“Password?” said the voice at the enchanted door.

Eric lifted his red eyes to the dark wooden door and spoke the words. “Angel Heart.” The secret door slid backward into the stone wall and he stepped through into the hidden creche beyond. As he walked through the doorway the entrance sealed behind him again. He turned and saw the family witch, Rubago, sat in a chair beside the door holding Vrako, his eldest child.

His heart swelled with warmth at the sight of his baby boy. Eric crouched at the feet of the witch, who was rocking slowly in a chair as she sung nurseries song to the child.

“How have they been today?” Eric asked while stroking a hand across Vrako’s sleeping cheek.

“Good,” the witch answered. “I’m just preparing the safety enhancements for their grand introduction.”

Eric nodded, and swallowed in trepidation. Today was the day that he and Claire had finally decided to reveal their vampire triplets to the vampire world. They were taking great care to ensure their safety in case anything might go wrong. Rubago had gone to great lengths to ensure the children would be kept safe.

“And nothing can hurt them?” he asked for the thousandth time, just to make sure. It was highly unlikely there would be any trouble today, but he was taking no chances with light assumptions. The screening process to receive an invitation today had been very intense, and security was at an all-time high in the castle.

“The spells I am putting on these children are as safe as the spell hiding this very creche that I designed for you. Have no fear Eric,” the witch said with a nurturing smile as she stroked Vrako’s sleeping face. “I will die before I let any harm come to these children. Isla and Isaac are over there with Claire. I’ve already protected them.”

Eric stood and turned to look across the broad room that served as the Belmont family creche. The room had been bare and filled with dust-covered furniture this time last year. When Claire’s pregnancy was announced Eric set to work on getting a room together for his children instantly. Today the room was a bright space filled with color, toys and happiness. They spent time with the children whenever they possibly could, but there was also an around the clock team of staff on call to look after the children at any point.

He crossed the creche, stepping into the fenced off area in the far corner where Claire sat on the floor with Isaac and Isla, who were both sat up right playing together with their toys. Sitting down, he smoothed a hand across Claire’s back and kissed her cheek. Isla looked up and saw her daddy, raised her hands, indicating she wanted to be picked up.

“She’s missed her daddy,” Claire said, smiling as Eric leaned forward and scooped his daughter into his arms.

The next hour was spent playing and laughing with their children. Reading to them, feeding them. Making sure they stayed out of trouble (which was easier said than done when Vrako returned to the mix).

“He’s definitely got my father’s temper,” Eric laughed to himself as he attempted to soothe Vrako down from another temper tantrum. The children were already one, and time seemed to fly faster every passing day. Isla and Isaac were still getting to grips with walking, but Vrako had long since mastered the act, and regularly toddled about the playpen, causing havoc and mischief whenever he could.

The nursery door opened a moment later and they all turned to see Eric’s younger sister, Sophia, standing in the doorway, accompanied by her latest infatuation, Edmund Volks.

“How are my favorite nephews and nieces today?!” Sophia sang as she skipped across the room. Eric and Claire smiled as they watched the children light up at the sight of Sophia. She was definitely their favorite aunt and was naturally great with kids.

Standing, Eric exited from the playpen and walked over to acknowledge Edmund, who wasn’t quite at home around children as Sophia was. “Edmund.”

“Eric,” Edmund said and nodded back. “I just received word from Ansel and Eli that everything is ready down in the hall. Everyone ready up here?”

“I think so,” Eric said, looking back at Claire who nodded back at him. He turned around to face Edmund once more. “I guess it’s time to finally unveil our children to our curious public.”

“They’re curious all right,” Edmund said. “There has to be three hundred vampires in that hall. Are we absolutely sure this is safe? I don’t want anything bad happening to the little ones.”

“The guest list has been worked over with a fine-tooth comb,” Rubago answered as she stopped to stand beside Edmund and Eric. “My Cognizance tells me there is no ill-will in the air, and Kat has said the same to me too. Everyone here is here because they want the prophecy to succeed.”

“Exactly,” Claire said, huffing as she stood to her feet with Isaac in her arms. “Our children are a miracle, and the vampires in this valley have faced hard times recently. Seeing the triplets is going to help cement people’s faith in the prophecy, and it might even help us find the lost daughter’s faster.”

“I’m all for that,” Edmund said. “Sooner this prophecy business is over, sooner I can head back to Dead Rest and start picking up college girls again.”

