Kaine pushed past Amy and opened the door.
The room was dimly lit by candles arranged around what looked like a makeshift altar. Three won sat in ornate chairs arranged in a semicircle, their heads tilted back and their eyes closed. They couldn’t have been older than twenty-five—college students, maybe, or young professionals who’d saved up for expensive concert tickets.
The lead singer of Red Serenade knelt beside the nearest woman, his mouth pressed against her neck, feeding with the unhurried patience of sothing that had been perfecting this particular skill for centuries.
Kaine’s hand went to Soulrend’s handle, the cursed blade materializing in his grip with familiar weight. But as he took a step forward, cold calculation overrode his hunter instincts.
This thing was old. Powerful. The kind of vampire that had survived three centuries by being smarter than the people trying to kill it. And they were surrounded by hundreds of innocent civilians who had no idea what was happening backstage.
A direct confrontation would be a massacre.
The vampire’s head lifted slowly, ancient eyes eting Kaine’s across the room. There was no surprise in that gaze, just mild annoyance at being interrupted during a al.
"I wondered when you’d show up," the creature said, voice carrying the sa cultured tones he’d used on stage but with an underlying coldness that made the air feel ten degrees colder. "You are one of those famous hunters, Shadowguards, no?. Though you sll... different than I expected."
"Let them go."
The vampire smiled, revealing teeth that were too white and too sharp. "I’m afraid that’s not possible. They’ve already served their purpose."
Blood began to seep from the won’s necks where he’d fed, but Kaine could see their chests still rising and falling. Barely alive, but alive.
"You have about thirty seconds before security cos looking," Amy whispered behind him. "Whatever you’re planning—"
The vampire moved.
Not toward Kaine, but toward the back wall of the dressing room. His hands swept out in a complex pattern, and the air was filled with the tallic scent of blood magic. The wall began to dissolve, stone and steel turning to mist as an escape route opened into the alley behind the theater.
"Another ti, hunter," the creature said, stepping through the opening. "When there are fewer... complications."
The hole in the wall sealed itself as if it had never existed, leaving only the faint sll of copper and old death.
Kaine rushed to the nearest woman, pressing his fingers against her throat. Pulse was there, but fading fast. The other two were in similar condition—unconscious, bleeding, dying.
"Jesus Christ," Amy breathed, pulling out her phone. "I’m calling 911."
"Don’t." Kaine’s voice was sharp enough to make her pause. "They won’t make it to the hospital."
"Then what—"
[MORTAL ESSENCE DETECTED]
[THREE SUBJECTS IN CRITICAL CONDITION]
[ESTIMATED TI TO DEATH: 3-5 MINUTES]
The system’s clinical assessnt made Kaine’s stomach clench. These weren’t soldiers or hunters who’d chosen a dangerous profession. They were just fans who’d wanted to see a concert.
"Kaine?" Amy’s voice carried confusion and growing alarm. "What are you doing?"
He knelt beside the first woman—blonde hair, wearing a Red Serenade t-shirt, probably saved for weeks to afford these tickets. Her pulse was getting weaker.
"I’m going to try sothing."
"Try what? You’re not a doctor—"
[SUBJECT DECEASED]
[MORTAL ESSENCE RELEASED: 45 ]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONVERT TO HOLLOW?]
The notification appeared as the blonde woman’s breathing stopped. Kaine felt the familiar tingle of essence being absorbed, hating himself for the brief mont of satisfaction it brought.
"She’s gone," he said quietly.
Amy moved toward the other two won, checking pulses with the desperate efficiency of soone who’d done field dical training. "These two are still alive. Barely, but—"
[SUBJECT DECEASED]
[MORTAL ESSENCE RELEASED: 38 ]
"Now it’s two," Kaine said.
The brunette in the middle chair had stopped breathing, her head lolling forward in a way that made Amy step back with a sharp intake of breath.
"This is insane. We need to get help, call soone—"
[SUBJECT DECEASED]
[MORTAL ESSENCE RELEASED: 42 ]
"Too late."
All three won were dead, their essence flowing into Kaine like warmth spreading through cold water. The system was already calculating options, but he forced himself to focus on Amy’s horrified expression.
"They were just kids," she whispered.
"I know."
Amy watched him kneel beside the first body, her confusion evident. "What are you doing now?"
Kaine placed his hand on the blonde woman’s forehead, feeling the residual warmth of life that had just fled. "Sothing I probably shouldn’t."
"Kaine, you’re scaring . We need to call the police, report what happened—"
"What happened was a vampire just killed three innocent people and walked away. The police can’t do anything about that."
