When darkness touches light

f moss-covered earth. Shadows curled around the gnarled roots like living thi

elves, reluctant to move. The darkness had always been her sanctuary. A cradle. A prison. She was

nightborn, a vampire by blood and legacy. But already, she could feel the change coursing through her. Glamour coiled over her pale skin like warm silk, dulling the shar

le illusion, b

seen the sunrise. Her boots, too, were borrowed, slightly too big. She took one step forwa

st didn't ow

eeline, glowing dimly under flickering streetla

ders had hidden her away, deep in the Blackened Grove, where even other vampires rarely ventured.

in the shadows. Strong en

lur of headlights and metal and music. It didn't slow, didn't see her. She watched it v

Street signs, storefronts, cafes. Neon flickers and the hum of late-night

through it

el she found half-buried in the forest-The Song of the Wren. Its pages were weathered

ble. The kind of place where secrets might brea

k on Saturday night joy. She flinched, instincts screaming, b

wor

the preda

th headphones on, barely looked up. Kylie grabbed a soda and a granola bar, the way she'd seen people do in old films. Her throa

pled bills. Anot

?" the clerk asked w

felt rusty, unused. But she

said. "Jus

rgetting her. That was good. She w

extures distract her from the hunger coiling in her gut. She could smell life on the wind.

't stay in

ain, but it had a roof and no curious neighbors. She slipped inside through a broken door and

orld she'd been denied. And for the first time in her li

ma

predator. Ju

could

st still whispered her name, even from miles away. It called

made her

. Pretend to be normal. Maybe even smile

ie Wren would

discover what it meant to