Chapter 18 Victoria's Staged Attack (Mira POV)
The news breaks at 6 AM.
I'm in the middle of my morning circulation practice, forty-five seconds of controlled burn, a new personal record, when Zara's phone starts buzzing with news alerts.
"Holy shit." She sits bolt upright in bed, staring at her screen. "Mira, you need to see this."
I release the technique, gasping as the Shadowborn energy dissipates. "What?"
"Pinehurst. The town fifteen miles from here. There's been an attack."
My blood runs cold. "What kind of attack?"
She turns her phone toward me, and I read the headline: THREE DEAD IN SUSPECTED ANIMAL ATTACK - AUTHORITIES BAFFLED BY UNUSUAL WOUNDS
The article is sparse on details but heavy on speculation. Bodies found in an alley behind a bar. Throats torn out. Significant blood loss. Local police calling it a wild animal, possibly a bear or mountain lion, but the accompanying photo shows wounds that are too clean, too precise.
Puncture marks in pairs.
Vampire feeding.
"No." The word comes out strangled. "No, they wouldn't, "
"The Nightbloods?" Zara's voice is careful. "I mean, we don't know it was them. Could be rogue vampires passing through, "
My phone rings. Victoria's name lights up the screen.
"I have to take this." I grab the phone and flee to the hallway, my heart hammering.
"Mom?"
"Mira." Her voice is cold satisfaction. "I assume you've seen the news."
"I just heard. Mom, what, "
"Three innocent people dead. Drained of blood in an alley like cattle." She pauses for effect. "This is what they are, darling. This is what I've been trying to teach you. Monsters who can't control their base nature, no matter how civilized they pretend to be."
Something about her tone raises every alarm in my head. She doesn't sound shocked or grieved. She sounds vindicated.
"How do you know it was vampires? The news says animal attack."
"Please. I've been hunting vampires for twenty-five years. I know their signature kills." Papers rustle on her end. "Bilateral puncture wounds to the carotid artery. Complete exsanguination. Bodies positioned to appear like random violence but actually carefully arranged to avoid blood spatter on clothing. Classic vampire feeding pattern."
"But the Silvercrest vampires have rules. Silas doesn't allow, "
"Silas allows whatever serves his interests. He's four hundred years old, Mira. Do you really think he's maintained that longevity by being merciful?" Her voice hardens. "This is exactly why the Ascension timeline was accelerated. The Council knew something like this was coming. The vampires are getting bolder, more brazen. They need to be stopped before more innocent lives are lost."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Gather intel. Find out which vampires were off campus last night. Who has alibis, who doesn't. If there are witnesses, records, anything that can identify the perpetrators." She pauses. "And Mira? Be careful. If they've already killed three humans, they won't hesitate to kill a fourth. Especially one they know is Shadowborn."
"I'll be careful."
"Good girl. Report back within twenty-four hours. We need to move quickly on this."
She disconnects before I can respond.
I stand in the empty hallway, phone clutched in my shaking hand, trying to process what just happened.
Victoria didn't sound surprised by the attack. She sounded prepared. Like she'd been waiting for exactly this news.
And her immediate pivot to demanding I gather evidence against the Silvercrest vampires feels too convenient. Too scripted.
Unless she knew it was coming because she orchestrated it herself.
The thought makes me nauseous. But after everything Silas said, everything Aleksander claimed, I can't dismiss the possibility.
I need to investigate this myself. Verify the facts before I report anything to Victoria.
I just need help from someone who knows how to investigate a crime scene.
I find Aleksander in the gym at seven, running through combat drills with a focus that suggests he's working off frustration.
"We need to talk," I say from the doorway.
He stops mid-strike, turning to face me. "About the Pinehurst attack?"
"You've heard."
"Everyone's heard. News travels fast in the supernatural community." He grabs a towel, wiping sweat from his face. "I assume Victoria called?"
"Immediately. Told me to gather evidence against the Silvercrest vampires."
"Of course she did." He tosses the towel aside. "What did you tell her?"
"That I'd investigate. But I didn't say I'd report everything I find to her." I step into the gym, closing the door behind us. "I need your help. You said you've been embedded here for three years. You must have contacts, resources. Ways to verify information."
