The warehouse district was dead quiet at night. Kass “Riot” Vex crouched on the fire escape, checking her gear. A couple magnetic charges good for blowing through security doors, quite a few flashbangs, her sidearm, long rifle, signal jammer, and…her mini disruptor. That was her own design. She had a grand idea for it to knock out any electronic devices for an entire city block, EMP style. But so far she could only manage to get it to take out a control console. Could work in a pinch. Gear check done, she raised her rifle and trained the scope on the building across the street. Her earpiece crackled with Below Zero’s “System Crusher”—she didn’t need comms anymore, but the familiar chaos helped her focus.

  Through thermal, two heat signatures glowed against cold ferrocrete. The trafficker and his latest acquisition: a twelve-year-old girl snatched three days ago. Kass had seen her face on missing person flyers plastered across every holo-screen.

  She adjusted focus and whispered, “Time to die, you sick fuck.”

  Her rifle could punch through those thin walls easily. Clean shot, quick kill, grab the kid, disappear before NAED arrived. Simple.

  Then a shadow moved wrong.

  Something flowed across the warehouse roof darker than the surrounding darkness—too fast, too fluid to be human. No heat signature. Kass cursed and switched to night vision. There: a figure in black, moving swiftly and silently toward the skylight.

  “Synth.” She breathed. “Shit.”

  She’d killed synthetic vampires before. Bioengineered horrors made to mimic the old legends, complete with enhanced speed, strength, and a taste for blood. If there was a synth hunting, no one was safe.

  Silver-tipped bullets were her best bet, but she only had two left, loaded in her sidearm. She’d have to get closer.

  ———

  Velira Nocturne perched on the warehouse roof, shadows gathering around her. The city’s stench assaulted her enhanced senses—exhaust, garbage, and underneath it all, human misery. She’d learned to recognize predators by their smell.

  The man below reeked of sweat and dried blood. The child smelled of terror.

  She’d been hunting the trafficker for two nights, following a trail from the corporate districts to this decaying urban wasteland. She’d seen him, knew what he was, but wanted to find the child too.

  Moving silently, Velira approached the broken skylight. Through jagged glass, she could see them: the girl huddled in a corner, the man pacing and muttering. His blood called to her—red and warm and pumping with life. But so did the girl’s…

  She dropped through the skylight, landing behind him with a soft thump.

  He turned, saw her, and squealed. “Holy fuck!”

  Velira’s hand shot out, wrapping around his throat and lifting him off his feet. His smell was disgusting—piss, alcohol, fear-sweat, and the metallic tang of other people’s blood under his fingernails. For half a second, her fangs extended. She imagined tearing his throat out.

  But she stopped. Held him at arm’s length instead.

  “You scared the shit out of me!” he gasped. “She’s over there. Perfect, just like you asked. Now about my payment—”

  The warehouse door exploded inward.

  Still holding the trafficker, Velira turned. A woman stood in the shattered doorway—red mohawk, leather jacket bristling with chrome studs. An unlit cigarette dangled from her lips, and a pistol was trained dead center on Velira’s chest.

  “Feeding time’s over, bloodsucker. Let him go.”

  “I’m not here to feed,” Velira replied calmly.

  She twisted her wrist. The trafficker’s neck snapped, and she dropped his lifeless body.

  “There. I let him go.”

  The woman didn’t even blink. “Not exactly what I meant, but I’ll take it. Now step away from the kid before I put you down.”

  Hunter. She hadn’t faced a hunter in over a century.

  “You’re interfering with my business.”

  “Your business is eating kids, synth. That makes it my business too.”

  “Children? I’m not here for—”

  “Save the bullshit.” The hunter’s finger tightened on the trigger. “I know what you are.”

  “You know nothing.”

  Velira moved.

  ———

  The synth was fast—faster than anything Kass had fought before—but she was ready. She fired twice while diving sideways, rolling behind a ferrocrete pillar as inhuman strength tore through the door frame where she’d been standing.

  “Hope you weren’t too attached to that pretty face,” Kass called out, slamming a fresh magazine into her pistol. Fuck, outta silver.

  A hiss, then: “Silver. Very clever.”

  Kass grinned. “Wait til you see what else I got for ya.”

  The response was a chunk of ferrocrete the size of a bowling ball, hurled right at her head. Kass barely covered her face with her arms before the impact sent her flying backwards, crashing through rotted flooring to the level below.

