The cursed executioner

The Cursed Executioner

Kaelen Ashworth was seventeen when House Voss slaughtered his hunting unit and kept him alive only to experiment on. A year later, chained in the dark beside something the vampires themselves were afraid to look at, he made a pact he didn't understand and can never take back.

Now the Outer Demon Vherzael lives in his chest, and every enemy Kaelen kills, he can devour a fragment of their power. Strength without a leash. A weapon built from other people's worst gifts.

He escapes into Thornhelm Academy, where vampires, demon-contractors, and dhampir soldiers are forged into humanity's last line of defense. Officially, Kaelen is nobody, a servant-caste washout with no bloodline and no future. Unofficially, he's already hunting his way up the food chain, one quiet kill at a time.

Until Commander Isolde Draven finds him standing over a body he was never supposed to be able to make.

She doesn't turn him in. She recruits him, and becomes the only person who can see exactly how much of him is still human enough to save.

Every kill makes him stronger. Every kill makes him less himself. And somewhere past the Gate of Ruin, there's a version of Kaelen that isn't Kaelen anymore.