"I do. But if we investigate this together, it's going to raise questions. Your mother has eyes everywhere, Mira. If she finds out we're working together, "
"She already suspects I'm compromised. She said as much during our last call." I cross my arms. "Besides, if the attack was actually vampires, I need to know. And if it wasn't..."
"If it wasn't, then someone staged it to look like vampires. Someone with extensive knowledge of vampire feeding patterns and access to the kind of resources needed to kill three people and make it look supernatural." His expression is grim. "Someone like Victoria."
The words hang between us, damning in their implications.
"You think she did this."
"I think it's awfully convenient timing. The Ascension gets moved up, you start questioning the narrative, and suddenly there's a vampire attack fifteen miles from campus that perfectly validates everything she's been teaching you about monsters who can't control themselves." He starts gathering his gear. "But I don't deal in speculation. I deal in evidence. So let's go get some."
"Go where?"
"Pinehurst. The crime scene. It's still fresh, bodies were discovered at 4 AM. If we move now, before the area gets completely contaminated, we might find something useful."
"Won't the police be there?"
"Police can be avoided. I've done this before." He pulls on a jacket. "Question is, are you prepared for what we might find? Because if Victoria did orchestrate this, if she killed innocent people to maintain her war narrative, you're going to have to decide what you do with that information."
My hands clench into fists. "I'm prepared."
"Then let's go."
Pinehurst is exactly the kind of small town that appears in horror movies, quiet main street, single traffic light, everyone knows everyone. The kind of place where three murders would shatter the entire community's sense of safety.
Aleksander parks two blocks from the crime scene, hidden behind an abandoned hardware store.
"Police tape should still be up," he says, pulling equipment from his trunk. "We'll approach from the back alley, avoid the main street. I've got a scanner, we'll know if anyone's coming."
"You've really done this before."
"Part of hunter training. Crime scene analysis, evidence collection, covering tracks." He hands me a pair of latex gloves. "Put these on. Don't touch anything without telling me first."
The alley behind Sullivan's Bar is cordoned off with yellow police tape. Aleksander produces bolt cutters from somewhere and snaps the lock on the back fence, giving us access.
The blood is immediately visible.
Massive dark stains on the pavement, already turning brown in the morning sun. Chalk outlines mark where the bodies fell, three of them, positioned in a rough triangle.
"Bilateral puncture wounds to the carotid," Aleksander murmurs, crouching beside the first outline. "That's what the reports said. But look at the blood pattern."
I follow his gaze. The stains are enormous, far more blood than should come from neat puncture wounds.
"Vampires are efficient feeders," he continues, pulling out a small UV light. "They seal the wounds with their saliva to prevent excess bleeding. This?" He gestures at the massive pool. "This is theatrical. Someone wanted it to look dramatic."
"What's the UV light for?"
"Checking for saliva traces. Vampire saliva has unique properties that fluoresce under certain wavelengths." He sweeps the light over the stain. Nothing glows. "See? No vampire saliva. These wounds weren't sealed because they weren't made by vampire fangs."
"Then what made them?"
He moves to the second outline, examining it carefully. Then he produces tweezers and carefully extracts something from a crack in the pavement.
"This." He holds up a tiny metal fragment. "Hollow point needle. Medical grade, probably sixteen gauge. You can create puncture wounds that look like vampire bites if you know what you're doing."
My stomach churns. "So this was staged."
"Looks that way. But we need more evidence." He continues his methodical examination, collecting samples, taking photos with a camera that looks far too professional for a high school teacher.
At the third outline, he pauses. "Mira. Look at this."
I crouch beside him. There's something drawn in the blood, a symbol I recognize from my mother's office.
The mark of the Silver Dawn.
"That's..." I can't finish the sentence.
"Your mother's organization. Yes." Aleksander photographs it from multiple angles. "Could be a vampire trying to frame hunters. Could be a hunter leaving their signature. Or, "
"Or it's a message. Telling anyone who knows to look that this was Silver Dawn work."
"That would be incredibly brazen. And incredibly stupid, unless the person who did this wanted certain people to know the truth." He stands, surveying the scene. "We need to check the bodies themselves. See if the medical examiner found anything inconsistent with vampire feeding."
