Page 1 of The Shadows of the Dawn

CHAPTER ONE

Nikola

When 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.

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