  The synth followed, dropping quietly. Kass rolled away from its landing, came up firing, but it was already moving. A pale hand slammed into her chest, sending her crashing through the warehouse’s thin outer wall.

  Kass hit ferrocrete hard, her tactical vest absorbing most of the impact. She tasted blood but nothing felt broken…except maybe a cracked rib.

  The synth followed through the hole, lithe and deadly. Under the dim streetlights, it looked beautiful and terrible—pale skin, flowing dark hair, fangs glinting as its lips curved back.

  “You fight well for a human, but you’re outmatched. Surrender, and I’ll make it quick.”

  “Fuck you.” Kass leveled her pistol as she staggered to her feet. “I’ve put down worse things than you.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Kass fired twice and ran inside the building she’d been perched on earlier. The synth followed. In a huge room open to moonlight through a missing roof, she turned to make her stand.

  They clashed in the center of the abandoned space, unnatural speed meeting human desperation. Kass emptied her magazine trying to track the synth’s movements, scoring one more hit that sent black blood spattering across ferrocrete. In return, claws raked across her arm, opening four parallel gashes that bled freely.

  The synth’s next strike caught her across the jaw, spinning her around and sending her crashing into debris. Stars exploded across her vision, and when they cleared, the bloodsucker was standing over her.

  “Any last words, hunter?”

  Kass grinned through bloody teeth. “Yeah. Boom.”

  The synth’s eyes widened as it noticed the flash-bang grenades scattered around Kass’s position—she’d been herding it into the kill zone from the moment they’d entered.

  ———

  The world went white with silent ringing.

  Velira’s enhanced senses made the flash-bangs devastating. She stumbled backward, temporarily blind and deaf, every instinct screaming danger. When her vision cleared, the hunter was gone.

  A blood trail led to a broken window.

  Silver-tipped bullets. The wounds in her arm and shoulder still burned with that particular agony she hadn’t felt in decades. This human was more dangerous than she’d realized—and resourceful.

  Velira followed the trail back to the original warehouse. She found the hunter kneeling beside the child.

  “Hey, kiddo.” The woman’s voice was gentle, trying not to let pain show. Blood seeped through her jacket from a dozen wounds. “You know how to read coordinates?”

  The girl nodded, tears wet on her cheeks.

  The hunter handed her a keycard.

  “Go to this garage. Ask for a tech dealer named Marcus, tell him…” she paused. “Tell him that Riot sent you—he’ll help get you home safe. Can you do that for me?”

  The child clutched the card and nodded again.

  “Good. Now go, and don’t look back.”

  The girl scampered away into the night. The hunter turned to find Velira standing in the doorway.

  “Let’s finish this, fangs.”

  “Out of bullets?”

  “Maybe.” The hunter’s voice was hoarse but steady. “Want to find out?”

  “Perhaps.” Velira studied her with curiosity. “But first, I find myself wondering—why hunt me? What did I do to earn your attention?”

  “You’re a synth. You feed on people. What more reason do I need?”

  “Synth?” Velira asked, genuinely puzzled. “I don’t know what that means. I’m a vampire.”

  “Vampire?” The hunter blinked. “Actual vampire?”

  “As opposed to what?”

  “Synths. Synthetic vampires. Lab creations based off the myths.” The hunter studied Velira’s face. “You’re saying you’re the real deal?”

  “Yes. I was turned long ago by one of the ancients. And I don’t hunt children.” Velira gestured toward the dead trafficker. “I hunt him. His kind. The monsters who prey on innocents.”

  The revelation hung between them.

  “So you’re not here to feed on the kid?”

  “No.”

  They stared at each other across the warehouse floor, reassessing everything.

  “Well,” the hunter said finally. “This is awkward.”

  More silence from Velira.

  “So what now?” She asked.

  “I should kill you.” Velira touched the silver bullet wound in her shoulder. “You shot me. Twice.”

  “Thought you were someone else.”

  Velira laughed, a sound she hadn’t made in years.

  “You’ve proven…competent. And those silver bullets suggest you understand vampire weaknesses.”

  “Silver kills synths. Didn’t know it worked on the real thing too.”

  “Silver can wound a vampire, but it won’t kill one. Not permanently.” Velira paused. “You realize I could have killed you several times during our fight?”

  The hunter frowned. “Why didn’t you?”

  “Because you’re not hurting innocents. You’re hunting the same monsters I am. Perhaps we could reach an arrangement.”

