The caves beneath the Snake Clan's territory wept. Water dripped from jagged stone teeth. Moss glowed sickly green. Stank of wet scales and old blood.
Five figures huddled around a fire that gave no warmth.
**Elder Borin** (Vampire): Skin grey as grave dust. Eyes red-rimmed. *"He drinks them. Humans. Like wine."* His fangs gleamed, but his hand shook. *"Sunlight burns us now. The fields reek of death."*
**Mara** (Fairy Elder): Wings—once shimmery blue—hung limp, edges blackened. She clutched a wilted garlic bloom. *"He bleeds us dry for his crops. Our magic twists… poisons the soil."* Silver tears cut tracks down her cheeks. *"We fade."*
**Kael** (Werewolf Alpha): Face slashed raw. Ulric's blood still crusted under his nails. *"He sacrificed my pack. My mate. For *nothing*."* A growl ripped from his throat. *"The Blood Moon didn't bless him. It *cursed* us all."*
**Silas** (Human Elder): Ragged cloak. Eyes hollow. He held a rusted locket—a tiny painting of his grandson. The boy who swung from the Oak. *"We hide by day. Hunted by night. Cattle."*
**Vesryn** (Snake Elder): Hooded. Eyes like yellow slits. Tongue flicked. *"Ssssaw the mirror… in his vault."* Silence. Even the drip of water stopped. *"It whisperrrsss. It *feeds*."*
Mara flinched. *"The old stories… the mirror prison…"*
*"Not just a prison,"* Vesryn hissed. *"A conduit. To things… older. Darker."*
Borin slammed a fist on stone. Dust rained. *"We fight! Rally the clans—"*
*"Fight?"* Kael bared his teeth. *"He tore out Ulric's heart like it was *fruit*! Your vampires obey him!"*
*"Out of fear!"* Borin shot back. *"He'll butcher us all!"*
Silas spoke soft. Dead soft. *"So we die hiding? Or die fighting?"* He opened the locket. The boy's smile stared back. *"There's another way."*
All eyes snapped to him.
*"The Blood Moon Prophecy,"* Silas whispered. *"The one the earth whispers when kings turn rotten."*
Mara gasped. *"The Five-Warrior Sacrifice? But that's…"*
*"Suicide,"* Kael snarled.
*"Hope,"* Silas said. He pulled a crumbling scroll from his cloak. Unrolled it. Symbols bled into the firelight—a bone circle. Five figures. A moon drowning in blood. *"At the next Blood Moon—five years from now—we offer our strongest. One from each clan. Their blood… their *life*… calls the balance back."*
Vesryn leaned close. Tongue tasted the scroll. *"Old magic. Sssacred. Dangerousss."*
*"It banished the First Tyrant,"* Mara breathed. *"Sealed him in star-metal…"*
*"And created the mirror,"* Vesryn finished.
Borin stared into the cold fire. *"Ralph *is* the mirror's echo. Its poison given flesh."*
*"Who do we sacrifice?"* Kael's voice was gravel. *"Volunteers? Or do we rip them from their families?"*
Silence. Heavy. Thick with guilt.
Then—
*"Me,"* Silas said. *"For humans."*
Mara touched her rotting wing. *"I offer my granddaughter. Lyssa. Her magic… pure."*
Kael closed his eyes. *"My son. Garron. Last of Ulric's bloodline."*
Borin trembled. *"My… my heir. Theron."*
Vesryn's hood shifted. *"Myssself. The oldesst sssnake. My venom… potent."*
The pact was made. No oaths. Just trembling hands clasped over the fire.
---
**Above Ground**
Ralph stood on his balcony. The village of Oak sprawled below—lanterns snuffed out. Fear hung like fog.
In his palm, the mirror ball glowed. Warm. *Alive*.
*"They plot…"* it purred in his mind.
He smiled. *"Where?"*
*"Deep…"* the mirror sighed. *"Where stone weeps…"*
Ralph's fist clenched. The mirror flared hot.
*"Show me."*
The glass swirled. Fog cleared. Revealed—
—The cave. The five elders. Hands clasped.
*"Silas…"* Ralph hissed. *"The bleeder elder."*
The mirror showed Silas' face. Resolute. Sacrificial.
*"Blood moon… five years…"* the mirror whispered. *"They would cage you again…"*
Rage burned Ralph's throat. *"Never."*
He hurled the mirror ball. It hit marble—*cracked*. Not shattered. A single fissure snaked across its surface.
From the crack, a wisp of shadow leaked. Coiled like smoke. Solidified into… *a clawed hand*.
Ralph froze.
The hand flexed. Fingernails black as obsidian.
*"Yessss…"* the mirror crooned. *"Blood feeds me… but *fear*… fear makes me *strong*."*
The shadow-hand dissolved.
Ralph picked up the mirror. Ran a thumb over the crack. Cold seeped into his bones.
*"Five years,"* he whispered. *"I'll drown their hope in blood long before then."*
He turned. Stared toward the Snake Clan's mountains.
*"Find them,"* he told the darkness. *"Bring me their heads. Especially the snake's."*
Shadows detached from corners. Vampire assassins. Silent. Deadly.
*"And Silas?"* one hissed.
*"Alive,"* Ralph said. *"I want his heart still beating… when I feed it to the mirror."*
---
**Deep in the Cave**
Vesryn stiffened. Tongue flicked frantic. *"Ssscent! Vampire blood! *Close*!"*
The elders scattered.
But as Silas fled through a crevice, a hand grabbed his ankle.
*"Got you, bleeder,"* a vampire sneered.
Silas slammed his rusted locket into the vamp's eye. Bone crunched. The vamp screamed.
Silas ran.
Behind him, snarls. A wet *thud*. Kael's roar. *"GO!"*
The cave echoed with dying screams.
Silas didn't look back. He ran toward the human slums. Toward a tiny hut where a young woman—Lucia—slept, unknowing.
Her belly swelled.
*His great-grandchild.*