Light broke through the endless dark in the sewers beneath Phiana as one wounded Solarist held his torch aloft. With his free hand he wiped away the dried blood from his lip, then turned to his few kin seated and slouched against the wall. Beside them were discarded pieces of embellished, silver armor adorning the emblem of the Triad. The gear had been traded for their trusted black cloaks—normally worn only for security in places their beloved bright robes might otherwise bring scorn. But now, such neutral attire brought them comfort in their defeat.

One Solarist, still dressed in the fine robes of an Overseer, paced fretfully over the stone brick walkway with his hands clasped behind him. He halted abruptly and steeled himself when footsteps approached from around the nearest corner. Each of the Solarists took weapons in hand and readied to ambush in case the Royal Guard was still pursuing them. But the supposed knights stopped just before turning the corner. It was silent, and then came four knocks against the wall in a rhythmic pattern. Recognizing their signal, the Solarists fell at ease and allowed their brethren to join them.

One stepped forward, his torch held high, and greeted the rest with a nod before standing aside. Behind him were a man and woman hauling a beaten and bound Isadore Renard. A trail of blood over his eye obscured his vision as the Overseer grasped his shoulders and threw him against the wall.

“By the Holy Lady’s Light, what were you thinking?” he hissed. “This holy mission had been meticulously planned for nearly two years! Had you not taken it upon yourself to alter our course, we’d be at the gates of the Grand Cathedral and Overseer Saverio would still be alive!”

Isadore sighed deep through his nose and gazed at the ceiling. Again and again he saw in his mind’s eye the blood pooling from Overseer Saverio’s lifeless body behind the podium.

“Clearly you didn’t plan meticulously enough, seeing as none of you had the means to deal with the goblin witch.”

The Overseer again shoved Isadore into the wall, banging his head against the stone. “Silence, Hunter! Six of the seven Overseers that came here are dead because of you, one of our greatest among them. Overseer Saverio’s head was reduced to nothing more than pulp by a revolting lizardman, and you mean to act like you feel nothing? That you do not seethe with hatred for their blighted kind?”

Again the image showed itself in Isadore’s mind. His brow twitched, and for a moment, he felt as though he might cry. From anguish? From joy? But then a somber smile curled onto his face.

“I feel… relieved,” Isadore uttered.

The Overseer responded with a slap. “You should be burned for your blasphemies—for your failures forty years ago and for today! Your purpose has only ever been to hunt, Hunter. Never should you have taken the stage with your haphazard schemes.” He loosed his grip and let the others seize Isadore again. “Keep him detained. We’ll lay low in case any more of us yet live outside we paltry nine. Then we’ll plan our escape from this wretched country so we may recuperate at headquarters.”

After shoving the discarded armor into the water to cover their tracks, the Solarists began their advance further into the sewer. Isadore’s feet dragged across the stone as what remained of his sect pulled him along. His mind was entirely occupied by the vision of Overseer Saverio’s corpse; the bulged eyes from his mutilated face staring back at him during that brief glimpse as he broke free to the balcony. Isadore’s only reprieve was when his mind wandered to how yet again, he failed. So long ago, and again that night. Once more, he was deprived of his Holy Lady’s Enlightenment. Of the only way he could be absolved of his countless sins. For only She could forgive him, as the Triad never would. That was what he had been told, day after day, year after year.

None of them could ever understand his desperation for why he must have it. Why Enlightenment was his only salvation left in the world he’d been adopted into. But with the knowledge of the world beyond where Janus Alscher yet lived, Isadore flared with determination to accomplish his mission, by any means necessary. And not even his own Solarist siblings would stand in his way. After all, he was a Hunter—an exceptionally trained murderer—and the only one among their pathetic group.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

A small chill in the air washed over the unbuttoned chest of Bram’s borrowed night shirt, stirring him from his slumber in the dark of the visitor’s suite. It had still been light outside when he finally laid down to rest, and now he wondered just how many hours had passed.

Laying beside him was Vena, the whites of whose eyes could be spotted in the dark as she laid awake, staring up at the high ceiling. Bram went to touch his wife’s arm and she jolted, in turn startling him.

“Have you slept at all?” he mumbled. “And what time is it?”

“Maybe after nine ‘o clock?” She squinted fruitlessly across the room at the far clock, then threw her head back on the pillow. “I’ve barely slept. Every time I fall asleep, I wake up shortly after from a creepy, childish laugh that I could swear I heard somewhere in the castle. Palace. It’s more of a palace. I’m not sure why they call it a castle. Castles have fortifications and battlements and—”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just Lillian?” Bram interrupted before she steered into a different subject altogether. “She’s been awfully giddy since we got here.”

