Chapter 144 The Red Moon

Chapter 144 The Red Moon
The Red Moon

Liam’s POV

On the sixth of the month, as midnight settled over the world, an uneasy silence spread through the night like the world itself was holding its breath before something terrible happened.

Rosalie and I moved through the darkness with the gold vampires at our sides. We had gotten information that Ethan and his vampires would be vulnerable tonight as it’s the fixed day for the ritual. Every one of us was focused on one thing… finding Dylan before Ethan could complete the ritual. I heaved a sigh of relief as we picked up speed, each step bringing us closer to the place where it would all end.

I broke into a run, my eyes locked ahead. Nothing else mattered anymore. All I could think about was reaching Dylan before it was too late. Every part of me burned with anger, fear, and desperation. This had to end tonight.

Then everything changed.

A strange red glow spread across the ground, and instinct made me stop. My head snapped upward.

The moon had turned blood red.

My heart dropped.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened as the truth hit me harder than any blow ever could.

“No…”

We were too late. The ritual had already begun.

Before I could force myself to move again, some people emerged from the darkness. Ethan’s men surrounded us from every direction, cutting off every possible escape. They were the same ones that fought me the last time, that was when it dawned on me that I had always been on the right track. One by one, they pulled back their cowls, revealing cold, emotionless faces as they waited for the fight to begin.

A slow clap echoed through the silence.

“I knew you were coming.”

Ethan stepped forward, his voice calm and steady, carrying across the open space with unsettling ease. There wasn’t a trace of panic on his face. If anything, he looked pleased.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

Then his gaze shifted past me.

It settled on Rosalie.

A slow smile spread across his face.

“My love.” His words sliced through the silence.

I frowned and looked at Rosalie in confusion. “What is he talking about?”

Rosalie looked pale and her lips parted, but no words came out.

Ethan chuckled under his breath, clearly enjoying every second of it.

“We were lovers,” he said, looking at me with something that almost resembled pity. “A long time ago. Before she abandoned me to chase after humans who never valued her the way I did. For a moment I almost forgot who she’s but don’t worry, once I’m done with the ritual, I will cure my dementia and we’ll live together forever with the children I created.”

Rosalie’s expression hardened instantly.

“Stop being delusional,” she shot back, her voice shaking with anger instead of fear. “Whatever existed between us died a long time ago, Ethan. Don’t stand there and twist the past into something it never was.”

Their voices rose over each other as they argued, throwing old accusations back and forth. I caught pieces of what they were saying, but not enough to understand the whole story. Right then, I didn’t care. Whatever had happened between them belonged in the past. All that mattered was stopping Ethan before he could finish what he’d started and finding Dylan.

I tried to force my way toward him, shoving past the line of his men, but they refused to give an inch. Every time I moved, another one stepped in front of me. It was like fighting against a solid wall. No matter how hard I pushed, they kept me trapped where I was.

Then Ethan slowly lifted one hand.

At once, everyone stopped moving.

The fighting died so suddenly that the silence felt almost painful.

“Bring the insider,” he said.

The words made my stomach twist.

I looked at Rosalie, my and my confusion quickly turned into fear.

She had told me about someone she managed to place inside Ethan’s group. That person had been risking everything to secretly feed us information for weeks. Without them, we never would have known half of Ethan’s plans.

So how did he know?

Ethan’s eyes met mine, and a slow smile spread across his face.

“I’ve known from the very beginning,” he said, watching every change in my expression. “I let your little spy stay exactly where she was because I wanted this day to come. Everything happened exactly the way I planned.”

Before I could even process his words, two of his men dragged someone into the open.

She struggled against the men holding her, but they didn’t loosen their grip.

Before any of us could move, Ethan disappeared in a blur. He was in front of her the next second.

A flash of silver caught the moonlight.

Then he slit her throat.

The whole thing happened so fast that my mind couldn’t keep up. She collapsed to the ground, blood spreading beneath her as her body went completely still.

