The trip to the castle was, thankfully, uneventful, save for the howling storm all around them. The three girls trudged up to the front gate, where several guards were posted. Pale's eyes narrowed when she noticed Captain Allen among them. As the three of them drew close, all the guards turned towards them, their hands drifting to their weapons.

"Hold there," Allen commanded, stopping them in their tracks. "State your business."

"We're here to see the lord of this city," Pale stated. "It concerns the dead girl."

"This again? I told you to stop looking into that, it's official city guard business."

"We only did it because her father sought us out and specifically asked us to," Pale retorted. "You can speak to him to confirm that if you want, I don't care. Whatever the case may be, it's not important at the moment. What is important is that we've discovered something that involves the entire town."

Allen crossed his arms. "Speak, then. If it's important enough for my lord, then you should have no problem telling me or the other guards."

"Very well. May was murdered by a vampire."

Allen's eyes widened for a moment, before his steely expression returned. He glared at her. "If you intend to waste my time-"

"Believe me, I am being completely serious," Pale emphasized. "She resurrected as a ghoul and attempted to kill us. We had no choice but to neutralize her."

"How am I supposed to believe you?"

"Because if you don't, a lot more people are going to die," Evie said, stepping forwards. "She was a ghoul, Captain – I'm sure of it."

"That proves nothing," Allen replied. "Ghouls can be made in other ways aside from being turned by a vampire – necromancy, for example, same as any other undead. And besides, vampires have been extinct since the Undead Crusades almost four-hundred years ago. You seriously mean to tell me that we have one of them in our town right now?" He shook his head. "It's unbelievable."

"I know what I saw," Evie said through gritted teeth. "I am an elf – I was around when the Crusades were going on, Captain. I've run into my fair share of vampires over the years. And make no mistake, all the evidence points towards this being a vampire's doing." She took another step forward, which caused the guards to tense. "Please see reason on this. At the very least, let us speak to your lord and warn him personally of the danger. You'll be watching over us the entire time, too – what's the worst that could happen?"

Allen scowled, but thankfully, common sense seemed to win out. He gave them a small nod. "You will have five minutes to speak to him, and not a second more. And you will turn over all your weapons before stepping foot onto the grounds."

"Your terms are agreeable," Pale acquiesced.

She unslung her rifle and pulled her pistol out of its holster, then shoved them along with her sheathed knife into the waiting arms of a nearby guard. He seemed bewildered at what she was giving him, and she turned to him and gave him a harsh glare.

"Do not even think about messing with those," she warned. "Trust me. It's for your own good."

The guard merely nodded in understanding. Pale breathed a sigh of relief, then watched as Evie disarmed, turning over her bow and arrows plus her short sword. Once they had successfully disarmed, Allen nodded.

"Follow me," he commanded.

XXX

"Wow…" Kayla breathed as they marched through the halls of the castle. "This place is even bigger on the inside… I mean, I know I'm supposed to focus, but…"

"It's excessive, I know," Evie said to her. "But what good is a lord's wealth with no way to flaunt it?"

"This castle was handed down to my lord," Allen snapped without looking back. "It has been in his family for generations. Show some respect and mind your tongue while you walk its halls."

Evie rolled her eyes, but said nothing in response. Pale pursed her lips as they walked. All around them, servants and additional guards eyed them with trepidation and suspicion.

She suddenly felt almost naked without her weapons.

Eventually, Allen led them to a large throne room. There, sitting in the center, was the man Pale could only assume was the town's lord. He was tall, dressed in expensive-looking clothes, and was perched in his seat leaned over with his head resting in one hand, a bored expression on his face. He had blue eyes, and was almost completely bald, save for a small patch of black hair on top of his head and another on his chin.

As they all stepped into his chamber, Allen held up a hand, stopping them. He then bowed to his lord, then turned around to address.

"Announcing Lord Faron," he declared before stepping forwards and standing next to the throne.

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Lord Faron eyed them, his gaze passing between their group of three and all the guards that were flanking them. After a moment, he let out a bored sigh.

"Yes?" he asked dismissively. "What is it?"

Pale's brow furrowed. Already, she could tell that this man was not going to be interested in what they had to say. Still, they were here now, so it was worth a shot.

"We've come to discuss the recent murder in town," Pale told him.

"And who are you?" Faron asked, bringing a hand up to examine his nails for dirt. Without looking back at her, he said, "Give me a reason I should be hearing this from you, and not from my guards."

"I am Pale," she answered. "These are my companions, Evie and Kayla. We are visitors in your town, and-"

"Four minutes," Allen announced, cutting her off. Pale shot him a baleful look, but continued.

"I'll cut to the chase," she offered. "That woman was murdered by a vampire, and it's somewhere in your town."

Immediately, Faron froze, his eyes going wide. It only lasted for a second, but it was more than enough for Pale to notice it. After the moment passed, however, it was replaced by that same bored expression he was wearing when they first entered the room.

"Ridiculous," Faron spat. "Everyone knows-"

"Vampires have been extinct for centuries," Evie interrupted. "Yes, yes, we've heard it before."

"Mind your tongue when speaking to my lord," Allen snapped. "Do not interrupt him before he has finished speaking."

