The morning of the gathering came and it was cold and hazy and people started arriving at sunrise and hundreds of werewolves from different packs and dozens of vampires from different covens I'd never seen so many of both species in one place without fighting.

We'd set up in a large clearing with the stone altar from the cave in the center and I'd brought it here secretly with Dante's help because I needed it for the ritual and the Shard sat on top of it and glowing faintly in the dim morning ...