Hidden Powers

Elena's room looked like a war zone. Broken glass covered the floor, furniture lay toppled, and blood—both Lucian's and the hunters'—stained her creamcolored carpet.

"We can't stay here," Lucian said, rising from the couch with effort. "Victor will return with more hunters."

Amara glided across the room, unaffected by the chaos around her. "My sanctuary isn't far. We'll be safe there."

Elena stood frozen between them. An hour ago, her biggest problem had been finding her boyfriend cheating. Now she was supposedly a witch descended from some ancient coven, bonded to a vampire, and being hunted by people who knew her parents.

"I'm not going anywhere with either of you," she said strongly. "Not until I get real answers."

Amara laughed softly. "Such spirit. Just like your grandmother."

"You knew my grandmother?" Elena asked, shocked.

"I've known many of your ancestors," Amara answered, golden eyes glittering. "Though most met unfortunate ends before I could help them."

Lucian growled low in his throat. "Don't listen to her, Elena. Amara doesn't help anyone but herself."

The silverhaired woman shrugged beautifully. "Says the vampire who's hunted her bloodline for centuries."

Elena's head spun with confusion and tiredness. Through the new bond with Lucian, she felt his distrust of Amara warring with reluctant respect. There was history between them—dark and complex.

"I need a minute," she said, going to her bathroom and locking the door behind her.

Elena stared at her image in the mirror. She looked different somehow—her green eyes brighter, her skin almost glowing. The spiral birthmark had spread delicate tendrils up her wrist, like intricate vines seeking purchase.

When she touched it, the design pulsed with faint blue light. Elena closed her eyes, focusing on the strange new awareness flowing through her. If she was truly a witch, perhaps she could...

"Victor knows about your apartment," Lucian said through the door, interrupting her thoughts. "We need to move. Now. "

Elena sighed and opened the door. "Fine. But I'm coming back once this is sorted out. "

The confidence in her voice surprised even her. Something had changedshe felt stronger, more determined.

"Pack only what you need," Lucian suggested, watching Amara, who was looking at Elena's bookshelf with casual interest. Elena grabbed a bag, stuffing in clothes, her sketchbook, and a faded photo of her parents.

"Ready," she stated, slinging the pack over her shoulder.

Amara led them through the back door to a sleek black car. The driver’s face was hidden as they slid into the back seat. "Where are we going? " Elena asked as the car pulled away.

"The underground sanctuary," Amara answered. "One of the few places in Ravenshore the hunters can’t track us. "

The car went through unknown parts of the city. Lucian sat tense beside her, and she felt his pain from silver poisoning. She reached for his hand, and blue light flickered between their fingers, burning away the poison.

"How did you do that? " Lucian asked.

"I don't know," Elena revealed.

Amara smiled as they stopped at an abandoned theater. "Appearances deceive. " They followed her to a rusty door that opened to a stairs leading down.

They exited into a vast underground chamber, illuminated by soft blue light.

"Welcome to what remains of the Midnight Coven's sanctuary," Amara declared. "Your ancestral home, Elena. "

People moved through the space—some clearly vampires with their fluid ease and pale skin, others more humanlooking but with an energy that marked them as different.

"There are others like me?" Elena asked, hope rising in her chest.

Lucian's face darkened. "Not exactly like you. None with your bloodline's power."

"The last true daywalker witch," Amara confirmed. "Though these are distant cousins, so to speak—those with enough witch blood to be useful, but not enough to threaten the balance."

Elena didn't like how Amara said "useful," as if people were tools. She studied the sanctuary more closely, noticing strange glass containers along one wall filled with swirling red liquid. Blood, she realized with a chill.

"You need rest," Lucian said, moving her away from the containers. "You've used power you don't understand yet. It takes a toll."

Now that he mentioned it, Elena felt bonedeep exhaustion washing over her. Amara showed them to a small but comfortable bedroom tucked into an alcove off the main hall.

"These quarters were prepared for you," Amara said. "We've been expecting your arrival for some time."

"How could you expect me when I didn't even know about any of this?" Elena asked.

"Prophecy," Amara answered simply. "Sleep now. Answers tomorrow."

