Bloodline of Ash and Fang

CHAPTER THREE: THROUGH THE VEIL

The silence in the woods was absolute. It was no longer just an absence of sound; it was a presence, heavy and listening. The Blood Glyph pulsed with its faint, malevolent light, a secret that now hung between them, vast and terrifying.

Jeremy couldn’t tear his eyes away from Damian. His friend’s face was a mask of confusion and fear, his gaze still locked on the symbol etched in magic and blood.

How can he see it?

The question screamed in Jeremy’s head, a loop of pure, undiluted panic. Every instinct inherited from generations of werewolf royalty told him to contain this. To report it. To flee. Damian was a variable that shouldn’t exist, a paradox that broke every rule of the hidden world.

But the boy in front of him wasn’t a variable. He was his best friend. And the raw, uncomprehending fear in Damian’s eyes snapped something into place.

“Damian.” Jeremy’s voice was rough, stripped of all its usual ease. It was a tone Damian had never heard from him before. It made Damian flinch, finally tearing his gaze from the glyph to look at his friend.

“Jeremy, what the hell is that?” Damian’s voice was barely a whisper, cracking on the words. “Why can you only see it now?”

Jeremy took a step closer, his movements stiff. He grabbed Damian’s arm, his grip firm. “Listen to me. You can’t see what I’m seeing. You shouldn’t be able to see that.”

“But I can see it! It’s right there!”

“I know,” Jeremy said, his voice low and urgent, his eyes darting around the dark trees as if expecting watchers. “And that is the most dangerous thing that has ever happened to you.”

The words landed like a physical blow. Damian stared, his mind reeling. The confirmation was a relief so sharp it was painful, but the warning that followed was a bucket of ice water.

“This…” Jeremy gestured vaguely at the horrific symbol on the ground, “...this isn’t an animal attack. It’s not some random crime. This is something else. Something my family… knows about.” He hesitated, the words ‘werewolf’ and ‘ritual’ burning on his tongue, but he held them back. Too much, too fast. “There are things in Raven Falls that aren’t what they seem. And you just stumbled right into the middle of it.”

The truth, even this shredded, partial version of it, was a key turning in a lock deep inside Damian. It fits. The strange feeling of the woods, his father’s death, his mother’s fear—it all clicked into a terrifying new picture.

“My dad…” Damian started, the pieces connecting with a dreadful clarity.

“I don’t know,” Jeremy cut him off quickly, though his gut told him it was all connected. “I don’t know what it means. But you have to promise me. Swear to me, Damian. You won’t tell anyone what you saw. No one. Especially not your mom.”

“Why not my mom?”

“Because,” Jeremy said, his expression grim, “the only way you’re safe is if no one knows you can see this. If people find out… I can’t protect you.”

The weight of the secret settled on Damian’s shoulders, immense and terrifying. He gave a slow, numb nod.

“We need to go. Now.” Jeremy’s tone brooked no argument. He gave one last, wary look at the Blood Glyph, then turned, pulling Damian with him back toward the car, leaving the ancient, bloody secret to fade back into the darkness behind them.

Back in the car, Jeremy's expression was one of pure seriousness. His brows scrunched together in a frown. This was serious,more serious than he had thought. 

Damien... he's best friend might be supernatural. He gripped the wheel of the car tighter.

But what supernatural? That was the question... A wolf or something else. 

If he was a werewolf then it would be good...

But something else entirely,he dreaded to think of it..

"Jeremy." Damien called out. He had noticed his friend looking really worried, and how hard he was gripping that steering wheel.

"What was that thing back there?"Damian needed answers, and fast, because he was beginning to run mad with thinking.

Jeremy took a deep breath, buying a second to construct the lie. "It's called a Blood Glyph," he sighed, deciding on a half-truth.

"What's a Blood Glyph?"Damien was calmer now.

"My family…they’re into all that old-town history. The weird stuff everyone else ignores," Jeremy started, keeping his eyes on the dark road ahead. "Folklore. Occult symbols. They’ve got books full of this kind of thing. I’ve seen sketches of that glyph before. You remember that bitter smell back there? Like rotten herbs? That's wolfsbane. They use it in rituals. It’s supposed to hide the magic, make it invisible to normal people. You’re not supposed to just see it."

Damien processed this, recalling the acrid scent. "So you only saw it because you knew what to look for? Because you recognized it from those books and knew to ignore the smell?"

"Right," Jeremy said, the lie becoming easier as he wove it with truth. "I had to really focus, to push past the... the veil the wolfsbane makes. But you…" He shot Damian with a look of genuine fear. "You shouldn't have been able to see it at all, man. You saw it straight away, right through the protection. That’s what freaked me out. The kind of people who use wolfsbane and blood glyphs… they’re not messing around. If they found out some random guy could just see their secrets?" He let the grim implication hang in the air for a moment. "That’s why you can’t tell anyone. No one. Not even your mom. You’d just be putting a target on her back, too."

"Alright, I get it," Damien replied. He wasn't totally convinced; he still felt there was something his best friend wasn't telling him. Something darker. Much, much darker. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"So what do we do next?"he asked, feeling the need to at least know what happens next.

"I'll drop you off at your house. Try to get some sleep, if you can." They both needed it, to be honest. "Once the sun is up in a couple of hours, I'll contact Marcus," Jeremy said. Yes, he needed help, someone who knew more than he did, and Marcus definitely knew. This was the only thought that crossed his mind.

"Marcus?" Damien asked. "You mean your brother? What would he know about this?"

"Trust me, he can help. He's part of my family, after all," Jeremy said, replying to his friend and reassuring himself as well. "Remember, I told you my fa

mily is into all this stuff."

He had to. Marcus had to know….