8. Daylight Rules
DAYLIGHT RULES
He reached for his phone, squinting at the brightness of the screen. His body felt heavy, sluggish. Daytime sleep was never restful. It was more like his body shutting down to survive, waiting for the sun to drop so he could actually live again.
Three missed calls from Soleil. Two texts from Sevyn. One from Cairo.
And one from Soreya.
Soreya (9:23 AM): Hey. Just wanted to check in. Hope you good.
Reign stared at the message, his jaw tightening. Just wanted to check in. That wasn't her. Soreya didn't "check in" like that. She called him out. She demanded answers. She fought with him, cried over him, waited up for him. But she didn't send casual, distant texts like they were acquaintances.
Something was off.
He sat up in bed, the sheets pooling around his waist. His skin prickled with unease—not from the message itself, but from what it meant. She was pulling away. He could feel it. And that terrified him more than any rival crew, any hunter, any threat to his empire.
Because losing Soreya felt like losing the only thing that made him human.
His phone buzzed again.
Soleil (11:50 AM): You up? We need to talk. Business.
Soleil (11:51 AM): Cairo calling emergency meeting. Smoke & Gold. 1 PM. Be there.
Cairo (11:52 AM): This is not optional.
Reign's stomach dropped. Cairo didn't call daytime meetings.
Ever. The old vampire was powerful enough to move during indirect sunlight for short periods, but he hated it.
Hated the weakness it brought, the vulnerability.
If Cairo was demanding a meeting before sunset, something was catastrophically wrong.
Reign stood, stretching, feeling the stiffness in his muscles.
Vampires didn't need as much sleep as humans, but daytime rest was mandatory.
The sun wasn't just uncomfortable—it was deadly.
He'd seen younger vampires get careless, step outside during the day thinking they could handle it.
The burns were instant. The pain unbearable.
And if they stayed out too long, they'd combust.
He walked to the window and pulled back the curtain just an inch, testing. A thin beam of sunlight cut through the gap, and the moment it touched his hand, his skin sizzled. He hissed, jerking back, watching the red burn mark appear on his knuckles before it started healing almost immediately.
"Fuck," he muttered, shaking his hand. Even after all these years, he still tested it sometimes. Like maybe one day the rules would change.
They never did.
He let the curtain fall back into place and headed to the bathroom. The house was silent. Soreya wasn't here—she'd been staying at her own place more often lately. Another sign. Another distance.
Reign showered quickly, the hot water doing little to ease the tension in his body. When he got out, he checked his phone again. Still nothing new from Soreya. But Soleil had sent another message.
Soleil (12:03 PM): Sevyn and I handling shit. But you need to see this. VSU girl. The chemist. Her research going viral. Cairo want her.
Reign dried off and got dressed—black Amiri jeans, a white Saint Laurent tee, a black Balenciaga jacket.
He slid his gold chain on, checked himself in the mirror.
Even in the dim light of his blackout-curtained house, he looked good.
It was automatic at this point. Looking good was part of the job. Part of the image. Part of the control.
Soleil (12:15 PM): Also Noctis hit another one of our spots last night. They looking for her too. This is bad.
He grabbed his phone and headed out to the garage. The Hellcat was waiting, and he'd need to move fast. Smoke & Gold was across town, and he'd have to take the underground parking entrance to avoid any direct sunlight.
Thursday, 12:58 PM
Smoke & Gold Hookah Lounge sat in the heart of Shockoe Bottom, a converted warehouse with no windows on the ground floor and reinforced steel doors.
During the day, it looked abandoned. At night, it was one of the most exclusive spots in Richmond—invitation only, bottle service that cost more than rent, and a clientele that knew better than to ask questions.
Reign pulled into the underground garage and took the private elevator up to the main floor.
The lounge was dark, lit only by dim amber lights and the glow of hookah coals.
Cairo was already there, sitting in the back corner booth like a king on a throne.
Soleil sat to his right, her expression cold and focused.
Sevyn stood near the bar, arms crossed, looking like he was ready to break something.
Cairo Saint looked exactly like what he was: a vampire who'd survived nearly four centuries by being smarter, more ruthless, and more strategic than everyone else.
He was tall, dark-skinned, with close-cropped hair going silver at the temples.