"How do we do that?"
"We don't. But I know someone who will." He pulls out his phone, making a call. "Dr. Chen? It's Cross. Yeah, I need a favor. The Pinehurst victims, did you do the autopsies?... You did. Can you send me your findings?... I understand it's confidential, but this is important... Thank you."
He disconnects. "She's sending the preliminary reports now. Dr. Chen is a hunter sympathizer, works with the Silver Dawn occasionally. She owes me a favor."
His phone buzzes. He opens an email, scanning the attached documents.
"Interesting. Cause of death listed as exsanguination due to trauma to the carotid artery. But she notes the wounds show metal particulate consistent with medical instruments, not organic matter." He keeps reading. "Stomach contents include high levels of sedatives. All three victims were drugged before they died."
"Vampires don't need to drug their victims. They have compulsion."
"Exactly. These people were sedated, brought to the alley, killed with medical instruments designed to mimic vampire bites, and positioned to create maximum visual impact." He looks up from his phone. "This was a professional hit made to look like a vampire attack. And the only organization with both the resources and the motivation to stage something like this is, "
"The Silver Dawn." The words taste like ash. "My mother's organization killed these people."
"We don't know it was Victoria specifically, "
"Don't we? The timing is perfect. The execution is flawless. The political benefit is entirely hers." I stand abruptly, pacing the alley. "She gets her attack, her justification for accelerating my Ascension, her proof that vampires are monsters. All it cost was three human lives that she apparently considers acceptable collateral damage."
"Mira, "
"Aleksander told me about Prague. 1998. Thirty-two people burned alive because my mother wanted one vampire dead. I didn't believe it. Thought he was lying to manipulate me." I laugh bitterly. "But this is the same thing. Sacrificing innocent lives to maintain the narrative that we're the good guys."
Aleksander's hand finds my shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know this is, "
"Don't." I shrug him off. "Don't apologize. You tried to warn me. Silas tried to warn me. Everyone tried to tell me Victoria was a zealot, and I defended her because she's my mother."
"She is your mother. That makes this harder, not easier."
"She's a murderer." The words feel like betrayal and liberation simultaneously. "She killed three innocent people, not vampires, not hunters, just regular humans living their lives, to score political points and manipulate me into going through with a ceremony that will kill me."
"We don't have definitive proof it was her, "
"Yes, we do." I point at the Silver Dawn symbol drawn in blood. "That's her signature. Her message to anyone clever enough to investigate. 'Look what I'm willing to do to win.'"
Aleksander examines the symbol again, his expression troubled. "If we take this public, if we present this evidence, "
"To who? The human police won't believe it. The supernatural community won't trust Silver Dawn evidence coming from a hunter. And the Silver Dawn Council answers to Victoria." I feel trapped, helpless. "There's no authority to appeal to. No one who can hold her accountable."
"There's you."
I look at him sharply. "What?"
"You're her daughter. Her weapon. The entire Ascension plan depends on you cooperating." He moves closer, voice intense. "You have leverage, Mira. Power she doesn't want you to realize you have. You can refuse to go through with the ceremony. You can expose what she's done. You can choose to fight back instead of being sacrificed."
"And then what? She comes after me. Sends the entire Silver Dawn to drag me back."
"Then we protect you. Silvercrest's not defenseless. Silas has resources. The vampires have magic. The werewolves have numbers." His hand finds mine, squeezing. "You don't have to face her alone."
The offer is tempting. But accepting it means committing to a side. Choosing the supernatural community over my mother, over my entire upbringing, over everything I thought I was.
"I need proof," I say finally. "Concrete, undeniable proof that Victoria orchestrated this. Photos and autopsy reports aren't enough. I need something that directly ties her to these murders."
"That might not exist. She's been doing this for decades, she's careful."
"Then I'll make her careless. I'll call her back, tell her I found evidence against the Silvercrest vampires, see if she slips up." The plan forms as I speak. "If she's guilty, she'll want details. Want to know exactly what I found so she can use it. I'll record the conversation."
