Triple Moon Rising: An Omega's Destiny
Chapter 96: The Vampire Ally

Chapter 96: The Vampire Ally

Dmitri POV

The witch’s fire spell hit me square in the chest, and I flew backward into a tree hard enough to snap the wood in half.

"Stupid bloodsucker!" she screamed, already preparing another attack. "Stay away from our territory!"

I rolled to the side just as her next spell turned the ground where I’d been lying into molten rock. This was not going according to plan.

"Wait!" I shouted, holding up my hands. "I’m not here to fight!"

"All vampires lie!" another witch yelled, joining the first one. Their hands glowed with dangerous power.

I wanted to tell them they were wrong, but honestly, most vampires did lie. A lot. It was kind of our thing. But right now, I was telling the truth, and these witches were about to roast me before I could explain.

"The Void Walkers are coming!" I said quickly. "I’m here to help!"

The witches stopped, looking at each other with confusion. That gave me just enough time to leap to my feet and put some space between us.

"Help?" the first witch laughed. "Since when do vampires help anyone but themselves?"

That stung because it was mostly true. For the past three hundred years of my undead life, I’d only cared about three things: finding blood to drink, avoiding vampire hunts, and staying comfortable in my mountain cave.

But everything changed two days ago when the dreams started.

Every vampire in my group had been having the same dream. Dark beings with too many teeth, draining all the blood from the world until there was nothing left for us to eat. We’d wake up screaming, our fangs aching with hunger that couldn’t be filled.

"Something’s coming that will destroy all of us," I said to the witches. "Vampires, witches, shifters, everyone. If we don’t work together, we’re all dead."

"Prove it," the second witch ordered.

I closed my eyes and let my vampire senses stretch out across the area. What I felt made my dead heart want to start beating again from pure fear.

"Can’t you feel it?" I asked. "The wrongness in the air? The way magic itself is being taken away?"

The witches went quiet, and I knew they could sense it too. Their power was weaker than it should be. Every supernatural creature’s power was being slowly sucked away by something hungry and old.

"That’s why I came to Silver Peak," I continued. "My clan’s elder remembered old stories about a prison that held animals called Void Walkers. She sent me to find the werewolf pack that lives here."

"Why werewolves?" the first witch asked suspiciously.

"Because according to the stories, they were part of the coalition that locked the Void Walkers away five hundred years ago," I explained. "If anyone knows how to stop them, it would be the Silver Peak Pack."

That’s when we heard the screaming.

It wasn’t normal wolf howls. This sound was filled with pain and fear, like dozens of wolves crying for help at once. The witches and I all turned toward Silver Peak, where silver light was shooting up from the ground like dangerous fireworks.

"We’re too late," I whispered.

Without thinking, I started running toward the pack area. Behind me, I heard the witches following. Maybe they didn’t trust me, but they knew I was right about the danger.

As we got closer to Silver Peak, I saw other supernatural creatures heading the same way. Fae fighters with weapons that glowed like starlight. Stone giants that made the earth shake with every step. Even what looked like a dragon circling overhead.

"This is bad," one of the witches panted as we ran. "If we all show up at once, it’ll start the war again."

She was right. For two hundred years, every magical species had avoided each other. Too much bad blood from the old battles. Too many judgments and hurt feelings.

But as we reached the edge of Silver Peak, I saw that the war had already started.

Vampires were fighting fae in the air. Stone giants were throwing rocks at witches. And in the middle of it all, werewolves were running around in fear, trying to protect their pack while supernatural creatures battled all around them.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" a witch asked.

I pointed to the cracks in the ground where silver light was pouring out. "Don’t you see? We’re all here together for the first time in ages, fighting each other. All that anger and hate and fear..."

"It’s feeding them," the witch breathed, understanding.

"The Void Walkers don’t just eat magic," I said grimly. "They eat strong feelings. And there’s no feeling stronger than the hate between our species."

As if to prove my point, the ground split open wider, and something dark started climbing out. It had too many arms and eyes that burned like red stars. When it spoke, its voice sounded like every horror I’d ever had.

"Yes," it hissed. "Fight each other. Hate each other. Your rage makes us strong."

Around us, the supernatural animals kept battling, too caught up in old grudges to see what was happening. But I could see it clearly.

Every spell cast in anger made the thing bigger. Every claw slash driven by hatred gave it more power. Every bitter word between foes fed its hunger.

"We have to stop the fighting," I said desperately. "Right now."

"How?" the witch asked. "Nobody’s going to listen to us."

That’s when I saw her. A young werewolf woman with silver light blazing from her hands, trying to reach two werewolf men who were circled by fighting supernatural creatures. Every time she used her power, the Void Walker grew stronger, but she kept using it anyway to protect the people she loved.

"Her," I said. "She’s the key."

"A werewolf?" the witch asked doubtfully.

"Not just any werewolf," I realized, watching the silver light pulse from her body. "She’s a Triple Moon child. I’ve heard the tales."

I started toward her, but the witch grabbed my arm.

"Wait," she said. "What if this is all a trick? What if you’re working with those things?"

I looked at her seriously. "Then I guess you’ll have to trust me."

Before she could answer, the ground burst upward, and three more Void Walkers climbed out. They looked at all the fighting supernatural creatures and smiled with lips full of razor teeth.

"The feast begins," they said in agreement.

And I realized with horror that we weren’t just too late to avoid the war.

We were too late to survive it.