2025-04-25 18:49:09Frost Hollow hummed with activity. Tents rustled in the cold wind, and the new war room glowed with quiet energy as wolves filed in and out, carrying relics, weapons, and maps recovered from the Silver fang vault.
Lucas stood at the center table, inspecting an artifact—an obsidian ring etched with runes that pulsed faintly whenever he touched it. Skylar leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “That thing gives me bad vibes.” “It’s not reacting to me,” Lucas muttered. “But it’s reacting to something.” Dan entered, holding a scroll. “I don’t read ancient wolf-scratch, but this one was stored in a reinforced tube. That’s gotta mean something.” Dylan took the scroll and unrolled it. “These symbols... they’re not just werewolves. They’re mixed. Part of them are... witch marks.” Lucas blinked. “Witch marks?” Skylar straightened. “You think the Silver fangs worked with witches?” Dylan nodded slowly. “Not just worked. They were bound to them. There’s an old legend about a witch-wolf alliance during the blood moon wars.” Dan frowned. “That doesn’t sound like something our enemies would want us to remember.” Before anyone could reply, the room temperature dropped sharply. A pulse of energy burst through the vault. Every candle snuffed out, plunging the chamber into a tense shadow. Lucas froze. The obsidian ring flared bright. Skylar drew her blade. “What was that?” A light shimmered at the entrance to the war room. Then came footsteps—measured, deliberate. A figure stepped out of the shadows. Long black coat, boots laced high, dark hair curled at the ends, and glowing amethyst eyes that carried the weight of secrets. Lauren Hill. Dan’s jaw dropped. “Lauren?” She smirked, arms folding confidently across her chest. “Hello, boys. Miss me?” Lucas stepped forward cautiously, tension in his shoulders. “Lauren Hill? You’re supposed to be in Thalindor. How the hell did you find us?” Lauren tilted her head. “Followed the screaming magic echo that tore through five towns when someone unlocked a cursed vault. You’re lucky the entire coven didn’t show up.” Skylar’s grip on her blade tightened, eyes never leaving Lauren. “She’s a witch.” Lauren raised both hands, mockingly. “Relax, wolf hunter. I’m not here to hex you.” “Convenient,” Dylan muttered, eyes narrowing. “You always just pop up wherever ancient dark magic starts acting up?” “I do have a talent for timing,” Lauren said coolly. “Besides, you stirred something. Woke it up. And that means we’ve got bigger problems than trust issues.” Lucas didn’t move. “You came alone?” “I didn’t bring the choir,” she said dryly. “This was a me-level emergency. The kind where the High Coven argues for three weeks before anyone acts. I skipped the committee.” Dan crossed his arms. “Or you’re here for something you want.” Lauren shrugged. “Aren’t we all?” Skylar’s voice cut sharp. “We don’t know what side you’re on.” Lauren’s eyes flicked to her. “I’m on the side that doesn’t want the world turned into a pit of screaming ash.” Lucas narrowed his eyes. “Then tell me what you know.” Lauren’s smirk faded as she slowly walked around the war room, her fingers ghosting over ancient weapons, half-unrolled maps, and glowing relics. “This vault wasn’t made to hide treasure. It was built to keep something sealed.” She stopped beside the obsidian ring, looking down at it with quiet focus. “This? It’s a binding focus. Designed to trap entities—old ones. Entities that don’t play nice with the living.” Skylar muttered, “Of course it is.” Lucas crossed his arms. “And you just happen to know how it all works?” Lauren didn’t smile. “I didn’t come here for fun, Lucas. I’ve been dreaming about this for weeks. Same dream. Every night.” Her voice dropped. “You. Standing in a field of fire. Behind you? A woman with eyes like broken glass. She said your name. Then the world split open.” Everyone fell silent. Lucas whispered, “The Ash Queen.” Lauren nodded, serious now. “And I think she’s tied to whatever’s buried beneath this valley.” Dylan looked down at the map they’d been marking for days. “There’s one section of the vault we haven’t breached. It’s under a reinforced seal.” Lauren looked intrigued. “Let me guess—you were going to brute force it?” Lucas hesitated, then nodded. “That was the plan.” “Well, lucky for you,” Lauren said, pulling out a silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon wrapped in thorns, “Plan B just arrived.” Skylar stepped between them, still unconvinced. “Why help us?” Lauren met her gaze directly. “Because if I’m right—and that thing you almost unleashed is connected to the Ash Queen—then it’s not just your pack at risk. It’s all of us. Witches, wolves, humans. The world.” Lucas studied her for a long moment. “You’re not lying.” “I don’t have time to,” she replied. “And neither do you.” With that, she turned and walked toward the lower chamber. Skylar stayed close to Lucas. “You trust her?” “No,” Lucas said. “But I believe her.” Lauren knelt before the sealed vault gate, pendant in hand. She placed it against the surface. The runes on the metal shimmered and shifted like water under moonlight. The seal began to glow. Then, with a groan of ancient stone, the floor trembled. The gate cracked. Dust billowed. Air that hadn’t been breathed in centuries escaped into the room. Behind the seal: a spiraling staircase that descended into darkness so deep and unnatural, even Dylan flinched. Lauren looked over her shoulder. “Ready to see what your ancestors were trying to hide?” Lucas stepped forward, eyes burning gold. His mark pulsed with light. “Let’s go.”
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Chapter 9: Moonveil's Curse
"Keep moving!" Skylar shouted, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch.Lucas panted, his legs burning, boots slamming against wet earth. Behind him, the sound of pursuit never faded. Distant howls. Cracking branches. The echo of footsteps that didn’t belong to them.Dan ran beside him, keeping pace. “Remind me why we’re running toward a place called Moonveil? Sounds cursed.”“It is,” Skylar called back. “But the hunters avoid it. They think it’s haunted.”“Awesome,” Dan muttered. “That’s so comforting.”The forest thinned as they approached the ruins. What remained of Moonveil was barely more than shattered stones and crumbled archways buried in moss. A half-collapsed watchtower loomed over the clearing, and a thick fog clung to the ground like a second skin. The eerie silence that hung in the air was broken only by the soft crunch of their steps on the forest floor.Lucas slowed, his breath visible in the sudden drop of temperature. His heart thudded harder.“This place...” he whispere