“Maybe, but it wasn’t.”

“Now you’re just contradicting yourself.” He smirked when Vena turned to him. “You’re just having weird dreams since you’re so on edge.”

She sighed deeply and fidgeted with the hem of the blanket over her stomach. “You’re probably right. Everything just happened so fast. Things I didn’t think existed or never thought I’d see, suddenly all coming at us from nowhere. I just don’t know what to think.”

The pair fell silent and touched each other’s fingertips together to let the other know they were still awake.

“It’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?” Bram said, chuckling.

“How are you not nervous? Or scared?”

“Well, I was a little at first. But didn’t we always want something exciting to happen? Ever since we were children, we’ve wanted more than the unremarkable day-to-day. It’s why we were obsessed with those stories the adventurers told you years ago. Maybe it’s not what we thought it’d be, but it’s definitely some kind of adventure.”

Vena dragged her hands down her face. “I know, but I just can’t stop from feeling nervous. He seems like a nice man, but that Janus is still a—a vampire, or so he says. Though he does look the part… What if he has something planned for all of us?”

“Ah, so that’s what this is about? Even after you lightened up in the carriage. Well, let’s keep trusting Ellie, for starters. She really seems to love and trust him, and I doubt foul magic formed those feelings.”

“I know, but what if he—”

“Vena. We saw the same man, didn’t we? Stumbled when he touched the water? Nearly sobbed when Ellie recognized him? Almost always fidgeting when he talks to us?” Bram flopped to his back. “No, I don’t think Janus is a bad person. If he was really such an intimidating, powerful vampire, he could’ve just put us all under a spell by now.”

Vena groaned and sank beneath the blanket. “Maybe you’re right. I’m just on edge.”

“You’re also just being a parent.” Bram linked his fingers with hers and smiled. “Trust me, you weren’t the only one worried. But I think everything’s gonna be fine. Besides, how exciting is it that he’s a vampire? And every bit as regal and graceful as the stories would have you think. Well, that stumble on the beach wasn’t so graceful, but besides that.”

“I suppose so. I just wonder why his family name is so familiar.” With a low laugh and a shake of her head, Vena closed her eyes and relaxed. “I do feel better now, thank you. Maybe now I can get some sleep.” The words no sooner passed her lips and Vena turned abruptly to her husband. “Your dosage!”

“Didn’t I have one in the woods? And it was afternoon when we got here, I think, so it hasn’t even been a whole day yet.”

“Right, the weird thing with the time. I just hope that doesn’t affect you strangely.” She ran her fingers through Bram’s hair and gave him a small kiss. “I’ll prepare another in the afternoon, then.”

“Good. Let’s just tackle one thing at a time, and right now it’s sleep.”

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

A once-empty wardrobe in Janus’s bedchamber now brimmed with every dress that Ellie had transferred from her room. Their new home sat just on the other side of the entrance to the back hallway, across from Janus’s own collection of outfits. With little resistance, the wardrobe doors clicked shut as Ellie easily smoothed them out with her finger.

“Good, they shouldn’t pop the doors open.” Ellie turned at her hip to face Janus, her arms rested at her sides. He was seated on one of the two sofas with a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other. “Convenient that you just so happened to have this extra wardrobe.”

Janus glanced up at her and smirked. “I don’t have enough outfits to warrant using a third.”

“A third? You mean to tell me you’re using two?”

“Oh, that’s not all.” He motioned to the room beside him, hugged by a flight of stairs leading to his office loft. “I’ve an entire room full of outfits, many of which I haven’t seen in decades.” Janus raised his brow when Ellie scrunched her face. “Four hundred years is a long time to accumulate articles of clothing. And many other things, of which I also store in there.”

“As if there aren’t already enough storerooms in this place. Now you’re telling me you have a personal one with all your forgotten outfits and baubles.” Ellie strode over to the sofa, tapped Janus’s shoulder to tell him to slide over, and plopped down. “What’re you reading?”

Janus placed his glass on the low table and flashed her the book’s cover.

“Ah, ‘Melody of Shadows’,” she said, tapping her chin. “With the werewolf. I forgot I’d lent you this one.” There was an unforeseen familiarity when Ellie touched the book. It wasn’t a particular favorite, but nevertheless it was a cherished gift. “Say, are there werewolves in the Night Realm?”

