TALIA*
The Pale Lantern buzzed with low chatter, the kind that filled the space between neon lights and secrets. I wiped down the bar, trying to ignore the way my skin tingled. Not just from cold or exhaustion, but something deeper.
Something inside me... Feels like is waking.
It had been days since the dream, but its weight lingered like smoke clinging to fabric. And tonight, the air in the bar felt thick... charged.
"Whiskey, double," said a low voice.
I turned to find a man already seated. His suit was immaculate, his expression unreadable, but his eyes, they shimmered with faint red.
Demon.
Not high tier, but not weak either.
I kept my face neutral and poured the drink. When I passed him the glass, our fingers brushed.
And it hit me.
A rush.
Not heat. Not electricity.
It was like I was pulling something from him. A low thrum of power surged from his skin to mine, not willingly given, but instinctively taken.
I yanked my hand back, nearly knocking over a bottle.
The demon's eyes widened. He jerked away as if burned.
His snarl was soft but sharp. "What the hell are you?"
I didn't answer. Couldn't.
He stood abruptly, nearly knocking over his stool, and left hurriedly. Almost… afraid.
I stood frozen, chest rising and falling too fast.
No one else seemed to notice. Music thudded. Glasses clinked.
But I felt it.
Something in me was waking up.
And it wasn't normal.
---
Later that night, I sat in the employee break room at the back of The Pale Lantern, nursing a headache that wasn't entirely physical. My mind replayed the moment over and over. The contact. The surge. The fear in the demon's eyes.
Had I hurt him? Had I… fed?
That thought chilled me more than the cold air blasting from the old vent above.
Just then, Miguel... the head bartender, walked in, tossing his apron into a bin.
"You good, Talia? You looked spooked earlier."
I forced a half-smile. "Bad shrimp."
He laughed, thankfully not digging deeper. But I could feel his gaze linger a bit longer than usual before he nodded and left.
Once alone, I took out my phone and stared at the call screen. I hovered over Caleb's name. Then Cara's. I wanted to talk to someone, anyone. But what could I say?
'Hey, so I accidentally drained a demon with my bare hand. Cool, right?'
Instead, I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and grabbed my bag.
---
Caleb*
I stood in a darkened alley behind the old docks, watching the back door of a shady antiques store that only opened after midnight.
"Collectors," they called themselves. But I knew what they really traded in, dark sigils, corrupted relics, cursed contracts. If anyone could tell me what the sigil I found meant, it was them.
When the door finally creaked open, a woman in her fifties stepped out. She wore round glasses and had two green-glowing tattoos that slithered like snakes down her neck.
"Come in," she said before I even introduced myself.
Inside, the air was thick with incense and the static hum of restrained magic. The shop looked smaller from the outside. Inside, it spiraled like a maze of shelves and runes.
I handed over a cloth-wrapped object, the dark crystal sigil.
She unwrapped it slowly, reverently.
And froze.
"Where did you get this?"
"Found it in an old demon hideout. Why?"
Her voice lowered. "This is called the Sable Seal."
She turned it over with gloved hands.
"It's not just a sigil. It's a counterbalance. A failsafe. Seven virgin sorceresses created this after the Shattering of Nyros to suppress or stabilize the essence of the Void."
My brow furrowed. "The Shattering?"
"Nyros was the first bearer of the Void. A Fey-born anomaly. His power stripped corrupted supernaturals, demons, vampires, goblins, of their strength, their immortality. He became a natural weapon."
I nodded slowly, absorbing the weight of her words.
"He was made head judge of the Supernatural Council. He believed in balance, justice. But the Fey have a weakness. Demon blood. If ingested, it breaks their purity."
My eyes widened. "He was poisoned?"
She nodded gravely. "His mistress, hired by Veyros, slipped demon blood into his wine. It immobilized him. And while he was vulnerable, they carved the Void from his chest."
She paused, voice reverent now. "His heart, infused with pure Void energy, shattered upon removal. The most potent fragment became the Shard of Nyros."
I leaned forward. "Kael's searching for that."
She blinked. "Then he's chasing a relic feared even in the deepest realms. The Shard of Nyros amplifies or reacts to the bearer's proximity to the Void. It's sentient in ways scholars barely understand."
She tapped the Sable Seal. "This… was created to suppress it. If the Void bearer ever loses control, the Seal can bind or cage the eruption. Temporarily. But using it can result in mental disorientation, memory loss, or spiritual backlash."
I stared at the Sable Seal in her palm. It looked harmless. Just a smooth, dark stone veined with silver.
But now… it hummed like a heartbeat.
"And if the bearer doesn't know they have the Void?"
"The Seal keeps it quiet. Dormant. Hidden, until it chooses to break."
---
RUTH*
I hadn't slept in days.
The scroll in my office wouldn't stop taunting me. The fragments I remembered from my youth as a Light Chaser... about The Void, about DeLight's descendant... were beginning to piece together.
And now… my daughter was acting strange.
She was stronger than she should be. More instinctive. And she carried a pull, a quiet gravity around her I couldn't explain.
I flipped through our ancient hunter records.
Names of void-bearers.
Dates of unexplained power surges.
Talia fit.
I didn't want her to.
Because if she was the one, the supernatural world would either turn to her for salvation, or try to destroy her.
And neither outcome left her unscarred.
---
TALIA*
Later That Night
Sleep didn't come easy.
When it did, it came in pieces.
I dreamed of glass cities burning, of a woman with my face standing atop a hill made of ash. Her mouth moved, but the wind stole her words.
Then... darkness. A sea of stars. I floated in it.
I felt… whole. But I was not alone.
Something ancient watched me.
When I woke, my skin was cold. The lights flickered.
And I swore I saw a shadow dart from the corner of my room.
---
KAEL*
Vaelith appeared without warning. His eyes shimmered violet, his expression caught between amusement and dread.
"The dreamwalker saw her again," he said.
I set aside the scroll I'd been studying. "And?"
"Talia touched the wellspring. Just a taste. A demon fled. She does not yet know what she is."
"But others will. Soon."
He nodded. "Veyros feels it. And the Court is listening."
I cursed under my breath. I hadn't expected her awakening to start this soon.
"What about the Shard?"
"Still buried. Still guarded. Still cursed."
"Then I'll need to leave tomorrow."
"And leave her unprotected?"
I clenched my jaw.
There were too many threads pulling tight. One wrong move, and the whole tapestry would tear.
But I couldn't protect her if I was still powerless.
I needed my title back.
I needed the Court's leash long enough to pull it around their own necks.
And I needed her to stay hidden… just a little longer.