The Shadows of the Dawn (Blood and Moon)

1. CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Nikola

W hen Nikola Kingston walked through the door to his friends’ hotel room, he expected to find refuge and the crushing sense of relief. Not a fucking, red-eyed Blood Follower lounging in a leather chair. His reaction was automatic, bred from years of servitude under Lady Morrigan and punctuated by the instinct to protect his loved ones. He’d once before witnessed the carnage a Blood Follower was capable of in an enclosed room filled with Moon Children. Never again .

The intense whiplash to kill would’ve thrown him off guard, but he was moving faster than he was thinking. He was already across the room, taking the Blood Follower by his skinny throat. He thrusted him up against the wall, next to a circular mirror with silver rays extending around the rim.

“Nikola!” “Nikki!” The chorus of his name made him pause. That split second very well saved the unfamiliar Blood Follower’s life.

A hand landed on his shoulder, instantly quelling the beast clawing for freedom inside his burning chest. “I see you’ve picked up your mate’s habits of acting first and asking later,” said Katsuki, their voice as soothing as the calming sensation they were siphoning into Nikola’s nervous system. Nikola warned Kat that he was aware of what they were doing with a growl, but the threat had most of its edges dulled. “This one, he’s subdued.”

“This one?” Nikola echoed. “Who exactly is this one?”

Nikola glowered at the stranger as he said it, prompting the Blood Follower to meekly answer, “Liam.”

Not a name he recognized, but why would he? Even serving under Lady Morrigan, Nikola hadn’t ever actually gone out of his way to learn the names of those he worked alongside. But this one’s scent markers were… different. He was still undeniably Blood, but they did not carry the identifiable notes of either Morrigan or Malkolm. A… rogue?

Nikola reminded himself he was no longer in Grander. He was in one of the biggest cities in the country. There were bound to be stray Blood Followers.

“Why are you here?” Nikola growled.

“If you let him go, perhaps we could explain,” came another unfamiliar voice.

Nikola chanced a glance. A Moon Child stood with her hand out, as if intending to stop the Blood Follower with physical force. Though she spoke to Nikola, her almond-shaped eyes, littered with brunette bangs, were fixated on the Blood Follower.

Nikola gawked at the Moon power radiating off of her. It was paramount to Katsuki’s. How was that possible? Just how old was she? Kat, equally intrigued, drifted up to Nikola and pressed their own emotional influence over him.

She was subverting the Blood Follower, and Kat was soothing Nikola. As the shock of the immediate threat melted from Nikola’s body, he realized something he should’ve from the get-go.

There was a human in the room .

Their gender was ambiguous, leaning more toward the feminine with their choppily cut mid-length waves and dark makeup circling forest green doe eyes. Their dark features suggested Native American ancestry. It was evident their fear was for Liam, not toward the collection of vampires sharing the same space.

“What is happening?” Nikola growled, letting go of Liam and stepping away, compliant with the shifting mood of the room.

“Well, now that you’re not about to kill my brother, we can get into that,” the strange Moon Child said.

Brother ? Nikola could see the resemblance now that it was pointed out. The two shared soft features and had the same shade of hair and eye shape, possibly sharing the same color when they were human.

His eyes flicked between the Blood, the Moon, and the human. The trifecta of mankind. A dozen questions bubbled behind his lips. But before any could come to life, Asher shoved forward and said, “Liam? Liam Michaels ? What the fuck are you... how ?” Asher, wild-eyed and flushed, looked at Nikola as if he had the answers.

Asher knew this man? Was he one of Malkolm’s?

“Hi... Ash,” Liam said. “It’s, erm, a long story. I suppose. Uh... we sort of... followed you?” He shrugged with a sheepish smile. Asher’s pallid shock morphed into a disgusted snarl. So, the two were familiar but not friendly.

“You think you have any right—” Asher started.

“It was over a decade ago!”

“You ruined my life!” Asher’s exclamation bordered on feral, prompting Nikola to rest a hand on his shoulder. Asher shoved it off, hissing at Liam.