“Not as far as I know.” He drummed his fingers rhythmically on the book’s back in thought. “Which is a surprise, since they’re certainly among those the Solar Cultists consider ‘condemnable’. Perhaps in the Northern Territory?” Janus bit his lip and reconsidered the notion. “No, werewolves and vampires aren’t typically known to get along with one another. Marcin might be reasonable if the union benefited him, but his brother Ryszard would surely view it as having to share his food. Though Saint Soleil did tell me once that there were werewolves who stayed behind in the Old World when she left for her pilgrimage.”

Easing her shoulders back against the sofa, Ellie looked up and traced her eyes along the walkway leading from the loft and the stairs to a door to the third floor corridor. “I find it weird that the Solarists—Solar Cultists, whatever—use shadow magic. Shadowmancy?”

“Shadowmancy, yes. But why do you find that strange?”

Ellie’s lips formed into a confused pout. “Well. They worship a sun goddess, don’t they?”

“While that is true, I believe only a select few use it. I’m no expert on their order, but the few scrolls found in bundles of other occult information that rats have brought back from the Prime Realm indicate that it’s a ‘necessary tarnish a Hunter must take into themselves to combat evil’.” Janus rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Never mind that shadowmancy is by no means an evil art, just as solar magic—lumimancy—isn’t necessarily pure and good. Like any magic, it’s about who wields it.”

Ellie rested her head against Janus’s shoulder. “Shadowmancy and lumimancy, huh? I only ever really knew about elemental and runic magics. Oh, but speaking of lumimancy; how in the hells did you get Saint Soleil’s permission to come after me in the Prime Realm?”

“I suppose I did promise you answers.” Janus dropped the book on the table and retrieved his glass. After taking a drink, Ellie scooped it from his palm for a sip of her own, but Janus placed his finger on the rim to stop her before it could touch her lips. “No cuts or sores in your mouth?”

“None.”

“Good.” He released the glass and leaned into the sofa.

“Not sure why you’re asking now with how much we’ve kissed and more tonight,” she whispered.

“Hm, I heard that.” Janus gave her a slight glare and a facetious smile. “Bedelia arrived at the forest shortly after you were taken. I’d sent Gerald to retrieve her after he’d shown me where you entered from. She nearly had a fit when I told her what happened and demanded that we seek immediate aid from Saint Soleil.” Janus took the glass when Ellie passed it to him and took a sip. “Despite her protests, I went to see Saint Soleil on my own. Nothing to terrify the Savior quite like having two Legates burst through the door of her home in a panic.”

Ellie chuckled uneasily at the thought. “Gods, no.”

“Saint Soleil was sympathetic, of course, but expressed…” There was a momentary pause, as though Janus were viewing the events in his mind. “…concern with the risks involved if we were to follow you, as we had yet to discern if the one responsible—Isadore—was still on the other side. That’s when Elise suggested using the thorn pulled from my wound, as the shadow beings were likely from the same shadowmancer.”

“So it really was Isadore who attacked you that night?”

“I can’t imagine it was anyone else, especially as the attack was certainly directed at me.” He waved the glass away when Ellie offered it to him. “With the help of Elise and Rehor, we were able to identify an invisible, magic thread dangling from the thorn leading into the Prime Realm from the forest gate. Using a spell to turn the thorn and thread into a divining pendulum, we were able to determine that the creator was no longer present on the other side.”

“Was it actually safe, though?”

“Well, that’s what Saint Soleil asked after we reported our findings. After all, it only takes one cultist to tell the rest what we’ve built here and how to enter the realm. Then suddenly, we’ve a flood of murderers assaulting our capital.” Janus folded his hands in his lap. “Understandably, she insisted that we not put the realm at risk. Yet with the aid of Gerald, Bedelia, Elise, and Rehor, we convinced her to formulate a plan, as only she knew the limits of what could be done. We wouldn’t stand idly by otherwise. It took time, but she decided that Gerald and I would go to the Prime Realm, use her reserved solar energy in the single orb she had to destroy the gate—as it was already compromised—then find a safe place to both charge four orbs and create a new gate at least one and a quarter mile away from the former.”

With a drawn out sigh, Ellie lifted her head from Janus’s shoulder. “Now I understand, but that’s an awful lot of effort you all put into this. But, what did you plan to do once you found me?”

“Ah, well, Gerald led me to your home shortly after we destroyed the gate. It was plenty dark by that point, so I tasked him with peering through the windows to see if you and your family were well. He spotted you in bed, but we determined that simply knocking on the door was unwise. After all, what if Isadore was lurking nearby? No, instead we spent the night seeking out where to put the new gate. Before dawn and when I would venture into the city, I donned the amulet that Saint Soleil crafted with her magic to hide my vampiric aura and appearance. It was… strange, seeing my blue eyes again the next time I saw myself in the mirror, after so many centuries of seeing my now red hue.”

