Location: Avalon Elite Academy – Forest Perimeter, Nightfall
The academy backed up against dense forest—once used for retreats, now mostly avoided. Too dark. Too quiet.
But tonight… it wasn't empty.
A shadow moved between the trees.
Fast.
Smooth.
Watching.
It didn't get close. It didn't speak. It watched.
And from the third-floor window of the boys' dorm, Caelan Vale saw it.
Eyes like coals. Cloaked in gray. Gone in a blink.
But not fast enough.
Scene: The Alarm is Raised
The siblings and their inner circle met immediately.
In a private soundproof room beneath the dorms, glowing softly with encrypted security.
Noah, Selene, Zaria, Isla, and Jace listened closely as Caelan laid it out.
Caelan: "Someone's watching us. Close. Probably not human."
Liora (tense): "This fast after the message?"
Azra: "We need eyes everywhere. Now."
Jace: "If they think they're going to catch us slipping, they don't know who they're playing with."
Scene: The Patrols Begin
Within the hour, small Vale-run patrols circled the woods. Rico and Zeke—still in touch even from afar—sent extra layers of surveillance via Damon's global network.
Drone vision. Stealth sensors. Even a cloaked AI satellite sweep.
But the figure didn't reappear that night.
Only faint footprints.
Too deep. Too wide.
Like someone—or something—not quite human had walked there.
Scene: Cassiel and Kai Return
The next morning, the vampires and werewolves were already waiting in the courtyard when the Vales arrived.
Vivienne (to Azra): "We felt it too."
Cassiel: "We tracked it. It's not one of us."
Kai (to Caelan): "We're being hunted."
The three leaders stood in tense silence.
Enemies yesterday.
Now facing something older.
Caelan: "Then we find it together."
Final Scene: Beyond the Fence
That night, miles outside campus…
A bloodstained symbol was etched into a stone near the old town ruins.
Three slashes. A fang. A crown.
An ancient mark.
Not vampire.
Not werewolf.
Something else.
Watching.
Waiting.
Wanting them all.