Sophia zipped across the room in an instant at Edmund’s joke and squeezed her hand around his cheeks in mock fury. “And why would you need college girls when you’ve got a lovely vampire girl like me?”

Edmund burst out laughing and pulled the girl into his grasp, turning her on her heels so her back was against his chest. “Christ, I never get tired of winding you up girl.”

“Come,” Rubago said, rolling her eyes and laughing as she watched the playful couple. “Let’s get the triplets ready and head downstairs.” She turned to face Eric and Claire. “Your audience is waiting.”

* * *

“We thank you all for coming today,” Eric said while he looked out across the room of vampires. Three hundred vampires had been invited over all. Male and female vampires from across the country. Some came from the forest, some came from afar. Many were supers like himself, but some were regular vampires too. They all shared one thing in common that they were trusted. Times were dark now, and an alliance was more important than ever.

“I trust you have all heard of the strange happenings in our valley recently. Vampires have died, vampires have born. Vampires thought dead have even returned. A war is rising amongst our people, and it is clear with each passing day that there is more at stake than we ever realized. I brought you here to tell you about the prophecy of the three.”

A tide of whispers rolled across the great hall at mention of the prophecy. Eric looked across the stage to Claire and nodded at her to come over. She approached the podium and Eric got into position. “This is Claire Eldridge. She is human. A year before now it was thought there were no breeders left in the world, but then I found Claire. Last year she gave birth to triplets. Our triplets. I’m sure you have all heard about this already, but we’ve brought you here today to show the power of the prophecy.”

Turning back, Eric looked toward the curtain behind him. “Rubago, if you will.” The room grew tense with excitement as the curtain parted on the stage. Rubago walked out with the triplets in a stroller. The audience gasped as they saw the vampire children for the first time, and then fell silent with shock. The witch approached the edge of the stage and stood there while vampires in the audience clamored forward to get a better look.

Claire’s hand squeezed Eric’s apprehensively, and he squeezed back in reassurance. He didn’t suspect anyone in the crowd would attempt to hurt a vampire child, but they’d made every precaution in case the worst did happen. The witch and the children appeared plain as day in front of everyone, but an invisible barrier of magic surrounded them on all sides, unbeknownst to the watching audience.

“It’s a miracle!” a female vampire shouted from the audience. “A real miracle!” Murmurs of agreement sang up from other vampires in the crowd. Claire’s hand squeezed at Eric’s again, and he felt a sense of pride stirring in his chest.

“That it is, and we brought you here today to show you how important the prophecy is.”

Rubago waved to the crowd as she escorted the children back through the curtain at the back of the stage, and Claire left to accompany her. The witch was back by Eric’s side a moment later, ready to say her piece when prompted.

“This prophecy,” a vampire said from near the front. Eric looked down and recognized him as Silas Horax, a blind, yet powerful vampire from the deep south. His voice rung across the hall in a strong southern drawl. Slow but confident. “I’ll admit I heard whisper of it down south, but it’s often hard for us to keep up with things, what with the world being as big as it is now. Can you elaborate on it?”

“I can,” Eric said, “Rubago here can elaborate even further.” Eric stepped to the side and let the witch take center stage. She curled her hands around the top of the podium and looked out across the crowd with her bright blue eyes.

“It’s quite simple,” the witch said, her voice echoing across the hall. The crowd of vampires watched in quiet expectation, almost looking hypnotized as they looked up at the witch. “There are three sisters, each of them separated at birth, each carrying the spiral birthmark at the bottom of their backs, just as Claire does. She is the first of the lost daughters, found by Eric just over a year and a half ago. Two remain. Two that still need finding. Two that need to be bred to ensure that the prophecy is successful.”

“And if it isn’t?” a woman asked from the middle of the room. “What then?”

“It is… unclear,” Rubago said after a brief pause. “The prophecy states that finding the three daughters and breeding them will usher in a new dawn for your vampire kind. Failure to do so… it will mean the end for your kind.”

The crowd reared back collectively, panicked whispering babbling across the masses as Rubago delivered the news. The witch continued regardless. “As of yet I have no timeline, all I know is that this prophecy has little patience. The other daughters will be in similar age to Claire, but their appearance might vary. All we know is that each will have the spiral mark at the bottom of her back.”