"That's dangerous. If she suspects, "
"She already suspects. You said so yourself." I pull out my phone, staring at Victoria's contact. "But she also thinks I'm still loyal. Still her obedient daughter who'll follow orders without question. I can use that."
"Mira, "
"I have to know. For certain. I have to hear her admit it." My finger hovers over the call button. "Because if I'm going to betray my mother, if I'm going to choose the vampires over my own family, I need to be absolutely sure she deserves it."
Aleksander studies my face for a long moment, then nods. "Record it. Get your proof. But be careful. Victoria's smart. If she realizes you're testing her, "
"I'll be careful." I hit record on my phone's voice memo app, then dial Victoria.
She answers on the second ring.
"Mira. Please tell me you have good news."
"I investigated the crime scene. Found evidence." I make my voice shake slightly, like I'm upset. "Mom, it's bad. The wounds are definitely vampire, bilateral punctures, complete exsanguination, all the classic signs."
"I told you. Monsters can't help their nature." Her satisfaction is palpable. "Did you find anything that can identify which vampires were responsible?"
"The feeding pattern suggests multiple vampires. At least two, maybe three. And the precision of the kills indicates experience, these weren't newly turned vampires losing control. These were deliberate."
"Interesting. That matches intelligence we've been gathering." Papers rustle. "What about the Silvercrest students? Any alibis?"
This is the test. If she's innocent, she'll want me to investigate legitimately. If she's guilty...
"Actually, I checked. All the vampire students were accounted for. Cain and his coven were in their common room all night, multiple witnesses confirm it. Even Silas was on campus."
There's a pause. Too long. Too calculated.
"Are you certain? Vampires are excellent liars, darling. They could have fabricated alibis."
"I'm certain. I even checked security footage from the East Wing. No one left between 10 PM and 6 AM."
Another pause. Then: "Then perhaps we're looking at this wrong. Perhaps it wasn't Silvercrest vampires. Perhaps it was rogues passing through, and the Silvercrest coven is covering for them. Protecting their own kind."
She's not surprised. Not even slightly.
She knew the Silvercrest vampires would have alibis because she knew they didn't commit the murders.
"Mom, I need to ask you something."
"Of course, darling."
"The timing of this attack. Right when you accelerated my Ascension timeline. Right when you needed justification to move faster." I keep my voice carefully neutral. "It's almost too perfect. Too convenient."
Silence. Then, slowly: "What are you implying?"
"I'm not implying anything. I'm asking. Did you know this attack was going to happen?"
"How could I possibly know that?"
"You have assets everywhere. Intelligence networks. You said yourself the Council knew something was coming, that's why they accelerated the timeline." I press harder. "Did you know about the Pinehurst attack before it happened?"
"Mira." Her voice goes cold. "Are you accusing me of something?"
"I'm asking a question. A simple yes or no."
"The answer is that I won't dignify paranoid accusations with responses. I'm fighting a war to protect humanity, and you're, " She stops abruptly. "Where is this coming from? Who's been talking to you?"
"No one. I'm just trying to understand, "
"You've been compromised. I knew it. That vampire, Cain, he's gotten into your head, made you doubt everything." Her voice rises. "This is exactly why the Ascension needs to happen immediately. Before you're completely lost to their manipulation."
"I'm not manipulated. I'm asking legitimate questions about an attack that happened fifteen miles from my school, "
"And I'm telling you to focus on your mission. Gather evidence. Identify the vampires responsible. Stop wasting time on conspiracy theories that serve no one but our enemies." She takes a breath. "Report back tomorrow with actionable intelligence. That's an order."
She hangs up.
I stand in the alley, recording still running, hand shaking.
She didn't deny it. Didn't offer proof she wasn't involved. Just deflected and attacked me for questioning.
That's not how innocent people respond to accusations.
"Did you get what you needed?" Aleksander asks quietly.
I stop the recording, replaying the last minute. Victoria's voice, cold and dismissive, accusing me of being compromised rather than answering my question.
"Yeah," I say. "I got what I needed."
Not a confession. But close enough.
My mother orchestrated the Pinehurst attack. Killed three innocent people to maintain her war and manipulate me into becoming her weapon.
And now I have to decide what to do about it.