Smoke hung thick in the ruins of the catacombs. The once sacred tunnels now looked like the aftermath of a war stone walls cracked and bleeding red light, air heavy with the stench of burned blood and ash.

Adrian sat beside Selene’s still body, her skin pale and cool beneath his trembling hands. The glow that once pulsed faintly from her mark had vanished completely. He had seen countless deaths across centuries humans, vampires, even gods pretending to be mortal but none had ever cut him like this.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “You’re not gone,” he whispered. “You can’t be.”

But the silence answered him back.

For the first time in over three hundred years, Adrian Voss felt tears burn his eyes. He had spent lifetimes denying his humanity, but now it clawed its way back through grief and rage.

Then a heartbeat.

Faint. Fragile.

Selene’s fingers twitched, and the crimson mark on her arm shimmered briefly before fading again.

“Selene?” Adrian breathed, shaking her gently. “Can you hear me?”

But she didn’t move. Her pulse flickered like dying embers.

Behind him, footsteps echoed deliberate, steady, confident. Adrian turned sharply, his eyes flashing. A figure emerged from the dust Luca, bloodstained and limping, but alive.

“She’s still here,” Luca said quietly, kneeling beside them. “The Heir doesn’t die like mortals do. Her blood ties her to the Vein itself. But she’s between worlds now.”

Adrian’s voice was rough. “How do I bring her back?”

Luca hesitated, then handed him a small, black vial thick liquid swirling inside like ink and fire. “This is vitae sanguis blood of the ancients. It can restore her… but at a cost.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “What cost?”

Luca met his gaze. “You’ll have to bind her life to yours. Your souls, your blood, your hunger forever. If you turn her, she’ll never be human again.”

Adrian looked down at her peaceful face. He remembered her laughter, the way she challenged him, the way she saw beauty even in monsters.

“I won’t lose her,” he said finally.

Without another word, he bit into his wrist, fangs tearing through skin. His blood dark and luminous dripped into her parted lips. The catacombs trembled, a hum rising from the ground. As his blood met hers, the mark on her arm flared back to life, spreading up her neck like molten gold.

Selene gasped a violent, desperate sound and her eyes snapped open. They glowed gold and red, swirling with power.

Adrian leaned back, breathless. “You’re safe.”

But her gaze wasn’t steady. She stared past him, her voice hollow, layered with echoes. “The gate… is open.”

Before he could speak, the ground cracked open with a thunderous roar. Crimson light surged upward, splitting the stone. From the depths, something emerged not Crowe himself, but a vision of him, formed from shadow and smoke.

His voice filled the chamber, mocking and cold. “You’ve only hastened what I began, my son. The merging has begun — blood for blood, soul for soul.”

Adrian stood, shielding Selene. “You’re dead, Crowe. I watched you burn.”

The shadow smirked. “You can’t burn what is eternal. The Codex was merely the vessel the true power rests in her veins.”

Selene clutched her head, pain lancing through her skull. Images flashed before her eyes cities consumed by fire, oceans of blood, creatures born of both light and shadow. The worlds were bleeding into each other.

“I can stop it,” she whispered, trembling. “But I need time.”

Crowe’s laughter echoed. “Time is the one thing you no longer have.”

The shadow dissolved, and the walls around them began to crumble.

Adrian grabbed her hand. “We need to move now!”

They ran through collapsing tunnels, the sound of ancient bones shattering behind them. The deeper they went, the stronger the tremors became. It was as if the catacombs themselves were alive rejecting them, forcing them out.

Finally, they burst into the open air. Dawn was breaking, but the sky was wrong streaked with veins of red and black, as if the heavens themselves were bleeding.

Selene collapsed to her knees, gasping. “It’s happening… the realms are crossing.”

Adrian knelt beside her. “Then we find a way to stop it.”

Luca appeared behind them, his expression grim. “There may be one. The Temple of Ashes the place where the Vein was first born. But to reach it, we need to cross into the Nether.”

Selene looked up, confused. “The Nether?”

“It’s the space between life and death,” Adrian explained quietly. “Where souls go when they’re neither saved nor damned. No living being returns from there.”

Selene met his gaze. “Then it’s where we need to go.”

Adrian grabbed her shoulders. “No. You’ve already died once. I won’t let you risk it again.”

She stared at him, her eyes fierce. “You think I wanted this? I didn’t ask for any of it, Adrian the blood, the power, the prophecy. But if my existence means something… then I’ll fight for it.”

His anger faltered under her fire. He cupped her face gently. “You’re too much like her.”

Selene frowned. “Her?”

He hesitated. “My sister. She believed she could save me too.”

Selene’s voice softened. “Maybe she still can through me.”

He looked away, pain flickering behind his eyes. “She’s been dead for centuries.”

“Then maybe it’s time someone finally ended the curse she died for,” Selene whispered.

Luca cleared his throat. “If we’re doing this, we need to move fast. The temple’s hidden beyond the city beneath the old ruins of Saint Ravana. Crowe’s forces will be waiting.”

Adrian stood, helping Selene to her feet. “Then we make them regret waiting.”

As they left the catacombs, the first screams echoed across Ravencrest. The Blood Moon might have set, but the war had only begun.

And deep in the heart of the shadows, in the ruins where Crowe once fell, a single drop of his blood stirred glowing red, alive, whispering her name.

“Selene…”