CRIMSON MOON LEGACY

ter

d Boys D

en Kairo Dusk kil

t hard, ugly rain. Cold and relentless. The kind that soaks

as e

iro's mother with a silver knife and dirty intentions. What mattered wa

that he died choki

hadn't

boys do

the fir

se

who flinches

light. His coat billowed behind him, leather heavy with rain and regret. A body lay at h

dn't

came a voice fr

g crimson silk and a gun holster like a queen's crown. Her name was Zhara Moon, half witch, half assas

he said, voice smooth like bou

nger - literally. A spark flared

said, exhaling smoke and ma

im. "This ai

ids again. Dragna put

" She nodded at the corpse. "

is twelfth kill and his sixteenth betrayal. Somewhere in the jungles of old Kyoto, where he'd watche

t fighting for s

ng because bl

t the only ones i

dicate wanted

Pack want

Georgia wanted his

wanted non

ted an

he was goin

teps echoing through the hollow dark. Inside, the air

he room, hands behind his back

Dra

a. Vampire royalty. And K

Rael said. "Thought you'd send your

simply walked forward,

re the poetic type. So dramatic with the silence a

ice on my hea

ade in my bro

ed to k

ed him back.

. "Then why

u're dangerous, Kai. And unpredic

forward, sm

Of what we did. Of what we cre

lver beneath his skin. "I wasn't created,"

osed to die with your mother. But you didn't. Y

gan to glow. Hi

them

ht wasn

like a prince - elegant, strategic, deadly. Blood splattered

nly one of them w

ound, claws buried in his chest. Blood so

pered, coughing. "You think t

loser. "Then I

ath left his li

r... I t

s rolle

ro stoo

ai

ooftop under a bleeding moon, Kairo sat

him there, s

lled Rael," s

nod

e you fee

N

hy'd yo

ollow. "Because he knew som

linked.

said. "The one

torm clouds. She appeared in fire, in smoke, in water. She called his name. S

ill. "You thi

w she'

ply. "Then you're

standing. "I'm c

alk away, coat bi

neath the bones of forgotten kings,

ter

e Blood

elled like s

grave dust, a

chest heaving, eyes wide in the dark. Bl

this

utes ago. But in his ears, it sti

st

remember b

the man's jaw detached under one hard swing. The memory came in flashes.

oked

arks in the man's

the back of his wrist. The blood smeared like

n. Not l

r was gro

the alley, cigarette in hand, watc

g control," s

to-" he

she corrected. "T

the corpse. Th

dn't

nd glance and handed him a cloth soaked in

lit the cloth on fire and tossed it onto the body. F

sked, alrea

ce clipped. "Wolf-born. Too

ened. "T

ook - that look. The one that said you

her near

like a bored goddess, dressed in black silk and ash. Her hair was whit

er ey

topped

that had seen centuries through the eyes of others. She

way sh

way she

not the way sh

whispered, witho

ed instantly.

nally

forget," she said, "and the f

hind him. "Witch," she sa

any names," she said. "But in this

Kairo, barefoot

orn under red skies. Raised by blades an

ed an inc

ispered. "You've tasted my voice. Now

hed near his blade

se, her lips br

before they ma

en Ye

to a stone table,

tly on every surface. A priestess in a white fox mask circled him, chanting

s the smell

ma

chil

n the shadows. His

curved, ceremonial,

shut, hands trembling as she placed her fingers to his che

led it p

lled it

always just

o

burned. His vision swam.

. "Kai-what did

. shaken. "I didn't mean to show that much

s breath came in jagged

no

aw y

your soul," she said, tears starting in h

the knife at his wais

ould

kill you

kno

houldn

p your soul," she whi

le

ped forwar

d the city glowing in the di

d. "Beneath the Church of Ash. Guarded

. "The Code w

born. Like everything else

rned t

l back, Kairo... you'll h

ewh

ched them through a mirror made of shattered oaths. His eye

een robed figures

him," one

aid another. "Born o

waken th

not reach

stood. His voice was

send th

s fail?" asked on

ed man smi

send hi

Crims

se caught between - hybrids, cursed-bloods, children of forbidden love. They were never ma

ers. Even whe

ved in thr

ds power. The deeper your legac

learned, they're inherited. Burie

- every life take

their leader - a hybrid priestess named Mother Sable - prop

ts of the C

beneath a burnt cathedral shaped like a wolf's skull. There, Kairo's missing soul i

longer

nly re

s Buri

couldn't kill him - his bloodline was protected by a pack-c

t his sou

nt - was extracted by ritual and bound to the soil b

, instinct - remained in him. W

s why

ember his f

hollow a

ike normal people

when emotional (because the

ll change everything. His powers will evolve. His mind wil

all of i

la's B

Ayla Thorne

s 17 - real

fused with wolf blood during the Black M

under one condition: she would serve as a soul-siphoner. A cursed witch trained

forced to extr

d of destr

sing an old Veil Rite. It cost her t

s, but by witches who believe she betr

e ritual. That's why they see each other in dreams. That's why her voice

will d