when i sleep : The Nocturnal hunter (book 1)

Ethan stood in the darkness of the abandoned industrial complex, his breath slow and controlled, but his pulse pounding like war drums. Something had marked him. Something ancient, something that had been watching.

Avery's grip on his arm tightened. “Talk to me, man. What just happened?”

Ethan swallowed hard. How could he explain what he had just seen? The figures lurking beyond the edges of reality, watching, waiting—not ghosts, not demons, but something else entirely.

“I saw them,” he muttered.

Avery frowned. “Them?”

Ethan nodded. “They’re watching me. Waiting for something.”

Avery exhaled sharply. “And you think they took Langford?”

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I think Langford saw them too.”

Avery glanced around, suddenly more alert. “Then we need to move.”

Ethan wasn’t so sure. Leaving now wouldn’t change what was coming.

Because something told him—he was next.

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Echoes of the Vanished

They moved deeper into the structure. The walls were lined with rusted pipes, and the air carried a damp, metallic scent. Every step they took echoed, as if the entire complex were hollow, waiting to swallow them whole.

Then they found it.

A makeshift camp.

Scattered across the floor were a sleeping bag, crumpled papers, and empty food cans. A flashlight, long dead, lay next to a small notebook.

Avery knelt and picked up the notebook, flipping through the pages. His face darkened. “It’s Langford’s.”

Ethan took it and scanned the frantic handwriting.

> They come in my dreams.
They whisper my name.
I tried to fight it, but the more I resist, the clearer they become.
The Veilborn… they are not our saviors. They are our hunters.
I am running out of time.

Ethan’s grip tightened. “He knew.”

Avery stared at the words. “What the hell is a Veilborn?”

Ethan’s stomach twisted. He didn’t know—but deep inside, he felt the word calling to him, as if it had always been part of him.

Before he could answer, something clanked in the distance.

Both men turned, reaching for their weapons. The sound came from a corridor ahead—a long, dark passage that led deeper underground.

Avery flicked off his flashlight. “We’re not alone.”

Ethan didn’t hesitate. He moved first.

His instincts weren’t just reacting—they were leading him. His body felt sharper, his senses heightened. Something was awakening inside him.

The corridor stretched on, lined with rusting machinery and broken metal beams. The air grew heavier, colder.

Then they saw it.

At the far end of the corridor, a hole in the wall.

Not just a hole—a tunnel.

Avery cursed under his breath. “That’s not normal.”

Ethan stepped closer. The edges weren’t jagged like a collapsed wall—it looked… melted. Like something had burned through solid concrete with unnatural precision.

He touched the surface. Warm.

The whisper came again.

Not in his head. Behind him.

Ethan spun around.

And there—**at the edge of his vision—**stood a figure.

No, not a figure.

A shadow.

It was tall, unnaturally thin, with elongated limbs and a featureless face. It didn’t move. It didn’t breathe. It just watched.

Ethan’s blood turned to ice. “Avery—”

But Avery had already drawn his gun. “I see it.”

That’s when the lights exploded.

Glass shattered. The corridor was plunged into absolute darkness.

Ethan barely had time to react before the whisper became a roar.

A force slammed into him, sending him flying backward. He hit the ground hard, pain shooting through his ribs.

Something moved in the dark.

Not just one. Many.

Avery fired blindly, the muzzle flash illuminating grotesque figures shifting in the shadows—too fast, too fluid, like living smoke.

Ethan pushed himself up, instincts screaming at him to move, to fight—

And then, for the first time, he felt it.

A pulse.

Deep inside his chest, like a second heartbeat.

Something ancient.

Something powerful.

Something… Veilborn.

His vision flickered—not darkness, but something beyond it.

And suddenly—he could see them.

Their true forms.

Not just shadows. Creatures.

Hunters.

And they were coming for him.

---

End of Chapter 7