They ran.
Muscles screaming, lungs burning, bodies pushed past every reasonable limit—they ran like their lives depended on it. Because they did.
Behind them, the sky had erupted into chaos. Vampires poured out of the mall like a swarm of locusts, their wings creating a sound like thunder as hundreds—thousands—of them took flight. Young vampires, old vampires, all of them emerging from their year-long sleep with a hunger that made demons look tame.
"There!" Zayne pointed to a broken car ahead, its frame twisted from some long-ago impact. They ducked behind it, pressing themselves flat against the metal as vampires streaked overhead.
The creatures weren't hunting methodically. They were frenzied, attacking everything that moved. A demon that had been weakly crawling through thewas descended upon by five vampires at once, its screams cut short as they tore it apart. A hybrid trying to flee was caught mid-run, dragged down by claws and teeth.
Even a giant—one of those massive creatures that had seemed invincible—was brought down by sheer numbers. Dozens of vampires swarmed it like piranhas, biting any exposed flesh they could reach.
And everything they bit transformed.
Nana watched in horror as a demon's red eyes flickered and changed, glowing with that distinctive vampire crimson. Its body convulsed, bones cracking and reforming as wings erupted from its back. Within seconds, it had joined its attackers, turning on its former kin with the same viciousness.
"The transformation is instant," she breathed. "One bite and—"
Zayne grabbed her arm, yanking her forward as the car they'd been hiding behind was suddenly crushed by a falling body—a vampire that had collided mid-air with another.
They ran again, sliding under a collapsed building's overhang as more vampires flew past. The air itself smelled like blood now—thick and cloying, making every breath taste of copper.
Nana's foot caught on debris. She went down hard, her palms scraping against concrete as she tried to catch herself. Pain exploded through her shin—she'd gashed it open on something sharp, blood immediately welling up and streaming down her leg.
"Nana!" Zayne spun back, reaching for her.
But vampires had already noticed. Three of them, circling overhead, their red eyes locking onto the fresh scent of blood.
They dove.
He didn't hesitate. His blade left his hand in a perfect throw, catching the lead vampire in the throat. It shrieked and fell, crashing into the two behind it and buying them precious seconds.
He grabbed Nana's hand and hauled her up, ignoring her gasp of pain as weight came down on her injured leg. "Run! Just run!"
They sprinted through the ruins as the moon began to rise behind them. But this wasn't a normal moon—it was swollen and red, the color of fresh blood, painting everything in shades of crimson that made the world look like it was drowning.
The blood moon. The cycle that brought death and transformation and horror beyond measure.
And it was happening now. Right now. Hours earlier than Nana had predicted.
Vampire filled the sky like a plague.
Everywhere Nana looked, she saw them—feeding, transforming, creating more of their kind from anything living they could find.
The screams of the dying and the newly-transformed created a symphony of horror that would have driven her mad if she let herself think about it.
The Ancient Tree was visible now, rising above the ruins like a monument to nightmares. Its massive trunk was covered in vampires—hundreds more, waking up, unfurling their wings, joining the hunt.
And at its top, barely visible through the swarm, the Wish Bridge gleamed. So close. So impossibly far.
"We can't make it!" Nana shouted over the chaos. "There are too many!"
Zayne eyes swept the area, calculating, planning. Then he saw it—a metal door set into the ground, half-buried in rubble.
An entrance to the underground station system that ran beneath some districts.
"There!" He changed direction, pulling Nana with him.
They reached the door as vampires circled closer. Zayne kicked it hard, once, twice, three times. The metal groaned and gave way, revealing stairs descending into darkness.
"Go!"
Nana stumbled down the stairs, her injured leg nearly giving out twice. Zayne followed, pulling the damaged door closed behind them as much as possible.
Darkness swallowed them. The sounds of chaos became muffled, distant. For a moment, there was just their ragged breathing and the drip of water somewhere deeper in the tunnels.
"Your leg," Zayne said urgently, already kneeling beside her. "Let me see."