“This leads us to our next port of call,” Eric said, resuming the podium as the witch stood to the side. “There are groups out there that would like to see the prophecy fail, and those groups are actively trying to ensure that failure. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the White Order. They are heavily invested in trying to shut the prophecy down, going as far as attacking the York family very recently.

“William York died very recently in a fight against the White Order. His brother, Eli,” Eric paused and nodded to the blond-haired vampire standing to the left of the stage, “is the only surviving York vampire to carry the family name.

“The Order believed the next daughter would be destined to mate with a York vampire, as they are the oldest vampire family in this part of the world after my own. Despite this, no spiral-marked girl was found among the York family, and we have reason to believe that this assumption was now false.”

“So, these other girls,” Silas Horax said. “Where are they?”

“We think they will be in this general area,” Rubago said. “Prophecy and destiny have a way of crossing paths with each other, and it stands to reason that each of the daughters might be somewhere in the valley at this very moment.”

“No disrespect,” Silas said. “But your valley is thousands of acres across. That’s a lot of land to search. Belmont county is a far cry away from my sleepy southern town, I don’t see what a vampire like myself can do to help.” A few others in the crowd murmured their agreement at this and Eric nodded.

“I understand you all have your own jobs and lives to attend to. I myself have the responsibilities of the Belmont family to carry out. No one can devote every waking moment to this, but we brought you here to be on standby. Not today, not tomorrow… maybe not even next month. At some point my family will need the help of every vampire in this room. All I ask it that you consider that request when the call comes.”

Silas nodded. “Seems fair. But who else is against this prophecy? It seems natural for the Order to work against vampires, being vampire hunters and all. Who else?”

“Shifters for one,” Eric said. “We have actually recently befriended a shifter pack for the first time in my family’s history. A shifter by the name of Logan Nash helped save a vampire from false imprisonment at the Red Keep. There are other packs in the forest working against us, though. On top of that there is something else… We have reason to believe the Red Circle is actively working against the prophecy.”

This statement provided perhaps the biggest outburst of all in the room, many of the vampires vocally aired their disagreement with Eric’s bold claim. One of those vampires was Alice Strang, a powerful female vampire from the Midwest. “Come now Mr. Belmont, you’ve thrown a lot of unbelievable things at us in this meeting, but to talk against the Red Circle itself is pure conspiracy!”

“I know it’s a tough truth to swallow,” Eric said. The Red Circle were effectively the highest governing body of vampires within their world. Everything the Circle did was meant to prolong their existence. Destroying a prophecy that would end them seemed down right bizarre. “But we have very good reason to believe it is true. I have recently severed my own ties with the Circle. You will notice that everyone in this room today is not affiliated with the organization in anyway. That was deliberate.”

The vampires in the room looked across at each other, all realizing that they were representatives of independent factions. This had been orchestrated by Eric to ensure that no fighting took place, and that no spies for the Circle would report his meeting back to the Red Keep. “You are all independent for a reason. You value your individual strength.”

“Amen to that,” Silas Horax shouted. “I don’t need no fucking Circle telling me how to run my coven!” A couple other vampires in the room shouted in agreement. “It wouldn’t surprise me for a moment that those twisted fucks were involved in something like this. Question is: why?!”

Rubago resumed talking. “We don’t know at this point. We are actively trying to find that out, all we know is this: The Circle cannot be trusted any more. They were behind the orchestrated attack against Eli York and his family. It’s possible the Circle want to seize the mates for themselves to try and take control of the prophecy. If they got control of the remaining daughters, they would have a majority hold of our destiny. They could shape your new dawn in any way they wish.”

More murmurs of disgust swept through the crowd at the idea. It didn’t seem that farfetched to Eric or any vampire in the hall that the Circle would try for such a tasteless power grab. “Well you certainly have the backing of my coven,” Alice Strang said. “I wouldn’t put it past the Circle to try something so vulgar, but tell me this: what is this new dawn you talk of? What does that mean?”

“I can understand it’s vague,” Rubago said. “But the language of prophecy often is. I can show you what I think it means however. Just as I can show you what might happen if the prophecy fails. It seemed that destiny wasn’t pleased with the rate at which the mates were being found. You might recall a breakout of Black Fang recently. The new disease that has been starving vampires across the country.”

Most of the vampires in the audience voiced their regretful acknowledgement of the disease. “Killed off half my Coven,” shouted Dexter Nunez, a respected vampire from the east coast. “Things seem better recently however. Looks like it’s died down.”