  “What kind of arrangement?”

  “Temporary alliance. We both want that child safe. We both want to find whoever was buying her. Work together tonight, part ways afterward.”

  The hunter laughed bitterly, then coughed. “Team up with a real vampire? That’s gotta be the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Stupider than trying to kill me with conventional ammunition and homemade explosives?”

  Her eyes narrowed, but she was quiet for a long moment. “What’s to stop you from draining me the second we find this buyer?”

  “What’s to stop you from putting a silver bullet in my head the moment my back is turned?”

  “Honor among predators?”

  “Something like that.”

  The hunter studied Velira, then extended her bloodied hand. “Kass Vex. And for the record, I still think this is completely insane.”

  Velira shook the offered hand, noting how the human didn’t flinch at her cold skin. “Velira Nocturne. And I couldn’t agree more.” She paused. “But shouldn’t we make sure the child reaches safety first?”

  “Shit.” Kass’s eyes widened. “If you weren’t the buyer, then whoever is might still be out there. And I sent her to one of my contacts thinking that you were the threat.”

  She was already moving toward the door. “We need to go. Now.”

  ———

  The girl never made it to Marcus’s garage. He hadn’t seen or heard anything about her. She’d probably been grabbed as soon as she left the warehouse, while Kass and Velira were facing off.

  “What do we do now?” Velira asked.

  “There’s another place we can try.”

  The Socket Bar pulsed with neon and the low hum of failing tech. Broken holosigns glitched above the bar, projecting fractured images of stim-shots and obsolete booze logos. The air was thick with static and smoke that smelled of melted circuitry and old oil.

  Kass pushed through the haze, one arm clutched to her side. The cracked rib reminded her with every step just how powerful her new “partner” really was.

  Velira followed, eyes scanning the room. Conversations died as they passed. Even in a place like the Socket, she stood out—too elegant, too still, too dangerous.

  They found Brenk in his usual corner booth, surrounded by stim-vials and the illusion of safety that three walls provided.

  He looked up as they approached, and his practiced smile died.

  “Kass. You look… upright. Wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

  Kass slid into the booth across from him, biting back a groan as her ribs protested. “The girl’s missing.”

  Brenk’s eyes darted to Velira, who remained standing like a statue. “Look, I told you what I knew about the trafficker—”

  “You gave me the middleman. I need the buyer.”

  “I don’t know anything about—”

  “Bullshit.” Kass leaned forward, letting her coat fall open just enough to show the sidearm on her hip. “You know everyone’s business in this sector. Start talking.”

  Brenk’s fingers drummed nervously on the table. “You don’t understand. This guy—he’s not some street grunt or back-alley dealer. He’s connected. High up. You mess with him, you don’t just disappear. You get deleted. Wiped clean like bad code.”

  “So you’re scared of him, but not me?”

  Brenk tried to smile, but it came out sickly. “You’re just bleeding. He’d drain me dry and have it recorded for the entertainment feeds.”

  Kass reached across the table and grabbed his collar, pulling him closer. The movement hurt, but she didn’t let it show. “I’ve killed better men for less.”

  Brenk swallowed hard but didn’t crack. Whatever had him spooked ran deeper than fear of her reputation.

  Velira leaned in.

  “Brenk.”

  Her voice was smooth, calm and melodic. He turned toward her like a moth drawn to a streetlight, his face going pale, breathing slowing to match the rhythm of her words.

  “I need you to remember. The name you didn’t say. The place you didn’t mention. The face you tried to forget.”

  Brenk blinked once, slow and mechanical. His jaw went slack. “Nex Harrow.”

  The color drained from Kass’s face.

  Velira didn’t break the spell. “Who is he?”

  “Top enforcer for the Red Memory syndicate. Second only to Apex, their boss. Synthetic vampire. Real purist—drinks straight from the vein. Likes them young. Weak. Scared.”

  Kass’s hands clenched into fists.

  “Where?”

  “Undercity. Deep level, District Red. Old maintenance sector under the power grid. He’s got a compound down there. Guards, security drones, the full setup. Nothing gets in or out without his say-so.”

  Velira’s eyes narrowed. “How long does she have?”

  “Not much. It… it won’t take him long to break her.”

  Cold fury flashed across Velira’s face for just an instant. Then she released whatever hold she had on Brenk’s mind.

  Brenk gasped and slumped forward, blinking rapidly as awareness returned.

