The neon sign above The Rusty Chalice buzzed, its fractured glow staining the bar's fogged windows red. Lira Voss wiped down the counter, fingers tracing the knife scar in the oak. The air hung thick with the sour tang of spilled beer and charred pretzels.
"Another round, Marnie?" she called to the hunched woman at the far end of the bar.
Marnie's gnarled fingers tightened around her empty glass. "Skip the ice this time. Tastes like gutter water when it melts."
Lira smirked, pouring a double shot of whiskey. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Jax slid onto the stool beside Marnie, his trench coat reeking of damp newsprint. He slapped a crumpled tabloid onto the counter Eclipsion After Dark.
BLOOD MOON RISING: VAMPIRES STALK THE FRINGE?
A grainy photo beneath it showed claw marks raked across brick.
"Nightwatch found another body in the Howling Quarter," he said, tapping the image. "Throat torn clean out. Wolf work, they're calling it."
Lira rolled her eyes. "Or a pissed-off raccoon."
Jax leaned in, breath sour with falafel. "The Veil's crawling with blood traders. Half the kids here got bite marks they won't talk about. You think that's a coincidence?"
She flicked the tabloid back at him. "I think you need a girlfriend."
But her gaze lingered on the photo. The claw marks were too precise, too deliberate. Her stomach twisted. She'd seen marks like that before.
Marnie slammed her glass down. "Another."
Lira poured without a word, fingers brushing the locket around her neck a tarnished silver thing Jax had dug up from the ruins of her childhood home. Its engraved V gleamed under the bar lights.
"You ever gonna tell me what that stands for?" Jax asked.
"Vendetta," she deadpanned.
He snorted. "Your mom was a junkie. Foster system chews up kids like you and spits 'em out."
Lira's smile didn't reach her eyes. "And yet here I am. Thriving."
The nightmare came again that night.
Smoke clogged her lungs as she stumbled through a collapsing castle, small hands slick with ash. A silver-eyed woman in black armor gripped her shoulders. "You must never tell them what you are." Flames devoured the tapestries. "Run, Lira. Don't look back."
Shadows writhed behind them—creatures with too many teeth, eyes glowing like dying stars. The woman shoved her into a hidden passage. "Find me when the blood moon rises."
Lira woke drenched in sweat, the locket's edges digging into her palm.
Just a dream.
The scars on her wrists itched.
A knock shattered the silence.
"Lira! You alive in there?"
Jax.
She stumbled to the door.
"What?" she snapped, yanking it open.
He held up a grease-stained paper bag. "Breakfast. You look like hell."
"It's 3 a.m."
"And you're awake." He shouldered past her, dropping onto the couch. "Saw your light flickering. Thought you might need company."
She glared but took the bag. Falafel, cold and soggy.
"You're a creep."
"And you're a terrible liar." He nodded at her white-knuckled grip on the locket. "Nightmares again?"
"None of your business."
"They're getting worse, aren't they?"
She didn't answer.
By dawn, the Fringe stirred. Lira trudged to work, boots crunching over broken glass.
A group of kids darted past. One had a fresh bandage on his neck.
Don't look back.
She pushed into The Rusty Chalice. Grady, her boss, stood behind the bar.
"Late again."
"Traffic," she lied.
He grabbed her arm. "Sixth time this month. You're done."
She wrenched free. "Fine."
Outside, rain hissed against the pavement. Lira lit a stolen cigarette, hands steady.
Jax materialized beneath a streetlamp. "Heard the Howling Quarter's hiring."
"To clean up wolf shit? Pass."
"Suit yourself." He tossed her another falafel bag. "But you can't outrun forever, Lira."
She watched him vanish into the crowd, the locket cold against her skin.
Run, Lira. Don't look back.