All three of them carefully walked through the sea of blood and gore that was the tavern's first floor, keeping a careful, watchful eye on any of the corpses in case they moved. None of them did, thankfully, and before long, the girls were all outside.

Captain Allen was already there, waiting for them. He eyed Pale carefully, apparently still unsure of how much time she had left; Pale did her best to ignore his baleful gaze, instead stepping forwards.

"We're ready," she announced.

Allen nodded. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

Pale shook her head. "I figure he'll be hunting us soon enough, unless he intends to make a move elsewhere. With the blizzard still raging, he has no way out of the town, however. He's as stuck here as we are."

Allen's brow furrowed. "I need to check on Lord Faron," he said. "I am not comfortable, having left him alone with only a scarce few guards since this all has started."

Pale shifted a bit. "I have no objections," she told him. "It beats waiting around, hoping we see Vincent in time before he kills someone else."

Allen nodded. "Follow me."

With that, their group set off once more. As they walked, the blizzard began to intensify around them, reducing their already-scant visibility to almost nothing.

Pale wasn't superstitious, and yet somehow, she couldn't help but think of it as a bad omen.

XXX

As they drew closer to the checkpoint, the acrid stench of blood intensified all around them. Kayla and a few of the guards gagged from it, while Pale and the others tensed, steadily advancing as slowly and yet as carefully as they could.

As they approached, Pale saw that all the guards Allen had left behind earlier had been slaughtered to a man. They had all been horrifically mutilated, with each body missing at least one limb. The few who had heads still attached to their torsos had their faces frozen in terror.

Kayla dropped to her knees and began to retch at the sight of it. Evie placed a hand on her back, while Allen glared at her.

"Is she good to continue?" he demanded.

Evie glared daggers at him. "She'll be fine," she insisted.

"Y-yes…" Kayla managed to get out, rising to her feet. "I'm just… not good with all the blood and guts…"

"Get used to it," Allen declared. "We're moving out now."

He motioned for his men to follow him, and they all pushed past the dead bodies, heading through the gates. Evie continued to glare at Allen as he moved, gritting her teeth the entire time.

"Asshole…" she spat under her breath.

"Let it go," Pale told her. "We have more important things to worry about."

Reluctantly, Evie began to back down. Pale hesitated, then stepped over towards Kayla, eyeing her up and down.

"Will you be okay?" she asked.

Kayla nodded. "Yes, I will. It's just… I'm still not good with all the death."

"That's fine. You've done more than anyone could have asked of you. I just hope you're okay with doing a little more."

"If it's to help you two, then yes," Kayla said without hesitation. "I'd walk through miles of dead bodies for that."

"We know you would," Evie said. "Let's not keep the good Captain waiting, then."

Together, they followed after Captain Allen, pushing into the castle grounds.

XXX

The castle was darkened by the time they got there, the lamps that lit the grounds having been extinguished by something. All the glass windows were broken, Pale noticed as they breached through the front door – whether that was a result of the storm intensifying or something else, she had no way of knowing, but either way, it didn't bode well for them.

They caught up with Captain Allen and the remnants of his men soon enough. They were all standing in the entrance hall, one of the men holding an oil lantern that had been lit. Allen rounded on them as they approached, his sword at the ready, only to relax when he saw they weren't a threat.

"You all took your time," he surmised. His gaze fell on Kayla once more. "You're sure she's good to continue?"

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"I am," Kayla declared.

"Hm. Good, because you're the only fire mage left who's capable of casting a real spell. We're going to need you, so try not to get yourself killed too early into the fight."

"Assuming he's here…" Evie muttered.

"If he isn't here yet, he soon will be," Pale told her as their group began walking once more.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a gut feeling. We're quite possibly the only living things left in this entire city at this point. He's going to want to take us out at some point, and what better time to do it than when we're all clustered together like this?" Out of the corner of her eye, Pale noticed Kayla tense at her words, and she turned towards her. "I don't mean to frighten you, but you do need to be aware of the possibility that we will likely be attacked here, and in very short order."

"Right…" Kayla breathed. "I'll be on my guard."

Pale nodded, and they continued walking through the halls, looking for Lord Faron. They crept through the darkened halls, the only light coming from the one oil lantern one of the men had managed to find and light earlier. They saw nothing of note, save for the occasional dead guardsman, murdered in much the same way the ones outside the front gates had been.

"Little resistance…" Pale muttered as they passed by yet another mutilated corpse. "They didn't stand a chance."

"We won't make the same mistake," Allen declared. "Keep moving, we have to-"

From off in the distance, a muffled shout resounded. Allen paused for just a moment, as if in shock at what he'd heard, but then took off running, his men following closely behind. Pale barely had time to shout a warning to him before they all took off; she could only watch in dismay as they sprinted down the halls.

"After them!" she said to Kayla and Evie. "We can't afford to separate!"

Both girls nodded in affirmation, and they all took off running. They sprinted through the darkened halls, following after the footsteps of the guardsmen as they resounded against the stone floor, before finally, they caught up to them. All the men were gathered outside a lit room, staring inside as if in shock. Pale peered past them, freezing at what she saw.

