Chapter 29: Venom in the Snow

“What do we do now?” I asked, my voice barely steady.

Timi didn’t answer immediately. His eyes never left the prince and the queen in the center of the courtyard. The music still played. The nobles still laughed, unaware that death stood in the shadows watching them.

Finally, he spoke.

“We go ahead with the plan,” he said quietly. “But now… we take the queen with us. Let her treachery be seen by her own people.”

Juliet’s hand rested gently on his shoulder. “Are you sure?”

He turned to her and nodded once. No hesitation.

That was all the confirmation we needed.

The attack began without a signal.

One second the party was alive with music and laughter.

The next, we were among them.

Vampire speed is not something human eyes can comprehend. To them, it would have looked like the torches flickered—and bodies simply dropped. Nobles barely had time to scream before shadows were upon them. Warriors surged from the edges of the courtyard, blades flashing in controlled arcs. No chaos. No wasted movement.

The musicians stopped mid-note.

Wine goblets shattered against stone.

Panic erupted—but it ended almost as quickly as it began.

The prince reacted fast. He pulled the queen into his arms, shielding her with his body as he backed away, eyes wide but defiant. Even cornered, he carried himself like royalty.

Within moments, the courtyard was silent.

Only two remained standing.

The prince.

And the queen of Nhim.

Timi walked toward them slowly, boots echoing against the stone.

The queen’s fear was visible now. Gone was the composed, radiant woman from seconds ago. She clung tightly to the prince, fingers digging into his clothes as if holding onto him could undo what had just happened.

Timi stopped a few feet away and spoke in their native tongue.

The prince replied instantly—angry, proud, furious.

They went back and forth, voices low but sharp.

I leaned toward Juliet. “What are they saying?”

“Timi asked him to come with us peacefully,” she murmured. “To return to Nhim and explain himself.”

“And?”

“He’s refusing. He’s offering money. Power. A position in his court. He’s trying to buy us.”

My jaw tightened.

Juliet continued softly, “He knows what will happen if word spreads about him and the queen. He’s desperate. But Timi won’t bend.”

Timi’s tone shifted—cold, threatening.

“He just told him,” Juliet whispered, “that if he doesn’t walk willingly, he’ll leave without the use of his legs.”

The prince spat something back.

Timi moved.

His fist struck the prince with controlled force—enough to end the argument instantly. The prince collapsed unconscious onto the stone.

“Dreed!” the queen screamed, dropping to her knees and cradling him.

“Pathetic,” Timi muttered.

He turned and barked orders in Nhim’s tongue.

Two warriors rushed forward—then froze when they saw the queen clutching the prince. Shock rippled across their faces.

Timi shouted again, harsher this time.

The trance broke.

They separated the queen from the prince despite her resistance, bound their wrists, and hoisted them onto their shoulders.

When we regrouped at the villa entrance, murmurs spread among the warriors. Even in the darkness, disbelief was clear.

The queen of Nhim.

With the prince of the Braves.

Captured together.

We moved quickly into the forest.

For a while, there was only the sound of boots against snow.

Then Timi stopped.

His head tilted slightly.

I heard it seconds later.

Then Juliet.

A distant rhythm through the trees.

Not footsteps.

Paws.

Fast.

Many of them.

“Wolves,” Timi said quietly. “And they’re not ordinary.”

A howl split the night.

Closer than it should have been.

Timi turned to the warriors. “Go. Straight to the canoes. Do not wait for us. Return to Nhim.”

They hesitated.

“That’s an order.”

They ran.

The forest shifted.

Branches snapped.

Shadows moved between trees—low, fast, coordinated.

Eyes appeared first.

Dozens of them.

Burning gold in the dark.

Then the bodies followed.

Massive wolves burst through the treeline, larger than any natural beast, fur bristling, teeth bared. They didn’t circle like animals.

They charged like soldiers.

The first wolf lunged for Juliet. She twisted mid-air, slamming it into a tree with enough force to crack bark. Timi intercepted another, gripping it by the throat and hurling it aside before it could reach me.

I barely had time to react before one collided with me, knocking me into the snow. Its weight crushed the air from my lungs. Teeth snapped inches from my throat.

I drove my forearm against its jaw, struggling, snow filling my mouth as we rolled. Its claws raked across my side—fire ripping through flesh.

I screamed.

The sound shocked even me.

I felt teeth sink into my shoulder.

Pain exploded.

For a split second, everything went black at the edges.

Then instinct took over.

I struck blindly, again and again, until the weight lifted—Timi dragging the wolf off me and finishing it with brutal efficiency.

