Blood Wards

Magic always leaves a mark. This time, it might erase me completely. I just wanted a simple memorial tattoo to honor the ghosts I carry. But as usual with me, it turned into something more. Something with real power. And maybe that's just as well, because some psycho is out there skinning occult tattoo artists alive, harvesting the magic right off their bodies. Meanwhile, a ruthless syndicate fixer named Lamb is leveraging the one person I can't afford to lose-steal a relic from an impenetrable vault, or watch her become collateral in a game I never wanted to play. To make matters worse, a federal task force is dangling offers that sound a hell of a lot like threats. And at the center of it all? A familiar face I once took down, now twisted by unholy power and building a machine to redesign reality in its image. Three threats. One conspiracy pulsing toward activation. If I don't shut it down, nothing survives. I'm running out of options, which means I'll have to weaponize my new ink to fight back. But power always demands a price, and this time, it might cost me my very existence in this messed-up universe. Maybe that's for the best.