1 Chapter 1: Assignment

Luke avoided the gaze of his peers as he walked across the perfectly-kept lawn to the cottage behind the church. The late-afternoon sun cast a long shadow from the colossal church building across the smaller house, and with every step Luke took in the shadow, his heart dropped further.

He'd skipped service again, this time three days in a row. He'd already gotten warnings from the Doyens, the higher-ups in the church, about missing services, but with every slap on the wrist, the threats felt emptier and emptier. He didn't expect to be called to meet directly with the Herald himself.

Luke hesitated on the doorstep of the cottage with his hand poised to knock on the door. He could feel the stares of the other members roaming around the courtyard, and could hear the whispers of gossip—making up little fibs about why he was visiting the Herald.

Pulse speeding, Luke knocked.

"Come in," came from the other side of the door in the commanding, gravelly voice that, even after twenty-one years of hearing it, had never gotten less intimidating.

Luke emptied his lungs in a long sigh and pretended that his legs didn't feel like lead underneath him as he opened the door and stepped inside the cottage. "It's me, Luke. The Doyens told me that you wanted to see me," he said, voice tentative in the oppressively quiet room.

"Welcome, Luke," Herald Thomas said, quietly powerful, sitting at the round dining table and making no move to stand up. He gestured to the seat across from him. His aged, crinkly face looked even more severe under the lamplight; his judging eyes and flat mouth intimidated Luke. He crossed his bony fingers on the tabletop, the long sleeves of his gray robe pooling under him.

Luke crossed the creaky floor to sit at the table, focusing so not to let his eyes dart around the cottage, which he'd only been inside of once, when Herald Thomas told him that his father had passed. In his peripheral vision, it looked exactly like Luke remembered: dark wooden floors and furniture, and low, warm lighting. The only decoration on the white-paneled walls was a huge canvas painting of lily of the valley, the haunting purity symbol for The Faith.

The chair squeaked against the floor as Luke pulled it out, and he hid a wince between gritted teeth. He sat down, his limbs numb with nerves.

Herald Thomas regarded him for a long, uncomfortable beat, and Luke wondered what he was seeing: his short blond hair that he chopped off by himself or the dull spirit behind his blue eyes, the way he sat tall but unimpressive, or the way he looked nothing like his father. "I have an assignment for you, Son."

Luke blinked at him in confusion.

"I've heard that you're improving in your hunts lately," Herald Thomas said, voice gravelly and firm.

Luke fidgeted under the table, fingers curling and uncurling over each other. Unconfidently, he forced his eye to meet Herald Thomas's. He had no idea where the Herald could've possibly heard that—it'd been months since he'd contributed to a vampire hunt in any meaningful capacity. He didn't respond.

"There is an epidemic in our world, do you know that, Luke?" Herald Thomas asked.

Luke opened and shut his mouth again, brain spinning. "Uh—Which epidemic? Sir?" he added on hastily.

"Feeders are growing in numbers," he said, intensity sharpening his words. "Feeders are losing their lives every day to the venom they crave."

Luke nodded slowly. He'd always known about Feeders, humans who were addicted to vampire venom for its sedative effects, but to him, they'd always seemed more pitiful than sinister in the way the Doyens and the Herald portrayed them.

"There is one being out there that can cause an even greater epidemic of Feeders in our city," Herald Thomas said, fingers tightening around each other. "Do you know about half-vampires, Son?"

Luke didn't know how to answer that. "They're just—They have one human parent and one vampire parent, right?"

He nodded. "The venom of a half-vampire is significantly less deadly than a full-vampire. It is said to be sweeter, more euphoric in sensation, and even more addictive than a full-vampire's venom."

Luke's brows furrowed as he listened, his words sinking in slowly.

"Have you ever been bitten by a vampire?" Herald Thomas asked.

"No, sir," Luke said.

The Herald's brows rose, his entire forehead wrinkling up to his receded hairline with the motion. "In twenty-one years, you've never been bitten?"

He shook his head, growing self-conscious with his reaction.

"You're a lucky young man," Herald Thomas said, looking distantly over Luke's shoulder. "It must be your father's spirit protecting you."

Luke's jaw flexed and his hands balled into fists under the table. "Maybe," he said, noncommitting. He knew it was only a matter of time before the Herald brought up his father.

"My Son, I need you to find this half-vampire," Herald Thomas said, his eyes piercing Luke.

Luke reared back in his seat. "Me?" he asked, his voice a faraway echo.

Herald Thomas nodded slowly. "I believe you are the only one capable of this task."

"Herald, sir, I—" Luke's protests broke off. He didn't know what to say. The Herald's view of him was so flawed, so idealized, that he couldn't begin to explain it to him.

"Your father's spirit will protect you in this as well." Herald Thomas set a photo on the table between them.

Luke's head felt like muddled mush as he leaned over the table to look at the photo. It was blurry, like it was taken with a disposable camera and developed in a different decade. In it, a jet-black-haired woman stood with a small boy on her hip. She smiled down at him, her face beautiful and joyous. The boy's face had a long scar over his right eyebrow, and even in the unclear photo, Luke could see that both the boy and the woman had striking light eyes.

"Is this her?" Luke asked.

"No, it's the young boy," Herald Thomas said. "This photo is around eight years old, so he'll look very different."

A prickle of helplessness spread over Luke's skin. His mind raced with so many doubts that he couldn't land on one to vocalize.

"We know from rumors in the Feeder community that he is here in our city," Herald Thomas said, studying the photo. "If you don't find him, he'll spread a curse through our community. The Feeders will grow in numbers and The Faith will dwindle. He could infect one of us, Luke, and nothing would hurt me more than having to cast out one of our own."

The tone in the Herald's voice chilled Luke, but he didn't know how much trust to put in his words; as he aged, he grew more skeptical with their worldview and their teachings. He wasn't the most experienced or worldly person, only twenty-one years old, but the way they spoke about the world at times seemed skewed.. He didn't understand how one being could be so powerful, so dire to The Faith's existence. He opened his mouth to speak, but Herald Thomas cut him off.

"My connections at Eventide have a spot for you to work and familiarize yourself with nightlife in the area," Herald Thomas said, pushing the photo towards Luke.

Luke paused as he tried to remember what Eventide was, and a moment later, a dive bar with a flickering neon sign of a moon came to mind. He'd never even been inside of Eventide—it was forbidden for any member of the Faith to go to bars or drink alcohol at all—much less was he in any way qualified to be a bartender.

"You start tonight at eight, so rest while you can." Herald Thomas leaned forward in his seat, eyes meeting Luke's with hypnotic intensity.

Luke bristled under his gaze.

"Luke, you must find him."