Vincent was there, standing directly behind Lord Faron's throne. And seated in it was Faron himself, seemingly connected to Vincent by several darkened tendrils that had latched onto his chest and his face, which fed back into Vincent's body. Every few seconds, Faron would tense, and a scream would erupt from his throat.

Allen let out a low growl and went to charge forwards, but Pale stopped him by resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't," she warned. "That's what he wants you to do."

"Then let me not disappoint him," Allen growled.

"If you go charging in there, you're a dead man, and so is your lord," Pale warned. "I don't know what he has planned, but whatever it is, it's nothing good."

"You would be wise to listen to her," Vincent announced, his voice resounding through the throne room. All of them tensed at the sound of it, and a wicked-looking grin crossed his face. "My, my… you all certainly know how to roll out the welcoming committee. Definitely a lot better than the ones stationed at the gates and in the halls."

Pale ran through her options as he talked. Part of her was tempted to try shooting him then and there, but she held herself back – with how fast he moved, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't see her try to raise her weapon and simply move out of the way, and past that, she had no way of knowing how he would react. She didn't want to start a fight the others may not have been prepared for.

A thought occurred to her, and she looked out the nearby broken window. The moon was still high in the sky, meaning they wouldn't be able to rely on the sun to help take him out. They were going to need to put together a different plan, and try as she might, Pale was struggling to think of one.

For now, what she needed to do was keep him talking.

"So, this is it?" she demanded, taking a step forward. "This was your big plan? Turn an entire city into ghouls and those bat creatures? I must say, I'm disappointed."

"Such a small imagination coming from you," Vincent chastised. "Though, I have to say, I'm impressed – you managed to put up a good fight against my ghouls and vampire fledglings despite not using any magic."

"So, that's what those things were? Vampire fledglings?"

"Oh, yes. You see, the more in-tune someone is with their magical abilities, the greater chance there is of producing a fledgling rather than a ghoul. And given enough time, a fledgling will morph into a full-fledged vampire, assuming the person isn't so powerful that they don't simply turn into a full vampire right away."

"Is that what I'll be turning into? A fledgling?"

"That would be my preference, but no, I would think not." Vincent shook his head. "You do not have the gift. Someone like you, who doesn't seem to use much magic? You will be a ghoul, almost certainly." His grin widened. "Judging by that scratch on your shoulder, even now, the undead curse is working through your body, infecting your brain and bending it to my will. In time, you will be susceptible to whatever I command you to do. Your brain will be the first to go, necrositizing from the inside-out; from there, the curse will spread through the rest of your body, turning you into a puppet."

Pale motioned to Faron. "Is that what you're doing to him?"

Vincent shook his head. "He is of no use to me anymore. I have what I needed from his sjel." He snapped his fingers, and Faron stiffened, his eyes widening, before suddenly going limp and slumping over in his throne. The tendrils retracted into Vincent's body, and he let out a sigh. "Such a wicked man… he believed he could form a pact with me – that I would be willing to serve him dutifully after one of his servants unearthed my sepulcher in one of his gold mines. He thought he could tempt me into wiping out his competition."

"His competition?" Pale echoed.

"You don't know?" Vincent asked, tilting his head. He blinked, his gaze landing on Allen. "Ah, but one of your own number hides the truth from you still… how quaint."

"What in the three hells is he talking about?" Evie demanded. "Captain, what is going on?"

Allen grit his teeth. "...I am loyal to my lord, even unto death, and even despite his greed," he admitted. "He wished to purchase the lands around this kingdom, and so sent the vampire out to cleanse them so they could be obtained cheaply. He thought the vampire could be controlled. I see now that he was wrong."

Evie blinked, shocked by his sudden admission. "...That's an understatement," she said.

"Ah, but enough of this," Vincent declared. He looked towards Pale, and motioned to her with his head. "Be a dear and eliminate them, would you?"

He went to snap his fingers, but Pale didn't give him the chance. Instead, she finally hefted her shotgun and fired. Vincent moved at the last second, the buckshot pellets going wide, but several of them still struck him in the hand, ripping off several of his fingers and setting his palm ablaze. Vincent stared at it in shock, then looked back to her, stunned.

"You…!" he managed to get out. "How are you able to resist?"

"The curse affects the brain, right?" Pale brought her free hand up and pointed at her own head. "Mine is artificial. There is nothing for you to rot and take over."

"Artificial…? What in the three hells are you?"

Pale responded by merely raising her gun and firing several more shots at him. Vincent managed to dodge each one, jumping up into the rafters. Pale tracked him, leading with her weapons sights as he moved to the shadows.

"He's not leaving," she stated. "He'll want to take us out before the sun rises. We can't let that happen."

"Do you have a plan?" Kayla asked.

"I'm still putting one together," Pale said. "But until then, we're going to need to track him down. Whatever you do, stick with the group. We can't afford to let him catch us off-guard."

The others nodded, and Pale let out a breath, then turned towards the hall Vincent had disappeared into.

"Come on," she said, "let's end this."