“Daniel!” Juliet shouted.

More wolves surged from the trees.

We moved back to back now, fighting as one. Vampire speed clashed against feral fury. Snow turned dark beneath thrashing bodies. The forest echoed with snarls and impacts.

Another wolf lunged at my injured side.

I wasn’t fast enough this time.

It knocked me down again. Claws tore into my back. I felt warmth spreading beneath me, staining the snow.

I thought—

This is it.

Then Juliet was there, ripping the beast away with terrifying strength.

Timi roared—an inhuman sound—and the remaining wolves hesitated.

That hesitation cost them.

Within minutes, the forest fell quiet again.

The surviving wolves retreated into the darkness, dragging their wounded with them.

Silence returned.

I tried to stand.

Collapsed.

Blood soaked through my clothes, multiple bite wounds burning like fire beneath my skin.

Juliet dropped beside me. “He’s losing too much.”

Timi knelt, pressing his hand against my shoulder to slow the bleeding. His expression was hard—but there was something else there too.

“You’re not dying here,” he said firmly. “Not tonight.”

In the distance, I could faintly hear the water.

The canoes.

Home.

Timi didn’t waste another second.

He crouched in front of me and pulled my arms over his shoulders. “Hold on,” he ordered.

I tried to respond, but my voice barely came out. My fingers dug weakly into his chest as he rose, lifting me onto his back as if I weighed nothing. The world tilted violently.

Then he ran.

Not like a man.

Like something born of night.

The forest blurred around us. Trees became streaks of black and silver. Snow exploded beneath his feet as he moved at full vampire speed, leaping over fallen trunks, dodging branches without slowing. Every impact sent a jolt of pain through my body. My wounds burned—not the normal sharp sting of injury, but something deeper. Something wrong.

I swallowed hard.

Why am I not healing?

That thought cut through the haze.

I should have felt the skin knitting back together by now. I should have felt the warmth spreading, the strength returning.

Instead, the dizziness worsened.

My vision swam.

“Timi…” I managed.

“I know,” he said, his voice tight. “Just stay awake.”

The shoreline came into view—the black stretch of the Forbidden Sea, the canoes half-hidden against the rocks. Warriors were already pushing off into the water.

Juliet arrived seconds later, landing beside us with unnatural grace.

“He’s fading,” she said, panic slipping into her voice for the first time that night.

Timi reached the canoe and carefully lowered me inside. The wood felt ice-cold beneath my back. The sky above spun slowly.

Juliet climbed in immediately, kneeling beside me as Timi shoved the canoe into the water and jumped in after it. He seized the paddle and began rowing hard, each stroke powerful and urgent.

The canoe cut silently across the dark surface.

Juliet pressed her hand against one of the wounds on my shoulder. “He’s not regenerating,” she said. “Timi, this isn’t normal.”

Timi didn’t answer at first. His jaw was clenched, eyes fixed on the horizon as he rowed.

“I’ve heard of this,” he finally said.

Juliet looked up sharply. “Heard of what?”

“A rare breed of werewolves,” Timi said grimly. “Not common. Not natural in most territories. Their venom interferes with vampire regeneration. Slows it. Sometimes stops it completely.”

Juliet’s face went pale. “That’s a myth.”

“No,” Timi replied quietly. “Vampire hunters use them. Or try to. They’re nearly impossible to control. Their bites are lethal to our kind if untreated.”

A chill ran through me that had nothing to do with the sea wind.

Juliet shook her head. “But how would they be here? In the Braves kingdom?”

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Timi muttered. “Those wolves weren’t wild. They were coordinated. Deployed.”

The implication hung heavy between them.

This wasn’t coincidence.

This wasn’t random.

Someone had known we were coming.

Juliet’s hand tightened around mine. “Stay with us,” she whispered.

I tried to focus on her face, but it kept slipping in and out of view. The stars above blurred together. The sound of the paddle slicing through water grew distant, muffled.

Their voices felt farther away now.

“You think the prince knew?” Juliet asked.

“No,” Timi said. “If he had that kind of protection, he wouldn’t have been so desperate.”

My chest felt heavy.

Breathing became harder.

The cold no longer stung—it swallowed.

Juliet leaned over me, her voice urgent now. “Daniel. Look at me.”

I wanted to.

I tried.

But darkness pressed in at the edges of my sight, slow and inevitable.

The last thing I heard was Timi’s voice, steady but edged with something I had never heard before.

Fear.

“Don’t you dare die on me,” he said.

The sea rocked gently beneath us.

And then everything went black.