As they entered the third circle, the loss of their powers hit like a physical blow. Maya stumbled, suddenly feeling heavy without her leopard's grace. Lucas caught her, but his own movements seemed clumsy, human.
Kai tried to shift and found nothing—no wolf strength, no enhanced senses. Just human muscles and ordinary sight. "This is... wrong," he muttered, looking at his too-human hands.
Marcus stood unnaturally still, centuries of vampire abilities stripped away in an instant. No enhanced strength, no predatory grace, no hybrid power. For the first time in nearly six hundred years, he felt... mortal. Again.
Samantha reached for powers that weren't there. No vampire abilities, no borrowed strength. She felt hollow, remembering her human life—the failed marriage, the depression, the feeling of being nothing special.
"What's the point of this?" she asked the darkness. "We're useless without our powers."