Nana sat heavily on the stairs, her hands shaking as adrenaline began to fade. The gash on her shin was deep, blood still flowing freely, leaving a red trail on the concrete behind them.
Zayne tore a strip from his already-damaged shirt, his hands steady despite everything. His fingers were gentle as they cleaned the wound with precious water, then wrapped the makeshift bandage tight.
"It's not deep enough to need stitches," he said, and there was relief in his voice. "But we need to—"
A sound cut him off. Soft. Almost inaudible.
The flutter of wings in the darkness above them.
Zayne's head snapped up, his hand already reaching for his remaining blade.
"Nana, behind me. Now."
But he was too slow.
The vampire dropped from the ceiling like a stone, its body colliding with Zayne's and sending both of them tumbling down the remaining stairs. They hit the bottom hard, became a tangle of limbs and wings and desperate fighting.
"ZAYNE!" Nana scrambled down after them, her injured leg forgotten.
In the dim light filtering from above, she could see them—Zayne and the vampire, locked in combat. The creature was young, probably newly transformed last year, but still incredibly strong. Its claws raked across Zayne's arms as he tried to hold it back, its fangs snapping inches from his throat.
Zayne's hand found purchase on the vampire's wing. He grabbed and twisted, using the creature's own anatomy against it. The vampire shrieked, its grip loosening just enough for Zayne to slam it against the wall.
Again. And again. His hands found the wings' base, where they connected to the body, and he pulled.
The sound was terrible—like tearing wet leather mixed with breaking bones. The vampire's shriek reached a pitch that made Nana's ears ring. But Zayne didn't stop.
Couldn't stop. He ripped those wings off with strength born of desperation and rage.
The vampire collapsed, its body already dissolving into black mist Dead. Permanently dead.
Zayne stood there, breathing hard, covered in blood—both his own and the creature's—and for a moment, Nana thought they'd made it.
That they'd survived.
Then she saw his neck.
Two puncture wounds, small and neat, blood trickling down to soak into his collar.
The word fell from her lips like a stone. "No, no, no—"
Zayne's hand went to his neck, fingers coming away red. He stared at the blood for a long moment, then looked at Nana with eyes that were already starting to change.
The transformation was instant with vampires. One bite and the process began immediately—restructuring cells, rewriting DNA, turning human into monster in a matter of minutes.
Nana's legs gave out. She fell to her knees, not from pain or exhaustion, but from the crushing weight of understanding.
She'd failed. Again.
They'd been so close—the Wish Bridge right there, visible through the chaos—and she'd failed to protect him.
Again.
"Nana ". Zayne's voice was strained, fighting against something inside him. His hands were clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood.
"You need to... you need to run. Get out of here before—"
"No." She crawled toward him, ignoring her injured leg, ignoring everything except the need to reach him. "I'm not leaving you. Not again."
His body convulsed, a shudder running through him from head to toe. When he looked up, his hazel eyes had red bleeding into them from the edges, like ink dropped in water.
"I can feel it," he gasped. "It's... it's changing me. My thoughts are... Nana, I don't want to hurt you. I can't—" Another convulsion cut off his words.
She reached him and threw her arms around him, holding tight even as his body shook with the transformation. "Then bite me too," she said desperately. "Bite me and we'll be vampires together. We'll find another way out, we'll—"
"NO!" The word was a roar, Zayne's hands coming up to grip her shoulders. Not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to push her back. "I won't do that to you. I won't make you into—" He cut himself off, breathing hard through clenched teeth.
His hands were changing. Nana could see it happening in real-time—fingers lengthening slightly, nails sharpening into claws, skin paling to something almost translucent.
"Nana." He cupped her face with those changing hands, his touch still impossibly gentle despite everything. "You know what has to happen."
Understanding crashed over her like a physical blow. "No. Don't ask me to—"
"You have to." His thumbs brushed away tears she didn't realize were falling. "Before I fully transform. Before I become something that will hurt you. That will kill you."