  “We’re done here.” Kass stood, her rib throbbing. She grabbed one of his stim-shots. “And I’m taking this.”

  “Wait.” Brenk looked up, his eyes bloodshot. “You won’t live long if he finds out I talked.”

  “Neither will you.”

  “I won’t live long anyway.” He gestured at the empty stim-vials around him. “But if you’re really going after Harrow…” He paused, studying their faces. “Bring hell. And bring it fast. That kid don’t have much time left.”

  Outside the Socket, the city’s underbelly stretched away into darkness. Neon signs hummed and died, casting everything in intermittent pools of light.

  “Nex Harrow.” Kass lit a cigarette with shaking hands. “Heard stories about that bastard for years. I hope they’re not all true.”

  “What kind of stories?”

  “The kind that keep street kids awake at night.” She took a long drag, letting the smoke burn her lungs. “Synthetic vampire with a taste for terror. Keeps his victims alive until there’s nothing but a hollow shell.”

  Velira was silent, staring down into the depths of the city where District Red lay hidden beneath layers of ferrocrete and synthetic steel.

  “How do we get down there?”

  “Old maintenance tunnels. I know a way.” Kass flicked her cigarette into the gutter. “But it won’t be easy. District Red is a maze, and Harrow’s had years to fortify his territory.”

  “Then we’d better get started.”

  As they walked toward the maintenance access point that would take them into the city’s buried heart, Kass found herself thinking about the girl—terrified, alone, missing whatever life she’d been taken from. She glanced over at her new ally.

  “Can you do that mind thing again? I need to restock my silver bullets if we’re going after Nex, and they aren’t cheap.”

  “Of course.”

  ———

  The maintenance tunnels beneath the Undercity were a labyrinth of hopelessness and decay. Steam hissed from corroded pipes, and the air tasted of iron and mold. Kass led the way through passages barely wide enough for two people, her tactical flashlight cutting through the darkness.

  “How far?” Velira asked.

  “Half a klick. Maybe less.” Kass paused at a junction, testing the DermaPlast bandage she’d wrapped around her ribs. “These tunnels were built during the first wave of urban expansion. Most people forget they exist.”

  “But not you.”

  “Street kids learn the hidden ways fast. Or they don’t survive long enough to matter.”

  They took the left passage, descending deeper into the city’s buried guts. The temperature dropped with each level, and condensation dripped steadily from the ceiling. Kass’s ribs ached with every step, but DermaPlast had a nice pain dulling effect. So she pushed through. Somewhere ahead, that little girl was running out of time.

  The tunnel opened onto a maintenance platform overlooking District Red.

  Below them stretched a vast underground complex—salvaged shipping containers welded into a makeshift fortress, connected by catwalks and reinforced with scrap metal plating. Generator lights cast harsh shadows across the compound, and Kass could see armed guards patrolling the perimeter.

  “Impressive,” Velira murmured. “How many?”

  Kass studied the layout through her rifle scope. “A dozen guards I can see. Probably twice that inside. Plus automated defenses—motion sensors, gun turrets.” She pulled a small device from her pack—the signal jammer she’d built months ago for jobs like this. “This’ll give us some time before they notice the camera feeds are down.”

  “Enough time to get inside?”

  “Yeah. What about the guards?”

  “Leave them to me.” Velira paused, noticing Kass’s labored breathing. “I can handle it from here. You stay—”

  “I don’t trust you. I need to make sure you only kill the ones who deserve it.” Kass winced, then pressed the stim-shot to her neck.

  She could feel the pain disappearing almost immediately. No wonder people got hooked on these things.

  “And I’m fine. Here.” She handed a commlink to Velira. “We can communicate with these. Just push this button and talk. It’s low frequency, won’t be disrupted by the jammer, and it’s encrypted.”

  The vampire looked at it for a second, then fitted it into her ear.

  ———

  The first guard never knew what hit him.

  Velira moved through the shadows like she belonged there, her enhanced speed making her a dark blur. By the time Kass reached the compound’s outer wall, three sentries were down—dead, but not drained. Kass noted that.

  She activated the jammer and scaled the wall with practiced ease, the stim-shot numbing the pain in her ribs. She landed in a crouch beside a cluster of shipping containers, weapon ready.

  The compound was bigger than it had looked from above. Containers stacked three high formed corridors and rooms, connected by a maze of walkways and service tunnels. Security lighting cast everything in yellow and orange hues, and the constant drone of generators made it hard to hear approaching footsteps.