He wore a tailored charcoal suit that probably cost ten thousand dollars, and his eyes—ancient, calculating, predatory—tracked Reign's every movement as he approached.
"You're late," Cairo said, his voice smooth and cold.
"You called a daytime meeting," Reign shot back, sliding into the booth across from him. "I had to be careful."
"We don't have time for careful." Cairo leaned forward, his hands folded on the table. "Noctis is moving. Fast. And if we don't move faster, we lose everything."
Soleil pulled out her phone and slid it across the table. On the screen was a TikTok video—a young woman in a lab coat, beautiful and confident, explaining her research on vampire physiology and theoretical sunlight resistance.
"Arissa Sterling," Soleil said. "Thirty years old. Grad student at VSU. Chemistry focus. She's created a serum that allows vampires to survive in daylight. Not full sun, but enough. Indirect light. Shade. Four to six hours of mobility during the day."
Reign picked up the phone, watching the video. Arissa was stunning—dark skin, natural hair pulled back, sharp eyes that radiated intelligence. She spoke with the kind of confidence that came from knowing she was the smartest person in the room.
"She a hybrid?" Reign asked.
"Has to be," Cairo said. "No human could figure this out. She's got vampire blood somewhere in her lineage. Probably doesn't even know it yet."
"And Noctis knows about her," Sevyn added from the bar. "They hit one of our runners last night. Tortured him for information. He talked before we could get to him."
Reign's jaw tightened. "He give them her location?"
"He gave them everything," Soleil said flatly. "Her name. Her research. Where she works. Noctis is probably already planning their move."
Cairo's eyes never left Reign's face. "Do you understand what this means?"
"It means whoever gets her serum controls Richmond," Reign said quietly.
"It means whoever gets her serum controls everything," Cairo corrected.
"Right now, we operate at night. Noctis operates at night.
We're evenly matched because we're all bound by the same limitations.
But if one crew gets access to daylight mobility?
" He leaned back, letting the implication hang in the air.
"It's over. They can move product during the day.
They can hit our spots while we're sleeping.
They can expand territory without resistance. We become obsolete."
"So we get to her first," Reign said.
"It's not that simple." Cairo's voice hardened. "Noctis has been in this city longer than the Saint family. They have resources. Connections. And they're not afraid to be messy. If they get to Arissa Sterling first, they'll take what they want and kill her to make sure nobody else gets it."
"Then we take her," Sevyn said, his voice eager. "Tonight. We grab her, bring her here, make her give us the formula."
"No." Cairo's voice cut through the room like a blade. "That's exactly what Noctis would do. And that's why they'll fail."
Sevyn frowned. "What you mean?"
Cairo turned his attention to Reign. "Arissa Sterling is brilliant. Independent. She's not going to respond to threats or violence. If we come at her like thugs, she'll destroy her research before she lets us have it. We need her cooperation. We need her to want to work with us."
"And how we supposed to do that?" Sevyn asked.
Cairo smiled, cold and calculating. "That's why Reign is going."
Reign felt the weight of everyone's eyes on him.
"You're the face of this family," Cairo continued.
"You're charming. Educated. You know how to make people feel safe.
You walk into that lab tonight, and you don't threaten her.
You seduce her. You make her believe that working with us is the best decision she could make.
You offer her protection, resources, money—whatever she needs. And you make her trust you."
"And if she says no?" Reign asked.
Cairo's expression didn't change. "Then Soleil and Sevyn go in after you, and we take what we need.
But that's the last resort. Because if we have to do it that way, we make an enemy.
And enemies talk. Enemies go to the police, the media, other crews.
We can't afford that kind of attention right now. "
Soleil leaned forward. "There's more. The bodies from After Dark are piling up. RPD is asking questions. The news is running stories. People are connecting dots. If we're not careful, the human world is going to start looking too close at our operations."
"Which is why we need to be smart," Cairo said. "We get Arissa Sterling. We get her serum. We secure our position before Noctis makes their move. And we do it clean. No bodies. No attention. No mistakes."
He turned his full attention to Reign, and the weight of his gaze was suffocating.
"This is not a request, Reign. This is an order. You go to Petersburg tonight. You meet with Arissa Sterling. And you bring her into this family—willingly—or you bring me her research. I don't care which. But you do not come back empty-handed."
"And if Noctis gets to her first?" Reign asked.