Chapter 24 Three Days
Lyra's POV
Thaddeus's blood message stares at me like a death sentence.
By Christmas Day, you'll all be dead.
Three days. That's all we have left until the bond's original deadline. Until I was supposed to either complete the transformation or die.
Instead, I've become a Councilor. Made peace between species. And now the vampire who murdered my mother is hunting everyone I love.
"We need to find him," I say, my voice steadier than I feel. "Before he finds Stella."
"He's had centuries to build hiding places," Kaelen says. Through the bond, I feel his worry mixing with rage. "He could be anywhere in the city. Or beyond it."
"Then we search everywhere." I turn to Councilor Ashcroft. "You have resources. Spies. Use them."
She nods. "I'll mobilize every loyal vampire. But Lyra—if Thaddeus has spent forty years building a supremacist network, they'll be well-hidden. Well-protected. It could take weeks to find them all."
"We don't have weeks. We have three days."
"Why three days?" the Thornkeeper leader asks. "What's special about Christmas?"
Kaelen and I exchange glances. Through the bond, we both know the answer: Christmas was supposed to be our deadline. The day the bond forced completion or killed me.
But we completed it early. The bond is permanent now, unbreakable. Christmas should mean nothing anymore.
So why does it still feel like a countdown?
"Thaddeus chose that date for a reason," Kaelen's grandmother says quietly. She's been standing in the shadows, watching. Now she steps forward. "Christmas Day is the Winter Solstice anniversary. The most powerful day for vampire magic. The day the marking ritual is strongest."
"But the ritual is already complete," I protest. "I'm already hybrid—"
"You're the first hybrid in a thousand years." Her ancient eyes are grave. "No one knows what that means on the Solstice anniversary. The magic could strengthen you beyond measure. Or—" She pauses.
"Or what?"
"Or it could tear you apart. Vampire and human sides fighting for dominance until neither survives."
The words hit like ice water. Through the bond, I feel Kaelen's horror.
"You didn't mention this before," he says accusingly.
"Because it's theoretical. Legend. Old vampire stories about failed hybrids who died on their marking anniversary." His grandmother's voice softens. "But Thaddeus is ancient. He knows the old stories. If he's planning something for Christmas, he's planning to use the Solstice magic against you."
"How?"
"I don't know. But we need to assume the worst—that he has a way to weaponize the anniversary. To kill you when you're most vulnerable."
Stella grabs my hand. "Then we leave. Go somewhere he can't find us until after Christmas."
"He'll just hunt us down eventually," I say gently. "And kill more people while we run. No. We end this now."
"How?" Kaelen asks. "We don't even know where he is—"
"Yes, we do." The Thornkeeper leader steps forward. "Or rather, we know where his collaborators are. The humans who've been helping him eliminate moonblood carriers." Her expression is grim. "We've been tracking vampire-human alliances for years. Never understood why humans would help vampires until now."
"You have names?" Councilor Ashcroft demands.
"Names, addresses, meeting locations." The leader pulls out a folded paper. "We were planning to eliminate them ourselves. But if you want them alive for questioning—"
"We do." I take the paper. "If we can find one collaborator, make them talk, they might lead us to Thaddeus."
"Interrogation takes time—"
"Then we don't have time to waste." I look at Kaelen. "Can you track them? Find the closest one?"
Through the bond, I feel his determination matching mine. "Give me thirty minutes."
He's gone in a blur of vampire speed, taking the list with him.
I turn to the others. "Ashcroft, mobilize your forces. Thornkeepers, coordinate with them. Grandmother—" I hesitate, then decide. "Protect Stella. Take her somewhere safe. Somewhere even Thaddeus wouldn't think to look."
"No!" Stella protests. "I'm staying with you—"
"You're the target." I kneel in front of her. "He's going to use you to hurt me. To force me to surrender. I need you safe so I can fight without worrying about you."
Tears fill her eyes. "But what if something happens to you?"
"Then Kaelen will take care of you. And you'll know I died fighting for something that matters." I pull her into a hug. "But I'm not planning to die. I'm planning to win."
She clings to me for a long moment. Then, reluctantly, she lets go.
