Bloodline of Ash and Fang

CHAPTER TWO: WHAT SHOULD REMAIN UNSEEN

The sky was black, heavy. Damien leaned on the window, watching streetlights smear past. Yellow streaks. Tired gold. Five in the morning. The whole town out cold. Not him. Sleep hadn’t touched him in weeks.

He sat slouched in the passenger seat, fingers locked on the door handle like he might jump out if it came to it. Back home, his little sister would be out like a rock, wrapped in her blanket. Safe. Mom would’ve lost her mind if she knew he’d slipped out—but Mom wasn’t there to stop him.

His head was stuck on the same reel. His dad. The years kept dragging, and the man’s face was turning into smoke. Fading around the edges. That scared him worse than anything.

What burned harder was the lie. Animal attack, they’d said. Everybody bought it. But he’d seen. The body. The hands. The way the bones broke—no wolf on earth did that. Sure, there were paw prints. But paw prints weren’t proof. He’d tried to say something once, just once. Then he saw his mom’s eyes, and the words died in his throat.

“Yo, Damien,” Jeremy’s voice cracked through the silence. “What’s chewing at you?”

“Nothing.”

Jeremy let out a short laugh, like he knew better. He didn’t push. Instead he swung the car off the road. Gravel snapped under the tires. Both of them climbed out, cold air slapping their faces. They flicked on their flashlights.

Jeremy aimed his beam right into Damien’s face and grinned when Damien cursed, jerking his head aside.

“We walk from here.”

He popped gum into his mouth, loud. Damien snatched it out and tossed it.

“Dude! That was my last one!”

“Don’t care. Why can’t we drive all the way? It’s freezing.” Damien shoved his hands deep in his jacket. His eyes kept pulling toward the trees. The woods felt wrong. Not just dark. Like they didn’t want him there.

“Because, genius—” Jeremy waved his light. “Car’s not getting through that mess.”

He took the lead, boots cracking sticks, flashlight bouncing. Damien trailed, shoulders tight. Every snap, every rustle felt like trouble creeping close.

“Where’s the body?” Damien muttered.

Jeremy smirked. “At the morgue. Where else?”

“Then why are we here?”

“You wanted the scene, right? So—scene.”

Damien huffed but kept walking. Caution tape sagged ahead, weak in the wind. The air was heavy. He drifted a few steps off to the side.

Then stopped dead.

The tree was torn up, bark ripped raw. Blood streaked down thick and wet. Still dripping.

His stomach flipped.

And then it got worse.

The blood wasn’t just dripping. It was crawling.

Thin lines crept along the dirt, slow but sure, like fingers drawing. They carved shapes, sharp edges. A star. A hex. Each point glowed faint, like the earth itself was holding its breath.

“Jeremy!” Damien’s voice cracked. “Here! Look!”

Jeremy hurried over, light darting. “What? Bear tracks?” He scanned the trunk, the dirt. Just saw blood. Normal blood.

“Look at the ground!” Damien jabbed his finger. “It’s moving. It’s making something!”

Jeremy squinted. He saw nothing but a mess. A puddle. He shook his head. “Bro, it’s blood. Blood doesn’t move.”

Damien’s face was pale. “No. I’m telling you. It’s a star. You don’t see it?”

Jeremy opened his mouth to crack a joke, then froze.

Something burned his nose. Bitter. Sharp. Wolfsbane. His chest tightened. His dad’s voice slammed into his head: where wolfsbane grows, the veil isn’t far.

He shut his eyes, pulled in a breath. Don’t look at the world. Look through it.

The forest dulled, colors bleeding out. Then truth ripped through.

The glyph.

Blood lines cut brutal into the dirt. Six points, pulsing faint like a heartbeat. The center sucked in light like a hole. Execution magic.

Jeremy’s pulse kicked fast. This wasn’t just some killing. This was a warning.

He turned, ready to shove Damien back—

And froze solid.

Damien was already staring at it. Wide-eyed. Face drained. No tricks. No veil. Just seeing it, raw.

Jeremy’s heart slammed. He had to fight to keep his own sight open. Damien? He just looked. Like it was nothing.

That wasn’t right. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

If Damien could see this, then he wa

sn’t just snooping around. He was tangled up in it. Deep.

And he didn’t even know.