Blood Hounds

Kael's grip tightened around his sword as Fenrir's growl deepened. Rhia, sensing the shift in tension, doused the fire with a handful of dirt, plunging the room into near darkness. Only the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the cracks in the tower walls remained.

Outside, something moved.

Not the rustling of leaves or the scampering of a small animal—this was deliberate. Slow. Heavy.

Kael took a measured step toward the doorway, Fenrir at his side, ears flat, muscles taut. Rhia had pressed herself against the wall, dagger in hand, her breathing controlled but sharp.

Then—a whisper.

Not a voice, not in the way a man speaks. This was something else. A slithering, curling sound that made the skin on Kael's arms prickle.

Kael…

He went rigid.

It had spoken his name.

A shadow stretched along the stone floor just outside, elongated and shifting unnaturally. The moonlight caught something—a glint of eyes, but not like Fenrir's. These were wrong. Hollow. Like pits in the dark.

Kael's heart pounded, but his hands remained steady.

"Rhia," he murmured, barely above a breath. "Have you seen anything like this before?"

A pause. Then, softly: "Once."

That single word carried weight. Kael didn't have time to ask before the thing moved.

A sudden scraping sound, like claws against stone. Then a low, rattling hiss.

Fenrir snapped his teeth, stepping forward, his hackles raised.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come—the presence vanished.

The air lightened. The oppressive weight that had pressed against Kael's chest was gone. The forest beyond the tower stood still, silent, as if nothing had ever been there.

Rhia let out a slow breath. "It's gone."

Kael wasn't so sure. He stepped out into the open, sword raised, scanning the trees. Nothing. No tracks. No sign of movement.

But that whisper still echoed in his mind.

Fenrir stood beside him, staring into the darkness. Then, slowly, the wolf turned his head toward Kael.

And in his golden eyes, Kael saw what he had feared.

Recognition.

Whatever that thing was…

Fenrir knew it.

And that meant this was only the beginning.