QUEEN OF THE BLOOD MOON

Chapter 6 — The Wards Break

Darkness swallowed Zara’s room the moment the lights blew out. The sudden silence was louder than the chaos had been — as if the shadows themselves were holding their breath.

Damon moved in front of us instantly, shielding me and Zara with a speed that defied logic. His eyes shone faint silver — predator-bright.

“Both of you, behind me,” he said, voice low, deadly calm.

Zara scrambled, trembling so hard she could barely stand. I grabbed her hand, grounding both of us. Cold air seeped in, thick with the metallic scent of something ancient and hungry.

“What’s happening?” Zara whispered.

“The wards are collapsing,” Damon replied. “They’ve breached the boundary.”

A voice hummed through the walls — layered, distorted — like a choir singing out of sync.

We smell the Moirai’s breath… we take… we take…

A chill ripped down my spine.

The shadows on the ceiling began to pool, condensing into long limbs and empty eyes. Their shapes were wrong — jointed backwards, jaws detached too wide.

Damon bared his fangs. “Shades.”

Zara’s knees buckled. “Those things have fangs too!”

The first one lunged. Damon intercepted midair, slamming it into the floor with a crack that shook the wall. Another lunged at me — its fingers brushing my neck.

Everything in me rebelled.

I shoved.

Silver light erupted from my hands — brighter and sharper than before. It hurled the creature backward, burning through its form until it shrieked into dust.

I stared at my hands.

Zara stared at me.

Damon didn’t look surprised — just relieved.

“You’re awakening.” His voice was quick, breathless. “Good.”

Good?!

Nothing about this felt good.

He caught the next Shade by the throat and ripped. Smoke burst outward, dissipating like ash in wind.

“We have to leave. Now.”

He dragged a bookshelf aside with inhuman force — revealing a concealed metal door marked with sigils that pulsed faint red.

“That leads to safety,” he said. “Temporarily.”

Zara pulled back. “Hold up. Why is there a secret panic door in my dorm?!”

Damon answered with one word:

“Prepared.”

Prepared for what?

Prepared for me?

Before I could question it, the Shades swarmed — a wave of hunger and void. Damon grabbed Zara and shoved her through the door. He turned to me —

“Aria— come—”

A Shade slammed into his back, claws piercing his shoulder. Damon grunted but didn’t fall. I reacted without thinking — fury surged, silver light burning through the dark. The Shade went flying.

Damon stared at me — eyes wide with something fierce and unnameable.

Then he reached for my hand.

And everything inside me lit up like a storm.

The silver glow crawled up his arm — and for a fraction of a second — his eyes turned gold.

Not silver.

Gold.

Ancient.

He blinked — as if shocked.

As if something forbidden had happened.

“No more time,” he hissed. He pulled me toward the door —

But another presence stepped from the darkness, blocking our escape.

Not a Shade.

A figure — tall, armored in bone-white. A crest of black feathers on his shoulder. Eyes like frozen fire.

Damon growled — a sound filled with centuries of hate.

“Erevan.”

The figure bowed his head mockingly. “Prince Damon.” His gaze flicked to me. “And the Moirai girl. How fortunate.”

Damon’s stance shifted — protective, lethal. “She is not yours.”

“She is the Elders’ by right,” Erevan countered. “Her blood will restore the Balance — and erase your treason.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That is precisely the plan.”

Erevan blurred into movement — too fast to track.

Damon shoved me behind him — steel met shadow — claws met fangs — a violent clash that cracked the floor beneath them. His blood splattered black under the emergency exit light.

I panicked. The silver inside me surged again — not like a trickle — like a damn breaking apart.

The sound that tore from my throat was not human.

Light exploded outward — a shockwave that hurled Erevan into the far wall. Damon stumbled but didn’t fall. The Shades fled instantly, dissolving into nothing.

My vision blackened at the edges. Power drained me, knees giving out — but Damon caught me before I collapsed.

His voice was distant thunder in my ear.

“You’re too strong already,” he whispered, terrified. “They’ll come harder now.”

My pulse fluttered weakly. “What… am I becoming?”

He held me closer, shielding me from the dark.

“Everything they fear,” he said. “And everything I swore I would never love.”