Ethan looked down at her without the slightest hint of regret. He casually wiped the blood from his hand onto his robe as though he’d done nothing more than brush away dust.

“Let that be a warning,” he said coldly.

My hands clenched into fists.

I wanted to tear him apart.

For one brief moment, I thought that was the worst thing he could do.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Ethan raised his hand again and gave another signal.

His men rushed forward all at once, surrounding me so tightly that I couldn’t even see him anymore. Before I could break through them, Ethan turned and sprinted toward the center of the ritual grounds.

“No!” I shouted.

Pure rage exploded inside me.

I threw myself at the men blocking my path, striking with everything I had. I didn’t care about anything except reaching Dylan. Every person standing between us became another obstacle I had to tear through.

Rosalie fought beside me without hesitation. Her movements were quick and deadly. Together, we carved our way through wave after wave of Ethan’s followers, but they just kept coming, determined to keep us away from him for as long as they could.

Bodies lay scattered all around us, far too many for me to count. Blood covered the ground, making every step dangerous as the battle dragged on. My arms burned with exhaustion, and every breath felt sharp in my chest, but I couldn’t stop. No matter how many of Ethan’s men we brought down, more kept pouring in from the darkness.

It was far worse than we had expected.

I glanced at Rosalie and caught the look in her eyes. She was scanning the battlefield, quickly counting our enemies, and I knew the exact moment she realized the truth.

We were badly outnumbered.

Without taking her eyes off the fight, she called out a name.

A second later, someone shot through the chaos with incredible speed.

Vivian.

She moved faster than any human ever could, cutting through Ethan’s men as though they were nothing. Her strength was unbelievable, each strike sending another enemy crashing to the ground.

For a moment, I could only stare at her.

Shock hit me so hard that it pushed aside my anger.

She had turned herself into a vampire.

There wasn’t even time to ask why.

Vivian reached us, and without saying a word, she threw herself into the fight. She moved with confidence, as if she had spent years learning how to battle instead of only recently becoming a vampire. 

“This is my only way of paying for what I did to you two.” She said.

Together, the three of us fought side by side, pushing forward one step at a time. Every enemy we defeated brought us closer to Ethan.

Little by little, the crowd around us began to thin.

At last, the path leading to the ritual entrance was clear.

By the time we broke through, I could barely feel my arms anymore. Every muscle in my body screamed for me to stop. My clothes were soaked with sweat and blood, and my legs felt heavy with exhaustion.

But I forced myself forward.

Pain didn’t matter anymore.

I stumbled into the ritual chamber, struggling to stay on my feet, and immediately found Ethan standing in the center as if he’d been waiting for me all along.

The moment our eyes met, he smiled.

Then he laughed.

The sound echoed through the stone chamber, cold and mocking, making my stomach twist with hatred.

“There’s no need for all this fighting,” he said, spreading his arms as though he were welcoming an old friend. “The ritual is almost complete. You’ve already lost. Nothing you do now can stop what’s coming.”

His words only made the rage inside me burn hotter.

I let out a shout and charged at him, throwing everything I had left into the attack. I refused to believe him. I refused to accept that we had fought this hard only to fail now.

Before I could reach him, something changed.

The red light filling the chamber suddenly grew brighter.

It poured down from above, washing over everything in a deep crimson glow so powerful it stole the air from my lungs.

I stopped without meaning to.

Every instinct told me something was terribly wrong.

Slowly, I looked up.

The moon had become an even darker shade of red, hanging above us like an open wound in the sky. The light felt unnatural, and a wave of dread settled deep inside my chest.

For a few seconds, I couldn’t think.

I couldn’t move.

When I finally tore my eyes away from the sky and looked back to where Ethan had been standing, he was already gone.

I caught one last glimpse of him disappearing into the darkness beyond the ritual grounds. Clutched tightly in his hand was a glowing gem unlike anything I’d ever seen, its strange light pulsing between his fingers as he vanished into the night.