Caius's POV
The first sign was the cold.
My rooms, deep in the heart of the Vampire High Court, dropped twenty degrees in seconds. My breath clouded in front of me - something that hadn't happened in over three hundred years. I knew what it meant before the old bells began to toll.
The Elders were waking.
"Impossible," I whispered, getting to my feet. "It's not time."
The Elders only woke once every hundred years. The next rising wasn't due for another thirty-seven years. Something was very wrong.
I was halfway dressed when Lyra, my most trusted guard, burst through the doors without knocking.
"My Prince," she gasped, her face paler than usual. "They're all waking - all seven of them! The tomb doors are opening by themselves!"
I grabbed my formal coat and sword. "How long?"
"Minutes. Maybe less."
I nodded. "Prepare the Blood Hall. Alert no one outside these walls."
