A Wind of Change

The most recent sighting had been a trio of ogres, up in Canada, near Mount Logan. The most disconcerting thing was that Mona’s map marked many gates connecting this human realm to the supernatural one. But there wasn’t a gate within hundreds of miles of Mount Logan. And there was no way that three huge ogres could’ve traveled that far without being noticed. This left us with the chilling conclusion that there were more entrances into the human realm than were marked on the map. Which meant that, even if we managed to close every single gate listed on this map, there were still other ways supernaturals were getting into this human realm.

I looked from one gray ship to the other. They looked like naval ships.

Eli and Aiden were convinced that the hunters were no longer the clandestine organization they had once been—funded by independent backers with a personal grudge against bloodsuckers. Rather, Eli and my father-in-law believed that the hunters were now being supported directly by the government. All of this exposure in mainstream media was striking panic in people and putting enormous pressure on leaders to take drastic action.

That meant that these hunters would soon be—or perhaps already were—a very different breed than any we’d experienced before. Being backed by the government meant they had unprecedented resources, and they were no longer just driven by a blind thirst for revenge. I could foresee a future where becoming a hunter would be a career route for young people, much like joining the Navy. The new generation of hunters would be cool, calculated, more technologically advanced than I wanted to think about and driven solely by intelligence. And there would be many of them. Too many for comfort.

A strong gust of wind blew against me, making my skin prickle.

The world was changing.

And my son was still out there.

He needed to be careful. He’d soon find himself in a whole new world.

A world to which nobody knew the rules.