Chapter 23

Alantris moves through the darkness. Most of her horde is gone, fodder for the feral demons roaming the continent. She has risked everything coming here. Giving up her hive, her humanity. Prepared now to embrace a new journey in her ever-changing, ever-shifting life. She approaches the castle with caution. The Dark Lords that preside here will not hesitate to kill her on the spot. She’d spent years watching Kai. Ever sine he crawled his way into her hive, killed hundreds of her spawn. She use to love his father once, long ago. A part of her still thought about him and wondered if she still felt that way. It didn’t take much for her to remember she was no longer human. Everyday she became more and more detached. Kai was something special though, she knew that from the moment she laid eyes on him. A shaman, a Krsnik to be exact, a natural born shapeshifter, vampire hunter, with the heart and soul of a hero. She could taste the mana surrounding the boy as he shook in fear of her.

The attack on Haven was no accident. The Kudlak was coming for the child. Which side would she pick? The question bothered her for years. It wasn’t until Kai came willingly to her that she knew. The Kudlak would never rest, not until it had Kai’s heart, his core. But she could buy him time. All she needed was a small piece and a lie.

She could present the piece of Kai’s core she had taken to the Kudlak herself. She could tell the Dark Lord that she had caught the child in her webs. She could buy Kai a little bit of time before she lost what was left of her humanity forever.