“Enough!” both Katsuki and the female Moon Child shouted, exerting their influence once more. So much so, Liam sank down into the plush armchair, his attention fixed on his sister. Kat held a hand up, their focus pinpointed at Asher, who was able to resist it just enough to glare hotly at Liam.

“Let me explain,” the sister said, addressing the whole room. Nikola, remembering the others of his coven, was satisfied to see Francis bristling over the presence of the Blood. “Firstly, I’m Trish, and this human here is Moss.” Nikola nearly snorted when the human quietly waved a hand. “Yes, we followed you, and no, Liam is not affiliated with either Malkolm or Morrigan. I didn’t want to flee Grander without him. I didn’t want to travel alone at all, but one of Morrigan’s killed the woman who Changed me.” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat before the tale as old as time could overwhelm her. “But I was the one who Changed him .” A haunted look shadowed her delicate features as she examined Liam. “You can imagine my shock when he woke up with red eyes. But, yes, Liam recognized Asher, and we heard part of your conversations a few nights ago—when Grander started collapsing—and decided to follow. If only to have somewhere to go. It’s like the world suddenly caught on fire and we panicked.”

“Never mind your tragic backstory,” Francis interrupted. “What you say implies Liam is a newborn. Unless this child has the self-control of a saint, how has he resisted killing Moss?”

“And how the hell did y’all tail us across the country without us picking up on it?” Asher bit out, his stress causing his childhood accent to slip through.

“The answer for the both of you is one and the same,” Trish answered patiently. She studied her opened hands before curling them into fists. “I have remarkable powers of emotion. That’s why Meredith chose me a few months ago—she was curious how a psychology major with a penchant for empathy would fare as a Moon. I don’t mean to brag, but that’s how I’ve been keeping Liam tethered. And it wasn’t difficult distracting you two, so you didn’t notice us.”

Nikola could hardly believe it. There had to be more to their story. He inclined his head at Moss and said, “What part do you play in all of this? The nocturnal world is no place for a mortal.”

Moss answered unflinchingly. “I am Liam’s partner. Trish didn’t know about me when she decided to completely change his life without his consent.” Trish grimaced but said nothing in her defense. “All I knew was that Liam vanished for a week. But it’s Grander. I assumed the worst.” Their green gaze flashed back and forth between sister and brother. “I’m still figuring out if I want to roll the dice—would I want to risk being a blood-thirsty monster? No offense, Liam.” The Blood shrugged, as if to say, “None taken.” Moss added, “Plus, I have some surgical and hormonal plans in my future, and I’m not sure if I want to get trapped in an unchanging body.”

Kat frowned. “There are measures you can take to make body modifications permanent.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. And not just with tattoos and piercings.”

Moss’s vibrant eyes almost seemed to shine brighter amidst their excitement. “We should talk later,” they said.

“Partner, eh?” Asher spat, ogling Liam in disbelief, his upper lip curling. Nikola’s eyes shot up toward his hairline. What bad blood is between these two? “That’s real ironic, Liam.”

Liam’s lips pursed. “High school. It was high school .”

Asher’s laugh was sharp and high-strung, bouncing off the walls. Nikola knew what usually came after that sound and prepared himself to intervene. “And one of my last human memories, asshole.”

“What,” Moss vocalized Nikola’s thoughts, “are you two going on about? ”

“Aw, does your little redemption arc not know about what you did to me during my last mortal days?” Asher pretended to pout. “Should’ve considered that before begging me for a favor.”

“To be fair, none of them had expected me to see through their illusions while they were eavesdropping in the hallway,” Kat said, giving Trish a thin smile. “A humbling experience, I imagine.”

Not able to hold Kat’s intense stare, Trish looked away. “We just needed a destination, I guess.”

“Well, you made it,” Asher sneered, extending and retracting his claws subconsciously. “There’s a whole city to explore. Get to it.”

Katsuki held up a palm. “Slow down. This city is not acclimated to vampires or ruled by those capable of influencing its government. And I’m unsure if I trust Trish’s hold over her brother to last.”

“Hold on—” Trish started defensively.

