The first sign of trouble came from the north.
Garrett received word from a contact in the Makah pack. Strangers had been seen near the Canadian border. Not wolves. Not vampires. Something else. They moved in groups of three or four. They didn't speak. They just watched.
Kael called a council meeting. The community gathered in the main house—Garrett, Isolde, Thorne, Sera, the others who had built this place from nothing.
"Who are they?" Isolde asked.
"I don't know. The descriptions don't match anything in our records." Kael looked at Lyra. "Helena's journals?"
Lyra shook her head. "Nothing. Whatever they are, they're not in the old texts."
Elara spoke from the corner. "I dreamed about them."
Everyone turned. Kael's chest tightened. "What do you mean?"
"Three nights ago. I dreamed of figures at the border. They were watching. Waiting. They didn't have faces—just shadows where features should be."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Lyra asked.
"I didn't know if it was real. Sometimes my dreams are just dreams. Sometimes they're... more."
Kael exchanged a glance with Lyra. Elara's powers were growing in ways they didn't understand. The dreams might be nothing. They might be everything.
"We increase patrols," Kael said. "Garrett, take the north boundary. Sera, the east. No one goes out alone."
The meeting broke up. Elara lingered.
"Dad. There's something else."
"What?"
"In the dream. The figures were looking for something. Not the community. Not the bridge. Something specific."
"What?"
"I don't know. But they were afraid of it."
Kael didn't sleep that night. He stood on the widow's walk, watching the darkness. Lyra joined him.
"You're worried," she said.
"Yes."
"About Elara?"
"About all of it. The strangers. The dreams. The way her powers keep growing. She's sixteen, Lyra. She should be worrying about school and friends and whether Leo likes her back. Not carrying the weight of a prophecy."
Lyra was quiet for a moment. "I was nineteen when I was turned. Younger than her, in some ways. I didn't get to be a normal teenager. Neither did you."
"That doesn't make it right."
"No. But it made us who we are. She'll find her way. She has us. She has Leo. She has the community."
"And if that's not enough?"
Lyra took his hand. "Then we fight. Like we always have."
---
The strangers appeared three days later.
Kael was on patrol with Garrett when they found them. Three figures stood at the northern boundary, just beyond the tree line. They wore dark cloaks that hid their features. They didn't move. They didn't speak.
"Identify yourselves," Kael called.
One of the figures stepped forward. Its hood fell back.
The face beneath was human. But wrong. The eyes were empty—not blind, but vacant. Like windows into an abandoned house.
"We seek the bridge," it said. Its voice was flat. Genderless.
"What bridge?"
"The child of blood and moon. The one who carries light."
Kael's blood ran cold. "She's not here."
The figure tilted its head. "You lie. We can feel her. Her light is bright. It calls to us."
"Why do you want her?"
"To serve. The bridge awakens. The old powers stir. We are the Heralds. We prepare the way."
Garrett shifted beside Kael. His voice was low. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I." Kael addressed the figure. "She's not going anywhere with you."
"We do not wish to take her. We wish to warn her." The figure's empty eyes seemed to focus. "There are others who seek the bridge. Not to serve. To destroy. They are coming."
"Who?"
"The Severed. Those who were cast out when the bonds were restored. They have waited in the shadows. Grown strong. They will not let the bridge complete its purpose."
Kael's mind raced. The Silent Ones' remnants. Selene had warned them years ago. He'd thought they were scattered, powerless.
"How many?" he asked.
"Enough. They gather in the east. In the dead places where the old hatred still lingers. They will come before the next full moon."
The figure stepped back. Its companions moved with it.
"Warn the bridge," it said. "Prepare. The Severed will not be reasoned with. They know only destruction."
They vanished into the trees. Garrett exhaled.
"What the hell was that?"
"I don't know. But we need to tell the others."
---
The council meeting lasted until dawn.
Elara sat in the center of the room, her face pale. Leo was beside her, his hand on hers. The Heralds' warning hung in the air like smoke.
"The Severed," Lyra said. "Selene mentioned them. I thought they were gone."
"Apparently not." Kael looked at Elara. "They're coming for you."
"I know."
"What do you want to do?"
Elara was quiet for a long moment. "I want to face them. Not fight. Not if I can avoid it. Talk. Understand why they're so afraid of what I am."
"That's dangerous."
"Everything I am is dangerous. I didn't choose this. But I'm not going to run from it."
Leo spoke. "I'm going with her."
"Leo—"
"No. I've been part of this for two years. I'm not hiding while she walks into danger."
Kael looked at Lyra. She nodded slowly.
"Then we prepare," Kael said. "If the Severed are coming, we meet them on our terms. Not theirs."