The chamber beneath the manor had always felt like a tomb—cold, sealed, forgotten. But now, with Ariana standing in its center, it felt like something else entirely.
Alive.
The moment she stepped into the space, the runes on the stone walls pulsed faintly with red light. The air crackled. Something ancient stirred.
Damien watched her carefully from the edge of the room, his eyes no longer the predator's but the protector's. His posture was tight—ready for anything. Including losing her.
Xander stood opposite him, his expression unreadable. He said nothing as Ariana stepped forward and placed her palm on the cracked altar at the chamber's center.
The moment her skin touched stone, a wind surged through the room—unnatural, electric, calling.
She flinched, breathing hard. "What is this place?"
Damien answered. "It's a sanctum. One of the last places consecrated by the Blood Queens. The only place left where your kind—your line—can safely awaken."
"My kind," she echoed. "But I'm human."
"You were," Xander said. "Now you're something neither side will accept. And that makes you dangerous."
Ariana turned to face them both. "I don't want to be someone's prophecy. I want the truth. All of it. Now."
Damien exchanged a tense look with his brother.
Finally, he nodded. "You were born under a rare blood moon—conceived in a lineage touched by both vampire nobility and human seer blood. That union was forbidden centuries ago. When the Elders found out, they killed everyone tied to that line."
"But someone hid me," she realized aloud.
"Yes," Damien said. "Your mother. She cast a blood-binding spell that erased your nature. Hid it. Until someone awakened it."
Ariana blinked. "You mean… the mark."
"It wasn't just sex," Damien said softly. "It was a trigger. A ritual disguised by obsession. I didn't know—but I suspect my instincts led me there for a reason."
Xander chuckled darkly. "Isn't it ironic? The monster who took you… also freed you."
Ariana's breath caught.
And then something sharp pierced her senses.
Pain. Pressure. Fire beneath her skin.
She gasped and fell to her knees as red light burst from the altar and spread beneath her like living veins. Her mark—Damien's mark—began to burn.
"Ariana!" Damien rushed forward, dropping beside her.
She screamed as the power surged. Not because it hurt—but because it knew her. Every fear. Every desire. Every hidden truth she tried to deny.
And in that moment, she saw things.
Visions.
A throne bathed in blood. Her own eyes glowing gold. Damien kneeling before her, covered in ash. And Xander—bound in silver, whispering her name in warning.
When the pain stopped, she collapsed into Damien's arms.
He held her tight. "I've got you."
She looked up slowly. Her eyes were glowing—not red. Not gold.
Both.
The blood of two worlds. Finally awakened.
And in the distance, far from the sanctum, someone else had felt it too.
In a city of towers lit by firelight, the Elders of the Old Clans stirred from their slumber.
The Blood Queen had risen.
And war would follow.