Again, Evie rolled her eyes. "You know what? I don't care if this is out of line or not. I'm just going to say it – you can see I am an elf. As it turns out, I am very long-lived. I was around for the Undead Crusades – hells, I even participated in them. I've taken on my fair share of vampires before, sir. I know what to look for when it comes to identifying them. And believe me when I say that there is one in your town now. I don't know how it survived these past few centuries unscathed, or why it's here now, but it is here now, and your entire town is in danger unless we do something about it."

"So sure of this, are you?" Faron demanded. "Explain to me how you know, and why I should believe you."

"Because the signs are there. The woman who was murdered was killed by having all of her blood drained in the blink of an eye, without a drop of it being spilled. Moreover, when we were examining her body at the request of her father, the corpse reanimated and attacked us, despite being in a state of extreme disrepair." Evie's eyes narrowed. "Now, you tell me, what kind of magic can drain someone's blood like that and also cause a corpse to reanimate a short while later?"

"Your rhetorical questions bore me," Faron said absentmindedly. "In any case, I don't see why I should get involved with this. If there truly is a vampire in town, which I very much doubt, then the guard will be more than capable of taking care of it. Knight-Captain Allen is an accomplished swordsman and fire mage, and all the knights who train under him are adept in their own right. I am confident that whatever threat rises against this city, they will destroy it with ease."

Evie grit her teeth. "You don't know vampires like I do. None of you have ever fought one before. You have no idea what-"

"That's enough," Allen said sternly. "My lord has made his thoughts on this matter clear enough, and moreover, your five minutes are up. Now, do you intend to let us walk you out of the castle, or shall we carry you out instead?"

"You don't know what you're doing!" Evie protested. "The people will be-"

"Evie," Pale said, silencing her. Evie looked to her in dismay, but Pale just shook her head. That earned her a deep disappointed frown, but Pale ignored it and turned back to Allen. "Walk us out. We have no intention of starting a fight."

"Smart answer," he said. He motioned with his head. "Guards, see them off the premises and make sure they don't come back. If you see them again, let me know immediately. I will not have them pestering Lord Faron any further."

"Sir!" the guards all said in unison before approaching the three of them.

One of them rested a hand on Pale's shoulder and began to muscle her out of the throne room, and she had to fight back the urge to break his arm.

XXX

"I don't get it," Evie said as she paced around their room. "They just… didn't even consider it as an option! The evidence is right in front of their faces, and yet-"

"Let it go," Pale said from her spot on the bed. Her rifle sat disassembled on the covers in front of her, and as she spoke, she carefully inspected each part of it, then steadily slotted them back into place. "It's not worth getting angry about."

"Of course it is!" Evie spat. "Don't they realize more people are going to die if I'm right?! It's crazy!"

"I think they do," Kayla said timidly, her wolf ears flattening against her head. "But they just don't care. I mean, you saw how the Captain acted – unless something affects his men or Lord Faron, he doesn't seem to care."

Evie scoffed. "Typical out-of-touch, rich, royal bastard. Couldn't care less if this whole town got drained by a vampire, so long as him and his gold were left unscathed."

"Let it go," Pale repeated, sliding the bolt carrier group back into her gun and snapping the two halves of the receiver shut. She worked the bolt a few times, then placed the weapon back onto the bed before turning to Evie. "I understand that you're angry, but now is the time to be proactive rather than seethe about what happened."

Evie let out a frustrated sigh. "You're right… okay, what do you have in mind?"

"We need to stop this problem from getting any worse," Pale emphasized. "And ideally, we need to do it fast – that blizzard isn't going to let up any time soon, and until it does, we're stuck here with an apex predator on the loose. That's a recipe for disaster without some kind of intervention. You said you've fought vampires before?" Evie nodded, and Pale added, "Good. Then you know how to kill them."

"I do," Evie replied. "The only way to truly put down a vampire is to burn it or stab it with something made out of silver. Anything else, it will recover from in due time."

"Good to know," Pale said with a nod. "What else?"

"They're only active at night. During the day, it'll be asleep in its lair, somewhere nearby. Aside from that… they're inhumanly strong," Evie warned. "They're fast, they're strong, they can shapeshift into bats, they can regenerate from basically anything and that regeneration ability can be temporarily bolstered if they drink someone's blood, they can turn people into ghouls or even other lesser vampires if the victim is sufficiently powerful enough… they're tough bastards to deal with, that's for sure. But fire will put an end to them easily enough, followed closely thereafter by silver."

"Then we know what we have to do," Pale acknowledged.

"Do you have a plan?" Kayla ventured.

"I do," Pale told her. "First off, if what you're saying is true, then I'm going to need better weapons, because my guns aren't going to be enough for a vampire."

"Do you have anything for that?" Kayla questioned.

Pale nodded. "Not much, but I do have some fire-based weapons I can use, if it comes down to that. Past that… I will need to commandeer some high-proof alcohol from the proprietor downstairs, plus get my hands on something like tar."

"Getting that alcohol out of him is probably easier said than done…" Evie muttered. "And why tar?"

"You'll see," Pale insisted. "Anyway, that's part one. For part two, I'm going to need you two to help me."

"Why is that?" Kayla asked, tilting her head. "Something tells me I'm not going to like the answer…"

"You won't," Pale promised.

Kayla's only response was to give a small whimper.