grandmother used to call them.

They’re moving in packs again.

The Busty Empire is supposed to be just another club. Loud music, dim lights, half-naked dancers. But I know better. There’s something beneath it. I can feel it every time I pass.

But tonight might finally be my chance.

My phone buzzes on the coffee table, dragging my attention away from the paper. A message from Eloise.

Hey babe, going to the Busty Empire tonight with your brother if you want to join.

Eloise. My best friend. My soon-to-be sister-in-law.

Sweet. Brave. Naive.

Fortunately for her, she’s blissfully unaware of what kind of family she’s marrying into.

My brother, Sebastian, used to be a hunter too. But he bowed out early. Said he couldn’t stomach the killing.

To him, monsters aren’t evil. They’re just survivors.

Creatures doing what they must—like us.

And he couldn’t bear the weight of deciding who lived and who died.

I respect that.

Even if I don’t agree.

I shoot Eloise a message back.

Be there soon. Save me a seat.

I slip on my black jeans, a fitted leather jacket, and lace up my boots.

A stake slides into my boot holster.

Just in case.

My cross glimmers on my necklace.

You never know what kind of night it’s going to be.

Truth is, I’ve been reading about the Empire for weeks.

Watching.

Waiting.

And if I’m going to be the kind of hunter who protects this city, I can’t keep ignoring the epicenter of this storm.

So tonight, I’m going in.

Not as Harper the hunter.

Not yet.

Tonight, I’m just a sister, a friend, a girl out for a night on the town.

But I’ll be watching.

Listening.

And if something slithers out of the shadows to play…

I’ll be ready.