The raven shattered chapel stained glass as Layne's invitation landed on Alyssa's silver dinner knife. Beneath iris perfume soaking the parchment, bloodstains spelled: "Midnight hunt. Bring your sharpest silver." The lipstick seal fluoresced blue—vampire venom's telltale hue.
"Dare you wear crimson?" Layne tapped a funeral march on the windowsill, moonlight exposing seventeen bite scars on his neck. Freshest oozed asphalt-like fluid.
Alyssa burned the invite before him. Ash condensed into a ring on her finger: "I'll bring the blade to slit your throat." Flame hatchling in her eyes seared a cross-shaped scar on his hand.
The abandoned silver mine reeked of rust. Layne's coattails dripped direwolf brains. When he kissed her hand, Alyssa smelled her father's stolen Cubans.
"First prey." He shot the ceiling chains, dropping Kane's sister into the shaft. Alyssa's Moonflare hawk dove to rescue, wingtips revealing wall carvings in her father's hand: "Traitor's daughter must die."
Layne bit his wrist, feeding the girl his venom: "Now she's my bride candidate." Moonlight revealed her accelerated healing, pupils thinning to slits.
Alyssa's dagger throw got deflected by the engagement ring into dynamite seams. Blast waves hurled them into an underground altar displaying seven wedding dresses—each embedded with rings dated to different eras, the oldest bearing her great-grandmother's name.
"Try the 2023 model?" Layne smeared blood on the mirror showing Alyssa stabbing him. Reality had him wiping soot off her cheek: "Visions outcruel truth."
Harp music echoed below. Moonflare phoenix illuminated murals of Layne poisoning Silverfang matriarchs with rings. The unfinished finale depicted her corpse birthing bat larvae from wedding lace.
Evelyn's scream pierced the shaft. As Alyssa turned, Layne plunged a syringe into her neck: "Pre-wedding catalyst needed."
Moonlight drowned in surging underground rivers. Her last sight was the ring's countdown—matching Kane's mother's death date.