Logan grunted as his knees collided with a hard stone floor and he fell onto his side. He winced when the two men who had been holding him grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him back up into a sitting position. He spit the blood out of his mouth with a hiss.

"My love, so good of you to join us at last. I've missed you," came the sound of a familiar female voice from above him. Logan looked up from his place to the balcony railing. He glanced around quickly, taking in the warehouse space with its exposed bricks, metal scaffolding and concrete floors. At first glance, he would've thought he was in the secondary entrance to the Shadow Stalker coven within the shipping yards. He noticed the multitude of armed guards in white and grey BDU uniforms, dressed like soldiers. Finally, he turned to the person who had addressed him. He grimaced, recognizing her voice. But when he took in his estranged wife, his face smoothed over and his mouth fell agape.

"Loraine," he breathed, taking in her long, golden-blonde hair and tall, statuesque body. His gaze flicked downward when he noticed the thickening in her waist and hips in the form of pregnancy.

"I was hoping you would find your way back to me," she continued. "It seems you were sidetracked the last few years. But it's so wonderful to have you back again." The woman came down the stairs from the upper level and stopped a few feet from him. Her white clothing was pristine. The color used to make Logan think she was some sort of divine force in his life; but now, it reminded him only that she was an enemy who would see their son become a ruthless killer.

"Where have you been?" he asked, his voice soft. "I looked for you for years."

The blonde smiled. "Growing your bloodline's empire, love. It's time that we establish our place beyond being mere predators. The Moon Goddess has made us into gods all our own. And I want this family to be the first," she replied. Her hands caressed her stomach. "We can make this world into the one we want it to be with the help of our Dark Child."

Logan's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. "So you've abandoned our son in hopes your next child will be the start of this new, blood-soaked world?"

"Our child," Loraine corrected hotly. "Avalon is lost to our enemy. He could never be the leader we wished he would be. He would be weak and empathetic to the trials of simple mortals. That is not the making of a strong king. This child will be raised properly with the teachings of the Goddess."

"There is only one Dark Child, Loraine. If you think that you can simply claim any infant to be the one of the prophecy, then you don't understand what has been put down on the scrolls by the gods," Logan answered. "The Dark Child will only be my first-born. You've missed your chance."

She grinned again. "The coven doesn't need to know the specifics. Do you think any of the rulers and monarchs were all destined for their thrones? Enough of us know that we could be wrong in claiming this child—" She stroked her large stomach again. "—as the Dark Child, but people will believe anything when they think their savior has come to mold their world into what they have been waiting for in centuries."

He shook his head. "I thought more of you, Loraine. I never thought you were one to buy into religious mythology."

"Don't be so small-minded, love," she scolded, her voice chastising. "I'm giving you the chance to become a god among all vampires, making the title of Blood Warrior and Dark Child truly immortal. There is power in our blood combining into this life, the Dark Child. Don't tell me you would refuse what I am offering you on a silver platter for nothing."

"I refuse to abandon our son because you want power and glory over family," he answered. "My name will always endure because of my sire. But I do not seek power where it does not belong."

Loraine sighed and rolled her blue eyes. "You're afraid of your own blood's supremacy. Still a scared fledgling that wishes to hide behind his sire's cloak and fangs. Pathetic." She looked up to the men holding her estranged husband and nodded.

One of them stepped around and punched Logan across the face, making him grunt.

"Perhaps you'll come around, my love, once you see what your child will bring. When he or she is born, you will see how the people rally around the name of the Dark Child. And then, maybe you'll want to be a part of this family again, rather than chasing ghosts in London streets and protecting the runt of the litter. Avalon will never amount to anything like this child will."

Logan looked up at her again, feeling the blood dripping from his nose and the corner of his mouth. "I won't abandon my son, Loraine."

"Take some time, love. Your mind will change. Otherwise, you will be a helpless bystander in the violence of this bloody city as Shadow Stalkers die," she answered, smirking. Her eyes flicked up to the men again. "Take him away."

"Loraine, you can't take away the Dark Child's destiny for someone else," Logan shot back at her as he was drug backwards. "You don't know what you're doing! You can't change fate!"

"I will do as I please when the power belongs to the rightful coven," she said in response. "My words will be law and our power absolute. You will see the Shadow Stalkers fall, and Avalon, too, if you think you can oppose us."

The Blood Warrior continued to struggle against his captors as they dragged him out of the room and down a flight of stairs at the back of the large warehouse space. He tried to pull against the handcuffs on his wrists, but he couldn't bend the metal as he was drug. When they finally tossed him into a cell, he grunted, skidding across the concrete. He finally got himself turned around onto his knees and shot a glare back at the soldier locking the door to the prison cell. He waited for the two men to leave before he turned to lean against the cell wall, putting enough space for his lower body to be a few inches away from the wall so he could try to slip his restraints.

He wondered if Ranelle and Avalon had gone through the escape tunnel to a safe place and were waiting for Marcius to find them. He hoped with his whole heart they were safe. He sighed, grunting when he cracked his left wrist, breaking it at the correct joint. His hand slid through the metal circle with a small pinch as the widest part of his palm slowly eased through. Once his hand was free, he rested it against his lap so the injury would heal. He could feel the tendons pull against themselves, drawing bones back together as cartilage began to cement itself from the fractures.

Logan turned his attention to glance out through the cell's opening, taking in the room carefully. He could see two more cells across from him, both empty. He then leaned somewhat to look back in the direction of the door to see it was up a small flight of steps that went up a short hallway stairwell. He huffed an angry breath as he began to check if they had stripped him of all of his weapons while he'd been detained, and he replayed what happened through his mind.

Loraine was pregnant, and he thought back to their last nights together. It had been six years ago. He remembered her tears as she sobbed over the loss of Avalon for what had felt like the millionth time. They had both cried, remembering the anniversary of their son's disappearance.

He sighed, his eyes closing as he remembered what had happened: of them making love in their master bedroom at the foot of the bed on a tapestry carpet, of him promising he would find Avalon no matter what, and that they would be a family again.

Logan growled, his head shaking. It didn't matter now. Those nights were long behind them. The woman who had greeted him was a stranger from another life that he could not be upset over by leaving behind in his past. Loraine was hellbent on power from his name and he could only imagine what she would do if she discovered his new life, of Ranelle who was pregnant with their first child, the true Dark Child.

He knew what he needed to do, and that was get out of his prison cell and make his way back to his wife and son.