“So, how did this all lead to our meeting at the festival?” Ellie asked. “Was that really an accident?”

Janus’s gaze drifted from hers a nervous smirk. “No… it was planned. Don’t you cackle like that!”

“I’m sorry! I just imagined you reading something like it in one of your books and thinking, ‘ah yes, there’s a touch of romance to this, perhaps I’ll imitate it’.”

Their eyes met in playful glares and Janus pursed his lips.

“Is that the best impression you can muster?” He forced a humorless tone, hoping to fool Ellie into thinking he was legitimately bothered. But instead, she took him aback by swiftly leaning in and kissing him on the cheek to break his serious composure. “Bah! Romantic or no, you were clumsy enough to fall into it!”

“Oh, you bet I was.” The grin painting Ellie’s face slowly morphed into a frown and her voice grew somber. “But, I can’t imagine how you must’ve felt when I didn’t remember you.”

“It was… heart wrenching, and took all my willpower not to break my collectedness. I also sensed the taint coursing through you—another matter we’ll need to discuss.” Janus paused for Ellie’s melancholy, acknowledging hum. “But after taking my observations, I decided it best to keep my distance until I could better formulate a plan. So, remembering that you’d also mentioned the banquet, I decided that the next logical step.”

Ellie sat up straight with eyes wide. “Right, how in the hells did you get into that? You were wearing a House Faust sigil ring. Did you steal it off of some nobleman you knocked out?”

“And just who do you take me for?” Janus snatched the glass back and took a drink. “Really now, with all this teasing, it’d be a wonder if I ever share the finer details of my time in the Prime Realm.”

“Oh, you will.” Ellie dropped her head into Janus’s lap and smiled innocently at him. “Still can’t believe you planned that encounter at the festival.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Softly, she reached up and cupped Janus’s face with one hand. “No no, I’m happy you told me. Things like that are one of the reasons I love you.” She gave his cheek the smallest pat to smooth out his pout. “I really am glad that you came for me.”

“I’d never let there be a world where I wouldn’t.”

The two shared in a long, loving stare and gentle smiles as they basked in each other’s glow. To neither did it seem quite real that they were together again, even though to Ellie she was merely displaced for a few days beside Janus’s weeks of hurt.

“Do you have any idea how afraid I was when I first told you how I felt?” she said with a chuckle. “I thought for sure I was gonna scare you away.”

Janus placed his hand on Ellie’s forehead and lightly brushed back her bangs before stroking her hair. “If you hadn’t confessed, I certainly would have.”

“Oh? And how were you gonna confess to me? I bet it was better than the sack of potatoes I spilled all over your floor.”

“No, I don’t think I’ll share that tonight. I’ve had quite enough teasing from you.” He pressed his index finger against her forehead with the emphasis, causing Ellie to laugh and swat him away.

The room grew quiet as Janus continued stroking her hair and soothing her weary body into comfort and security. Ellie’s breathing grew deeper with each passing moment, her eyes drawn shut as she kept her head cradled in his lap.

“Feeling tired again?” he asked, his voice low.

Ellie hummed. “I felt so awake after that little nap, but now my sleepiness is back.”

“Seems I’ll have to adjust to waking in the day again. I assimilated back into a night routine during your absence, but that will have to change now that you and your family are here. After all, I’d hate to miss the opportunity to spend time with them simply because I thrive when most mortals sleep.”

“Maybe we should all… just be vampires and… and stay up all night…”

The words hardly passed Ellie’s mumbling lips as she slipped closer to sleep. Janus’s hand had slowed to a stop at her hairline as he repeated her words in his mind. Given how much they’d jested that night, it was difficult to discern if she was serious or merely playing. Yet the subject was sensitive enough to give him second thoughts and want for clarification.

“Is that something your family would—would actually consider?” he asked, his voice peaking with a twinge of hope and intrigue.

But Ellie did not respond. Sleep had claimed her in his lap during his momentary pause, her chest rising and falling with deep breaths. Janus closed his eyes and let a small, exasperated breath escape him.

“What unfortunate timing,” he whispered. There was a chance Ellie would remember with enough prodding, but it was more likely that the thought would dissolve completely in that precipice between dreams and consciousness.

Regardless of whether or not she remembered, it was a subject that demanded broaching sooner or later, especially given whether or not Ellie herself would turn. And with a future in the Prime Realm now an impossibility due to the taint, Ellie’s reasons to forego considering vampirism were rapidly diminishing.