[CONVERSION ATTEMPT INITIATED]
[INVESTING 50 INTO HOLLOW CREATION]
Dark energy began flowing from Kaine’s hands, seeping into the corpse like ink spreading through water. Amy stepped back, her eyes wide with sothing between fear and fascination.
"What the hell is that?"
"Magic," Kaine said simply.
The process was different this ti. With Marcus, the conversion had been smooth, successful. But these bodies were too damaged, too weak, and the souls had been traumatized by their violent deaths.
Marcus was a vampire when Kaine killed him. He was tougher than these girls.
[CONVERSION FAILED]
[SOUL REJECTED BINDING PROTOCOLS]
[ESSENCE WASTED]
He moved to the second body, trying again.
[CONVERSION FAILED]
[INSUFFICIENT BODY INTEGRITY]
The third attempt was his last hope. The brunette had been the youngest, maybe twenty-two, with an engagent ring on her finger that caught the candlelight.
[CONVERSION ATTEMPT INITIATED]
[INVESTING 60 INTO HOLLOW CREATION]
This ti, the energy took hold. The corpse’s wounds began to close, color returning to pale skin. But sothing was wrong—the process felt unstable, like trying to build a house on shifting sand.
"Kaine," Amy said, her voice tight with controlled panic. "Her eyes just opened."
"Also, you still carry this huge axe of yours around? Seems impractical," She said casually before realizing this was the worst ti to chitchat.
The woman sat up slowly, movent chanical and wrong. When she turned toward them, her eyes held none of the warmth they’d probably had in life. Just empty recognition and a hunger that made Kaine’s skin crawl.
[CONVERSION PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL]
[WARNING: UNSTABLE TRANSFORMATION]
[DETERMINING HOLLOW VARIANT]
[HOLLOW TYPE: WENDIGO]
"Well," Kaine muttered, "that’s not good."
Amy grabbed his arm, her grip tight enough to leave marks. "That woman was dead. I checked her pulse myself."
"She still is dead."
"Then how is she moving?"
The thing that had once been a woman stood in the corner, but everything about her was wrong now. Her skin had taken on a sickly gray pallor, stretched tight over bones that seed too long. Her fingers had extended into jagged claws, black talons scraping against the dressing room wall as she moved. But it was her face that made Amy take an involuntary step back.
The woman’s jaw had distended, unhinging like a snake’s to accommodate rows of needle-sharp teeth that definitely hadn’t been there before. Her eyes had sunken deep into her skull, glowing with a pale, hungry light. Stringy black hair hung in greasy strands around a face that looked like it had been starved for months.
When she moved, it was with that distinctive Wendigo gait—too fast, too jerky, like soone pulling the strings on a puppet made of sticks and sinew.
Kaine looked at Amy—really looked at her for the first ti since entering the room. The purple hair, the leather outfit, the way she’d handled the crisis with professional competence. The casual ntion of Detroit. He also rembered sothing from that Detroit event.
"You want to know about Soulrend," he said, deflecting the question she’d really asked. "Rember Detroit? You said if we ever t again, you could ask anything."
"This is hardly the ti—"
"It belonged to my ntor. Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Reznick, Shadowguard’s 3rd Battalion." Kaine kept one eye on the newly risen abomination, who was staring at them with that bone-deep hunger that made Wendigos so dangerous. "She died in an operation that officially never happened."
The creature’s head tilted at an unnatural angle, studying them like a predator deciding which one looked more tender.
"Soulrend was forged using vampire blood and materials that were about fifty years ahead of anything we should have had access to," Kaine continued, raising the blade as the creature approached with that distinctive stalking motion. "Little bit of magic, little bit of science, whole lot of classified research that made weapons capable of hurting things that shouldn’t exist."
"Kaine," Amy said urgently, "I don’t think she’s friendly."
The abomination’s distended mouth opened wider, releasing a sound sowhere between a hiss and a death rattle. Whatever had co back wasn’t human anymore—and it definitely wasn’t under his control.
"No," Kaine agreed, "she’s not."
The creature lunged forward with inhuman speed, claws extended toward Amy’s throat, moving with that terrifying Wendigo burst of predatory motion.
Soulrend t it halfway, the cursed blade cutting through whatever force animated the abomination. The body collapsed, truly dead this ti, dissolving into ash that scattered across the dressing room floor.
[ABOMINATION DESTROYED]
[ESSENCE RECOVERED: 15 ]
Amy stared at the empty space where the creature had been, then at the blade in Kaine’s hand, then at his face with dawning understanding.
"You’re not just a hunter anymore," she said quietly. "Are you?"
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