  “Movement sensor grid activated,” came a tinny voice from hidden speakers. “All personnel move to high alert.”

  Kass cursed. The jammer had worked on the cameras, but Harrow’s security was more sophisticated than she’d expected.

  Velira’s voice crackled through the comm. “The main structure is deeper in.”

  “How many guards between here and there?”

  “Too many for a direct assault. But I have an idea.”

  The distraction was simple and effective. Velira triggered every motion sensor on the compound’s eastern perimeter, drawing guards away from the central structure. While they scrambled to investigate phantom intruders, Kass slipped through their abandoned posts toward the heart of the complex.

  The main building was constructed from three container units welded together, with a single heavily reinforced entrance. Two guards flanked the door—synthetic vampires, judging by their stillness and their red ember-like eyes.

  Kass settled into position behind a stack of crates, checking her ammunition. Silver-tipped bullets loaded—safety off. She’d get one clean shot at each guard before they could react.

  Two shots in quick succession hitting center mass. Both bodies crumpled.

  Kass emerged from cover, weapon trained on the entrance. The reinforced door was locked, but she’d expected that. She reached for the small explosive charge on her belt—

  “Impressive shooting.”

  She spun toward the voice, finger tightening on the trigger.

  Nex Harrow stood twenty feet away, hands clasped behind his back like a gentleman taking an evening stroll. He was tall and lean, with pale skin and dark hair. His suit was expensive and immaculate, elegant despite the grimy industrial complex.

  “Ms. Vex, I presume? Your reputation precedes you. Even in the deepest levels of the Undercity, word travels… Riot.”

  Shit, Kass thought. How does he know my name? How does he know that name? A chilling thought, and one she filed away for later—if there was a later.

  “Where’s the girl?”

  “Safe. For now.” Harrow smiled wickedly. “Though once I deal with you, I’ll return to her.”

  Kass kept her weapon trained on his chest. “Let her go.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible. She’s part of an important experiment. As are the others.”

  “Others?”

  Harrow’s smile revealed fangs like polished ivory. “I collect rare specimens. Children with specific genetic markers, particular blood types. Each one teaches me something new about the relationship between fear and… flavor.”

  Rage. “You’re sick.”

  “I’m evolved. Do you know how long it takes to perfect terror? To understand the precise moment when despair becomes exquisite?” His eyes flashed, red and inhuman. “Decades of research, Ms. Vex. I won’t let street trash undo my work.”

  Kass’s finger found the trigger.

  “Watch me.”

  She fired three times in a rapid burst, silver bullets aimed at his chest. But Harrow was already moving, synthetic vampire reflexes allowing him to dodge. The rounds thudded off the metal wall behind where he’d been standing.

  “I’m not some gutter punk with store-bought fangs,” Harrow snarled, drawing an automatic pistol. “I am Red Memory’s chief enforcer. The Undercity bleeds at my command.”

  Kass rolled behind cover as his return fire shredded the air where she’d been standing. The bullets were large caliber, designed to punch through body armor.

  “Where the fuck are you, fangs?” she muttered, swapping mags.

  As if summoned by her words, the vampire appeared at the compound’s edge, moving silently towards Harrow’s position. She’d finished clearing the perimeter and was ready to end this.

  Harrow spotted her approach and laughed. “Your pet synth? What is she, fourth generation? Third? I was wondering when she’d show.”

  He stepped back, pressing a button on the remote that appeared in his hand.

  “Security protocol activated,” the speakers announced. “Anti-hemovite countermeasures engaged.”

  Ultraviolet flooded the compound, emanating from hidden emitters mounted throughout the structure. Kass could see its effect on Velira immediately.

  ———

  The world erupted in white-hot agony. Velira screamed, a sound torn from an ancient throat echoing off metal walls. She dropped to her knees, smoke coiling from her exposed skin as the UV light burned through her supernatural defenses like acid. Every instinct begged for retreat, for shadow, for blessed dark. She tried to rise, but her limbs faltered. Her vampiric healing struggled to keep pace with the systematic incineration of her cells. She was vulnerable, exposed, and for a terrifying moment, truly helpless. This wasn’t just pain, but an existential threat.

  ———

  Harrow stayed carefully in the shadows, out of the UV wash. “Did you think I’d leave myself vulnerable to my own kind? Every synthetic in the city knows about my little light show. It keeps the riffraff away.”