After she left, Lucian remained at the doorway. "I'll be nearby. The bond will let you know if you need me."

"Wait," Elena called as he turned to leave. "Will you at least tell me one true thing? Something I can hold onto in all this craziness?"

Lucian stopped, considering. "Your parents didn't die in an accident," he said finally. "They died protecting you from Victor and his hunters. They knew what you would become."

Before Elena could understand this revelation, Lucian was gone, closing the door softly behind him.

Alone at last, Elena sank onto the bed, too overwhelmed to even cry. She looked at the spiral birthmark on her wrist, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

Sleep took her quickly, dragging her into dreams unlike any she'd ever experienced.

Elena ran through misty trees, barefoot in a white nightgown. The forest floor felt cool beneath her feet, old trees towering around her. She knew she was dreaming, but everything felt incredibly real—the sharp pine scent, the kiss of mist against her skin, the sound of her heartbeat in her ears.

Something chased her. Multiple somethings, with glowing eyes that watched from between bushes, always keeping pace but never quite catching up.

"You can't run forever, daywalker," a voice whispered through the trees. It sounded like Amara, but older, rawer. "The blood always calls to blood."

Elena ran faster, her nightgown catching on twigs. Ahead, she spotted an area bathed in moonlight. At its center stood a stone altar carved with the same spiral design as her birthmark.

Somehow, she knew she needed to reach it. The altar meant safety, power, truth.

As Elena burst into the open, the forest behind her erupted with snarls. The creatures chasing her finally showed themselves—wolflike but walking on two legs, with eyes burning like embers.

She reached the altar just as they closed in. The stone felt warm beneath her hands, pulsing with the same rhythm as her heart. The spiral design began to glow blue, spreading light up her arms just as it had in her apartment.

"Remember," the voice whispered, closer now. A woman stepped from the darkness on the clearing's far side—silver hair floating around her like a halo, but her face was different from Amara's, older and marked with symbols that glowed against her skin. "Remember who you are."

The wolfcreatures backed away from the light emanating from Elena's skin, but a new threat appeared. A man stepped into the moonlight—tall, with familiar ravenblack hair.

"Lucian?" Elena called.

When he turned, it wasn't Lucian's face but Victor's that looked back at her, half changed into something inhuman. "Your mother tried to hide you," he said, his voice twisted. "But the blood always reveals itself."

He held up a locket—the same one from the picture of her parents. It swung hypnotically in the moonlight.

"How do you have that?" Elena asked.

"Because I promised to protect you," Victor answered, his face relaxing into something almost human. "But I failed. Just like I failed her."

The ground beneath the altar started to crack, blue light spilling through the fissures. Elena tried to step away, but her hands stayed fixed to the stone as if glued there.

"Let go," the silverhaired woman ordered. "Let the power flow."

"Don't," Victor warned. "Once it starts, it can never be undone."

The cracks widened, the altar collapsing beneath Elena's hands. She felt herself falling into endless blue light, screaming as ancient voices filled her head, saying words she somehow understood—

Elena jerked awake, gasping for breath. The room was dark except for a soft glow coming from her own skin. The birthmark's pattern had spread further, covering her entire forearm with complex spirals and symbols that pulsed with gentle light.

A figure stood in the dark by her door. For a scary moment, Elena thought it was a creature from her nightmare. Then Lucian stepped into the light, his eyes mirroring the blue glow from her skin.

"You were screaming," he said quietly.

"Just a dream," Elena answered, though they both knew it was more.

Lucian moved closer, studying the bright patterns on her arm. "This shouldn't be happening so quickly. The awakening usually takes weeks, not hours."

"What's happening to me?" Elena whispered.

Lucian sat on the edge of her bed, his face serious. "Your blood is remembering what it is. What it can do."

"And what can it do?"

His gaze met hers, ages of knowledge reflected in his eyes. "Change everything. For all of us."

As he spoke, the door to Elena's room swung open. Amara stood there, her golden eyes wide with something like fear—the first real feeling Elena had seen from her.

"The hunters have found us," she stated. "And they've brought something worse than silver this time."

Through the stone walls, Elena heard distant screams echoing up from the sanctuary's main room.