Chapter 74 Blood and Legacy

Chapter 74 Blood and Legacy


The Varex Estate — Training Grounds

"You will learn to channel your werewolf side."

Selene's voice was firm, leaving no room for argument as she stood before Lyra in the estate's private training grounds. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the stone courtyard, and the air was thick with tension.

Lyra looked at her, uncertainty flickering in her red eyes. "I'm not a werewolf. I'm a vampire now. I don't understand"

"You're both," Selene interrupted, her expression sharp. "The curse didn't just turn you into a vampire. It merged with something already inside you—dormant werewolf blood. You're a hybrid now, whether you wanted it or not."

Lyra's hands clenched into fists. "I didn't want any of this."

"I know." Selene's voice softened slightly, but her gaze remained steady. "We know you didn't want this life, Lyra. But my son chose it because he loves you. And transforming you was the only way to keep you alive."

The words hung heavy in the air.

Lyra looked away, her throat tight with emotion. She'd been trying not to think about that night about Darion's anguished face as he'd made the choice to turn her. About how he'd sacrificed her humanity to save her life.

"There is something far bigger than all of us coming," Selene continued, stepping closer. "And you need to be prepared. You need to train for it. Because when the time comes, your survival and Darion's may depend on how well you can control what you've become."

Lyra met Selene's eyes, seeing the weight of knowledge there. The certainty of someone who'd seen too much, lived too long, and understood exactly what was at stake.

"Okay," Lyra said quietly. "Teach me."

The training began immediately.

Selene had called in Kira, the fierce Lunaris warrior whose amber eyes gleamed with approval when she saw Lyra's determination.

"Good," Kira said, circling Lyra slowly. "You're not backing down. That's the first step."

"What's the second?" Lyra asked.

"Not dying," Kira replied with a grim smile.

They trained for hours.

Kira taught Lyra how to tap into the werewolf instincts buried beneath her vampire nature how to feel the pull of the moon, how to sense threats before they materialized, how to move with the predatory grace of a wolf rather than the calculated precision of a vampire.

Selene worked on control, teaching Lyra how to manage the competing forces inside her. Vampire and wolf. Shadow and moonlight. Two natures that should have destroyed each other but somehow coexisted in her transformed body.

"Focus," Selene commanded as Lyra struggled to maintain her balance during a particularly difficult exercise. "You're fighting yourself. Stop. Let them work together."

"They don't want to work together," Lyra gasped, her body trembling with the effort of keeping both sides contained.

"Then make them," Selene said, her voice like steel. "You're the one in control. Not the vampire. Not the wolf. Just You."

Lyra gritted her teeth, sweat streaming down her face, and pushed harder.

Again and again, she tried. Again and again, she failed.

But she didn't give up.

Kira watched with growing respect. "She's stronger than she looks."

"She has to be," Selene replied quietly. "What's coming will test all of us. And she needs to be ready."

By the time the sun began to set, Lyra was exhausted but standing. Her red eyes gleamed with newfound determination, and for the first time since her transformation, she looked like someone who could fight back.

"Again tomorrow," Selene said. "And every day after until you can do this in your sleep."

Lyra nodded, too tired to speak.

As she walked away with Kira, Selene remained in the training grounds, her expression troubled.

Lyra needed to be strong. But so did her son.

And it was time Darion understood exactly what he was truly capable of.



Selene summoned Darion to her private study an hour later.

He entered, his blue eyes sharp with concern. "Mother? Is everything alright? Is Lyra?"

"Lyra is fine," Selene assured him. "This is about you."

Darion frowned, closing the door behind him. "What about me?"

Selene gestured for him to sit, but he remained standing, tension radiating from his frame.

She sighed. "Darion, do you understand what you are? What your blood truly means?"

"I'm a Varex," he said, confusion flickering across his face. "A sunwalker vampire. I know what I am."

"You know what you have been told," Selene corrected. "But you don't understand the depth of your power. The legacy that runs through your veins."

She moved to the window, looking out at the darkening sky.

"Your hyper mode," she continued. "The transformation you undergo when your power peaks do you know why you're the only one among your siblings who can access that state so easily?"

Darion shifted uncomfortably. "I've always been more... volatile. Less controlled."

"Not volatile Son," Selene said, turning to face him. "More powerful." She stepped closer, her gaze intense. "Your blood wields more power than you know, Darion. Your father's bloodline combined with mine created something... extraordinary in you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that in your hyper mode, you're not just dangerous. You're unstoppable." Selene's voice dropped. "You're capable of destroying a whole town if you wanted to. Leveling it. Turning it to ash and bone. That's the kind of power you carry."

Darion's breath caught. "I would never.."

"I know you wouldn't," Selene interrupted gently. "But you need to understand what you're capable of. Because what's coming will push you to your limits. And you need to know that you can win."

She paused, her expression growing darker.

"But you have competition."

Darion's eyes narrowed. "What kind of competition?"

Selene took a deep breath. "Morgana has a son."

The words landed like a physical blow.

"What?" Darion's voice was barely a whisper.

"A son your father didn't know about," Selene continued, her tone carefully controlled. "But I got to know about him from different sources. Sources I've been tracking for years."

Darion's mind raced. "How is that possible? When.."

"Before your father married me," Selene said. "When he was young. Before he understood the consequences of forbidden love." Her expression was unreadable. "Morgana bore him a child. And she's kept him hidden all this time."

Darion felt like the ground had shifted beneath him. "Does he know? About us?"

"I don't know," Selene admitted. "But what I do know is this: he would be your biggest threat."

"Why?"

"Because he has your father's blood," Selene explained. "The same Varex power that flows through you. But he also has witch's blood from Morgana. Making him a hybrid. Vampire and witch. That combination..." She shook her head. "He could be more powerful than any of us."

Darion's jaw clenched, his hands curling into fists.

A brother. A half-brother he'd never known existed. Born from the woman who was now trying to destroy everything he loved.

"If he comes for us," Darion said slowly, his voice hard, "if he comes for Lyra.."

"Then you'll have to fight him," Selene said quietly. "And it won't be easy. He's family, Darion. Twisted and broken, but family nonetheless."

Darion held his head up high, his blue eyes blazing with fierce determination.

"If I have to destroy everything for Lyra to survive," he said, his voice unwavering, "even in a world without me, I will."

Selene looked at her son strong, devoted, willing to sacrifice anything and felt her heart break and swell with pride all at once.

"I know you will," she whispered.

And that terrified her.