DeLuca Estate – Adunni's Private Quarters, Midnight
Rain battered the windows. Thunder rolled over the hills.
Adunni sat at her desk, the leather-bound journal trembling slightly in her hands. The cover was brittle with age, but the scent—musk, cloves, and burnt sage—was unmistakable.
It was her grandmother's.
She had found it hidden inside the lining of the old travel trunk, buried beneath silk scarves and faded photographs of Lagos and Rome. There were protective wards etched into the pages with blood and ash. And one page, near the center, still pulsed faintly with a heat she couldn't explain.
Luca had wanted to be with her tonight. But she needed space. Solitude. A moment to understand the lineage she carried—not as a lover or a leader, but as the last living hybrid of a forgotten prophecy.
Excerpt: Folake's Journal
"August 17th, 1961. Lagos. The Moon is restless tonight. My bones feel like fire and roots all at once. My mother told me it would be like this the day I took the oath. That the blood of the Mgbada kin would never rest easy under human skin."
"We are not simply cursed. We are chosen. By Ọgún, by the red moon, by the guardians of the in-between. Our kind crossed oceans before ships knew iron. We walked through smoke into Roman soil, long before the DeLuca name became noble."
"They feared us then. We were wild. We were storm-callers. But some fell in love with us. One of them was Cesare DeLuca."
"Yes, the same line as the one they call Luca now."
Adunni's breath caught.
"He saved me from silver hunters. Gave me sanctuary. And in return, I gave him a son."
"But a child born of two magic-bound bloodlines does not grow easily. The elders called him abomination. I called him my moon-child. He lived twenty years. Then the prophecy claimed him."
"I fled Rome. Buried the truth. Swore I'd never allow another hybrid child to suffer."
"But dreams come. Visions. A child born three generations down the line. A girl with my eyes and the wolf of the sea in her blood. She will burn. She will rise. She will choose."
Adunni closed the journal, hands shaking.
She stood. Walked to the mirror. And for the first time, her eyes flickered—molten gold ringed in obsidian black. Hybrid eyes.
---
Obsidian Cave – Hidden Under Blackwood Hill
The map Anya had given was detailed. She and Luca stood before the sealed gate of stone, runes glowing faintly. Adunni pressed her palm to the center.
A flare of light. Then the door melted inward like water turning to mist.
Inside, it was quiet. Sacred.
In the heart of the chamber, a raised platform glowed beneath the shaft of moonlight breaking through the ceiling. Symbols danced across the obsidian floor.
"This is the place," Adunni whispered.
Luca nodded. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
She looked at him, no fear in her eyes. "I was born for this."
She stepped into the circle.
The moment her foot touched the inner ring, the runes blazed with crimson fire. Her body locked. Her mind fractured—
—and she fell.
---
Flashback: Folake's Vision – Rome, 1962
Folake stood in the Temple of Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon. Her belly round, her spirit wild. Cesare watched her from the shadows.
"You shouldn't be here," he said. "The temple will reject your kind."
She smiled. "My kind built temples before yours knew how to pray."
He stepped forward. "Then why hide?"
"Because they won't accept him. Our son."
A figure stepped from behind the altar—a robed woman with glowing red eyes.
"Your line will end with fire or freedom. Your bloodline is cursed, Folake. Unless the girl who carries your name makes the Rite of Echo."
Folake clutched her belly. "And if she fails?"
"She dies. And takes the balance of night with her."
---
Back in the Cave – Present
Adunni gasped, eyes wide. She floated in the circle, hair haloed with energy. Her skin shimmered—first dark brown, then laced with silver light. Wings—yes, wings—began to form from her shoulder blades. Not feathered. Shadowed. Wolf-born.
Luca stepped forward, heart in his throat. "Adunni?"
She turned slowly, not fully herself.
"She saw everything. My grandmother. She loved him—Cesare. And it destroyed them both. But the bloodline lives. In me. And I know now why I was sent here."
The runes flared again. The power surged.
And then, Adunni collapsed into his arms.
Breathing.
Alive.
Changed.
---
Luca's POV – After the Ritual
He held her in the cave as the final sparks dimmed. Her breathing was shallow, her body trembling. But her eyes… when they opened, they carried centuries.
Luca had seen power. Commanded armies. Broken bones. But nothing had ever made him kneel—until now.
He brushed her hair from her face. "You scared the hell out of me."
A weak smile. "Sorry."
"No," he whispered, more to himself. "Never be sorry for being more than they expect."
He lifted her in his arms and carried her out of the cave, the moon overhead turning an ominous crimson.
---
Anya's Secret
In the shadows of the trees above the cave, Anya watched. Her breath misted in the cold night. Her fingers clenched around the crystal communicator in her palm.
She activated it. "Heir has awakened. The hybrid lives. She's stronger than expected."
A deep voice replied, unmistakably Darius: "Then it's time to accelerate the plan."
---
New Scene: Sabine and Adunni
Later that night, Adunni sat near the fireplace, a blanket draped over her. Sabine knelt beside her, eyes searching.
"You shifted... but not like any wolf I've ever seen."
Adunni nodded. "Wings. Fire. A second heartbeat inside me."
Sabine took her hand. "You terrified me."
"I terrified myself."
They sat in silence until Sabine finally whispered, "If anyone tries to hurt you because of what you are, I'll make them regret it."
Adunni gave a tired smile. "I know."
---
New Scene: The Second Vision
That night, in her dreams, Adunni saw a woman—taller than any mortal, skin like starlight, eyes like voids.
"You are the Moonborn. You must make the Trial of Balance. Choose the old gods or forge a new fate."
"What if I fail?" Adunni asked.
The woman's voice thundered: "Then all bloodlines—yours, his, theirs—will burn."
---
New Scene: The Moon Reacts
All over the region, wolves howled. The sky shifted.
A blood moon.
In his own den, Darius looked up with a cruel grin. "She's waking up too fast. Time to break her."