“Ah, I’m not done.” Kat threw a glare at Trish akin to a parent scolding their child. She promptly closed her mouth, alarm flashing across her expression. “It would be in our best interests to stick together. To put it plainly, so that I can help leash this Follower before he causes Chicago to sound the vampire alarm.”

“He won’t—” Trish tried again.

It was Francis to cut in next. “Though I personally hate to admit it, I must agree with Katsuki. If a Blood is nearby during our stay, I’d prefer him in my sights.”

“Nah, fuck this.” Scarlet iris searing brightly, Asher spun toward the nearest window. Nikola would’ve laughed at the classic Asher move if not for the bolt of anxiety striking his nervous system. The last time Asher had fled out of a window had been all too recent.

Nikola snatched his wrist. Asher froze, goosebumps rising across his flesh. He took a deep breath and looked Nikola in the eye as he said, “ I just need a second, okay? I’m not... I’m not running away. Never again. I promise. Trust me?”

Nikola did. With his entire hybrid heart. Through all the noise and confusion that plagued the world, one thing would always ring clear and true. Nikola Kingston trusted Asher Black.

With a sigh, Nikola let him go. But not without a swift kiss. As they broke apart, Nikola breathed, “Return soon, my love.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Asher replied in that nonchalant fashion that’d enamored Nikola from the very beginning. His chest ached as he watched the troubled vampire climb out of the tenth-story window.

That ache churned into a deep-seated anger. The short temper caught Nikola off guard, but he did not question it. He directed it at the source of Asher’s grief, an easy target.

Nikola whirled on the Blood Follower, approaching slowly so no one would immediately try and restrain him, physically or psychologically. All the same, Liam shrunk under Nikola’s glower as he loomed over him. “Explain yourself,” Nikola commanded, pouring power into the words, breathing air into his chest to puff it out.

“Can we not—” Trish whined.

“I believe it only fair to know Liam’s relations to my Asher if you lot are here because of said relations,” Nikola snapped at the girl. She winced at his tone. Normally, he would’ve regretted the coarse attitude, but he blamed his sour mood on the evening’s events. “Are we in agreement?” When no one disputed, he prompted, “Well?”

He sensed the blade of guilt and shame cutting into the Follower’s heart. Nikola purposely pushed the mental knife deeper until he reached into the realm of penance and confession. “Speak.”

“We dated in high school!” Liam blurted out, voice trembling in time with his body’s shakes. Nikola scrutinized him. This spineless creature had once been Asher Black’s mate? “Uh, in secret, that is. Neither of us were out of the closet yet. I mean, there were rumors about Asher... you know, teenagers are ruthless.”

A pause. Liam’s dishonesty was a bitter film laying across his skin, like unwashed sweat. “You’re hiding something,” Nikola snarled.

“Christ, dude!” The Follower’s eyes flashed like the warning lights atop a police car. “We were kids. I didn’t know. I mean, I had to cover my case, or they’d target me, too. So, you know.” He clutched his hair and groaned lowly. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I’m not proud of what I did, but I was a stupid kid with stupid logic and survival instincts.”

“Dude,” Moss breathed.

Nikola recalled from ages ago Asher detailing the event that’d began his descent toward suicide. The first boyfriend who had joined in on the locker room attack that’d resulted in Asher being outed to his bigoted parents.

There was not a Moon Child on this planet, save perhaps the Goddess herself, who could’ve quelled the inferno raging in Nikola’s head. His ears rang, scarlet tinging the lenses of his vision.

He snatched Liam by the throat, causing Trish to scream. Liam spat, spittle flying off his canines as he wildly slashed at Nikola’s face, acting like a spooked alley cat. It took the collective strength of Veronica, Francis, and Katsuki to pry the two apart.

Bruises formed a ring around Liam’s neck, then began to fade. The shallow cuts beading with blood across Nikola’s cheeks were already healing. He did not feel any of them.

“You do not speak to Asher,” Nikola rumbled. “You do not look at Asher. I’ve killed in his name before. I will not hesitate to do so again.”

With that threat lingering in the air, Nikola shoved off his friends and followed Asher out of the window.