  Velira screamed and writhed in agony, the UV intensity overwhelming.

  Kass rose from behind her cover, weapon raised. “Turn it off!”

  “I don’t think so.” Harrow turned toward her, reloading his pistol with casual disdain. “This has been entertaining, but playtime’s over.”

  Kass didn’t give him the chance to finish. She emptied her magazine in his direction while sprinting toward the main building, not trying to hit him—just keeping him pinned long enough to reach the door. She threw the magnetic charge and covered her face.

  The explosive charge detonated just before she dove through the entrance, blowing the reinforced door off its hinges and filling the air with smoke and debris.

  Inside was a control room lined with monitors and security equipment. Kass spotted the UV light controls immediately—a master panel with clearly marked switches. She grabbed the mini disruptor from her kit, the one she’d been saving for emergencies, and slapped it against the main power coupling.

  The array died with a satisfying electrical pop.

  “No!” Harrow appeared in the doorway, weapon raised. “What have you—”

  Velira crashed into his back like a wrecking ball, skin still smoking from the UV exposure. Her movements still spoke of profound pain, but her eyes glowed with cold fire.

  “Impossible,” Harrow snarled, trying to turn. “The light should have—”

  “Should have killed me?” Velira’s voice was strained but laced with an ancient terrifying strength. She grabbed his wrist, and Kass heard bones crack. “I am not one of you. I am immortal.”

  The weapon fell from Harrow’s grip as Velira turned him around to face her.

  “I’ve been hunting monsters since before the world burned. And you? You’re just a pathetic imitation.”

  The fight was brief and brutal.

  Harrow had enhanced speed and synthetic strength, but it was nothing compared to a true vampire, even weakened by UV. And Velira had regenerated impossibly fast. She absorbed his desperate strikes, danced around his enhanced reflexes, and systematically dismantled his defenses with the agility of an apex predator.

  “What…what are you?!” He gurgled as her unsheathed claws wrapped around his throat.

  “I’m the reckoning,” she whispered, then ripped his head from his neck. She turned to Kass before his body hit the floor. “We need to find them before reinforcements arrive.”

  “This way.” Kass was already heading deeper into the structure, limping and ribs burning, the stim-shot’s effects wearing off. She followed the sound of muffled crying.

  They found the children in a converted container at the complex’s heart—six kids ranging from maybe eight to fourteen, all bearing the hollow-eyed look of prolonged terror. The girl from the warehouse was there, curled in the corner with tears streaking her dirty face.

  “It’s okay,” Kass said, holstering her weapon and raising her hands. “We’re here to take you home.”

  The girl ran to her and clung to her leg like she’d never let go.

  It took precious minutes to get them to move, to trust that these new strangers weren’t just another nightmare. But they followed, an older boy named Kael helping the younger ones as they made their way back through the compound.

  Outside, emergency lighting had kicked in, bathing District Red in hellish crimson. In the distance, Kass could hear vehicles approaching—reinforcements, just as Velira had predicted.

  “Can you make it?” Velira asked, noting her obvious pain.

  “I’ll manage. You?”

  Velira’s smile was genuine. “I’ll live. Though I’ve learned to respect this city. Those lights were…unpleasant.”

  “Harrow built them to keep other synthetics away. Probably never expected to face a real vampire.”

  “His last mistake.” Velira gathered two of the smaller children in her arms. “What about Red Memory? They’ll want revenge for losing their chief enforcer.”

  “Let them come.” Kass lifted the missing girl, who clung to her with desperate strength. “After tonight, I think the word will spread pretty fast. There’s real monsters in town.”

  As they disappeared into the tunnels beneath the city, carrying the children toward safety, Kass found herself thinking about partnerships. About trust between predators. About the fine line between monster and guardian.

  Behind them, District Red burned with emergency lights and the promise of vengeance.

  Ahead lay the Undercity, with a faint glow of neon light, where hope was dangerous, but could be powerful.

  “Not bad for a night’s work,” Kass said as they moved through the darkness.

  “Indeed,” Velira agreed. “And I must say, your cooperation proved surprisingly effective.”

  “Don’t get used to it, I still don’t trust you.”

  “That, Kass Vex, is probably the wisest thing you’ve said all night.”

  In the tunnels beneath the city, they moved toward dawn—and toward a future where the hunters had become the hunted.