The Night That Refused The Moon
Forensic archivist Iria Kade starts losing whole nights of her life, always during full moons. She wakes up hurt, confused, and meets strangers who know her for things she can’t recall. When Iria finds classified files labeled PROJECT LYCANTH and PROJECT HEMATOS, both with her name, she realizes her blackouts are intentional, not random.
Her search for answers leads her to Ephrem, a centuries-old vampire who survives not by drinking blood, but by consuming memories. Ephrem reveals that the myths of monsters are lies. There are no transforming werewolves. Instead, certain humans—called the Moonmarked—lose consciousness during full moons so their bodies can be used to maintain reality itself. At the center of this system is the Echo Engine, a non-sentient mechanism bound to the lunar cycle. Vampires exist to preserve human continuity, feeding on memory so history is not lost entirely.
Iria discovers she was not changed to serve the Engine. She was born able to do it.
As Iria and Ephrem look into where the Engine came from, their partnership grows into a delicate romance with clear rules about consent and keeping records. Each full moon, Iria forgets Ephrem, so she has to fall in love with him again through messages and trust. Ephrem remembers every version of her and refuses to feed from her, knowing it would make their bond stable but take away her freedom. Their relationship is based on choice, not just routine.
When Iria insists that Ephrem share her memory of the Echo Engine, it almost destroys him. Iria loses a whole year of their relationship, and Ephrem starts to forget his own long past. As the Engine breaks down, Moonmarked people wake up in the middle of the cycle, shocked by what has happened to them. Secret guardians of the system try to stop Iria before she can dismantle it. Iria shuts down the Echo Engine for one lunar cycle—an unprecedented act. Reality destabilizes, but instead of collapse, vampires begin remembering who they were before feeding, and the Moonmarked regain autonomy without erasure. Ephrem becomes mortal, and Iria’s memory stabilizes permanently.
When offered the chance to bring back the system and keep reality controlled, Iria says no. She chooses truth instead of fixing things, and love without forced forgetting. The moon rises, and nothing happens.
The Night That Refused the Moon is a dark, thoughtful paranormal novel that reimagines vampires and werewolves as systems rather than species. It focuses on an unusual romance shaped by memory, consent, and the price of living forever without an authentic self.