“The same can be said here,” Rubago said. “I anticipate it will return though, and worse than ever before. I believe the disease fell back recently because some process might have been made with the second daughter, but I will come back to that in a moment. I’d like to show you a glimpse of the new dawn. I’d like to show you what might be possible for your kind should this prophecy work out.” Rubago turned to the curtain at the back of the stage. “Ansel? Kat? Please come forward.”

The curtains parted once more, and Ansel Draco walked forward across the stage with his arm around Kat. Kat wore a knee-length dress which bumped slightly around her midriff. “This is Ansel Draco and Kat Summers,” Rubago said as the couple approached the front of the stage. “They travelled here recently from the west. I believe the prophecy brought them here. Before all this began Kat wasn’t a breeder. But she is now pregnant with Ansel’s child.”

The room gasped again at the startling revelation. “Amazing!” Alice shouted. “Just amazing!”

Kat gave an embarrassed nod as Ansel escorted her back off the stage. Dexter Nunez spoke up again. “And you said this was because progress had been made on finding the second lost daughter. What does that mean?”

Rubago looked over to Eric, who stepped forward and took the podium for the final time. “That’s right. There was an altercation very recently in the forest. It was the same night Will York died. The same night we rescued the York vampires and formed an alliance with Logan Nash’s shifter pack. After the confrontation settled down a feral vampire appeared at the edge of the fray, demanding that a girl was handed over to him.”

Babbles of confusion and curiosity swept over the crowd at this revelation. Eric continued. “The feral wanted a girl from the White Order. He said she was his mate. He demanded she went with him or he would destroy everyone in the vicinity with a hell charge, an explosive device he had taken from a witch.

“This girl acquiesced with the feral vampire’s demands, not wanting any more blood to be shed on what was already a tragic night for all parties involved. The vampire hunter surrendered herself to the mad vampire, and they vanished into the night. I thought nothing of the exchange until my good friend, Ansel Draco, informed me that he saw the spiral mark at the bottom of that girl’s back. The crazed vampire has taken the second daughter of the prophecy, and they are now hidden somewhere within the valley.”

“Great!” Silas Horax chuckled. “That’s just what you want. A feral vampire derailing a prophecy. If I didn’t know any better I’d assume he drank the girl dry in an instant, not realizing her worth!”

“I’m not so sure,” Rubago said and stepped forward. “This feral vampire was no ordinary man. It was Wraith Belmont, Eric’s fallen brother.”

The crowd reacted again at this news, perhaps more than they had done with any of the other information given to them tonight. “But Wraith Belmont died over a year ago,” Alice Strang shouted, other people in the audience vocalizing their agreement alongside her. “We all heard the news!”

“Wraith was thought dead,” Eric said. “And for the longest time I assumed he was. My brother fell from the roof of the castle while defending my family against a treacherous attack. We assumed there was no way he could survive the fall, but apparently we were wrong.”

“So, tell him to return with the girl!” Dexter Nunez shouted in suggestion. “Surely it’s easy?”

Eric shook his head as others murmured in agreement. “I would if it were that easy, but Wraith has always been different. He lived a life of chaos until his recent sacrifice, and it appears he is now something more than vampire. We do not yet fully understand what he is.”

“All we know is that Wraith possibly has the second daughter of the prophecy,” Rubago said. “And I believe his involvement is no derailing. I believe he is one of the destined mates. I met Wraith recently before the showdown at the church and his mind has been warped by the mysterious magic flowing through him. He no longer remembers who he is or where he came from. All he knows is that this girl is his mate.”

“And so, we can only ask your help if you should cross paths with them,” Eric said. “We have no idea where they are, but we are looking. More vampires are flocking to the valley every day with the promise of fertile mates cropping up. The White Order are increasing their numbers, more sightings have been made of Circle agents in the north of the forest. Everyone is converging to the valley, hoping that they might have some part in the prophecy—for better or for worse.”

“Seems like your brother hasn’t got a cat in hell’s chance of making it back here alive,” Alice Strang said. “You must know him better than anyone else Belmont. Where would you go if you were him? What would your plan be?”

Eric looked across the room, listening to the question he had asked himself a thousand times since Wraith had made his most unexpected return.

Where was his brother now? And just what was he planning to do with this girl?