Kaelen's grandmother places a gentle hand on Stella's shoulder. "Come, child. I know a place where not even my brother can reach you."
They leave together. Watching them go feels like tearing out my heart.
Through the bond, I feel Kaelen return. He appears in the doorway, his expression grim.
"I found one. Close by. He's terrified—knows something's happened but doesn't know what." His mercury eyes meet mine. "He's also the one who helped kill your mother."
Rage floods through me, hot and overwhelming. The man who murdered my mother is less than a mile away.
"Take me to him," I say. "Now."
We run through pre-dawn streets. My hybrid speed matches Kaelen's vampire grace. The city is quiet, unaware that a war just ended and another is about to begin.
We reach a modest house in a middle-class neighborhood. Normal. Unremarkable. The kind of place you'd never suspect houses a conspirator in genocide.
"He's alone," Kaelen says, listening. "One heartbeat. No backup."
"Good." I kick the door open, using hybrid strength to shatter the lock.
Inside, a middle-aged man jumps up from his desk. Papers scatter everywhere—documents covered in notes about moonblood carriers, addresses, photographs.
Evidence of forty years of hunting.
His eyes widen when he sees me. "You're—you're the Thorne girl. The hybrid—"
"My name is Lyra." I cross the room in two strides. "You helped murder my mother. Where is Thaddeus?"
"I don't—I can't—" He's backing away, terrified.
I grab him by the throat, lifting him off the ground with one hand. The moonblood power stirs under my skin, wanting to hurt him. To burn him the way Thaddeus burned.
"Where. Is. He."
"Lyra." Kaelen's voice is quiet behind me. "We need him alive. To talk."
"He doesn't deserve to be alive."
"No. But we need information more than revenge."
Through the bond, I feel his understanding. He knows what I'm feeling—the rage, the grief, the desperate need for justice. He felt the same way when Seraphine died.
But he also knows revenge won't bring my mother back.
Slowly, I lower the man to the ground. Keep my hand on his throat. "Talk. Now. Or I let my vampire side take over and see what happens."
"The old cathedral," he gasps. "Northern district. Abandoned for decades. Thaddeus has been using it as headquarters for the supremacist movement."
"How many vampires with him?"
"Fifty. Maybe more. All loyal. All willing to die for the cause."
Fifty vampires. Even with my hybrid powers, even with Kaelen, that's impossible odds.
"There's more," the man continues, desperate. "The anniversary ritual. He's not just planning to kill you. He's planning to use your death to power a spell. Something old. Something that will—"
He stops. His eyes go wide.
Blood appears on his lips.
"No—" I start, but it's too late.
He collapses, a silver dart in his neck. Poison spreading fast.
I spin around. The window is open. Whoever shot him is already gone.
Kaelen checks the man's pulse. "Dead. The poison works fast."
"They knew we were coming." Horror floods through me. "Someone's been watching us. Reporting back to Thaddeus."
"Which means he knows Stella's location," Kaelen realizes. Through the bond, panic explodes. "He knows where my grandmother took her—"
His phone rings. He answers, and his face goes white.
"What?" I demand. "What is it?"
He lowers the phone slowly. "That was one of Ashcroft's scouts. The cathedral is empty. Thaddeus isn't there." His mercury eyes meet mine. "He's at the church. The safe house where we left Stella. And he's got my grandmother and your sister surrounded."
The world tilts.
We ran right into his trap. Again.
"How long ago?" I'm already moving toward the door.
"Ten minutes. Maybe less." Kaelen's voice is hollow. "By the time we get there—"
"By the time we get there, they'll still be alive." I grab his hand. "Because Thaddeus doesn't want them dead yet. He wants them as bait. To draw us in."
"Then we're walking into a trap—"
"I know." I meet his eyes. Through the bond, he feels my determination. "But Stella is worth any trap. Worth dying for if necessary."
For a moment, he just looks at me. Then, slowly, he nods.
"Together?"
"Together."
We run into the approaching dawn, racing toward either salvation or destruction.
Behind us, the first rays of sunlight break over Nocturne Heights.
Christmas Eve has arrived.
And we have less than twenty-four hours to stop Thaddeus from killing everyone we love.