Jason managed to keep up with the two vampires.

Not because he was fast—he wasn’t. His legs were lead. His lungs were fire. Every step felt like wading through mud. But the adrenaline in his system had spiked, flooding his veins with something that wasn’t quite strength and wasn’t quite courage. It was survival. Pure, primal, desperate survival.

The sisters moved ahead of him, their pale forms barely visible in the darkness. They didn’t slow down for him. Didn’t look back. They had one goal: find their brother.

Jason considered retreating. Turning around. Running back toward the exit. But even he knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it. The cave was crumbling at a rapid pace—faster now, more violent. Huge chunks of stone were falling from the ceiling, crashing to the ground behind him, sealing off the path he had just traveled.

There was no going back.

He could only go forward.

Please let there be an exit somewhere else, Jason thought. Please let there be another way out.

The tunnel opened into a vast chamber.

The nest.

Jason stumbled to a halt.

The two vampires stood frozen at the edge of the darkness, their red eyes wide, their bodies rigid. They were staring straight ahead. Not moving. Not breathing. Just... staring.

Jason redirected his gaze to see what they were looking at.

The queen.

She was magnificent. Terrifying. Wrong in a way that made Jason’s stomach turn.

Her body was tall and slender, covered in chitin that gleamed like wet glass. Six arms spread from her torso, each one ending in fingers that were too long, too sharp. Her lower body was spider-like—segmented, jointed, poised for movement. But her face... her face was almost human. Smooth features. Full lips. And eyes that were completely black, bottomless voids but there was something different about her just a second ago, she now had three eyes, one where her nose bridge should have been.

She looked different from the stories. She looked powerful. Evolved.

And Jason knew—deep in his gut, in his bones, in the primal part of his brain that had kept humans alive for millennia—that her strength was on a different level.

But there was something else.

Something worse.

The queen had a sphere of green blood suspended in front of her, rotating slowly like a planet orbiting a sun. It pulsed with dark energy, veins of crimson lightning crackling across its surface. A defensive mechanism. Or an offensive one. Jason couldn’t tell.

She was learning blood manipulation at an alarming while fighting which meant fighting stronger enemies would only hasten her evolution.

One of the sisters—the taller one—muttered under her breath. "Blood manipulation. That should be impossible."

"Only pure bloods can use it," the other added, her voice trembling. "How does she have access to that?"

Jason muttered the same question to himself. ?Blood manipulation? How does she have access to that? She is a fucking insect!"

But this was not a conversation. This was not a debate.

Because Caelus emerged from the attack.

He stepped out of the dust cloud without a single scratch on his pale skin. His clothes were torn in places, but his body was untouched. His red eyes were calm with his hands were still in his pockets.

The queen’s blood projectiles had torn through stone,had shattered the wall behind him, had turned solid rock into rubble.

But Caelus was unharmed.

His level of blood manipulation was on a different level. There was no way the queen could hold a candle to him at this point. Not yet at least. Not while she was still learning.

Kaelen pushed himself off the wall, his scales cracked, his breathing ragged. He had been thrown across the chamber. His ribs were broken. His vision was blurry. But he was still standing.

He looked at Caelus. Then at the queen. Then at the vampires and Jason who had just arrived.

"Everyone stand back," Kaelen growled, his voice low and rough. "It has been years since I last let loose. Don’t get in my way."

An injured Kaelen barked even though he was in no state to fight.

Jason’s eyes met Kaelen’s.

He rushed to him, ignoring the pain in his own legs, ignoring the burning in his chest. He grabbed Kaelen’s arm and ducked under it, draping the reptile’s weight across his shoulders.

"You’re hurt," Jason said.

"I’m fine."

"You’re not fine. Your ribs are broken. I can hear them clicking."

Kaelen grunted but didn’t argue. He leaned on Jason, letting the smaller creature support some of his weight.

"What are you doing here, little meat?" Kaelen asked. "You should have run."

"I tried. The cave is collapsing." Jason glanced at the ceiling. "No way back."

"So you came forward instead to be eaten alive?’

"Seemed better than being crushed."

Kaelen let out a sound that might have been a laugh. "You’re an idiot, little meat."

"Yeah. I know."

"Did the others get out safely?" Kaelen asked to which Jason nodded.

He had to reassure him but Jason had no idea what was next considering this thing in front of him was giving him a bad vibe.

The sisters stood side by side, their red eyes fixed on the queen. They hadn’t moved. Hadn’t blinked.

Caelus took a step forward. His hands finally came out of his pockets.

"Stay behind me," he said. His voice was calm, but there was something underneath it, something dangerous because he was finally going to take this threat seriously

"All of you. Seraphina, stay back. You too, Liliana."

Kaelen pushed off Jason’s shoulder. "I can fight."

"You can barely stand."

"I can still stand."

Caelus glanced at him. Then at Jason. Then at the sisters.

"The second round is about to begin," Caelus said. "If you’re going to fight, fight. If you’re going to run, run now."

No one moved.

The queen’s black eyes swept across the group. Her lips curled into a smile.

She was ready because she knew if she could assimilate all of their attributes, she would be unstoppable.