Chained in eternal darkness. Kidnapped by a primordial evil. Freeing this vampire queen will unlock hell itself. Helayna Ironheart doesn't know where she is, or how long she's been trapped in the darkness. She only knows pain and horror when her captor feeds on her suffering. Her only hope is to access her power as an Aima vampire queen. But how can she call her guardian Blood, when she's trapped in an alternative dimension at the bottom of the world tree? Only Darkness lives here. So that's exactly what she must take. A print edition of this story will be featured in MORE, a limited edition anthology for Literary Love Savannah 2019.

Escaping the Darkness is only the beginning… Catapulted by her newfound power, Helayna Ironheart escaped the endless darkness of Hel to the human world. She even managed to free her three guardian Blood from their stone gargoyles by giving them her blood. But escaping the infinite coils of the world serpent is only the beginning of her journey through Darkness. Her dark alfar Blood know nothing of this world, and she barely remembers what it means to be a vampire queen. Let alone how to run a nest or negotiate with other queens. Then her brother drops off a scared, traumatized queen on her doorstep with blazing sun-demons hot on her trail. Sun and Darkness have never mixed—and Karmen’s solar power threatens to obliterate everything Helayna holds dear. She needs more power to hold her own. But to call more Blood, she will need to go back into the Darkness… The one place she swore never to return.