The repeating pulse had not ceased since dawn.
Lucifer stood at the outer observation platform and counted the forty plus cycles the signal had already completed when he arrived. Each one followed the same pattern, the same weight, and the same determination to refuse concealment. It did not seek to breach any limitations, only to dictate a rhythm that every monitoring station in the Vampire Realm was forced to continue watching.
Lucian stood over the main projection table with Zane and Anita. Heron waited near the edge of the surface, silent as ever. Aeloria and Nyx arrived just before Lucifer, already focused on the information streams feeding in from the outer lattice structures.
Lucifer paused at the edge of the table and watched another cycle repeat. The low, steady note of the pulse resonated within the projected image.
' It is not attacking ,'