"I can't do it." Nana was sobbing now, her hands gripping his wrists. "Zayne, please. Don't ask me to do this. There has to be another way. There has to—"
"There isn't." His voice was breaking, tears streaming down his face to match hers.
"And we both know it. The portal won't accept vampires. If I transform fully, I'm trapped here forever. At least this way... at least this way I'll be reborn. Human. With a chance to try again."
"But I can't—" Her voice dissolved into sobs. "How can you ask me to—"
"Nana. Look at me."
She did, and the sight broke her all over again. Zayne was crying too, tears running freely as he fought against the transformation with everything he had. Fighting to stay himself for just a little longer. Long enough to say goodbye.
His hands moved from her face to her hands, guiding them to the blade still strapped to his chest. Nana tried to pull away, but his grip was firm, insistent.
"You're not killing me," he said softly. "You're helping me. Setting me free from this. Do you understand? You're saving me."
"But I can't—" She was shaking so hard she could barely stand. "I love you. How can I—"
Zayne leaned forward and kissed her. Really kissed her, pouring everything he felt into the contact. Love and grief and gratitude and goodbye all tangled together in a way that made her feel like her heartbeing torn from her chest.
She kissed him back desperately, tasting salt from their combined tears, trying to memorize every detail. The way his lips felt against hers. The warmth of his breath. The sound he made—half sob, half something that might have been her name.
His hands tightened over hers on the blade handle. Guiding. Coaxing. Giving her the permission she needed even though every fiber of her being was screaming at her to stop.
When they broke apart, both gasping for air, Zayne pressed his forehead to hers.
"Quick and clean," he whispered. "Like you're pulling me out of darkness. Can you do that for me?"
Nana's hands were trembling so badly she could barely hold the blade. But she tightened her grip, feeling Zayne's hands steady over hers, and nodded.
Nana couldn't speak. Couldn't find words for this moment. Could only hold him close and let her tears fall as she positioned the blade over his heart.
"I love you," Zayne said, and his smile was beautiful and broken and so full of emotion it made her want to scream. "Find me again. Promise you'll find me."
"I promise," Nana choked out. "I'll always find you."
His hands pressed down over hers. Gentle. Certain. Helping her do what needed to be done.
The blade slid home.
Zayne gasped, his body going rigid. His eyes—those beautiful hazel eyes that were almost completely red now—found hers one last time.
"Thank... you..." he breathed.
Then his body went slack.
She caught him as he fell, pulling the blade free and dropping it with a clatter. She cradled him in her arms, holding him tight against her chest as if she could somehow keep him here through will alone.
Above them, she could hear the Wish Bridge beginning to collapse. Its time was ending, the portal closing until next year.
But none of that mattered. Nothing mattered except the man in her arms.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed into his hair. "I'm so sorry. I should have been faster, should have been stronger, should have—"
White mist began rising from Zayne's legs. The rebirth cycle claiming him, preparing to scatter his soul and reform it somewhere else in Avalon.
Nana felt the mist against her skin—cool and insubstantial, like touching fog. She watched it climb higher, consuming his body inch by inch.
"No! Wait..." she whispered. "Please. Just a little longer. Let me hold him just a little longer."
But the mist didn't care about her pleas. It continued its work, methodical and merciless.
Zayne's torso began to fade. Then his shoulders. His neck.
Nana leaned down and kissed him one final time. Kissed that beautiful face that was dissolving beneath her lips, tried to commit every detail to memory before it was gone.
"I'll find you," she promised against his disappearing mouth. "I'll find you and I'll get us both out of here. Both of us. I swear it."
His face faded completely, leaving her holding nothing but mist that swirled through her fingers and dispersed into the darkness of the tunnel.
Nana sat there in the silence, covered in blood, her hands empty, and screamed.
She screamed until her voice gave out, until there was nothing left but broken sobs and the crushing weight of grief.
Zayne was gone.
The Wish Bridge had collapsed.
And she was alone in Avalon once again, with nothing but the promise to find him and the determination to try again next year.
If she could survive that long.
If she could survive the weight of having killed the man she loved with her own hands.
Again.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.