[Third Person].
Xamira did not fly far before sothing tugged at her instincts. The air over the capital felt wrong.
From above, she watched the city react to the state of ergency. Guards were shouting instructions. rchants hurriedly shut their stalls. Citizens rushed indoors. The streets churned with confusion.
Then, a disturbance—not large or loud presented itself.
A cart overturned near a narrow street, crates spilling into the road. Two n began arguing. A woman scread. A minor chaos erupted, drawing several guards away to restore order.
Xamira hovered higher, and that was when she noticed the movent—smooth, coordinated, too deliberate. A small group slipping through the shifting crowd.
At first glance, they blended perfectly. So wore warrior uniforms. Others kept their heads lowered like ordinary citizens complying with orders. But their steps were wrong. They were too light, too silent, and too predatory.
She circled once, narrowing her focus. The scent was faint from the sky—but present. Cold, rotten-sweet.
Vampires.
They had used the distraction, and they were advancing.
Xamira lowered her altitude, gliding between rooftops, keeping pace without drawing attention. She shifted direction when another ripple of unnatural movent caught her eye—two more figures breaking from a side alley to join the first group.
Her small body tensed mid-flight. Then she noticed sothing else. Their trajectory.
She turned her head towards the distant palace spires rising beyond the city, then back to the moving figures, and then again.
Understanding hit her suddenly. The Vampires were converging on the palace.
Alarm surged through her. Without hesitation, she shot upward and changed course, her wings beating harder as she cut through the sky toward the royal compound.
---
By the ti Xamira slipped through the high window, Draven was no longer in his study. The chamber was empty.
She shifted midair before landing, feathers dissolving into fabric and flesh. In seconds, she stood as Azul—composed and controlled.
Then, she quickly stepped into the corridor to go find Draven. She stopped a passing servant and asked, "Where is His Majesty?"
"In the Grand Hall. He is in a eting with the Alphas and Elders."
Xamira did not waste another second. She moved swiftly but not suspiciously toward the Grand Hall. When she arrived, she saw the guards standing at attention outside the heavy doors.
"I need to see the King," she said in Azul’s calm voice. "There is an urgent report from Her Majesty."
The guards exchanged glances, then one of them spoke, "No one enters during council."
"It concerns Her Majesty directly," Xamira pressed, keeping her tone steady.
One guard hesitated, then slipped inside.
Monts later, inside the hall, the guard leaned close to Oscar and whispered. Oscar’s expression shifted slightly, then he quickly made his way to Draven and bent and murmured a few words.
Draven frowned as Oscar straightened. He had received redith’s ssage through Xamira less than half an hour ago, so there was no reason she would send another one so soon, especially through one of her ladies.
Sothing was off.
Regardless, he rose smoothly and excused himself. The hall quieted as he stepped out into the hallway.
Azul stood there, her head lowered respectfully.
Draven’s eyes narrowed the mont he saw her. Almost imdiately, a flicker of recognition passed through him. He knew the person waiting for him was not Azul.
"Your Majesty," Xamira said, bowing.
He stepped closer. Then in a low, controlled voice, he asked, "Why did you return?"
Xamira dropped the pretense in her eyes, though her form remained unchanged. "There is a problem," she whispered.
Draven’s expression hardened.
"I spotted different groups of vampires," she continued quickly. "They are converging."
"Where?" he demanded.
Xamira t his gaze directly. "The palace."
For a fraction of a second, the air between them froze. Then Draven’s eyes turned to ice. He did not waste ti asking how many. He already understood what this ant.
This was not random feeding. This was an assault, and it was aid at him.
---
anwhile, back at the borders, the wind shifted as redith continued her inspection. Though it was subtle, she still felt it.
Her eyes moved slowly across the line of warriors stationed along the Wall, and she perceived the familiar scents of wolf and iron and dust.
Then, she felt a gap, and Valmora went still there.
redith did not react imdiately. She continued her observation. One of the warriors near the inner watchtower stood too perfectly at ease.
His stance was correct, his posture disciplined. But his scent was too clean. There was no musk of wolf, no earth. No sweat.
Dennis noticed the shift in her breathing and fell silent, following her gaze.
redith began walking toward the warrior calmly and unhurriedly. Dennis followed half a step behind her.
When she reached him, she placed a hand casually on his shoulder. But the next second, she gripped him hard and spun him around to face her.
The warrior bowed smoothly. "Your Majesty." His tone was polite and controlled. But his eyes were too still.
Instantly, Valmora snarled, and redith’s lilac eyes ignited into a glowing violet. Then her claws slid out with a sharp tallic whisper. And gasps erupted around them.
Finally, the warrior’s composure broke. His pupils dilated vertically, and his lips pulled back slightly as the feral presence burst outward.
"Vampire!" soone yelled, and chaos broke out imdiately.
The vampire lunged with unnatural speed, but redith was faster. She sidestepped, caught him mid-motion, and slamd him against the stone of the Wall. Cracks spidered outward.
He snarled, his fangs flashing. And right then, redith’s claws plunged deep into his chest. Her fingers wrapped around his cold, unnatural heart.
Then, she lifted him slightly off the ground, pinning him there. "How did you enter Stormveil?" she demanded with a lethal voice. "What is your mission?"
The vampire sneered, blood staining his teeth. "You are already too late."
The next mont, his hand shot up towards her wrist, then he forced her hand inwardly and crushed his own heart. Imdiately, it disintegrated in her grasp, and his body went limp instantly.
Silence fell heavily as everyone tried to understand what had just happened.
Dennis stared at the corpse. "He killed himself."
redith dropped the ruined heart with dark eyes and said coldly, "He slls nothing like a vampire."
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